Next Morning Amber, Duncan's Youngest Wanted To Go To See The Castle,

so after a quick cup of tea we were on our way,

Amber with Tigger the cat,

but first a full English breakfast prepared by Holly the eldest,

Jade wanted a lift to her friends house, we were surprised when we reached Rochester High Street, it was packed, a carnival was taking place, there were people every where,

but so many were in costume,

although I am not sure what this lady was representing,

all of the others were in costumes from the period that Charles Dickens stayed and after returning died here,

the work that had gone into the costumes must have taken ages,

there were street entertainers, singing and playing,

and couples dressed in their finery,

this is the Atrium, where we will be having our evening meal,

this lady even had what appears to be a period pram,

and a young man home from the fighting with his young lady,

anyone for a balloon?

and then I came upon this shop, specializing in fossils,

I could have spent all day looking at them in the pull out drawers,

but I thought this really neat, I remember collecting cigarette cards at school, well the owner of the shop makes cards like this for children to collect, in the hope of giving them an interest in fossils, any thing to get them away from computer games I guess, as I have mentioned before at my school master had after school clubs, chess, woodwork, metalwork, (great fun with steam engines!) stamp collecting and many more besides, not to mention the sports clubs, but I guess I am living in the past as usual, moving on,

we made our way to Rochester Castle, dating from Roman times,

a few more costumed ladies wave us on our way,

could this be Fagin from Oliver Twist?

I must admit I liked the backdrop for this picture,

Rochester cathedral,

of course there was a dress contest,

with many onlookers,

then time for one of the rides, Duncan was so excited!

an old time merry-go-round,

in the background the music box, organ, drum, cymbals - you name it it is in there somewhere!

and the horses painted to perfection,

ancient and really ancient,

Duncan and Amber decided to go fishing,

and caught a puppy,

next Amber wanted a look in side the Crooked Cottage,

I took a walk to the river Medway, just in time to miss the paddle steamer,

this was the best I could do,

and this is her the Kingswear Castle,

if, like me you are interested in boats and steam this is the one for you!

I tried to find the history of this cannon, but ther was no ledgend for it,

a few boats in the Medway Marina,

next for Amber a bouncy castle,

meanwhile more couples took the air on a summers afternoon,

of interest to me was the Medway Queen Presivation Society, I chatted to the gentleman maning the stall who I am happy to say had the good news that the restoration was nearly 75% compleate, I hope it will be ready for next years steaming season, a small donation was made to help things on the way,

another group of Dickens fans makes their way up the hill,

another couple resplendent in their dress,

I like the preiod buggy, much better than these new fangled walker things that topple over or chop fingers off!

a ladies meting,

with another couple in front,

it almost seemed like the whole town had joined in,

time for a ballon,

'oh yes he did' 'oh no he did'nt', Punch and Judy, great entertainment,

now this chap had an act, audience participation and a poem teller as well, it went like this,

way out west, where the sun goes to rest,

their lies the Parachute saloon,

with cards and dice and every kind of vice,

to the playing of a rag time tune,

at poker game behind the bar sits dangerous Dan McGoo,

watching his luck, the light of his life,

the woman known as Lou,

and that is all I can remember of it, I tried a Goggle serch but came up with nothing, so if you know the rest of the lines drop me one!

we slowly made our way back to the car, past a few of the bars that have featured regualy on Street Crime, a UK series that follows the police on a Saturaday night in Rochester and the surrounding areas,

and speaking of the police, here is The Kent Police Band and suprisingly good they were as well,

as we made our way back to Duncans, I had to stop here, this was the entrance to H.M.S. Pembroke, the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham opened in 1903,

I was fortunate enough many years ago, in my youth, to meet a crusher there, the navy slang for a Regulating Petty Officer - a ship's policeman, prior to 1914 these ratings were known as ships coporals, in earlier days they had spent their time looking for (and so crushing) crime rather than preventing it, he then I think made Joss, again navy slang for a UK Master At Arms, he was hoping for Fleet Joss but I guess he never made it, but back to H.M.S. Pembroke we, Duncan included have many happy memories there of ladies evenings where the ladies were the guests of the evening and showered with presents whilst we the men had to serve table on them hand and foot,

keeping in the Navy tradition we had or at least I had as Duncan was driving a few in the Three Mariners, so many pubs in the Medway towns have names belong to the Army or Navy as both had considerable sized barracks in the towns,

it all was a bit too much for Duncan, the round about ride, the fresh air and all that walking!