Saturday 29th February 2020

Leap Day.

It is Saturday, of course, and a day of rest. But what to do with our day or relaxation?

Well, window shopping for cars was what won out.

Thing is, we have had our Corsa for five years and in a month we will have paid for it. It will be ours. It has done 85k miles, but is going strong and in far better shape than the two Polos we have owned in the past at that stage.

And then there is the money situation with the estate soon to be finalised and so on.

I think we would have gone back to VW, if only their showroom and garage wasn't in the centre of Canterbury. Traffic in and around the city is horrendous, and a two hour service requires taking the day off as it would take an hour to get in and two hours to get out. Especially in summer. But the Audi garage, isn't in the city, instead is west of it on the Ashford road, we could easily get there, no need to mix with the city traffic, in, out and back home.

We really didn't think we were going to actually buy a car, just look to see what deals were about.

As it was, there was little else to do, as another storm system was due to sweep across the country, though not expected to be quite as bad as initially forecasted. It seemed that some kind of indoor entertainment would be needed.

So, we got up and had breakfast, coffee, another coffee and were ready to go out at nine. Outside the rain hammered down, roads turned into rivers, fish fell from the sky. The rainclouds made it so dark that the car thought it night and dimmed the dash lights.

Instead of turning into the ity, we turn left and westwards, following the Stour which is nearly in flood. A couple of miles along was the showroom.

The new cares salesperson evolved from sharks. They can sense the hint of a sale three miles off. With the rain hammering down, there were no people looking at the used cars outside, and neither were we to be honest. We were spotted as we walked to the door, but they could bide their time, let the smell of new cars overwhelm us, and then, and only then, would they pounce.

We go to look at an A1, a small, but fairly sleek car. No one had come to see us, do you think we could climb inside? I think so.

It was cozy Cozy enough to the think it might be a tad too small for us, even though it was no worse than the Corsa, seems like we wanted space.

Next to it was a Q2, a hind of faux offroad thing, chunkier, larger, and set higher. It has four doors, ticks all our boxes, and had seven grand off it.

We got in, the saleswoman smiled, and swam, I mean, walked over. Nice, isn't it?

Stating the bleeding obvious. It was a fine shade of blue, blue with some kind of glass in the paint.

Now, for me, an Audi was always out of reach. I fell in love with the Avantios in the 80s, slinky with their drag coefficient of 0.30%, though no one knew what that meant. But it looked lovely.

And more recently I fell in love with the TT. But even 18 years ago when I had enough money to buy a fairly decent car, a TT was twenty grand. I ended up with a Passat instead. Still a nice car, but not an Audi.

So, the salwslady came over, banded around figures, bhp, engine sizes and so on and on.

Would we like to go for a test drive?

Jools can drive.

It has a small 1 litre engine, but due to technology has the power of an old 1.6 or something.

It had stated raining, Jools drove us down to Chillham and back. It is excellent. We could find no faults in the car or deal.

We arrived back at the showroom, walked back into the building, and we were asked, do you want it?

She knew the answer.

We did. We shook on it.

She got out a "sold" sign and placed it over the windscreen, then I completed loads of paperwork, signed my life away.

And that was it. Come back on Friday to collect it once it is tax and registered.

We walked out smiling and walking on air.

Next on the trip was Crundale.

Crundale is one of the most remote parts of Kent, it is three miles along narrow twisty lanes, through the village then a mile up a dead end lane to the church. It seems I have only photographed it once, so the plan was to record the details and fixtures and fittings.

We did give the warden a shock, as very few people get here. We do, as there is an orchid-rich wood along from here.

Anyway, he leaves me to it, and I snap the memorials and the tomb tablet I missed previously.

Didn't take long.

Back to the main road, then across and up the down opposite is Kings Wood and the village of Challock.

No church to visit, but near the church there is a wood and in that wood is a rare plant, toothwort.

The lane used to run from Challock to Ashford, but in the 18th century Eastwell Manor wanted parkland, and so they cut the road, made parkland, and the church is now at the end of a little-used lane.

Either someone went crazy with a chainsaw, or the recent storms have taken their toll, the row of trees near the cottages had all been cut down, and once we parked and walked into the churchyard, the wood to the south had also been cut. Not totally, but only a few lone trees remained, many others gone and their trunks taken away.

The plants that were there before, are still there; snowdrops, groundsel, bluebells, but no toothwort. We searched.

Away to the went, huge dark clouds were approaching, we had to rush to get back to the car before the storm broke.

End of trip.

So we go back to Canterbury and turn down the A2 towards Dover, and into, bright sunshine.

Back home for pizza and beer. All done in 15 minutes.

And so good we put the second pizza in the oven and munch through that two. I have a second tripel too, just to keep the first one company.

Being Saturday, there was football, but Norwich had already played and won. So, I could enjoy the afternoon, but enjoyment wouldn't come, as teams around and above us kept bloody winning, negating our win. Things didn't get worse, I suppose.

Then at six we went out, to collect a Chinese from town, as it was Jen's birthday, and we were going round for a meal and drinks and laughs.

A banquet for five would have fed more, as it was Jane didn't stay and went home to look after her sickly dog, but there would have been enough. We have a plateful each: Jools, Jen, John, Mike, me and Bet. Though Bet eats like a sparrow.

So we have a second plateful, and we all regret it, as we were all fit to pop, with the two beers I had.

At half eight, we all drifted back home. Jools drove us back home, back to our home on the downs, welcomed by the cats.

This is our life, and it is getting better.