A busy few weeks

A busy few weeks.   Life is never boring, that is for sure.   And I often wonder how I ever fitted in work in the past.   Although I do know that when one has all day to do things in, it takes longer to do them.

We have had the two little dogs, Bobbi and Jezzie, visit us on a number of occasions.   They now have new beds, individual ones, which they love.   Perfect places in which to curl up in, 

or stretch out in, when the sun is shining through the conservatory windows.

We went on a few walks with Karen, to Shorne Country Park in Kent,   The dogs love this walk.  And we do too.

Normally there is a great amount of water lying in the old clay pits and depressions, but they have completely dried up as it has been a very warm and dry few months.    The paths that are closest to the cafe have been levelled and are suitable for people in wheelchairs.   But the rest of the park has a myriad of paths, some marked as walks, others meander off in other directions.   There are deep gullies, old coppiced woods, and some very old trees.   Much of this area can be very muddy during the winter months.  

An interesting patch of sunlight beaming down between Karen and me.   Great photograph, Walter.

A very old coppiced tree, with its many trunks coming out of the main trunk.

On the last day of Jackson's half term, we drove to Beckton to collect him from his new school, London Design & Engineering University Technical College.  It is based at the Dockland Campus of the University of London.   The technical college, one of thirty colleges spread throughout England, is focused on developing vocational skills as well as academic skills for students aged fourteen to eighteen.   There is a high degree of sponsorship from businesses, local and country wide.  

University of London, Docklands Campus.   Magnificent buildings.   I think the buildings were built to house athletes, training for the 2012 Olympics.

Jackson standing in front of his new school.   The school opened in September, 2016, with about 160 students, in Years 10 and 12.

We were interested in the land behind the school sign as it still showed the white lines, and crane rails, from the days when it was a working dock.

The blue building, student accommodation, with the landscaped gardens along the edge of the old Royal Docks.

The area around the Royal Docks has been transformed, with a massive redevelopment still continuing now.   When we drove through Canning Town, we hardly recognised the place.   There were certainly no slums.   Beckton has been landscaped, with a large wooded area, a university, clusters of houses and a large shopping centre.   I sincerely hope the developers included housing for the people that used to live there.  

The view across from Jackson's school towards London City Airport, and the cranes behind, marking out the redevelopment in the area.

During half term, Jackson, Isabel, plus the dogs and Jeff the lizard, came to stay for the week while Emma and Steve had a few days down at Camping Manjastre.  A very busy and enjoyable week.

Jackson, who now travels into London each day, via a train to London Bridge, and then by tube on the Jubilee Line, and finally on the Docklands Light Rail, was keen to show his very good skills at travelling on public transport.    We travelled to the Westfield Shopping Centre, by Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, via the Jubilee Line, for a day of shopping.    It was very easy, and much better than driving in, and getting caught up in traffic.

We also visited Bluewater, and Dartford, for a bit of local shopping, but the week was not entirely devoted to shopping.    We took Isabel and the dogs for a walk in Shorne Country Park.   The leaves were rapidly turning yellow.   Beautiful autumn colours.

Isabel made a cat pumpkin lantern, which looked impressive glowing in the conservatory.

And back again to London.    London Bridge station has reopened, after an extensive building programme.  It would appear that building work included digging out under the station in order to make a huge waiting area for passengers, plus small shops.    The passages to the tube station were still having work down on them, so were closed during the day.  

We walked around the sheer glass sides of The Shard.   Well it looks like sheer glass when looking up, but of course there is metal holding it all together.    Isabel noticed that children could travel up to the top of The Shard for free, during half term.    Then she realised that she was no longer 'a child'.   It is difficult being a teenager sometimes.

We travelled on the Jubilee line, to Greenwich North, in order to take the cable car from the O2 to the Royal Docks.   We intended to visit the Crystal, a Siemens exhibition, about planning cities for sustainability.    We agreed it was interesting except for the overload of information.

Jackson enjoyed pointing out the different landmarks that he passes on his journey to school.   One day he decided to take the cable car as part of his journey to school.   All very exciting.

I looked nervously towards London Airport, hoping that the planes taking off did not hit us on the way up into the air.   But I must say the views were spectacular on a brilliantly sunny and clear day.

The view back to the O2, with plenty of building work taking place beside it, and the tall buildings of London in the background.

And finally, an early morning view of the sky, though the entrance to Joydens Wood.   It was quite dark in the woods, for me and the dogs.   Luckily after a few days, they decided to sleep in until 7.30. 

Half term is now finished, and tomorrow the children and teachers return to school.   Thankfully I no longer have to join them.  

Tomorrow I will sleep in a little, and then have a leisurely breakfast, followed by coffee and cake, and a catch up plus lunch with Kathy.  

A busy life.

A trip to Dover, by train

Today we travelled to Dover by train.  In the time it took to find the railway station at Folkstone, waited forty minutes on the train, and then waited forty minutes on a train to come back, we could have travelled there and back by car a number of times.  Dover is about twenty minutes away by car.

But the experience made it all worthwhile.  We found out that the trains that pass through Dover and Folkstone travel in more than one direction.   We could take the fast trains via Ashford, Ebbs Fleet to St Pancras, or slower trains via the east coast of Kent, or via inland routes.  We were very impressed with the services offered by Southeastern Network.  And waiting forty minutes was very easy in the comfortable and warm cafes. 

The day started well with breakfast in our lovely warm caravan.  We set off with the intention of having coffee in the Clifftop Cafe.  But they only served filtered coffee.  As we look forward to our morning latte we decided to try our luck at the railway station cafe, where we were not disappointed.

Before we left the Clifftop Cafe with its stunning views, which were not enough to entice us to have coffee there, there was a need to take photographs.

A pose in front of the stunning view of the coastline, with the railway line visible beside the coast below.

The view down to The Warren.  There are very steep stairs here to use in order to climb down to the valley.  

We drove into Folkstone, and then drove around the Central Railway Station three times before we saw the railway station sign.  How we missed it, I do not know, but we certainly got to know that part of Folkstone.

After a restorative latte in the warm cafe, we caught the train to Dover.  One stop.  It travelled alomg the coast where we walked, past The Warren and past Samphire Hoe.  And through four tunnels.  The journey took ten minutes.  But we enjoyed it very much.

Another pose.  This time in front of Dover Priory Station.  In brilliant autumn sunshine.

After living in Kent for twenty four years, and travelling through the Port of Dover many times, we have not visited the town centre.  We have visited Dover Castle on a number of occasions and looked down on the town but this was not the same as actually walking around the streets.

We found it a lovely place to visit: calm, peaceful and positive.  We could see that Dover had more than its fair share of  social and deprivation difficulties but on the whole people looked positive.  And the streets were clean, and buildings well maintained.

We were surprised to see a number of very old buildings in the town, which had escaped the severe bombing during WWII.  There were plenty of information boards, written in both English and French, in front of many buildings, I did not record any details, and now I cannot accurately recall the information.

This building is either a church or the town hall.  It was closed today

A lovely church.  There were plenty of churches to photograph but I tried to constrain myself.

The Dover Museum.  What a find.  Absolutely full of local history and artifacts, plus references to archeological finds in other parts of the country.  As Dover has a long history as a major port, there was plenty of history to tell.

And on the top floor in its own climate controlled area was the most amazing section on the Bronze Age, 2500BC until 800BC.  In the centre of the room was a boat from that era.  It had been found during the digging up of a road to make a bypass around Dover.  There was also a film about its removal from the soil and the restoration process.  Fascinatng.

Dickens Corner.  A beautiful building on the edge of Market Square.    We had lunch there, sitting in the sunshine beside the open door.   Well made sandwiches followed by perfect espresso coffees.  They roasted their coffee beans in a machine, which was on display in the cafe.  Impressive.

There are no photographs of the square due to the high number of local drunks sitting contentedly on the benches in the sunshine, drinking their extra strong lager.  They may have enjoyed having their photograph taken, but I did not dare take the risk.  It was a lovely square too.

A view of Dover Castle perched high above the town.  Very imposing.

One side of a street had been demolished during the late 1800s in order to widen the street.  There was a competition so that people could supply plans for new buildings, with the result that fhe architecture varies greatly in the buildings.  The two buildings below were adorned with Dutch gables.

The last church, a chapel built during the 12th century.  And it has plenty of history too.

Finally we walked back to Dover Priory Station, where we sat in the cosy cafe and drank soft drinks, until our train arrived at the station.  It was one of the super fast trains, not that it travelled any faster between Dover and Folkstone, but it was certainly a much smoother journey.  

Afterwards we drove home from Folkstone.  We saw a sign pointing to the 'Historic Church'  but we were too tired to follow the sign and have a look.

Donna reminded me that I have been to The Warren since 1993, as I took her, plus Scott and Lucy, for a walk there.  No wonder I felt that I had previously walked across the grassy slopes by the Martello towers at East Cliff.   It was very familiar.  We must have parked the car there on our visit to The Warren.  Thank goodness Donna reminded me of this, as I had one of those 'deja vu' moments yesterday.

The 'moment' above combined with the 'moment' where I thought I was in South Australia and the Russian ships were travelling around the coast of Australia, made me think I must have been suffering greatly from senior 'moments' yesterday.   I told people with binoculars glued to their eyes,  that the ships were taking the long way to Syria.  They looked at me blankly and I realised I was standing on the cliffs in England.  Luckily I have a strong New Zealand/Australian accent so got away with it.

Tomorrow we leave our lovely camp site, called Little Satmar, in Capel-le-Ferne, and drive back up the M20 to home.  A lovely view days in a beautiful and interesting part of Kent.

An interlude - Capel-le-Ferne

A few days away in the caravan.  An interlude between all the jobs we need to do at home.  We are staying in a lovely holiday park, high up on the cliffs at Capel-le-Ferne.  No, we are not in France.

Capel-le-Ferne is a village by Folkestone, on the Dover Road and the Old Dover Road.  Now the village is bypassed by the A20 motorway, where the trucks thunder past on the way to and from the Port of Dover.   The name Capel-le- Ferne comes from the old northern French language and literally means 'chapel in the ferns'.

And according to the history site on Google there is a Norman church built in the 12th century.  It is redundant now but I must have a look for it tomorrow.

Our site amongst the verdant green of the lovely holiday park.

We went for a walk along a very narrow path on the top of the cliffs.  There were still blackberries on the vines which tasted quite delicious.

The view towards the East cliffs, and the three Martello Towers which were built between 1804 and 1809 as part of a line of defence along the coast.  All a little difficult to see in the photograph below.

The Battle of Britain memorial which was opened by the Queen Mother in 1993.

The last time I visited this area was in early summer 1993.  The A20 bypass had not been opened then and neither had the Battle of Britain memorial.  I remember driving up the hill on Dover Road, and turning off onto Old Dover Road towards the Clifftop Cafe where I parked the car.  I then joined a walking group tour.

I was very impressed with the scenery and the walk, which took in the clifftop path, the Warren, and finally, a climb back up the stairs which clung to the cliff face.  It has taken me 23 years to finally return to the area, which is ridiculous as Folkstone is only about a 90 minutes drive from home.

A view towards the cliffs and Warren Country Park on the left.   It was named Warren after the multitude of rabbit warrens there.

It was an exciting morning for many people who pointed out to us, the flotilla of Russian warships passing by in the distance.  They were on the way to Syria in to take control of Aleppo.  It was a chilling moment for me.

Unfortunately I missed taking a photograph of the warships, which were some distance away.  I think I can just see a black spot on the right hand side of the photograph below.

The sea defences were interesting; concrete blocks, a concrete apron, concrete steps and rocks constructed into all manner of shapes.  The limestone and chalk cliffs are very unstable.  

The concrete apron, in the photograph below, is wide enough and long enough to land an aeroplane on.  The white line is there to remind people to keep to the cliff side, as the tide comes up onto the concrete.

The Folkstone to Dover railway line, built in the 1840s, runs underneath the cliffs.  There used to be a railway station called Halt Station on the left of the concrete apron.  People liked to come here by train, walk over the railway bridge, and admire the ruggedness of the place.  However a large landside in 1915 destroyed the station.  Although it was rebuilt, it was finally closed in 1939 due to another landslide.  

Between the cliffs and the concrete there is a valley, which has its own micro climate, with trees and ferns growing profusely.  We did not venture there due to the paths being very uneven.  Instead we walked along another path in the direction of Folkstone and found it to be equally beautiful.

A view through the trees towards the port of Dover.

A view back towards the cliffs, with the Warren valley on the left.  There is a Camping and Caravaning Site on the shoreline.  A very picturesque place to camp but I think it would be a nightmare to tow a caravan down the steep narrow road in order to get to the site.

After lunch and a rest we drove towards Dover to visit Samphire Hoe, so named by a woman in 1994, who won the competition to name the new area.  'Samphire', a plant grown along the seafront here, and used to be pickled and sent to London to be served as a side dish to meat.   'Hoe' is a piece of land which sticks out into the sea.  All very appropriate to the area.

Samphire Hoe was made with nearly five million cubic metres of Chalk Marl, which was taken from under the channel, as they were tunnelling to build the Channel Tunnel.  The rest of the Chalk Marl went to France.

The Chalk Marl infill extended the land out from the cliffs.  The ground was landscaped to make small hills and ponds.   The area was sown with grasses and wildflowers.   There is a considerable amount of wildlife here now and new plants are springing up.  Unfortunately I did not take any photographs of the landscaped area.

Other aspects of Samphire Hoe seemed to be attracting my attention, such as the train coming out of the tunnel.

The sea was very calm, and the sun behind the clouds, but still shining on the water, was very effective.

The area used to be called Shakespeare Cliff.  In 1843 part of the cliff was blown away, to allow room for the railway lines.  The blowing away of the cliff caused quite a bit of excitment with local people.

In the 1880s tunnelling was started from the cliffs with the aim of building a tunnel between England and France. After 2000 yards it was stopped, due to either running out of money or concern that the French may invade Great Britain.

There were also coal mines in the area in the late 1800s but they did not produce good quality coal so were disbanded in 1921.

The huge sea defences, great for walking on, and for fishing from, in good weather, but deadly during storms.  There are plenty of warning signs, which I guess people ignore, as there are many casualities along the shores of Great Britain, during storms.

The narrow tunnel which separates Samphire Hoe from the A20.

The area from Folkstone to Dover is steeped in history, with beautiful walks and spectacular scenery.   Such a beautiful place to visit.

According to my watch I walked 9 kms, 12,270 steps and burnt 516 calories.  Walter said that his watch gave him more steps and more calories burnt.  A little competition there, I think.  But an impressive day, all the same.

We celebrated by eating dinner at a local restaurant and ate far more calories than we burnt off.  Oh well.

Holiday mode. Enough is enough.

It seems like yesterday that we arrived back from the south of France, but in fact we have been home for nearly three weeks.  I have just checked the diary.   But what have I achieved in that time?  For the first two weeks, very little, as I was still in holiday mode.  I read books, listened to a story, read everything on social media sites, had an afternoon snooze each day, and went for long walks.  And closely followed the news about Brexit.

Brexit!  A tough Brexit, according to our Prime Minister, Theresa May.   Whatever that may be, but it certainly spells out prospective doom and gloom for the country.   A country that has very little to sell, and much to import, that has not invested in industry infrastructure for more than a hundred years, and which has great inequalities of wealth.   A country that is intertwined with Europe, and who receives subsidies for farmers, sport, universities and rebuilding. to name a few.  Does a 'tough Brexit', or a 'hard Brexit', or a Brexit means Brexit' mean Great Britain will reject the European Union completely? At the moment there is plenty of delusional thinking and talking, for sure.

Statements from the recent Conservative annual conference does not instill confidence.  Irrational statements about replacing foreign doctors, firms providing lists of foreign workers, and letters being sent to non GB citizens informing them of a date to leave the country.  They were all retracted later in the conference.    

I have a feeling that the Conservative Cabinet members, who are not willing to discuss plans with the party as a whole, or willing to enter into any debate, and who seem to be alienating members of the European Union, actually do not appear to have any plans anyway.   

In the meantime we carry on as usual.  

On the ferry back there were about fifteen coaches, plus a fleet of mini buses, mostly with noisy teenagers aboard.   Luckily it was a smooth crossing because there was no room to move, all chairs were used.

The white cliffs of Dover.   Or rather the slightly off white cliffs of Dover.   However they still look remarkable.  The light was amazing and we could see the cliffs as soon as we left the port of Calais.

My poor rhubarb.   A victim of the extraordinary hot and dry weather, late in the season.   I realise that rhubarb starts to die off in autumn but usually not so early.  Anyway I have heaped compost and chicken manure on it, and watered it well, so fingers crossed no permanent damage has been done.

Emma and Steve came to the rescue with a bag of rhubarb.   Their rhubarb patch, which I am sure is fed with water from a spring, is still gong strong.   

There were feathers scattered over the lawn at the back.  The owner of the feathers was the victim of a fox.   Oh well that is nature I guess.   The fox needs to eat and feed its young.

What a mess!

This week I decided enough was enough.   I have made a 'to do' list.   And amazingly I have made a start on it.   Otherwise it will be the end of November, and I will be frantically running around trying to get everything completed before we head off to Australia.

Rushing around at the last minute does not work, as I found when I opened the bag of light bulbs in September. Aaron had given me them to me last May, and I hurredly put them in the cupboard, intending to put them away when I had time.  A big mistake.  I must have thrown red onions in the bag also, and forgot about them.   By September I had a very smelly bag of mushy red onions which had spread their juice all over the light bulbs.   All I could do was throw the lot in the bin.  My apologies, Aaron.   Less haste and more speed, so they say.

One of my first jobs has been to organise the photos for my blogs, and actually write one.