Out

Well that was a nice day.

Urban-Cub and Ellie came round late in the morning and once everyone was set and ready they presented the Gorse Fox with some birthday presents and cards. He now has a full set of bowls and dishes that he can use with his Instant Pot. He was delighted.

We headed out. The first though had been to walk along the sea front, but after four and a half years we still hadn't been to Hotham Park in Bognor. Well, today was the day. We parked up and got our first bonus. The parking machines were broken so the warden said that parking would be free.

We headed out into the park. It's not huge but it is really quite nice. We wandered round past the boating pond to the cafe where we stopped for a cup of tea and a sandwich.

The cafe was really quite busy and we were queued out of the door, but they were well organised and the queue moved quite quickly. We had managed to find an empty table in the sunshine so staked our claim while waiting for the food to be delivered.

The Gorse Fox finished his coffee and meal first (no surprise there then) so took Ellie for a walk to give Urban-Cub and the Silver Vixen a bit of peace and quiet to finish their meals. Ellie led him round various parts of the park and kept insisting on walking to the top of a rise and then back to the bottom. We must have done this eight or nine times as she ordered "Up!" and once up, "Down!". Oh well, it kept grandad on his toes.

We moved on when the Silver Vixen and Urban-Cub had finished their snacks and strolled through the park. It is easy to see how pretty it must be in the Spring and Summer when the shrubs are in full colour. It was nice enough now in the depths of winter.

We stopped by the ducks but didn't have any food for them so hastily moved on to the children's playground. This, unfortunately, was well in the shade of the trees and, whilst warm in sun, it was a chilly day in the shade. We didn't stay for too long playing on the swings and slide, heading home to warm up in the Orangery while Ellie had a well-earned and well-needed sleep.

Ellie will be staying with us overnight as Urban-Cub is on an early duty at the airport tonight and will collect Ellie on her way home from work tomorrow.