Henry romps with Rio and Raffa

Another bright blue day, and Henry and I were out early.

Today we went down to the groynes on the beach. There are concrete and wooden ones, and they control the drift of the shingle along the beach. We inspected the wooden ones, and the wood has been worn away to a lovely smooth surface, with stones stuck in between the cracks for ever. Henry showed off a little bit by jumping over and back. I sensibly walked down to where they disappeared into the shingle as I didn't want to cause a scene by falling over them and breaking something.

We were out (in Trisha's car) nice and early for morning tea at my cousin's house, about half an hour inland. I say half an hour, but by the time we found it along wee country lanes (reminding us of Hockney again) asking everyone we met, it was more like an hour. Hey! A Sat Nav would have been handy!! :-( No worries. They are on country time - ie arrive when you arrive.

She and her husband (Z & S) have the most idyllic small farm -or is it a lifestyle block? Not sure. Made even more idyllic by the addition of a new kitchen, complete with built in coffee machine! S loves his gadgets. AND of course he's got the newest iPad. Z breeds sheep, and so this is a busy time. We inspected the new lambs. Sooo cute.

They have two lovely Hungarian Vizslas, and it must be the only breed of dog I haven't seen on my morning promenades! They are HPR dogs, which, of course, means Hunt, Point and Retrieve dogs. And I haven't got an HDR camera, but I love acronyms and pretending I know how and when to use them.

Vizslas are big, bouncy, energetic dogs, and they loved wee Henry. They seemed absolutely intrigued by him. Z reckoned it was because of his eyebrows - they couldn't see his eyes and so had to keep looking at him. They didn't complain when he gave the odd growl if he thought they were too near his 'owners'. They had great fun on the lawn, charging around. I tried to take an action photo of the three of them, and nearly got knocked over twice by Raffa, or was it Rio?

A wee drive back home through Arundel and the gorgeous South Downs. It was lovely in the car, but when we walked along the beach, with an ice cream, there was a freezing cold wind. Odd that folk were out in tee shirts and shorts. Hardy locals.

We ordered some yummy scrummy bread from the baker nearby to take to Sunday lunch at the farm. The baker was a Kiwi, and there does seem to be a big Kiwi/Aussie population around here. It's definitely had a Very Good influence on the coffee and cakes!

Off to the famous Italian restaurant nearby for fish and chips for tea tonight. Honestly, I've eaten SO much these past few days - but you can't NOT.

I've sensibly given up on sighting Jordan, Katie Price or Julie Walters. All I want to spot is James, my Man-in-a-Red-Suit again! Time is running out!