Diary 21st and 22nd June 2018

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Back from my long weekend away which went well though it was very exhausting. Going to Canterbury by train was way too expensive. An overnight coach ride was less than a quarter of the train fair so I went that way. It meant an all-night journey starting out from Preston at 11.10 pm, changing coaches in London at dawn and getting to Canterbury by 10 AM. I figured I would sleep on the coaches but other passengers were much more lively moving around, and in one case loudly eating her way through a family sized bag of sweets and crinkling the papers on each and every one of them. At each coach stop there was an automatic message telling everyone not to smoke and to wear our seat belts. The drivers then gave us the same message on the PA system. I had an hour in London between coaches so I got some photos of pubs close to the station, before catching coach number two. Canterbury looked fabulous, and I set out immediately to explore. I couldn’t check into the hostel until late afternoon, so dragging my luggage round in increasingly terrible heat was sapping my energy badly. This was Chaucer country, the very place his pilgrim were going in The Canterbury Tales. The cathedral at the heart of their pilgrimage, location of the murder of Thomas A Beckett by agents of King Henry 2nd, dominated the skyline. I was free to explore the grounds but entry to the main church interior had to be paid for – a disgrace given that it taxes church goers as well as tourist. Other museums had similar exorbitant fees. The hostel staff were friendly and helpful when I got to check in, and finally dump my luggage by a lower level bunk bed (one of four in the room). I went out to further explore the fine medieval walled city but by about 7 pm my energy was sapped. My legs ached like crazy and I was dehydrating. I got some Thai food and contemplated whether to go to a pub (having visited one (The Shakespeare) earlier in the day. As my weekend would be dominated by a visit to the region’s Shepherd Neame Brewery it seemed only right to start out by drinking some of their ales. As I was now close to the cinema, I settled on watching a movie, and picked Hereditary, as it was due to start when I went in. I’ll review the film in a separate post soon. I didn't like it much. I walked back to the hostel, where two of the other beds in my dorm The Ian Fleming Room, were already occupied, and I crashed out quickly in mine. More adventure to follow on the Saturday. Arthur Chappell