We've been away for a few days with Virginia's sister Justine in Frinton, and a very restful time it was. Perhaps 'attractions' have tended to go to nearby Walton-on-the-Naze, or Clacton which isn't that far, and so left Frinton becalmed. Perhaps Frinton has a psychic balance of peace which repels those who ooze stress. It is very tranquil wandering along the sea front, admiring the beach huts (available for rent or purchase). Quite a few people are employed keeping the numerous beach huts in trim.

We walked to Walton one day which is only a stone's throw away. The pier there was closed, as was the RNLI shop Virginia and I got cards in on Tufty Club outings. The Round Table fish and chip place that we normally frequent on Tufty Club outings was also shut, but we had sandwiches at a place along the seafront in Walton sadly exposed to cigarette smoke. Virginia did detect some delicious doughnuts for us to have on the way back. Mealwise much nicer was a visit to Parker's Garden Centre in Frinton, we ate inside a tent all having a welcome hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. We strayed to Clacton one day, the pier there has quite a few attractions but the place felt down market.

The tide was in quite a lot, with the spray shooting up over the sea wall, but we did go walking on the beach when the seas had receded. Justine collected some small sea shells to adorn her garden with our aid. There is plenty of beach in this area, but happily we were out of season so there was space to walk on it.

During the stay we tried to do a large 1000 piece jigsaw of a Thomas Kinkade painting but didn't get that far. In the evenings we played games in the sunny conservatory at the back of the house we were staying in. Monday night was Scrabble then Tuesday we tried Ratrace which Justine won as she did PayDay we played Wednesday night. PayDay was better but we were learning the rules with most of the games. Thursday's Go For Broke was rather too elaborate and not so successful. The last night (Friday) we played The Worst-Case a game of getting the right answer as to what to do in various disaster scenarios, we had to abandon this. Justine was disappointed that a box labelled Cluedo turned out to be a jigsaw not the game.

We did venture along Frinton High Street, dipping into the charity shops partly to see if we could find the game Cluedo which we failed to do so. I admired the skill of the guy in Costa who provided us lunch one day. There was also The Olde Sweet Shop which provided us with a variety of ice creams to consume - I embarrassed myself by managing to drop a coconut ice cream on their floor!

There are some very expensive places in Frinton along the sea front, for instance the Round House which almost has a moat. This abode displays prominently a picture of two over-endowed nudes for all to see. The over-endowed rich trying to raise the common cultural level?