When Life's A (Holiday) Beach, Margate

This is, of course, a bit of a back blip about our short holiday down to Margate. I'd booked it rather at the last minute due to how busy it's been at work. I just really needed a break and to see the sea again so decided to put the money I made from selling one of my photographs towards our trip.
Weirdly, just as I'm about to leave for a holiday I always seem to have second thoughts and nearly think about cancelling it all and staying at home. I'm so glad I didn't as me and my brother had a really wonderful time.
I'd booked a duplex in Cliftonville which is on the edge of Margate near the site of the old Lido. The drive takes about two hours so on the way down we stopped at Sarre to break up the journey and have a pint of lager to cool us down. As we were a bit too early to get in to the apartment we parked the car nearby and proceeded to walk into town for lunch and I almost immediately spotted my first couple of images (see first two extras), "Brexit Has Failed" (couldn't agree with Farage more there!) and "Spate". With both of these images I really liked how small the human figure looked and also how your eye was drawn to them straight away due to the sense of scale.
For lunch we decided to try somewhere new, The Old Kent Market, which is an old cinema converted into a brilliant cornucopia of eating and drinking establishments. It was wonderfully eccentric and atmospheric inside. We had another beer each and my brother had a burger and I had a sausage sandwich. By the time we finished our meal the sun had appeared so we walked through town past some quirky window displays (see the last extra) then along the seafront and that's where I took the main image. Due to the train strike it was quite a bit quieter so the poor proprietor of this beach establishment looked rather forlorn and bored despite the weather! We walked on a little further and that's where I took the third extra, "Looking Out To Sea". The statue in the frame commemorates the awful tragedy of the surfboat Friend To All Nations which sank in 1897 with the loss of all it's crew. It's situated overlooking Nyland Rock where the boat foundered. 
By the time we'd finished our amble it was time to head to our apartment. After a struggle with the unfamiliar front door we eventually got in and the duplex turned out to be really lovely. Stylish, clean and spacious - we were delighted it was so perfect. After an afternoon rest and a read of the papers we headed out for an evening meal and a glass of wine at a nearby restaurant called Daisy which overlooked the Lido and one of those beautiful Turner skies.The food, wine  and atmosphere were all so good. It was such great first day to our holiday.