A day out

The Hubby and I took a day off on Friday, we booked a cheap hotel on a last minute deal for Friday night and had a couple of days out.

We did this because life has been too busy and we have seen virtually nothing of each other since January. Between work, kids, trying to support my mother-in-law who is still in her first year on her own after 53 years of marriage and keeping on top of the house and chores we have been like the proverbial ships in the night.

We didn't go anywhere terribly glamorous or exciting but just became tourists in our local area. We went to Canterbury on Friday and looked round the town and the cathedral, stayed in a little hotel about three miles from Canterbury on Friday night and then on Saturday went to Dover and looked round the castle (run by English Heritage) and the White Cliffs experience (National Trust). The weather was decent, and we had a thoroughly nice time.

The hotel was a steal; £45 discounted down from £80. I booked it through http://www.laterooms.com,/ a double room with breakfast included and in fact we got allocated a family room which was all they had left, so we rattled round in acres of space. Breakfast was nice, well cooked and lots of fruit, yoghurts etc, and we used the restaurant for dinner on Friday night. That was excellent - nice amount of choice, beautifully presented, very tasty and all served in an ancient inn with oak beams and an inglenook fire. Try it - The Evenhill in Littlebourne. It looks nothing from the outside, but that just shows that appearances can be deceptive.

We feel rested and rejuvenated, although I think we both know that will dissipate within 24 hours of returning to work. But it'll keep us going until we go away in April. We'll need to think about doing something similar in the summer.

We do try to use our National Trust cards throughout the year and have the occasional afternoon at Knole Park or Chartwell. But it's not the same as taking a couple of days and an evening. We're not members of English Heritage because there's not a lot around here and we don't think we'd get our money's worth, but we will in the future when we can perhaps afford to take more weekends out and stay away a little more. Dover Castle was incredible - well preserved and presented, informative and historically evocative - as was Battle Abbey when we went last year.

Roll on retirement!

A night at the flicks!

We went to see Daniel Radcliffe in the film version of ‘the Woman in Black’ the other night. Made by a newly launched Hammer Studios, it’s a good old fashioned ghost story which literally does make you jump out of your seats. The bloke behind me was crapping himself – hopefully not literally – at some of the better fright moments. And Daniel was very good too, although there is the slight feeling that every time the poor lad opens his mouth, all you hear is Harry Potter!

This weekend, we hope to get to see the wonderful Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Tom Wilkinson, Ronald Pickup and others in the much vaunted Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. What an array of acting talent – how could it be bad?

We really enjoy going to the pictures and when we both worked in Crawley a Friday evening used to be a quick meal in the local Wetherspoons on a cheap deal straight from work, and then a trip to the multiplex down the road using our season tickets to see whatever was new out that week. We paid a tenner a month for them and could go in as many times as we liked – a real bargain.

When I was a kid, the local cinema here was a proper treat. They didn’t sell sweets there in those days because the owners believed sweets rotted your teeth, but would sell you an apple or a tangerine at the box office when you bought your tickets. There were no fizzy drinks, no popcorn, but unbelievably in those unenlightened times adults were allowed to smoke inside so you watched the film through a haze of cigarette smoke and came out with a strong dose of passive smoking.

The cinema is now, of course, much more expensive. Locally it’s between £8 and £9.50 a ticket, depending where you sit, sweets cost the earth and don’t even think about getting a glass of wine there unless you want to take out a second mortgage. As a consequence, we smuggle in miniature wines from the supermarket which we drink with a straw and our own Maltesers purchased from the 7/11 Co-op store over the road. You’re not really allowed to do that, but it would be a brave usher who asked to search my bag! And if you charge such extortionate amounts for items which we all know cost them pence, because they buy in such huge volumes, what do you expect?

I’m pleased to say that my youngest daughter has inherited  my love of the movies and is a regular attendee, although prefers to go to the large multi screen cinema in Crawley and then goes to Nando’s afterwards (she must be made of money!). The both of us look at the future listings and plan our viewings – this year the new James Bond (Skyfall) is out in the autumn, another Batman and for her, another episode in the Twilight saga (doesn’t do it for me, all those brooding looks and shaggy eyebrows are a real turnoff).

Of course you can’t beat live theatre, but big screen entertainment, when done well, comes close. I’m very much looking forward to another year of good viewing; better start saving up now!