Saturday 23rd May 2026

Would have been Dad's 88th birthday. But he's been thirty years gone.

So it goes. So it goes.

Summer arrived like a 500 tog duvet this week, so getting anything done is best carried out early in the morning.

So, we were up at just gone five, and once dressed I went out to check on the moth trap, the first time I have set it this year.

Nothing large or unusual, but always good to see a Buff tip, doing its impression of a small twig.

We tried to get the moths to fly away once I had snapped them, then back inside to feed the cats and make coffee.

As discussed yesterday, the port was expected to be busy, so checked the traffic heat map, and saw traffic already backing half way up Jubilee Way, so I decided to leave for the gym half an hour early so I could get round the Duke of Yorks roundabout.

So that's how it came to be that I was the first and so only car in the car park. So unusual, I took a shot to prove it.

George tuns up, so we chat about his new house, the work going on and aches and pains, before it was time to go to the entrance for the opening at seven, he went to the pool and I climbed the stairs to the gym.

The air conditioning at the gym is poor in the winter when there's frost on the ground, so now high summer has arrived, within five minutes I am glowing all over, and the minutes and seconds on the time click round slowly.

My podcast ran out at thirty seven minutes, so I bin it with not worth starting a new pod for three minutes.

Jools had texted advising me to come home via the back roads, so I drive to Whitfield then through Pineham to Guston.

And home.

But as we were expecting friends to come down from that London, and the plan had been to walk along Shakespeare Cliff into Dover, taking in the footbridge onto the beach to Dover Marine Station. But the jams put the kybosh on that, so I called Justin and asked if they could get off at Martin Mill, and we could walk into Walmer.

Or Kingsdown to the pub if it was too hot.

Readers: it would be hot, so a walk to the pub would be a great idea.

Anyway, they agreed, so we had three hours to shower, shave and get all clean before we had to meet them at the station at twenty five past eleven.

At least trains aren't affected by the jams in town, and despite being a few minutes late, the high speed train glided into the station, and Justin and Viccy appeared from the subway.

I gave them a choice of things to do, and a walk from the Dover Patrol into Kingsdown was chosen. I drove us up Station Road and through the village before reaching the rough track leading to the car park.

I would text Jools when we arrived in Kingsdown, and we would meet her in the Rising Sun for a drink and maybe lunch.

We three set off along the clifftop path, the ground falling away in front of us.

The ground and cliffs fall away from the Monument, so going would be easy. Though first of was to walk to the place where you can look back along the cliff face, with the sheer drop a couple of feet in front.

And we were careful not to get too close.

It was perhaps too late in the morning to set off, it was very warm and getting hotter. But our pace was easy as we walked north.

On the way I pointed out the plants I knew, and down below on the Channel, boats skimmed about, while there was a dark shape on the horizon, marking the coast of France. Ferries skittled across the water, moving the crowds from one side to the other.

We walked on.

There is a slight hill before the path descends to the beach, and with the sun now overhead and downright hot, it was one step in front of the other.

Past the golf course, then down the steps and onto the beach, walking on the road, dodging past parked cars and the twats heading to the golf course, who have no time for anyone but themselves.

We reached the bottom of the High Street, then down the slope to the Rising Sun. Jools had just arrived, so we all went inside, took a table near the door to the beer garden, and ordered three huge iced Cokes, so to quench our thirsts.

Viccy and I had scampi and chips, Justin had fine looking fish and chips while Jools had a burger, and while the pub filled up, the food arrived and we tucked in.

After paying, Jools drove us back to Chez Jelltex, where we had a brew, and our friends were introduced to most of our cats, and I think its fair to say, blown away by the view from our back garden.

They had to get back to London for their cat, so I got them to Martin Mill for half three, so to be in time for the high speed train back to London.

I came back, poured a beer, and settled down to watch the Championship play off final, which was probably the worst game of the season. In any league.

Hull scored near the end of the second half, so Hull were promoted instead of Middlesborough, who had been reinstated after Southampton were kicked out.

It was a messy end to the season, but Hull go up.

It was a hot and humid evening, we had the windows open all night, so didn't sleep too well, tossing and turning in the high temperatures.

But it was the end of another one of those great days.