What happened to the Electric Chickens?

As per the plan, we gathered at 1030 in the yard, although it didn't sound as good as saying we gathered at dawn in the corral.

My bike pedal has been mended since last I fell off and we took 2 drinks bottles and set off in an easterly direction. About 2 weeks ago, the Hayling Ferry was resurrected from its own phoenix-ashes, and this is very important to us. We used to get the ferry over to Hayling Island, do a couple of swing-parks, follow the old Hayling Billy Trail (decommissioned railway track), have a pub lunch, and get the train back home from Havant, a splendid day out and a 12-mile bike ride. But then the poor old Ferry got fined six grand a couple of times for overcrowding and went bankrupt. It's been 2 years now and at last, some new operators have taken over the old route and we got there with 7 minutes to spare before the 1100 sailing: mine was the 157th ticket issued.

It's the same actual vessel, but with a new paint job. It was good to be back on the 3-minute crossing and once on the other side, we cycled to Funland which is the super-tacky funfair with rollercoasters. Most of it is the same as last time we were there, but of course I'm 2 years older, wiser and wider so I liked different things.

We bought the 50 tokens for £15 deal and I went on various rides with the accompanying adults taking turns with me. Jof and I did Beaver Falls which is where you get wet, then Bud and I did the junior minecart ride, I bumped Jof on the dodgems (they're powered by a roof of electric chicken wire. Nobody was saying where they got the electric chickens from) and screamed with Bud on the dragon rollercoaster.

On Pirate Golf, I bounced my ball so much it went into the pond and was lost forever at sea, only the sad-looking carp and their pondweed can see it now. We carefully used up all our tokens and headed off to the Inn on the Beach.

This pub is a well-positioned beer-haven with food right on the beach and coincidentally, exactly where the Puddlers and I played fill-the-bucket for hours on a sunny afternoon in October 5 YEARS AGO. Today was equally sunny but paddling was not planned for even though it looked inviting. The tide was out and you could see the sand that never ends and millions of happy people paddle-boarding and canoeing and wading and jet-skiing and swimming in the shallow lagoon.

I had a Sundae (it's Sunday, whaddya gonna do?) but then discovered it contained honey and left most of it. On the way back, a fat motorcyclist crashed loudly into the back of a car right in front of us but he didn't die. The whole day was about 5 hours out with about 8 1/2 miles in the saddle and 37 cosmatrons of sunshine on my skin.