working in the office.
Jools needed the car as she had an interview in the afternoon, and to be honest I could not afford to have another day without a connection to my work files.
So, after breakfast we headed to the office. And once there I had to wait for the technicians to leave for work offshore before I got a desk at which to work. Once I got one, work could begin. And for the most part, it worked pretty well, if complicated. But I won't linger on that here.
At three, my colleague was about to leave; could he drop me off at the station, I ask? Yes he could, but you have to leave now. OK, so I wrap up and switch the laptop off, and we head for the exit. I squeezed myself and my work bag into his Audi TT and we zipped off.
At the station, I get a ticket to Deal, and see that my train was due to leave from platform 3 in ten minutes or so. I walk through the subway, and onto the platform. And then there is that curious mix of the unemployed and those, like me, off for the weekend and clearly heading home after a shift. I wonder the stores behind those that seemingly don't work, but then that is none of my business.
We get on the train, I get a seat by a window and which has a table. And relax.
We glide off, trundling through the outskirts of Ramsgate and head over the fields to Minster where we take the sharp chord towards Richborough and Sandwich. We run out over the marshes, which hundreds of years ago was under water as it was part of the Wantsum Channel. Amazing to think. Past Richborough Fort and into Sandwich.
People get off, others get on. And away we go.
Over more marshes, now at least firm land now the flood waters have receded. At Deal I get off the train and then off the platform which leads me to the car park of Sainsbury's. Every station should have a taxi rank, surely? I see a taxi office some 50 yards away, and so wander over and ask for a cab to take me to the Berry. Let me say it was Jools' idea for me to make my way to the berry so she would come and collect me after her interview.
So, I go in and order a pint of vanilla porter, which was very much as nice as it sounds. I took the first sip and toasted the weekend, just in case it thought it wasn't welcome. I sent another one down after the first, so it wouldn't be lonely. And felt just peachy.
At five, Jools appeared and had a half a cider before we headed for home. Not going to say too much about the interview; its early days, and her first ever interview, but thinks it went well. We shall know next week.
Saturday.
The weekend has landed.
And I promise not a word about IT problems.
For the past two springs, we have been on a voyage of discovery, as far as orchids are concerned. We have turned up at locations, with little or no idea what we were looking for, only for someone to ask us what we were looking for, and helping us. Not just with orchids, but with butterflies too. And the opportunity to return that favour to someone else is always a thrill. And so as winter progressed people's thoughts turn to spring and colour and orchids. And so promises are made saying 'yes, I will take you to the orchid sites'. And so on.
So, when I posted the first of the shots last week of the Early Spiders, someone asked if they could meet up. Why not? We plumped for Saturday morning and hoped the weather would play ball.
Saturday morning was bright but breezy, but not overly so. So, lets go for it! However, we began the day with a short walk in order to check for Holly Blue Butterflies. The Holly Blue is the first of the blues to awake in the spring, and there is one place near here where I have seen at least one each year. It is a tad windier and cooler here than elsewhere in Kent and the southeast, and so we did not see anything blue butterfly shaped. In fact as we were so early, we saw no butterflies at all. But it was great back walking across the fields.
We did not walk far, and soon we turned back for home and breakfast.
At half ten I headed out for the coast just south of Dover. As I have explained before, Samphire Hoe is an area of land at the base of the cliffs made from the spoil of the channel tunnel. And is the best location for Early Spider Orchids in the country.
apparently.
We went down the tunnel to the Hoe, and after parking up sat at a picnic bench to wait for Gillian to arrive. Making such arrangements without a mobile phone can be tricky, and hard for some to understand that we do not have a phone, but we manage, as we did yesterday, as Gillian turns up at five past and after introductions we head out for the orchids.
Not much to say about the orchids or the photography. We found a plant, got down on our bellies, snapped it, checked our shots and then moved on. This went on to just before one when Jools and I took our leave as this had been the third trip here in a week.
Back home for lunch, and then settle down for the football. At three, Norwich played at Fulham in a must win game for both teams. That City lost 1-0 means things are hard for us now. I won't labour on it too much, but i have though for many weeks now that we would go down, and now that seems even more certain.
I do a session on the cross-trainer before i cook kofte kebabs for dinner, washed down with beer. The good news is that there is enough to have cold for lunch tomorrow.
Yay.
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