5 June 2009

Nick had to get back to London as his flight was on Saturday, so we took him to Scarborough to get a train. Pam and Graham had lunch with us first, then Mum and Dad joined us at the station to see him off. I hated to see him go, even though it is only for two weeks. Back at the car park I soon realised that Nick had taken more than he'd meant to, ie. the car key. In a panic I ran back over to the station to plead for help. At first the girl in the ticket office was being a bit of a jobsworth and saying that there was nothing that she could do, but then she relented and called the next station, Malton, to see if they could intercept him. They got aboard and managed to retrieve the key from a very surprised Nick, and even said they'd have them sent back to Scarborough on the next train. Impressive service for the UK.

It had come on to rain as Mum, Dad and I waved Pam and Graham off on their way home, then we went to meet Fi, Sarah and co., who were in the shopping mall nearby. Emily made a beeline for a Thomas ride, and she and Fern had great fun on it, with Dan a couple of quid lighter by the end.

Though it was still raining lightly we decided to go for a walk down to the seafront. Sarah, Tim and Tom parted with us after a while as Tom needed to sleep, the rest of us continued. We took the old wood-lined funicular for the very short drop down the cliff to the shore. Right by the bottom there was a Night Garden ride, and another pound went on Emily and Fern taking a boat ride with Iggle Piggle.

The surf was up and there were quite a few surfers riding the waves. Emily and Fern enjoyed their walk, though I had to carry Emily a fair bit and wished I had a pushchair for her. Eventually I had to borrow Fi's. I was quite impressed with Scarborough and thought it didn't deserve its reputation as it actually seems a genteel sort of place, with lots of pleasant shops and cafes.

The weather was deteriorating rapidly, so we all set back off for the comfort of the cottage over roads enveloped in thick cloud. The children went wild, having a madcap chase round and round the huge kitchen table with the doll buggies.