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May 2013: Bluebells, crabs, and winkles
Sunday, 16 June 2013 20:56On the first bank holiday Monday of the month, Emily and I went to Kew Gardens, taking a picnic and enjoying the bluebells which were still in flower. We had a decent amount of sun, combined with a relaxing walk in the rain, before being snowed on by blossom petals. It was a really wonderful day out.
I joined Emily and her flatmate Tim at Chilworth Railway Station in the afternoon the next Saturday where they had been doing a circular walk from Guildford, and walked the remaining 9km back with them, through woodland still teaming with bluebells, and along a lovely stretch of river where we saw a lock being operated.
We've been doing a heck of a lot of decorating, too. The living room was finished (except for curtains) early in the month, and we moved onto the bedroom, which needed stripping of wallpaper, plastering in numerous places on each wall, sanding, planing, and painting on five surfaces. As of writing it just has the final feature wall to be finished off, hopefully one coat of paint but maybe two. Soon the carpet can go in.
I went to OpenTech the weekend afterwards, where I finally got to meet Wilmer from #bitlbee. OpenTech itself was pretty fun. The sets of three talks per hour slot worked quite well - short enough that uninteresting talks didn't last too long, but long enough for an engaging talk to just about get across everything it needed to.
I learned about the development behind Gov.uk, a rare example of the government getting an IT project spot on; about working conditions in a joystick-making factory in China from someone who had spent a few months there; how online petition companies should probably spend their time "lobbying" MPs rather than spamming their inboxes with mass e-mails; and a bunch of other geeky things. At lunch Wilmer and I went to Sagar, a vegetarian Indian restaurant on Percy Street, which did really rather tasty curry.
For the second bank holiday weekend, Emily and I had the Tuesday off work too and went to Whitstable for a couple of days to relax and enjoy the lovely town. We stayed in Cliftonville Guest House, which was a lovely little Bed & Breakfast near the main high street and a short walk from the beach across a railway crossing.
We walked along the beach to the West until we reached the little town of Seasalter, and then headed back to Whitstable to grab some lunch. We ate lunch on the beach on the other side of the port and had a Mr Whippy ice cream each (with flake, of course!) Along the other way towards Herne Bay we skimmed some stones, and made it about half way before deciding to head back to the High Street where we had reservations in the most excellent Samphire Restaurant.
We went back to the B&B and snuggled on the sofa, with sun streaming in through the window, until it was nearly sunset, then walked down to the beach. Some cloud masked the sunset itself, but were still very pretty. We wrote our names in chalk on one of the groynes before lying back on the beach and watching the first stars come out.
The next morning, we got up and had a lovely breakfast before deciding to walk the Crab and Winkle Way, a footpath along the old train line of the same name between Whitstable and Canterbury. The route was mostly through some ancient woodland, where there were still a few bluebells in the shade.
When we reached Blean Church, we decided to detour to Blean and find a pub to dry off from the rain a bit -- not that the rain had spoiled our enjoyment of the scenery. Unfortunately it wasn't serving lunch that day, but we had some tea and crisps to revive ourselves before grabbing some snacks from a nearby corner shop.
Rather than carrying on to Canterbury, we headed back to visit Whitstable Castle/Tankerton Towers, which has a really lovely public garden and tea house. We had some really tasty soup and amazing chocolate torte in the tea shop, and then the sun came out so we popped out into the gardens and enjoyed those in the sunlight.
We took an extended route back to the B&B via the beach and golf course to pick up our bags, then had dinner at the Moroccan restaurant situated under The Railway Bridge in a couple of the archways there -- both our meals were splendid, Emily's veggie paella especially. After dinner we had a short walk along the beach in the warm evening sunlight before walking back to the train station and heading back home.
I've known Emily for two years this month; the best two years of my life. I love you, Emily.
I joined Emily and her flatmate Tim at Chilworth Railway Station in the afternoon the next Saturday where they had been doing a circular walk from Guildford, and walked the remaining 9km back with them, through woodland still teaming with bluebells, and along a lovely stretch of river where we saw a lock being operated.
We've been doing a heck of a lot of decorating, too. The living room was finished (except for curtains) early in the month, and we moved onto the bedroom, which needed stripping of wallpaper, plastering in numerous places on each wall, sanding, planing, and painting on five surfaces. As of writing it just has the final feature wall to be finished off, hopefully one coat of paint but maybe two. Soon the carpet can go in.
I went to OpenTech the weekend afterwards, where I finally got to meet Wilmer from #bitlbee. OpenTech itself was pretty fun. The sets of three talks per hour slot worked quite well - short enough that uninteresting talks didn't last too long, but long enough for an engaging talk to just about get across everything it needed to.
I learned about the development behind Gov.uk, a rare example of the government getting an IT project spot on; about working conditions in a joystick-making factory in China from someone who had spent a few months there; how online petition companies should probably spend their time "lobbying" MPs rather than spamming their inboxes with mass e-mails; and a bunch of other geeky things. At lunch Wilmer and I went to Sagar, a vegetarian Indian restaurant on Percy Street, which did really rather tasty curry.
For the second bank holiday weekend, Emily and I had the Tuesday off work too and went to Whitstable for a couple of days to relax and enjoy the lovely town. We stayed in Cliftonville Guest House, which was a lovely little Bed & Breakfast near the main high street and a short walk from the beach across a railway crossing.
We walked along the beach to the West until we reached the little town of Seasalter, and then headed back to Whitstable to grab some lunch. We ate lunch on the beach on the other side of the port and had a Mr Whippy ice cream each (with flake, of course!) Along the other way towards Herne Bay we skimmed some stones, and made it about half way before deciding to head back to the High Street where we had reservations in the most excellent Samphire Restaurant.
We went back to the B&B and snuggled on the sofa, with sun streaming in through the window, until it was nearly sunset, then walked down to the beach. Some cloud masked the sunset itself, but were still very pretty. We wrote our names in chalk on one of the groynes before lying back on the beach and watching the first stars come out.
The next morning, we got up and had a lovely breakfast before deciding to walk the Crab and Winkle Way, a footpath along the old train line of the same name between Whitstable and Canterbury. The route was mostly through some ancient woodland, where there were still a few bluebells in the shade.
When we reached Blean Church, we decided to detour to Blean and find a pub to dry off from the rain a bit -- not that the rain had spoiled our enjoyment of the scenery. Unfortunately it wasn't serving lunch that day, but we had some tea and crisps to revive ourselves before grabbing some snacks from a nearby corner shop.
Rather than carrying on to Canterbury, we headed back to visit Whitstable Castle/Tankerton Towers, which has a really lovely public garden and tea house. We had some really tasty soup and amazing chocolate torte in the tea shop, and then the sun came out so we popped out into the gardens and enjoyed those in the sunlight.
We took an extended route back to the B&B via the beach and golf course to pick up our bags, then had dinner at the Moroccan restaurant situated under The Railway Bridge in a couple of the archways there -- both our meals were splendid, Emily's veggie paella especially. After dinner we had a short walk along the beach in the warm evening sunlight before walking back to the train station and heading back home.
I've known Emily for two years this month; the best two years of my life. I love you, Emily.
