Wednesday 14th May 2025

Another day of retirement.

I try to get up at a reasonable time, but seem to have gained the knack of falling back to sleep, so don't surface sometimes until half seven.

Watching football till ten the evening before doesn't help, of course.

I wake up with Cleo asleep laying against the back of my knees.

There are worse starts to the day.

I get up and check online, and saw from Blue Sky that a rail tour had just left Norwich heading for Canterbury: would it be coming through Dover?

I checked online, and it would, though no news on which locomotive might be on the front, it had a 47 hauling it when it left the fine city, but that could change.

I made a note to be at Martin Mill at half four.

Before then, there was, well, some shopping, some washing and taking the car into town to be washed.

About as exciting as it gets.

We sat outside the repurposed warehouse while people cleaned and polished our car. It did look very good when it came out.

We popped up to Western Heights so I could snap a Small Blue or two, but up on the downs, it was blowing a hooly, and although I did see one Small Blue, it was soon lost in the long grass, so I gave up and we came home.

I edited more shots, posted more blogs from the India trip, and I believe I can see the end of it now. Anyway, that passes the afternoon.

Just gone four I get in the car and drive down the hill to Martin Mill, taking a good five minutes to get across the Deal road.

The station car park is empty, and on the platform, just one other guy is there with a camera, though two more turn up as I am setting up my place at the near end of the platform.

It is a very pleasant afternoon to be out snapping steam locomotives, in the warm spring sunshine, while squirrels play in the undergrowth near the tracks.

Just a minute Late, Britannia steams into view, though we have hear her pistons working hard for two minutes, and her whistle when she went over the crossing at Cold Blow Lane.

In a few seconds she was filling the viewfinder, and then behind me. I swung round for more shots as the train, tailed by the 47, headed into the low sun while climbing Guston Bank.

And that was it for excitement, really.

Back home for dinner and a glass of red wine, then another evening of play off football.