On the Road Again!

The first game of the new season and it was an 8pm kick-off at the Emirates Stadium. With the trains as they are I was on the 4.57pm train from Folkestone West.  As it is still school holidays I has expected the train to be a little busy, but it was quite packed. It seems the trippers to Folkestone go home much earlier than in the past.   I got a seat as I stood where I used to for a decade on the train when I went to work. The doors open right in front of me.  I won't give away my secret.... I met Helen by Marks & Spencer in St Pancras and we voyaged to Arsenal on the Piccadilly Line.  There were rumours of delays but we got on the second train that came along. My brother Neill was already there but we didn't get the table we usually have as Phil wasn't there tonight! Instead we had to stand. It was Neill's turn for the drinks and we opted for Diet Sprite.   There's a new system in place. Barriers rather a queue. Barriers that take £10 off your ca...

Over 61? Then the government doesn't give a fuck if you might have prostate cancer... Or so it seems... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0pvxe5jgzo

I signed up for this. Not for the free t-shirt but because prostate cancer and me have a relationship that is ongoing for the last three years. The original ad photo.. I have seeded the Justgiving page with £10 plus the tax amounting to a further £2.50. The ChatGPT version with my face added  Hopefully I will get some more donations. 

A winning start for Latics at home to Port Vale in League Two.  A very satisfactory start to the season. BBC Sport Sky Sports Highlights

This weekend, August 15th and 16th, is the Biddenden Tractorfest.  I have not been before and so when Kent Greyhound Rescue, where I volunteer, asked for people to work on a stand at the Fest, I said I would go. The job was simple as I only had to wrangle the dogs. We had four. Two bull lurchers, Frank and Peaches, and two greyhounds, Reef and Otto. The stand... Reef taking a rest after a walk As the day got hotter we kept alternating the dogs on the stand and into the car with the air conditioning on. We were on the main route for the tractor rides. I had a few walks with the dogs, one at a time, firstly to the classic car display.  There were bikes too. The old Lambretta is 65 years old in unrestored "patina". Later Peaches and I had a turn around another area where there we scaled down versions of full scale vehicles.  Around 1pm, it was g...

I have a habit of booking the first and last nights away on our trips to cement them in place.  This time I have booked the first only online. It's a place where we have stayed before and it's about two hours down the coast at Cayeux-sur-Mer.  There are now three Camping-Car Park aires in the area and I have chosen the one closest to the ville.  We stayed there the last time in 2024. These get cleared away at the end of summer!! At the moment it's just for the one night. I booked us from 12 noon so we have plenty of time to get there and know we have a space. We actually have three nights to work our way across the the central Normandy coast and the D-Day beaches.

After the heat and hassles of the last long trip to Spain and France, we had fallen out of love with motorhoming, just a little. Apart from a short trip, without Reggie, to Sissinghurst, we have done no trips at all in Malibu Molly. Some vloggers we watch on YouTube expressed the same sentiments about travelling in these heatwaves that western Europe has been having since around mid June. When you have a dog you are often restricted anyway to where you can go and take it/them with you. When you have an old dog, or one that has a few health problems, you have to be even more thoughtful.  The mountains in Spain have been pretty reasonable on the two previous occasions when we have "done" the Picos and Pyrenees . This year one day temperatures came up at 41C. The rest of the time they hovered around 35C to 38C. So this week we saw there was an offer at the Camping and Caravanning Club for £17.50 a night for a grass non eh...