On the Road Again!

I had barely driven half way to Hythe when I started to get the flashing lights in my left eye. It's the introduction to a migraine. Of course, I was travelling light and my man-bag with my meds was at home! So after parking up in the Waitrose carpark the first stop the chemist in the high street to exchange £9 for 12 Migraleve pills. They have gone up in price dramatically over the last few years. The plan was for Claire to go to Pilates whilst Reggie and I would walk up the high street and then around the canal over a couple of bridges. Whilst Claire would be occupied for an hour we could whip round. By the time we had got to the Lady's Walk bridge the migraine had past. It took the best part of three quarters of an hour to get round to the car again. Another nice walk to make the most of the sunny day 

Today Reggie and I had a walk around Fisherman's Beach in Hythe. There aren't that many boats left and developers have put some apartment blocks on the the back of the beach . The white house is a Martello Tower that has been converted into a house.  The red flag was flying and so we couldn't walk along the ranges we went as far as we could and turned around. Walking along the edge as the waves rumbled in, revealed the number of Cuttlefish washed up beyond the tendrils of the waves. Too many to count. Very sad but they will provide food for the gulls.

The Nikon Bug ... The problem is that in this weather there isn't much around Hythe to go and photograph. With so much on combined with the bad weather, not much opportunity to go anywhere. I took Claire to Pilates and we parked in Waitrose and walked along the canal to the cricket club. I took a few photos again! When I went back to collect her I took this one of St Leonard's Church. The light was going and so it's a little dark. Shutter Count.

Every so often the Royal Military Canal freezes over and it's always fun to skin stones across the ice. In other countries the rivers can freeze every year, but in southern England we have a very temperate climate and it rarely snows. Then of course there's panic buying of bread and bog roll. For some reason this year the local yobs have taken to vandalise fences and trees to throw on the ice. I hope their parents are pleased.

... to the jet wash. The garage at Seabrook has a jet wash. It gets you two minutes for a pound. There are six programs and you work through them. Some £10 later and I was finished.  All it needs is for me to give some bits a going over. Somehow you think through all the foam it's all cleaned!!! When i came to leave the road back to Hythe was chock full of traffic. So I went right and right again along Princes Parade. This is roughly the route of the old tramway.  It was horse drawn and was in use until the 1920's. One of the tram shelters is still there. It's been renovated in recent years. The land behind had been saved from an ugly development. Sadly, the developers are back to put up some more expensive rabbit hutches a few 100 metres to the left of here.

Boy was it freezing!   Back in the 00's we were told that with global warming that the south-east of the United Kingdom, i.e. where I live in Kent, would have a "Mediterranean Climate". The Mediterranean at the closest point to my house is around 700 miles. Roughly about Marseille. Meteo France has today's average to be 16° Centigrade. In Kent it is 1°C. Might not seem much but when you think it's January 12th.... Overnight it's 9°C, and here it's -2°C!   Okay, in Canada it might be worse, but we don't have things in place to make this the "norm"! The farmers were told they needed to adapt to that massive temperature increase and grow Mediterranean crops!  Instead, we have solar farms and thousands of houses going on the land. The ice and frost on the roads meant that we didn't want to keep Reggie out too long. I guess we are lucky on our roads that we never see the gritter out putting down sand and salt to keep the roads free for traffic...

One of our favourite dog friendly stops in Hythe when we are on the High Street. A bacon sandwich and an espresso to start with. So many "coffee shops" have become "corporate" with national (and international) chains opening up all over. Maybe should have taken a before photo! We are lucky that we have so many independent cafes and places to have a coffee and meet friends. That Nutmeg is cozy and in summer has a garden, and dog friendly, is a bonus. Support your local "mom and pop" stores and cafes...

Yesterday as my second event working on the Guide Dogs UK stand was at the bi-annual Venetian Fete in Hythe. The even usually starts around 4pm and goes on until around 10pm.  Local charities and organisations are given (they pay!) for a raft on the Royal Military Canal and the build a display on it. It's a sort of carnival on water! This year Claire and I volunteered to work on the stand from 5.30pm until 7.30pm.   It's a little disappointing to find that registered charities such as Guide Dogs and the Pilgrims Hospice had to pay for a small space to erect a marquee or gazebo. On top of that they were only allocated 2 wristbands to get people to work on the stands.  Anyone else was charged the £15 entry.  Scalping charitable organisations is pretty despicable. Between stints in the gazebo to work on the tombola we had a look at what was going on along the canal.  Had I known then that my wristband cost £15 I might have got the charity's value for money and...