During the morning Sue phoned and said she was thinking of taking the afternoon off from work and going out for a walk. The objective of the walk was to ease the knee pain she had been experiencing since driving my car home from Midsomer Norton last Friday evening. It had been caused by Vauxhall inconsiderately locating the clutch pedal in an awkward position. I said, in that case, I would wait until she got home from work and then we could go out for a walk together. I passed the time usefully by polishing the car.
We set off in the car shortly after 1:00 pm and headed down the M5 aiming for Weston Super Mare. We arrived at W-S-M and parked the car in a residential area I know of, avoiding costly car park fees. We walked along the sea front past The Old Colonial, Bar Zaar, etc and headed for the new Grand Pier.
On the Pier, Sue changed up some pound coins and started to play the 'penny falls' coin pusher machines. I believe the best strategy with these is to find a machine with a good central overhang of coins and then to insert your coins in the middle slot. Inserting coins near the edges pushes others into the 'house tray' at each side and so is best avoided. If or when you have achieved a significant win, then you must move on to another machine. If you continue to pump more money into the same one, over time you WILL lose.
It was at this point that I realised I had left my mobile phone in the car on view on the central console. I knew that I would be unable to relax and enjoy the afternoon unless I returned to retrieve it. I thought it would be wise to be quick, otherwise, left on her own with the Pier amusement machines, Sue would be capable of losing a small fortune. So I jogged from the pier back to the car (a distance of about half a mile) and then back again. This is the furthest I have run since early December and at the time of writing, my heel is still relatively pain free. Not entirely so, but it is an encouraging indication that the plantar fasciitis, which has been with me since early December, is finally improving.
After the Pier visit, we headed for the shops. Poundland is always a favourite. There is always the possibility of finding a real bargain for ..... a pound. Last year I bought a live Stereophonics DVD for £1 in Poundland, Exeter.
Burnham on Sea
We headed back towards the car and stopped off at the Old Colonial (Marstons Inns) for a coffee. It was going to be a fine evening so we decided to drive to Burnham on Sea. We arrived at Burnham just as the sun was about to set, so I took a few pictures. I quite like this one:
We walked around for a while and then, as it was getting dark and cold, we drove around the town. There are plenty of pubs, cafes, restaurants and a small pier, the shortest pier in Britain in fact. We started to drive towards home and had not gone far when we saw a sign for Burnham on Sea Holiday Village. We just had to go in to investigate.
We parked outside the Entertainment Complex and headed towards the entrance. As luck would have it, as we got to the door, the security man responsible for checking entertainment passes was distracted talking to someone, so we slipped in unnoticed. We passed an assortment of amusement machines and went into the Mash and Barrel restaurant/bar. It all looked brand new.
At the bar I ordered a pint of San Miguel, my favourite 'ordinary' lager and a draft Gaymers pear cider for Sue. We sat down and I looked at the menu. I read out the vegetarian options to Sue. She had left her reading glasses in the car and couldn't go out to retrieve them as she would need to get in past security again.
We ordered our meals, vegetable lasagna, with chips, garlic bread and salad for Sue,
and a chicken fillet burger with chips and salad for me.
The meals were very good. Better quality than good pub grub and for £5.95 each, a real bargain. Feeling full, we made our way upstairs to the show bar, purchased more drinks and settled down to an hour of first class entertainment. The cabaret act was a singer/comedian.
Sadly, we had to set off for home. Sue had to go to work the next day. The walk around Weston had been successful in easing Sue's knee pain and my heel was OK.
