On Golden Pond

British Summer Time ends today, and it well and truly has!  When I left mum's just after 8am it was -1degree, I had to de-ice the car and soon after I'd set off it started snowing!   It was only very fine and didn't stick but it lasted for quite a while so it just shows how cold it was.

I had a slight detour off the motorway to see Chesterton Windmill in Warwickshire, with the intention of blipping it.  It was built in the 17th Century and is quite unusual as you can see from my extra.  I then drove to Bicester Village as I planned to do some Christmas shopping while I was passing, but I couldn't park as the car park was full and the attendant said there was a 45 minute wait.  She directed me to the free park and ride but when I got there the queue of people waiting for the bus was so long, I'd have had to wait for a second bus, so I decided not to bother as it would have been a horrendous shopping experience with that amount of people.

I got home about 3pm and we walked down to the beach for a hot chocolate and a coffee at the White Cliffs Cafe, but the whale was still there so we went to have a look.  It had been covered as apparently they decompose very quickly and give off oils and gases, but also it was being taken to London Zoo by the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme for a post mortem.  The TV film crew were there to interview the coastguard before it was removed, so I stayed to watch the interview and took a few photos which I've also added to my extras.  It was so sad to see, and also to learn that the whale was actually still alive when it was washed up yesterday, but died soon after.

We then went up to the cafe for our drinks and sat looking out to sea with the sun shining in through the windows.  I noticed the rays shining through the cloud so I went outside to take a couple of photos and it was so golden in colour.

We wandered home and I've cooked steak with sweet potato wedges, big flat mushrooms and my home made salsa again.  I really fancied a glass of wine tonight, but I resisted as I'm now on day 27 of my SOBER for October challenge and am not going to fail.  So I poured a glass of my alcohol free Reisling and that satisfied the craving.

The clocks go back tonight, so summer has definitely left us, but what a good one it's been this year, lets hope next year's the same!