Friday 27th August – Off to Batcamp

I had to work on the Friday again as it clashes with our end of month busy time. With the car packed on Thursday night, I went straight out to the farm after work. I arrived at about the same time as Terry and Irene. They had been worried about where everyone had gone as they were unable to contact anyone in the bad signal area. With the cars unloaded, Terry and Irene, assisted by Jose, cooked us a wonderful curry for dinner. We spent the evening drinking and chatting in the tent until very late. It was the guinea pigs first night under canvas. They had been set up in a hutch that wasn't in use at the moment.

Monday 23rd August - Bowling high score

Bowling this evening was fun but infuriating. On the first two games we couldn't get anything to go right. It didn't help when the balls were getting jammed in the ball return every other go. It then stopped playing up and we managed to redeem ourselves on the last game and bowled much better. I only missed 3 pins in total and finished on 182, beating my last week's high score of 170. This is just the second game in the current season. We are placed in 2nd place on pinfall but the 3 teams at the top have all won 14 points so it could be a close season.

Sunday 22nd August - Defrosting the freezer

The day started slowly with us not getting up until 10.30. Dave soon went off fishing so I had the day to do some housework. When I went to the freezer to get some bread for breakfast, I found that the bottle of Shloer that I'd put in the freezer on Friday evening had pushed the lid off and there was pink ice on the shelf. I've been intending to defrost the freezer for ages. It was so bad that chicken that I'd put in the top shelf was sort of wedged in the ice. All the food went into the cool box and a big polystyrene box. Armed with two towels in front of it, I left it to melt. Coming back to it later, the carpet was soaked too so I had to wring out the towels again and again throughout the day. I was impressed that all of the food, apart from some chinese rolls, stayed frozen.

Another job that needed to be done was to sort out the shoe crates. We had made a mess searching for the boot sock things for Kat's wellies so it seemed like a good time to do it. I got permission from Dan to throw out all his old trainers. I filled 2 black sacks with old shoes. I didn't find the sock things or my kiting harness which should have been there. Hopefully my harness is with the other kiting stuff.

While doing both jobs, I also cooked a chicken roast dinner for when the soggy fishers came home.

Today's photo from: http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/09/photo-of-the-day-intense-freezer-burn.html

Saturday 21st August 2010 - Moving and Bewl Water

I left home about 10.30 and went to help Matt and Lisa with their house moving. Not sure that I was much help. When we got to their house, Lisa was just leaving with the van. We left the car there and walked up to Matt's new flat. There wasn't anything we could really help with there. Dave and James helped with some heavy lifting. After having a cuppa, we then walked to the bank with Matt and then rushed back to their house to do a bit more. Kat did some hoovering, I cleaned the floor and the walls in the kitchen, while the boys dismantled the bed. It was soon time to stop for lunch. We drove up to Farmfoods to get some pizza and stuff. Then back to the flat to cook and find out that Matt can't have Sky there due to the big building opposite in the way. After dinner, we went home. I went via the petrol station as the low fuel warning light had just come on and I didn't want to be filling the car up while dressed up later.

In the evening we went to a Tudor event at Bewl Water for Drew's 40th birthday. The birthday boy and his family arrived in a horse drawn cart, looking very much the part of King Henry (albeit a slim one), his queen and his army chief and young Prince. After some photos, we went down to the lake and got on a boat. We had a tour around the lake while we had wine to drink, or soft drinks for the drivers. We were entertained during the whole evening by a jester/entertainer. We were back at the building for about 8.30 for dinner. He was very funny. He also played musical instruments from the period. Mostly we stayed with our friends from the astronomy club. Nearly everyone had dressed appropriately. The most original costumes being the row of houses which were very cool and had taken a few days to make. He also made us balloon animals, as long as we wanted dogs! We could have a giraffe too but that was just an upside down dog. He told us stories of the era too and after dinner he taught us some basic dancing of the era. He was very good. A brilliant evening was had by all.

19th August 2010

My order from conference order arrived today along with £90 of goods that every attendee gets sent. All useful to start off the new season in September. We pay about £120 for conference and then get this “goodie bag” sent to us afterwards. Love it. Tonight we had meatballs and curry sauce for a change. It made a quick and easy meal.

I then went to an Ann Summers party at Gaynor's. It was good fun. Our first game was to make clothing out of a bin bag in teams of threes. We dressed Gaynor up. I was pleased that I wasn't the only one who wanted to sit out the sexual positions game. I would have been uncomfortable playing this with someone I had only just met. All in all we had a fun night. I wish I hadn't been driving though so that I could have had a drink. Maybe another time.

18th August 2010

Today would have been Diane's birthday. It is now 5 years since she was taken from us. I had intended to phone Sean but didn't have chance. I should phone them and see them more often. Once or twice a year is not enough. I guess they are as busy as we are, or they'd be in touch more too.

This evening we just had pie and chips for dinner with a bottle of wine. We watched Almost Famous that I recorded. I didn't think I would like it. Dave didn't, he slept through most of it. I will look out for it in the cheap DVD sections. I would like to watch it again sometime.

Sunday 15th August 2010 – Steve took us on an Adventure

We set off from Folkestone and headed off to Capel-le-ferne. Well, 5 of us went in the car, Dave and Steve went on the bus. When we arrived we waited for ages for them. Eventually we got out of the car to go searching for them. It transpired that they had sneaked into the pub for a crafty half.
Having regrouped we set off up the foot paths along the cliffs. It was quite a trek, past a something large that we later found out was a sound mirror We soon found the holes that we were looking for. They barely looked big enough for a rabbit to get through but somehow most of us managed to climb into the darkness underground. It was DARK. Taking photos with the flash camera was interesting as just for an instant you could see what was there. Time for the torches. I went down the first hole but I didn't venture down the second one. I still don't know how Dave and Steve managed it. We went on to search for another entrance down the front of the cliff. Well, Steve and Batty did. Kat and I stayed up the top and had kittens with the boys being so close the edge! Down the third hole, there was a long corridor leading away from the light into the darkness and round a corner to another long corridor. This one had two battery rooms off it.

There were also lots of spiders and their sacks of babies hanging from the ceiling that were quite fascinating. Some people we know might have been scared of them. When we were heading out of the holes, Steve thought he was the last one out but Batty was hiding in the darkness and scared the living daylights out of him. Oh, we did laugh!! Think Steve needed new pants!

We walked on and found another underground feature to investigate. It meant climbing down a ventilation shaft. The others went down but I couldn't navigate myself over the edge so I looked after the coats and bags. I need to go down there one day. It sounded really interesting and the pictures looked good too. We then had the trek home back to the Royal Oak pub at Capel-le-ferne for a well deserved drink. Dave and Steve got the bus back and we picked up Dave in Folkestone before heading back to Ashford.