After Posting The Blog For Friday,

today I was out, 

I should mention that today I am only making one post, as usual on a day out I took way too many photographs, Diana was already at work on a early shift, for myself a walk past the snail mail box, 

and the road works putting in a mini roundabout at the entrance to the park,

into the station for the train to Bromley South and then a change of train to Rochester, I was going to a food and drink festival in the grounds of Rochester castle, 

the trains first stop was Rochester, so I was soon going past the Russian submarine in the River Medway in no time at all,

over the road from the station, some of the remains of the wall that was a part of old Rochester, 

as well as the food & drink festival, in the High Street a craft fair was taking place, 

past one of the many pubs on the street, 

and some more craft stalls,

looking towards Star Hill,

and towards the River Medway,

so many of the buildings here of an age, 

like this greengrocers,

I was early, so a lot of the stalls had yet to open,

the cathedral,

the High Street almost deserted,

a quick look at a florists,

with a nice display of potted plants, 

this is the shop for me, I Dig Dinos, it is closed at the moment, as I mention I was here early, but as somebody once said, "I'll be back!"

one of the bars upper floor over hanging the street,

I made my way towards the castle,

it is in the distance behind a defensive wall,

looking towards the cathedral,

this wooden cladded house is of an age,

the entrance to the festival, I had pre ordered a ticket,

again being early many of the stalls yet to open,

but the coffee stall was already and waiting for customers,

the castle in the distance, 

I continued looking at the stalls,

as they opened,

I found this one interesting, 

pottery animals, 

drizzled with colours, 

like this elephant, 

and if you look carefully a gorilla staring at another elephant,

and two kittens starring at a bulldog, or is it a pug?

a charity stall, 

with a dinosaur to take pictures on,

one of the gates in the wall allowing entrance to the castle grounds,

 

if you know your history there is at least one fact that makes Rochester castle famous, it is the siege of 1215, and I quote from the article:

'Burning the fat from ‘40 pigs too fat to eat’ to fire the timber props they had used to support the undermined masonry the attackers brought down the south-east corner of the keep and forced the rebels to retreat to the northern half of the interior. Starvation soon forced the rebels’ surrender.'

the article is here, 

plenty of places to eat,

more stalls were now opening,

selling all manner of goodies,

like these from 'Olde England',

to modern day continental sausages, 

the old wall in the distance, 

I made my way past more stalls,

if Diana was here this would be a perfect pairing for us, Real Beer for myself,

and a bubble tea for Diana!

lots of colourful goods for sale here,

and a ice cream van, what could be better?

as I approached the river a part of the wall ended, if only those bricks and archways could tell of what sights they must have seen,

in the river a marina on both sides, 

many years ago a friend of mine Graham had his boat moored here,

the road and railway bridges over the Medway,

looking towards the castle,

as for the age of the castle, it was almost certainly founded soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a royal castle of timber and earthworks stood in the south-west quadrant of the walled city, on land formerly belonging to the Bishop of Rochester,

the aroma of burgers and sausages filled the air, I had not eaten breakfast, so I was a tad peckish, 

and thirsty!

oh the agony of choice!

what was one to do?

I had made my mind up, a burger with onions here, 

and a coffee from here, 

breakfast is served!

feeling full I made a move past the Castle Kiosk, 

and back into town, I had arranged to meet Alan in the High Street,

down the hill,

and past the cathedral,

through a few craft stalls,

and into the High Street, looking to the right,

and left, still not many people here,

one of the gate houses, 

a couple of archways in its side bricked in,

inside the legend, Cathedral Church, College Gate, the gate has a history from the 7th century. It was re- established as a cathedral-priory by Bishop Gandulf and rebuilt by him around 1078-1108,

on the other side,

a oven, 

then joy of joys, 

 I Dig Dinos was open, 

well I just had to have a look inside,

so many I would like,

as I was having a chat with the owner, 

I noticed these Megalodon teeth, which was uncanny as last night I watched Meg 2: The Trench,

I like the names of some of the shops here, 

like these,

and the way some of them are decorated, I meet Alan in the car park, 

and we made our way through town,

past so many old buildings,

and a florists, 

and this is where we were heading,

Wetherspoons for a beer or two,

opposite a nicely decorated shop front,

we made our way back to Alan's car, his trusty kayak on the roof, a few weeks ago he paddle out to the Maunsell Fort, in the Thames Estuary, we said our goodbyes, 

and I made my way to the station,

looking over the railings towards the cathedral and castle,

I was soon thundering past the Russian submarine homeward bound, 

I alighted at Bromley South,

and walked up the High Street, 

to Lidl, supplies of spiced rum had reached critical level, only half a bottle left, which was just about OK for today, but disaster for tomorrow,

I had beaten Diana home, so I decided to watch a movie on Netflix, Under Paris, it was I guess supposed to be a horror about sharks, but it soon became a comedy! as anyone who has visited Paris will tell you, the River Siene, even on a good day has a big zero visibility, but in the film it is fairly clear so you can actually see other divers and sharks! and then it gets worse, a lot worse, during the film Diana arrived home so a coffee and a chat, as she looked at the film a decision was made, she went to bed! talk about a 'B' movie, it was exactly how 'B' movie should be,

 it reminded me so much of a favorite 'B' movie of mine, the Wild Women of Wongo,

many may not have heard of Clive James, but for myself he was in a league of his own when it came to critics and presenters, as far as I am concerned he was way ahead of all of the other critics of the period, above is his critic of the Wild Women Of Wongo, the acting in the film clip which is in the above video has to be seen to be believed! but even this was better than Under Paris! after Diana had a few ZZZZZ's it was time for our evening meal, 

first a read and a sherry, 

for Diana couple of cod fillets, 

for myself baked salmon,

 

'Cheers!',

onto our dessert, a sticky toffee pudding, with cream and ice cream, Diana's favorite dessert,

delicious, as we were eating Diana asked if I remembered where she first discovered sticky toffee pudding I could not, but Diana reminded me it was on Koh Chang island, 

we visited there on many occasion,

a few of our days there here,

here,

   and here, as well as many more times that we visited when Diana's family were over from the Philippines, the island was our favorite destination when we lived in Thailand, we listened to music and chatted away for some time before a double helping of Life on Mars, followed by an Endeavour, after which we were off to bed.