Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

 Welcome to Knepp and the home of the most famous rewilding project in the country. It's been featured in the national press and on television and for that reason amongst many I have avoided it like the plague [I have danced here] even though it's on the doorstep. During the lockdowns it became rammed with people and there's little in the way of parking, but now things are thankfully settling down a bit and it's the quieter time of year I thought I'd chance my arm. The Knepp Estate has been in the hands of the Burrell family for more than 500 years and the current owner ran it as a farm for many years. However, as the family's ideas have changed it's gradually been transformed into a rewilded area and it's incredible how many species have returned [it is regularly surveyed]. The different habitats are very carefully managed and many larger grazing animals roam freely. It even has a pair of beavers, but they can't be released and has started a success

"I don't like weirdos" said one of my clients last month. I had to laugh as I commented "well you've got a weird cleaner!". He and I have very different views, but we get along well and I'm there to work not challenge him. However, I have taken a secret delight when he asked about the Halloween wedding and I said the bride wore black and then about being in Mythago. I said "you won't like that because we wear black masks", but he wanted to see a photo anyway. He just raised his eyebrows. I was quite surprised then when he bought me a box of Black Magic along with a bottle of vino for Christmas. Upon my return in the New Year I thanked him for the gifts. "Have you eaten the chocolates?" he asked...."I chose that brand specially because they seemed rather apt for you" as he smiled at me devilishly👿😉 Have a great weekend....I shall not be practising of the dark arts I should hasten to add! Arilx

This is "The Teardrop" which stands at the centre of the Peace Garden in the abbey grounds of Bury St Edmunds. It's the annual meeting point for marking Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January. However, the sculpture is more than this because it is dedicated to every victim of genocide. Sadly this type of massacre stretches way back in time and those 57 Jewish residents of the city who were murdered by a group of rampaging Christian crusaders on Palm Sunday on 19th March 1190 are amongst those who are remembered.  Arilx  

 Welcome to my first church odd fellow of 2022. I met this chap over the weekend and am intrigued by his distinctive triangular hat. I hope this will herald another fine year of weird and wonderful carvings. No more words today.....weary old bird. Arilx

Journeys over into Hampshire to see a friend or when we used to travel to see my in-laws often took us past this village sign. Puttenham is on a busy Surrey road and it's not a place I would have any need to stop in. However, the question has always remained as to whether it was a blackbird [my suspicion] in the middle of it. It turns out I was right all along. It is a blackbird and it's the symbol of the parish council. Round it are hops because another claim to fame is that it is the only remaining Surrey village producing them on a commercial basis. The sign was the work of a local artist called Pat Willams. I loved the fact that somebody is taking the trouble to scatter birdseed around the base of the carved bird so that the real feathered variety can be fed during these hard Winter months when natural food is scarce. Another wander and lots more wonderings....I have some work to do before I post any more!! Arilx

 A few things which have crossed the threshold this month....many more have left👏 We caught up with my Auntie on Christmas day and she asked me if I would like to have the tablecloth her mother had made for her as none of my cousins were keen. I didn't need to be asked twice. How gorgeous is that and how long must it have taken her to make all that lace. Talk about a labour of love! I did meet her on several occasions when she spent the last few months of her life with my Auntie. She used to beat me every week at scrabble😀 I realised recently that I much prefer wearing skirts to trousers and that I feel much more "me" in them somehow. That said I spend most of my life in trousers when working or dancing, but that's a decision based on purely practical purposes. With that in mind I took a short break during my working day and popped into a charity shop on the far side of town when I was up that way. I paid the princely sum of £4.50 for this little Monsoon number. I,

 We've both been enjoying catching up with Professor Alice Roberts [Mr GBT never needs an excuse to watch any programme featuring her!] in "Digging for Britain". Running through the episodes there's a track that caught our ear. Despite checking the credits we couldn't work out what it was, but with a little bit of digging of my own I've found out that it's called "Coins for the eyes" and is by Johnnie Flynn. He also did the theme tune for Mackenzie Crook's "The Detectorists". Hope you have a great weekend. Arilx

 Grey squirrels....love them or loathe them they're here to stay. At one level I curse them for gnawing through my bird feeders, but I do enjoy their acrobatic displays and their cheekiness. If I do get a bit grumpy our ones just nip through the hedgehog hole in the bottom of the fence and bide their time until I've gone back inside. They're opportunists and I've always understood that if I want a wildlife friendly garden then I can't then pick and choose who visits. Besides it's spurred on to get a genuinely squirrel-proof feeder so the little birds still get their fair share and everyone gets fed. If you notice any of our bushy tailed friends hurling themselves around the tree tops January is the month of the aboreal dance when the males chase each other to get mating rights. The kittens will be born about 10 weeks later. I have to say they do provide some good entertainment through the living room window😀 Arilx PS I think Scrat from Ice Age might have been t

Lousy photo I'm afraid...it was late afternoon and low sun back in 2020. Not one I bothered showing when I saw it on our walk round Cuckmere Haven, but I thought it might have once been something interesting. There was no plaque and I didn't find anything out about it online. Sometimes you just have to wait though for the information to turn up...usually when you're least expecting it! This wooden hut is now in privately owned and used to store fishing tackle. In 1900 the Anglo American Telegraph Company bought a plot of land and built the cabin station upon from which to operate telegraph lines which ran under the sea to France. In 1940 all the lines were cut and the hut was requisitioned as a pillbox. It didn't fare well with the army gunfire and was left in a ruinous state at the end of the war. In 1947 what remained of it was moved to a different site. Captain Douglas Ann restored it and it remains in his family's possession. Arilx  

 Another of those "I've only got a couple of hours spare, but want to go out" type trips from earlier this month when the computer was out of action. Not wanting to go too far this time we travelled over to Crawley which is our nearest big town. We rarely go over that way, but I discovered last year that it has a selection of parks and green spaces tucked away in amongst all the "new town" development which sprung up to take the London overspill post WWII. This time we headed for Worth Park Gardens. Originally the area was part of the ancient Worth forest. People have lived here since at least Saxon times and and for many centuries it served as a deer hunting ground. By the 1800s the land was in the possession of the Montefiore family who had a large house [called Milton Mount] and parkland built in the estate. By the late 19th century it was decided that the gardens were in need of a revamp and the then famous Victorian garden designers and terracotta manufactu

  So today is apparently Blue Monday and it's meant to be the most depressing day of the year. Well I'm afraid I'm not playing. My fabulous friend S has a CD player shaped like a juke box with flashing lights and she treated herself to a small disco ball in the second lockdown to keep herself cheerful. Combine that with a suitable range of music, two slightly eccentric middle aged women, a selection of party snacks and what have you got.... our inaugura l January Blues disco that's what!! I even donned my sparkly waistcoat for the occasion. Two hours of dancing [and low alcohol beer for me as I was driving], lots of laughing and taking our adult heads off for a bit have done the trick... both of us agreed we felt immensely cheered and it was just what S needed after frankly what have been a rough few months for her . Free exercise and loads of fun.... so much so that we're going to do it all again next month. It's something to look forwards to during the colder

 Evening....I'm back🌞 Thank you so much for all your lovely messages. We had the dreaded blue screen on the pc last Friday and as people know that's normally the death knell for any computer.....big bill expected at the very least. We are incredibly fortunate that we have a man who can near us and he's anything but a rip-off merchant. He runs a rather antiquated computer repair shop in the parade of shops near us on the outskirts of town and only deals in cash and cheques. Having dropped off our poorly machine on Monday, he rang yesterday with the excellent news that it wasn't the hard drive causing the problems, but a build up of software corruptions which he's cleared for us. My win on the premium bonds covered his bill with a tenner to spare.  So now it's back to normal and I have been relishing the sunshine of the last two days even if I've only been seeing it through the my clients' windows! As ever my taking of photos which amuse me has not abated

 Hello😀 Just popping in to say the hard drive on the computer has died so can't access the photos at the moment. Am having to do this in my phone which isn't as easy so please bear with me for a few days. The object in the last post was a fly trap and would originally have had a bung in it. Arilx

 I spotted this on my recent trip to Standen. I know what it is because I've had a miniature version in my dollshouse for several years, but if anyone would like to hazard a guess then please put your answer in the comments below. I'll put up the answer later. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Arilx

2022 has called already for me to get out there and explore. With others or on my ownsome with my little camera, locally or further afield, revisiting somewhere to refresh or somewhere new...I really don't mind. This time I chose somewhere close to home, but just over the county border in Surrey. It wasn't a place I'd been before Ewhurst is a fairly small village which has seen occupation since Roman times, but doesn't seem to have featured heavily in the history books. The parish church of SS Peter and Paul is 12th century, but has undergone at least six different transitions during its existence so it's now a bit of a curate's egg. The font and one of the doors is original, but the rest is a right old mish-mash. The spire collapsed in 1837 and its final restoration was as recently as 1954. It's really only at the time of Henry VIII's break with Rome and his subsequent casting around for sources of ecclesiastical income that Ewhurst gets a mention. It w