Saturday 9th February 2019

I need to lose weight.

This is not news.

Jools has been on a health kick for the best part of a year, and has seen improvements, but then when we go shopping, we made some very bad choices. I wish I could say otherwise. I mean, its not that we over-eat much, but over ten years, a little over-eating has become a big (ahem) problem.

We say all the right things, and then for a few days or weeks, do the right thing, mostly, but we slip back.

My last attempt was last winter when I was doing lots of work on the cross-trainer, so much that people really did begin to notice. And then I got flu in Denmark. And I was laid low for a month or more, and all the good work was lost, and I never restarted.

So, Jools has been doing lots of walking; parking away from the factory in the morning, then walking to collect it at lunchtime to make her do an hour's walking. I do what I can, we both have fitbits, and I do more than I thought, mostly.

But then came by bad back before Christmas, and I put yet more weight on.

So, last Monday Jools began a low calorie diet, I didn't. As working away makes such things difficult, but now I'm back, I am trying to eat less, and for the time being, its going OK. But it means an end to the croissants and bacon butties at weekends, and there will be no more chorizo hash or steak and ale pies. Or if there is, just for me, and smaller portions. I hope that make sense.

Saturday morning we go shopping at eight, and with most food we need in the house, we spend seven pounds sixty two pence and have half a bag of stuff.

Back home, I have grapefruit segments, and Jools has her shake.

It was then time for churchcrawling.

My plan had been to head out along the north Kent coast to two new churches around Whitstable at Tankerton and Seasalter, but on the way, I change my mind.

First, we go to St Martins Battery to look on the sea as Storm Eric (honestly) should have been whipping up the sea, but was all a little flatter than expected. So we drive on out up the A2.

Our first stop was Molash.

Molash is a small village between Canterbury and Ashford, and St Peter I have never found unlocked. It's a Saturday morning, churches are being cleaned, so I went in hope.

St Peter is situated at the end of a long lane, a dead end, with a large country house owned by a minor member of the landed gentry behind a pair of impressive gates. The church looked wonderful in the sunshine, but the porch door was locked fast.

I went round looking for an alternative way in, then looked at the church noticeboard for keyholders, And no luck with either.

So I take a few shots and we leave, leave for nearby Chilham.

Chilham is a picture postcard village; all timber-framed and Tudor brick houses, with a stately home one end, and the church the other. The village square is now mainly a car park, but still it looks fabulous.

We go to St Mary, and it is open, as I knew it would be. Chilham is a tourist town, even in winter, so the church would be unlocked. So it was.

And it is a huge and richly decorated church, so much to see, more than I remember from my sole visit. And looking at my shots from my previous visit, I see I did not get in, nor post any shots of the church at all. So, just as well I took hundreds this time!

Inside it is full of grand monuments to the great and good of the landed gentry. Most of them now forgotten, but clearly a very rich parish in its time.

I take my long lens to snap the fragments of ancient glass in the lancet windows, and the cobel stones and bosses.

We go back home via Wingham, Sandwich and the maze of lanes east of Walmer, as the M20 was blocked due to storm damage and the A2 was jammed.

So we get home safe, if taking some time. I cook a small chorizo hash for me, Jools has boiled chicken and vegetables. And that was our meal for the day.

I listen to football on the radio all afternoon, though City did not play, as there is the small matter of the Derby v Ipswich on Sunday. So it was a very relaxed day for me, stressless in fact.

And then to Jen's for more card action.

And no drinking or snacking for Jools and I. We still enjoy our evening, although we don't win. But again I was able to drive us back through the torrential rain and along flooded roads back home where to kitty cats were waiting.