Margate

My Dad loves Only Fools and Horses. I grew up watching it with him and although a lot of the jokes went completely over my head, I loved it almost as much as he did.I knew the words to the opening song before I knew the words to my favourite Spice Girls songs. I now own the complete series and specials on DVD and they were what I used to watch in University when I felt ill or homesick.

One of my Dad's favourites episodes is all about the Trotters' annual trip to Margate. Their usual bad luck causes a lot of hilarious adventures, including Del blowing up the coach.

Thankfully, our car didn't blow up on the way so our day trip to Margate only lasted the day. It took a little longer to get there than we thought it would (thank you traffic) but y'know, no exploded car which is always a good thing in my book.

Our arrival in Margate was very stressful, thanks to the absence of car parks anywhere near the beach. We saw signs for parking but whether it was the unfamiliarity of the area or the placement of the signs but we could not find any parking. Using our phones (iPhones do have their uses...) we managed to find a car park that would allow us to walk to the beach and not be bankrupted by the parking fees.

When we found the beach (it involved walking all of our beach stuff down the very steep hill and a 10 minute toilet stop along the way) we were all impressed. I'm not sure what we thought it would be like but we weren't expecting what we saw.

We sat ourselves at the top of steps that led in to the sea and ate our lunch. Our new habit of eating our picnic in places other than sandy beaches is something I am very happy about. Anything that stops me from eating sand-filled sandwiches is fine by me.

Once we set up on the beach, our afternoon was dedicated to doing nothing but relaxing. Anthony napped, I read my new comics, Mum and Dad read their books and my sister sunbathed. I definitely miss the quiet happiness of being perfectly relaxed in sunshine.

When we weren't walking along the sea, we were watching Anthony dig his hole. If you ever go to the beach with Anthony you can guarantee that at some point during the trip, he is going to dig a hole. Even if he doesn't have a spade. The boy is determined and you will have a lot of fun watching him dig and then trying to bury your sister. Who said growing up meant acting like a grown up?

The walk back to the car was a lot less fun than walking to the beach. Carrying the tent, the towels, the picnic box and all the other stuff we had needed made the hill to our car park a lot harder. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing a walk like that with sand in your shoes. The only thing that's worse than a sandy shoe is a sandy sandwich. I love the beach but damn, that sand can be annoying.

Sandy shoes are definitely worth a view like this though. ;)