We were lucky with the weather for our day trip to Whitstable. After a day at home, on top of many months mostly at home, it was good to escape and have a relatively normal day out. We hadn’t been to our favourite Kent coastal town this year, nor for a few years probably, but it was good to see that many of our favourites were still there, some had gone, but some new ones had taken their place. The town was probably at more normal levels, after experiencing many day-trippers during the summer, and who as we spoke to some shopkeepers weren’t what I’d call covid-compliant, or happy to respect the rules. Thankfully none of those were evident on our visit, which coincided with the first day of the NHS Covid-19 app, which we downloaded and made use of in a couple of places with no trouble at all. I’m not going to comment on the app, and the flaws that are being reported on, or how long it’s taken to arrive, because I don’t think I’ve really got anything new to add.
The weather was a mix of blue, cloudy skies and grey clouds looming. We were fortunate that we managed to eat our fish and chips al-fresco in one of the more blue-skied moments, and that was a tactical decision. I love to house-spot on the coastal path, and try to avoid being caught snapping people’s houses. Even though the terrace below is colourful the greyness seems to suit this photo, later in the week I’ll share a more colourful post.
We did our best to shop in the local shops, eating fish and chips and tea and cake later on. We left with some cheese from the cheese shop, and rather bizarrely a large duck from the butchers for under a tenner. Not everyone goes to Whitstable and buys duck, oysters or fish are probably more usual.
Our luck with the weather ran out though, and of course after carrying our waterproofs around all day, our luck run out while they were in the car. There was nothing else for it, but a mad dash back to the car, launching ourselves into the dry as quickly as we could.
There has been a distinctly autumnal feel to the mornings hasn’t there? Normally we’re not one for having the heating on at a whim, we’ve both come from the “put another jumper on” school of thought. But when we woke on Friday and the radiators were warm, it was very welcome. We’ve come close to relenting though this weekend, but we’ve stuck to the layered approach. The closest we came to breaking was Saturday night after an afternoon outside at the Greenwich Comedy Festival.
This year it was wholly outside and tickets were sold in twos, with each two having a metre box to socially distance within. We were a good way away from the stage, and it must have been tough for the comedians, as the atmosphere was pretty much non-existent. I was hoping that it’d stay dry, but no such luck. During Nina Conti’s set we, along with most of the audience were scrabbling for waterproofs and umbrellas. She had a couple of people up on the stage, and I bet they couldn’t believe their luck at getting under cover.
The show was hosted by Stephen K Amos and Reginald D Hunter had a set as well, but for us the main attraction was Henning Wehn. The show had been shortened, and it felt like Henning’s set had been shortened most, that could be because I’m not a huge fan of Reginald D Hunter (we’ve seen him before and my opinion hasn’t really changed). The arrangements though were totally covid-compliant, even if some of the attendees kept forgetting.
It finished by 5 and our plan was to get some food early (for us) and head home. Though with the new 10pm curfew we thought our best plan would be to avoid Greenwich town centre and the people leaving the afternoon session, along with those arriving for the evening session potentially overlapping with many aiming to eat in restaurants with already reduced capacities. So we headed over to Canary Wharf on the DLR, as we’d spotted that there’s now a Five Guys in one of the shopping centres. It could well have been there a while to be fair, and it’s one of the foods I’ve been keen to eat during lockdown.
We got there fine, the DLR was busier than we expected, but everyone was wearing face coverings and keeping as distanced as they could. In the shopping centre, there were signs up to say that face coverings must be worn. However this was far from the norm, and far from being enforced. There were groups of, mainly young girls, patrolling the centre. We saw two groups of girls, and numerous young couples ignoring the advice, with either no masks or masks under their chins, and it was easy to see why we’re unable to control numbers. The complete disregard for the requirements, and for those around them was quite shocking, let alone respecting the staff working in the restaurants.
While my burger - cheeseburger with jalapeños, my order every time - was great, we didn’t hang around for longer than we needed to and headed back south of the river, walking home from Greenwich. I think it’ll be a while before we head back there, and we won’t be going again on a weekend that’s for sure. Maybe during the week those visiting will be more compliant, who knows. I’ve had my Five Guys fill though, so hopefully that will see me through for a while.
Like many people we’re keeping an eye on what’s happening, and how the R number is managed. We have a week booked in October, and after not being able to go to the Lake District in June, we’re hoping that this time away won’t be scuppered either. We know we may need to change our plans, as we’re hoping to see and stay with family the weekend before, but we’re hopeful that we’ll still be able too. But as we’ve seen so many times already this year, there’s no guarantees, and there won’t be unless we all act responsibly. But that’s another soapbox, I’m not getting onto in this post.
Stay safe this week, and stay warm - it’s October on Thursday, and my heating just might be going on.
