On The Road Again...

After leaving the fine comforts of Cassa Del James, I drove onwards to Margate to meet Adam from the Couch-surfing website. I was to meet him at a church. Never a good start in my book. He redeemed himself when we established the next port of call was the pub. And no ordinary pub either - a pub which serves free prawns. I was wary, but I went in. To my amazement, there were fresh shell-on prawns, crab-sticks, cockles and 5 other bowls of free goodies. Now as a Londoner, we don't even have free peanuts anymore [not that anyone in their right mind would eat the piss-nuts]. And just to remind myself how far away I was, a man came round selling raffle tickets, for a meat raffle. Yes, you could win meat. In a raffle.

Adam was a Reiki master and a teacher of many alternative therapies. Those who know me, will appreciate the effort I made to listen to him. He proceeded to show me the highlights of Margate, including the numerous bays, each with a designated use. BBQ bay, surfing bay, family bay, all-night-party bay and apparently a nudist bay. Saw a castle that was turned into flats, don't know if I'm jealous or furious about it. Gained access to an old house, also converted into flats - not so annoyed as I got to look inside! The whole building had the warm, delicious smell of an old chest of drawers. Probably because 3/4 of all surfaces were solid oak. And the stairs spiralled up in a rich, red velvet. Yeah, I'm jealous again. We went for a fantastic fish lunch, which was so filling it crossed over to dinner territory. Had more random conversations over lunch, mainly involving the soul. First problem. Not believing in souls. However, I'm told I have a wonderful soul and only 1-3/400 people have a kind soul like mine. A compliment perhaps. As much as I'm skeptical of such things, he did give me much to think about. As well as 10 to pay forward to a Buddhist centre or someone requiring assistance. Took the time to watch the sunset. Was mesmerising, I stood there for over an hour. Stayed at his place, on a sofa bed, because I refused to sleep on the floor because there were mice. Oh, the things I'll do to sleep horizontally. Had to earn my keep by cleaning the bathroom and, in true man house style, I had to send him to the shop for cleaning supplies. Was woken at 6:48am by the world's most inconsiderate bin men. And was grumpy, so stayed up.

Drove past the fake rocks in Ramsgate again. Worth a double mention.

Went to Toby Carvery for breakfast. Unlimited bacon for 3.99. No complaints from me. The conversational fun began. I question everything and I'm the only person out of thousands who didn't agree with him instantly. And he didn't like that. He had a little snap at me. He had a slight arrogance that his theories were correct, and the response was, that I didn't think they were correct because I'm not old enough to understand. Well, you know how that conversation ended.

All in all, my opinion of Margate changed, sill crap although slightly more interesting. Adam gave me a lot to think about [and a therapy CD!] and so I'm heading off to Dover to try and find me a castle.

Nearly forgot this little nugget. Ring ring, goes the mobile. Hello, said I. And this is the response. "How much for a blow job?" Take a moment. It is a good thing I had already pulled over, because I would have crashed. I asked him to repeat himself, because you know, that's not the shit you'd expect to hear on your main phone. Not the crazy Gumtree advert phone. MY PERSONAL PHONE. But, the now less confident voice repeats, and I wasn't hearing things. Turns out it was a wrong number. No shit.