Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween and St Margaret at Cliffe.
Pity about the Tescos bag!
It is Halloween of course.
I would like to say that I don't believe in Halloween - nasty commercial American invention.
But just maybe it is the "Grumpy Old Woman" talking.
We didn't have it my day, so why should people want it now?
Normally if kids ring the door bell I ignore them or politely tell them to go away.
But actually I was enchanted by this group who had obviously made an effort with the aid of an elder sister.
We didn't know who they were - I hope their parents will not be concerned about a strange man taking a photograph of them!
We asked them of course and of course they felt proud.
A packet of my jelly babies ended up in their carrier bag - which they needed because the little buckets that the girls were holding were already full.
This morning the weather could have been the work of the devil himself.
It was dry when we awoke and so we decided to go to Ford.
It really hammered down with rain during our journey - hardly the light showers predicted.
And our homeward journey was shrouded in thick mist swirling across the Downs.
Magically there was no rain whilst we were browsing the stalls.
And browsing is what we mostly did - refusing to pay some of the high prices demanded by the stallholders.
Yes, I know that they had quality - but there would have been no profit, even a tiny bit for us.
We bought very little to sell.
But we did buy food.
A new butcher has set up a stall on a Saturday morning and we bought 3 packs of sausages and a joint of gammon - all for £9. The gammon is in the oven roasting right now along with the roast potatoes. It will last about 3 days at least I should think.
We bought free range eggs.
We bought some little pasties made by a Latvian stall holder - my vegetable one was delicious.
And Bill bought a good loaf of bread and a date cake.
The weather was so gloomy and murky that we decided to drive straight home. The Balaton is shut for the winter and we had pasties and cake to enjoy with hot cups of tea when we got home.
I rather wasted the rest of the morning.
But this afternoon I have been busy with wrapping and sending invoices.
I sold 8 more things on EBay.
I wonder why somebody in Paris, with a French sounding name wants an old guide book to Minehead and Exmoor.
A book on Elizabethan embroidery will be off to Japan.
Soon it will be time for our lovely roast dinner and an evening of naff TV - switching from "Strictly" to the X factor.
I actually prefer the latter - though there are no doubt all sorts of influences at work there.
But I regret that in Strictly Come Dancing the public vote for their "friends" - mostly TV people who they see regularly on the soaps etc. Last week Jade Johnson, the long jumper, was clearly one of the best dancers - the judges thought so - but the public don't really know her and therefore didn't vote for her and she was in the bottom two.
Back to Kent......
Now, I wish I could show some of France.
But you will have to take my word for it that we could dimly make out the cliffs of Cap Gris Nez from St Margarets at Cliffe.
This is what we might have seen on a good day in summer.
We drove there from Deal to explore the bay and get some lunch.
We didn't want a big lunch and the pub down in the bay was serving big and quite expensive meals. We already had plans for a meal at the pub next to the cottage in the evening.
We ordered tea and coffee and sat outside with 2 pieces of cake.
Interestingly our phones alerted to us that we might now want to change to French time!
Both sides of the pub sign for The Coastguard.
It is from this bay - or maybe to this bay that swimmers choose for the journey across The Channel.
Interesting art deco style houses on the beach.
Pattern of breakwaters.
Ship coming in to Dover.
Now all I have left to share with you are pictures of the cottage and the area around. It will be spread over about 3 days I should think!
Tomorrow's weather will be much more devillish than today, so they say. We do not plan to be at a car boot sale.
