One of the first places I wanted to go, when I took a walk away from the stage, was the pathway along the outer harbour wall. There is a little viewing platform at the end that I thought might give some photo opportunities. I didn't get more than a couple of yards past the beginning when I heard "excuse me young man". I had seen a security guard chatting with what I thought were a couple of fishermen, and it was he who mistook me for a young man ! He very politely told me the path was out of bounds because that is where the fireworks for the evening show were being set up.
  Of course once the security guard had pointed out the two small vans on the path it became obvious what was going on - and a good use for my big telephoto lens. Some of those professional fireworks were more like WW2 mortars ! The telephoto lens was also good for a bit of bird photography.
  It was no surprise that most of the birds to be seen were seagulls. I think this is a juvenile herring gull, but don't take that as gospel !
  It seems silly that the best picture I have been able to take of a "cockney sparrow", one of London's more numerous birds (apparently), was taken in Herne Bay yesterday. I guess it justifies paying £16.20 return to be able to do it..well sort of. Interestingly enough, when I went to Herne Bay in 2015 the fare was £14.15 with the same discounts.
  Some would say that it would have been easier to take the picture in portrait orientation so that more of the clocktower could be seen. I chose to walk halfway down the road, and I could still only get the top of it in the frame. Note the streetlight glowing away at only 11 past 2pm !
  Apparently it is believed that Amy Johnson, famous female flyer in the early days of aviation, crashed and died near Herne Bay, although the wreckage and body were never found. That is sad. On a more frivolous note, I found her statue, by the sea front, to looks good, sexy even. It must have been all the leather or something kinky.

  The next "artist" on the festival stage was Marilyn Sky. This intrigued me until I saw her, and listened to her first song. She is a solo female singer accompanied by an iPad - and nothing else. He first song was something awful, possibly by Michael Jackson, and her second song was some awful disco song. Her singing, after she warmed up a bit was not bad, but I just didn't fancy listening to a karaoke session. I did take some pictures, but I haven't prepared any to show here. Also she in not very photogenic in my biassed view.

 I packed my camera away, and started walking back to the station. It is a fair distance, probably closer to one mile than half a mile. I was just setting up my phone so I could measure the distance when a car pulled up in a road I was just about to cross, and a voice said hi Bill. It was Mark, and although he was technically supposed to be spending the weekend with his "other half" who's birthday it was, he had to take his new dog for a walk. I think he said that he drove to Herne Bay just to see what was going on. He suggested a half pint, and a lift back to the station.
  It was handy that there is a pub, The Heron, just around the corner from the station. Getting there, or more accurately arriving there was a painful event. Mark's new dog is a rescued dog, and has behavioural problems. One of them is that when the car arrives at it's destination the dog barks very loudly, and within a few inches of your ears. It also decided to have a shouting match with the pubs Doberman on the pubs roof.  Other than that, it is very docile and friendly.

  Sitting down on the patio outside the pub (which was empty and so there was no one for the dogs barking to annoy) was a good time to check the times of my trains. It was very handy that I had 20 minutes to waste, and it was wasted by half a pint of Master Brew bitter, and some chat. Instead of the usual slog up the hill to the station, and sometimes a mad dash to go under the subway, and up the stairs in time to catch the train, it was all nice and relaxed.

  Having that half of bitter had one bad side effect. It left some residual beery bad taste. Ideally it needed more beer to wash away the first, but there was no time for that, and I didn't fancy over an hour on the train with a full bladder ! Instead I was lured into eating a few of the liquorice allsorts I had brought with me, and then some more, and then....until I had eaten them all. I took them with me for a quick top up of energy if I felt myself flagging (I had gone out with out any breakfast because I had started the day with high blood glucose).

  By the time I got back to Catford I don't think I was hungry as such, but I couldn't stop thinking about what I might have for dinner. I came very close to buying chicken and chips from the shop near Catford Bridge, but I thought I could do better. With hind sight I probably should have done that. It would be cheaper for one thing. What I actually did was to order a takeaway.

  I found a place that offered grilled chicken, and I thought that would be healthier. The interesting thing is that when I checked the food agency website, for the "scores on the doors" it showed the address as an Indian restaurant - but they had a very good hygiene score. It became a little more obvious why it was trading as "Fusion Grill" it was fried chicken (and other stuff) Indian style. Unfortunately I don't think it worked.

  I actually started with an even more bizzare dish from an Indian restaurant - donor kebab and chips !  It was appallingly unhealthy, but actually nice. Even the chips weren't bad. They were sort of somewhere between horrible "fries" and proper chip shop chips. My second course was the grilled chicken. I would suggest it was more likely fried, and it too came with chips. That chicken, and the fried onions with it, definitely had a sort of almost curry taste. It was like some curry spices were added to it, but not all, and in small quantities. It wasn't horrible, but it just didn't seem to work.

  It must have been the exercise and fresh air, but I seemed to get the most solid sleep I've had in ages last night. I even managed to have a short lay in. It was a shame that it all ended in a bad way. Those liquorice allsorts I ate on the train, and the chips with my dinner, meant my blood glucose was still stuck at 9.2mmol/l. I am probably lucky it was not a lot higher. To confound things still further I had chips for breakfast !

  My plans for today include trying to get some washing done, and hung on the line before going out again. Today I am heading for The Coach And Horses in Beckenham where Whitestar are playing an afternoon gig. I haven't decided how I will get there, or come home yet. It is possible I will get the train to Clockhouse station, and then walk mostly downhill to the pub (apart from the uphill bit up the high street). It wasn't a bad walk even in the days when I was suffering from Angina, but I don't fancy it in reverse. I think I will head for Beckenham Junction station to get home. I think my route will then depend on what train arrives first. I could go to to Shortlands where I would change trains for a train to Catford station. That might be good if the wait for the next train is not too bad, A train in the other direction could take me to Kent House station, and it is a 10 minute walk from there to Clock House station.