HOLIDAY: Bexhill–July 2013

Decided to go to Bexhill for our main summer holiday, in July so hopefully the weather will be kind to us !

Found lovely looking apartment online, right on the sea front so went for it….

Saturday 13^th July

Left home at 10.30am but stopped at Lynn’s mum to drop her birthday present off. Left around midday and had traffic on the M3/M25 then again M25/M26 junction. Stopped at 1.00pm just past Gatwick for lunch. Got to Bexhill after clear run around 2.45pm. Only trouble was trying to park as everywhere packed!

Got stuff into flat and unpacked and acclimatised. All settled in and ready to explore by 4.30pm. Went for walk along promenade, and around town. Decided to have chips for dinner. Had to wait ½ hour! But was worth the wait. Then went to ‘Coast’ for a drink and booked our carvery for tomorrow. Back to flat to have a rest!

Views from our flat, and view of the flat from the beach (It’s the top floor where the scaffolding is!)

Sunday 14^th July

Seagulls – 3.00am – uggh. Breakfast 9.00am so earlier than normal. Bright but a bit cloudy outside but forecast good so put sun lotion on and plan for day on the beach. Got couple of hours in the sun then went to ‘Coast’ bar and grill for our carvery Sunday lunch.

Came out feeling full, so had walk along promenade before laying on beach. Was getting a bit windy so went back to car to get windbreaker. Managed to sit for another couple of hours watching the yachts racing before getting hot and fidgety, so went for a walk to get our ice cream. Back to flat for light tea before heading out for a walk and beer. Still got back in time to watch Top Gear and have another beer.

Monday 15^th July

Woke just before 9.00am so lovely sleep  On beach by 10.15am and it’s hot already. Sat near the refreshment kiosk, so not much bother to get a nice cup of tea after we’ve set up ‘base camp’. By Midday Lynn is overheating, so back to flat for lunch.  

Refreshments are never far away

After lunch had nice walk and went up on top of pavilion before heading back to the beach for the afternoon session. Had couple of swims, ice cream and cup of tea, so busy afternoon.

Back to flat for shower and change to prepare for our evening expedition for food. Aimed for particular pub, but was too far, so diverted to nearer pub where we had a decent enough meal. Walked back and was looking forward to our cup of tea on our return after the distance we’d travelled.

Our second choice of dinner venue worked out OK in the end

Tuesday 16^th July

Curses to you seagulls at 3.00am again and the workmen with a noisy hammer at 8.00am, don’t you know I’m trying to sleep  Breakfast at 9.00am and it’s the cloudy morning that was forecast.   We are planning a day around town today, which is a relief from the blazing sun for a day at least.

Although we had known about the scaffolding on the outside of the flat, it was nice to see it had been removed by the time we’d got out of bed…

Started by walking to the Retail Park. Fairly standard shops there, but after hour walk was nice to go into Tesco café for our elevenses. Also looked in Next and Poundland but, didn’t buy anything. Walked back a short cut route via the promenade, which was a bit more scenic and had lunch in the flat.

Went out for walk around town. Found nice place for tea and cake, went round park, then sit on seafront to recover before back to flat for change and decide on dinner.

This was our one and only dull day

Went to Bistro45 which was Mussels speciality restaurant but we didn’t have them…    Was nice meal anyway.

Wednesday 17^th July

Day starts with familiar pattern, wake up early, listen to seagulls for a while, back to sleep until 9.00am and have breakfast in bed. Could get used to this 

On beach in the sunshine at 10.00am. Lovely morning lazing on beach, then back to flat for lunch and cool down. After lunch back onto beach. By the time we paddled, had ice cream, tea and swim, it was time already to go back to flat to shower and get ready for dinner.

Base camp!

Had a nice Italian meal, had a walk back to watch Apprentice Final!!   Very burnt shoulders, chest and tummy despite applying liberally sun lotion. Checked and 3 year shelf life… ours is about 6 years old!

Thursday 18^th July

After buying more sun lotion (!!), went to Pavillion for elevenses. Getting bit later for museum tour this morning, so just had walk along promenade in baking heat… bit windy but is refreshing.

Back to flat for lunch, planning to go to museum this afternoon, as ran out of time this morning. Managed to get to museum and was quite interesting. After a walk had to stop for Ice Cream. Had another walk and had to have a cup of tea and rest. After another walk in the heat went into pub for cold drink (only soda water and lime) then had short walk to beach for a nice rest in the windy sunshine.    The day had flown by and already time to go back to flat!!

Friday 19^th July

Lynn woke early today (8.15am!!) Beach at 9.45am… slightly truncated morning session as Lynn overheating. Back to flat at midday for lunch. Bit windy, but gloriously sunny

Another day, another base camp to setup on the beach..

After lunch, back to beach for some laziness   Had Ice Cream and a cup of tea and cake (as it’s our last day).    Back to flat a little earlier as we’re both hot and sunned out after a tough week on the beach!!

Got ready, then out for short walk to find our dinner. Had nice meal in pub ‘New Town’ which was pretty decent for the price, then had stroll along promenade for last time this holiday 

Summary

The flat was in the perfect location and had everything we needed (including TV in every room and Internet connection)  

Bexhill itself could have done with a few more restaurants that were open in the evenings (there were millions open during the day) but in the end we didn’t really need anything more.  

As the weather was so hot and sunny, we just wanted to relax and enjoy it.   Lazing on the beach and then finding something to eat in the evenings was all we did, but all we wanted to do !

All in all a fantastic relaxing holiday

Poker: Financial results for June 2013

Plan
My monthly targets for June were:
- Play 800 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 6-max (2 table Speed) with target of breaking even
- Play 6400 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max (2 table Zoom) with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor
Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars      :  -$  239.93
Black Belt Poker:  -$  642.84  (-£421.88)
Live play       :  -£   40.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results ($-192.36 overall)
8 Game    ($2.00)              $ + 89.17 
8 Game    ($4.00)              $ + 32.48 
PLO Zoom  ($0.50)  2077 hands  $ -251.05
PLO Zoom  ($0.25)   610 hands  $ +  6.16
NLHE Zoom  ($0.10)  108 hands  $ - 13.45
NLHE Zoom  ($0.25)    3 hands  $ -  0.02
Mobile NLHE Zoom ($0.10)       $ - 49.78
Mobile NLO8 Zoom ($0.10)       $ -  5.87

Tournament Results ($-47.57 overall)
2x 8 Game STT              $ +  5.45
4x EPT sat MTT (FPP)       $    0.00
1x EPT sat STT             $ - 42.91
3x MTT (Passport)          $ - 33.00
1x  8 Game MTT             $ + 34.40
1x  PLO8 MTT               $ -  2.20
3x  NLHE MTT               $ -  9.31

8 Game wins/losses by game type for this month (2 of 3 sessions):
2-7        + 26.96
Limit HE   +  1.51
Omaha HL   + 16.93
Razz       + 14.61
Stud       -  0.75
Stud HL    + 80.19
NL HE      - 52.73
PLO        +  4.85

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (£-204.65 overall)
NLHE Speed  ($0.50)  305 hands  -£152.96
NLHE Speed  ($0.20)  466 hands   +£ 1.34
PLO  ($0.20)         105 hands   -£53.03

Tournament Results (-£217.23 overall)
9x   MTT            +£ 24.83 
5x   10 seat STT    -£ 19.49  Maui Jackpot
8x    6 seat STT    -£ 99.31  Rio Jackpot
4x   10 seat STT    -£ 35.77
14x   6 seat STT    -£ 87.49

Reflect
June has been a funny old month..... I dropped a lot of buy-ins on both PLO and NLHE cash games at $0.50 so with my bankroll in tatters, had to drop down to $0.20 halfway through the month.   In the main, my game in NLHE and PLO is not too bad.   I still make a couple of mistakes each session, which I still need to work on... but overall isn't all that bad.   Problem is even though I'm happy overall, my bankroll couldn't stand the losses.   It's not a big deal for me to play at $0.20 so will stick to that level until I can sort out my game and my bankroll has recovered.    With a new smart phone, I also decided to install and "test" the Android client.   It works very well actually, but without any  HUD and the distractions when playing on the mobile have proved so far that I should use it for emergency Poker fix only, and definatly only at very low stakes !   

The only bright point on my cash results this month is my continued good fortune with 8 Game.  It's a game I really enjoy playing (more than NLHE and PLO) and find a lot of players at all levels that don't seem to understand at least some parts of the games.   Interestingly enough, my results in the 8 games show losses in PLO and NLHE for the year to date.... so shows I must do more to fix my leaks in these areas.

The tournaments in Pokerstars were mainly messing around, but had a few serious goes at getting into an EPT, via the satelites (EPT Barcellona and also the EPT Passport)   I did get through into a 220 Euro 2nd stage once, and had a decent run, but so far no joy.

The tournament results in Black Belt this month have been attrocious.  I don't really understand why, but in 31 STT only cashed in 2 !    

July Targets
I have decided to invest in Nick Wealthall's "Tournament Cash Machine" program (http://transformmypoker.com/) so July will more about training for and playing in MTTs.   I also want to re-focus my cash games on BBP if possible, and try to study more rather than just play, so my adjusted targets are therefore:

- Have at least 4 study sessions
- Play 800 hands of cash on NLHE $0.20 6-max (1 table Speed) with target of breaking even (BBP)
- Play 350 cash hands on PLO $0.20 6-max (1 table) with target of breaking even (BBP)
- Play 4 sessions of 8 Game cash with target of breaking even  (Pokerstars)
- Play 16 MTT

Strategic Objectives
*  Keep to Poker Plan
Fiddled around due to bankroll issues
*  Focus on less variants of cash games
So far, so good.
*  Break even on all cash games
Needs more studying
*  Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants, concentrate on NLHE and 8 Game
OK this month

References
January 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/poker-financial-results-for-january-2013.html
February 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/poker-financial-results-for-february.html
March 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/poker-financial-results-for-march-2013.html
April 2013 Cash Challenge http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/4020786/sceaga/First-month-results/
April 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/poker-financial-results-for-april-2013.html
May 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/poker-financial-results-for-may-2013.html

Poker: Financial results for May 2013

Plan

My monthly targets for May were:
Due to holidays, etc. only played two weeks in May.   My targets will therefore be:
- Play 400 hands of cash on NLHE $1 6-max (Speed) with target of breaking even
- Play 2400 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max (Zoom) with target of breaking even
- Play 10 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Monitor

Overall results for the month:-

Pokerstars      :  -$  479.35
Black Belt Poker:  -$  464.88  (-£304.45)
Live play       :  -£    0.00

Pokerstars results break down as follows:

Cash results ($-387.25 overall)
8 Game    ($2.00)              $ +  4.61 
PLO Zoom  ($0.50)  1638 hands  $ -  5.31
PLO Zoom  ($1.00)   844 hands  $ -386.55

Tournament Results ($-92.10 overall)
SCOOP                      $-90.10
2x  MTT (Passport)         $ -2.00

My SCOOP adventures are summised at http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/poker-scoop-2013-results.html

8 Game wins/losses by game type for this month (albeit very low volume):
2-7        + 7.02
Limit HE   + 3.56
Omaha HL   + 6.02
Razz       - 4.55
Stud       + 5.77
Stud HL    -24.70
NL HE      +19.65
PLO        - 8.16

BBP results break down as follows:

Cash results (£-286.56 overall)
NLHE Speed  ($1.00)  496 hands  -£278.30
NLHE Speed  ($0.50)  228 hands   +£ 8.26

Tournament Results (-£17.89 overall)
1x   MTT             £  0.00  iPOPS sat
3x   10 seat STT    -£ 11.91  Maui Jackpot
6x    6 seat STT    -£  5.98  Rio Jackpot

Reflect
Although I managed to play the requisite number of PLO hands, I had tried going up to $1 (single table ZOOM).  Sadly this proved to be an expensive experiment.   Although I felt I was playing fairly decent and not making too many mistakes, the swings are obviously magnified, so a couple of bad sessions saw a huge amount of bankroll chewed up.    In the end decided that sticking to $0.50 PLO is probably best for the moment and just try to play better !   The small loss in PLO $0.50 is quite encouraging, however am having 3-4 buy-in swings so is a bit scary at times....

My NLHE at $1 wasn't going great, so decided to drop back down to $0.50 until my bankroll recovers (assuming it does...)   Although some of the buy-in drops have been flips, I still make the odd mistake that costs dear, so have to do more studying of my results to work out what I can do to fix this habit.

June Targets
- Play 1600 hands of cash on NLHE $0.50 6-max (2 table Speed) with target of breaking even
- Play 6400 cash hands on PLO $0.50 6-max (2 table Zoom) with target of breaking even
- Play 20 NLHE STT hoping for +10% ROI

Should be back to a more normal schedule for June, and with dropping down in stakes should also be able to play more confidently. 

Strategic Objectives
*  Keep to Poker Plan
OK this month.
*  Focus on less variants of cash games
So far, so good.
*  Break even on all cash games
Not consistent enough yet, but getting there
*  Fiddle around less with MTT/STT variants, concentrate on NLHE and 8 Game
Achieved this month, apart from getting side tracked by holidays and SCOOP !

References
January 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/poker-financial-results-for-january-2013.html
February 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/poker-financial-results-for-february.html
March 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/poker-financial-results-for-march-2013.html
April 2013 Cash Challenge http://www.blackbeltpoker.com/blogs/read/4020786/sceaga/First-month-results/
April 2013 http://sceaga.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/poker-financial-results-for-april-2013.html

Poker: SCOOP 2013 results

My SCOOP campaign last year was good fun and actually profitable, which is always nice, so this year I have a lot to live up to by my own standards

This years preparation has been a little more compressed than I would like, due to my being on holiday the first week, meaning not only do I miss some events, but also have no opportunity to satellite in well in advance.

Having said that, in April I played a Hyper Turbo 6-max for 2300 FPP and won a seat into the Low Stakes ($109) SCOOP #43 Main Event :)   Great start to my campaign, but sadly no other suitable sats were running before the holiday

Having got back from holiday, I could sit down and find some sats.    My strategy is to satellite into the Medium stake events, but then directly buy into the Low stake events if I fail

20th May (Event #24)  Mix NLHE/PLO (Low)

Made the 1st break but ended up 5004th from 7067 entries

Satellite cost $27.50 took 154 min's
Event entry cost $11.00, took 85 min's, return $0

Total cost $38.50 and 4 hours time investment

22nd May (Event #31)  NL Hold' em Knockout (Low)

The Satellites were a bit frustrating in some ways, bubbling two but winning some cash as compensation....

Completely bombed out the main event and only lasted half hour.  10'286th from 11'159 entries at the time I was knocked out.  Luckily I had tried the FPP Hyper-Turbo satellites and won the seat in the second one I tried, so that saved me a few bucks :)

Satellite made $78 took 40 min's
Event entry cost $0.00, took 30 min's, return $0

Total income $78 and 1 hours time investment

23rd May (Event #33)  8 game (Low)

This event is the one I really target to do well in and was desperate to get into the Mid stakes game.... sadly to no avail, despite my trying (perhaps more times than was financially wise!)

First break  894th out of 1949 reamining  (2088 entries)    5127 chips / 5353 avg
Made second break (just about)  1865/2052  (2780)  2428 / 6773

At least I lasted past the 2 hour registration closing and was starting to make a comeback, but got bad beat on NLHE and am out in 1778 place out of 2780 runners

Satellite cost $71.20 took 406 min's
Event entry cost $27, took 135 min's, return $0

Total cost $98.20 and 9 hours time investment

24th May (Event #37)  HORSE (Low)

First Break  236th out of 2185 remaining (2246 entries)  7454 chips / 5113 avg (starting stack 5000)   

Second break:  1921/2190 (2826)   2625/6426    Took a bit of a tumble, mostly by an aggro big stack to my left who seems to like reraising me all the time !    At least I made it to registration close again.    Soon after finished 2086th

Satellite cost $4.40 took 140 min's
Event entry cost $27 took 130 min's, return $0

Total cost $31.40 and 4.5 hours time investment

26th May (Event #43)  NL Hold' em - Main Event (Low)

I was really pleased to qualify first time, basically for free !   It's normally $109 buy-in so defiantly a great result already.

15k starting stack, 15 minute levels and 12500 entries at startup (3.5 hours extended registration!)

Break 1 (after 25 mins play)  2335th of 15'886 players, 16'265 entries so far   Have 17'215 chips and average is 15'317
Break 2:  2216/18414  (20393 entries)  24171/16602
Break 3:  6294/16527  (22145)          20717/20086
Break 4:  8456/11742  (23045 entries)  16495/29395   **registration close

Out soon after 11'169th place.

Satellite cost $0 took 15 min's
Event entry cost $0, took 220 min's, return $0

Total cost $0 and 4 hours time investment

SCOOP 2013 total results

Overall cost of all events $90.10 and 25 hours time investment

Conclusion

I did play all the events I was hoping to, and also got around $200 worth of tournament entries for $90, so was better financially than it could have ended up as.  

Unfortunately I didn’t get any deep runs and was no-where near the money in any event.    Although I was a little disappointed with my results, particularly the 8-Game event, it was still good fun to try to satellite for the bigger buy-ins and play the events themselves.

In the end, not what I was hoping for but overall still good value for money.    Will have to make sure I don’t go on holiday for next years events, which will allow me more time to qualify !

Holiday: Bognor Regis–week 2

It’s always nice having 2 weeks away, so after our first week I am ready for another week of relaxing.   This time we’ll have some company with my Mum & Dad coming down for the week and Julie & Sean joining us just for a long weekend.

Saturday 11 May

Hoorah, it’s my Birthday.   Woke myself at 6.00am after having weird dream and shouting in my sleep. Happened earlier in week as well, seems to be when I drink Peroni!    Will stick to Carling in future. Luckily went back to sleep, waking again at a more reasonable time of 7.30am to open my pressies and cards.

It’s bright and sunny, but still windy. Went out for a walk round town. At a gentle stroll ended up being 1.5 hour walk, but was back in time for F1 qualifying and lunch

Relaxed until Julie called to say they had arrived. Arranged to meet for coffee at 4.00pm, went to pick up Mum and Dad at their hotel. They have a nice room with lovely sea view.  

Went out to the seafront cafe, but they were packing away, so ended up at the Waverley for coffee and met Julie, Sean and Jasper for a chat. Back to flat to relax from the wind and get ready for dinner.

Went to Madlows again. Julie and Sean were already there with champagne open.   We had a lovely meal and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.   Was relatively early night, but think that suited everyone !    It has been a very enjoyable birthday day for me.

Sunday 12 May

Woke to a lovely sunny day and doesn’t look too windy. Out around 9.30am and bumped into Julie, Sean and Jasper on sea front, before we stopped off for our coffee and biscuits. Had walk along front, which was lovely as was sunny and wind was on our backs. Walked back via Hotham Park and found tabletop sale to browse. They say one persons tat is another’s treasure... but we didn’t see any treasures.

Back to flat for lunch and Grand Prix. Short walk to stretch legs, then relaxed until time to go out for dinner at Mum and Dad’s hotel. Meal was okay but unspectacular but was nice meal with Mum and Dad, Julie and Sean.    Julie and Sean dropped us back to the apartment so we could show them where we’re staying, which was nice as it was a bit blustery out.

Monday 13 May

Woke 8.30am to cloudy but bright day although looking a bit windy still. Went out for walk along seafront and back through town. Before getting back to apartment for lunch as it started raining a bit.

Picked up Mum and Dad and went off to Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Had a nice couple of hours looking round, Mum was reading all the displays and would have stayed all day if we’d let her!   Lynn sat in an ejector seat, then one of the museum volunteers came, strapped her in and insisted explaining how the seat worked before releasing.

We then went to Selsey and Mum went to shop. Drove back via West Sands Caravan Park where we use to holiday regularly when I was a child. Back to apartment, showed Mum and Dad around (didn’t take long) before they went off for their dinner and we contemplated where we would go for ours. In the end, decided on the Navigator, which was a great choice as we both had a great meal.

Tuesday 14 May

It’s a work day for me today.   Alarm woke me up and I certainly didn’t want to wake up!    Went our for our ‘Fish and chip dinner’ at lunchtime in the chip shop restaurant on the sea front. Was okay, but seemed expensive and not as nice as our local chippy back home. Had busy afternoon, but having to work doesn’t seem onerous as the weather is appalling outside!

Logged out at 4.30pm off to cinema again, see Star Trek at the cinema.   Was an okay film but nothing special really.   It’s lashing down when we came out, so brisk walk back to apartment for late tea.  

Relaxed in front of TV with chocolate fingers and lager

Wednesday 15 May

Woke before my alarm today, so not feeling so sleepy. The day looks bright but cold.  Had lunch in the apartment, then out for our walk.   Wasn’t too bad out, but just went round the block (at a brisk pace!)

After another hectic afternoon of work, the end of the working day arrives at last and can get back into holiday mood (for the last time )

Had a walk on the way to the William Hardwick, but was too early for us to eat there, so went to the Regis again.   Had reasonable meal in nice relaxed atmosphere as not so busy this time.

Walked back to the apartment and rested until time to meet Mum & Dad for a drink at their hotel.

Had nice drink and chat before coming back to relax with a nice cup of tea and biscuit whilst watching the Apprentice  (not exactly raving into the early hours, but good enough for me !)

Thursday 16 May

Nice lay in this morning and it’s Sunny !   Went out 9:30am and had tea in Dolphin Cafe, sitting out in the glorious sunshine and feeling too hot for a change!

Went back and picked up Mum & Dad around 10:30am and decided to go to Littlehampton.  Went to Sea Front and had nice walk and a Cup of Coffee (and cake)    Went back along the front and setup base camp in the beach.   Me & Lynn went off to “hunt” for food, bringing back sandwiches to eat on the beach.

After a long rest sitting in the sun on the beach, decided to go into the town centre.   Had mid afternoon coffee and cake.  

On the way back to Bognor, stopped at Climping Beach (simply because I liked the sound of it) to see what it was like.   Now we know… there’s not much there…. except a beach.  

Dropped Mum & Dad off at their hotel then we went back to the apartment for a well earned rest.

Went out for walk as such a lovely afternoon/evening, ending up at The Waverley for our dinner.   Food was OK but expensive for the quality and quantity  you get.   Lynn’s main meal was quite small,  and found she was still hungry and had to have a dessert… almost unheard of!     I was very disappointed with the size of my pudding and could probably have eaten three (had they not been £5 each…)

After dinner we had slow walk back to the apartment along the sea front, which was very nice as the sun was almost down and sea looked peaceful.   Was getting a bit chilly though !

Friday 17 May

Cloudy but bright today.   Had a nice rest before meeting up with Mum & Dad at 11am.   Walked along the promenade, had a cup of tea, then made it to the Lobster Pot where we had lunch.   We had lovely freshly made sandwiches, then I had tricky choice between a nice looking Victoria Sandwich or the Banoffee Pie… with the Banoffee Pie narrowly winning out in the end.   It was hugely delicious but I did feel a bit sick after scoffing the lot !

Resuming our walk (or for me, my waddle after eating lunch) along the Promenade, it was a little breezy now but still very pleasant and we had a lovely sit down in a park to give lunch more time to digest.   We then headed for Bognor town center where Lynn and I stopped off for our afternoon cakes but Mum & Dad headed back to their hotel as I think we wore them out !

Even we were feeling a bit weary after our walking and eating all day, so popped back to The Hatters Inn for our dinner.   We had a nice meal from their standard menu… me fancying the Sausage & Mash, and Lynn having Chicken strips.  Much nicer than last night and half the price…

Saturday 18 May

Nice bright and warm day with little wind… ideal weather for the beach… but we have to go home      Pick up Mum & Dad at 10am and got them back in 1 hour 15min as there was no real traffic on the route home (straight up the A3)   

All in all, it was a nice holiday, especially being able to celebrate my birthday with the family.     In fairness, I think it wasn’t quite as good as previous years but this was really down to the time of year (which was constrained by the date of my birth, so that is my parents fault )     We can now look forward to our July holiday, which will hopefully see us on the beach a bit more.

Holiday: Bognor Regis–week 1

 Saturday 4 May

Woke up normal time but excited to be on holiday. Looked out of window to see it raining! Oh well, after 4 days of sun previously, couldn’t expect it to last!!

Left after lunch and stopped at Petworth House for tea and cake.

Got to apartment a bit early but called the lady and she was very accommodating by letting us in early (around 3.15pm).

Did our food shopping, unpacked, washed up and had a cup of tea to get back into the holiday mode.

Went out for dinner. Stopped at the Royal Hotel to check the menu etc. Had 18^th Birthday party so not offering meals tonight, but had lost chef so wasn’t taking bookings either!  Decided not to bother…….

Walked up to The Regis as had free pudding voucher. Both had chicken buffet, so I over ate and nearly wasn’t able to have free dessert, but managed to eat Strawberry Sundae between us.

 

Both a bit worn out, so went back to flat for nice cup of tea and watched The Voice… almost a normal Saturday night

 

Sunday 5 May

Woke early (8.30am) and had breakfast in bed. Cloudy but bright so planned to have local walks today. Had coffee in apartment at 10.00am after the shock of getting out of bed.

Went for walk along front, bit chilly in the wind. We’ve wrapped up for winter! Checking out a few possible eating locations for later in the holiday, but ended up at the William Hardwicke for Sunday carvery. Had trouble getting a table, but got one eventually.

The meal was nice, but only averagely good. Walked back along the front as the sun had come out.

Stopped for a cup of tea at West Park which was very pleasant and didn’t want to move (as we were sitting out of the wind).

After rest, had tea, then walk round block before quick pint in QEII where there was a disco (we didn’t stay long ).

Monday 6 May

Had breakfast around 9am. Excited to see the sun so up and ready by 10am!

Had nice walk around town, ending up in a beach cafe for our coffee and biscuit for elevenses.

Got very hot out of the wind but once in it, we definitely needed our coats, especially when sea mist came in. Took another slow stroll heading back to apartment for lunch. Managed to break part of my tooth eating my sandwich but not hurting (luckily).

Went out for our afternoon walk. Got as far as the beach where we had a rest and a nice cup of tea. Walked a bit further up and sat on beach enjoying view for a while, walked a little way and had a cold drink at the Waverley Pub. This cooled us down, so had to go back to promenade and have a rest in the sun, before getting our ice cream (first of the holiday!) and having another rest.

All these rests were wearing us out, so walked up the promenade a bit further so we could sit on the beach .

After having a rest in the apartment, went to Madlows Restaurant. Despite being a Monday and eating early the food service and even the ambience were excellent, and was well priced (being a Monday).

Came back to the flat and watched some TV, all this holidaying is wearing us out… must be our age!

Tuesday 7 May

Woke 8.30am and sunny again. Decided to go to Hayling Island today and Chichester tomorrow, based on weather forecast. Up and ready by 10.00 am to go.

Got to Hayling Island around 11.00am, in time for coffee and biscuit sitting in the sun, looking at lovely view.   The Cafe was a bit rough looking, but they were doing very nice smelling all day breakfast… shame we’d already had our breakfast…

Walked along the coast and found nice spot to sit on the beach, with the wind was surprisingly chilly!

After half hour, decided to have lunch at the pub which was handily right where we were sitting, ‘Inn on The Beach’. Found a great table on terrace overlooking sea and beach, so had fantastic view. Food was great as well, so lovely lunch.

Had another walk, but was a bit disappointed with lack of anything interesting, the main attraction was isolated feeling and great views.   En-route back home, we stopped at Havant as we havant (sic) been there before .    Was pleasant enough, albeit seemed over developed with several retail parks along the main road.

Got back to apartment in time to go to the cinema. Saw Iron Man 3 which was a very action packed film and well worth the £2.50 each (plus nibbles)

Then had walk down high street to seafront and got some chips for supper, before heading back for a cup of tea.

 

Wednesday 8 May

Woke up and looked out of the window from bed. Thick fog and cloud! Took another look and realised window had condensation, so was just cloudy .

Once out of bed at 9.30am, its already brightening up. Went to Chichester for a shopping day, so started by having cup of coffee and cake of course…

I bought some stuff, had pub lunch in the Old Cross.   We both fancied Burger and Chips, which was lucky as the pub did a fine selection of Burger and chips    It was decent enough and not expensive either, which always makes it taste better somehow..

Had walk around, then came back 3ish for cup of tea in the apartment.

Working tomorrow, so relaxing ‘night in’.

Thursday 9 May

Work day, so up at 7.15am! At lunch we ate in as the wind was looking really strong. We then went out for a walk but the wind was really gusty and not pleasant to be walking in so was a very brief walk.

After work went up to local DVD shop as nothing on TV (and is a work night) then went to Hatters Inn (our local Weatherspoons) for dinner. It is curry night so we both ended up having a curry. Was very nice food and very good value so pleased with our choice.

Watched Rock of Ages DVD, it was kind of OK in the end, but would’ve probably switched it off a couple of times, had anything better been available on TV

Friday 10 May

Up and out of bed at 7.15am again. Busy morning at work, so was nice to take stroll in sunshine at lunchtime, although it is still pretty windy!

Glad to finish work today, got three days off now before have to work again

Off to do our food shopping before a modest dinner in tonight (after our not so modest coffee and cakes this afternoon )  

Got to build up the energy for tomorrows celebrations, so popped down to the QEII for a swift one before settling in for the night.

So the first week is over.  So far we’ve been enjoying ourselves, even though had to work a couple of days.   Got another week to look forward to, starting with my birthday tomorrow

Continued on my week 2 write up