January 2014 and a New start to the year.

Well; Christmas went quickly and what was to be a normal boring Christmas turned out to be rather eventful, what with the floods that hit us here in Kent, rendering most of the boats inaccessible. I was invited for Christmas dinner with friends from the pub, they live on the river bank, so early Christmas morning I received a text from them saying that their road is flooded so I'd have to drive down to the farm and walk down the footpath with the dog. This turned out to be a bit hairy as the cottage at the entrance to the footpath had two big and very disagreeable dogs running loose so after asking the owner if she would keep them in for 5 minutes while I walked my dog through, I managed to reach the gate at the other end and so onto my friend's house. I was amazed at the devastation there, the river had risen halfway up their garden and John was in the process of inflating his dinghy to try and negotiate the floods so that we could get to the pub the other side of the river.

We unfortunately missed the lunchtime session at the pub but enjoyed several beers at their house. However by the evening we were all feeling adventurous and when the rain stopped John donned his chest waders and took his wife and daughter in the inflatable, pulling them across the flooded bridge. He then came back for me and the dog. Now all five of us were over the bridge and had to carry the inflatable up to the pub entrance so that nobody would nick it. After a few beers and revelry we made the same journey home. Not wishing to meet the two big dogs in the dark, I decided to sleep on my friend's couch and return home in the morning.

John Pulling us over the bridge

Me and my old sea dog

Enjoying the ride

My gracious hosts, John & Didge

Our Taxi

J & D's garden before

J & D's garden after

Apart from the flood excitement, I joined a new Gym this month as my old one has now closed down, so hopefully by the Sumer with the juice diet and exercise I should be able to get in shape.

The weather has not been conducive to the photography I want to do up until now so I'm hoping for a change in the outlook soon so I can get out and about and get some great shots. Here's a few I did last year

Also I've just started to learn to play the Bodhran (Irish Drum). It has a great sound and when I can play as well as Michelle Stewart I'll be more than happy!! (see link below)

http://youtu.be/_vtMK0q5ZWA