A spontaneous Tuesday evening out

I was sat in the office yesterday afternoon, gazing out at the little patch of sky we can see from our office windows, and thinking that when I lived in North Carlton on my own, it was that sort of afternoon when  occasionally, rather than heading home after work, I would head to Williamstown or to Geelong and buy fish and chips and go for a walk on the beach.

At about that point, The Builder happened to contact me.  I said to him that I felt it was the sort of afternoon when we should head to the beach for fish and chips.  Rather to my surprise, for he is not much given to spontaneous excursions out, he agreed and asked where the nearest beach was.  Cleethorpes is, I think, probably the nearest beach to us.  About an hour and a half away.

In the meantime, Tabitha and Cally were sat at home, on their  own.  Gareth was working until 8.  Freyja was at work only until 5, but then she and Ross were heading out for the evening.  So The Builder came and met me at SHU when I finished work at 4 and off we set to kidnap Tabitha and Cally and take them beachward with us.

I had forgotten in the 25 or so years since I last had a baby lurking about the place quite how long it takes to kidnap one.  They need to be fed and watered and changed before you go, then changed again when they wee all over their nice clean clothes.  They need an enormous supply of kit and caboodle bundled into the car.  Just as well Tabitha was a willing victim is all I can say!!

And off we set.  It was a beautiful evening.  The sun shone, the temperature was pleasant.  It's quite a nice drive to Cleethorpes.  Cally was quite happy tucked up in her car basket.  All was good.

Except that when we got there is was VERY windy and noticeably cooler than it had been in Sheffield.  We had a potter about on the seafront, a quick and brisk trot out onto the pier and then trundled off in search of somewhere to have the fish and chips that had brought us there.

Didn't find any pubs, but did find a rather nice hotel (the Dovedale) which was perfectly happy for us to take in a five week old baby, and which did fresh local fish with fabulous chips, and which also did the most enormous plate of pork spare ribs for Tabitha, who doesn't much care for fish.  It was all very good.

And then we came home.

If we had been able to leave earlier in the day we would probably have gone to Whitby or Bridlington or even Scarborough.  And it has to be said that Cleethorpes would not be my destination of choice if I were heading away for a weekend, still less a week.  But it's not a bad place for a quick dash for fish and chips by the sea.  And looking at the maps, I think there is probably more to do and see than we noticed on our very quick trip.  We'll head there again one day and have a proper nosey about.  We have been once before, The Builder and I.  But it was back in 2005 and we only stopped long enough for fish and chips and a bit of a potter about.  Pretty much like yesterday, then - but without the getting stuck in Grimsby first!!

It's a beautiful day again today.  But I think we won't head to the seaside this afternoon.

There are photos here