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I checked into Graffham campsite the next day. I was quite impressed with it. Good price for an electric pitch in a beautiful forest with showers and toilets available. Admittedly the toilets had those awful ‘inspirational’ quotes stencilled all over them (“Life isn’t about basking in the sun, it’s about learning to dance in the rain” I mean really) but they were clean and the showers, while not boiling, were at least nice and warm and strong enough to wash under.

I’m going to have to skip ahead nearly two full weeks here, because literally the day I arrived at Graffham I started to feel something wasn’t quite right with me, then boom, next day, fever and illness. Fun as it was for me to endure I will not bore you with the details.

As it was I didn’t get to see much of the South Downs at all as I only had a day an a half of wellness before I left.

Now I did something a bit mad here, I drove back to my friend in Surrey, the opposite direction of Brighton, which was my next stop. You see when I’ve been ill I always really struggle to start eating again, even after my body is perfectly fine. As it was; nothing was appetizing until I was talking to my friend and they mentioned their lasagne. Now my friend is Sicilian and has mastered the power of lasagne. So I went back to Surrey just for pasta night, because sick me is weird and insane.

However, it was back on track the next day, doing touristy things in Brighton so I actually had something to blog about.

Having only been to Brighton once before for little more than a few hours I was eager to see everything and Brighton Pavillion is one of the things on my list of 118 things to do in the UK.

After a walk on the pebbles with Caspian (who found the concept of a not sand beach to be deeply disturbing), and getting ice cream from a fantastic shop that did flavours like mojhito, sour cherry, marscapone and caramel and chocolate orange(my choice) it was straight to Brighton Pavillion.

Which is not cheap, was my first reaction. On top of not being very well priced they did that thing that I hate in museums where they charge you to go in, but there are no information plaques so they then try to charge you for information booklets.

Unwilling to allow myself to be robbed I just paid for entry and decided I would look at the pretty things and learn nothing.

Despite the jacked up price I was happy to have paid to see it, the eastern inspiration is fused in everything and the reds and golds are so fantastically garish. As someone who likes Ancient Greek history and doesn’t usually look at anything from after 1BC, it was all quite novel and colourful. The needlessness of having giant coiling snakes as curtain holders and the chandeliers and the minute detail on everything certainly made it all something to look at.

After the pavilion it was around lunchtime, it seemed remiss to go to Brighton and not have fish and chips on the front. Unfortunately, I forgot it was half term weekend and the place was heaving. I decided to go on the i360 first and eat later.

This wasn’t quite as rammed and I got on the next ‘flight’, I say flight in quotes because they treat it very seriously to a hilarious degree. All the staff are in air hostess uniforms and you get a ticket with a booking reference and stuff.

I was almost expecting them to ask for my passport.

I managed to shove myself into a space looking out over the ocean as we rose up, the old shell of the Brighton Pier right in front of me and I watched the coastline stretch out into the white cliffs down the coast.

The view was pretty spectacular. Brighton isn’t as big as I thought it was and you can see the South Downs in the distance and a lot of the buildings are unique enough you can building spot. That’s not to mention the ocean, on the fantastic clear day I had it was seriously unmissable.

My slight weird fear of the ocean aside it was something worth seeing.

After that, it was back to the front for food, which was 100% not worth waiting for. The chips were pathetic (to the point I didn’t eat them) and while the fish was amazing the squid taco was badly cooked on top of the wrap being stale.

I walked it off going back to Enid to check on and walk the fluffy monsters and then took myself on a trip to the pier. First thing I did was go to the very end and enjoy the sun setting over the ocean. Pretty sure I just stood there for half an hour. Don’t care.

Then it was time to enjoy the attractions of the pier. Now I don’t consider myself to be frightened of rides in general, but the huge rusted swinging arm the spun people out over the ocean was a bit too much. Instead, I opted for the much safer haunted house.

This was a virginity-losing moment for me. I have never been on a haunted house ride. Because I was deprived as a child.

I am also, it’s worth noting, the jumpiest person alive, so, despite the general low budget nature of the ride and cheap glow in the dark paint spattered everywhere, I grabbed the poor soul who was sitting next to me a good five times…

Time to eat again I found a nice little Korean place at which, I must admit, I was not impressed with, my meal was dry and tasteless and I barely ate half of it.

Apparently, Brighton can’t do food.

On the plus side they can do cocktails as the little cocktail bar I found up a flight of stairs near the pavilion was phenomenal, and the staff knew exactly what they were doing, so I enjoyed a few whiskey cocktails, one of them a cool twist on a whiskey sour, looking out over Brighton Pavilion before I took myself back to Enid and completely collapsed.

#travelblog in Which I go and Tourist the heck out of Brighton #brighton I checked into Graffham campsite the next day. I was quite impressed with it. Good price for an electric pitch in a beautiful forest with showers and toilets available.

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CFOA - In Which I Visit London For Over Priced Food, A Show And Get Shouted At; So An Average Trip To London.

#travelblog about my flying trip to the West end #theater #Evita #london

It was another early start to get back to the mainland. Made early by the fact I was determined to stop at the super cheap Asda for diesel before my departure, and then made late by the cat jumping onto the side of her litter box from the kitchen top and catapulting it’s contents down the full length of Enid. It was a fun 5am. I was more confident on the boat this time, and I was soon pulling…

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As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on visiting the Isle of Wight. I booked my ticket in advance, since I understand traveling on a ferry is not like hotels; where you can get a discount if you rock up late.

It is not cheap to move a van to the Isle of Wight. Why anyone goes there is beyond me. If I didn’t have friends there I probably would have just said sod to the whole thing. What didn’t help was that I got the return trip for 80 quid, only to have my session time out and have the price go up to 150. Sneaky internet. Of course I didn’t pay that much, I went down to the Red Funnel office and made nice with the receptionist who helped me out and got my tickets back down to 100. Although such a price came with a 5:15AM ferry (Having spent a lot of my life working night shifts I’m at least used to such a horrible wake up time, although the ordeal was still painful).

On top of that, I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about taking the ferry. I haven’t taken a ferry since I was about ten and at the time I, obviously, was not responsible for driving, or anything much beyond nagging my parents to feed me. This time was rather different, having to drive onto the ferry in Enid; the fantastic gear dropping camper van.

I am pleased to report it was quite uneventful, although rather exciting, since, Enid being so tall, I got put right in the belly of the boat with all the lorry’s and some heavy duty crane equipment that was being moved.

I collected the animals, got myself an absurdly overpriced coffee and enjoyed watching the sun rise as I sailed across with some very unhappy pets.

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First impression; that there is a weird high vis vest trend on the Isle of Wight.

I thought at first it was just because I was seeing dock workers, but no, people out walking their dogs early, kids on their way to school. I met up with my friend in McDonalds for a coffee and everyone except us was wearing a high vis vest. I rather felt that I should get one to blend in.

My friend met me in McD’s near the port because they were heading out (to return in the evening) as I was coming in. We parted ways after a disgusting McD’s breakfast, him giving me directions to his place on the very south of the island in a village called Ventna.

I did not realize how small the Isle of Wight actually is.

Took me half an hour to get there.

Of course, the first thing I did was take Caspian and try to find the beach. It was an easy task accomplished in ten minutes and, although the sand beach is quite small, it is very nice, clean sand with a variety of places to eat and drink along the front, and a costal path running up the cliffs either side.

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I found a dinosaur maze, which I had to go in because it was advertised as both free and amazing, and how often do you find something like that?

Me and Caspian spent our first afternoon running up and down the hills and enjoying the sea air, and that night we were taken out (because Ventna is one of those place where dogs are welcome everywhere, which gets it a tick from me) to experience a night out in the village.

Now, for those not in the know (like I wasn’t before I rocked up) but the Isle of Wight, being situated where it is, i.e. directly between Brazil and the rest of the UK, is quite a cheap place to go and find drugs, are you so inclined.

It’s personally not to my tastes, but it apparently is to…. Pretty much everyone on the Isle of Wight.  It makes for a slightly more relaxed atmosphere than you might find in the average pub, which was nice, although the flip side of it is it’s very difficult to understand a large portion of the people in there.

But still, the evening was nice, we grabbed some Indian food and I met some of the locals; an absurdly rude man and his lovely son, a woman known to most people because she refuses to move on from the 80’s and take her thigh high sparkly boots off, and a girl who, don’t get me wrong was lovely to talk to, but unusual to me in that she had not only never left the Isle of Wight, but was reluctant to even leave the town of Ventna.

I actually found this reluctance to be a recurring theme the longer I stayed. I started to suspect the residents of Ventna were under the influence of some sophoriphic drug, perhaps something in the water, as no one seemed willing to leave, the main town of Newport being “such a long way” (remember my comment earlier on how tiny the island is) , and I was worried about my leaving early Friday morning as I started to wonder if, in true horror move fashion, I would wake to find my tires gone and a note on my windscreen saying “It’s such a long way, now you can stay.”

This lethargy wasn’t just in people’s personal attitudes though, it was also in their professional outlook. It baffles me how anything ever gets done out there. Everyone is late for everything, shops just don’t open if they don’t feel like it, my friend openly admitted to having gone through near ten tradesman before he found one even willing to turn up. One day there I ventured into Newport (despite the apparent distance) with the aim of getting my laptop repaired. Of the four IT repair shops in Newport only one of them would take it, the rest shrugged and yawned and one of the guys was obviously so off his face I’m not 100% sure he thought I was real.

I’m sure the last man I spoke to only deigned to look at my laptop because I got quite upset, “I will pay literally anything for you to fix this,” I begged him. It was true enough, it is difficult to write and blog with no laptop after all.

He took it for an hour, inspected it and then gave it back to me, still sodding broken!! Refusing to do anything else because he “can’t figure what’s wrong. It’s broken though.” How foolish of me, to have brought my broken laptop into a computer repair shop!

Calm now.

In all fairness he didn’t charge me at least, but I’m very confused as to how Island businesses make money if this is how they all function.

But, laptop frustration aside, the Isle of Wight is actually very nice for a holiday or if you’re getting to that stage of your life when you don’t mind things moving infuriatingly slowly.

Because it is beautiful and, even though my friends have only been living there four months, they can’t go into town without getting caught up in conversation with someone else because there’s this great community feel. The weather is lovely. I’m here in the middle of October and it’s been sunny five days out of seven.

I had quite a fitness week, went on a few runs along the beach, went to my friends Pilate’s class. I almost joined in a senior’s dance event with 50s/60s music, but I left before things really picked up so I missed the best bits (like my friend realizing her knickers were too loose and dancing the whole event commando, because she’s a classy girl).

We did have another night out where we went to see live music, from a guitarist who was a session guitarist for Pink Floyd back in the day. He was really good. Although I will admit I had to leave half way through, since I had been up

since about 4 looking for a certain dog, who decided to take herself for a walk.

Now, I don’t want you guys to think I’m a bad owner. But the first evening when we went out my friend offered to let me sleep in their spare bed, exhausted from Southampton and a little sniffley with possibly the beginnings of a cold, I was quite keen on a warm night’s sleep in a real bed.

However, the catch was Caspian could not come in the house, because the resident cats were frightened of her.

It would be fine, I reasoned, for one night, as long as I checked on her first and last thing, and made sure Enid was secure and out the way.

I woke up at four in the morning feeling terrible, wracked with quilt, and ran out the house to see her.

And Caspian had escaped.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

I’ll save you the worry and assure you I did find her, or, more accurately, the dog warden did. So that was our (expensive) drama for the week.

One more thing worth mentioning about the Isle of Wight that doesn’t really fit well into this story was my friend’s ring. I didn’t realize but there are a few pearl farms on the Isle of Wight and she’d been hoping to get a ring from one for a while, and did so while I was visiting, I’d like to share it here because it was actually very pretty.

Drama and professional frustrations aside, the week was nice, sea air is always a mood lifter, and it was nice to catch up with the friend I’ve not seen in a few months.

Next time; a flying trip to London.

#travelblog I visit the most relaxed place in the whole of England and nearly get trapped there #isleofwight #animalblog As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on visiting the Isle of Wight. I booked my ticket in advance, since I understand traveling on a ferry is not like hotels; where you can get a discount if you rock up late.

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Book Review- In Between; A Katie Parker Production

I review the first Christian fiction I've not only tolerated but actually liked... #christianfiction #bookreview

by Jenny B. Jones In Between; a book about a girl, Katie, spat out the foster system at warp speed towards a new family. Simultaneously afraid of staying with them and leaving for another mystery location she makes a horrible mistake and nearly ruins her chance at a better life. In Between follows Katie as she tries to make things right and settles in to her new home. I like Katie, for several…

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With plans to go to the Isle of Wight to following week I thought it made sense to stay in Southampton, and allow the experience to become more than a drunken blur.

I was directed, by a South African I met in the pub on my embarrassing bender, to some cheap parking near his house. Coincidentally he had the week off, and so took some time to show me various places, and a friend of mine, Frizz, visited for the week, so we took some time to really chill out and enjoy ourselves.

This came at a very convenient time for me as, in the streak of bad luck those who are following my blog might be starting to pick up on, my laptop refused to start, somewhat kneecapping my ability to work and post anything. Attempting to find a shop that would take it proved futile, so I decided to enjoy myself, and put it out of my mind for the time being.

Back to mini holiday talk.

Firstly, I have some food joints to recommend:

We had lunch in the Red Lion (the second oldest pub in England), which was pretty nice, less than a tenner for a steak and ale pie the size of my head; I can hardly complain. Another of our dinners was spent in this very fancy Chinese place called Shanghai 1814, it having only been open for four months South Africa hadn’t been before and so was determined to try it. It was pretty damn fantastic to be fair. Last but not least there was a Lebanese place, which was reasonably cheap with quite a simple menu, wraps and salads and things, but with fantastic sauces, their ‘Lebanese Sauce’ was to die for, all cuminy and warm.

The shopping in Southampton I can also say I had good fun with, although my recommendation here means absolutely nothing since I am the type of person who shops maybe once every two months if she has to and, if dragged into town, will crouch in Waterstone’s like a bridge troll and refuse to come out.

Although, I say the shopping was good. I must admit we didn’t actually buy anything (we being myself and Frizz, South Africa was excused from this girly excursion). Instead we took a bottle of wine with us (classy, I know) and played a game that we used to play when we were teenagers. That is the game of going into the shop and picking a theme then dressing each other up based on the theme. If you haven’t played this game you should, I don’t care how old you are. It’s simple; go to a shop, pick your theme and try to make your friend look as absurd as possible. Themes can be anything; Mafia Wife (River Island), Daddy Buy Me A Pony (Jack Wills), Drunken Stripper (Ann Summers), or Sexy Man (we used Super Dry here but most men exclusive shops will do). There are loads more but I won’t bore you with a list.

The game is extra fun if you take wine.

Just sayin’.

We also had, as one must when having a relaxing week with friends, a night out. Now a night out can’t really fail if you’re in good company, which we were, we had a nice time chatting. But I must admit the rest of it as a bit of a disaster. Fresher’s were starting to descend and, because of time constraints, we ended up going out on a Wednesday. The only place playing music was the Orange Room. Well, I say music, it just sounded like noise to me.

No I don’t care if I sound like an angry Grampa.

In the end we just ended up leaving when we couldn’t even get through a song without being groped and a particularly persistent Italian started following my friend around… always five steps behind, it was not dissimilar to a horror film.

We also (this being myself and South African +a friend of his) spent a nice afternoon playing mini golf.

I did not think, when it was suggested that this would be a particularly fun activity. But I haven’t played tiny golf in quite a while (one incident of crazy golf not withstanding) so I thought I’d go along anyway, since I had nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon.

It was not only better than I thought it would be it was actually quite fun. We took some beers (I worry I’m giving off the impression of a raging alcoholic with the past two blogs I’ve posted, trust me, I’m really really not, this was a holiday week for me with my friends visit) and clogged up the holes. We let about four teams play through us, because we were fantastically slow. The first people we let play through actually finished the 20th hole by the time we were on the 5th.

But we got our money’s worth (especially since it was only like 3 quid), and it really is, if you let it be, just a nice chill activity to chat to some mates over, not dissimilar to pool or darts.

So there’s a suggestion for those looking for a cheap chill weekend; tiny golf. I can recommend the Southampton one, although I recommend going when I’m not there, since I will admit I did let out a loud swear or two in front of a family trying to enjoy some wholesome time together….

Traveling in Southampton; the parts I remember #travelblog #southampton #goodfood With plans to go to the Isle of Wight to following week I thought it made sense to stay in Southampton, and allow the experience to become more than a drunken blur.

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Double Bill Book Review - Blame Bogart/Greg and Gary: Halloween in Danger

Back after a long break from reviews with a Double Bill review on Children's Books #childrensbooks #bookreview

Blame Bogart by Diane Rose Dufy and Lilly Bicho The story of a dog who get’s his world turned upside down by the arrival of a new cat in the family. Bogart is a joint effort by a grandmother/granddaughter team, illustrated by the ten year old Lilly, written together and edited by the Diane. It’s a lovely and admirable project for a family to undertake together, and I think that it would make a…

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Tick-Tock Digital Download

Tick-Tock Digital Download Now Available from Blue Books!

Tick-Tock Digital Download, Fantasy Adventure for Readers age 9+ What would you do to get out of here? I mean, if you had to trade, what would you give?” “Anything.” Vega’s trapped. Exiled with her family to Coalridge, Vega knows she doesn’t belong in the town, or the mine she’s doomed to work in – but she’s never getting out. The only person who understands is her brother, Rigel. But when their…

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Iris Digital Download

Iris Digital Download, Social Issues’s Fiction for Readers Age 9-12 5 Stars – Readers’ Favourite 5 Stars – Kids Book Buzz 5 Stars – The Portrait, Ezine ‘I flinch. I know she’s not going to hit me, we’ve got in arguments a hundred times before and she’s raised her hand – she’s never hit me in the face. But I flinch anyway.’ I put that because whenever you pick up a book at the shop there’s always…

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CFOA - Southampton: A Night I Don't Remember

Back to travel blogging with a drunken mess of a night #travelblog #nightout #southampton #travel

Those who follow my blog closely will have noticed a bit of a drop off in post frequency towards the end of last year, followed by a three month unannounced absence. The short version of the story is I was having internet trouble and then I got very sick. Now it’s time to catch up on all the posts I wrote and never published, the first taking us back to Southampton and the stupid things I did…

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A gradient of dogs!! (at Forest Town, Nottinghamshire)

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Seeing seal pups, some only a few days old! #travel #travelblogger #cute #babyseal (at Donna Nook)

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at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

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Camper Full Of Animals - In Which I forget to do everything in the New Forest

Traveling to the new forest and more of the south coast than I meant to #travelblog

Those who have been following the blog closely will know there’s been quite a gap since the last one, unfortunately my laptop broke and I’ve been unable to post at all and lost most of the photos I took for the blog. I should be back to posting regularly now but I’m still not convinced the laptop is fixed, so we shall see…. I left Selbourne on a Friday night, and I was in the mood for a bit of a…

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Book Review - Jorie And The Magic Stones

You need the imagination of a child to enjoy this. I'm too much of a misery guts.. #bookreview

Author: A.H. Richardson Jorie and the Magic Stones open’s with a man with black eyes, standing on a parapet looking out over two suns. Then on page two he turns into a dragon and fly’s off, so we’re off to a good start. The beginning is just the first example of the author letting her imagination run wild, in many books there will be a few ideas, maybe a different race or two, usually there are…

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Luckily the mechanic I found could help (R Streetly, near Alconbury, they don’t have a website for me to link), although they only took cash, so while I was waiting for the tire they ordered for me to come, I got to trek to the nearest cash point. Which was not close.

Then I had to wait around for the tire to turn up. Eventually getting to Surrey at something like nine o’clock at night, which doesn’t sound very late but believe me it felt late when I’d spent the night in a noisy robbery park.

I’m going to skip forward a week now as, due to the sheer volume and expense of the break downs I needed to not spend any more money.

So I spent the week sheltering under the good will of my friend at their house before setting off again. Another tip for aspiring campers, make lots of friends in lots of places, and then take shameless advantage of them.

Anyway, I set off once again. Not 100% sure where I wanted to go, but I headed south four a couple of hours, until I felt like stopping. I found myself in Alton, and while I had nothing specific to do in Alton I remembered it as being a town near one of the things on my list of 118 things to do in the UK, that being the Jane Austen house museum.

I got a little lost in town, as there are several signs, that most towns have,  pointing to ‘city centre’ and ‘other routes’ despite constantly following the ‘other routes’ signs I kept ending up in the centre, so never follow the signs in Alton is the lesson here. Eventually I knew the roads well enough to see myself out and, quite tired after doubling back on myself like a million times, pulled into a farmer’s field, intending to take ten minutes to relax before finding a place to sleep for the night.

I wasn’t there five minutes before someone knocked on my window, making sure I wasn’t planning to sleep in the field. Assuring the man I wasn’t, he seemed satisfied and walked off. However that wasn’t the end of it, as he returned a few moments later with his business card and the offer that I could park up in his drive if I was stuck for places to stay.

Not having any idea where I was sleeping I accepted his offer (for those worried about my safety, don’t worry too much, I kept the doors locked, with every intention of keeping them that way and driving off if the man turned out to be committing a dirty ruse).

As it turned out, there was no ruse. If anything the man turned out to be a guardian angel of sorts, only significantly gruffer and more masculine than the average dress wearing angel (he being a tree surgeon/lumber jack kind of deal) with a seemingly permanent bark in hair situation.

I’m going to shamelessly plug his business here, so if you need any tree work done in the Hampshire area check him out here.

Tiny Pudding cuddling up when we finally stopped

Lumberman’s gorgeous dog

I intruded on his hospitality for two nights, and on both he invited me inside, on the second enjoying Chinese together, he tried charging my leisure battery to give me an idea of just how broken it was (I need a new one, hurrah, more fixes to make) and gave me a spare transit wheel that he apparently had just lying around (mine having broken in the motorway tire incident).

I was honestly quite alarmed by his hospitality, no one, I reasoned, is this nice without wanting something in return.  It turns out I am too cynical, he didn’t want anything, I honestly felt a little ashamed of myself for thinking such a thing after I left.

But back to travel activities. I spent my day in Alton checking out the Jane Austen house, which I quite enjoyed. A lot of the artefacts they have are a bit of a stretch. I would not consider an old Clueless doll (apparently the film’s based on Emma, which, having read the book and seen the film I did not get…) worthy of display. But they did also have the table Jane Austen wrote most of her great works at, samples of wall paper from her bedroom, a shawl Austen embroidered herself, and a lot of interesting information about Cassandra. Plus, you know, the museum itself is actually the house Austen lived in, which is cool in itself.

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At only an £8 entry, with a few hours worth of reading and examining, and very knowledgeable curators ready to answer questions in a friendly manner (well, the curator I dealt with was both of those things at least ), I was happy to have gone.

There is also, if you park up opposite, a part of Jane’s brother’s estate, that is still a walking path that she herself used to enjoy with her sister. If you’re short on cash this is free, and Caspian and I enjoyed a half hour potter, 100% not pretending to be Dashwood’s as we went.

I had my final night on the Lumberman/Saints drive way and, on his suggestion, went to Selbourne the next day, which is (I found out when I arrived) the home town of famous naturalist Gilbert White.

Who I had never heard of because I am very well educated.

Nor can I, having looked him up now, comment on the value of his museum in the village as, having so little interest in the man I had no idea who he was until that morning, I didn’t go in. One might say that knowing nothing about the man would be the best reason to go in his museum. However, sadly, I’m going to have to be rather selective with museums as my ill advised travelling trip has a rather tight budget.

However, museum or not I can recommend Selbourne, there was another walk, this one a zigzag path up a steep hill (apparently cut by White himself) which let out into a beautiful forest, in which I felt completely alone, bar the cows which followed me disturbingly closely for about ten minutes.

The village itself offered the grave of White around the back of the church, a potter’s studio (in which I made a friend) and the world’s most adorable tea shop.

All in all, not a bad area of England. Stamp of approval.

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A great week in Hampshire, some recommendations on where to visit #travelblog Luckily the mechanic I found could help (R Streetly, near Alconbury, they don't have a website for me to link), although they only took cash, so while I was waiting for the tire they ordered for me to come, I got to trek to the nearest cash point.

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Hard life when you're outside a bar and this is the view (at Ventnor Seafront)

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Book Review - Kitty Hawk And The Curse Of The Yukon Gold

If slow pacing doesn’t bother you, the book is worth a read #childrensfiction

Author: Iain Reading Kitty Hawk is a young woman, just finished her A-levels, with a plan to fly to Alaska in her own plane and spend her summer studying whales. I couldn’t say no to the premise of this, I love books with ‘young woman strike out alone to find her independence doing interesting things’ premise (For the ultimate example see the Lady Trent series), and, after a slightly shaky…