Friday 16th August 2019

And so we come to the last day of the week.

I had promised myself I would do another session on the cross trainer, but I broke that,

Anyway, it is Friday and I could do a session or two over the weekend?

Stranger things have happened.

So, Jools is off early to work, as she battles to keep up with the volume, leaving me at home to have another coffee and more fruit for breakfast.

I have a major task to complete, which I complete by mid-morning.

And then there is the planning to the afternoon.

Last year, I went to meet a colleague in Broadstairs for some work-based chat. When news got out about the new job, he mailed me and asked what with it being Folk Week in Broadstairs, maybe we should have another meet?

That sounded a good idea.

All I had to do was walk down Station Road to Martin Mill. I mean, that sounds easy.

By Station Road has no pavement, so you have to walk in the road, and hope that cars coming towards you would pull out to pass you. So, it is always worrying to walk down the long steep hill to the junction with the Deal Road. I made it safe, but then had to cross the busy road, at a bust T junction.

I see a gap and make a run for it, and make it to the other side, so can chill out now and amble to the bottom of the hill, past the physio, then up the last slope to the village and the station.

£10 paid for a one way ticket to Broadstairs, and so a seat on a high speed train, travelling at slow speed though.

Although we agreed to meet in Mind The Gap, Peter was waiting outside the station, so after shaking hands and hugging, we walk to the micropub and we have the first beer of the day.

From there we walk down the high street, via a chippy where we both have a bag of fresh chips, so to line our stomachs for the brews yet to come.

Next up was a new bar called The Magnet, a micropub on the narrowest part of the main road trough the town. We get the last two seats with our beers, next to an area clearly marked for musicians only.

I mean this was folk week.

And sure enough, a group of three older ladies and a young man walk into the area, they cough nervously, and announce they are going to sing.

The do two songs, the second of which was "Duke of Ear", which they did pretty well.

The place was filling up, so we walk to our final call, The Chapel.

As its name suggests, situated in a former chapel, it is lined with books so looks like a library. I see they had Delerium on draft. I order two halves, as it was nine and a half quid a pint.

It is fruit beer I was told.

OK< what could go wrong?

It was like fizzy cherryade.

It went down very easy.

We get two seats round a table. A lady who looked like she was dressed in a table cloth asked if the other chairs were free.

They were, we told her.

So she waved to her friends, and we had five Canadian woman sitting with us. All excited.

Not because they were sitting with us, as the had come to see the musical turn, a man with a cello, called The Cello Man.

Seems legit.

Anyway, they all settle down with line and sodas, we tuck into our silly strong cherry pop, and the music starts.

He made the cello scream and wail like a banshee. I liked it.

The Canadians got up and danced like the lady from Hawkwind, through they kept their table cloths on.

Which was nice.

Peter buys another cherry pop.

Time slips by.

I get a call from Jools, she is on the way to collect me. So I say I will walk back up the the station. I bid my farewell to Peter and the bevvy of Canadians. They were swooning around the Cello Guy, buying autographed CDs.

I walk up the street, past shops now closing.

Jools is waiting, so I pour myself into the passenger seat, and Jools steers us off Thanet and south to Deal.

We were going to Deal for chips, but in the end decided to go home for a burger and a (un)healthy slice of limoncello and grappa tart.

I even managed to stay awake, through Mastermind and Gardener's World.

But as darkness fell, so did my eyelids.