Saturday 5th December 2020

It is the weekend again, and with two whole days in which to do whatever we wanted.

Except churchcrawling.

Drinking in pubs, if even one.

Eating out.

Going to football, too far to go to Norwich, and anyway we're in level 3 here.

And not Bearded Reedling hnting, as the weather was too cloudy, and the wind was building.

So, what then?

Cheese.

And a wander along the prom and pier in Deal?

OK. Let's do it.

As I could lay into as late as eight if I wanted, my brain woke me up at five to five with a nightmare that I had lost a camera and all the shots I had taken on during a holiday. That would wake any photographer up.

So, I lay in bed listening to the rain falling outside, and the cats fighting, usually a sign its near mealtime. I lay until just gone six, and some light appeared to be showing. The cats sat socially distancing in the living room, so I feed each in turn at their preferred spot, then wait for Jools to wake before making the first coffee of the day. Outside, the cold morning light revealled low, thick cloud.

Brrrr.

I look at the week old loaf, and decide its fit for bacon, so grill the maple infused rashers until they go crispy, make brews, and we eat, loudly and quickly.

Lovely.

In order to avoid people, the plan was to be at the cheese shop, No Name Shop(!), soon after opening at half eight, to get what we wanted, then go for a walk.

It takes ten minutes or so to drive into Deal, find the large car park between the High Street and beach almost empty, so pick a spot and we wander down to the shop.

We buy three strong, soft cheeses, one sheep, and one so soft it was almost runny. THere also had fresh wholemeal baguettes, so buy one of those for the cheese, and the tarts looked fine, so we also buy two slices of Flan Parisien.

We drop them back at the car, then walk to the seafront where the full force of the keen westerly hit us in the face. I just had a thin coat on, while JOols had several more layers, and we were both cold.

We walk to the end of the pier, where most of the space is fenced off as a group try to put up the town's Christmas tree, but there was a single path leading to the pier, so we go round and nod to the warden who collects fees from the worm-danglers. Ahead, just one person, another warden, was walking up towards the end.

I take shots as we walk along, showing how empty it is, as even in deep mid-winter there are anglers and people walking to the cafe at the end for breakfast. But not today. The cafe had a window where you could buy food to eat outside, but there were no takers in the arctic blast.

We turn roud and walk back, and Jools asked if we were going to do more walking when we go onto land.

No, we shall go home.

Or, we went into Dover so I could buy some shoes.

It is my first time shopping in the St James Development, and in times of COVID, even in the run up to Christmas, there were few other shoppers about. I walked to the shoe shop, Shoe Zone, and buy the first design I see that I like, try one on, then take the pair and pay for them.

And we were back in the car within ten minutes.

Back home by ten past ten to have a warming brew and the rest of the cookies we had been saving since Thursday.

I took off my socks inducating I wasn't going outside again that day. And meant it.

We had cheese and the baguette for lunch. The cheese so runny it was seeping out the paper wrapping. It seemed silly to put some back in the fridge only for it to try to break free like the alien in The Thing, so we eat it all, and most of the bread with it.

Lovely.

And then to football, listening to the radio while I watch another video of a Japanese branch line, this one round Mt Fuji, and as spectacular as you would think.

At three, Norwich kicked off, and the city being in tier 3 meant 2,000 fans could attend, and hopefully lift the team.

In the second half, Wednesday take the lead, and with the few fans there getting anxious, City score two great team goals to storm back to the top of the League, and send the fans home happy. Not normal, but getting there.

I'm not going to argue whether having fans is a clever move right now, but the fans helped lif the players.

At the end, Farke went to the South Stand to do the "oles", and it was emotional to see that happen for the first time in nine months.

We had aubergine for dinner, then it was football until the end of the evening, and it was time for bed.

The day kinda fizzled out.

But there you go.