Happy Birthday Mr P

It's only been a few weeks since we celebrated my birthday and yesterday it was Mr P's turn. I remember in the past people always used to say that relationships where both partners have the same star sign are extremely difficult and pretty much doomed.

Take into consideration that we are both Aries, which are quite head strong and stubborn, you could be excused for thinking that we are a disaster waiting to happen.

Well, that's what I thought 14 years ago...and look where we are now :)

I just remembered that I never shared the pictures we shot when we went out for a pub lunch with Mr P's mum and step dad for my birthday, so let's rectify this straight away.

As we were blessed with the most amazing weather at the end of March, we took a leisurely stroll down to the Lifeboat, a lovely pub situated on the waterfront of the River Medina. Can you believe that we have been living in this area of the Island for around ten years now and not once managed to walk ten minutes down the road to the pub? Yeah, shocking, I know!

It looks lovely from the outside

And it looks lovely from the inside too, shame about the rowdy crowd tho'... (wink, wink)

We had a most wonderful day, so of course we decided that for Mr P's birthday we are going to do something similar.

Oh, we had plans to go to the mainland and take a stroll along to Hamble, or alternatively to walk to Bembridge as we haven't been there for quite some time. But  the weather had other plans for us and decided to be grey, overcast and downright miserable...

Now, we don't mind if it is not overly sunny but for a nice walk you want at least clear skies. So we settled for a walk over to  Cowes and Gurnard, and stop off in a few pubs along the way.

Our first stop was the Portland Inn, which we have passed so many times when we walked through Gurnard and we always said that one day we should check it out. So, the birthday boy decided that it was time :)

It looks not that inviting from the outside:

But the inside made us fall in love with the pub straight away. It looks like someone's living room/dining area. So cute with the many vintage touches. The pig and sheep blackboards on the top shelf and the condiments served in a vintage cup and saucer, had me squealing with delight.

The area in which we sat in was so cosy and cute, look:

The locals were really friendly as well and started chatting to us, someone's cat (she looked like a cross between a Persian and a Maine Coon) just strolled in, took a shine to us and jumped straight onto my lap - as you do...

It was surreal but really enjoyable.

We then walked along the seafront back towards Cowes and stopped off in The Woodvale, where we've been once before and as it was packed at the time we thought we should give it another try.

The outside looks typical for a seafront hotel/pub

The inside..well, it was heaving with people again and the only space we could find was right at the back, next to the pool table...ugh, a big pet peeve of ours to have pool tables in an eating/drinking area.

We did not take pictures (it's not that nice looking anyway) as there were people in the way everywhere and quickly downed our drinks and took off.

So,  the birthday boy had to make the choice - carry on pubbing or get some chips and go home?

See for yourself what Mr P decided:

Yum Yum.

The odd bits you see on the right are actually sausage in batter. The other day we watched Man vs Food again (I LOVE watching Adam pig out) and were introduced to the cozy dog. Mr P told me that you can get battered sausages in the UK too, so our idea was born to try it next time we'd go to the chippie.

Well, while Mr P enjoyed his battered dog, I really did not dig it and seeing that it was his birthday, I let him have both pieces. Mr P was one happy camper (spot the b-dog in his hands?).

The day didn't end there though - as was his wish we carried on with our fatty/greasy day, bought some pizzas for later and got back home to have another movie night (as is the custom on our birthdays...)