Southend-On-Sea Post Of Day One Part Two,

continuing our day,

I tried to take a few more photographs of the plovers,

but with just a wide angle to normal lens,

it was never going to be easy,

unknown to me Diana had walked upstairs,

and there she was,

all smiles as usual,

I joined here there,

looking back to the café/restaurant we had just has a coffee at,

I was still intrigued by these benches,

they are gifts I guess in memory of a departed relative,

I was just wondering if they were made by a local blacksmith,

they will certainly last longer than the wooden ones we often see in parks, but then the problem here would not be the wood rotting, but the metal rusting,

the end of the pier,

where there is a huge bell, perhaps before electrical fog horns this bell was sounded in fog?

we started back,

towards the disused jetty,

before we left the top deck, Diana made this short video,

we started towards the café,

"boo!', that made Diana jump!

I tried to sneak up on another plover, 

and got just a tad closer,

as we walked,

I spotted this young chap fishing,

I inquired,

but they had no luck so far,

we made our way to the station,

and luckily did not have to wait long for a train,

we were soon underway,

and passing some more benches,

but these were different designs,

to the ones we had seen before,

not long now,

the amusement park getting closer every second, although not yet open I can just imagine the crowds here in the summer season,

I had a quick look at the new train,

you could see it was new, not a mark on any of the couplings or wiring,

it was now late in the afternoon,

as we made our way from the pier,

and towards the hotel,

in we went, and checked in,

at the reception in the lobby this plaque,

commemorating Laurel & Hardy,

our room,

by now we were both hungry,

so a local Indian restaurant it was then, starting with poppadum's,

and a selection of condiments,

for our starter chicken chat for Diana,

a prawn puri for myself,

'Cheers!', from Diana, for a change I chose Mateus Rose,

we ordered 3 main dishes plus a vegetable dish and a pulao rice,

'Cheers!',

we were given some complementary after dinner chocolates,

the restaurant we chose was the Amina, the meal came to £60.00,

the walk back to the hotel,

was cold, windy and wet,

great to be back in the warmth of the lift!

we decided to have a proper warm up in the hotels bar,

coffee for Diana,

a spiced rum for myself,

I looked at the drinks menu which I have to say seemed quite fair,

we both relaxed,

and warmed up,

but then decided to brave the elements by going out on the balcony,

it was so cold, one photograph each,

 and Diana made this video, and we were then back inside, if you would like to see our second day in Southend-On-Sea please click the 'Older Posts' button at the bottom right of the page, we visit a cat café and see snow, no not the cat! it was by now late, so we were off to bed.