Yesterday we went out for breakfast at a fairly pleasant cafe/bakery and felt once again rather thwarted. I had hoped for really comfortable seating with a long table, we ended up sitting at two different small round tables. There were no specific breakfast options so we had toast and jam. At least I was able to have a very nice coffee. Stephen opted for coffee as well. And, I was able to do yesterday’s blog.

We went back to our AirBNB and packed up our things. Our hostess was there and gave us a little later time, until 4.15 p.m. Stephen had a couple of museums to visit and I wanted to take a lift to one of the hills. There were two, but by the time we spent roaming around West Hill we felt that we didn’t need to go to the other one. There was light cloud, some mist, and some sunshine and it was very beautiful. The Hastings Castle is a ruin, and seemed a bit expensive to us, and I just took photos of the outside.

We had lunch at the West Hill Cafe, which looks like a fairly traditional tea rooms, but had French staff. We could enjoy the views from the large windows. I took some video of the scenery as it seemed the best way to show the panorama, with gulls flying and a breeze. We enjoyed the herring gull sound all the time at Hastings, even in our room.

We picked up our bags and went to the station waiting room until our train arrived. We had a comfortable four seater area with a table. Although passengers came and went at the various stations we were able to maintain our spot. I was reading part of the time, but we also enjoyed the views as we went through the countryside. At first we were by the sea as the train went towards Eastbourne, then headed inland towards Croydon. We arrived home very tired and feeling very happy with our little holiday by the sea. I was particularly happy to come home by train and not have to drive.

Yesterday the cough that has lingered since we had colds a few weeks ago became much worse. I woke up this morning with my voice mostly gone and feeling very congested, with difficulty breathing. This improved once I Croydon GP Hub, with no appointment necessary. It is an alternative to going to Emergency with lesser ailments and open 7 days a week.

I was seen by a nurse after about a 20 minute wait.   She took medical details and checked vital signs, then I was seen by a GP. She confirmed that I didn’t actually have a chest infection. She said to go to Emergency if I had any chest pain and difficulty breathing and precribed lots of fluids and no dairy products or bananas. The experience as a whole was very good, I felt they took me seriously, and I was treated with courtesy. It was also free, even though we are visitors here.

I’ve had a restful day. Stephen went and did the shopping on his own. It is probably going to be our last big shop before we leave here.

Following is a slideshow from our visit to West Hill. The lift has been in operation for 120 years and cost a mere 2 pounds for a return journey. In fact, we walked down the hill afterwards, it wasn’t far, but would quite tough to climb up. With the slideshow it’s best to take it to full screen mode and enable HD for best quality.