Such a perfect day...

..I'm glad I spent it with Johnny L. Usually my day off is thursday but with Rob going away at the tail end of this week it was switched to wednesday. I had no plans or expectations. The shoestring budget left to me on the last day of the month ruled out any missions involving being in town. I had accepted my fate and expected sitting in the garden would be the extent of my activities. Imagine my surprise when Johnny L was on the horn at midday throwing a coastal skate park curve ball out there. I welcomed his suggestion with open arms. An hour and a half later we were Whitstable bound in his whip Luigi. This is the name of his car not the Luigi of sale rail fame. He's in Barcelona.
One rucksack containing extra socks, swimming shorts,a towel and a skateboard in the boot. Roughly £4.50 in my wallet and an old box of menthol cigarettes. These don't sound like a winning day's ingredients but that all depends on who the chef is. Johnny L cooked up the plan and it worked, he must have felt like Hannibal. The skate park was fun, for footage just check recent posts on the notch section of markj.co.uk. It's right by the beach. On the skate down to the park there's a mud dirt jump. The ground's hard because of the weather so boosting that on route felt good. What tricks did I do? I did.. After a few hours of skateboarding with intermittent beach lounging we visited Mr Chips in nearby Tankerton. We decided against Ted's van parked up next to the skatepark. I wonder what Ted did before the park was built. Mr Chips furnished us with sausage and chips and Vimto. Johnny L had saved a piece of his sausage for the ender. It's interesting seeing what people leave for last bite when you have a roast dinner. The piece of sausage was snaffled up before John could put a stop to it by a passing dog which was amusing.
We got another good innings in at the park and by the end of it there were just the two of us there. By that point we were rinsed and dirty and sweaty and done. The time had flown to quarter past nine. The sun was setting on the horizon and the sky was a vivid pink.
It seemed like the perfect time to get in the sea. I was amazed at how warm it was in there and enjoyed ducking under water. Lying back in the water looking out at the sunset it felt like we could have been anywhere, it certainly didn't feel like England right then. It's comforting to think that a surroundings makeover is only ever really an hour's drive away. Wednesday felt like a holiday. I spent my last pfennigs on a can of pop and a giant refreshers lollipop. I'm glad John came with the motivation early on in the day and we got to make the most of it. That is my first swimming in the sea experience of 2008, it is 2008 right? I'm backing Whitstable, get yourselves down there.
Next wednesday this is happening..



Get down here next week and have a view.

Magee found this on his travels..



This blog post will self destruct.