Saturday 8th August 2026

A very early morning walk along Deal sea front. It was so nice.

Thank goodness we headed for Deal as the Toll Bridge road is now shut. One of the water tankers hit it!! WHY are they allowed over the bridge?! They predict it will be shut for a couple of months. At least the culprit has owned up but it is always chaos when the bridge is closed.

Spurs had a friendly match in the afternoon. A draw but we actually watched Hammers

This really is no joke all this has happened today in Sandwich!!!!!…….

May be an image of text that says 'SANDWICH: UNDER SIEGE... SIEGE...AGAIN! AGAIN! TOLL BRIDGE TAKES DIRECT HIT! + NEW STREET CROSSING HAS LOWERED THE GATES AND DEFENDS THE TOWN! CINQUE PORT STRONG SINCE 1199 KEEP CALM THE WALLS ARE HOLDING AN ARMY OF SOUTHERN WATER TANKERS PATROLS OUR ROADS! Southern Water Southem REMAIN CAM! DRINK CAKE! SANDWICH WILL PREVAIL! SIEGED NEW STREET. CROSSING GATESDOWN GATES DOWN ALL APPROACHES BLOCKED! AT LEAST THE FRENCH HAVEN'T TURNED UP... SANDWICH HISTORY. HERITAGE. HUMOUR. RESILIENCE. (AND GOOD CAKE) WE'VE SURVIVED WORSE THAN A BRIDGE, A CROSSING AND A FEW TANKERS!'

🏰 SANDWICH: UNDER SIEGE… AGAIN
For a town that has survived centuries of invasions, raids and the occasional French attack, I think Sandwich can probably handle August 2026. 😂
Today alone…
⚔️ The Toll Bridge has taken a direct hit.
🏰 New Street railway crossing decided to lower the gates and apparently defend the town from all approaching traffic.
🚛 Meanwhile, an impressive army of Southern Water tankers continues to patrol our roads.
At one point this evening I genuinely wondered whether we should just close the Barbican gates, raise the drawbridge and declare the Cinque Port secure for the night.
Unfortunately, somebody has already had a go at the bridge. 🤦‍♂️
All joking aside, it has been a pretty extraordinary few days for Sandwich, particularly for residents and businesses trying to get around, and it shouldn’t be underestimated how difficult this is making life for many. Hopefully things start returning to something resembling normal soon.
We are doing everything we can to keep the pressure up, hold those accountable and get swift resolutions with timeframes.
Until then, remain calm.
The walls are holding.”

Friday 7th August 2026

Shopping and then sorting out the garden a little. The passion flower and nasturtium have gone mad as usual, so I decided to cut a lot of the passion flower back. As I did I discovered this little frog.

I had to put a  lot of the overhang back or he would have got sunburnt! Goodness only knows where he gets his water from.

It is really nice sitting in the garden every evening and as the light goes down we come in and watch another episode of Slow Horses,

Thursday 6th August 2026

Our day to have Luna (great grand daughter). We took her to Wingham Wildlife for the day. If I am honest I think she preferred all the kids slides/swings etc rather than the animals! It doesn’t matter we all had a really lovely day. It wasn’t too hot, in fact just right.

We came back home to give Ellie her dinner and a short while in the garden during which time I think Luna ate her weight in blueberries and stawberries!

We took her back to Milly in Herne Bay and Luna fell asleep about 5 minutes before we arrived there and then straight to bed, she was so worn out after running around all day. I know we were!

Wednesday 5th August 2026

As we are having Luna for the day tomorrow, I thought I had better go shopping for the food she likes. I went to Tesco at Whitfield (Dover) which is a huge store and they are making big changes there, so parts are closed off and things have been moved around. But they have ladies with a pole saying they will “help you”.

I couldn’t find any cous cous and so asked one of the ladies and she took me straight to it and then gave me a leaflet explaining what they were changing in store and attached to it a £8 voucher if you spent over £40 “for the inconvenience”. I have no trouble spending that amount!  Bonus!!

Driving back from Dover it rained! Only for a few minutes but the wipers went on to fast.

Monday 3rd August 2026

In work and the first hour I sold three birthday cards! So, we imagined it would be a quiet day, no it wasn’t and it was very warm in the shop.

I asked Brenda, who sorts all the children’s things) if she had any books for littlies (for when Luna comes) and this is what she found for me…..

It is obvious books are rarely wanted nowadays as we sell children’s books 3 for £1 and all adults books £1 each!!!

In the evening we watched another episode of Slow Horses which can be quite nasty in parts…I close my eyes at those parts!

Sunday 2nd August 2026

Knees Wood followed by a coffee. Ellie didn’t want to go all the way round the woods, we just follow her and see how far she wants to go.

Lunchtime we went into Margate and to Chrissy’s garden (Jem’s mum). It is lovely and looks right over the sea. Jem had a bit of trouble putting one of the chairs up.

After a great afternoon we made a quick escape as they were shutting all the roads as the Carnival procession was on its way and we had left Elle for long enough. If we left it any later we would probably have had a two hour delay! We hadn’t taken her as 28 degrees was a little too hot with no shade!