the day we became middle class conservatives

Following the deer incident we spent a weekend trapped in EG and realised just how dire our situation was sans car. so, after much deliberation about what campervan would be the best for travelling Europe, the purchase of several campervanning type magazines, going for a test drive in a vw camper - we bought this (!):

BMW 320D 2001

ok, so it isnt really a campervan so much as a normal car - but it does have its good points - i think rohan would like me to point out the 18" alloys - and he just told me to say it has amazing fuel economy. unfortunately it's no more deer proof than the civic. rohan and i are still getting used to the idea of being bmw owners.

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but a car is a car and to celebrate, this weekend we have been road tripping...and where would you chose to go on your inaugural bmw car trip?

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hands up who thought Bognor Regis.

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not many of you surely....but that is where we headed today. you get a pretty good idea of the place from its name - but it is on the coast and that is why we went. turns out that being on the coast was by no means a bonus as it was warm today (24 degrees) and that seemed to be all the encouragement that every ugly person within a 10mile radius of Bognor needed to head to the beach and get their gear off. not nice.

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other than that BR is an unfortunate mix of teenage mums, OAPs and deep fat fried food. the trip was saved by a bit more driving to the seaside town of Selsey which was actually quite serene.

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the day didnt really warrant any photos but we took some anyway - i've also added some from our windswept trip to cornwall a few weeks ago.

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gettin' arty in selsey

sand!

cornwall coast (windy and treacherous)

rohan at Tintagel Castle - said to be the old stomping ground of King Arthur - who is mythical isnt he? doesnt stop the town cashing in on it.

King of the Castle

view from castle grounds

we stopped in at Boscastle - sort of a work related stop as this town was devastated by floods in 2004. Something like 75 cars + 2 buildings flowed down this river and out to sea! flood waters overtopped that arch bridge up there. it is a very pretty little town but yes we are nerds.
the moral of this photo is deers and cars dont mix

day tripping

I had to go to Tunbridge Wells today (after the deer incident) as 'Jones the (idle) Bootmaker' still had my boots (mildly outraged at them taking over a month to resole my boots). However, today it was by bus (deer+car = insurance payout) which was actually very pleasant (if you have a spare hour for a 20minute trip) and I had quite a successful trip (boots - 2, causualties - nil (although a few old codgers on the bus looked like they might not walk off at the other end)).

the bus trip was fantastic - english countryside in the sunshine is stunning and you get a great view over the hedgerows on the top floor of the bus and man, there are some amazing properties over those hedgerows. It still amazes me that with the population and size of britain there is still all this open space. I guess it is because most of the population lives in shoeboxes stacked on top of eachother. I suspect if many londonites sat on the top floor of the 291 from East Grinstead to Tunbridge Wells there might be a revolution...well, if everyone werent so apathetic. I wasnt even put out by the kid with death metal up LOUD on his ipod - i just plugged myself in and turned up my folk music EVEN LOUDER (ha!).

Trip was slightly marred by two things:
1. why arent designers making clothes for size 12 squarish shaped women with a bit of a gut? why?! and
2. young people today. did we all dress the same as eathother?? i dont remember us all looking like clones. maybe we did...they just all look so stupid. although it was quite funny watching the boys trying to impress the girls trying to impress the boys at the bus stop. actually made me feel quite nostalgic. maybe i am just jealous. fat, old and jealous. hmpf.