RANDOMOSITIES

Did Britain hit a great sale on speed bumps or what?

Smuggling began and became so prolific because of a continual increased rate of taxes. Hmm. Nothing new under the sun, eh?

I'm about halfway through my copy of Dracula that I picked up in Whitby. Creepy! It's even more creepy because now that I've visited the area, I have a more vivid image of the scenes in mind.

Wow. People are really good at parallel parking around here. Maybe because they drive toy cars.

Inland, there are seagulls in the farmers fields. Shouldn't they be eating fish out in the sea?

TIMELINE

9:00 am. Eat breakfast at a little cafe in Hastings town centre then tour the Smugglers Adventure.

Noon Travel farther down the coast to find an old coaching road that's now used for hiking.

2:00-4:00 Hike the countryside. Crest a huge hill and we're able to see the ocean far off.

4:00 Leave for Cheam, where we'll reconnect with old friends and stay the night.

THOUGHTS

Dear British Women, I'm here to kindly educate you on the difference between leggings and tights. Leggings can be worn as pants, but tights? Umm . . . nope. It's awkward for me to know you're wearing a lacy thong and/or flowery print underpants. Tights are for skirts or dresses, girls. Lesson over.

Now that we've got that straightened out, let's move on to clearing up the meaning of an old nursery rhyme. Today while touring deep down in the caves in Hastings, I learned that Little Bo Peep is a commentary on smuggling.

Little Bo Peep (the Revenue men)

has lost her sheep (the smugglers)

and doesn't know where to find them (because they've scattered).

Leave them alone and they'll come home,

dragging their tails behind them (tails were tubs, where the contraband was hidden).

We traded the damp darkness of a cave for the fresh air of an old coaching road, and we couldn't have asked for a better day weather-wise. Sunny with a breeze. Perfect for a few hours of hiking in the countryside. Except for the occasional buzz of a chainsaw or plane overhead, it was easy to imagine what it might've been like for a coach to have traveled this part of the country. Not very comfortable, that's for sure. About as comfortable as my smoking thighs after we climbed the top of a whopping big hill.

One of the biggest highlights of this trip is reconnecting with old friends. Lucie and Martyn Payne (note that last name...which I use for my heroine in my upcoming release Brentwood's Ward) welcomed us into their home with fantastic fellowship and food. Lucie even made a legit dessert. Yes, chocolate. Yes, scrumptious. And Martyn is a wealth of information in giving me even more ideas for what to see and do in London, plus how and what to cluster together. Hmm. I might need a shoehorn to cram in even more, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Moral of the story: it's best if you can find someone familiar with London to help you plan a London trip.