Weymouth: Golf, Puzzles and Plants

With Betty gone I could begin planning the next phase of my trip. My plan is to head to India for 4-5 weeks and then on to Nepal for a few months. I was in Nepal three years ago and fully enjoyed it so I am looking forward to getting back there. However, I thought that hanging out in England and decompressing for a few weeks wouldn’t hurt before I begin trekking around with a massive backpack in southeast Asia.

For one week, I headed back down to my aunt’s place in Weymouth. My cousin Gemma was on half term break (she works at a school for mentally handicapped children) so she would be hanging out at Shirley’s place for the week as would her husband Charles. Sid and I drove down on Friday, October 22nd after Sid finished work. Sonia, his girlfriend, had an essay to write for an English course she is taking so it was probably good that we vacated the premises and give her some peace.

The next day, Sid, Charles and I headed out for a round of golf at a small course in Weymouth. It was a nice day and all of us played quite well. I actually had the best round I’ve ever played and finished with a 38! (on a par 30) It certainly wasn’t my driving but my pitching was excellent and putting was decent. Sid put in a good round too making his goal of shooting under 50 (at a solid 49!). I believe Charles had a 42 and although he’s a much better golfer than the other two of us, it was his first round in about 6 months thanks to rib and shoulder injuries that have kept him away from the links (they were separate injuries...if you have met Charles, you know he’s a walking accident waiting to happen...who else gives themselves a broken nose and two black eyes by kneeing himself in the face in a bouncy castle the day before our granny’s funeral last year!?!).

That evening we headed over to Steve and Lisa’s place. Lisa is Charles’ sister and Steve helped me back in May with fixing Betty’s skylight that had blown off when I was driving on a motorway. It was good to see them and their two kids, Emily and Charlotte, again. Steve’s folks were visiting and it was nice to chat with them as they have done some traveling recently. Definitely a fun night.

The rest of the week was pretty low key. Gem, Shirley and I did some jigsaw puzzling. It’s been a while since I sat down for a solid session of jigsawing and I’m amazed how addictive it can be. Speaking of addictive, Shirley, Charles, Gem and I also spend a fair number of hours testing our mental competencies on the Wii game of “Big Brain Academy”...lots of fun.

One night we headed out with Charles’ mom and sister, Leslie and Kate, for a pub dinner followed by a stroll around the Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens. The gardens, filled with trees and plants from all over the world were lit up in a variety of colourful hues. It was a lovely way to spend an evening outside now that it is getting dark quite early in England and it was also a nice way to cap off a week in Weymouth...not sure when the next time I’ll be back but I’m sure I will be back...