The low budget option

Gosh it's been windy lately hasn't it.  I hope your fences have stood firm and your trees have held their own.  We went to look at the sea on Sunday.  It's the Severn Estuary really, and rarely has proper waves, just a little gentle lapping of the shore.  But when the wind is in the right direction everything changes.  The boys had fun running away from the waves on the slipway.  We stayed quite close to them in case they fell, the water where they were was only ankle deep at most.  Although they did manage to get pretty wet.  Other half mistimed the very first wave and got soaked as well.

I took them birdwatching today.  Well, the biggest boy did most of the birdwatching, the rest of us did an Easter trail and went for a bit of a wander before going to the play area.  We saw a couple of swans nesting, and an avocet egg was laid while we were there.  Someone had seen a first swallow.  The magnolia that I look out for every year was already fading a little.

We're pretty good at not spending money when we go out.  We take our own drinks and snacks and avoid gift shops.  Apart from the petrol and our annual membership of the bird place, these two days out didn't cost anything.  I threw some vegetables in a pan this morning and made a quick batch of soup.  I stuck in flasks along with some other bits for a quick picnic.  I always include good snacks, it's just that they're homemade ones.

This evening I sat on the sofa with the biggest boy looking through his birdwatching magazine.  It's full of adverts for birdwatching kit.  Everything you could possibly imagine.  Binoculars at £2,000 a piece.  I suggested we get a pair.  Each.  And a telescope.  No, two.  They come in at around £3,000.  And we thought a holiday together would be nice.  Five days for £800.  Snacks weren't included.  I told him to go and ask his father for £12,000 (that's around $18,000).  I'll let you know how that goes.