Piers had planned to take me castle hopping today (today being Sunday, Feb 13; yes it’s a bit slow in this part of the world).

That means we were going to see a few castles around the neighbourhood. It does not mean we were gonna, like, do the rain dance on aging battlements.

Although doing the rain dance might have been useful.

It rained fish and monkeys today, and was very windy and freezing cold.

 

 

We had a late breakfast in a beach restaurant and the view wasn’t too good because the windows were rain-drenched so the scenery had a wavy quality to it.

But I had a very nice view of my breakfast.

Would have found it very hard to enjoy my meal otherwise.

 

 

Poached eggs and portobello mushrooms and spinach. Absolutely divine.

Although I must admit that I prefer the more plebian sunny side up. Can never tire of it.

The only times I poach my eggs are in instant noodles cos it’s most convenient to crack the egg into the pot, close the lid, and let it cook together with the noodles.

Okay.

The temperature was about 7°C today, with a wind chill of about 0°C, possibly lower. So it was insane, right.

No, the temperature wasn’t insane.

What was insane was this:

 

 

These people were having a good time in the sea.

HALF NAKED.

IN THE RAIN.

THE WATER WAS PROBABLY AS COLD AS HELL WHEN IT FREEZES OVER.

I must admit the waves looked very fun. Probably not quite strong enough to sweep a grown man off his feet, but should be impactful enough to be fun.

But I would really hate to die of hypothermia.

 

 

Oh, you need to see this picture to understand just how strong the wind was.

 

 

Just a minute in the open, Piers’ umbrella totally flipped out.

It was very funny, especially when Piers tried to violently shake it back into shape again while the wind continued to blast at it everywhichway. I laughed nonstop for 15 minutes till my sides hurt and I was crying.

 

 

It’s a Calvin Klein golf umbrella.

OH. I found it on the net! It’s supposed to be a storm proof, gustbuster umbrella with vents to prevent blowing inside out.

Didn’t work very well, did it?

It was very entertaining, nevertheless.

Because it wouldn’t stop raining, we decided to walk to a museum near the beach and hide in there to wait the rain out. (Mostly for want of something to do, actually.)

The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum is beautiful and worth visiting if you ever visit Bournemouth. It’s not very big, but it’s free to enter.

It was the house of an English couple from the 19th century who spent their entire lives collecting paintings and treasures, and then donated every last thing to the people of Bournemouth when they died.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so, that was basically our day.

The sky just refused to stop raining, and Piers refused to do the rain dance, so we finally went back. Played with Basil and watched TV. Ate McDonald’s yet again.

Nothing overly exciting.

I’m dying to blog about my London trip (yesterday) but I’ve got more than 300 photos to sort through so that will take a while.

WILL GO CASTLE HOPPING TOMORROW. IT WILL BE SUNNY AND NO-RAINY THE WEATHER PEOPLE SAY.

BETTER BE!

Oh, it’s tomorrow now! It’s 1:30 am. Happy Valentine’s Day to all and sundry, and if you’re single, don’t be sad, cos singlehood has its privileges.

Bedtime for me. Bye!