why here?

We check out of the Huntsman.

It's a couple of hours driving to Haywards Heath. Mostly on Axx roads, with some motorway Quite easy but nowhere to stop. Drive, drive, drive... with occasional holdups at busy intersections. Even roundabouts can get jammed.

We look for somewhere to pause. Nothing. There are probably villages with pubs or cafes off to the side. Google is not much help, not unless we want to take its suggestion and follow to wherever it takes us. It worked better in the days when I drove and Deb had a large scale road map.

But... eventually... Deb spots a pub and pulls in, off the highway.

We're at the White Swan Free House, I have no idea where.

We park. Walk in. say, toilets and coffee please.

We also have a shared some, just a snack. With enough clotted cream even for me. Delicious.

Refreshed, we drive on.

Road signs point variously to London, Brighton, Worthington and finally Haywards Heath.

My phone must have reached the limit of my downloaded map, it won't navigate. Not to worry. We reach the town and Deb sees a sign to our hotel. We pull in and check in.

The Birch Hotel. 1870 according to a sign on the side. It's quite nice, a comfortable room, largish but nothing special.

It's time for a late lunch. We cross a very busy road. Walk beside a very busy road. Find a co op and buy sandwiches. Which we take back and eat in our room.

And relax. Except for Deb, who washes some clothes in the bath.

I decide to have a shower, and fail. I can fill the bath or I can have a scalding hot shower. I settle for the bath.

We have dinner in the hotel bistro. The crowd seems to be young, male, professional. This town is a dormitory suburb for Gatwick which, I guess, means for London and Europe.

Back in our room, we wonder what to do for the days of our stay. All the interesting places seem to be at least an hour's drive away. Too far to consider after today's long drive.

So why did I chose this place?!

My original plan was to stay in one place for a week and see all the local sights. Then go by train to another place, for another week.

HH is a single train trip from LHR, so a good place to start.

Then we rented a car, planned a completely different holiday... but I never changed HH.

Well, I did try. I looked for a self catering place between here and the coast. But... it was all to expensive, too big, too fixed in available dates... too difficult.

Really, I failed in my planning :-(

The hotel is good, for a hotel, but the location is terrible.

We may do more driving than we would like.

Or a lot of walking in woods:-)

Oh well. let's see how we go tomorrow, after a good night's sleep.

Let's finish with a success story:

A couple of holidays ago I bought a camera. Since then, phone cameras have become better than my little camera. Except... , my camera has a viewfinder, so I can see what will be in a photo.

My camera has a battery which lasts less than a day of heavy use. So... back home, I buy a spare battery and a spare charger. When the battery goes flat-- in less than a minute I amclicking again.

That bit of minor success, really pleases me:-)

proofreading

I'm doing more and more swype typing. I find some really weird mistakes.

If anything makes no sense... it's either the swype keyboard. Or I'm channeling James Joyce ...

.

--

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
...

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If everyone is thinking the same way, then someone is not thinking.