Jestifiable Homicide

We arrived in Dover safely enough, and make a pit stop at a local supermarket because Jonathan has promised the people who are to be our German hosts that he'll take them some clotted cream (apparently this is something unique to England, although I thought that cream could go lumpy anywhere). We also pick up various items of junk food for the van, as well as what is to become the official sweet of the tour - a packet of Rhubarb and Custard. Then, not quite fully stocked with clotted cream (they only had one tub) we head down to the docks to get ourselves onto the Ferry.

Or maybe not. It's 10:15. We've just missed the ten o'clock ferry. There is not an eleven o'clock ferry as Jonathan assumed, and it just so happens that the next ferry is not until 2pm.

Six months of planning – and he didn’t even know when the ferry left. More to the point …

.... I got up at 5:30 for this.

I explain politely to The Jester that this isn’t funny and that he’s about to die. It would be justifiable homicide, and any sane judge and jury would agree. He asks (with certain nonchalance for a man facing the gallows) if I could at least wait until after the trip. His argument being that it will make the driving a little easier if he's there to help occasionally. I reluctantly concede that there is the slightest scent of truth in his foolish excuse and allow a stay of execution until we return. He will have this hanging over him for the next two weeks. He acknowledges this is reasonable, and we decide to go and get a cup of coffee. The cure for (almost) all things morning related.

It's turned into a beautiful sunny day so we stroll around Dover soaking up the rays. I even resort to Sunglasses. January and the sun, you've got to love global warming. I comment that East Anglia is a small price to pay for a chance at a better suntan without having to go abroad, and ask Jonathan to remind me not to go to East Anglia for the next few years. Not so much worried about being flooded, but some people might want to hurt when they find out I said that.

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