A few decs in the porch again this year despite the fact that this year trick or treat was once again allowed to happen. Not an advocate of this Americanism, I think it sends mixed messages over accepting sweets from strangers, I still wanted to mark the occasion anyway and managed to fend off the door knockers by sitting in Dad's car a bit longer after being up at Julia's and him giving me a lift home!
So this Thursday saw me spitting feathers over the fact that someone walking past my house allowed their kid to not only bash into my wall with their bike but to then, subsequently damage the corner breeze block in their efforts to free the bike pedal 😡 The fact that they didn't even have the decency to knock on my door to apologise was the final straw.
Fortunately my Dad's a real DIY whizz and so called round to take a look and see how best to fix it. This has involved him getting a replacement block, removing the old one and reseating the new one in place.
It's not like I'd have expected whoever it was to have offered to pay for the damage, although that would have been nice, but it's the fact that having damaged my property they just sloped off without saying anything.
Maybe they should be paying a little more attention to what their kids are up to instead of almost certainly staring intently at their mobile phone - which is what most parents seem to spend their time doing these days. Talk about dragging one's kids up. Even little ones get minimal attention, their parents preferring to while away the time on their phone rather than actually interact with their kids - you know PARENT them properly.
Not that phones were part of Julia's upbringing and I didn't have the luxury of having my Mum to guide me to being a good Mum but rest assured that if she had of been around and caught me behaving like that there would have been words. And quite right too. Having a child is a gift, so why do some parents treat it as though it's a chore???
While Dad was busy helping Julia and James in their new house, I took myself for a mooch up to the Crematorium for a chat with Mum followed by a quick wander along to Bluebell Hill Picnic Site to see my neighbour's bench, finally returned to it's rightful place after being removed for repair.
Never seen the bench in my few forays to the site so it was good to see it for the first time. The image above shows the bench looking through the walkway towards it.
It's pretty rustic and the supporting posts don't really do it justice, but it looks out onto the most amazing view across the Downs:
This is a place where Trevor and his family spent many idyllic hours and so after he suddenly passed away back in 1996 his wife had a bench put there in their favourite spot. Recent damage to the bench meant it was taken away to be restored by the crafters at Tyland Barn and eventually returned to it's usual place.
Bit of a trek from my house to the picnic site but it allowed me to clock up almost 16400 steps!
Sunday 10th October saw the South East Bus Fest & Heritage Transport Show finally take place after being cancelled last year and postponed earlier this year due to Covid-19.
Dad and I went along to have a mooch with the cameras - once again the weather could have been kinder, especially as the day before had been sunny, but it stayed mainly dry and I guess that's the main thing this time of year.
It was so good to be back at the show again, normally it runs around Easter time on a Saturday, even then there's no guarantee of decent weather but just glad that it managed to run successfully this year.
It's very much a smaller, enthusiasts show, lots of "train spotter" types there with their notebooks writing down the bus numbers and it's good to see the vast array of different vehicles brought along either by private owners or the bus companies. Missed the old Dockyard bus this year, although there was one there albeit a different colour and a couple of the uber old buses were conspicuous by their absence.
Classic cars and bikes were under cover as usual and this time a group of remote control enthusiasts showed off their talents setting up what looked like a giant "train set" layout inside one of the buildings. All manner of "rigs" being driven around by their respective owners.
Tea and scones from the NAAFI finished off the day.
So Friday 1st October saw Dad, me, Julia & James head out to mooch around Leeds Castle for the Sculpture Exhibition as part of the weekend celebrations for Julia's 30th Birthday. Where did my little girl go?
Despite the crap weather we had a good walk around, managed to bag a table inside to eat our take-out food and saw a couple of rainbows as we walked in the rain back to the car!
A bit of a change in pace and venue on Sunday where we met my bro' and family again for Sunday lunch at Pizza Hut. Not been near a Hut in almost 18 months so it was good to spend the weekend doing normal stuff for a change! Shopping around Dockside, and The Range in particular, followed - William somewhat disappointed to learn that the Cadbury shop had already closed the doors on it's Dockside unit. Back home to mine for tea/coffee, biscuits and birthday cake 😋
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY JULIA 💕
