GREYHOUND TENDER FOOT

At the Cosy Kettle Cafe all human (and dog) life is there

On Sunday mornings I usually get a phone call from my cycling mate, Peter to see if we are meeting up for toast and coffee somewhere. In the past, when we were both less decrepit we would extend the day to take in a sandwich lunch at a pub somewhere, both on normal bicycles, and cover about 40 miles.

These days we are both on ebikes and the 20 mile ride is usually for a morning only. Health problems have meant that our "proper" club cycling days are over but the addition of an electric genie has meant that we can still enjoy a jaunt around the countryside. We vary our cafe stops among about three over Romney Marsh. This morning it was the Cosy Kettle (again).

It is a small cafe, part of its charm, and tends to attract the cycling and walking fraternity as well as locals. There is a small area outside where tables are set up on fine days and as these were already taken by the members of the Hythe Cycle Club  Peter and I sat just inside at a table by the open patio doors, a position where we could people watch as customers came and went.

A couple walking a greyhound arrived and sat adjacent. The dog was wearing a set of rather nifty bootees - which is not a usual sight. Dog people are always chatty about their animals so in a quiet moment I asked the lady owner, "Why does he need them?"

Turned out he suffered from corns and the only way he could still enjoy a walk was with protected feet. "He was never good enough to race, so we got him 10 years ago as a rescue dog, but we take them off when we get indoors. He will have to wear them outside for the rest of his life, but at least he can still enjoy a full life because of them".

As Peter and I rose (stiffly) and collected our e-bikes to ride off over The Marsh I felt an affinity with that old dog.......

MAY DAY LUNCH

What has a 4 feet 4 inches (133cms), 83 year old female got to do with e-biking?

The last day of April dumped a month's rain on this corner of England. We have recently experienced "The Beast from the East". Now we had "The Souse from the South".

But by May Day the sun and seemingly ever present wind had dried the roads. My wife was off to her lunch club so I decided to cycle down to the small village of Hamstreet to get a mid-day bite at The Cosy Kettle cafe. Cycling down the road through the woods was pleasant. Frothy green trees and carpets of bluebells.

I joined the short queue at the counter and got into conversation with a tiny little lady, neatly dressed in a tartan skirt and large red beret. She came up, nearly, to my shoulder and her manner was chatty and birdlike. As the small cafe was quite full we shared a table. I had quiche and salad and she did justice to a large panini with salad, which would have been ample for me.

Apparently she lived in the local old folks' bungalows and took her walking stick for a toddle daily to get her midday bite at the cafe. Bright and cheerful, she regaled me about her busy little life. With plenty of outings and meetings, she wasn't lonely and appeared to know everyone around us.

She was a tonic and when she went, saying goodbye to all the tables, I asked the staff about her. Pauline had been coming in regularly for a couple of years. They looked forward to her visits and noted she had recently taken to using the walking stick and she was getting slower, but still cheerful. What a tonic to see and talk to.

Then off to continue the 16 mile ride across the open fields of Romney Marsh with a very stiff south westerly wind in my face. The electric genie in the rear wheel was very useful.