September 2022

Sunday 4 September 2022

• Luke and Tom kindly let me tag along to the Guardians of the Galaxy secret cinema.

  Driving there in Luke’s car with no air-con and the smell of warm farts drifting from the direction of the back seat reminded me of the road trips of my early 20s. Still, Luke did an outstanding job of calmly navigating the busy London streets, despite the urgency of Tom’s poop firmly knocking at the back door.

  Later, we hyper-jumped to Contraxia to join the battle of the clans. Pete and all the gang were there and everyone had a ruddy marvellous time. I’d love to share more photos, but those rotters locked it away for the duration of our trip.

  I bloody loved my time in the Guardians universe.

  

Saturday 10 September 2022

• Shaun’s 40th

  

  

Monday 12 September 2022

• Me and Paul are away on our yearly cycle trip, this year we’re on the Isle of Wight.

  

  

Tuesday 13 September 2022

• This morning, I woke early and went for a walk. There’s a little bay near our caravan so I walked down there. It was nice.

  Later, Paul finally emerged and we cycled to the Garlic Farm. Lunch was pretty good!

  It pissed down most of the day.

  

  

  

  

Wednesday 14 September 2022

• A late start, but this time it was my turn to lounge about in my feted pit.

  We eventually made it out around midday and walked along the shoreline towards Bembridge. This turned out to be a bad idea. The stink of the seaweed and the slimy rocks made it very hard going. Racing the approaching tide we made it back to civilisation just in time.

  Just up from the beach, tiny huts clung onto the cliff almost as if the sea had tossed them up onto the shore. Some of them seemed as if they were functional; perhaps for fishermen to store their nets. Others gave more of the impression, that they were used for pleasure purposes.

  After a spot of lunch at Framton’s Café (which was great) we walked into St Helens. Along the harbour wall are dozens of houseboats; some no more than prefabs on a pontoon but most are proper boats you could put to sea. “No worries about sea level rise for them”, Paul quipped.

  On the way back, the sun finally started to shine. We followed the coastal path and were treated to glorious views over the bay. In the distance, a trumpet played as if sounding the last post on our holiday.

  

  

  

  

  

Thursday 15 September 2022

• The final day of our jaunt around the Isle of Wight. We followed the cycle trail from Bembridge to Newport then Ryde.

  

  

  

  

  

Saturday 17 September 2022

• I put Rootwo’s dinosaur light up. He loved being able to turn it on and off with the remote.

  

Sunday 18 September 2022

• Camping. They played so nicely together this morning. Pretending to camp, catch fish and cook a stew.

  

• Party in the field. Arun Church is 50 this year. We went to their party in the field.

  

Tuesday 20 September 2022

• Morning walk

  

• Evening walk