9 February 2019 (Saturday) - Five Oakes


Over brekkie I watched a new episode of “Big Mouth”. I didn’t realise that the third season was about to start. Another good thing on Netflix.
I had a little look-see at the Internet. Apparently there is to be a load of closures and speed restrictions on the M20 over the next month or so whilst they install all the infrastructure for the proposed contraflow for when Brexit means the lorries will be queuing for hours, I would have thought that the ideal time to have done this work was over the last six months when miles of the motorway were closed off with no one working on them, but what do I know?

Yesterday I saw that Smyth’s didn’t have the Lego plates I wanted. This morning I ordered them from Amazon, then turned off the laptop. The plan for today had been for me to be at work, but last-minute shift swaps meant that I had a day free. We got the dogs and ourselves organised and drove out to Five Oakes. I must admit that we drove with some trepidation. Pogo isn’t a good passenger and we were expecting him to “blow” at any minute, but we got to Five Oakes unvomited,

We soon met up with Karl, Tracey, Jess and Charlotte and we went for a little walk. The rain of the last week made for a rather muddy walk, but a good walk. Even if the dogs did get filthy. It was a shame that the wind was so biting, but the rain held off, We finished the walk within minutes of the rain starting.
Geocache-wise it was a rather good walk. Sixteen hides over three (or so) mostly flat miles. We found all but one. If any of my loyal readers fancy a wander out I would suggest parking between caches nine and ten; the specified parking at cache one looks as though it is on private land.

With walk done we took some wet wipes to the dogs. You’d be amazed at just how much mud small dogs can accumulate. We all then drove down to the Half -Way House in Brenchley where Karl and I had a pint of stout whilst the ladies perused the menu. We had a particularly good dinner. I started with the soup. I think everyone had the scampi, and I ended with the fruit crumble. And there were a few beers in between. And port for dessert.
The nice people at the Half-Way House had given us our own little alcove, and it was ideal. The dogs could wander about with relatively little supervision. I say “relatively little supervision”; we had to keep an eye on Pogo as he’d not taken long to figure out the way to the kitchen.
There were some drunk women having dinner not far from us. There are those who don’t like drunken shrieking when dining out. Personally I see it as a good thing; it takes the attention away from the dogs.
We had a rather good dinner; it’s Karl’s birthday tomorrow, so we had to do something to mark the occasion. I took some photos – I usually do.

I slept most of the way home until "er indoors TM" woke me at High Halden. There were two small dogs running loose on the main A28. I soon captured one small dog, and the other one immediately followed me, telling me off for having picked up her friend. It didn’t take long for me to find the dogs’ home. But I have to say I was amazed by the lack of interest the owner showed about the dogs being loose on the main A road. I would be horrified if any of my wolf-pack got loose.

We came home to find the postie had been. One of the Lego level crossings I ordered from eBay yesterday had arrived. I was impressed with that speed of delivery. I spent a little while fiddling it into place, then we both had a bit of a doze.

I might put the telly on in a minute…

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