Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Arilx
The life and adventures of a mildly dotty old bird.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Arilx
From my all too short time spent in Birmingham my impressions are that this city does Victorian and Modern architecture fabulously. If you're looking for ancient stone or timbered buildings stretching back many hundreds of years then you're going to be sorely disappointed because they didn't call this place 'the city of 1000 trades' or 'the terracotta city' for nothing. From the little bit of reading I'd done beforehand this was what I'd surmised and I wasn't far wrong. However, there is nothing like freely exploring on foot and nothing prepares you for what you might find. I don't restrict myself to a favourite type or era, but judge alone on each individual building. Brum's cityscape is exciting in a way like Oslo and parts of Cardiff are with the new builds that have gone up. As we strolled past I captured a few to give you a taste. The library and Selfridges are famous landmarks and probably familiar to many. Others I regret I don't have a name for, but here goes!
Mr GBT looked slight aghast at the long list of things I'd written down for our then upcoming trip to the Midlands....'we're only going for two full days' he reminded me. Laughing, I explained that was only a wish list and I only hoped our time there might permit us to see some of them yet if it came down to it I only had two wants.
The twelve metre 'Green Man' sculpture adorns the exterior of the old custard factory in Digbeth. He was created by Tawny Grey in 2002 and unveiled by the Druids at the Summer Solstice. I feel it's highly unlikely that I shall ever see one of that stature again. Seeing photos of him was one thing, but physically standing next to him I really got to experience the impact of this sculpture.
I was fortunate to have been able to cross these off my 'wants' list.
Arilx
Being a soul who could win an Olympic Gold if overthinking was ever included as a sport, one thing which really helps me to slow down and become absorbed is doing a puzzle. I sit down and next time I look up an hour has gone....that's if the four legged attention seeking one doesn't interfere😆
After laying low for a few months Horsham's spoof artist Aloicious Shaftspole has been up to his tricks again. A 'what three words' hint appeared on his social media, so I downloaded the app to see what mayhem he's been creating this time. Having found the spot it took some hunting down to solve the mystery. Fortunately being an avid reader of signs on benches and a snouty old bird stood me in good stead👀😁
Hidden away on a tatty bench in a dark corner of the park was my quarry....there has been much talk of the rodent problem🐀 People keep chucking their food in the bushes and littering despite all the best efforts of an amazing team of volunteers who give up their time to try and keep on top of it all. I enjoy the way he gently pokes fun at the residents of the town.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. This will be my last post for a few days as we're breaking free from Sussex and are off for a spot of adventuring in another part of the country.
Arilx
'What on earth is a gulch?' I asked Mr GBT as we diligently followed the instructions for our latest waddle. Turns out it's a deep narrow ditch with a stream at the bottom.....in fact exactly what we'd just crossed over. Not that exciting perhaps, but it's another new word to add to my repertoire along with 'fenny' which was last weekend's walking revelation. There are many things you can learn, see and discover on any new walk it seems. Last Sunday I wanted to enjoy the dry weather, but not travel far....the quickest solution was to pick the new Fancy Free walk a scant three miles up the road. It's surrounded by new housing estates yet somehow we found ourselves within a few minutes in the middle of the countryside and hardly saw a soul. It might not be far from GBT, but it was all completely new to me [bar the pub that is😁] so perhaps you'd like to join me on my ramble whilst I ramble about it.
This first one of the garage door was a tad disturbing....one had to wonder what an earth was in there. 👀 I have my own personal theory.
There's little in the way of what I would call vaguely interesting shareable news this week so instead here's 'The Fam' as TYM calls us. Most unusually for us we were all free at lunchtime on Easter Saturday and it was such lovely warm weather it seemed a shame to stay inside. I needed to pick up something which one of the less local dancers had left behind at the farm we'd danced at recently, so we combined the trips. A delicious pint of cider and one of their veggie burgers was greatly appreciated by me. The cows have got their calves with the, but are currently still in the barns because we've had 110% above the average rainfall in Sussex and the fields are too wet for them to go out to pasture yet. They were mooing loudly at the farmer and telling him exactly what they thought of the new hay he'd had to buy in for them. Unlike us they were not enjoying their victuals!
Hope you have a great weekend.
Arilx
'Long may the Spring quietly as a sleeping infant's breath send up cold water to the traveller with soft and even pulse'.
S T Coleridge
As we sat in the garden of the Duke of Cumberland Arms [known locally as the Duke] in the small Sussex hamlet of Henley enjoying a swift half I commented to Mr GBT that I was at my happiest. This is an old inn which still has gas lighting and has not been gentrified. It's not a spit and sawdust pub, but it hasn't been turned into one of those very expensive gastro pubs which are really restaurants by any other name. The customer behind me in the queue was reliving the drinks of his youth and was ordering a Black Velvet or poor man's Guinness as the barman joked. Yesterday he laughed as he revealed that he'd had his first Snake Bite in years. This place is built into the side of the Downs and has a series of pools dotted around the garden which are fed all year round by a natural spring which never dries up. Whilst we supped the chef appeared and threw bread into the ponds for all the koi carp in them. Being nosy I asked how he'd come about having so many and he told me that people keep giving them to him as they get too big for their ponds. He's got his very own orphanage now. Noticing that there was no netting I was curious about whether the heron took them. They are too heavy apparently, but he received loads of goldfish recently which are no longer there...the heron tucked in merrily treated the fish supply as his own personal sushi bar. I guess we all have to eat something! It's fascinating some of the unexpected tales people tell you when you have time to stop and chat awhile.
We were enjoying a fancy free walk from Easebourne to make the most of the good weather on Sunday and this was our midway break. You'll see below that we saw some sights on the way round and got some great views. Everything's greening up wonderfully. The artwork is by a chainsaw artist called Nathan Blatherwick and there were several examples of his work in the park. We got there just before a couple of sets of parents released their very excited small children on an Easter egg hunt. The vehicle has to be the coolest ever horse box I've seen. It was a lovely six mile waddle and good to escape GBT for a change of scene.
The 200 good folks of Ebernoe in Sussex didn't take kindly to being told every year that they had to change their clocks because of British Summer Time. Actually they pretty much ignored it. The sexton had to change the church clock because that was the law, but he and his nine siblings were adamant that their clocks at home would stay unchanged. The only compromise this chap was willing to make was to bring the milking time of his cows forward by half an hour to meet his customers' orders. This little gem is from the Sussex County Magazine in 1938. I suspect that times have literally changed now!
Arilx
Hope everyone has a good Easter break. I saw this massive pug shaped egg on one of my recent forays and the utter ridiculousness of it just made me chuckle. I love pugs and for many years our old neighbours had a pair....they had a lovely temperament, but were incredibly stubborn🤣
Arilx
Well March is being a bit of a madam isn't she. One minute she's teasing us with blue skies and a sun with some warmth in it and the next she flouncing out with rain and stormy skies. It certainly feels like we're getting a range of seasons in a single day sometimes.
That certainly was the case last Saturday which was the day Mythago was due to be hosting its first ever public wassail at a local cider farm. Having never organised such a thing in my life [I did have some help] it's been a sharp learning curve. Just as you think you've got it all sorted something else comes along to bite you on the bum and this time it was the ongoing rainfall which had left the ground in the orchard too sodden to be safe. Quick plan B had to be devised which I am delighted to say rolled out smoothly on the day and it seemed to go well. I'd invited a couple of other Morris sides we're good friends with to spread the load a little [three hours is quite a long time to fill when the mainstay of it has had to be cancelled], but we've had great feedback from everyone including the farm who did really well on the cider and burger selling front [they do their own wagyu beef].
It's probably always risky putting on an outdoors event in this country even if it's technically Spring. So did the weather play ball? Before we left the forecast was showing lightning, but we had beautiful sun when we got there followed by an ongoing cycle of heavy showers, hail and back to sunshine. However, it wasn't quite as madcap as you might at first imagine because thankfully the farm has cover for us and the audience to swap to. It was pretty nippy too, but incredibly far more people came than we had anticipated and moreover stayed. I think the barrels full of burning wood might have helped! There were many photos, but alas none by me.....as the secretary I spent most of the time dashing around chatting to people. We did manage to buy these before we left though 😁
I am rather tickled that it gets its name from the fact that the cows get rather silly when they're given the apple pomace to eat after it's been pressed🐮🍎🍏 😋 We're already planning a return visit, but with TYM and no bells/sticks!
Arilx
It seems that the Spring weather of Wednesday was but a brief flirtation and we are back to the nippy range of temperatures again. Maybe not such a shame as I've been able to wear my latest charity shop acquisition today. A complete impulse buy, but I've never seen one on the rails before and I know how much the second hand ones are on auction sites. I've got a couple already by this company which I bought new when we both earning a decent wage...more than twenty years later they're still going strong. I broke the news gently to Mr GBT by showing him the front first.....
I look forward to accompanying him wearing the latest addition to my natty knitwear collection. He's used to me by now!
Arilx
Just popping in to wish all you lovely people a great weekend. I didn't have a photo for today, but spotted this on my way home. The lady who knits the toppers for the little children to see on their walk past to the nearby school has been busy with her needles again🐻
Arilx
Last night we went to a fascinating talk given by a local expert all about the butterflies you can find in Sussex. One of the earlier ones you're likely to see is the Brimstone. Lo and behold look what I saw today at Nymans🦋💛 My usual Wednesday afternoon client is away so I thought it best to take full advantage of the first day which has felt truly Spring like. There was a beautiful warmth in the sunshine today and many trees festooned in marshmallow pink and white blossom. One hour out felt like an entire day. Time well spent.
Alban Eiler/ Spring Equinox greetings to all.
Arilx
Look at these beautiful cast iron panels. The design is called 'Floral Adamish' and is one of three which the company Walter Macfarl...