Time to Meet

Yesterday was a real treat of a day.

One that was possible because of the wonderful world of blogging.

I have been reading and enjoying Penny's  blog for years. We live fairly close to each other and kept saying we should arrange to meet up.

Then a couple of weeks ago she wrote a post about being busy readying herself for a special event.

Penny is co-manageress of her local charity shop and they were taking over the community centre for a day to hold a Here Comes Summer sale.

Well the lure of a long awaited meet up combined with day out and a rummage was too good to miss.

Me, G and S met Penny at the community centre where after a browse around the sale (and a purchase was made) we were able to sit and chat a while.

Penny was so welcoming and friendly and completely lovely.

Like good bloogers we had G take our photo together at the community centre, Penny looked fabulous in both and I looked well, quite frankly, hideous. 

Thankfully we saw each other again later in the afternoon in the charity shop, where we also got to meet Penny's daughter Jess, and she took another much nicer photo.

The charity shop is a real little treasure trove full of all sorts of goodies and all three of us left with something. G with more vinyl, S with 3 books and me with a lavender scented heart to add to my sister's birthday gift.

The community centre is only a short walk away from the shore so that's where we headed next. By now it was nearing lunchtime and so the  Needles Eye Cafe was our next stop. Here S discovered cheesy chips for the first time, we shared a bowl between the three of us. A welcome addition to our very tasty baguettes.

Yesterday's wasn't filled with blue skies as you can see, there was a blustery breeze as we walked along the front

but we could still make out the Needles over at the Isle of Wight.

Although this version of the Needles in one of the shop windows was much clearer!

S kept busy clambering over the rocks where possible and practising some shot put moves with another much smaller one.

After we had waved cheerio to Penny and Jess we made our way to Lymington.

G was looking forward to visiting a vinyl shop he had heard about but was dismayed to find it closed.

However there was a branch of Oxfam and in there he found a copy of  an album he had been wanting. The strange thing about that is that the sleeve inside belonged to another album.

An album he owned already but which was missing this original sleeve.

He was really chuffed with that find.

We all liked the window of the Marie Curie shop. The mannequin was clothed in a dress made from an old map

and hanging up next to it was a swimsuit. Again made from a map with added floral decoration.

People of a certain age may know who I am talking about when I say this bird sculpture we saw reminded us of Professor Yaffle.

We did our day trip by public transport. One bus and three trains each way. It does sound a bit convoluted but it was incredibly straightforward. 
There was much more to see in Lymington and we plan to go back in the summer, on a day when the record shop is open.

We had a great day out exploring somewhere new and meeting up with Penny was the cherry on the top.
We hope to meet up again at some point, this time in Southampton for a perusal of the art gallery or maybe the Sea City museum. 
Thank you Penny for meeting up, it was a treat to meet you, and for introducing us to where you live.