And, hereeeeeeeeeeeeees Monday!
Friday marked our three year anniversary in the house, although we didn't realise it until yesterday. Can't believe how the time has flown. Needless to say, we still love it here; i can't wait for spring to arrive to see the riot of colour in the garden and the birds and insects returning.
Saturday morning dawned bright, clear but stunningly cold; And what to do? Well, we had decided to head to Margate to see the Turner exhibition, and when we left the house that was our plan. We first went to find a garden centre to buy some sweet William seeds as the ones we have already haven’t germinated the way they should.
We drove to Sandwich and then through the orchards to the other side of Littlebourne. Down a narrow ice covered lane, we found the garden centre, but they had no seeds and the plants they had were suffering in the deep cold. I bought some kindling, because the plan in my head was to light the woodburner in the afternoon, but in the end I didn’t.
We then decided to head to Preston to the nursery there, as I thought they might have seeds; but driving through Littlebourne we both saw a nice new sign pointing the way to the parish church. We turned down the lane, but at the end we saw no signs to point us the way. Behind a barn, I saw the church, and we parked up, I got out my camera and we walked to the lych gate for some chilly photography. And, when we got to the church, it was unlocked, so I was able to snap it and so tick another church of the huge list.
Back in the car and on to Preston; still as cold, but Jools got her seeds and I got a joint for next weekend’s Sunday dinner. It was getting towards 11, still bitterly cold, and even though we had not been outside much, our feet and hands were frozen; we took the decision to head back home, turn the heating up another couple of notches and keep warm.
Saturday afternoon I sat on the sofa watching the game on TV, and keeping an eye on the birds in the front garden, and the endless entertainment of seeing robins, starlings, blackbirds, wrens, doves, pigeons and sparrows coming and going, fighting and generally eating to keep alive. I refilled the feeders and sat back to watch, and to take a few shots of the birds. Doesn’t sound that exciting, but it was good enough for me. And at three, I turned on the radio to listen to the football, and keep an eye on how Norwich were doing.
Despite being a goal down at half time, they bounced back to grab three goals in the second half, and in the end hang on to a 3-2 victory to take them back the 8th in the table. The dream goes on and on.
That night I cooked roast chicken, which came out real well, and then we went to Whitfield to visit Jools’ Dad’s, as it was the night of his 70th birthday party. There was food, assorted friends and relations. For me, who came from a small family, all these cousins, nieces and nephews can be confusing; they all remember my name, but, of course, I can’t remember theirs. We leave at ten; the first to leave, as watching other drink and smoke roll-ups, is not much fun after a while, and makes my eyes sting. But I think we did our duty in attending!
Sunday was the day of the great change in the weather; with heavy cloud cover forecast and getting warmer. Or less cold.
And just before nine, we got snow showers and then fog. And slowly the day did warm up, and the snow and ice began to melt. I spent the morning making a huge pot of stew for us to have each evening when we get home from work; four bottles of porter went into it, as well as a good glass of red wine when I de-glazed the frying pan. It smelt wonderful, and I am looking forward to trying some in a while.
At four we headed out to Canterbury, as we had tickets to see Bellowhead in concert at the new Marlow theatre. There was time to wander round the streets to get some shots as dusk descended, they streets being empty now that the shops had closed. I had Googled for a place to eat, and we headed to a Moroccan restaurant neat St Augustine’s Abbey. We had a sampler meal, and it was great value at less than £20 a head, along with great fruit juice cocktails.
Once that finished, we headed to the other side of the city centre to the theatre, via the Cathedral yard so I could get more shots. We arrived ten minutes before showtime, just as the audience was being allowed to their seats. We took our place, and 5 minutes later the band came on, and ripped the place up.
I won’t go into details about the show, just Google for Bellowhead and you’ll see what they’re about. It was one of the top three gigs I have been to, and was a joyous experience. And after not one, but two encores, we left, walked to the car and were on the road back home by twenty past nine; home by twenty to ten. Just as well as it was a school night.
A quiet weekend, but a good one I think.
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