10 November 2012 (Saturday) - Rye Bonfire Parade

With nothing major planned for the daylight hours we had a bit of a lie-in this morning. Whilst the lazing in bed is OK, for me it does come with a feeling of precious time being wasted. So we got up shortly after 9am to find heavy rain outside, and so wasted the morning in other ways. Browsing Facebook over brekkie saw off half an hour, as did doing a couple of on-line surveys.

I then went round to B&Q. Fudge does like his toys, but is destructive with them.. And dog toys aren't cheap. So I had this stroke of genius that I might get a length of rope from B&Q and plait it. Fudge could then have a cheap toy. I got a metre of rope for ninety-eight pence and plated it. Fudge seemed happy with the makeshift toy and set about it with a vengeance. It was un-plated within five minutes and in several pieces in less than half an hour.
Mind you I stand by the initial brainwave. It's a good idea in theory. If any of my loyal readers have any odd bits of rope laying about (the thicker the better) please send them in our general direction.

With the rain showing no sign of letting up I wandered up to the post office's collection depot. I had a parcel that needed to be picked up. I got there top find the biggest queue there that I have ever seen. People were queueing out of the office back almost onto the street. And in a novel break with their usual practice they were insisting on seeing I.D. before handing over the parcels. Whilst this is a good thing in theory, in practice I would question just how valid a Tesco clubcard can be as a form of identification. But, like everyone else in the queue, I vaguely waved a Tesco clubcard in the air and got my parcel. It was a charger and two spare batteries for my mobile phone. That will save me the trouble of having to lug my telescope's power pack about the next time I want to use the GPS on my phone for more than a couple of hours.

A spot of lunch, and with no sign of the weather improving we put on coats and took Furry Face for a walk. He needed to get out, and so did I. We went on a "round the block" walk for a couple of hours; obviously calling in at a few geocaches along the way. Once home "er indoors TM" went for petrol, and I spent half an hour with a smelly wet dog fast asleep on my chest.

Friends soon arrived, and two carfuls drove round to the abode of "the man with no alias (patent pending)" where we picked up three more carfuls of friends. We then went in convoy to Rye where we eventually managed to park and met up with even more friends. With over twenty-five people assembled we had chips and then cheered as the bonfire procession came past. It was a shame that the Cliffe bonfire group were missing certain friends; their absence was noted by several people.
With the procession gone past us we made our way down to the bonfire area. Not as easy as it sounds. There were serious crowds to get through, and keeping twenty-odd people together was somewhat akin to herding cats. But with a little help from my scrolling LED app we eventually got everyone together. "er indoors TM" cracked open the mulled wine (very tasty) and we watched the bonfire and fireworks.

This year's Rye bonfire parade was great. The procession seemed shorter than usual; the town seemed more crowded that usual. The fireworks were as good as any I remember from the past. A great evening with friends. As always there are photos of the event if you know where to look.
It's only a shame that this year's bonfire's season is now over...


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