A Legal Alien

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30 May 2005

What a busy weekend this was! Friday, after all the excitement with getting hit on, I picked up Frank at St. Pancras. A quiet evening, our usual dinner and a movie. We stayed up waaaaaaay too late! Saturday morning, we picked up the car and drove to Dover Castle. Traffic was awful getting out of the city and a 2 hr drive took over 3 hours. But, the castle was so worth it!
The day was gorgeous, clear and sunny but windy. The views of the sea from up along the battlements were awesome. We wandered around the keep and keep yard before taking the tour of the WW2 tunnels that wind around in the cliffs. It was really interesting to see the field hospital (with beds for 80 wounded) and the entire communications centre of the UK for the war. The tunnels were originally dug during the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s and more were dug out as were needed. It's definitely a maze but an entire world underneath the castle. By the time we were done with that, we hiked back up to the top of the keep and Frank went down into the Midevel Tunnels. I was tired by then so I waited at the top for him.
We left the castle at closing time, about 6pm and drove to the White Cliffs lookout that's a National Trust property. But it was closing too and Frank had the good idea to ask the man at the gate where a good place to see the cliffs was. He told us this little out of the way area with awesome views. We took off racing down the lanes to an old coast guard outbuilding. We walked down the public footpath and the views were breathtaking. It was a great ending to an afternoon there. We walked along the cliffs, took a few pictures and shared the leftovers of lunch.
We decided to head back a different way and came up through Canterbury. We stopped and had a good curry after hunting for a parking space for the better part of 40 minutes. We didn't get home until midnight because of returning the rental car. By the time we got in, we climbed into bed and were asleep within minutes of switching off the lights.
Our original plan was to go to Battle to see the battleground and abbey but after our marathon day in Dover, we decided to stay in and just have a mellow day. Frank wanted to watch the F1 race and I was simply knackered. We went out for dinner in Leicester Sq. and went into a few shops. Somehow I managed to let him talk me into watching ANOTHER scary movie. We've watched a few zombie movies before which weren't scary, just a bit gory. But last night, I agreed to watch "The Thing". I have no idea what I was thinking because I was scared for most of the movie, and had to bite my lip not to cry when some of the sled dogs died.
Today we went to lunch at Cafe Pacifico and then went into Forbidden Planet and a book and music store Fopp. We got a few books and a plush toy for him. We came home and had a nap for a while before he had to take the train home. Now I'm catching up on laundry and email. It's quiet. The sun is out still, there's a fresh breeze and all feels right with the world.

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