March, April and May, what a difference a month makes!  We arrived back from Goa to be greeted by cold and wet weather making us wish he hadn’t come home.  It didn’t last long, it’s good to be home and preparing the garden, getting ready for visitors and getting stuck into volunteering and socialising. 

Sadly, Doris our neighbour who lived opposite died and we had a funeral to go to.  She was 94 so she had, as they say, a good innings.  Mentally she was pretty sound but her body was very tired and she missed husband Alan so much that she really didn’t want to be alive.  She had an amazing life working in the music industry even shaking hands with Frank Sinatra.  The service was lovely and it was great to give her a good send off.

Marlpit Lane Supper Club was duly formed with a visit to Monsoon for a curry night.  The idea that we had was well received and it looks like we’ll be having a supper night once a month.  The only restriction is that we have to spend the money in Seaton which is good for the town and good for our legs but bad for our livers!

Cheryl had a girlie couple of nights at Champneys.  Anna is still in remission so she was floating on air and behaving very badly.

Neil has a new skill.  We had volunteered to serve drinks at a gala night in The Gateway and Dennis behind the bar asked Neil what he was doing Monday morning.  ‘Not too much, why’? said Neil.  ‘Ah, you could be here for 09.30 and I’ll teach you how to clean the pipes’.  So, after two sessions Neil is getting close to being able to do this important task every two weeks.  Another tick in the box at The Gateway and another skill for him.

One thing we had been so looking forward to was the visit of Chantal and Jean-Phillipe who hosted us last year when Seaton Twinning Association visited Thury Harcourt.  They gave us such a good time and their hospitality was wonderful. 

The group from Thury Harcourt arrived around midnight on the Friday so we quickly got them home and we chatted in Franglais over a glass or two of red before bed.  The following morning we had crumpets with marmite for breakfast. Cheryl & Chantal walked the Labyrinth in Cliff Field Gardens before we all headed to the promenade to show them the beach and the cliffs. 

We took a ride on The Tramway and enjoyed a lovely journey to Colyton.  Lunch in the Merchant Bistro was delicious and we took them to the church which is such a pretty one with incredible stained glass windows.  Once again, back on the tram for an early dinner at The Malthouse before meandering home for more wine before bed. 

Sunday started with a ‘full English’ for breakfast and then the entire group travelled by coach to visit some water gardens and lunch before moving on for a stroll around Weymouth, a beer outside a pub, and then we made our way to Lyme Regis Golf Club for the formal dinner.   Back home for some more wine and chat before bed.  Having given Chantal and Jean Phillipe the choice between crumpets and ‘full English’ they went for the big one which hopefully would see them though the day and the journey home. 

We really enjoyed having them come to stay, we hope they enjoyed it as much as us.

This blog entry couldn’t go without mentioning the Coronation of King Charles.  Neither of us watched all the pomp and ceremony on TV but we did help put up some bunting in Windsor Gardens to celebrate the event.  On Sunday, as part of our celebrations Bob ‘n Sheila hosted a lunch at which we had lots of fun, delicious food and a glass or two of something that you might fancy. 

Finally, big news.  We were both successful in our bid to be on the Town Council and have been to our first meeting.  It was, shall we say, extremely unexciting and even now, Neil is still trying to work out how he talked himself into going through this monthly self-inflicted agony. 

Around the middle of the month we set off for Bristol to see Neil’s son and his family.  It was tiring with endless games of football in the garden with an energetic almost 5 year old and then to cool off we had endless games of table football indoors.  On Saturday night we were taken to a Comedy Night at a local venue which was very good.  The weekend was made all the more fabulous as Paul cooked some delicious food on Saturday evening and Sunday lunch.

Whenever we leave Seaton we try to make best use of the long journey so on our way to Scarborough we stopped off to see Leanne and Neil.  ‘Dad, do you have a sledge hammer’? ‘Yes darling, I do’.  ‘Please can you bring it with you’?  On the journey up on Friday we stopped off at various places to shop for trousers, shoes and whatever.  Whilst we love living in Seaton the lack of shops can make buying clothes difficult.  Anyway, we arrived at Leanne’s to discover why we had to bring the sledge hammer.  They had a large and rotten garden shed that needed demolishing and burning, plus quite a lot of undergrowth, so that was Saturday and Sunday morning accounted for.  We did go out for a long walk on Sunday afternoon, had lunch out and then went to a fund raising quiz night in Macclesfield.   Neil messaged Leanne two days after we had left and the fire was still hot!

Next stop a brief overnight outside York to shop some more before heading up to Scarborough on Tuesday.  The reason for our visit was to celebrate Tony’s 70^th birthday.  We had booked a small B&B and once settled we set off to explore the town.  We discovered an Indian Restaurant which was BYO with the added bonus of a Tesco shop opposite.  Job done for dinner!

On Wednesday we met Tony and Brenda in The Wetherspoons which was to be the venue for the big party.  We also met with Annette and Keld who had flown in from Denmark.  We had a great evening with food and drink and a meeting with the pub manager to check he was OK with us trying to take over a part of the bar.  Whilst he couldn’t reserve any seating he was more than happy for us to ‘dominate’ an area.  The following day we walked along the coast to Filey which was about 10 miles.  It wasn’t the prettiest walk we’ve ever done but the exercise was good and the apple pie we had at a farm shop/café was enormous and quite delicious.  We had a walk around Filey and then took the bus back to Scarborough.  That night we all met again for a meal at the Indian and by this time Connie and friend Ann had arrived from Newcastle.  It was a really good night with lots of laughs over the size of the nan bread and the cabaret with which it was delivered to the table – the waiter dressed in a cape and mask and dry ice just to make more of the occasion.

The party was on Friday afternoon and evening.  By now almost 20 people had arrived in town for the 3pm start.  Annette and Keld had come the furthest, Denmark, followed by us and Sue with us both about 6hrs drive, there were some from the Midlands and others from Lancashire.  Sadly Sue had driven up to Sheffield to see Tim the night before only to have to drive back home to Kent because her cat had been run over.  Thankfully, the cat was OK.   The party was great, lots of food and drink, lots of reminiscing, lots of laughs and some fine presents for Tony to open.   We left the pub just after 11pm so it was a long evening and Neil did feel a little jaded the next morning. 

Saturday morning we drove down to Gloucester to see June and Roy and help with their tax returns and then Sunday we had a very bad Sunday lunch with Bill and Sue before driving back to Seaton to enjoy what had become a fabulous weather pattern.  Whilst Scarborough was cool, hey it’s on the North Sea, it was dry and sunny and that continued at home but a few degrees warmer.  So, May finished with warm sunshine and June was going to be the same, at least for the foreseeable future.