Since arriving at Chilham, for the first month, it rained, pretty much constantly. Then it snowed. That was followed by freezing temperatures. The car park turned into a skating rink, which of course, attracted those who used it as a skid pan. Not that I have a problem with that. On the contrary, I have never understood why skid control has not ever been a part of the driving test.
The problem for me is that all the woods were first soaked, then frozen through. Of course, I have an emergency stash on my truck, but I have pretty much used all that up. I have stacked quite a few good lengths of wood up against a tree in the woods to dry. I also stack logs around my burner to dry. Despite all that, when it burns, it does so slowly and doesn’t produce the same amount of heat as dry and seasoned wood. To help keep the heat going, I bought coal. That was especially helpful when it came to keeping the burner going overnight.
During that cold spell a fella called Andrew stopped by and presented me with two large nets of wood. They were something of a godsend.
Another bloke, called Paul appeared. He’s from Badgers Garden Centre. They are on the main road, about halfway between me and the railway station. I was presented with a large mug of hot soup, bread and a couple of mince pies.
John brought down some cake from Barry and Donna at the tea rooms. And in one day, two sets of hikers gave me cake.
Jack, from the Outreach thing, who if you remember, called by at some ridiculously early hour in response to a report that I was homeless, visited. He presented me with a small food parcel.
I also had a ‘phone call from the council. They were just checking in to make sure that I was okay; safe and warm.
Eventually, the temperatures rose and it poured with rain again washing away the ice and snow.
It was around this time that I had a visit from Michael. That was nice. It was great chilling with him, especially as I hadn’t seen him for a good while. I took him up to the village and introduced him to some of my new friends. He stayed for a few days. When he headed on, he took the broken towball extension with him, which has now been repaired.