The life and adventures of a mildly dotty old bird.
Thursday, 28 November 2024
Crooked
Monday, 25 November 2024
Splashback
This is one of the railway bridges in Horsham [or at least part of it] which everyone calls The Iron Bridge. It's a sturdy Victorian example and it marks the change in name from one part of the same road to the next. Besides that on a couple of occasions a bus or a lorry has misjudged the height and got firmly wedged underneath it. Beyond that it's just there and rarely remarked upon.
As one who loves social history, the answer proved to be much more interesting. This is a urine deflector. Back in the day there were 6 or 7 pubs within a very small area [all now gone] and public toilets would have been few and far between [if at all]. Too much urine caused corrosion so these were put in to discourage chaps from piddling in the corners....if they had done so it would have splashed back and landed on their shoes😁 I was aware of such devices, but have only seen photos of examples made from angled metal attached to walls and didn't know that they came in this sort of shape too. Had I seen one and recognised it as such then I would have certainly taken a photo and told you all about it. All that time and there they were right under my nose!! I'm always at the point of thinking that there can't be any more stories to tell about my home town and yet time and time again I am thankfully proved wrong. It's been my working Monday today, but this [and the opportunity to stock up with new library books] got me out into the sunshine once I'd finished. It's meant that I've had another perfect weird sort of day...there's no point being a weirdling if you don't finely hone your art is there now😊
Arilx
Friday, 22 November 2024
And now for the good news.
Rather than 'The News' which frankly should be called 'The Bad News' here's a recent Ted Talk about good news for a change. Thought you might enjoy something on a more upbeat note as you head into the weekend.
Arilx
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Ghost Walk
If you go hunting for ghosts on a sunny Saturday afternoon the likelihood of encountering any spectres must diminish somewhat. Of course, with those facts at our fingertips that is precisely what my friend Elena and I decided to do when we headed over into Kent a few weeks back. It might seem a slightly odd decision, but factor in that we were in allegedly the most haunted village in the UK maybe Pluckley wasn't such a daft idea👻
Fortified by lunch and tales from the landlady about how you soon get accustomed to seeing a little girl sitting on the end of your bed and that the unexplained odd happenings in the pub are so regular that you barely register them we sallied forth to the parish church of St Nicholas. So with a mere 13 different spooks to choose ranging from monks, dogs and a young lady who poisoned herself with a drink made from toxic berries, this one is the haunt of the White Lady [white and grey ladies abound in the UK]. It's been reported that strange lights have been seen inside the church and the belief is that they emanate from the wife of one of the Dering barons who owned most of the village from the 15th century through to 1928. It's claimed that her grieving husband had her buried in the family vault [see photo below] encased in several lead coffins with a red rose and an outer oak sarcophagus to preserve her beauty. In truth we were more spooked by the weird pulsating orange stream of light we saw as we approached the church tower....we speculated as to what on earth we were seeing, but I'm afraid that the mundane explanation is that there was a tiny scrap of leaf or caterpillar caught on my friend's phone camera lens which was being blown about by the wind😁
Thursday, 14 November 2024
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Upper Beeding
There has been settlement here since at least the Saxon times and some articles suggest that parts of the parish church of St Peter may originate then. From the time of the Norman Conquest this land was part of the package given by William I to his loyal knight William De Braose. This area fell into the so called Rape of Bramber. By 1075 he had established Sele Priory for the Benedictine Order of Monks and they were sharing the church. It was a so called daughter house of the French Abbey of Saumur. As is oft the way of these religious houses it had been dissolved on the grounds of corruption by 1459. Nothing of it stands today, but you can see bits of it still built into the churchyard wall.
As we made our way towards the wild brooks beyond the village these pretty pink berries drew me in. They looked like a type of Rowan. The footpath soon had us weaving in and out of the reed beds along side the river and the access point is from a shared piece of public land which is run by the Hogs Wallow Community Group. We all know by now how important it is everyone to be able to get out into nature if they want to and this lot do fantastic work setting up projects to make this happen.
You'll have to take my word for it that what you're looking at below are actually medieval salt making mounds [salterns]. You're not far from the coast here so the sand in the estuary is salty and so it was scooped up and washed. To extract the salt the briny water was boiled and the sand used to build the mounds for the boiling kilns. Such was the importance of salt for preserving food owners whose lands included salterns often took salt in lieu of rent. Crossing the nearby bridge got us back to our starting point, by which time Aril, in typical fashion, had wheedled a little pitstop in the next village of Bramber [using the carrot of free parking😆. I can usually rely on Bramber to top up my weirdometer and as you can see from the final pictures I wasn't disappointed.
Thursday, 7 November 2024
Completely bonkers.
Last Sunday I did not wake up with any intention of buying a painting. As you can see below things didn't quite pan out that way.
My lovely friend Nurse Lin has just painted this and the moment I saw it my gut instinct screamed that I needed it. This in itself is quite a rare occurrence as I really am quite disciplined about buying stuff, but what I have learnt over the years is to heed such an authentic reaction as it's my true self prodding me. It won't be to everyone's taste, but it will hang happily in my hall [it's too lairy for my other rooms and would clash horribly] where I can see it and enjoy one of my favourite quotes. GBT is full of the weird and wonderful and this latest addition will blend in perfectly. I do hope you all enjoy your very own version of an entirely bonkers weekend....particularly at times like this it's important that we look after ourselves and do more of what we love. If you want something to make you smile might I be so bold as to suggest that you take a quick look at the tweets that Aldi UK put out...they are hilarious.
Arilx
Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Anyone fancy a cuppa?
At difficult times us Brits like to turn to that old favourite....a good old cup of Rosie Lee. Anyone care to join me? I feel in need of bringing a little lightness into the world right now after the difficult news of the last 24 hours. I can't change anything, but I can be responsible for my reaction to it.
Arilx
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Peace and Quiet
I thought that my friend Eloise might enjoy the little local arboretum I discovered last year. Like me, she has a good working knowledge of our local patch of Sussex, but this one had remained beneath the radar. Without the hard frosts I didn't see the brilliant magenta and crimson hues of last time, but was instead treated to golds and russets delivered in an ethereal light mist. Each tree has its own QR code and the first one we scanned goes by the memorable name of Ilex Vomitoria [its common name is Yaupon]. Native Americans brewed a black tea from its leaves for their ceremonies which was often followed by vomiting bouts. Europeans drew the conclusion that this was caused by the tea, but it was down to another cause and the tea is still on sale.
As we retired to the village cafe afterwards we both remarked what a peaceful morning we had. It exudes calm and feels a very safe space. Somewhere to take a breather from the spinning whorl of our everyday lives and return with 'a spring in your step' as my friend put it🍂🍂
Arilx
Beware of the bench.
I think if you heed the advice in the text below you might want to think twice about sitting on this bench.....them dragons is dangerous bea...
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Certainly a new twist on the usual blue plaque. It made us laugh and had us scratching our heads. It just seemed rather odd, but even th...
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No not literally...just an attention grabbing sort of blog title! Litter picking is what has going round my bonce today. There have been a c...
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Isn't it a tad frustrating when you see something you think you'd really enjoy and you can't manage it for a multitude of reason...