Sunday 14th July 2013

Friday.

And even more so than on a morning when I would be heading home, I was in a good mood. Although, good mood doesn't really cover it. I was boyant to be honest: the prospect of promotion, going home, a weeked of photography. All seems togood to be true.

But it is.

I packed my stuff, had breakfast and checked out of the hotel drove the 5 minutes to the office and settled down toa morning of data analysis. And somehow the day slipped by and soon two o'clock crept round, and it was time to pack up and leave for the airport.

I bid farewell to those still in the office, and made my way to the car. Even the thought of driving the A3 the 45 minutes to the airport was a thrill. I found radio 5 on the entertainment system, and zoomed away leaving the dust and stones from the car park in the air. I really shouldn't let my inner child drive that often.

By the time i got to the airport, it had clouded over and so I thought that I would not bother to take my camera on the plane, rather leave it in my bag. Reember, I made that mistake before and regretted it. And so this week too, as the skies cleared as we neared London, and we headed round south London until turning over Crystal Palace and Battersea before descending as we flew along the river. The views of the city were amazing. You'll have to take my word for it.

There was the usual crazy queues at immigration, but I guess the wait was just ten minutes or so, and I grabbed my case and had 30 minutes to get to Stratford if I was going to catch the 20 past seven train and have an extra hour at home before bed.

I was convinced I was going to miss it by about 5 minutes, but in the end I was on the patform with about three minutes to spare, and once it pulled in, I got a seat in the front coach and could relax and watch the countryside slip by once we got back overground at Daggenham. At Thurrock, the bridge was jammed, but we cruised by at 100mph or so, jsut the way it should be. And all the way through Kent beside the M20 we left the traffic for standing as the shadows lengthened and the summer colours turned to gold.

Saturday.

I laid in bed, just savouring the sounds of a morning in the garden of England; birds singing mainly, but it was wonderful as a gentle breeze ruffled the curtains revealing a wonderful summer day outside, with the promise of it getting too hot later for anything other than a snooze in the shade of a tree.



we had to get to Faversham to meet a Flickr friend of mine, as we planned to head to Sheppey for some insect shots, and to show Will the church at Harty. So, we headed up the almost empty A2 to Canterbury then up to Faversham, early enough for me to snap the station from the footbridge.



Will arrived and we headed out to Swale, with the temperatures already high enough to make having the windows wound down. Man, it was hot.

We stopped off at Swale to snap the two bridges onto the island, and what a fine sight they made with the new one towering over and around us, and all around were a cloud of insects, bugs, butterflies and dragonflies. I snapped some of the Common Daters and a few of the Small Skippers, before we got back in the car and headed onto Sheppy.



It is just a short drive of 20 minutes before we turn of the road to Leybourne and head off across the marshes to Harty. We stop off at the raptor viewing point, but the only ones we see are miles away, turning tight circles on a thermal. We drive on to the church.



Will had not been to the church before, and as it always a pleasure to visit the church, finding it open we go in to find the flower festival is on and there were flowers everywhere. It really did look glorious. Back outside we walk down to the nature reserve in search of dragonflies. Sadly, we find none, but there are some butterflies around, and I snap plenty of Small ortoiseshells and a mating pair of Small Skippers which I hoped came out well.



It was now twenty to opening time, and I could hear the cold beer at the Ferry Boat call, so we walk back to the car then drive the half mile to the pub, getting here just after midday. I see that a jug of Pimms is available for a tenner, so we order one of those and a beef ploughmans each and sit inside out of the heat of the day to relax and enjoy the food.

Franky, we were bushed; so we headed back to the mainland, dropped Will off at Faverhsam station and headed back to Dover for a relaxing cuppa and a laydown in the coold dark interior.

In the evening, after dinner, we sit outside as dusk falls and one by one, the stars come out over head. As the insects come out,so do the bats and swallows, performing acrobatics as they catch their prey. Over the other side of the valley, people light bonfires, and the smoke rises in the air, barely disturbed by a breath of wind.