Faster... faster!

Wasted lots of time this morning attempting to make three financial transactions on-line!

Purchasing tickets from two different venues was just much more time-consuming than it should have been. The third transaction was more problematic. Needed to pay the Royal Mail the customs fee on a parcel from the US before they would deliver it, but their website wasn't working properly. After several attempts and a few expletives I phoned the RM office in Alnwick - yes, the website is malfunctioning but, no, I couldn't pay over the phone. We'd have to go to Alnwick to pay and retrieve the parcel. Or send a cheque by post and they would deliver the parcel on receipt. MrM needs the contents of the parcel asap, so no real option but to drive to Alnwick. It was a good excuse for a meal at Carlo's, and we took the opportunity to call in to a couple of shops for some essentials while we were there.

As we were so near the coast, we decided to have a walk on the beach at Alnmouth. Light showers on and off all day, but the minute we got out of the car the heavens opened - so it was a very short walk, and we got very wet! Never mind, it was good to be beside the sea for a while.

On the way home, there were dozens of game birds on the minor roads near Alnwick. These beautiful little partridges were part of a much larger group. Most of them hopped on to the verges, but this lot ran down the road in front of us for a considerable distance. I was about to get out of the car and 'shoo' them off the road when they finally remembered that they have wings, and flew in to a field.