Drunken Yobs

I couldn't bring myself to post the photo of my Mini Cooper without the black bin liners taped to it's rear! I'd driven to East Sussex to spend five days with my Mum as she's alone while her husband is in hospital having major back surgery. I arrived Friday afternoon and got together with her sorting a few things out with plans to drive to the coast, have pub lunches in sunny gardens, go shopping and generally relax.

I was asleep in the front bedroom on Friday night around midnight when I heard loud male voices and one female voice say,

'Don't wind him up!' and then a dull thud - then silence.

Very soon after a knock at the front door. My Mum rushed out of bed to open the door. I said not to answer it but it was her neighbours just returning from an evening out to tell her that somebody had thrown a brick through the rear windscreen of my car! Still in my pyjamas I helped him tape it up at one in the morning which was very kind of him wasn't it?

I hope that person feels good about themselves. I spent all Saturday morning on the telephone to the police Then 'phoning my broker for insurance details as I had no documentation with me. Then arranging with AutoGlass for repairs. Of course they didn't have the rear windscreen in stock. They could get a replacement by Sunday but only if I drove to Tunbridge Wells as no fitters could do roadside on a Sunday. I wimped out of driving there with the car like that. I had to wait until Monday afternoon. The new windscreen cost around £600........

Mum and I got out in taxis but couldn't do the things I had planned. Strange though - When I had my soft-top it got slashed twice by drunken yobs and I said no more soft-tops for me and then they go and do this.

A car can be repaired but Mum and I can't recapture those five days, already in an already stressful situation worrying about my step-dad, spoiled by this incident.

When I heard the dull thud I had no idea it was glass shattering. If it had sounded like glass I would have been up like a shot along with my camera and taken a photo of the villains as evidence.

Morty and my daughter phoned me up on the Sunday afternoon, and after Morty had asked after everyone he said, 'And how's the car?'

I gulped as I replied gazing at the ruin on the street and told him it was just fine!

Show a Leg

I am always fascinated by this guy's tattoo. I feel as if he could take it off at night like a lace stocking.

Sandwiches and Bikes

No - I didn't get served this plate of crayfish, mayo, dressed salad and good bread in a country pub after an arduous bit of pedalling but in a high street bar called Beach & Barnicott and it cost about a fiver. Good value and it was delicious. I'd eaten half of it before I remembered to take a photo.

Some readers may wonder why I always order a prawn or crab sandwich in these country pubs. I wonder too but these places offer such little choice. They must read each other's menus and stick to the same old boring things. Why not Caesar Salad, fresh sardines, a bowl of moules, a salad that doesn't have a base of iceberg lettuce snipped into strips with dressmaking scissors, an Italian Anti-Pasta? They don't have the imagination.

Braised liver, mustard mash and gravy? I only want lunch! Lamb shank, minted gravy and chips? If I wanted a chilled or frozen ready meal I'd buy one in Tescos - two for a fiver and eat it at home. I don't want to spend fifteen pounds on a pub lunch. I don't like baguettes and a frozen sausage. Might crack my crowns and enamels if I sink my teeth into them. And anyway - I even wear my lippy riding my bike so I don't want my face smeared with Rimmel!

We had a good ride to Burton Bradstock, about five hilly miles, and stopped at the Three Horseshoes and sat in their pretty pub garden and I ordered a crab sandwich. It was six pounds -Rip off Britain? but the bread was tasty and had seen the serrated edges of a bread knife. And I got some white crabmeat mixed with the brown - Hurrah! The mixed leaf garnish had a decent dressing and nobody had cut a cherry tomato into quarters - I had a whole one.

A nine mile bike ride in total, as we came back the easier route, then I almost came a cropper in town as somebody stepped out in front of me on a pedestrian crossing and I hit the kerb to avoid them.

On Friday we're going to The Manor at West Bexington for lunch. Quite a distance on a bike but worth it for the beautiful views and hopefully there'll be no sign of a prawn sandwich.