Category: Britain

A short walk down memory lane.

A few weeks ago I scanned and uploaded to BookFace some photos from the 10 week European excursion I made from September to November 1987. The intent at that time I scanned them was to write a blog post about the trip, which was my introduction to open ended travelling; and the start of the wanderlust that remained, pretty much unrequited again to 2011. I kept a diary of the trip, but it, along with other diaries from the 80s, was still in London and last week was the first time in a while that we went back there.

I was going to launch straight into writing about the trip, there are quite a few photos and I was initially thinking of just adding them to a post with minimal text, but as usual I have changed my mind and have decided to go way back in time and add some context. There is a good chance that I decide that that is not a good idea and this post doesn’t get uploaded and you won’t be reading any of this. If I do post it maybe you could let me know if writing this preamble was worth while, or least not a bad thing.

That 1987 European trip really was the impetus for the travels I undertook when I left NZ in December 2011 and obviously this blog is the continuation of those diaries I wrote in my 20s. It just took 24 years, three children and a divorce to get from 1987 to 2011. I was patient I guess.

We may as well start at the beginning or at least close to it. I was born in Carshalton Hospital, Surrey, England in September 1962. This makes me not far off 60 and I cannot believe how old I have gotten while I wasn’t looking, I certainly don’t feel (almost) 59. We moved to 177 Windsor Ave, North Cheam, Surrey when I was two, I have no idea of where we lived prior to that, though we didn’t move far I believe. The grey pebble dash house is 177 Windsor Ave and this was taken when I did a walk-by in 2013. North Cheam is and was a working class/lower middle class suburb on the southern fringe of London. I was happy there.

Our neighbours at 177 were the Aubreys. I think they were both retired, I also think they looked after me, and possibly my younger sisters after school if my parent’s shifts overlapped. I don’t have many memories of life in London as a child, but one of those memories is spending time at the Aubreys. They were very interested in archaeology and history and travelled to exotic places like Rome and Greece, occasionally bringing home small souvenirs of their visits. They bought me books and read to me about ancient Troy, Rome and Greece; particularly the myths and legends from those and other places. I still have some of the books they bought me, and they remain treasured items, particularly The Story of Rome and Story of Greece.

The most valued gift of the Aubrey’s was an interest in ancient history, in the exotic, in the far-off places; and the gift of an enquiring mind, though I am sure as a 10 year old I appreciated the stone arrow heads and small fossils they found in England more than the enquiring mind. I will never forget the Aubreys, or the ‘Strawberries’ as the childhood me named them. That interest in the ancient and the exotic has never left me, and though I am not overly interested in the detail of each and every place I visit, I still relish the visit, along with standing, absorbing and marveling at where generations of people have stood before and what they left behind.

We left England for Auckland, New Zealand in February 1973. With years of experience in the industry Dad soon found himself a job with Air New Zealand which meant cheap flights and numerous trips back to the UK. I think we went back to England three times between 1973 and when I left school at the end 79. Each of those trips was via Los Angeles, Hawaii and occasionally Fiji; the route Air NZ flew. We always stayed a few days somewhere on the way there or back, taking in San Francisco and Washington DC on one occasion. I fondly remember those trips and they were a strong introduction into the realities of travelling and long distant flight, of immigration controls and customs; queuing and sleeping in airports and the less glamourous parts of going to a different country. 

I completed a five year aircraft engineering apprenticeship with Air New Zealand after leaving school; finishing in 1985. While I worked there I holidayed in Fiji and Los Angeles. I went to LA with workmates, Scott and Dave, and we rented a car for a few days, just to cruise; like you do when in LA. Just before I went on this trip I bought my first SLR, a Canon AE-1. I still have it though it stopped working in 1994 and was too expensive to repair at the time.

A lot of my workmates went further, particularly Europe, but I spent too much money on music; records and concerts. Some things just haven’t changed. I did holiday a little in NZ, with hitch-hiking trips and camping holidays and adventures down to the central North Island ski fields. A little taster for the mostly tame adventure I enjoy now.

I didn’t particularly enjoy my apprenticeship and engineering was not my thing; too tactile and I am all thumbs. It was probably safer for all when I left, anyway I had an urge to travel and holding down a job with limited annual leave was never going to satisfy that urge.

In October 1985 I left NZ for my first Overseas Experience (OE) as we called it then, going back to stay in my old suburb in south London. I lasted two years. In that time I met and married Deana, moved to the very nice suburb of Richmond-upon-Thames and did a small amount of travel around the UK and touched briefly on Europe with a visit to northern Italy in 1986,

and to Northern Ireland and the Republic. I have Cavan written on the back of this photo, and love the donkey and cart in the high street. I think it was taken out of the window of a bus.

Mostly I just worked to get by; we lived in an expensive part of London and both of us had relatively low paying jobs; I was a courier driver. My desire to travel the world wasn’t really working out.

That was about to change when Deana’s friends from Australia turned up and bought a VW Combi van… This is the van, but the people are neighbours and friends from NZ.

February update

Sunday 28 February 2021 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

It has been a few weeks since I last scribbled typed some notes on how things are going and what Eleanor and I have, or in this case, haven’t been up to. February continued to be cold, and Covid continued to keep us in the UK in some form of lockdown; however, the forecast for both is improving. The Covid news continues to get better and better; vaccinations have been moving along at a great pace in the UK, Eleanor has had her first, and mine is in a couple of weeks, and the lockdown is having the desired effect with the number of infections and critically ill trending down. Daffodils and crocuses are appearing in the park, a sure sign spring is not too far off.

I have been trying to think back on the things that have happened in the last few weeks, and can really only think; not a lot. There is news of a sort, not BREAKING news, but news nonetheless.

I have changed my mind on selling the flat and am now going to rent it out instead.

  • I had a rental agency visit to view the flat and can expect to get quite a lot more per than I thought. The market here is very good at the moment, or bad I guess if you want to rent. The price of gentrification being paid for by those who can least afford it. I justify to myself by knowing that I only have one flat and the rent I will get still won’t cover my mortgage; though it will be closer.
  • We have been taking time to have a good and honest look at the possible costs of relocating to NZ; it was not something we properly did before Eleanor got her visa and it is a LOT more expensive to live there than we thought. Auckland is less affordable than London, I knew it was going to be expensive, just not by how much.
  • Booking a room in managed isolation is very difficult, and you cannot fly to New Zealand unless you have a room booked first. The managed isolation folk only release rooms up to three months in the future and they are booked out immediately, we have yet to work out the timing of when to get on the site to book. In saying that there are only taking bookings to the end of May which is too early for us.
  • What this does mean is my plan to try and find some work before we left has been completely thwarted. We are going to have to travel to NZ first and then look for a job once we are there. I am starting to see jobs asking for applications for NZ residents only now. A change from a few weeks ago.
  • The cost of living plus not having a job, means we can realistic commit to six months in Auckland before having to think about coming back, where we can at least live rent free.

With the possibility of having to come back to the UK between three and six months meant it made no sense to sell the flat. If we get work in NZ then we can think about selling the flat at a later stage, but at least I have the choice then. With this in mind I am going to ask if I can take a career break before I resign, which means the potential of a job when we return.

We walked to Bexhill one afternoon and then caught the train back to St Leonards. It was my first time in a train since November, when we last did the six minute journey from Bexhill. I am planning on taking the train to London for my vaccination. I can then take photos out of train windows again.

There was an amazing snow moon one night, I have never heard of these before. The moon was huge and sitting low on the horizon so Eleanor and I took a quick walk down to the seafront. It was the first time we have been outside in the evening for ages. With nothing open there were few people out, it was cold but nice to be outside for a change.  Though I have walked a little over the past few weeks I have struggled with motivation and am rarely getting out for a pre-work walk anymore. We always do a short walk at the weekend, but I really need to extend the range else I am just going to spread and it will all become so much harder.

I will chuck in a couple of sunset photos to fill the rest of the page. The two orange images were taken on different nights out of the bedroom window and the other was taken from beach.

Hopefully March will be more interesting.

Some fairly pathetic snow, but snow nonetheless

Tuesday February 09 2021 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

An email brought unexpected good news late on Wednesday night. Eleanor has been granted an indefinite partner visa for New Zealand, Yay, Yay and Yay again! While we (mainly me) expected this to be the case we were taken aback by how quick the application was processed. We didn’t expect to hear anything until at least May or June. This means we can now start to plan a move to Auckland, where most of my family are, for at least the short term.

This is very exciting, but also a little terrifying at the same. There is a lot of thinking and planning to do and I definitely need to get through the emotion of it and start thinking practically else nothing much will happen. I will do a separate post on this at some point. I think.

I took Friday off work as it was forecasted to be the only nice day of the weekend, it is also a non-working day for Eleanor so we could hang out and talk free from the constraints of work. We walked along the seafront under a weak winter sun to Hastings and started to formulate a plan and think about some of the things we need to do, which seems to be an awful lot. The big question for me is whether I keep the flat and rent it while we are gone, or sell it now as the market appears to be good and I will make some money. I have a real estate agent coming to value it on Wednesday, much as I should be led on this by my heart; I am going to be led by the pound.

[edit] I am writing this on Saturday and the estate agent has advised me my flat is worth a little more than I expected, so at this point in time I am going to sell, more on that decision soon, once it is made. [/edit]

Sunday

I have been following the weather forecast all week as there has been a promise of snow for some time, and today is the day, with falls expected to start around 3 or 4 AM. I was excitedly up and out of bed at 7, pulling up the blinds to check outside; then making coffee and going back to bed. Rain. Bloody St Leonards.

However, the snow did come soon after we got up, then continuing to snow lightly all day, though not enough for it to stick around. Still, we wanted to get out for a walk and feel the snow so we didn’t linger in bed too long and were outside by 9. Not bad for me on a Saturday.

When we left home the snow was barely falling and it wasn’t too cold, though it got colder and the snow fall got slightly heavier while we were out. There were hints the snow would start to settle later in he day by the time we got home 90 minutes later. We walked down to the seafront via the lovely St Leonards Gardens, which are just along the road from my flat. The snow was falling a little heavier now, but the ground is so wet and warm that none of it is settling.

I am about to send a letter to mum with some photos of the grandkids and one of El and I. As we don’t have any recent photos of us I decided to try and take some using the self timer on the camera. It took a couple of goes to get it right.

Rather than walk the seemingly traditional way towards Hastings we chose to walk in the opposite direction towards West St Leonards. As is often the case I was surprised at the number of people out, we even saw two people taking their daily dip; one of them wasn’t even wearing a wetsuit. Hardy folk on the coast.

The wind started to pick up and the snow was coming down a lot more heavily and it started to get cold so we looped back up the hill to home and watched the snow falling, but barely settling for the rest of the day. This was as good as it got, and the first time I have not hated these view blocking trees in my neighbours garden.

Monday

A small amount of snow fell overnight and with yesterdays colder afternoon followed by a much colder night a small amount had settled on the ground on Monday morning. I took a photo out of the bedroom window, over my neighbours and down the coast towards Bexhill and Eastbourne.

I was out the door soon after, and back to the park, yet again disappointed at the lack of snow on the ground. I took a couple of photos as this really was going to be as much snow as we will get this winter.

There was a little more snow on the seafront promenade and I was surprised to find about a dozen people on the beach and in the sea.

Tuesday

To my surprise there was a little bit more snow overnight, and a little bit more on the ground inthe morning. Today I avoided the park and went straight to Milk and Hustle, our friendly neighbourhood coffee shop for a takeaway flat white. Since we have been living here a number of places have opened selling coffee, but Milk and Hustle are by far the best, and they are really nice people too. Like all good coffee shops, a flat white is the same price here as it is in central London.

On non-rainy days my routine is to get a coffee and walk along the sea front a short way while drinking the coffee, then back up the hill for breakfast and (sadly) work. On rainy days my routine is to stay in bed longer. I often take a photo on my phone and post it to twitter, but this morning I brought the camera for the last of the snow photos for the winter.

The Black Arches

January 30 2021 – Hastings.

The first month of 2021 has come to its natural conclusion, though it seemed like an extension of the last month of 2020, which in itself felt like an extension of November, which felt like…, well you know what I mean. The only real difference between the days of the last three months was how short the day was and whether it was or wasn’t raining. The days have very much blurred into one big long dreary period of not doing much at all.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Gareth Rees, a local author, tweeted a picture of some small caves on the East Hill in Hastings, so I asked him a question regarding the location of the Black Arches, which are also on East Hill. I had read about the Black Arches in one of his books and have had a couple of attempts at finding them, neither successful. I wrote about one of those attempts here.

Gareth replied with some very good instructions and as the Arches are best found in winter when the scrub on the hillside is well down I decided to attempt to find them today. It was cold and windy with a very fine freezing drizzle, a perfect day for some local exploration.

With eyesight much better than mine the Black Arches can apparently be seen from West Hill, their location near the top of East Hill means they look like a church built into the cliff face. This photo has been taken off the internet and shows the ‘church’ quite clearly, on a sunny day when the council cleared scrub from the hillside, obviously some time ago. They do look very much like church doors.

There are virtually no references regarding the Black Arches on the internet and the single item I found links to a deleted page on a local news website. All there is is a small reference to note that the Black Arches were a deliberate prank, probably created by a local hoaxer, John Coussens’, in the 18th century to fool people into thinking there was a church on the opposing hill. It seems like a lot of work for a prank, maybe he, or someone was robbing those that made the journey over the valley?

I have been intrigued by local mysteries and was hoping today was going to be the day I found the scene of one of them.

Eleanor and I set off late morning under a thick grey sky and into the face of a windblown icy cold drizzle. Eleanor wasn’t joining me on the walk and I left her at the bulk foods shop in St Leonards as I carried on to Hastings, I had a book to collect from one of the local independent book shops and some fresh cod to get for dinner tomorrow. The fish shop is very close to the bottom of the steps up East Hill.

As this was a photo mission I had packed the big camera, which in hindsight was wise as it is weather sealed and while it wasn’t properly raining the air was very wet and I was pretty thoroughly soaked by the time I got home.

East Hill has a few memorial benches, the instructions from Gareth had me look for a path after the final bench, this one is by the side of the steps on the way up (or down) the hill. I was intrigued enough by the ‘9 TOES’ reference to take a photo.

There are hardly any people about, on a non-rainy winter day the Hastings seafront will still be busy, particularly in these Covid times when people are allowed to travel for exercise. I am sure some take the travel to extremes and drive the fifty miles from London down to the coast. On my way up the hill and on the top I didn’t see anybody.

I stopped at the top of the stairs to take a photo over the roofs of the old town and towards the houses that crowd the West Hill slope.

I also took a few photos from the top of East Hill, it looked like there was only one lone person on West Hill as well, I wonder if they had a camera and took a photo of me? I love the look of the old town and came very close to buying a flat there, though suspect it would be quite noisy at night. Unlike my flat which is dead quiet, or it is now that we have moved back into the big bedroom.

As per instructions, just passed the last bench on the hill, there was a small path heading down the cliff edge, so far so good.

I came across the back of a large rock and got quite excited thinking I had found what I was looking for, but no, when I made it around to the front it was just a large rock, with a mystery carving and Wolf in yellow spray paint.

I scrambled down a path through some brambles and dead fern, almost going over once on a slippery patch, tearing my leg through my trousers on a stubborn bit of bramble. Fortunately only raising a tiny scratch when I got home to inspect it. There was nothing there. Turning back I took another path and BOOM, there it was, the Black Arches. Found!

Yes, I know they are not very exciting. Still, it is quite amazing that anyone would go to the effort to carve those three arches into a rock face, then paint the inside black, just to fool the good people of Hastings. I appreciated his effort, less so the efforts of the graffiti folks.

I had a look for detail, trying to find the oldest legible carving, and the best I found was 1847. This face is very much straight into the prevailing wind so I imagine carvings get blunted quite quickly.

I was very happy to have finally found the Black Arches.

I walked back up to the top and then back down the steps towards Hastings, stopping to take a photo over the very quiet fishing beach. Not really a day for tourists.

Walking back through the old town I heard The Only Ones absolutely fabulous ‘Another girl, another planet’ blasting out of this pub, I stopped and listened for a moment, taking a quick photo before carrying on. 

There had been a bunch of photos pasted on this hoarding at the end of George St, but they have all come down apart from one, I had not had a chance to see the rest unfortunately. I should have taken the opportunity when we walked near here last weekend.  

I chose to extend the walk a little and head up and over West Hill again. I really like Croft Rd, one of my favourite streets in Hastings old town. I particularly like these gates and doors in the walls opening on to staircases that head up to the gardens of the houses above. I am guessing they are not regularly used anymore.  From West Hill, I walked back to the sea front and home, to warmth and dry clothes.  It was a small adventure, and very enjoyable.

Raising the ceiling, after removing the old one.

January 10 2021 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

2021 and the new decade started off pretty much as the previous year and decade finished, with Brexit shitness added on for flavouring. The UK has now left the EU and the transition period is over. Bring on the unicorn filled sunlit uplands of ‘sovrinty’ and blue passports. As I write this post the Brexit failures are being masked by the appalling UK Covid statistics; over 1500 dead today alone. The UK (and the USA) is not in a good place right now, and while we have the great news of vaccinations on the horizon, the grim statistics will be with us for a few more weeks yet.

Eleanor had a medical appointment in Walthamstow last week so I used the opportunity of her not being at the flat to get some very messy work done. While she was away she received an email from NZ Immigration, the first communication we have had from them since they acknowledged receipt of our partner visa request. The email was a request for a lot more information regarding our relationship, fortunately it has all been fairly straightforward to collect. We both hope this is an indication that we have a case worker now working on our case. Our fingers remain firmly crossed.

A few months ago a crack appeared in the Victorian lath plaster in the master bedroom,  and it has been getting longer and wider, with an ever increasing sag,  ever since. In December it got to the ‘I now need to be concerned’ stage, so I arranged to get plasterers in to replace the wall/ceiling, before it collapsed by itself.

The bedroom is in the roof space so there is more ceiling than wall.

Even though we are in lockdown 3 (the crappy sequel) in the UK the rules allow for contractors to continue working as long as safe practices are maintained. I had a long conversation with the plastering company and decided to go ahead with the work. There is every chance the rules could change any time, and if the ceiling did collapse, it could be months before I could get someone in, and the room would not be habitable as there is only roof tiles between it and winter weather. It was also a good opportunity to get insulation put in as the bedroom is the coldest room in the house.

A couple of weeks ago we moved our bed and the dresser and set ourselves up in the spare room, it is quite cosy in there and seeing as we are really only in the bedroom at night we have decided to see how it goes and make the room swap permanent, making the master bedroom the spare room and Eleanor’s work space. I moved all the rest of the furniture out over the weekend.

The guys started on Tuesday morning, there was five of them at various stages during the day and they used hammers to break the old plaster down. I was working in the room below and it was a hell of a racket. I cannot believe the amount of dust that covered the house. 

The work went on all day and at the end of it, and with a significant amount of moaning, they carried about two tons of rubbish down the four flights of stairs.

I ate dinner huddled in the lounge surrounded by bedroom furniture and a washing hung all over the place as I attempted to clean up some of the dust. It was bad.

The guys were back Wednesday, less of them than previously and they stuffed a pile of insulation into the wall space before lining with plaster board and then laying plaster over the top. It took all day, but was significantly less noisy.

I was certainly glad when it was all over, and it is looking pretty good.

On Saturday I drove up to Walthamstow to pick up Eleanor and we spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and putting the house back together; setting up the old master bedroom as an office and spare bedroom and keeping our bed in the smaller, cosier room. Everything in hear was covered in dust, each book, CD and picture were taken down and cleaned before being put back.

I think it makes sense this way, it is a big room and though it has the best view in the house it did seem a shame for it just to a bedroom. The plaster is almost dry and I will soon think about what colour to paint it, though will wait for spring when we can have the windows open again and not let the wind and rain in.

I snuck a picture of Eleanor working in the new space.

We will see what happens when spring and summer come around and we miss those mornings with coffee in bed looking out over the sea.

2020

December 2020 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

Twenty Twenty, what a year, eh? I am pleased that it is (almost) over, but being perfectly frank with you dear reader (and please keep this to yourself) I am not yet overly excited regarding the prospects for twenty twenty-one. At least ‘we got Brexit’ done, whatever that means, and who knows what it will cost us; as a nation, a continent and as individuals next year and into the future. Hopefully I will never have to hear politicians babble on about the glorious unicorn filled sunlit uplands it promised again.

Not wanting to sound utterly selfish, but in the main Covid has passed me by. I know I am incredibly fortunate. I have a decent enough job, work from my home near the sea which I share with the person I love very much, and we are both relatively fit and healthy and are not physically or financially struggling.

Until a few days before Christmas we knew very few people who had been sick with Covid; then this new strain appeared and BOOM, all of a sudden we know a dozen infected people, directly and intimately. Eleanor’s youngest son got it, probably while teaching, and passed it on to his girlfriend; one of my workmates got sick then three of our neighbours. For the youngsters it seemed the worst passed quickly and they were not overly ill, one of the neighbours was sicker and for longer, but thankfully no-one ended up being hospitilised, or even worse.

This new strain continues to ravage the south east of England. A few days ago we were put into Tier 4, essentially a lockdown, and, as the right-wing papers, rather hyperbolically screamed ‘Christmas was cancelled’. Except of course, it wasn’t cancelled, it was just different. It meant we didn’t go back to Walthamstow, which was disappointing, though we had a perfectly good Christmas here in St Leonards, sharing gift opening and games via Zoom. Again, we are lucky, we were not one of the many who were forced to spend Christmas alone or with people we did not want to be with.

On the positive news front, New Zealand, and the parts of Australia where my family live are not in lock down and they can do all the things they would normally do at Christmas and new year and I am extremely happy for them, and of course rather envious. Our hope is to join them next year, but this is now a cautious hope and whatever happens will happen.

I will wrap up 2020 with a non-political pros and cons starting with the cons so I can end on a more positive note.

Cons

  • My mental health definitely suffered; not massively, thankfully, but recently I have had more down days than up I am not as optimistic as I usually am, though it is winter so this is somewhat seasonal.
  • I am fatter than I was at the start of the year.
  • I drink and eat too much. This could be seen as a positive as I like these things.
  • We didn’t get to do our 10 day rail trip through five European countries due to Covid. This very much contributed to the above mental state.
  • I only went to two gigs.
  • Not being able to go out and do things.
  • I lost interest in taking photos and am still struggling for motivation.
  • I worked too much and didn’t enjoy much of it.
  • I absolutely missed seeing people; friends, work mates.
  • I missed my ‘local’ bar.
  • I wanted to start writing a novel, but didn’t. I did buy a notebook to write plot lines and it does have some words in it.
  • Arsenal are crap I hate watching them. Though, I have to admit they did play magnificently in winning the FA CUP and Charity Shield.

Pros

  • We have spent seven months of this year living in St Leonards, which is so much more than I expected and we have made a number of small improvements to the flat during that time.
  • Eleanor and I have survived intact being together pretty much 24/7. (I have had the occasional sulk)
  • My family are all well, though I am immensely jealous of their freedom.
  • Eleanor applied for a partner visa for New Zealand. We have yet to hear anything yet, but that was expected.
  • I listed to a lot of music and bought a lot records;
    • There was some great music released in 2020. New records by Wax Chattels, Die! Die! Die!, Hey Colossus, Spectres, Bedroom, Wicketkeeper, Thurston Moore, Caroline and Deathcrash to start with.
    • I bought a few things on Discogs, old punk records and others to fill holes in my collection.
    • I bought my first reggae record in about 35 years and will listen to more ska, rock steady and dub in 2021.
  • There was some great TV; The Queens Gambit, The Mandolorian, Stranger Things, Swedish Dicks, Fear the Walking Dead, Homecoming, The Boys. We have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the start which has been fun.
  • I read a few books, not as many as I would have liked, but I enjoyed them all.
  • I mostly finished writing a first short story. It took a lot longer than I would have liked (a con) but it is largely done. I am not sure what to do with it now.
  • I had a photo in an exhibition in Hastings which should have inspired me to do more, and it did for a brief period.
  • It is sunny outside, or it was when I started writing, it is now 4:30 and dark (see above).

Anyway, enough, I wasn’t going to do a blog, so this is at least something and I am now going to make a cake.

Here are some sunset photos taken from the bedroom window in November and December, setting the sun on 2020.

All the best for 2021.

 

A walk to the west of Bexhill

November 22 2020 – Bexhill-on-Sea.

A further week of lockdown has passed without incident. We cannot really do anything much so passing without incident was to be expected. The weather was good the last week. It has not been too cold, nor has it been too windy and wet; not compared to last Sunday and the storm anyway. I even managed to get out for three 30 minute lunch time runs, which was the second time in the past few weeks. These are the first runs I have done in an absolute age and they were not particularly pleasant. I intend to do more in the coming weeks…

We have had a good weekend; not that we did much with it, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We decided to go out of town for a walk today. We walk the Hastings and St Leonards seafronts most weekends, and often during the week, so it was nice to stroll somewhere, at least slightly, different.

We have walked to and from Bexhill a number of times, the walk along the seafront only takes 90 minutes. However, we have never walked westward out of Bexhill towards Pevensey and Eastbourne. It is a different type of walk and I would call it a lot more ‘local’. Rather than a touristy seafront of flats, guesthouses, hotels and shops there are houses hidden behind fences and buildings on behind walls on top a small ridge over the sea front. There are some of the best and the widest range of beach huts I have seen.

There is nothing specific here to visit, so I suspect most of the many other walkers lived nearby. There were a lot of dogs and small children about, which suggests that. We much enjoyed the walk. There were a couple of properties behind walls that made them look like Second World War fortifications, or maybe cold war bunkers.  These were definitely my favourite. Concrete was king when a lot of these were made.


I wasn’t intending on taking photos, though I did have the little camera in my bag, just in case. I ended up taking quite a few, it was that sort of walk. The variety of beach huts and the walls leading up to houses were fabulous, the light was wonderful and the clouds played their part in some lovely afternoon scenery.

An off-the-cuff walk in a place that most people won’t bother with. This is what I do and love. I should do more of it.

Stormy St Leonards seas.

November 15 2020 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

And so, just like that, another month has passed. More time that didn’t go anywhere, but gone nonetheless. Lockdown 2, the not quite as good sequel to Lockdown, started on 5 November. Given the country’s feeling on going back into lockdown I am a little surprised the events of 1605 did not come back to haunt this government. I suspect they were taking the mickey locking us down on Guy Fawkes night. Maybe they just hate fireworks as much as I do.

We went for a walk into Hastings yesterday, Saturday, to pick up some fresh fish and a few bits and bobs as I wanted to cook something different for dinner; Malay fish with black bean sauce. It was as good as it sounds. It was a nice day for a walk, even though it was windy and autumn, the sun was out and it was not cold. It was jacket and t-shirt with no jumper type weather.

I noticed that it was just past high tide when we walked and as the weather was turning stormy over night I started getting a little excited about the possibility of another windy high tide photo walk in the morning.

When we woke up the weather had not disappointed and it was howling out there. YES !!!

Wrapping up for the rain I packed the 5d camera and a couple of lenses and we headed down the hill to the sea front. I was very excited, child in a sweetshop excited as we walked down the hill and I could see the sea was roaring angry. In my head I was wishing Eleanor to pick up the pace, though it is only a short walk from home to beach. Patience is not my middle name in circumstances like this.

Last time we had this weather I walked up towards Hastings and into Bottle Alley, this time we chose to walk in the opposite direction towards West St Leonards and into the face of the howling wind blown rain. We were drenched in minutes. It was great. I used both the 70-200ml and the 16-35ml lenses, though changing lenses was a fraught affair.

We were both surprised and not surprised at the amount of people out walking and taking photos. These storm and high tide combinations are magnificent and there were a lot of Instagram images later in the day. There were a number of runners as well which was more of a surprise, it would have been hard work!

Photography was hard too, the rain was heavy and wind blown, so I was constantly wiping the lens clear, the wind was not helping with steady images either. I didn’t get as many good photos as I wanted, but I did get a few that I liked. My favorites are these three taken from inside one of the shelters on the promenade as the worst of the rain hit. The sea was very close!

As we were walking up the hill towards home I noticed I could clearly hear everything that Eleanor was saying to me. The thunder of sea, the howl of the wind and the rain hammering on our coats and the ground made it quite difficult to hear anything as we were walking just a couple of hundred of metres away. It was great being able to share the joy of the experience as we walked.

I loved having the big 5d camera back; all clean and repaired, except for a broken USB connector which means I cannot download the photos off the camera. I have ordered a CF card reader, but it is not due to arrive until later in the week so it was a little disappointing having to wait really see the photos I took.  I very much enjoyed taking photos again.

I quite like this rather abstract image of the roof of the house below and on down to the sea taken out of my closed bedroom window at the end of the day, with the window reflecting back the yellow light of the room. 

Taken out the open window with no light reflection.

Upnor Castle

October 13 2020 – Upnor Castle, Kent.

I love a castle and this is the first opportunity I have had to visit one in quite some time, and not just due to Covid. After the disappointment of not being able to get to, let alone get in to, any forts yesterday I was quite excited when I found that Upnor Castle was actually open today, the second of my two day road trip around the Isles of Grain and Sheppey in Kent.

There were plenty of Covid restrictions in place; masks must be worn in all areas, some things were roped off so you could not touch them and there were crosses and arrows all round advising of the correct path to take around the castle and its grounds. I was the first visitor for the day, and for most of my visit had the place largely to myself. A situation I particularly enjoy.

I parked above the village and had a short, but nice walk down this cobbled street to the river front, more reminiscent of Devon and Cornwall than Kent.

The construction of Upnor Castle began in 1559 under the order of Queen Elizabeth I. It was built to help defend the Chatham Boatyards on the other side of the River Medway. As you would expect the fort has undergone many changes and expansions over the years, and was finally called into action in 1667 when the dastardly Dutch sailed up the Medway to attack Chatham and the English fleet that was sheltering in the river. The military action has been described as the worst naval defeat the English navy has ever experienced, with a large number of vessels being destroyed. Upnor Castle was one of the few highlights of the action and the Dutch were finally sent packing.

After the action the English government decided to build further and stronger forts along the coast out toward the North Sea and the castle ended up becoming a storage magazine for gunpowder and shells. It was owned by the military until the end of World War 2 when it became a museum and was opened to the public.

It is now run be English Heritage, and I was pleasantly surprised it was open on an autumn Wednesday.

This graffiti from 1596 was discovered during WW2 when a German bomb landed nearby, causing the plaster to fall off the wall revealing what was hidden behind.

One of the features I love in an English Heritage museum is the mock up.

The castle is pretty small and there is not a huge amount to see and neither is there a spectacular view from the ramparts. It looks out on blocks of flats and cranes on building sites for more blocks of flat on the other side of the river in Chatham, but I did enjoy the 30 minutes I spent walking around, all masked up.

I really liked this stairway, leading down to a lovely dank and mossy tunnel.

The curse of Grey Dolphin

October 13 2020 – Minster Abbey, Minster, Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

“Make much of your steed. He has saved your life but he shall yet be the means of you losing it.”

Cursed the witch upon the head of Sir Robert De Shurland as he rode his favourite horse, Grey Dolphin, ashore at Scapgate on the Isle of Sheppey, after being pardoned by King Edward I for the killing of a priest at nearby Minster Abbey. In an effort to thwart the curse, Sir Robert drew his sword, thrusting it deep into the neck of Grey Dolphin, killing the horse immediately. He left the corpse to rot where it lay on the beach.

Three years later, while walking on the beach, Sir Robert came across the sun, wind and sea-bleached skull of Grey Dolphin, half sticking out in the sand. In a fit of grief-filled anger he kicked the partially exposed skull, badly breaking a toe in the process. A blood infection caused by unhealed bone fragments took his life not long after. The witch’s curse was fulfilled…

As I was driving from Sheerness to Shellness I spotted a sign for Minster Abbey. I had not heard of it before so a visit was not on the plan, as I was doing a ruin-based road trip. I love an abbey it so seemed remiss to not take the short detour to the highest point on Sheppey. It is not that high. There has been an abbey on this hill in Minster in some form or other since 664.

There is not much left of any of the various abbey structures that preceded King Henry VIII ordering the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541, but it is a lovely and quite space; and right next to the working men’s’ club. The museum was closed so I took a walk around the outside instead.

The buildings have been renovated beautifully and are in wonderful condition. They look fabulous in this weak autumn afternoon sunlight.

I am guessing the year on this stone reads 1826, though it could read 1226. Who knows, who cares? Whatever. I love how one number has been worn by footsteps so much more than others, yet it is a number in the middle. Why?

I was mainly interested in the grave stones, which have all been moved to the perimeter, lined up in some order or other. I wonder what has happened to the bodies that these stones marked? Are they still where they were buried, broken down into dirt by time and nature, or have they been dug up and relocated with or without their head stone. Are the curses of old still placed upon those long passed?

Why a skull? Was this a plague grave or do they mark the burned or drowned remains of a witch buried here in this consecrated ground? A warning to those who came after to not disturb this ground.

I could not make out from the writing as it has faded too much, if these two joined in death by the vines were joined in life by other ties.

I wasn’t here long, and would like to go back and visit the museum which was closed on this autumn Wednesday. Apparently there is a great view from the roof, and that is rumoured to be in memory of a horse named Grey Dolphin.

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As usual, as I started writing this post I researched the building and location to at least get some of the historical facts right. Normally I rely on Wikipedia as an (un)reliable source of information, though this abbey appears to be so insignificant that no one has bothered to create an entry for it.

There is a very detailed history page on the abbey website, and for such a small place it has a fabulous and long history and it is worth reading.

http://www.minsterabbey.org.uk/3.html

I also carry an immense burden of guilt as my cousin Roger, lives on Sheppey and I know he works with the churches on the island. In my research I saw that he is the treasurer of the abbey. I have not been in contact with him for quite some time. I am terribly negligent in contacting family, I keep meaning to be better, but…. well, there is always another excuse.