Seaside & Casualty

Following a visit to the dentist, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather on Saturday last week to visit Ingoldmells, we didn't know what to expect, certainly not acres of caravans with an amusement park in the middle. I think we stopped about 10 minutes before we'd had enough of trying to make our way through the crowds and made a hasty escape to Mablethorpe.

The great thing about Mablethope is the beautiful beach that runs for miles and miles in both directions and for the most part is dog friendly with just a small section out of bounds. It's such a peaceful place with hardly a soul on the beach, I'm sure the donkeys outnumber the people most of the time!

It was a beautiful sunny day with white clouds littering the sky making for great photo opportunities. We walked for over an hour in one direction before turning round and heading back. Debbie wasn't feeling too cleaver and half way back had to stop and rest, her cold realy digging in and refusing to subside. We made it back to the car and headed off home having had a fantastic afternoon at the coast.

On Sunday we pursued our other favourite pass time, shopping! I've got a new camera, a Panasonic TZ1, which with the TZ3 just coming out was on offer with over £100 off the usual price. I love my Nikon D50 but there are times when a bulky SLR with a long lens isn't practical or appropriate when we're out and about.

Dad took ill on Tuesday night, we had barely walked through the door when we were on our way to hospital to find out how he was. He was suffering from double vision which came on suddenly late in the afternoon, after being checked out at Barnsley hospital he was referred to Rotherham so we all made our way over there in our little black car. Not being totally sure what was causing the problem except that it might be linked to his diabetes, he was given another appointment on Thursday to see a specialist. By the time we got home, it was almost midnight and we've been catching up with our sleep since.

The result of the visit to the hospital on Thursday was that Dad can't drive for a whole month, he's got to wait for things to settle down and see how things are when he has his next appointment. It's going to be hard, although he's retired now, he's just a busy as he's ever been and he'll be biting at the bit to get out and about, especially for a spot of fishing which he loves.

We're having a bit off a chill out this weekend, crashing out on the sofa watching the rain tumble down.

Paul