Saturday 28 April 2012

Saturday 28th April 2012

So, after battling with my work laptop for a couple of hours, and it deciding to lock me out refusing to believe it had ever met me before, I went down to dinner leaving the laptop to think about what it had done. There is something very sad about a hotel that deals with the business traveller; about a dozen tables with four seats are scattered around the bar area, each one has four place settings, a single flower in a small vase at the centre of the table; and at each table, a single customer, each reading a free copy of the"i" newspaper. I join them at a table on my own. I order a Caesar Salad followed by Beef Wellington with fresh vegetables. And a pint of fully leaded Stella; none of that namby pamby 4% stuff they insist on advertising on TV. And despite being full enough after two courses, I hear myself ordering the cheeseboard and another pint of wifebeater. Oh, I was full. I went back up to my room and flicked through the bizarre selection of TV channels; for example, BBC3; yes, but BBC4; no. I went to bed. Up with the larks in the morning, and laid in bed listening to the BBC news on the TV. I have a shower and just past seven head down to breakfast. Once again single people sitting alone at tables for four people. I have bran flakes and fruit salads, managing to ignore the selection of fried food on offer. Warrington Bank Quay Outside it had stopped raining, so I managed to keep dry on the 5 minute walk to work. And then followed a three and a half hour meeting with my boss, more fighting with my laptop, which did actually acknowledge my existence and allow me to log on. What amazed me was that at nine in the morning, a tray of bacon sandwiches was brought in for the folks who work in the office, they have free cans of drink too, and yet we who work on the service sites get neither. Something wrong somewhere I feel. Warrington Bank Quay Anyway, at half twelve, the taxi comes to pick me up to take me to the station for my train at twenty past one. I had a seat booked, but the seat had no window! I mean how did that happen in the 21st century, on a long distance train, they put in seats that have no window. But before the train arrives, I go to the laughingly named 'buffet' and order a panini and a coffee. The panini is microwaved and horrible, and somehow the coffee is even worse. I leave to coffee on a wall on the station as they are no bins on the station. Knowing the seat has no window, I buy a copy of Private Eye to read, and I read it all in the time, an hour and three quarters, it took to reach Euston. Warrington Bank Quay I grab a tube to St Pancras, and a train to Ashford left within 10 minutes; and at Ashford the train to Dover arrived in a couple of minutes. The upshot being that I left Warrington Bank Quay at twenty past one and was at Dover at five. Three hours 40 minutes, which isn't bad for a travel time from Lancashire. Jools was waiting for me in the car, and it took just over 5 minutes to get home and put the kettle on. The weekend had arrived!

Saturday 28th April 2012

Here I am sitting in a dull hotel room in Warrington, Lancs. The rain is beating down outside, the light is awful, and so there really is no need to be going out into the night to take in the bright lights of the town. I would have done if it had been dry, but there really is little point in going out. To reach ‘normal’ life from this surreal one in this faceless business park beside the M62 requires a car or taxi, a tenner in a taxi, and double that for the return trip. I am staying at the local Ramada, I stayed here before and it was awful. It promises to be no better; catering for the business traveller has made them lazy as they know thay can get away with moor food and service; if I had my way, I would go somewhere else. But…….

So, this week has seen a continuation of the dreary wet weather. I say dreary, it is anything but, as the sky is torn in twain by bolts of lightning on a regular basis, and torrents of rain of biblical proportions falls from the sky once again. I can just sit and watch from my office in Ramsgate.

So, the week passed slowly, with the excitement of heading into Canterbury on Tuesday night as we got tickets to see Paul Merton on stage at the new Marlowe Theatre. We headed out once we had changed and wolfed down cheese and beans on toast; the rain had stopped and there was sunshine! Time for some photography beforehand then. We parked up and walked to the theatre to collect our tickets, then to the Cathedral to snap it in the warm evening light. We called in at a pub, the Thomas Becket for some liquid refreshment before it was time to head to the Marlowe and take our seats.

Mercery Lane, Canterbury Two of the few tickets were in a small box overlooking the stage; the website called them restricted view, but to us they were fine. It had just two seats, and the view was fine, certainly for some standup, and there would be no people wanting to push past us to get to their seats. The show was fine, and revealing about the life of one of the country’s leading comedians.

The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury Once over we walked through the crowds, pausing just for me to snap the theatre in the dark; and then back to the car and home. I had thought, like most folk, that Chelsea stood no chance against Barcelona in the CL semi-final; but despite having John Terry sent off and going two goals down before half time, they fought back to draw 2-2 and go through. I kept up to date via my mobile, and twice I saw the scores and failed to realise it was good news for Chelsea. I can’t even blame it on booze as I was driving.

The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury And now here I am up here in the north of England, although it looks as though it could be anywhere in truth. Our head office is just another faceless office building, but it is where I SHOULD work, but my boss lets me use the office in Ramsgate. Thanks to the high-speed line into St Pancras, and the great trains out of Euston, it only took three and a half hours to get to Warrington from Dover, and was really quite painless; well, except for the endless chattering, loud chattering, in Chinese, of the woman opposite me for the whole hour and three quarters out of London.

The countryside is clearly waking up; trees have leaves opening, and the fields are green and mostly yellow thanks to the huge amount of rapeseed being grown again. The train goes too fast through stations to actually see their names, but some I guessed, but most were pretty faceless and slipped by in a couple of blinks.

Bridgewater Park And here we are; back in the north, if only for a day. I have a meeting with my boss in the morning, before heading back south and home for the weekend. Still, makes a change and breaks the week up a bit, and gets me riding trains for free.

Which is nice.

Monday 23 April 2012

Monday 23rd April 2012

The orchid hunters! With one again the weather threatening not to play ball with our plans for photographic trips outside in the great outdoors, we decided to see how things panned out and take it from there. So, Saturday morning, I took the chance to head into Dover for a haircut, and for the early morning cloud maybe to clear. A quick dash back home to pick up Jools and then a stopover at Waldershare Woods to have a look at the wild garlic. We parked up at the church and walked through the overgrown graveyard and down the path beyond. As it turned out, the wild garlic is maybe a week from being at their peak, but is always a pleasure to walk through the lush vegetation releasing the garlic smell into the air. Around a tree just off the path, in a pool of sunlight, some bluebells were already in bloom, and so I wade through the garlic to snap them. Wild Garlic Everywhere we look, plants were waking up with fresh shoots and leaves everywhere, the most photogenic of which I snap. We end up back to the car and head out to Preston as we needed to buy something for Sunday lunch, and roast lamb seemed to be the perfect thing. Whilst I went to the butcher, Jools went to look round the garden centre next door, as some of the plants in our front garden failed to make it through the winter. And so I bought some pork pies for lunch as well as some nice smoked back for bacon butties for Sunday morning breakfast. Oh, and some pork scratchings which might go well if we get hungry whilst watching TV. Bluebell Back home then to eat the pork pies and be ready in time for the kick off for the ‘big’ game; Arsenal v Chelsea. And what a bore-fest that proved to be, with me struggling to keep my eyes open as the fought out a 0-0 draw. And then to sit with all ears concentrating on the Blackburn v Norwich game. Should have been a good chance for City to climb to 46 points with a win, but once falling behind after half an hour, they really didn’t recover and slumped to a 2-0 defeat. Oh well. Lichen The plan on Sunday was to head to the cliffs to look for some orchids; Early Spider Orchids in particular. I Googled for the orchids before leaving the house and it seemed that Samphire Hoe was the best location in the country. So, a change of plan and we headed out through Dover to the Hoe. As we parked up, another photographer was just returning to his car, and we passed the time of day, and he said where to go to see the orchids. He also told us of a site up the Elham Valley where more orchids can be found. We stored that information up, maybe for a bit of a mystery trip later. Early Spider Orchid We bumped into another photographer friend as he was getting out of his car, and we walked and talked as we headed to where the orchids were. Despite there being fine rolling grass covered hillocks, the orchids seemed to prefer to grow on the side of a track beside the railway line, and so we saw the occasional flash of pink and purple as the orchids had begun to bloom. I guess the orchids were less than 3 inches high, and if you did not know they were there, you would just pass them; but through the viewfinder of a camera, the blooms are sensationally beautiful, looking like a small insect. I snapped them plenty, and once we had reached the slope leading to the beach at the foot of the cliffs, we headed back to the car to consult our large scale map to try and find the place the photographer mentioned. Thankfully, we knew the area quite well, and with the map we thought we know where the meadow was. And we set off. Once in the Elham Valley we turned off after we passed through Elham, and took a right turn, then a left. And once the narrow lane had passed through a small wood, there was the lay-by, and a sign marking the site could be seen in the hedgerow. Early Purple Orchid We parked up, and headed out onto the meadow, being attracted by any flash of colour other than that of the grass. Most of the colour was from violets, bluebells, cowslips or primroses. Thinking that we would not find anything, I was distracted by a bee-fly which I wanted to snap as it settled. As Jools watched me, she noticed some pink in the brass around our feet. And as we inspected, we saw about half a dozen small orchids, each one forming a small pink pyramid. We laid down in the grass and snapped them, happy to have found the Early Purples. Park Gate, Kent With that we decided to head back home, as I had skipped breakfast and was by now hungry. I cooked bacon butties for lunch, which were very welcome indeed. And as it was still sunny, we then went outside to gig the much-delayed new flower bed. We took turns in cutting the old lawn out, and then spreading fresh compost. We now have the fun of choosing some new plants with which to fill it. For dinner I cooked the lamb we bought the day before, and very good it was too, with fresh steamed vegetables and roast potatoes. And that was your weekend.

Thursday 19 April 2012

Thursday 19th April 2012

19th of June 2010 seems a long time ago now. But then in other ways it seems like yesterday. Anyway, whichever way you look at it, two years ago today I started work on the Thanet Windfarm, which lead in time to a permanent position with the company that manufactured and installed the turbines.

Thankfully, I write these blogs, and so I am able to go back and read how things were back then. I remember that when I was told I had the job, after four months on the dole, I did get quite emotional. I didn’t realise how badly it was affecting me. I think that the repeated visits to the Job Centre, answering the same questions as though you’re not believed that really are looking for work and probably quite enjoy life with no work, and the lack of money that brings. But on top of that, it’s the self-doubt of one’s worth as the weeks stretch into months with no interviews, let alone jobs.

And here we are, two years later; it seems we have our heads a little further above water and seem to have a little more free cash each month. We are able to get out and visit places, maybe take in a show or two once in a while. It all makes life worth living, the frilly bits round the edge.

This year has not been a bed of roses; Vestas has been reorganising itself, and it is still going on, with the doubt and uncertainty that brings. We have been told, as far as our department is concerned, all that is over, but then again, that has been said before…..

If all goes well, I will have about 6 months left working out of the office in Ramsgate before the next project really ramps up and I see myself travelling in a triangle between home, Esbjerg and a small island on the Swedish coast (where the next project is); so, that is the (possible) plan. Before then, we have a trip to visit our friends in Bonn over the May Day bank holiday with a cruise on the Rheine; then a week in a cottage on the North Yorkshire moors, and possibly even more exciting stuff later in the year. We shall see. And work does make it all worthwhile; so although hardly anyone really enjoys work, it does make the good stuff in our life possible; house, holidays, concerts, meals out, cats and all the other great stuff we have in our lives.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Wednesday 18th April 2012

And so, after a four day week, the weekend did arrive, slowly and with great fanfare at four o’clock on Friday afternoon. And I did make my way down the stairs, out into the car park, into the Polo and off home. Stopping only to pick Jools up from the bus stop, we went straight home, and flopped down on the sofa, apparently pooped. How do we get so pooped just working at a desk?

I did do a session on the cross-trainer before cooking dinner; a nice healthy prawn stir-fry with some Thai sauce. And we then flopping down again on the sofa to watch Gardener’s World and HIGNFY on TV. It may not be exciting, but we were joined on the sofa by Molly, and all was right with the world.

Paddington

We had decided to head to Windsor on Saturday, as Southeastern were having a train ticket sale, and we could get to Windsor for the price of just getting to London. And as usual it like a military operation; up before dawn, breakfast and down to the station for the 06:44 service to St Pancras. All went well, but despite having the credit card I had ordered the ticket with me, I needed the reference number; which I did not have, but luckily I did get the mail from my phone. Well, after downloading the update anyway.

In London by eight, across London to Paddington by tube, to find that a train to Slough was about to leave. We jump on board; not literally, but we do jump to it, get a seat by the window, and soon we are zooming through West London and out into the Thames valley. At Slough there was a train waiting; we cross the platform to board the 2 coach DMU, and soon we were rattling along the short branch, over the Thames and into the Royal borough of Windsor.

Windsor and Eton Central Station

And we had decided to come because of that Michael Portillo bloke and his Great British Railway Journeys TV show, one episode saw him in Windsor marvelling at the station. Yes, the station which had been enlarged for Queen Victoria, and for a station at the end of a half mile branch had two b island platforms and a bay one too. And the building is huge, more like a London terminus. It is now filled with restaurants and eateries, but is still glorious. And we celebrated this fact by choosing to have second breakfast at the Cinnamon Café; bacon butties and large Americanos.

Windsor and Eton Central Station; the ticket office

Bellies full we did a quick tour round the town before the crowds arrived, with me snapping as I went. Into the parish church where we received a very warm welcome indeed, and I snapped some more.

The Crooked House of Windsor

Time then to head to the castle; and with heavy hearts and less heavy wallets, at least after we had paid, we bought our tickets for £17 each, and we could go in. Just don’t stand on the grass. There were signs.

Windsor Castle

Sadly, photography wasn’t allowed in any of the castle buildings; so you’ll just have to go yourself to see how grand and wonderful it all is. But all that luxury and privilege has hardened my republican heart, and I am even more firmly convinced that we should abolish the monarchy and spend the money on the poor, the ill or the sick. The castles, palaces and crown jewels will still be there, will mean the same thing, and people will pay huge sums to go and visit them. Just a rich woman and her family won’t have to live in palaces, or travel in horse drawn carriages to open a new Aldi Store or a bridge and have to have those really tough month long holidays at Sandringham or Balmoral.

The Upper Ward, Windsor Castle

Anyway, I did enjoy myself; would have been better if I could have taken some photographs inside, but, I didn’t. Well, except after coming out of St George’s Chapel, I did nap Prince Albert’s chapel as I thought I was outside the no photography area and took a couple of shots before I saw the sign.

Albert Memorial Chapel, Windsor Castle

Honest.

We walked back into the town, down towards the river, over the bridge into Eton where I photographed some street art, a boathouse and a pub before we headed back over the river to look for a pub that had been recommended. We found it, had a beer and some Thai snacks before deciding the crowds were too thick now and we might like to go home.

The Norman Gate, Windsor Castle

Which is what we did.

5 minute wait at Windsor.

10 minute wait at Slough.

No wait for the tube at Paddington.

And 10 minutes at St Pancras.

Which meant we were home by half three, by which time Norwich had already lost 6-1 to Manchester City. The goal rush came in a short spell in the second half, apparently when Citeh scored with every attack. But up to that point City had matched them. Oh well, we still have 43 points and are all but safe.

Changing the Guard

And Saturday night we went to Folkestone to see the German Comedy Ambassador, Henning Wehn, perform at the Quarterhouse. As ever, he was funny, but too much exposure on radio and TV meant we had heard much of the material. But, it was mostly still funny, and it was a night out.

And so Sunday rolled round, and as we prepared to head out to the woods to photograph the bluebells in the early morning sunshine, I saw on a Flickr message board that they were so way from being at their peak. So, we put the kettle back on and had another cuppa, turned the heating up a couple of notches and chilled out.

Mid-morning Jools went out to Tesco and to pick Nan up as she was coming round for lunch (and dinner). I went on the cross-trainer and did another 40 minutes and so felt quite good after a nice refreshing shower. We all had rolls for lunch, and then Nan and I sat down to watch football on TV. Nan only likes sport, mainly tennis, but will watch football when there is no tennis on.

Holly Blue Butterfly

YAY.

So far, nothing really exciting happened. And that’s the way it really continued.

I cooked roast beef for dinner, which I have to say was quite good, although it was using a joint from Tesco which really shows they don’t know how to do everything. And we rounded off the day, once Jools had taken Nan back home, we sat down to watch Antiques Roadshow. It’s all rock and roll for us.

And so back to the working week.

On Tuesday, I got a migraine. At work. I say this as there really isn’t much use for a blinding headache at work. Well, I say headache, I got flashing lights in my vision, and concentration was impossible. It passed after an hour, but come back for second helpings at lunch. I worked through it, but my head felt very tender and so went home at two; took to my bead and was joined my Mulder once he realised that my appearance wasn’t going to lead to his bowl being filled with nice fresh food.

And the football season is reaching its climax. Or building to its climax. If we were to listen to the commentators, and with each passing week the hyperbole building, it would be that by the beginning of May the future of the entire planet is at stake. It isn’t, but it is exciting. No, really. As issues are settled with each passing match day, or at least in the Football League. It is the first leg of the Champions League this week, and last night Munich played Real Madrid; it was all tense stuff; so tense that players kept falling over holding their shins or knees. It seems that victory can only be obtained by cheating and getting members of the opposition booked and sent off. That both teams do this does not make it right. In all honesty, it didn’t matter who won, but seeing Mr Ronaldo’s scowl made a Munich victory almost enjoyable. Tonight Chelski play Barca, and it should be tense but interesting too.

Other than that, despite there being an official drought in South-East England, it has rained every day for a week, with more heavy rain due to come this week and over the weekend. Such is life……

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Wednesday 11th April 2012

And so to Bank Holiday Monday. Like all other Mondays except with more rain.

On occasion, we have Bank Holidays without rain, but it seems to be traditional that we spend each Bank Holiday either inside the house watching the rain run down the windows, or sitting in a car on some godforsaken promenade car park watching the rain sweep in and the brave rushing by with inside out umbrellas or newspapers pressed to their heads in a vain attempt to keep one part of their body dry.

Well, Easter Monday began grey, with no rain. It looked like it was going to rain at any moment, so we sat inside and waited for the rain to fall. In hindsight we should just have put on our walking boots and gone out. But, we didn’t. And just before lunch the rain began to fall, and did not stop until well after darkness had fallen.

After watching yet more football thanks to a recording of MOTD, and another session on the cross trainer, I cooked steak and ale pie, along with all the usual vegetable trimmings for lunch.

Tulips

As the rain hammered down outside, Jools sat down to watch more episodes of ‘Enterprise’ and I went upstairs to read more of the Andy Kersham autobiography and to listen to the football on the radio. In an unexpected turn of events, Norwich took the lead at White Hart Lane, only to be pegged back soon after half time. And as I tried to keep my eyes open, news of another goal at The Lane; I groaned, only to hear the commentator say Norwich had deservedly taken the lead again.

‘Yes!’ I shout at no one in particular.

And then a half hour wait to see if we could hang on. I say hang on, seems like City push for a third instead, and so keep Spurs on the back foot, and so City hang on for another three points and now sit at tenth on 43 premier league points. Still not certain of staying up, but so close you can smell it.

Smells like spring

We have cheese and crackers for dinner, which I washed down with some nice German beer; seemed the right thing to do to be honest.

And so, Tuesday came round, as did I, and outside the sun shone down from an almost completely blue sky. Typical! And so it was time to head to work and battle the evil that is my new work laptop.

One good thing that did happen yesterday was that I reached the final notch in my belt, which means I am losing weight; slowly, but it is coming off, which does make all those sessions on the cross trainer worth it. To make it even better, it seems my cold/flu is almost gone, and I can breathe now without blowing bubbles through my nose, which is pleasant for everyone in the house and at work.

Twins

And after picking Jools up from work, and feeding the cats, we head out for a short evening walk. The wind is still cool and keen, but the sun did shine, and out of the wind the day is almost warm. But, bands of rain clouds are expected to sweep across the country for the rest of the week. But that doesn’t matter so much as rain at the weekend, which is hardly ever a good thing…….

Monday 9 April 2012

Monday 9th April 2012

Bank Holiday Monday.

Or waiting for the rain to fall.

When I looked at the calendar at the beginning of the year and saw that Easter was the fall on the first weekend of April this year, one's mind was full of images of sunshine, daffodils and thoughts of long walks through the springlike countryside. What we got from Easter 2012 was one sunny Good Friday, a rainy Saturday, a cold, windy and foggy Easter Sunday and now torrential rain on the Monday.

*Sigh*

So, Friday morning, despite wanting nothing more than to just lay in bed and snooze, we got up early and by eight o'clock were out on the roads heading towards Tunbridge Wells. Being Good Friday, the roads were clear, and with the sun shining from a clear blue sky, it was wonderful to be out. We drove through Maidstone and headed west towards Tunbridge. We found a place to park near the centre of the town, and set of for the bright lights.

Monson Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells

Tunbridge Wells is a fine Georgian town, which most of the intervening years have hardly touched; so it is a wonderful mix of styles from the last 400 years.

Our plan was to head to the most beautiful part of the town, The Pantiles, which used to be the market, and in Georgian times, where the great and good would parade up and down in their finery. Now it is a mix of clapperboard buildings filled with shops and eateries.

Town Hall Entrance, Royal Tunbridge Wells

We walked towards a large building we could see down the meandering street we came out in, and found what looked like the main street running through the town and down towards the railway station and The Pantiles. On the left hand side were a collection of square 1930s buildings, all in the same style; one being the town hall, one being the police station, one being a theatre and the final one the public library. Although they look ok, the collection of grand buildings don't look at all welcoming and give the impression that the town had ideas above its station. But then it does have the prefix 'Royal' before the town's name.

Payne & Son, High Street, Tunbridge Wells

Anyway, we walk down Mt Pleasant Road, past a 1930 cinema waiting to be pulled down, The Grand Hall, the railways station and a church with the grand name of The Parish Church of King Charles the Martyr, over the road to the Pantiles.

As it was now some three hours since we had our usual breakfast of cereal, we thought we might have another, and so we found a nice place with tables out on the Pantiles itself, and so sat down and ordered, then ate Eggs Benedict Royale (for me) and huge bacon butties (for Jools).
The Pantiles


Once full we wandered around, and I bought two bags of coffee beans from a place called The Daily Grind, where a nice young man from Chicago advised us which beans we might like to buy and he suggest places we might like to visit and photograph.

I looked in the independent camera shop; I need to replace the 50mm lens I have has the motor failed when we were away in Devizes. But I baulked at the price, some £25 more than I can get it online.

We walked back over the main road to the church, to find it a hive of activity as it was being readied for the Easter service at midday. I got the shots I wanted and we made our way out before we could be invited to stay.

We walked back along the High Street towards the car, stopping off in a large park behind the Grand Hall, hoping to see some spring colour. There were daffodils and tulips, but still much was yet to bloom, but we sat for a while on a bench in the warm sunshine watching the world go by or play football on the grass in front of us.

We headed back to the car, but instead of driving directly back home, I thought we should call in at some of the churches we saw on the way up; so we stopped at three fine churches, but failed to get in any of them due to there being two Easter services going on, and in the other the doors were locked because of a recent spate of thefts. Sad but true.

GWUK #340 St John the Baptist, Wateringbury

Saturday, as promised dawn grey and damp and just got damper. I listened to the radio as is my want, and managed to get back onto the cross-trainer now my cold appears to be loosening it's grip. And, it being Easter, I made a fine batch of saffron buns, which as the day wore on, rose nicely in the bowl, and then once in the oven filled the air with the fine smell of yeast and saffron. There really is nothing better than a warm saffron bun out of the oven, smeared with lots of salted butter and a nice big cup of builder's tea.

In the afternoon, I tried to stay awake on the sofa whilst listening to the football; Norwich came from behind twice to draw with Everton at home, and so reach the Holy Grail of 40 points for the season, and get to be even safer from the threat of relegation.

Sunday, if anything, was worse weather-wise than Saturday, and the heavy drizzle soon turned into a swirling sea fog in the stiff breeze, and our view of the centre of the village was lost. I roasted leg of lamb for dinner, which was rather wonderful, as I had just grapefruit for breakfast after another session on the cross trainer, and by half one I was very, very hungry indeed.

The main task for the afternoon was to try to stay awake on the sofa whilst watching the football on TV; in that I was only partially successful, and missed most of the first half of the Manchester United v QPR game.

Monday 2 April 2012

Monday 2nd April 2012

And lo, after the weekend the sun did shine.

In fact, on Sunday the sun did shine too, but yesterday, I felt like death warmed up. You see, last week's sniffle developed quickly into a cold and a chesty cough. Which had the wonderful side effect of filling my nose and sinuses with green custard and stopping me from sleeping. Average hours sleep achieved since Tuesday varied between one and four hours. And by God did I feel crap most of the time. I took Wednesday off due to the single hour of sleep I received the previous night, and things did not improve until Sunday night. After waking up at a quarter past twelve on Sunday morning, for the second night running, I did the only thing I could think of and had two huge whiskies to knock me out.
It kinda worked, and I got four more hours and felt vaguely human for all of Sunday. But not human enough to actually want to go out and do stuff. We did go for a short walk to see the pigs again, but i felt too washed out to go any further, and so I turned back home whilst Jools went to the local farm to see if they had any nice plants for sale, only to find they gave that up last year.

Snake's Head Fritillary

Back home I made a loaf of bread to go with the nice ham I bought, and so we had warm wholemeal sandwiches filled with ham cut off the bone, along with hot mugs of coffee for lunch. And for the afternoon I dozed on the sofa whilst watching Liverpool stumble to yet another defeat, this time against Liverpool.

Saturday we went out to have breakfast with two friends from Ashford, who came over to see us. The place on the cliffs wasn't open, so we went to the old fall back option of Deal pier. It was cool, almost cold, at least compared to the springlike weather we had during the week, but soon we were sitting down to fine fried breakfasts and big mugs of tea.

Thistle

As Dadi is expecting, they cut their visit shot, and after dropping them off in Dover we went back home to do more relaxing, coughing and swearing about the coughing.

That evening we watched the new Tin Tin film from Spielberg, which was good enough for me, although can't really see why it was make in motion capture and not live action.

Wake up

So, a four day week this week, as Friday is Easter and the beginning of a four day weekend. Just saying.