Windows Into An Old Town State Of Mind

The weather had turned sublime again today so of course, as visitors to my journal are no doubt aware, this just had to mean a return to the coast. This time we settled on reacquainting ourselves with Hastings.
The first part of our journey was very much interrupted by roadworks - we totalled up at least seven sets - so we were getting not a little fractious and at one point almost contemplated returning home but of course that would have just meant encountering them again in the other direction!
Mercifully the second half of our journey was much more equitable than the first after we reached Tenterden and then followed the country roads to Rye and onwards past East Sussex villages such as Winchelsea, Icklesham and three Guestlings (Thorn, Green and just Guestling singular) before finally arriving in Hastings itself.
Once we had parked the car at the seafront we took a stroll through the town's still seasonally closed amusement park as we inhaled our first coastal air of the day before heading for the Old Town seeking a thirst quenchment facility (otherwise known as a pub). We chose the rather idiosyncratic Hastings Arms which was full of character and home to an array of sculptures made from recycled materials - including a supersized piranha constructed of old tin cans, corrugated iron and various mechanical cast-offs which, a tad disconcertingly, loomed over us in an outside courtyard as we imbibed our drinks.
The Old Town was buzzing with people, including several parties of slightly overexcited school children, which just added to its wonderfully characterful charm with its myriad of independent shops all seemingly with gloriously colourful window displays and their own fantastic reflections which I decided to chose as the theme for today's blip.
My main image was taken outside an ice cream and drinks emporium and I just loved how the paper ice cream cones looked like they were floating in mid air, with the first extra being a partial selfie taken outside a sweet shop (that's me channelling my outer "mallow man" clicking the shutter in the bottom right hand corner) with its own giant lollipop advertising its wares and my last image captured outside a furniture store which had once been a purveyor of the finest meat and poultry.
After taking in all the sights, sounds and colours of the Old Town we headed to the quieter surroundings of the beach with its community of fishing vessels and accompanying paraphernalia scattered across the shingle where a gratefully received refreshing breeze was coming in off the sea.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and thankfully found an alternative route home which avoided the aforementioned roadworks and still meant we had time to stop off at The Black Horse in Pluckley for some further refreshment and a debrief of our latest coastal adventure.