G & J away from home

Apart from an early departure onto the M1 to avoid some delays on the A1(M) and a long stretch of roadworks on the M1, the trip was pleasantly uneventful - so I was able to read and sleep most the way and hardly needed to wave the map book around at all.

On the way down the M1

We arrived at Sheila's home at the promised 1pm and met her son-in-law, Gavin, who was busy in the upgraded kitchen with his cake baking.  As you can imagine the place smelled fantastic!  We sat out on the patio with a cup of tea and enjoyed the sunshine and views along Sheila's garden.  With all the long gardens backing onto each other the view is almost entirely green, as shown below:

The view from Sheila's patio

After a cup of tea we had a tour of the garden, including popping out the back gate to check out the delightfully overgrown right-of-way that gives access to the gardens for many of the houses.  Sheila told us she has a fox who visits her garden (even snoozes there) as well as squirrels and birds, but sadly no hedgehogs.  It looks like ideal country for hedgehogs.

Gary and Sheila in the right-of-way

We drove around the block to check into the Travelodge - and I have to say that although they're all decorated identically they're not all the same, and this one is particularly well set up.

Travelodge room

As soon as we got into the room I was able to deploy Joan's present of a travel tray to keep all my pocket junk in so that it all stays in one place.  It works a treat.

Joan's travel tray immediately in use

The Travelodge is so close by Sheila's we walked back to have dinner with the family.  (Excellent chicken and dumplings followed by Oreo brownies - thank you, Gavin.)

While we were in Sheila's own dining room we saw a grey squirrel bounced down the length of the garden to have a snack from the bird feeder Gavin's parents had given him.  I'm fairly sure the birds are enjoying it but there was no doubt at all that the squirrel was.  Breakfast cereal, anyone?

Sheila's squirrel

Just to add to the entertainment value the squirrel provided it - or an identical friend - came back and climbed up the bird feeder.  The photo below can be enlarged by clicking on it, and clicking again if necessary, so that the squirrel's acrobatic manoeuvres can be appreciated.  The last photo in the panel shows that it was this squirrel's lucky day; when he got his front feet on the round of bird seed the attaching string let go and the squirrel made off with the whole thing!  I wish I'd got photos of him wrestling it to the ground but we were all laughing too hard to do anything as sensible.

The squirrel's triumph

A lovely day.
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