Another relatively good night’s sleep. I
wonder if this is connected with my sleeping *on* the bad as opposed to *in*
it?
I woke a couple of hours later than
usual, and over brekkie watched an episode of “Dad’s Army” in which Captain Mainwaring was looking at the
womenfolk’s bloomers. Nice work if you can get it…
Mind you despite something of a lie-in,
I was out in the garden and painting fence shortly after 7am. I got one panel
done whilst "er indoors TM" farted around in the
shower, then I used the bath to clean out the fish pond’s filter. The pond
water is rather green; I need to replace the ultra-violet bulb. And with the
filter cleaned (and me smelling of fish
poo) I got another two fence panels painted. I would have done more had I
not had to continually pull dogs heads out of the paint pot, and pull dogs off
of wet paint. I did have plans to mow the lawn and cut back the crap hanging
over the fence on not-so-nice-next-door’s side but time was pushing on. So I
stopped and looked at the garden and reviewed the situation.
I have plans for the garden… I want to
take up all the shingle behind the pond and lift the weed-resistant membranes.
With that done I can re-landscape with a view to replacing a fence panel (much of which is currently buried) and
building up a mound behind the pond on which I can have a stream from the filter
feeding the pond.
I want to lower the fence at the end of
the garden and put trellises up.
I want to look at the possibility of
building a gazebo to go over the pond to reduce the green algae.
I want to get some planters to go at the
house end of the garden to make a feature behind a tired water feature.
However the most difficult part is going
to be getting not-so-nice-next-door to repair their broken fence.
I had a quick shower, and on the stroke
of mid-day the doorbell rang. The washing machine fix-it people said the chap
would be along between mid-day and 2pm. He was prompt. The dogs set about “helping” him, and I left him to work his
magic. He was done in half an hour, and left us with some stuff to de-gunk the
works.
Jimbo arrived, and we took the train to
Wye for a beer or two. The train got us there us there a few minutes and we
walked up to the Barber’s Arms. Billed as one of the best micro-pubs in Kent
the place is rarely open, and again we found it closed. So we carried on to the
Flying Horse where we sat in the garden and had a pint of Whitstable Bay whilst
some ill-behaved brats screamed in the background for no reason than that they
could.
From here we walked down to the Kings
Head and sat in a rather uninspiring concrete courtyard where the same round
cost two pounds more. Mind you there was a rather raucous piss-up going on
which was being led by a vicar. I suppose they kept their prices up to keep the
riff-raff out.
We took a little stroll downhill to the
Tickled Trout and sat by the river. The beer garden here was full of children,
but they were all playing nicely and having fun. Not one felt the need to
scream continually, which was a bonus. One child was a little concerned about a
big fish she’s seen in the river. She told me it probably wasn’t a shark, but
she wasn’t sure.
Pausing only briefly to admire the hat
and tie worn by the normal people we had a few pints of Trout Pout and Slap
& Tickled and we had a rather nice cheese board in lieu of a packet of
crisps.
As I came back from the loo I had
something of a (literally) sobering
episode. Six years ago I had a nasty little episode at work in which I really did
find out who my friends were. One chap with whom I had worked for over
twenty-five years completely turned his back on me at the time. When I asked
him for help he flatly refused to do anything, and told senior management that
he wouldn’t help me. I met this chap in the Tickled Trout today; he grabbed my
hand and pumped it like I was his best friend.
We had a few more pints then made our
way to the railway station where we woke up a nice lady before coming home.
I got a kebab to share with the dogs,
and we all scoffed it whilst watching “Little
Shop of Horrors”. I had planned to do the ironing. It will keep…
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