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Off to Sussex

Chemo session 3 is now over so we have a week to fill before the next lot.

Last night we stayed in St Albans, Gill used to work there and we lived close by so it was a good trip down memory lane although of course it has changed a bit in the last 45 years.

We had a very nice Thai meal (I don’t think there was anything as adventurous as that 44 years ago and a lovely old barn in the centre of town which was a restaurant has been restored by Wetherspoons so we were able to indulge in two plates of eggs Benedict, unlimited coffee this morning in front of a real fire all for £13, rather less than the hotel charge for breakfast.

Whilst people knock Wetherspoons they have restored many "lost causes" of buildings using a bit of imagination and this is a good example.

My sister kindly bought us National Trust membership for my birthday so the maps have been inspected to find the areas with the highest density of expensive NT houses so we can get the best return on this investment.

The Sunday Times had a story last week of someone who cycled over 5,000 miles to every one of the 624 sites in one tour. We won’t be that dedicated, no point in going to the free ones!

After a slow journey in torrential rain around the M25 we stopped at Chartwell House in order to “save” £40 using our new NT membership.

The house was bought by Churchill as his family home in 1922 and I can see why he loved it.

A manageable house with beautiful views (even in the rain) and having been modernised when he bought it it was probably a very comfortable family home. Clementine (his wife) did not like it as for most of his life Churchill was hard up and she thought it was an extravagance they could not afford. The picture left is of his study where he produced his famous books for one of which he was given the Nobel prize for literature.

So we are now in Rye, staying in a nice B&B with it's own windmill which we will photograph when it stops raining. Stand by for pictures of a picturesque town which will be explored tomorrow.