Saturday 6th December 2014

Friday.

A different kind of day.

With me being away so much, and Jools being away from home from half six in the morning until the evenings, the opportunities to run chores is somewhat limited. And so with the car needing a service and an MOT, there was little choice but for me to take the morning off work and deal with the car.

I take Jools to Hythe first thing in the morning. It should be a enjoyable drive, but the lunatics are already on the road, treating it like a racetrack. I keep to the speed limit and we get to Folkestone without incedent, before turning off and taking the narrow road over the down into Hythe. Hythe is just waking up, the there is already plenty of traffic about: I drop Jools off and retrace my steps back home, where there is just enough time for a cuppa before it is time to head to the garage.



I can in at the tip on the way, dropping off the dead kettle and almost dead toaster. The promised lift at the garage failed to materialise, but it is not raining, and despite being cold, I have more than enough time to walk into town to get yet more chores done. THe garage is very near the box factory and walking past I have many thoughts about how poorly both Jools and I were treated. Life goes on, and it may well have ended up for the best, but what they did was wrong, especially on Jools. However, life goes on, as does the road, all the way down Coombe Valley Road, past the new hospital being built, all the parked cars that used to cause me so much grief when I used to drop Jools off.



It has an aura of being down on its luck, but that is nothing compared to the upper reaches of London Road, with its abandoned shops and houses: the only place that seems to be thriving is the pawn shop. There is rubbish everywhere, and is grim in places, but that gives way as I near the town centre, as shops get more prosperous, and are at least still surviving.



I drop my expenses off at the London Road post office, one chore done. The walk down the pedestrian are to the Halifax where I have to pay in a benefit cheque in for Nan. Finally, I walk down to the library to hand in a couple of books for Jools. I look at my watch, I still have two and a half hours to go before I can collect the car. I can at least keep an eye on my work mails via my phone, and this I do sitting on a bench overlooking the harbour. Time passes.



I begin the walk back, calling in at a cafe for a late second breakfast or was it an early lunch? Well, it was lunch, as looking at the watch it was half eleven. I look at the meu, I think I am not hungry, but I hear myself order a large breakfast and a cuppa. I put that away, beans and all, and feel very full. I set off back up Biggin Street and then London Road, retracing my steps back to Combe Valley and the car.



Back in the garage, I find that there have been no issues, and apart from the large bill, there is no problems, so I pay up and get in the car to drive home.

Back home I switch the work computer on to answer some mails that had arrived, that done an hour or so later, things are quiet enough for me to declare the weekend had begun and told myself to relax. I am a manager after all.



I now have a day and a half off before I have to head to the airport on Sunday morning for my flight to the frozen north. Jools calls at five to say she is on her way and i can collect her from Martin Mill at half five. Sounds good.

Although the station is just down the hill, about a mile away, the Deal road has to be crossed, which can take a while. It is rush hour, it is also dark, but I get across quite quickly, and I arrive to find Jools aready waiting outside the station.

Once home I cook chorizo hash, which is splendid on a cold December night. I look outside an the almost full moon is shining down through the clouds scuttling across the sky. Where has that two weeks gone?

After dinner we sit down to watch "They Live" on DVD, its been 25 years since I saw it last, and whilst not as good as I remember, its biting satire is as good as I recall.