Cottage in Reigate

Hubby and I volunteered to take our son to Redhill to continue an IT job for a charity there as the people who normally take him there weren’t available and he had some urgent work that he needed to do for them. It was a horrible journey, not helped by the fact that McDonalds on the A24 were closed for building works and it was our first loo stop. Being utterly desperate we found a dirty loo round the back near a Co-op garage shop. Any port in a storm! How ridiculous closing a McDonalds during the summer holidays - the trade they must have missed out on. When we got to Redhill, fortunately our son remembered the route so we got there okay.

Having some hours to kill, we went on into Reigate - what a busy town that is now. We eventually found a parking space on a side road that had no charge to use - total fluke! We also found an bike shop nearby which had an excellent cafe attached with comfy seats and gourmet coffee (also excellent chocolate cake - ahem!). We wandered on to Priory Park with our picnic and had a good walk round the lake. There was a heron in the middle but I couldn’t get a good shot with my camera. I have put a view of the lake with the heron in the distance in my extras. I also tried to take photos of the many dragonflies - now have the utmost respect for those who manage to do this, as I certainly couldn’t! We then ate our picnic. My husband managed his easily, including crisps, but I struggled to eat my generous chicken and salad sandwiches as I was still pretty full from the cake. Definitely no crisps for me!

We then had a walk round the town - so busy with traffic! I have put an extra photo in to show this. There were some interesting old buildings with shops in them - have to confess I was more interested in these than the shops themselves! The cottage featured in my photo was right by a gate back into the park from a side road. We wandered through part of the park, got a drink from the cafe, then went back up the hill to where the car was parked as we wanted to go and see an old friend for an hour or two. It was lovely to see her again and we did catch up, but spent a lot of the time trying to help an elderly man with dementia who was wandering around the busy road outside and seemed lost. Our friend couldn’t persuade him to come in for a cup of tea while she got help, so had to ring social services (who didn’t know who he was, despite her having got his name) and then the police. When we had to leave she was waiting for the police to arrive and presumably search for him.

We got back to pick up Paul okay using a map and my husband’s memory of the last bit of the journey. He had had a very successful day and the main part of the job is nearly done now. We came back home via Pease Pottage services and had a Burger King meal there. By an extremely weird coincidence we met the lady who often gives Paul a lift to work in the service area - she was on her way to visit her sister!