Birthday

Well, today is the Silver Vixen’s birthday. We woke with a cup of tea and a pile of Birthday cards to wade through. They are now standing on every flat surface in our room. We reflected on yesterday evening. We had gone down to bar for a drink and enjoyed an “amuse bouche” with our tipple. Slowly the bar began to fill up with some of the people from the tour. The Gorse Fox concluded that they were kept in special rooms within the hotel. The beds probably had headstones as opposed to headboards... and there was the heady aroma of lavender mixed with embalming fluid as you enter that wing. One old dear called out “Have you had a nice day, dear?” To her friend. The reply was “Well, I’m still alive!” So the Gorse Fox assumes that’s what constitutes a good day for that tour bus.

Dinner was superb. It was 4 courses and followed by tea or coffee in the lounge. A pianist titled away on his ivories in the corner of the restaurant and there was a pleasant hubbub without it being too noisy. The Silver Vixen started with melon and then a black current sorbet before enjoying the pork belly followed by coffee parfait. The Gorse Fox had a sea bream terrine followed by monkfish before tucking into pork belly followed by cheesecake. A nice bottle of Merlot accompanied all of this.

Today we had a good breakfast down in the restaurant and then headed in to town for a stroll around before the forecast rain set in. The wind was, again, really bracing and it was blowing foam off the sea and across the road. We stopped off at Boots again. The Gorse Fox decided some ibuprofen would be sensible for his knee. Certainly it seems to have improved during the day, since taking it.

When we got back to the hotel a big bunch of flowers was awaiting in the room. This had been arranged by Urban-Cub and Ellie. That was a nice surprise. We had a chat with her and Ellie before getting changed and heading down to the pool and spa.

We started with a swim. It wasn’t a big pool, but it was lovely and warm and we were the only two people making use of it. We glided back and forth for while. The background lighting was a deep blue, and “New Age” music was playing gently over the speakers. It wasn’t so much exercise, as relaxation.  Eventually we decided that we had swum enough, and headed for the sauna. Again, it wasn’t big, but plenty big enough for the two of us. It’s a long time sine the Gorse Fox has had a sauna. He had forgotten how much he enjoys them.

Properly roasted we then headed for the relaxation area. Here, shaped stone seats provide a comfortable place to chill out. The stone seats are actually heated, so you sit there on a warm griddle slowly cooking. It was delightful (particularly when we had finally got the second of these seats to heat up properly).

Back in our room it is clear that the rain has set in for the rest of the day (as forecast). The Gorse Fox suspects that afternoon tea is next on the agenda.