Herne Bay in the rain

It has been some weeks since my wife and I visited my father-in-law's bungalow in Herne Bay, Kent. Because it is election day for the next Mayor of London and the members of the London Assembly, the school where my wife normally works on Thursdays was closed as it was being used as a polling station. We therefore decided to go to Herne Bay today, and to use the opportunity to see the solicitor who is dealing with my father-in-law's estate and the estate agent who is selling the bungalow.

The weather was not particularly good, and the drive to Herne Bay was punctuated by heavy rain showers. Once we were there it took us less than fifteen minutes to check that the bungalow was all right and to pick up the mail that had been delivered since our last visit. We then went to the seafront, where we parked close to the fish-and-chip restaurant where we usually eat lunch ... as we did today. The rain was by now falling quite steadily and the wind coming off the sea made the air temperature feel even lower than we had expected.

After an enjoyable lunch of cod and chips, our decision to visit the solicitor turned out to have been a very sensible one. The solicitor had been on the point of writing to my wife to request some information about the bungalow as well as her signature on the sales contract. By visiting the solicitor when we did, we probably speeded up the sales process by nearly a week.

The estate agent had nothing new to tell us, and having done everything we planned to do in Herne Bay, we drove home through the rain showers. The poor weather did nothing to improve the driving conditions, and when combined with the heavy traffic, it made for a less than perfect journey home. We got home late in the afternoon feeling tired and cold, but also feeling that we had made substantial progress.