Eastbourne Day 1

A weekend in Eastbourne, so Scott can see Shirley's old stomping ground and we can visit some of Shirley's family.

The flight was at 6.20am, which meant getting up not long after 4! There'd been some snow overnight, and it was still lying on the road as we left.

We took a taxi to the airport, and the flight was on time and uneventful. Easyjet are using pre-allocated seating now, which worked reasonably well - it would have been better if people listened to which door they were supposed to use though...

We arrived at Gatwick to find it was just as cold as the Scotland we'd left behind. No snow though.

We'd booked a hire car through Holiday Autos. However the car hire base was at a hotel in Crawley, so we had to wait to get picked up at the airport which took a while, then wait for the car to get cleaned for us. All-in-all it was well over an hour after we landed before we were on the road - I think we'll be a bit more careful who we hire from in future.

We arrived in Eastbourne about 10.30, and drove round the area Shirley was brought up in - saw old houses, schools etc. Next stop was for a full English breakfast at The Rosy Lee Cafe - very good.

We then visited Phyllis's bungalow where she and Tina live. We took Phyllis out with us and went to check in to our hotel, the Travelodge on the seafront. This turned out to have been an excellent choice, room had all the facilities we needed, and a sea view too.

We went for a walk along the seafront and onto the pier. A bit quiet, as you might expect in winter, and pretty cold too.

Shirley and Phyllis.

Then we went to see Shirley's cousin Fred and his wife Pat, and took Phyllis and Pat to visit cousin Joan in her residential home in Pevensey Bay.

Later we met a friend, Rachel, who lives in Eastbourne. Had dinner in the Tres Amigos Mexican restaurant on Terminus Road near the seafront. All the restaurants there were extremely quiet, in fact we were the only ones in for the whole meal.

After that we went for a drink on South Street, it was much busier there with Christmassy stuff going on in the streets. Even Morris dancers!

We then went to bed early after a long day.