Saturday 13th July 2019

34th anniversary of Live Aid.

And another packed day in my four day relaxing weekend in which I will do very little relaxing.

Did I want to go to Belgium to get some beer? Yes.

One a Saturday in July? Not so sure.

And yet, it might be OK, schools not quite out yet for summer, so maybe its not going to be that busy......

Jools was going to nanny-sit Betty, and I would travel with Jen and John. A jolly boys outing.

We arrived in Whitfield at twenty past eight, loaded up the car and drove down to the port, where we found half the country waiting to leave.

So we waited.

We waited until our planned sailing had left, before we were allowed to go through both sets of immigration to the ticket office. We got onto the quarter past ten sailing, and were then sent to the waiting lane for more waiting.

Jen and John had a cigarette, and I wandered around taking shots, for the blog.

And at quarter to we were waved onto the ship, driving up the ramp onto the deck, parking against one of the bulkheads.

Up the never-ending stairway to the lounge, grabbing a table so we could play cards. Outside it was cool and breezy, so there was no point in going on deck, so cards it was.

And in a turn up for the books, as the ship sailed over the Channel, I won a round of meld, and as it was for cash, a penny a point, I raked in nearly three quid.

Yay.

We arrived in Calais, returned to the car, and after a short wait, we drove off, through the industrial area surrounding the port, then up the motorway to Dunkirk and into Belgium.

Not much exciting, other than driving in a new country into a different one.

We cross into Belgium, take the next turning off, and into Adinkerke. The main streets of the town are lined with duty free shops, selling cheap beer and fags. It is here I exchange my empty crates for full ones. While Jen and John buy carrier bags of rolling tobacco.

Back at the car we feast on cheese and onion sandwiches that John had made, before Jen drove us back to France and Calais so I could buy some more beer at the Vin shopppe, and also several boxes of pink fizz.

I buy three boxes of Belgian beer and top it up with the fizz, and when I get outside the shop, Jen and John were in the cheese shop next door.

I join them.

I buy €20 of cheese, and next door some sticky cream cakes and proper grench bread to go with the cheese.

One last call at the wine warehouse for Jen where she spends lots on a bootfull of Australian wine, leaving us with a five minute drive to the part, where we had a twenty minute wait before we could board the next sailing.

We grab another table and play more meld, Jen winning heavily getting four quid from John and twenty pence from me.

And once back in Dover we just had to drive up Jubilee Way to Whitfield to pick up Jools and transfer my purchases to our car, say goodbye and we were done, on the way home and back before half five. But another full on day.

But we did dine well on cheese and bread followed by cream cake, which was perfect.

We ended the day by playig Uckers, and I staged a great comeback to claim an unlikely win.

Yay.