Souling

 Whether you're a fan or not Halloween related talk abounds at the moment. Much of what we do now is imported from across the pond....when I was a nipper we did apple bobbing and maybe draped a white sheet over ourselves to turn ourselves into ghosts [homemade dressing up was very much the order of the day in the hard-up 1970s]. I'd never seen a carved pumpkin and we certainly didn't go to the bother of doing the same with a swede as our forefathers did....they're a devil to cut and take forever. In the main [bar the trick or treating which I personally detest] I enjoy it, but what I take from it is the focus upon the ancestors and where many of our own customs originated.

It has been a hectic time for Mythago this past few months as we've undertaken several new creative endeavours. The biggest project is tonight when we're holding our own All Hallows event. It's our first ever ticketed event and we shall be holding the fort for 2.5 hours. Part of what we're doing is reviving some of the folk practices which are in danger of dying out, so people will be able to take part in a call and response to the ancestors and we'll be introducing the new Hooden Horse as part of our soul caking ceremony. Many will rightly associate the horse with Kent, but it is very likely that similar would have happened here in Sussex. At the end of the day people will have marked this magical time using what they had lying around and animal skulls mounted on poles were common. You may never have heard of soul cakes Pre Reformation soul cakes were given to the poor, but in later years groups of children knocked on household doors and sang a song in exchange for one. The idea of the soulcake is that you break it in half...eat one portion and then leave the other piece out as an offering to the souls of the dead. Having eaten a few this past week or so they are absolutely delicious...bit like a rock bun, but more biscuit like in texture and form.

I am currently swinging between nerves and excitement....🤞. Wish me luck!

Arilx

Batty Scaremaker

 It was another of my precious Mondays off and I was due to be in London, but my lovely friend was called for a very important NHS appointment so understandably needed to postpone. Despite the weather not looking very promising I donned my waterproofs and boots and took myself and my inner four year old over to Nymans to enjoy their Halloween themed trail. Thankfully it's still term time here which just left me and a heap of toddlers spotting the spooky sites. As ever the National Trust staff have done a fabulous job and, as if all that excitement wasn't enough, I then decided to drive on to the next village because they always have a cracking new topper every time I get over there. I wasn't disappointed👻🦇❤👀💀😈

Having had a wild old morning I sat down like a sensible adult and got on with the tedious task of finishing my new dancing mask which I am delighted to report is now done thank goodness! 

Arilx

Traffic Cones

[Image from Pixabay]

For those of us who like a geeky fact or three an American street painter by the name of Charles Scanlan first came up with a prototype traffic cone in 1940. His motivation was to warn motorists of the wet paint upon the road and to prevent them from driving over it. By 1943 he had patented his design and ever since it's become an important part of road safety so much so that most of us probably don't give them a passing thought. The first ones were seen in the UK in 1958 when the M6 first opened.

For a brief period as a student in Winchester way back in the 1980s I may have had a traffic cone in my room....I may have had a couple of small sweet sherries one night and dragged the dratted thing back. I do vaguely remember that it was a lot heavier than I had expected it to be and it had a yellow flashing light on top [which is what happens when you remove such items from a road working site] which kept myself and my room mate awake a lot. It wasn't that long before we returned the wretched thing to where we had taken it from and there ended my brief flirtation with cone 'ownership'.

Fast forward many decades and I got far more excited than I should have done on one tedious car journey when we were stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway for there before me were not only orange cones, but to my delight I realised that sometimes they can come in other colours...that day I saw them in purple💜, green💚  and blue💙. Mr GBT is well used to my batty self by now, but even he was a bit perplexed by my excitement on this particular occasion. There had been no more thrilling cone encounters since then until recently when I saw this.....

If I say it was outside a very famous studio and shaped like a wizard's hat that might give you a clue as to where I went for my birthday treat at the the beginning of the month. Once I've rifled through the pile of photos I'll write up a post about my visit which I'm happy to do now Halloween is looming up fast on the horizon. In the meantime I hope everyone enjoys a peaceful weekend. I have some spooky plans of my own lined up👻

Arilx

"Rainy days and Mondays don't always get me down".

Am going for a slight twist on that famous Carpenters' song with today's twitterings. Yesterday's client was away so an additional day off....pouring here all day so what shall I do with myself. There are always chores to be done, but having decided that I'd done what I set out to do the walking boots and waterproof jacket went on and I went out to see what a rainy Monday might have to offer me

You may very well be wondering why on earth you're being shown a picture of a slug....I was very excited when I encountered this first thing lurking about in our compost heap. I believe it's a Green Cellar slug and rather a glamorous slug with those markings.

Despite it being sopping wet the colours really stood out on this foliage and the hydrangeas. Such vibrancy is one of the many reasons I love the season even if the weather doesn't always play ball.

I found a new topper....blackbirds, baby hedgehogs, cake, a frog and a witch. Indeed a Halloween tea party.

Anyone know what this three wheeler vehicle is? My knowledge only extends as far as the Reliant Robin and Google isn't being any help either. Looking back to last year I realise that I've actually featured this one before, but it was the colour of a tangerine last time I saw it! At least with such a striking pink you'd be able to spot it easily in the carpark.

With a few Aril pleasing things to spot upon my return I finally sat down and got on with painting my new Mythago mask. The old one has served me well, but there are cracks appearing and I fear that half of it may just fall away mid performance and leave me looking like I'm wearing one like in the Phantom of the Opera if I don't get on with it. I've been twonking about ignoring the new one for months now as I always get in a bit of a two and eight if I have to design and paint anything, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Now it's done I can get back to reading the second Robert Galbraith book....am always fashionably late to the party, but am really enjoying the different side to J K Rowling's writing. 

As always this is nothing like the post I was supposed to be writing [well where's the fun in that], but sometimes it's fun to put out more of a natter for a change.

Speak soon.

Arilx

'I do like Mondays'

 Unlike the Boomtown Rats' song I most definitely do like Mondays. For the first time since lockdown I have now got my day off every other week back which I initially gave up to be able to give a new client a weekly slot back in 2020. My logic back then was that my work rota was bound to change again soon and that I'd get it back. However, I was wrong and it was only a matter of a few weeks ago that it finally happened, but where it used to be on a Tuesday it's now a Monday. Already I've used my time to get up to mischief with various friends [more plans are pencilled in] and even on the weeks that I'm still working I've taken to building in a small local detour sometimes to fit a quick spot of nosing around to get that off work feeling. If it all goes well, then the plan is that I will finish for good next summer, but for now I'm just enjoying getting a bit of practise in 👏👏

Seeing as the weekend is fast approaching these are a couple of highlights from my most recent forays....titter ye not😆

I have passed this road sign a few times, but have never worked out exactly where it was so it was a complete joy to happen across it very much by chance. A knob in this context is, of course, a small and roundish hill.....

You will be pleased to hear that I didn't encounter any scary hamsters on this particular Monday....am not entirely clear as to what the consequences might be if you do meet it🐹🐹

This sign is on the perimeter fence of the parish church in the local village of Shipley....it made me smile, but I have also seen the evidence for myself on previous visits if you leave the gate open as my final photo shows. Nowadays it's less of a problem because the graveyard has been closed off to our woolly ovine friends🐑 

No doubt there are very valid reasons for not letting the sheep in now, but I do rather miss them. Have a magical weekend.

Arilx

Hurstpierpoint

Tempted by a Halloween themed treat much earlier this year we justified the cost by calling it my birthday treat. However, that was due to be a couple of days afterwards so on the day itself, whilst still wanting to go out, we kept it simple and followed the heritage trail around the Sussex village of Hurstpierpoint. It's not a place known to either of us which made the shared experience of exploring it more fun. Did I find any oddities in amongst all of its history.....well you'll just have to read on.

I could give you lots of history, but there's plenty to read online and instead you're getting my take on this place. What tempted me here in the first place was seeing a photo of the sculpture of the children at the fair which featured in my last post, but I do think the village sign is rather splendid too. Hurst is a Saxon word meaning 'wood and the other part of the name comes from the de Pierpoint family who hailed from Normandy. They trundled over with dear old William the Conqueror and held land here until 1431. It's thought that the chap below is one of their lot. He's probably Simon de Pierpoint and you can see his rather broken up tomb in the parish church. Apparently he's wearing a bascinet, a mail gorget, a gyphon, a baudrick and plate armour with knee coverage. This was what the best dressed knights were wearing in c1358 and if you understand what's before you [I am clueless] you can date these things by the style of clothing depicted,

Now if I lived in Hurst [as the locals call it]....be warned you need a few spare million knocking about, then I'd probably choose a property which calls itself 'The Odd Corner'. Sadly I wasn't able to knock on the door and enquire if it lives up to its name.

Mind you if your name was Dr Richard Weekes you didn't need to worry about buying your own pad as someone kindly bought a whopping great villa for him as a wedding present...even the gate posts below are listed. However, that is because they were built by the famous architect and builder Amon Wilds [and his son of the same name] who was responsible for many of the beautiful Regency builds in Brighton. His trademark was an ammonite as seen here [you'll have to trust me on this one] which was a pun on his name of Amon apparently.

It's easy to forget how threatened people felt in the South East by Napoleon. There was a very real fear that the French would land on the coast nearby in order to invade. It's thought that this crenelated wall and flint tower were built in order to try and dupe the enemy into believing that what they were seeing was a castle as they approached across the South Downs. I think it would have looked more impressive at a distance somehow that it does close up to.

Every place has its fair share of local characters. Local resident John Treeps sounds my sort of fellow because he left the bell ringers 10 shillings to go and buy drinks with after his funeral or there's Charles Hannington who fell out with the local Anglican rector and with his vast income just went off and built himself a massive chapel as you do [now a private residence. There was tales of the local witch Nanny Smart who it was said could not die until someone bought the secrets of her life. Eventually Old Hockland paid her a halfpenny for them and she died in a blue flame! These are the stories which bring a place alive. Below are my own favourite bits and bobs

Who wouldn't want a plaque made by someone calling themselves the Feral Ceramicist eh!

This is a relic from yesteryear. It's a so called torch snuffer and was used to extinguish the old street lights in the days before we had electric lighting. Nowadays it's a decorative piece on display outside one of the houses in the High Street. The striking black and white decoration is part of a frieze on the upper levels of Cards Place. The leonine figure with its greenman features was always going to appeal to me.💚

The theatre has had many previous incarnations. It started out as a chapel and has been both a shop and a school in its time. We did comment as we went round that many of the larger buildings seem to have been schools in former times. The Gothic House is another one, but is now four private dwellings. Just on the outskirts lies the public school of Hurstpierpoint College.

Finally, we made a little detour to pay our respects to Esmerelda the cow. I'm afraid I can't tell you why there's a model cow in front of that row of cottages, but if I ever find out I will let you know🐄 It made a perfect ending to our short foray before returning to GBT for a large wodge of cake😋

Arilx

Children of the fair

 'Children of the fair'...a beguiling septet of children depicted through the seven centuries of history during which time the St Lawrence Fair in Hurstpierpoint has run. Its charter was granted by Edward II in 1313. I adore the innocence of this piece. It's barely waist height and is the work of Sylvia Thornhill

Hope you have a lovely weekend. I have birthday adventures to bring you next week.

Arilx