Saturday 9th October

We sleep in surprisingly late, and while K heads off to Wood Green to try and find a late birthday present for her dad, I do the washing up and potter about getting ready to head to Dorset. Annoyingly, both the Piccadilly and Victoria Lines are closed any further north than Kings Cross, so we are forced to get the overground towards Waterloo. Luckily Hornsey station is only a short walk away, so we wander over there at around 11am. We get the train to Kings Cross before switching to the Victoria Line and the Bakerloo Line, eventually ending up at Waterloo with a little time to spare before the 12.20 to Gillingham. We eat a bit of M&S lunchware on the way, while I do a little writing but mostly carry on reading The Fry Chronicles on the Kindle.

We get to Gillingham in the early afternoon and head up the road to watch the first part of tonight's annual carnival (the first one I've been to of the three I've been invited to), which involves the kids of the local Cubs and Brownie groups parading behind brass bands dressed in inexplicable Finding Nemo costumes which are, of course, very cute.

Afterwards we walk back to the house and watch a bit of the Commonwealth Games on telly, relaxing in time for the proper evening part of the carnival. Just as it gets dark out, we go back to the corner of the road to watch the surprisingly (for the uninitiated me, at least) huge floats on the back of lorries trundle by. There are various different themes on display and all exhibit impressive production value for something found in a small Dorset town. K and her family are completely used to this, of course, but I can't remember ever having seen something like this when I was growing up. Maybe it just wouldn't work in Rochdale. When the pick-up trucks come by we chuck our 1 and 2p donations in the back, dodging the bouncebacks and malicious coins thrown by the few little hooligans around and about us.

When the parade finally finishes, we go back to the house and sample a couple of Mrs. B's excellent hot dogs in front of the telly - before starting to watch the improbably enjoyable Die Hard 4.0 on ITV. As ever in K's laid-back family home, though, tiredness takes over very quickly - and we stumble to bed well before midnight.