In this hotel in Canturbury, it was 7.45am when I sat down fully dressed – on the bed that we had discovered sank downwards (a lot) whenever sat on – making it rather hard to get up from, and Mum – who had gone out to do her tai-chi, reopened the door and said she had gone outside, thought (due to the gusts of wind) ‘this is not sensible’, returned, and done it outside the room door. The kettle was boiled, and the hardening croissants brought from home were dunked into mugs of tea…

…it was looking very foggy over the wooded hills in the distance, it was 8.55am when we left the room, and rain was beginning. 5 minutes later – out on the streets, there was a lot of traffic, we went 1 way, had to turn round, went through a park, down a couple of streets, over a big bridge (which had enormous numbers of buses parked under it) and onto a pedestrianised street of shops because Mum wanted some breakfast. Burgate Coffee House was walked into just after 9.30am, rain continued, I saw a sign saying ‘Beware of zombies’ on a shelf near the ceiling in the corner, heard a car alarm going off in the distance, and I wasn’t hungry, so didn’t order anything. It was 10.35am when she got up and paid – and it was 10.44am when we left for the Cathedral (which is Englands oldest – founded in 597 : Wikipedia – Canturbury Cathedral)

In the Cathedral gift shop – there were swords, Christmas baubles, model cathedrals, apostle spoons, church mice, gargoyles, tapestries, make your own ukulele kits, cat shaped sticky notes, cat shaped paperweights, teddy bears wearing different church uniforms, baby clothes, cat bag clips, snow globes, scarves, ties, and lots and lots of other stuff…

…and by 11am – it was pouring with rain outside, so a dash was made across the square to the cathedral, which had scaffolding everywhere outside and a lot around the ceiling and far end of the inside – where signs were listing short talks. A small group of school kids (8 years old ish) were being shown around, and Mum was doing a kids activity trail; we went down into the very dark crypt – which had a Your Prayer board that people could stick post-its on, multiple signs saying ‘quiet please’, and I saw a man walking round with a torch; then there was a little door to an ‘eglise protestante francaise’, there was a crypt to John Norton, quite a few little candles had been lit, and out on the other side was another little shop – with a massive window above it – where a donations box said on it that it costs £20000 per day to run the cathedral, and more information boards were along the passage to the exit, which also had what was labelled as the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist to 1 side, with extremely colourful windows.

The next room seemed to be where the choir sang from (overlooking the altar and the rest of the church), and a few things (candles, postcards, teatowels, teddy bears in various uniforms, and what looked like Christmas baubles) were for sale, a small group of kids (8 years old ish) that appeared to be on a school trip were led in, and back outside it was rather chilly. A shop on Mercury Lane called Castle Fine Art had what looked like solid sausage balloons of various shapes in its window…

Another one called Little London had little solar powered waving public figures: Donald Trump (who was labelled as The Big Wig)…

…the Queen (labelled as The Dancing Queen), London Policemen, and Star Wars Stormtroopers; The Gourmet Sausage & Burger Company had a stall on the street selling foot long hotdogs, and further down the road – by a stone tower – 2 pigeons were tossing bits of bread around. A tunnel under the road had been entirely painted with a mural, and out on the other side we crossed a stone bridge with massive numbers of buses parked next to it. Part of the university, some student accommodation, more of it being built and a ginormous crane moving things (on the opposite side of the road) were further along, and a woman (early 50s) pushing a pram had a leadless terrier trotting beside her. By a car park, I saw ‘Don Jon Hall’ and a couple of fist shapes on a tile on a wall, another tunnel was walked through, I could smell fried onions out on the other side, and it was 12.52pm when we returned to the car (at the place we’d stayed the night at that I now couldn’t remember the name of)…. (to be continued)