Herne Bay

Feb 5

John has been able to experience 'living' in England this week. He has not set a frenzied pace that he did in many other parts of his trip but has been able to sit back and reflect on all the aspects of his life. It has been healing to be in the arms of his family because he has felt very alone in the past and this is so good for him.

Today, he and Val went for a walk into Herne Bay. It was a nice day weatherwise after some that have been less than good. The temperature reached 10, which is amazing for February. The sky had some cloud but had enough blue to make a handkerchief as his Mum used to say.

They walked down the seashore into town and walked around the streets. Herne Bay is a bustling little seaside town that has come across hard tiomes because of the global recession. There are many shops that have closed.

One shop they went into, was kind of an antique store that was absolutely packed with stuff. There was everything there from clothes to life-sized Santas you could put on your lawn. There were little figurines, toy soldiers, Toby mugs, Royal Douton etc of all types in cases. John was thrilled to see a Muffin the Mule, a TV character from his toddler years and one on which he had sat as a child. He even has the picture. One thing that John found fascinating was the display of chairs on the sides of the walls.

Next Val and John went into the Rook's Butchers and bought a leg of fresh (not frozen) New Zealand lamb for dinner.

Then, they took a different way back and saw the statue of Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the 'bouncing bomb.' This was a system in which bombers would fly very close to the surface of the water of a dam reservoir and drop bomba that would skip like stones on the surface. They did this so they would hit a dam at the exactly the right place to destroy it. The whole project was to break the electrical generating dams supplying the Nazi German factories in the Ruhr Valley. It was quite successful.



After arriving back, they went up to the village, got a hot chocolate and cake, and Val got some veggies for supper. The dinner itself was marvellous - the meat done to perfection, the broccoli, carrots, roast potatoes excellent. they ate a few chocolates for dessert.

John offered and was allowed to do the dishes afterwards.

TRB