Off to visit my sister.
By Gary Marsh
@garymarsh6 (23393)
United Kingdom
December 27, 2015 2:36am CST
Today I am going to visit my sister in Dover which is around an hours drive away. Hopefully the traffic won't be too bad as many people venture out after the Christmas celebrations. I love to visit Dover which is my birth town. I miss the sea and all the sites. Mind you I have lived away from the town for over 30 years but it feels like I am coming home when I visited it. Dover is the busiest passenger port in the world with ferries leaving for France or Belgium roughly every half an hour. the journey over the English channel takes approximately one hour to Calais or quite a bit longer to Belgium.
I just heard that yesterday was a bumper shopping day for the shops. One particular store took over £2 million pounds in the first hour of trading. ($3million dollars). That is crazy. I do feel sorry for the shop assistants who may have only had a short time with their family on Christmas day. I read some shops opened their doors at 05:00. I do not like shopping on a normal day let alone when there are crowds.
It is still dark outside and now looks quite grey. There are still terrible floods going on in the North of England. York looks more like Venice. It is terribly tragic as thousands of homes are under water. Railways are flooded up to the platforms. It is a dreadful situation. I hope the rains stop soon for them.
What ever you are doing today I hope you have a nice day.
14 people like this
14 responses
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
Yes and it should be enshrined in law here too Anna
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457249)
• Switzerland
27 Dec 15
@garymarsh6 Last year the Swiss population was called to vote to know if they judged that the shops must stay open on Sunday, they said NO.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Dec 15
There have been lots of posts on Facebook saying "think of the doctors, nurses, police, firemen" but I would say staff in retail are just as deserving of our sympathy and thanks, and catering staff in hotels and restaurants open on Christmas day are usually forgotten.
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
Very true. Those poor people in Restaurants and in hotels probably on minimum wage whom many treat like dirt whilst the restaurants charge an arm and a leg for the food. They really do deserve some recognition too. In fact anyone who works in any service industry, bus drivers, train drivers etc deserve some recognition too.I turned down an invitation to some posh hotel last year for Christmas lunch @ £200 a head only to find out later it was for a buffet. Who on earth would want to pay that kind of money for a waiter served lunch let alone a buffet lunch. Ridiculous in my humble opinion!.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
@boiboing To crown it all apparently it was not that good either as they ran out of some dishes. Can you believe that B. I am not a tight wad well actually maybe I am. We would have been guests but I objected to such an overcharge and would have felt very uncomfortable eating the food at that price. So I stuck to my principles and said no and stayed home with a microwave meal instead (Not really LOL)
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
27 Dec 15
@garymarsh6 £200 for a buffet? Hell's teeth, that's ridiculous.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
27 Dec 15
@garymarsh6 Sadly it did even stop the stores from being busy either.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
Or at the very least issue passengers with scuba gear and flippers! How inconsiderate!
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54189)
• Louisville, Kentucky
27 Dec 15
It sounds like everyone is getting a little bit of this nasty weather right now. We had storms roll through last week that caused damage to so many states and last night another one rolled through. Not a great way to spend Christmas. I hope everyone is safe where you are and I hope you enjoy your time with your sister.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54189)
• Louisville, Kentucky
6 Jan 16
@garymarsh6 It would seem perfect to me. It's been so cold here that I either want it to snow or I am ready for spring...lol.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
The town where I live Sharon is often the warmest place in the UK. We are quite fortunate as we have a micro climate in our town which is often 2-3 degrees higher than anywhere else. I saw footage of the horrible tornadoes in the USA.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
2 Jan 16
@simone10 oh l would not call it perfect but it is better than some places.
1 person likes this
@bluesa (15023)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
27 Dec 15
I hope you had a good visit by your sister in Dover. @garymarsh6 I have seen footage of York on telly, just terrible.
1 person likes this
@bluesa (15023)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
28 Dec 15
@garymarsh6 , I do hope the weather will improve soon for them. Yes, all that lovely food, who can resist...:-)
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
Yes thank you Catherine we had a great time stuffed to the gills of course. The weather is terrible. It looks akin to Venice. It is so sad.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
28 Dec 15
Thank you it was wonderful. The flooding is really bad Valerie.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
28 Dec 15
@just4him Yes it certainly is. I have heard about all the tornadoes in the USA fires in Australia. Heat wave in South Africa. Lordy it is mad
1 person likes this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
28 Dec 15
@garymarsh6 Weather the world over is strange this year. I hope the rain stops.
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24650)
• Singapore
27 Dec 15
I hope the shop assistants are getting overtime pay or commission for being so busy.
I wonder how in the world the shoppers have so much money to spend right after Christmas.
If the Chinese tour groups visit the country, i can understand how a shop can get in $3 million in sale.
But as it is, now is not the peak period for Chinese, so I wonder where the rich shoppers come from.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
I hate shopping anyway and I am not Chinese so it is not me! Hope you have a lovely Christmas in Singapore!
@kevin1877uk (36988)
•
27 Dec 15
Didn't get a penny out of me lol, enjoy your time at your sisters.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
Good man that is because you are sensible! Had a great time thanks.
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
28 Dec 15
I didn't realize the flooding was that bad, we are not getting a lot of the news here. Horrible.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
We did enjoy our visit Alfredo. I think she must think we have not eaten all year.She stuffed us with so much food. Oh my word.
@softbabe44 (5816)
• Vancouver, Washington
27 Dec 15
Sounds like you will have a great day at your sisters nice visit.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79571)
• United States
27 Dec 15
Enjoy your trip to visit your sister. I feel the same way when I go back to New York to visit my daughter and her family (that I"m going home since I lived there for more than 60 yrs)
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
27 Dec 15
We had a great time Marilyn thanks. It was lovely to see them again after quite some time I must admit.
@JudyEv (325321)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Dec 15
We were advised not to go from Calais to Dover so we missed seeing the white cliffs. We enjoyed looking through the various attractions in York but I imagine the old gaols are probably under water.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
28 Dec 15
True. I usually only ever go on a Monday evening to the largest shopping centre nearest to me when it is deserted. I would rather have teeth pulled than go any other day!
