Monday 28th March 2016

Sunday

With an hour less thanks to the clocks going forward, but it being darker in the morning meant that we slept until nearly 8. After getting up and having coffee, thoughts turned to the plan for the day. And with Biblical amounts of rain forecast, we thought we had better make most of the sunshine early doors.

Now it was Jools' idea to go to Kingsdown to check on the orchids, I say that with hand on my heart. Seemed like a plan, have a bit of a walk at the same time.

Once parked on the coast road, we walked to the site, and after some looking, I mean I know where they grow now, so it wasn't hard, I found a good half dozen rosettes, most with spikes formed and growing upwards. Will be at least a week, but the season is nearly upon us. I take shots just to say we were there, then there was the question of breakfast.

With it being Easter and double bank holiday, we thought that Deal might be packed with hipsters and their families. But there is the Corner, on the main drag into Walmer, which usually is quiet, and if it is open.....

It is, and after finding a place to park, we go in and order the standard breakfast; no tinned tomatoes for me, as there is no place in a fry up for fruit! Breakfast is good, with extra hash browns too, perfect.

Back home,t he sun is still out, so I go to check on the flower beds and find the hyacinths are all out in one of them, and looking pretty as a picture. So I take one. Or two.

Insode, whilst we waited for the rain to begin, we put the radio on and listen to Cerys and her eclectic mix of stuff, whilst outside the sun still shone down as clouds zipped past at what looked like 100mph.

Lunchtime came and went with the sun shining brightly outside, apparently not informed of the BBC forecast. Jools went to visit Nan, just as there was a darkness gathering on the horizon, and as it swept over East Kent, turning day into night, rain began to fall. I say fall, I mean it was all but horizontal. I watch the scene from the window of the back room, through the raindrops running down the outside of the glass.

I feel that I have been lazy, so, despite feeling quite well as I was, I do a session on the cross-trainer. Pounding away for the allotted time, singing and puffing away to the tunes on the i pod. The i pod is still the only piece of Apple technology I have bought, and I have to say that in the 9 years I have had it, it has worked almost perfectly. No moving parts, just a couple of files got corrupted, but other than that, it has been a really good buy. Jools bought it for me when I first began working on the survey boats at the end of 2006; I took it Indonesia, The Arctic Circle and points inbetween. And it worked. It last that the three sets of noise-cancelling headphones I have had too.

I have a shower, and by the time I have shaved and made myself look lovely, the sun was back shining outside. Now, I used shampoo, shower gel and after shave, and no allergy attack for me, it is now two weeks since the last one. So, everything in moderation seems to be the key, except excess of course.

Late in the afternoon, I put the joint of lamb in the oven, cooking it on low for three hours or so, until is was so tender it fell off the bone. I did the usual trimmings, including Yorkshire Puddings, we washed it all down with a bottle of Prosecco, which was just fine and dandy. In fact the whole meal was great, if just a little late in the evening. Once we had eaten, cleaned up and put the washing up away it was nearly nine, as just time to squeeze in a documentary on Denmark and Danish art.

Phew, rock and, indeed, roll