Sunday 17th November 2024

I can't lie, but I hate going away.

Its not that I don't like travel, its that travel for work eats into the weekend, with booking seats, packing and generally thinking about things not to forget when we get up at four the next morning.

That being said, Sunday began very early and in a panic.

I woke at half three, with the sound of blood pumping deafeningly loud in my ears.

I tried to calculate my pulse in the dark and got it very wrong, but assumed I was about to have a heart attack.

This is all true.

So, I laid there waiting for death, but then I noticed my breathing was shallow and normal. I had no cold limbs indicating a thrombosis, and other than the sound of my own heart, I was fine.

Maybe I wasn't going to die. Yet.

I laid in bed until Jools got up, we got the heart monitor and blood pressure device out, and my blood pressure was slightly high, and pulse nearly 90, that was probably down to my stupid brain.

Did I want a coffee?

Yes.

So, life carried on as before.

Coffee.

Breakfast.

More coffee.

Check in online for the flight, pack and be readier than I usually am at half ten on a Sunday.

I even located my passport.

Dover District Council and Kent County Council have spaffed £34,000,000 on what they called "Fasttrack".

The idea was to have electric buses going between Whitfield and Dover Priory. As the Brexit-related facility at Whitfield was cancelled, so the land that had been compulsory purchased, and the Roman road, we turned into a bus route.

For buses and bikes only.

On top of that, a new bridge and approach roads were built beside Tesco, leading straight to the new mega-estate at Richmond Park.

There are "problems" with the electric buses, so some "ultra-low emission" buses have been sourced to run on the green route.

At the moment, there will be one bus an hour in each direction, and for this they have built new roads from near the Castle to beside B&Q, then via a bridge over the A2 to Richmond Park.

A wonderful piece of tarmac, and bridge for two buses an hour on Sundays, and six and hour weekdays.

And remember, my hometown Lowestoft, had to wait over 100 years to get a third river crossing, and Dover gets a bridge for two buses an hour over the A2.

The service began this morning, with the first bus due to set off from Dover at 11:00, only for the bus to break down, so services are currently running half hour late.

So, we went out to walk over the new bridge, snap the new bus, and be out of the house for a while.

We parked by the vets, then walked to the bridge, which rises over the A2 offering views in both directions. There are a matching pair of shelters near the roundabout.

And that's it.

We walk up the bridge, down the other side, take more shots, then turn round to wait for a bus to come to be snapped.

Here's the thing.

Where the bus route comes out near B&Q, there is already a bridge over the A2, and 400 yards the other side, a roundabout linking to the new estate, using this simple route, even diverting along to Tesco and coming back, makes the new bridge surplus to requirements. But they built the new bridge anyway.

So, a bus comes, bus nerds jump off and I get my shots. We walk to the car and drive home.

During the afternoon I had a snooze with Cleo, but waking up in time for the England v Ireland game, which ended in a 5-0 triumph for England after Ireland got a player sent off.

Time for supper, and that was that. Bed by eight and try to get seven hours before the alarm went off at four. And I begin the long commute.