19 Aug 09

The other day, I found out that my granddad had been scammed by three guys knocking on his front door to say that they had some fascias left over from an old job and would he like his fascias replaced. They also said he had a tile loose that they would fix. Of course, he said yes. People of his age don’t want to cause a fuss. Luckily, a lot of my family live within two minutes walk of him and managed to stop them before they did too much work. Apparently, there is a lot of this going on in Ashford at the moment. It’s despicable. My grandad is 85 years old and lives on his own. Easy prey for those who don’t have any morals about taking advantage.

On Saturday, Heather and I joined the gang at the Six Bells in Woodchurch for lunch. This is the tenth pub I’ve reviewed over the past few months. I only have to review another two pubs and I can strike off another task on my 50 Things To Do Before 40. I’m still hoping to have a number of get-togethers for my 40th. Probably going to have one for family and one for friends (though the family one will probably be going out to dinner).

Later on Saturday evening, I was searching through Facebook for friends from yesteryear when I came across a group called “Ashford North Girls and Boys 1981 – 1986”. Those were exactly the years I was there, so I join the group. As I looked down the wall posts, I discovered that my best friend from school had died only a few days ago. I had lost contact with him after leaving school and haven’t seen him since 1986. We used to hang out during school and after school back in the days when we were into CB radio. I know that Facebook has its opponents, but if it wasn’t for Facebook, I probably would never have found out about this. I’ve been in touch with members of his family (as I knew them as well) and I’m going to his funeral next week. I remember he was a Scorpio and as we were in the same year, he would have been slightly younger than me. It’s a big loss to passed away this young and sadly, I know all too many friends who’ve died at a young age. For the record (and in memoriam), they are

Paul Walton (school friend who died as a teenager on holiday in a cycling accident)
Joan Johnstone (colleague from Wiltshiers who died age 33 cause unknown)
Adrian Gurr (colleague from Wiltshiers who died in his 50s from brain cancer)
Jimmy Atirene (colleague from the KM who died Dec 2003 in a motorbike accident)
Craig Johnston (colleague from Aylesford Newsprint who died in his 20s by suicide)
Martin Dalby (best friend from school who died Aug 2009 from renal failure)
So, as we used to say "Starman, this is Megatron. 10-10 'til we do it again."

My brother-in-law is currently in hospital in London after feeling ill the other day. It looks like he has a heart murmur. Heather and I only found out about this last night when my mother-in-law called after 10pm to let us know. He is probably in the best place as St. Thomas’s is one of the countries’ best heart hospitals and my sister-in-law is staying in a hotel nearby to be close to him. We wish him well. I hope he can be transferred to the Alexandria Hospital in Walderslade. It’s a private hospital and only a few miles from his home. It would also make it easier for us and others to visit. Nicky and Miff were very supportive of me last year when Heather was in hospital. I feel it’s now my time to give them support in the same way.

If you have seen Heather’s Facebook photos, the tree at the back of our garden has now gone. It cost £100 to remove (not as much as our neighbour Emma’s tree, which cost £350 to remove). We had to take them done, as the roots are affecting our neighbour’s property at the end of our gardens. You’d think that, as he’s getting the benefits from this job, that he would have offered to pay half the cost of the work. So far, nothing. At least, I can see more of the sky now, which is good for stargazing.

While driving home tonight, I saw a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 being towed on a trailer on the M20. The only other DeLorean I’ve ever seen was at Universal Studios in Orlando outside the Back To The Future Ride. This was, of course, a regular car, but sadly looking a bit rough and rusty around the trim (surprising, as I thought they were made of aluminium)