16 July 2013 (Tuesday) - Busy

I slept through till gone 7.30am this morning - the exertions of the weekend had caught up with me. I got some laundry going and had brekkie. Laundry went on the line, more laundry went in to wash, and I got the hose pipe to the pond to top it up a little.

With "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" about we took the dogs out for a walk. Through Newtown into South Willesborough and home through Frog's Island. We came home via McMunchies; the new burger van at the bottom of our road. "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" occasionally acts as runner for that establishment, fetching them various supplies as needed. They do a rather good cheese and tomato toastie.

Home again, where more laundry went on to the line, more went in to wash, and the beer I got into the bucket last week went into the barrel. Hoovering, tidying, and then I played Candy Crush Saga until "Dog Food Man" arrived. "Dog Food Man" is a chap I met at Shadoxhurst fete the other day. He gave out a free sample of his dog food which "Furry Face ^TM" yummed up. I bought about a hundred days worth of the stuff today for eighteen quid - and "Dog Food Man" delivered it as well.

My phone rang. Whilst playing Candy Crush Saga I'd seen an advert for life assurance. After a bit of thinking and a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I've taken out a policy. When I croak the policy should stump up enough to cover the costs of disposing of my carcass, and should have enough left over for a drinkie or two for anyone who comes to laugh at the funeral. If any of my loyal readers are thinking of taking out any such insurances please let me know - I'll give you the number of the bloke I spoke to today. Tell him I gave you his number and he'll give me vouchers to spend in the High Street.

Being Tuesday the clans gathered. We watched the last ever episode of "Being Human". I liked that show. Mind you I did get the impression that towards the end they had rather run out of plot. Much of the story in tonight's episode did contradict what had gone before. But it was still good.

It was good to sit down and watch telly - I'd had rather a busy day...

Just before going to kip I checked my emails. At the weekend I'd heard from a lot of people that the kite festival in Teston in August was looking iffy because of ongoing building work. I'm reliably assured that the event is going ahead. Here's hoping...

15 July 2013 (Monday) - Jim'ard

Being the last day of camp we chop up all the leftover scoff and make omelettes for brekkie. Today as well as omelettes we had jim'ard. Jim'ard is basically all the leftovers that got the thumbs-down from the omelette maker. I quite liked it, even if it did give me wind.

And then we packed everything up, loaded it into the cars, drove it all home and put it all away. How easy it is to write that. Less than a minute to write; most of the day to do.

This year's Brighton Kite Festival was one of the better ones. Over the last few years I have felt that the attendance had been dropping. But this year's event was busy all the time. And it didn't rain. Not once. This is the first time we've not had serious rain at some point at Brighton. It was a really good weekend. I'm looking forward to next year's event. I'm very grateful to the organisers - if more people were like the people who run the kite festival the world would be a much better place.

Once home and unpacked I had a shower. Having lived in a field for a few days one appreciates the wonders of home plumbing. I fetched "Furry Face ^TM" from "My Boy ^TM", I put my weekend's photos on-line, and checked emails. All rather dull. The holiday is over, and it's back to the routine.

It's just as well my life's not that routine...

14 July 2013 (Sunday) - Brighton Kite Festivall (Still)

Another hot morning saw me out of bed and out of tent before 7am. This time I just sat in my chair and watched the world go by. The view from our camp was rather good. I dozed off and woke an hour later to find everyone else was up and about. In a break with tradition we didn't have our morning fry-up in a sandwich. Being Sunday we had brekkie from a plate. It was either out of respect to the baby Jesus, of from fear of being struck on the hinders with a frog. I'm not sure which it was.

As the shoppers went off shopping I wandered down the hill a little and spent some time chatting with the in-laws who were camping next door. And then it was time for the kiddies kite making workshop again. Some of today's kiddies weren't too keen on the idea of flying their kites into trees as they wouldn't be able to get the kites back. Apparently no one had told the children that before mothers are allowed to have children they have to get the gold certificate in tree climbing. When I explained that if their kites got stuck then their mothers would climb that tree as fast as a fish they all seemed more pleased with the arrangement.

With four hundred kiddie-kites made we then went and flew some kites of our own before helping with the site clear up at the end of the afternoon. And once sous-chef had done his thing with an onion we had a rather good curry for tea. We then got the Blokus out and had a good go.

More beer, port, Pimms... it al got very vague (so I am told), and so to bed at 2.20am...

13 July 2013 (Saturday) - Brighton Kite Festival

When at Brighton Kite Festival we always camp on the western edge of Stanmer Park. The views are rather good, but it does mean that the sun is on the tents from early in the morning, and it was rather hot and stifling by 6.30am. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I went for a little walk around the nearby woods to see if I couldn't clear my head.

We had a good spot of brekkie - we always do. I offered to wash up but we had a minor disaster. Not enough water. In previous years we've washed up in the shower block, but last year the shower block had burned down. However "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" had a solution. Apparently "Carnie Folk" know how to get water. For myself I had no idea what "Carnie Folk" are; let alone how they are born diviners, but I wandered down the hill with my empty water tank and eventually found a chap with a hose who was filling a huge paddling pool. I asked if I might have some of his water. I had absolutely no idea what he muttered in reply. It was certainly in no language I've ever heard before. But he handed over his hose and smiled as I filled my container.

I dragged water back to camp, washed up, and fell asleep in the sunshine. I woke at 12.50pm; ten minutes before I was supposed to be on duty. As always I'd volunteered to help with the kiddies kite making workshop. My forte is attaching the bridles, and we had a great time as I wound up the children explaining that kites are like birds in that they like to nest in trees. I told each kiddie to be sure to let their kite have a rest in a nearby tree, and when we'd finished I saw that many of the kiddies had taken my at my word and had put kites into trees.

Lisa and Earle left us - they were off to Gatwick and then on to sunny somewhere. We waved them off, and had fajitas. Very tasty. Then some beer. Then some more beer. Then a bottle of port. Just as I was going to bed I heard Dave's voice. So I got up again...

12 July 2013 (Friday) - Off to Brighton

I was up with the lark raring to go, and was on Tony's doorstep before 8am. We did a quick trip to Tesco and then set off to Brighton. Over a spot of brekkie I'd checked my emails and had seen that (for no apparent reason) six new geocaches had gone live within striking distance of where we were planning to camp. As we pulled in to Stanmer Park I went for one of them. Having been published at 7.30am I wasn't expecting to be First to Find, but I was. The cache had remained unfound for nearly three hours. Wouldn't happen in Kent! I suspected that the other five caches were at that time still waiting for someone to claim FTF, but I was happy with one; I'm not greedy.

We had the offer of bacon butties with friends in Brighton, but reluctantly had turned the offer down. It takes quite a while to set up camp, and so we cracked on. The Rear Admiral arrived after only a couple of minutes (complete with "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" and Sid), and we soon had our tents up. It wasn't long before the rest of our party arrived, and we soon had our camp together.

A spot of baguette for lunch, a quick kite-fly, and then I went for a little drive with Dave. He was going to look at buying a new car and there was a particularly tricky geocache nearby that was giving him grief, He wanted my expert skills (!) to help find it. I was no help at all, but Rhiannon (aged nine) came up trumps. Whilst we were out and caching I picked up another First to Find; this one some eight hours after it had gone live.

Back to base, and with most of the crew together we scoffed tea, and then went for a little wander. This was our twelfth year at Brighton Kite Festival, and we'd never before gone for a walk in the nearby woods. And we picked up one or two geocaches as we went. After all, they were our waymarkers. Without them we wouldn't have a walk.

Once more back to base where everyone had assembled. I cracked open the home brew. Quite good. We had a pint or two of the stuff, and then a bottle or two of port. I went to bed shortly after midnight feeling definitely the worse for wear.

11 July 2013 (Thursday) - Dull

Another decent night's sleep. "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" arrived rather early, and we got the dogs organised and set off on our morning's constitutional. Today we went into town. First of all to Wilkos for sun cream and the makings of beer. And then to Lidls where I had a shock. For those of my loyal readers who don’t know the shop, I have heard it said (somewhat unfairly) that Lidls keeps the riff-raff out of the pound-shops. Imagine my surprise when I saw what looked just like the wife of "The Man With No Alias" (patent pending) in there doing the weekly shopping. I looked twice, and a third time. On very close scrutiny I realised it wasn’t her at all, but the resemblance was uncanny.

We continued our walk into the park where we met loads of people. Orangehead was there with her chunky little friend and the rest of her posse. Steve cycled past and we chatted for a bit. And we met up with one of "Daddies Little Angel ^TM"’s school friends (from the days when she used to show up at school).

And so home. I had an early lunch, and then continued packing the car. I scrubbed the table covers and got them on the line to dry, then went through the food boxes. The rice and pasta had been moused over the winter. Perhaps from now on we won’t store food in the shed.

And with as much packed as I could pack I got the makings of the next load of beer in to brew, and then wasted much of the rest of the day playing Candy Crush Saga.

I wish we could go camping sooner...

10 July 2013 (Wednesday) - Bonnington

I slept well, and after a spot of brekkie "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" arrived. We took the dogs for a walk. The two dogs were amazingly well behaved, and then we realised we had a problem. We had three dogs. Somewhere along the way we'd acquired a third dog. A small white Jack Russell was trotting along with us. There was no one else to be seen, so we re-traced our steps and knocked on front doors until we found someone who claimed our extra pup. I hope we found the right person; she seemed keen to take the dog but didn't seem overly worried that he dog had escaped in the first place.

Once we'd been to Park Farm and back we locked the dogs we were supposed to have in the garden and loaded the heavy camping gear into the car. And with "Daddies Little Angel ^TM" off on a mission for the afternoon I spent some time washing up the camping plates, bowls and stuff. It's amazing how long that job can take.

er indoors ^TM" came home and we took "Furry Face ^TM" for a walk. We drove down to Bonnington where we walked along the canal for a mile or so. It was a beautiful evening for a walk. And (would you believe it?) we found five geocaches whilst we were out. All unique in their own ways. Two of them receiving favourite points from me.

I like a mid-week evening walk...