My Life That Happened In… 10 Part 2

Episode #10 Pt.1

… July 2024

Wednesday 24th

Today is our wedding anniversary. 17 years married and 22 years together. We woke up earlier this morning only to find that the wife had bought me a present. We don’t usually do this, so it was a pleasant surprise. But I love anything related to Marvin the Martian.

The Tower

Today we are visiting Reculver Towers and Roman Fort, in Reculver, just up the road from Herne Bay.

There are two car parks one just a bit further up the road but they are both next to each other. You will, of course, have to pay for parking either through the parking machine/ stand/ bay. I don’t know what they are called. Or through the Ring Go app. I chose the app, as most parking in the area uses it.

The ruins are pretty cool. I don’t have enough knowledge about the history of what it is. I do know it’s about two thousand years old. But the building itself stands out on top of the hill. It is very photogenic.

We had a walk by the beach before returning to the cafe and toilet area. Which is designed for people walking their dogs. We grabbed something to eat and relaxed from the sun.

Back to the Arcade

Returning to the car. We wanted to visit the arcade again. So, that’s what we did. We didn’t win as much as we did before. But we popped back up the road and went back to the tourist/ beach shop. We bought some more things, including some doughnuts and a slushy. Brain freeze commences.

Back in the car, the wife decided to melt her ice cream all over my car interior. So that was nice.

We then returned to the Airbnb.

I was completely knackered, the wife noticed and suggested a nap. So closing my eyes and then three hours later. I woke up again, surprised I had slept so long. We decided to have a takeaway delivered. But we still took a few hours to work out what we wanted. In the end, we decided on KFC. Continuing to watch the original Charmed series on the TV.

Thursday 25th

We had no plans for today so I have looked online to find out where we could visit. The wife wanted to go back to the plant shop, Fuchsia Green, we visited the other day. I have found a bookshop called Oxford Street Books. But then find out that it isn’t there anymore. But, good news… The shop has moved to Whitstable train station. Now called Books in Waiting. So I am working out where that is. The missus also wants to look at a toy shop in Herne Bay, called Rams Collectible toys.co.uk. So I have worked out a route for our travel and now we just have to get ready and go.

After some research, I found out it is closed between twelve and two so we will reverse the travel plans so we should be okay.

We had breakfast. I had some of the doughnuts, leftovers from the day before, with some of the jam our host provided. We then got ready to go.

Time for shopping

First stop: Rams Collectibles, The shop is filled to the brim with merchandise from all sorts of franchises in all different types of mediums. And they have more stock in the back that we didn’t have access to. But the main problem with the shop is the size. Everything is tight. There is no room for a pushchair. Although you really wouldn’t want kids running around this stock. The missus found a rare Chucky doll which she had to add to her collection.

More and More Books

When we were finished we went to the second destination, Whitstable train station. I suddenly noticed the time and we arrived just after the shop opened again from lunch. Books in Waiting is a bookshop with the main entrance on the station platform. It is full of second-hand books and I managed to find a decent selection to add to my to-be-read collection.

I did also buy a couple of books thinking they were part of the Jeeves and Wooster series by P G Wodehouse. Same author different books. I was a little annoyed. Oh well, if I don’t like them I am sure someone else will.

The owner was very knowledgeable and wasn’t just happy to help us but the train passengers as well.

The wife found a book of poems that she liked. The book is a hundred and seventeen years old. But the author has been dead for nearly four hundred years.

While we were in the book shop the heavens opened up and made our last journey a little bit wet. A ten or so minute walk and we were back at the plant shop again on the high street.

The wife purchased a couple more plants and she would be giving one of those to a friend from work.

I wanted to get something to eat. But I couldn’t find anywhere that looked good. In the end, we went to the local Co-op and bought some food to take back and even a meal for the evening. I had a family-size lasagne and the wife got a curry.

We walked back to the car in the rain and then drove back to the Airbnb, as soon as we parked up. The sun came out. Nice!

Friday 26th

Today we say goodbye to Elmwood Lodge. Our stay has been nice and our needs have been more than catered for. I would strongly recommend them if you are in the area. But we have to go home and I will be happy to be back in my office with my computer.

I am still considering upgrading my laptop. She has served me well and the price of a new one isn’t worth it as I only really use it when I am on my travels. It needs an extra RAM stick and I will upgrade to an SSD (Solid State Drive) to help make it faster. And I am sure the internals could do with a clean and maybe the CPU could do with some new thermal paste. I don’t know how much that will cost But I know it will be cheaper than buying new.

Less than an hour later we were home. We unpacked the car and got to sorting our stuff back to where it needed to go.

The wife was shocked. A couple of the new plants she had bought before going away had nearly disintegrated. They had spent a week without any sun. Nearly all of the leaves had turned black and had fallen off. So we put them straight in on the window sill with the most direct sunlight and the best chance for them to survive.

After the wife had checked on the rest of the plants we finished off sorting our belongings.

Collection Complete!?!

The final DVD arrived while I was away. For over a decade I wanted to have this collection. The live-action version of Death Note. Not the Netflix version but the original Japanese with English subtitles. I was reminded of it while talking about anime (Japanese cartoons) at work.

… And I am an idiot. After putting the items on the floor for a photo to show you what I had bought. It looks like I have bought the first DVD twice. I am so proud of myself. I didn’t even realise until now.

So it’s off to eBay again.

Saturday 27th

After a day the colour has come back to the remaining leaves and they should be okay. The wife has decided to replant all the black/purple-headed, rose-type plants into a trough to place on the window sill.

Monday 29th

Today I am a little miffed. Today was going to be a big day. I was going to have the Android Auto system installed in Pumpkin but at the eleventh hour, he cancelled due to a bad back. So I don’t know when it is going to happen. It feels like the system is cursed.

That is all for this month. Thanks for your visit. Maybe I’ll see you next month.