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A full day of activities in Brighton on Daniel's 20th Birthday, touring the Royal Pavilion, visiting the Brighton Marina village and then playing at the St Alfred Bowl in Hove before Diana and I had nice cocktails in the hotel lounge before eating early and watching the film JFK. Bad news from home about the thatching costs for the old Heronshaw,
A very sound night's sleep as we all got used to our rooms and beds, and Debbie got used to not disturbing her room-mates in the middle of the night! We woke Daniel and sang him "Happy Birthday" as he opened his cards and smaller presents from the girls. Diana and I are buying him some more memory for his computer and we ordered it by mail later on. Another huge breakfast for the family after which I got complementary tickets from the hotel reception and took all the party to see the Royal Pavilion. Diana and I particularly enjoyed this tour, appreciating the efforts the Corporation had made to restore both the fabric and contents of the building.
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The day in Brighton shopping, visiting Palace Pier and The Aquarium from which the two dolphins Silver and Missy had been released a year ago with no confirmed sightings thereafter.
The wind blew and the rain really poured this afternoon, and we went an watched a long soppy love story for Diana’s benefit. The news is full of the political election row after the Labour Party highlighted the plight of a young girl having to wait for an ear operation
We were awake at 7.00am with Diana making the morning drinks in the room but we all lay in and took turns in the two bathrooms and so it was 8.45am by the time we were ready for breakfast. The Grand serve a very good breakfast but I was fast reverting to over-eating because of the range of good food available. Tried to walk off this excess by walking around the shops, helping to keep Deborah and Della happy as Di did some serious shopping. Pleased for the rest by the time we had morning coffee and then I struck out on my own and visited the Palace Pier, The Lanes and the Old Steine tourist information office.
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The start of our trip to stay in The Grand Hotel in Brighton with our girls and Daniel & Angela when I took Diana for a look at the shops and memory lane and then to the cinema as the girls watched the room TV and swam in the hotel pool. Outside, the cruel north breeze made things quite unpleasant and then the rain came to finish things off
I was up early to watch as much of the cricket (as Diana would let me) before it was time to get ready to go to Brighton for our three days' stay at The Grand Hotel. I then listened to the close of the match which saw England disappointingly-well beaten by the Pakistan team. It was a long journey for us in the Range Rover, driving down the A1(M), around the M25 and then down the M23 and this was made worse by the lack of catering facilities on these new motorways. We eventually arrived at the Grand Hotel in mid-afternoon and took advantage of the drinks-making facilities in the room to have a rest and refreshment before tackling the city of Brighton.
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The morning making a bonfire out of the old timber and undergrowth that we had been clearing from the plot and moving earth around until I was astonished to find Diana, Daniel and Angela arriving at Heronshaw after his car had broken down in Wymondham.
After warming them up with a cup of tea whilst I finished off, Di took Angela home and I took Daniel to collect his car and towed it back to Paxton. The evening catching up with mail and messages and then sending out quotation requests for the timber to a number of Norfolk sawmills and timber merchants
I was awake quite early and had breakfast whilst listening the radio which was full of election news and current political events. Then, as the wind still being from the north east, I went out and started a bonfire out of all of the old timber and undergrowth that we had been clearing from the plot. I also started moving large volumes of earth in between from the stockpiles into the less-accessible parts of the garden. I worked very hard and so stopped for an early lunch and had quite a rest.
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