Monday 28th January 2013

And so the weekend rolled round, and I was back home on schedule and seen more snow and ice than is healthy, and would be very happy if no more snow were to be seen until Christmas.

Although the weather was in the process of turning mild, there was snow still to be seen, and it got ticker as we neared St Margaret’s. The road was just a strip of ice, but we could still get in and out of our drive, which was good enough for us.

Saturday was as rainy as the BBC promised; so we decided to head to Canterbury once the rain stopped. As you may recall, I am allergic to house dust and dust mites, and the cure to remove them from anywhere near my nose. Which, pretty much involved replacing our pillows, sheets and mattress protector, thus the specially treated linen will kill the mites and stop the dust.



We drove into Canterbury, and parked where we could also get the car washed so the build-up of salt could be removed, and it saved us from doing it. So, we had a look round the shops. As it is so unusual for us to do this, as we really don’t like shopping. We headed to HMV where I hoped to pick up a couple of CDs, but could not find what I wanted amongst the stock they had. Most was on sale, and I suppose I could have trawled through the racks picking out stuff, but decided against it. That the CDs were hidden away on the 1st floor showed how far the chain has moved from their core business.



We called in a nice place for a coffee and after looking at the menu decided to have another breakfast; we had already eaten cereals at dawn. We both ordered a breakfast hash; chorizo and spicy sausage for me, and salmon for Jools. It was great, and set us up for the rest of the day and meant we skipped lunch. I guess as this was brunch that makes sense. Or if you have brunch do you have mid-afternoon tea and cakes? It felt like we should, but for me the lure of football on the radio was too strong. But more of that later.



On our way out of Canterbury, we called in the bedding shop and picked up a new duvet, mattress protector and pillows and were free of the crowds heading in or already in the city centre. There must have been a queue a couple of miles long of cars waiting to head into the city. Phew.



Looking at my reference book of Kent churches, I picked Molash to visit and so we set off in the general direction of Ashford. At Molash we headed up Church Lane, which was six inch deep in snow, slush and melted snow and sleet. Or in other words, water. However, we got through and I parked up. It was a fine church, and after getting out I hurried to try the door and see inside. Sadly, it was locked, even the door into the porch was locked, which was very disappointing.



I made do with snapping the church and stomping around it in the snow getting my feet nice and damp. On our way to Molash we had passed a fine looking church at Chilham, so I thought we might got here and that church was bound to be open.

So, back down the valley to Chilham, I park the car, swing my bag onto my back and head up the narrow street to the centre of the village and the church. What greeted me was a fine medieval square lined with old pubs and houses all timber-framed and looking wonderful. I take a few shots then walk to the church, up the path and try the door.

Locked.

Bugger.

So, I take shots again, and head out the other gate and down the main road where there were more fine buildings with a great looking Shepherd Neame pub at the bottom. I snapped each building, then went back to the car. Only on the way back did I notice the gates to a grand country house at one end of the square, which turned out to be the gates to Chilham Castle. Somewhere else to visit in the summer once it’s gardens are open in the spring.



We ended up heading home instead of seeking more churches to visit, and so it was I found myself on the sofa at a quarter to three in time to listen to the football as per usual. Now, I don’t ask much from life; OK, I do, but one of the things I would love is to see Norwich playing at Wembley in the FA Cup Final one May. Not much, and I thought that as this November will mark my 40th anniversary in going to see them for the first time, this really could be our year. Doubly so as we had drawn non-league Luton Town at home in the 4th round.



City did not play well, but came close a couple of time, but there wasn’t much urgency or class. And then, ten minutes from time, Luton scored. City had chances to level, but I don’t think we really deserved to, and so became the first top flight team to lose to a non-league side since 1989; 24 bloody years. Words fail me. I turned off the radio and avoided all news broadcasts and listening to the radio for the rest of the weekend.



By Sunday morning, the snow had pretty much all gone, and the rain was hammering down again. So, we waited until it stopped, I caught up with some stuff on the radio, then we had an early lunch before packing all the camera gear in the car and heading down into the bay. The sky was clear blue, and the wind was brisk, so I was hoping to see some good waves on the beach, but the wind had calmed since dawn, and there were no white horses to be seen, and what waves just rolled onto the beach.



Still, it felt glorious to be out, and I took shots of the scene as well as plenty of the patterns in the beach caused by the retreating water.

Next we headed to the Blariot Monument to see if there were any birds around; we saw just the usual mix, but we stopped just to get some shots, as the ones I took last time did not seem sharp and I wanted to check that there was nothing wrong with the camera or lens. All seemed well, so we then headed over to Whitfield to visit the small parish church which I had tried to find before.

St Peter’s is on the edge of the village, overlooking open fields towards Deal; in design it is very similar to Waldershare, and I could not wait to get inside. And for the third time that weekend I was thwarted by another locked door. Sigh.

So, I snapped it from all angles along with a couple of grave markers, before we got back in the car and went to see the old folk.

Tony has rheumatism, and is on pills which has swollen his fingers. He was picking up dropped tobacco from the floor, he wasn’t going to give up! Anyway, other than that,. Just the usual stuff, and when Jen came in she told us dozens of time not to tell her the Andy Murray result as she had recorded it. As you know, he lost in four sets, but did very well in the matches leading to the final.

And just like that, the weekend came to an end, and we found ourselves preparing for another working week. But for both of us, just a four day week. The reason why will become clear in due course.