Author: Maggie Daniel

A work day. No customers at all for the first hour obviously the cold weather kept them indoors first thing.

Then it did get busy.  I do prefer it when it is busy but thankfully not as bad as last week.

A fresh walk over the fields. The sun was out but the ground was frozen.

Spurs played. The first half was an improvement, the second half was rubbish. A draw.

We had the idea of taking Ellie to Minnis Bay. I had to drop something off at the shop and so we had a chat with Jack and he fed Ellie treats!

Then on to Minnis Bay. We are possibly insane (as Jack had suggested!) It was bitterly cold and the sea was horrendous, it covered my car at one point and there was no way we could get anywhere near the beach.

I think it took us all day to feel warm again!!

A dreadful Hammers game in the afternoon and Traitors in the evening. We had planned to meet up with Dom and Jem for the Hoodening and Wassall Day in town but even they decided it was too cold to go!!! I can’t imagine there was any heating in the medieval centre.

I had a very ornate small photo frame next to my bed with a photo of Torin in it. The whole frame fell apart (I have had it years!) and rather than try and fix it I decided to go to Deal and look for another. I knew the right shop to go to, 123 High Street. It is a quirky shop with lovely goods in it.

When I arrived there, typical…

I don’t think Deal had quite recovered from Christmas / New Year yet as a few of the other independent shops were also shut. So, post office, a couple of charity shops , where I found an expensive make of purple top, ideal for Hatters and Sainsburys that was it!

I discovered that there are a lot of restaurants in Thanet who are offering 3 courses for £20.26 in the week 2-6 February. I guess there are so many restaurants in the Margate area now , a lot there for the DFL’s . I guess February is make or break time for them.  We have booked two. Two that we know are very good.

Traitors in the evening!!

We walked through the orchards in Wingham. Cold!

Spurs played in the evening, not a great game…a draw.

We walked Ellie over the fields in Eastry. It was foggy but the sun was trying to get through.

We then went on to the vets for Ellie’s weight clinic. She is now 27.9 kg. Last time she was 27.4. That’s Christmas for you! But I will have to watch that no more weight goes on. They always make such a fuss of Ellie when we go there.

I went to Aldi as we were running out of the essentials – fresh veg etc and they were reducing fresh chicken dated 3rd January, so a lot for the freezer. Some I used to cook a Pad Thai in the evening. We didn’t stay up until midnight, our celebration was the previous day in London.  Pointless driving anywhere as then I can’t drink and it all makes me think of another year without Torin! We will catch up on Jools tomorrow.

We walked Ellie and then took her to Lou and Rhys’s , so they could  look after her while we travelled to London. This was made a little more difficult by Victoria closed for engineering works!

We had lunch out first at Thai Pot. I love Thai food and they are always so polite and obliging. It was very good food too.

From there we went to the Arts Theatre, a theatre we have never been to before. It’s a very cosy theatre and so good for the immersive show “Choir of Man”. We had tickets previously but gave them away as it was the day that Ellie had her operation. Lou and Rhys bought these tickets for us for Christmas and they were the best tickets in the theatre, centre front row of the circle.

Wow, what a show! Maybe because I was brought up in a pub is struck a chord but it really was immersive and so uplifting. They were handing out free beer, throwing packets of crisps into the audience and beer mats. On the reverse of the beer mats was a notice about CALM , who they support. (Suicide prevention)

London was packed, obviously lots for the Christmas lights. We had a wander around China Town and then caught the train back to Faversham and had a cup of tea at Rhys’s and some of Josie’s birthday cake.

The show is finishing early January. It is sold out until the end of the run but they are then touring. So, as soon as we were home, we booked for July in Canterbury!