Saturday 1st February 2020

First day the UK is out of the EU since 1972.

Boris still has the conch shell.

For now.

And with it being a Saturday and most chores having been done, what shall we do for the day?

Jools asks what the plan is, I don't know but I know where there's a long list of churches to visit.....

Now, to choose one or two, maybe with not so much travelling to do. Someone posted shots of Boxley last week on Facebook, and as we hadn't been there, so, why not? And whilst we're in the area, why not give Bredgar another try?

Why not indeed.

After breakfast of croissants, we load the car and drive up the A2 and M2, and as we drove the clouds cleared and quite unexpectedly, the sun came out and it looked and felt almost like a spring day. Temperatures climbed to 13 degrees, and we even had the car windows open for a while, as we drove down the country lanes, weaving up and over and under the motorway to Bredgar.

Bredgar is a fine church, and just about the final church in the area between the M2 and M20 east of the 249 that I have yet to see inside. It is a pleasant drive intot eh village, past the pond and the glass shop, turning left to the gravelled area to park the car.

I went to the church, and I see right away that the hefty padlock undone and the shackle hanging down, so I pushed the door and went in, while Jools went to look as some sparkly glass as the clock had just ticked past ten.

The church was fine. I mean, damning with feint praise and all that, there was a couple of nice wall monuments and some fine medieval glass fragments in the east window, but I was done in about 15 minutes, and waited for Jools in the car, listening to Huey while she talked with the glass shop owner about beads, glass and orchids.

From there it was a short down the A249 onto the outskirts of Maidstone before turning back up the downs to Boxley, the sat nav taking us to the large green, lined with stones with the large church at the east end, the sun behind it, so hiding how unusually shaped it was.

We go through the west door, into a large space which is now used as a foyer, then under the tower before coming to the door to the nave. I heard voices and thought it would just be wardens and volunteers cleaning up, but was, in fact, a lecture on wild flowers in gardens.

But the church was unavailable for snapping or crawling.

We go to wait outside, it being a nice day and the views of the church with the down behind, splendid. But, there was another church on the list, so we could come back? Which is what we decided to do.

But the sat nav took us through the centre of Maidstone, the county town of Kent. We inched onto the inner ring road, then through a series of traffic lights only to find the road we wanted to take, closed, with no obvious alternative ways.

Bugger this for a game of soldiers, as my dear old Dad would say, let's go back to Boxley, wait to snap that and then go home. Which is what we did. Back through yet more traffic until we pass through a housing estate, past the sports ground and up the down and back to the church, getting the same parking space we had before.

And the good news was that the lecture was over and they were all drinking tea and dunking biscuits. And talking. And are in the way.

I weave through them and start snapping. But I attract interest.

I explain the project and they are very interested. How many more to do?

Well, depends on the definition of Kent; the modern county or the ancient county, and whether i want to do urban churches.

I also give them a card: I do talks and presentations on orchids, and I am the newly installed representative for the Hardy Orchid Society for the whole county (for this is true).

Even the lady from the Wildlife trusts did not know much about orchids; all orchids are wild flowers but not all wildflowers are orchids!

Ha!

I finish snapping the church, and all the fitments and memorials and windows.

I now had contact details for many people in the Kent Wildlife Trust, and more possible orchid talks to give.

Two churches visited, both open. Not bad.

And a 40 minute blast down the motorway to home, and time for dinner (lunch).

And with the possibility of cards that evening, the decision was to have the cooked meal when we got home; steak and ale pie, steamed veg, roast taters and the beef gravy from the roast the week before.

And 40 minutes after getting home, at twenty past two, we were sitting down to a fine, fine meal indeed.

Oh my word, that hot the spot.

And all eaten, washed up and put away by three, so that with the football to listen to and the rugby to watch, I could retire to the sofa. But the three glasses of wine took their toll and I sleep for the first half, wake in time to see Wales had thumped Italy, and on the radio, Norwich were stuck at 0-0 with Newcastle.

And that's the way it stayed. Whilst most of the other results went our way, doesn't matter as we're pretty much doomed unless we can win seven games before the end of the season, and that is a tough ask.

Jools watches Dr Who, all Captain Jack and a second doctor. It all seemed exciting, so I went for a shower before we both watched the first episode of Good Omens.

Which was very good indeed, and I guess they all had a jolly good time making it too, which showed.