Journal: Friday 27 June 2025

Day two of my experiment, travelling by public transport. I checked Thursday's fares and it looks like it is possible to get a better deal - £30.70 instead of £51.60 - £15.35 for a 180 mile journey passing through London, not bad!

So to Friday and getting around locally. I found the missing bus stop on the other side of the road and two minutes later than expected, the bus arrived. The journey into the nearest town takes about thirty minutes and goes via the highways and byways.

I made it and after a foray into Boots the chemists, I set off up the hill to where I was meeting my lunch date. On the way, I passed along Addington Street where my mum lived, and bumped into Julia who leads the art history group I like to go to. We had a catch up then I was back to climbing upwards.

We'd agreed to meet at the lift - an art deco construction built in the town's seaside heyday. As children, a big treat each summer holiday was getting a 2d purple ticket for a ride up the cliff in the lift. Mostly, we walked up one of the slopes or the stairs depending on whether a baby carriage was involved.

We found each other quickly, easily spotted even though we hadn't seen each other for ten years! We decided to drive to the bay and do the long walk and come back to Njord for a light lunch. Njord, though, had been flooded in last Friday's storm so we had to think again.

A short drive to Pegwell and the Belle Vue Tavern, again ten years since I have been there. It had to be fish and chips, served with mushy peas and tartare sauce, sea-faring portions as well. We chatted family trees and Dean Court and great grandad who was a bit of a lad by all accounts.

Her parents had met at the tennis club, her mum making up a pair for doubles. A kind of a blind date? I remembered going to visit her grandmother, who lived not far from me in south London, where I grew up, and there were other aunts and uncles I vaguely remembered.

We shared stories of scandalous relatives, friends and acquaintances (truthfully, I believe all of them are scandalous, or maybe just human, plenty of colourful tales, anyway, in all branches of the family).

Then the sun moved round too far and we were no longer in the shade. It was time to go.

I was a bit sad about the shelters at the bus stops either way. Grubby and neglected. I wonder if I will take a dustpan and brush to them while I am here.

I can see the challenge of maintaining local services. Friday morning, the bus was fairly busy with shoppers, although some were waiting for the number 11 that went all the way to Westwood retail park with the big supermarkets (and a Lidl). But even so, hardly a third full.
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Walking