19 June 2010 (Saturday) - Shopping

I woke at 3am, and decided that after a quick tiddle I’d look for the comet. I had said tiddle, but by that time I’d forgotten all about comets. I knew there was a reason why I needed to be up, and thought that if I pottered about, that reason would come back to me. So I did the washing up, watched two episodes of South Park, and as I realised that at 4am it was getting light outside, I remembered the comet. Maybe next time…

The plan for today was originally bow snarrows at a farm, but the weather forecast was against it. Rain puts some people off, but the forecast strong winds would make for a dangerous game. HAZARD!!! In the event the wind was gusty – sometimes still, occasionally blowing a Hooley. And it did rain on and off all day. The forecast was right for once.

Last night I had to park three streets away due to the inconsiderate parking of my neighbour. She deliberately parks against the traffic and leaves three quarters of a car space in front of her because she doesn’t use reverse gear when parking or pulling away. She drives into a spot (crossing the flow of traffic to do so), and leaves enough room in front so she can drive out later (again crossing the flow of traffic). This morning I saw she’d driven off, so I ran up and round the roads to find my car, and I and put my car in part of the space she’d left. Not out of a sense of pettiness, but as a demonstration of how one should park. I doubt it was seen in that spirit though. When she came home this evening I found that she’d just parked three quarters of a car length from the front of my car.

Despite the weather we had a productive day. We visited Kengate – a local costume hire shop. We’ve been invited to a Tudor-themed party in a few weeks’ time, so we needed something Tudor to wear. Kengate had laods to choose from, and I eventually got something to fit. I say “fit” – it doesn’t do up at the back, but I have a jerkin (!) to go over the top so it won’t notice. The changing rooms at this place are quite entertaining – they don’t keep things as secret as they might. I was quite taken with the racy underwear of the young lady trying on various costumes in the changing room next to mine.

And then we popped into the tip. We had loads of cardboard to lose, as well as the fragments of the gazebo that didn’t survive last week’s camping trip. I lost count of the people that stopped me on the ten yard walk from the car to the skip to ask if the tripod I was throwing away was in working order. All of them seemed personally insulted when I explained it wasn’t a functional tripod, it was a broken gazebo.

Collecting the Bat, we then set off to John’s Cross to the camping shop. Full of reflections on last weekend’s camping trip we decided to get one or two little things to make this year’s upcoming camping trips that little bit more comfortable. Our next camping trip will be to Brighton, where there are no picnic tables in the vicinity that we can use. So I got a table with adjustable height. There are those who feel it would be ideally used as a food preparation area. They are sadly mistaken – it is a washing-up area. But I dare say it can be used for making the scoff on. We also picked up a camp (ducky!) stove as the one we borrowed last week was useful, and bearing in mind how sore my rear got when I last went fishing, I picked up a fishing stool too.

By now time was getting on, and we were a tad peckish, so en route to our next destination we thought we’d take pot luck with the first pub we found. The Oak and Ivy in Hawkhurst was a good choice. Or, if I might qualify that somewhat: The Oak and Ivy in Hawkhurst would have been a good choice if not for their being messed around by a wedding party. They had a wedding party booked for 3.30pm, but were struggling to keep up with orders from people invited to said wedding who thought they’d have a meal in the pub before the wedding. The pub had been assured no one would arrive until 3.30pm. They were lied to. Consequently our dinner probably took a little longer to arrive than it might normally have. However with four ales and a cider on the pump, and only one of those ales being remotely common, I’m happy to give the place the benefit of the doubt and try again another time.

And then back to Camping International in Gillingham. Having been there last Monday, I was rather taken with one of the tents I saw then. Today there was a bargain in which I got the tent, a really thick groundsheet, a carpet and a door mat all at a super-bargain price. And then they offered 10% off of the super-bargain price, so I felt I had to take them up on the offer. Bearing in mind I was feeling rich because of the leccie rebate I’d had earlier in the week I felt justified in not only getting the new tent, but also in treating myself to a new sleeping bag as well. My current one is tight, is over ten years old, and has never been the same since “Daddies Little Angel ^TM ” set light to the end of the thing. I got a camping pillow too – I thought I deserved one. Whilst we were at it, I got some “communal” stuff too - a bigger kettle, some really long pegs for “Brown and Smelly”, and a rubber mallet. As an experiment the Bat has acquired a camping bench. If it proves useful, then we shall pop back and buy more. If it doesn’t, then that will be sixteen quid down the pan.

Something that always proves problematical at camp is lugging water around. Some of us break our backs supplying the camp with water, some of us just can’t begin to lift the water containers, and some feel it’s all too much like hard work and leave it to me. So I wondered if a sack barrow to lug the water containers around might be a good idea. However having by now spent over fifty quid more than the leccie rebate was worth, it was time to economise. We found a sack barrow in a barn at the farm that might just do the job. Now we need a willing volunteer to test the thing out…