Out and About!

It seemed criminal to sit indoors and not take advantage of the sunshine. So we had a nice drive down to Rochester.

I went down there two weeks ago and was struck by the location (only forty minutes from home) and the fact that there was a castle, and a cathedral, both close to the river. I thought it would be ideal for a Sunday jaunt.



Well the sun may be out, but the old adage about "casting a clout" was certainly true! It was lovely and bright out, but definitely a bit on the chilly and blowy side (as you can see, I don't normally look that windswept)

Literally adjacent (if Mark had turned 180 degrees with the camera) to Rochester Cathedral is the Castle. The Cathedral is free to walk round, but they charge £5 to nose around the castle, so we gave that a miss and just wandered round the grounds instead.



The Castle is in the background. Mark looks full of the joys of Spring, bless him!

There was a fire in a pub yesterday, which has resulted in a road closure on the route into Rochester. Getting in was easy, getting out was an entirely different matter, clear road divert directions do not seem to be Medway council's strong point. We moved from the car park at 15.37, and finally got away from Rochester at 16.14. Ho hum...

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Location:Rochester Castle

The Price

"Give me another chance!" she cried,
"I'm afraid it's too late" the Grim Reaper replied
He then said "All sins and crimes must be paid in full"
"What crime? What sin?! I haven't done anything" was her retort.
At her response the Reaper looked most severe.
"Have you honestly no idea why you are here?
Think hard, look back, remember the events.
Can you not think what led to the accident?"
She looked at him blankly, and on her it dawned, it was something about which she had previously been warned.
"It wasn't my fault, it wasn't me behind the wheel. Why am I here, that's not a fair deal?!"
"Arrogance was your sin. You thought you couldn't get hurt, that you were immortal, and so you did nothing.
To be 'down with it' was more important for you, than to be an adult and take a sensible and safe view.
You knew your friend was DUI, but you didn't stop them, even though they were high.
You got in the car and said ""It's perfectly safe. It's cool, it's normal, people do it every day.""
The Reaper then said "For this, four people have to pay"
"Why four? There were three of us in the car today"
At this point the Reaper looked almost sad.
"The fourth to pay will be your Dad.
For you and your friends, your lives are your cost.
For your Dad, it's the memory of who he has loved and lost.
Your price though tragic, is quick and paid today.
Your Dad's pain will be never ending, each minute of every day"
The Reaper looked at the girl, who was stricken with tears,
The reality of it all had now sunk in, and she was frozen to the spot in fear.
She thought back to all the good times with her Dad, of which there would be no more.
She realised how much she had taken him for granted and how she had dismissed his worrying before.
"Mr Reaper, please would you grant me one request?"
And so the Reaper did at her behest.
The Reaper visited her Dad and broke the news the best he could.
Her father was distraught and greeted the news like any caring parent would.
The Reaper said "Your daughter asked me for a last request, and to my word I will be true.
She asked me to tell you how sorry she was and how much she does love you."
To this end I will do what I can to minimise your pain. Your memories of this will be dulled and it won't hurt as much again"
Her father shook his head and through his tears he did reply,
"Thank you for the offer but I must decline, though it will always hurt, I must remember why.
I must remember, so I can spread the word, and help other parents like me.
Whose children think they are immortal, and therefore the dangers they will not see.
How many more of these accidents will it take, before they will understand why?
How much more tragic can the loss be, before they will say 'no' to DUI?"
The Reaper bowed his head, and faded slowly into the dark.
The depths of which for the father had never been so stark.

Never when bringing up a son or daughter should a parent have to expect.
To face the pain of losing their child, knowing there is nothing they can do to protect.
A parent can lay down the rules and by example they can guide. The day will always come when it will be down to the son or daughter to decide.

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Home Again

A brief recap. On Saturday Mark went Ski-ing and Mum and I went to Krystalwelten.

This is the entrance to the "Giant" which takes you through to the Exhibition. We did take some photos, but we were more interested in the Members Lounge and the Shop!

The last time that we went was in 2005. We signed the guest book and sent some photos in for the ladies in the Members lounge to include with our guest book entry.

We went into the Members lounge and I see that all the previous guest books were kept on a book shelf. I looked through and eventually foundour previous entry, dated 03/03/05. Marion (lady in the Members lounge) had kept her promise, and the photos that we had sent in of Mum's collection were in the book along with our entry in book number 15.

Of course we had to write in the guest book again, it would have been rude not to!

Intermittently I had received texts from Mark updating me on how he was getting on. Apparently he had taken a couple of spills, but he was in good shape, so after having spent inordinate amounts of time (and money!) in the shop, we headed back to the hotel to catch up with Mark.

Aside from being absolutely shattered, he was in good shape, and had enjoyed his time on the slopes. The plan was he would go with us to Kitzbuhel the following day (Sunday) and do someskiing there while we looked around and went up in the cabel car.

Sunday morning Mark opted for more sleep rather than breakfast, and when it came to time to get up he decided that his fitness levels (certain aches and pains from excessive exercise the previous day!) weren't up for another day's skiing. In fairness the weather looked pretty poor from a visibility point of view which doesn't make it ideal for skiing when you can't see very far in front of you.

We went to Kitzbuhel and spent the afternoon there. It's a nice resort, and the town is right by the slopes, which would make it better than Innsbruck for skiing as you have to travel out of the town in order to get to the slopes. I wish I had pushed Mark harder to take his skigear with him, as he could have got some time in on the slopes in Kitzbuhel rather than just having the one day's worth in Innsbruck.

Sunday evening we went to the Pizzeria in Innsbruck. Strangely, the restaurant in the hotel was closed, even for snacks, which was a bit bizarre when they had guests!