Down to Kent...

It would have been my Nan's 95th Birthday today and Mum and I wanted to go down and put some flowers on the place where her ashes were scattered. I can't ever remember not going to Kent on this day and in the past, when I was a child, we always looked out for Christmas decorations on the way home when it was dark. Back then, we had to drive through the heart of London so it was lovely to see all the houses decorated with lights.

The morning dawned beautiful and cold with clear blue skies and sunshine. We left at 10am and made really good time to Dartford. The tolls are being removed from the tunnel and the bridge and last night I paid £5 online to go through. If you don't pay before you travel you have until midnight the next day to pay. I wonder how many don't pay at all?

We called into the garage where we always stop and Mum treated us to a Costa coffee and a small cake. The place was heaving with people and the roads were busy generally. Christmas shopping, perhaps?

After a much-needed coffee we drove to the Crematorium and put some flowers on the spot where Nan's ashes were. We also went and had a look at my other Nan's resting place before wandering around the beautiful gardens and looking at little trinkets that other people had left for their loved ones.

We'd decided to have lunch in the village of Ightham, at a pub we went to before and I set Gladys to direct us there. The village is tucked away in the countryside and Gladys took us on a very narrow road that had steep drops on one side...she really does have a fetish for the smallest roads available!

We found the pub and ordered sandwiches for lunch (well, Sophie had garlic bread) and a bowl of chunky chips to share. We spent a very pleasant hour sitting at a table by the window and I wondered if my relatives, Blacksmiths in the village, had ever come into the pub to have a drink?

The sandwiches, salad and chips certainly filled us up and we decided to head for home after we'd finished. Sophie was feeling a little queasy and on the M25 we stopped at South Mimms services so she could swap places with my mum. I get the feeling that sitting in the back of a car doesn't agree with her!