Home Goal

For my own sanity as well as yours I've been uber keen to winkle out things locally that are not in any way related to the events of the past few weeks. I've covered Horsham so often on here and really relied on it during the Covid lockdowns to keep me sane so I wasn't really sure how well I'd get on. However, I set myself the challenge with the walks I've taken over the past couple of weeks and just trusted that the magic would happen. It's as random as ever, but I don't think that I did too badly all things considered😊 I am bookending the post with purple flowers. Have never really had myself down as a purple kinda gal, but I seem to be finding it at every turn along with cats, robins and butterflies. Weird but I'll take it.

Couldn't resist this anemone.

This is the first time I've seen this version of the King's cipher [and on a white Royal Mail van]. I prefer its more classical appearance than the more modern one they're putting on the new post boxes.

Look I found me another cat. You might imagine that this is a regular occurrence, but it really isn't. This one wasn't fully grown. It rushed over to make friends and then dashed off to play in all the dead needles that have fallen from the pinetrees. 

I'd heard about George the cob in Horsham Park who's developed a bit of an attitude these past few weeks in the park. He's gone all alpha male and has already chased off the teenager cygnets who were still hanging around and is now refusing to let the pair of Canada Geese anywhere near the pond. It's a bit of a Mexican standoff at the moment, but I'm sure that it will all settle down again once his pen Sweetpea is on the nest. This sculpture has been hidden away for years and to be honest I thought that it was meant to represent a swan, but had been vandalised. As is oft the case I am wrong in my assumption. This week I have found out that it's called 'Waterforms' and is by Claire Morgan [2003]. It's recently moved to a much more prominent position where it can be admired. I shared it on our local FB group and lots of people had never noticed it before.

I have no idea what this graffito near the station is about, but may be something to do with Mick Lynch who was the secretary general of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers until last month. It's near one by the same hand that says 'Tories out' so I am guessing it's some sort of political statement. As to the 4pm? Am completely stumped.

It's been an age since I've been able to show off any quirky gargoyle/grotesque type things. You've got my parents to thank for this dragon shaped ridge tile as they sent me a photo. I couldn't resist popping up to pay homage and the road it's in proved rather fruitful in the end as the two following photos on from it show.

I just liked this mad house shaped play equipment. The design of these is just so much more imaginative than what we had back in the 1970s and much safer. All our playground stuff was embedded in concrete so if you fell off you really did hurt yourself!

This grave in our parish churchyard caught my eye last year...that carved church with its broach spire is a dead ringer for St Mary's which stands directly behind it. Frustratingly the light wasn't right to take photos then, but lady luck smiled upon us and this time they came out rather well. Some of the epitaph is undecipherable, but someone kindly looked up the records and I can tell you that Charles Yohurt [d1790] and his wife Ann [d 27 January 1797] are interred here. With all that detailing it must have cost a pretty penny.

Sorry [not sorry], but couldn't resist this iris either.

 

Brace yourselves...tomorrow is our first day out beyond Horsham just for the sheer hell of it. It might not be to the most exciting of the Sussex towns [David is hoping to buy some binoculars], but I am very excited😁 Progress indeed.

Arilx

Rebooted

Up until yesterday I had never even entertained the thought of buying anything from Facebook Marketplace and nothing was due to change. Have some fun the Universe said....look what I've found for you still boxed and unworn in your size, 20 minutes walk from GBT and a mere 15 of your good English pounds💀💜

I took the hint. Imitation DM's which are making me smile💟🟣🟪 

Arilx

There is a season.

Following more good news from the hospital on Saturday we had our first social night out last night. Horsham folk club with the extraordinary Cohen Braithwayte-Kilcoyne [Vix will be pleased to know that he's another amazing musical export from the Midlands𝇞𝄞]. Before he got going members of the club stood up and did a floor spot. I'm not usually moved by the songs that I hear [I enjoy singing along with them], but one lady did a beautiful, slightly wistful rendition of this classic whilst accompanying herself on the guitar. It all felt very poignant, but equally forward looking with all that the last few weeks have held. 

💕Arilx💕

 

Without reservation

The newest bat bothy at our local nature reserve and our first ever sightings of Gadwalls. A blissful afternoon spent yesterday watching butterflies and photographing more Spring flowers. For us this is a return to the early years of our relationship before we became parents when we spent many happy hours together doing exactly this. Two weeks on and David managed to walk easily round the whole route unlike our first visit when he couldn't make it past the first hide. We are back at the hospital on Saturday for the removal of the thing which restricts how far we can go and then all being well we can start to stretch our wings again. I'm back in full scheming mode....have a fab weekend folks.

Arilx

 

Wild about the town

 In the part of Horsham where I live there's an ongoing project to rewild as many of the green spaces as possible no matter what their size. I've made a conscious decision to really pay attention to what I'm seeing when I'm out walking. There have been several butterflies and some really beautiful wild Spring flowers. Although the butterflies may not play ball, thankfully the latter are stationary so I have a chance to capture their magnificence and it enriches my experience while I'm out.

Green Alkanet aka Evergreen Bugloss. It's related to Forget-me-nots, borage and comfrey. It was believed to be helpful for healing wounds or snake bites and the root can be used both as a coffee substitute or you can extract a red dye from it which was used by weavers and cloth-makers. Alkanet apparently is derived from the Arabic for henna and the plant is thought to have originated in the Mediterranean.

Wood anemone aka Windflower, European Thimble Weed and Smell Fox because of its sharp musky scent. Anemone comes from the Greek God Anemos who sent the Spring flowers before him. It's the county flower of Middlesex and a symbol of good luck if you carry some about your person. Fairies were believed to hide in them and close up the flowers to protect themselves from the rain.

Cowslip aka Plumrocks, Fairy Cups and St Peter's keys supposedly from the look of the flowers to the bunch of keys that he carelessly dropped. These were traditionally picked on May day to decorate the boughs and bushes that those celebrating would have carried with them. It's a very fragrant flower [smells slightly of apricot] and many years ago it was regularly made into a country wine.

Ground Ivy aka Run-away Robin, Creeping Charlie, Devil's Candlesticks and in Sussex Lion's Mouth. Its other name of Alehoof alludes to its use by the Saxons to flavour and clarify their ale before hops were favoured. It smells of blackcurrant [and tom cat!] and is a good remedy for nettle bites. It was believed to be a protection against sorcery and milkmaids would wear it to stop the cows from being enchanted when they milked them.

Lesser Celandine is part of the buttercup family and is not to be confused with Greater Celandine which confusingly is not related as it's part of the poppy group. It's claimed that it was Wordsworth's favourite wild flower, but maybe it might not have appealed so much had its main name been Pilewort [relating to its use for treating haemorrhoids]. Other country names relating to its sunny yellow colour are Goldy Knob and Golden Guineas.

This final one is, of course, Forget-me-nots. If you've got to the end of this post without losing the will to live you might be relieved to hear that I've already covered this little wonder in an earlier post here https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=forget-me-nots. I figured that there was no point in covering old ground😁

Weirdly for the second time in as many weeks I found myself accompanied by another friendly feline guide who showed me round the redundant Victorian graveyard which was one of my hunting grounds. I hardly ever encounter cats when I'm exploring let alone ones which are hellbent on having a cuddle and come over of their own volition. Life's funny how it works sometimes isn't it.

Arilx

Tulip Festival

Today is the start of Arundel Castle's Tulip Festival. It looks stunning and I've popped up a link from a few years ago to give you a flavour.

Due to certain practical reasons we're currently not travelling beyond Horsham unless it's for a medical appointment, but that should hopefully change within the next couple of weeks. However, I used this event to inspire the route of my walk yesterday to see what jewel coloured blooms I could find in the garden of the Unitarian Church and our sensory garden within the park. All things considered I don't think I did too badly on my scaled down free version....

Maybe next year we'll go along.

🌷Arilx🌷

Galileo's Thermometer

For the past five years I've spent every Tuesday afternoon dusting a smaller version of one of these for one of my former clients [I can't tell you how weird that is typing that] and as far as I was concerned, it was just another ornament. However, I must have caught something on television because I found out that it is actually some sort of scientific instrument, but I didn't take on board what. When I first met David he was working as a design engineer for a scientific instrument company [he started out as a physicist] and he loves this sort of thing. Normally I don't go on our local free FB group unless I'm offering something and that was the case on Friday when this popped up. From the owner's post I learnt that it's called a Galileo Thermometer so I called Mr GBT in and asked him if he'd be interested. Turns out he was and now it's come to live with us. I enjoy it as an attractive piece of decorative piece of glass.

The outer glass case is filled with clear liquid and the glass globules within are different sizes with varying amounts of liquid within them. As the temperature changes the spherical things slowly rise up or down according to both the density of the liquid within them and around them. This is the bit where Galileo comes in as he discovered the scientific principle, but his followers translated the theory into practice with the thermometer design after his death.

Actually we've done rather marvellously with the Giving-Away Gods this weekend as we also picked up a second massive free slow cooker [we're going to make bread in it and use it when we have visitors for cooking a dessert in like a steamed pud or bigger quantities of the main course] and 40 History magazines. Once we've read them they'll be donated to the free bookcase in the shopping centre which I have benefitted from on many an occasion. Thrilling as these bits are for me they don't make as an attractive photo, so have spared you them!

Arilx