Weekends just don't get any better

We have both decided to reduce our calorie intake.

Suffice to say my waist band demands it, some thing echoed by Chris, who has asking me to do smaller portions for ages.

The cause of the diet, (having cheese cake for breakfast this morning was a necessity) is a result of the weekend just gone.

Friday evening started, with a large class of Pimms thrust into our hands by Maureen's niece, Deborah, at 18.47 precisely.

The celebration was Maureen's eightysumthingish... birthday.

Canapés and conversation flowed, both deliciously lubricated in part by what seemed an endless stream of Pimms, with canapés and titbits of salmon or asparagus appearing ceaselessly, all benefited from 'just a drop more Pimms dear?'
And so the evening and weekend flowed; celebration, companionship, epic consumption, and of course busses.

Saturday was a friends (Nigel) birthday celebrations at the Westgate-on-Sea Pavilion.
It wasn't his age that was the shock; it's that in almost forty years of living as an adult it Kent, I never knew Westgate had a Pavilion!

One fly in our planning, was 'Trainline,' trains to Westgate it professed to be hourly, with two an hour returning.
I did think strange but then thought; oh yes, at busy times they have more trains running.
jotted the times down, and off we went.

Arriving as planned, Nigel's do was a reall family and friends affair; great fun with live music, a good spread, a bar, best of all though, the chance to sit with a very dear friend.
We felt quite privileged to have been invited. Thank you.

How's that for a Birthday Cake!

With the evening quietening, we sauntered to the station, missing the 18.05 by moments, but never mind, we can get the 18.22.

Oh no we bloody couldn't! it went through the station at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour.
Chris was peeved.
I was Peeved at Chris being peeved, but I knew what I had read, and on getting home, instantly checked I hadn't miss-read Trainline's advice.

Nope, there it was, Westgate to Whitstable 18.05 and 18.22. Vindicated! (ish)

What was not plain was that while you could get to Whitstable on this spurious 18.22, the 18.22 was in fact the 18.22 to Margate where you would change to the fast train to Whitstable.

No doubt a frequent train user might have understood this, but for me, Trainline name was mud.

Never mind, it was a nice day and we're both glad we went.


Sunday was the crowning glory.

By 08.30am Chris was running for the door to grab a game of tennis with Michael in Herne Bay, and ninety minutes later, me, Mark C' & Peter H' were standing at the bus stop like a gaggle of little kids  going to the cinema in the 1960's.

Herne Bay Bus Rally has been running for years, some times it's bigger than at others years, some times smaller, but it's not the size at Herne Bay that makes it great, it's the diversity.

Peter and Mark both admit to being anoraks,' while Chris and I just like old busses.
Yeh ok, maybe we're a bit anoraky too.
Whether we're anoraks or not, we were all glad we went; especially when another David we're friends with asked us along for a ride on his and Brian's bus on a mystery ride. Ting Ting.

First, here's just a few general shots

One of David & Brian's busses

This was the best bit of rally, Brian and David's single decker ride to The Reculver Towers

David, one of the proud owners

They even ran it on the original route number; Reculver 003,
I know it sounds daft, but we really really enjoyed it.
See, I said it sounded 'daft.'

Shaky Shaky fish and chip shop in H-Bay do the best Gluten Free chips anywhere around with the possible exception of VG Jones in Harbour street Whitstable, we just had to have some.

Trouble was, made late by indulging on chips, we thought we'd missed our two friends who asked if they could pop over to see us for a word about some thing.

Ringing their mobile to say we were running late, we could only apologise when everything went to message...
We were genuinely sorry we'd missed them, we'd make it up to them with dinner, it'll never happen again, KnockKnock!

Happily they were even later than we were, and although we only had half an hour together, it was nice to see them.

Ben and Maria with Chris - I'm sure she only came over to test my chocolate cheese cake.

Liz & Wes's garden party was the final act of the weekend; the grand crescendo.
The company was just right, Wes is a mean hand at the bar-b-q, Julia and Tracy brought along salads, Liz did a Raspberry Roulade, we'd made chocolate and pineapple cheesecakes, and I'm sure the threat of explosion was the only thing that stopped all of us eating.

It was a lovely conclusion to a wonderful day; in fact, a pretty wonderful weekend.
We just hope everyone enjoyed them selves as much as we did.