Friday 20th July 2018

It is hard to realise sometimes, that I have been with Vestas, or its various incarnations, for eight and a bit years now. And I have done a few different jobs, and until about four years ago, I used to work out of the office in Ramsgate, so I got friends with many of the folks there.

Since starting being a manager, I travel, I work from home and the Ramsgate office is much different now, but my old mate, Peter, still works there, although he has been promoted too, and is now head of H&S in the UK. for the company. We were supposed to meet up for drinkies in December, but that fell through, so after a chance meeting at LCY a couple of months back, we agreed to hold a "QHSE Meeting" in Ramsgate to coincide when the rest of the company was on its holibobs.

In the end, Broadstairs was considered the better bet, as it has three micropubs, so a plan was hatched.

I just had to get through the morning of work.

Work was fine, a little fraught, full of meetings, so I planned the work I was supposed to do last week, in next week, send off a final mail and was done at midday.

All I had to do was walk to the station.

It has been six weeks since we last had any rain, and guess when it decided to start? Yes, as I closed the back door. Too late to get a taxi, I would have to hope it got no heavier.

So it was I walk up to the top of Station Road, then down the otherside, on the road once the pavement and banks ended, all the while a steady drizzle fell, and the smell of damp earth filled the air.

Crossing the Deal road is always risky, but I was lucky that there was a gap, so got to the other side, walk down to the bottom of another dip, then up the the station, arriving with 20 minutes to spare.

I get my ticket, though needn't have bothered as the guard never left the rear cab of the train, and at Broadstairs, I was able to walk off the platform and down the path to the street.

Peter arrived a couple of minutes later, and we walk to the first pub, a railway themed place that I fitted right into. I mean beer and trains? Really, what's not to like??

We have a couple of beers, then walk down the High Street to a chippy to have some lard, then to the next place, the 39 Steps for another beer. The beer was good, but then at over a fiver a pint it bloody well should have been.

The last place was much better, lined with books, and with cheap as chips good beer, we order pints and settle down in soft chairs and talk some more.

But rescue from the beer was at hand, as Jools had driven over to collect me, so she called, and I go to the station to meet her, and allow her to drive me back through Dumpton to Ramsgate to home.

Where I then cook dinner, bangers and mash, and using a sharp knife too. I was OK, and dinner was fine, I added horseradish to the mash, and a sprinkle of ground chili, and was perfect.

The rain had stopped, but clouds hung heavy overhead, meaning it was cooler, which was nice. Nothing to watch on Netflix or the i player, so we listen to Iggy spin some tunes, then go to bed at half nine.