Tuesday 29th April - Flash Bang wallop NOT a picture!

I was on the phone when it happened; sitting at the dining room table, which is actually a sort of office area rather than somewhere one could eat.

The weather has been really April-like today, alternating greyness, sun, and sudden heavy showers.

The water was pouring down, and, without any warning, there was a mighty explosion and brilliant flash of white light, apparently in the garden just the other side of the French Windows. It was so loud, so violent, so unexpected that I nearly threw the phone in the air as I cowered away from the glass.

That was it, just the one stupendous explosion, followed by the sound of the neighbour's car alarm.

Thunderstorm over.

Everyone (except me - I was on the phone, remember?) rushed outside to check for damage - but nothing appeared to have changed. The TV aerials were still in place, the chimneys intact, the neighbours special weather-station equipment in just as it was.

Inside, once he had finished dripping, further inspection was done. TV - check. Computer - check, oh, wait a minute, no internet, no wireless. Our clever black box (router?) was dead. The neighbour next door has lost the serial connection to his weather station. His neighbour's television stopped working, and also the telephone, but he still has broadband. (? weird or what?) and our other neighbour's elderly Sky box has gone phut.

We think it must have been a ground strike, as we cannot find any sign of damage anywhere, but it must have been close. Nothing outside seems singed or burnt or smouldering (shame that, it would have solved the problem of dismantling our decaying garage and shed nicely if it had all gone up in smoke.)

Wednesday 16th April - Taking it Easy

There's been a scheduled activity every day since, since April began, maybe? Admittedly, when we were in Tewkesbury we sort of made it up as we went along, and I did take two afternoons out to do nothing. In some ways it seemed a bit of a waste of the opportunities of being somewhere new. In other ways it gave me time to appreciate the wonderful building we were staying in.

Once we started travelling back last Friday, there has been something on the go every day, so today was red-lined as a Do Nothing Day.

Which is sort of what I did, all morning.

I got up for lunch, and then, in the afternoon, pottered about dealing with items on the To-Do list in a gentle and un-pressured manner.

I am pleased to have made a start on clearing the dining-room table - we were able to sit at the table for lunch for the first time in weeks.

It is a relief to have dealt with a number of letters that needed writing.

I have cleared one bag of "stuff"; I have given up teaching Sunday School after years, so I have cleared out the bag of resources, sorted it out and got it ready to hand over to whoever is taking over.

And finally, I have begun the war on the goose-grass in the garden. It took a longish sort of hour to clear a small patch, from this; (actually, this is the next piece of the "border", but the state is close enough)

to this:

  I have a dream of turning it into a patch of delight and colour to enjoy all Summer. We shall see.

So, does all this afternoon activity conflict with the idea of a "Do-Nothing" Day? Not at all. The point is that these were all activities on My Agenda, of My Choosing. Which makes a great change from dancing to other people's tunes, fitting in with their plans, letting them pull the strings.

 

Tuesday 15th April - All Soul's, Langham Place

We were in London yesterday.

After we had finished the business of the morning (routine hospital appointment and blood test for the drug trial I am involved in), the day was our own.

We found ourselves looking at tech and mobile phones in the Tottenham Court Road - my sister-in-law's mobile phone appears to have stopped working, and she stopped having a land-line some time ago, so Something has to be Done.

Afterwards, we headed towards the big John Lewis in Oxford Street. We had a little list:

Tea and cake
Buy a suitable, non-schwarmy condolence card
Look at more tech
Try out chairs and sofas, as one day (cue violins; over the rainbow, pigs will fly) we'd like to change our poor overworked IKEA cheapo settee for something that is actually comfortable.

En route, I discovered that we were going to be just a couple of streets away from the famous church of All Souls, Langham Place. My parents were married, and I was christened there. I don't think I have been inside, or even seen the church since, so my memories are all subconscious.

I shouldn't think the exterior has changed at all since it was built, and then repaired after Second World War damage, and then re-ordering in the 1970s;

 
Of course the street is paved now, and there are no horses and carriages, although plenty of other traffic. The steps were almost entirely occupied by young people sitting in the sun, surrounded by back-packs and swigging from water bottles.

The interior was a lot smaller than I was expecting.

The pews have been replaced by chairs, the floor is carpeted, and there are screens and spotlights mounted in the gallery. A tour was just starting after I took the picture - apparently thousands come every Sunday.

Otherwise, I reckon not much in the way of colour or decoration will have changed since I was last there.

After a quick look-round, we continued along through the throngs of school children from abroad, wearing "preppy" school uniforms, all on their school trips to London. John Lewis wasn't on their itinary, so we were unhindered in our successful pursuit of our own agenda. We've even found furniture that we like, for some rose-tinted day in the future.

Sunday 13th April - The Electric Wheelchair Adventure

"This style of chair is typically compact, will have a small turning circle and is designed primarily to be used either indoors or in shopping centres/places with smooth ground. They are not very suitable for general outdoor use as they will have low ground clearance." http://www.electricwheelchairs.co.uk/electric-wheelchairs-guide/

This is the kind of electric wheelchair that my mother uses in the flat. I was a bit disconcerted to see that this model is "on offer" for £2899, instead of the usual £2999. In other words, the same price as a nearly-decent second-hand car.


This Sunday, our assistance was requested to enable my father to take my mother on a trip round the local nature reserve in this chair... I suggested that before we load my mother up and embark upon this adventure, we load my father up and "test drive" the whole scenario.

So the men left my mother comfortably in bed for the afternoon, with the Sunday papers to hand, and, step by step, checked out the logistical details. From time to time I was called upon to act as my mother's "stunt double".

Here's what I observed....

1. Driving the electric wheelchair over the threshold into the lobby of the flat was harder than easing the "push-chair" over the ledge; you can't gently control the motion of the chair, but need to take a bit of a run at it, so the occupant has to be prepared for a considerable jolt and jiggle as the front and back wheels cram themselves over the barrier. Hmmm. My mother doesn't have a great deal of strength in her neck muscles, so her head would have been shaken about, and her left arm and leg are currently quite painful. Food for thought.

2. Having got the e-wheelchair out of their flat, it won't climb the higher ledge to get back in again! And it is too heavy for my father to lift it over the ledge when I am sitting in it!  Well, that could have been Very Awkward indeed! We will need to made a ramp to get back into the flat. Actually, in order to save my mother from a painful jolting, we need to make a ramp to get out of the flat as well.

3. We can get the electric wheelchair into the minuscule lift with someone (me) in it. I was under instructions NOT to move any of my left side. That is a lot harder than it sounds as several times I wanted to move my left foot out of the way rather than have it half-trodden on while my father manoeuvred around to get me into the lift, and then wedge himself in as well to operate the lift buttons. (My mother's left foot is very sensitive and easily hurt by being pushed, shoved, or, worst of all, trodden on).

4. We needed to use the pair of heavy-duty metal ramps to get the e-wheelchair out of the building as there is a big step down. All went well for a minute or so, and then I stopped moving. What had happened? The motors for the drive wheels had ridden up on the safety lips of the ramps, so the wheels were spinning in mid-air... The problem was easily solved - I got out of the chair, and we re-aligned the ramps. Sorted.

5. We tested getting the e-wheelchair and me in and out of the car - no serious problems. The anti-tip bars at the back came into play as I was being reversed back down the ramp, but there was enough  momentum to complete the disembarkation without upset (in every meaning of the word!)

6. Finally, the men went on a little excursion round the nearby pond, with my father driving and my husband in attendance as the escort outrider, or maybe outwalker. They appeared about three-quarters of an hour later, triumphant but whacked out, (having carried the empty wheelchair back over the threshold into the flat.)

The whole exercise was very useful, and, on the whole, a success, which is why I have set it down in full for our future reference.
Here are some of my own further thoughts, from playing the part of the stunt double:

If ever you are in the position of looking after someone in a wheelchair, pushing them around a park or whatever, I think it is an excellent plan if you can make an opportunity to physically put yourself in their place for real, and be pushed around by someone first.

I was completely taken aback at how much the jolting over thresholds and ends of ramps, and even the almost invisible lumps and bumps in the pathways affected my balance in the chair. If I had been suffering from painful joints, I would have been SUFFERING by the time I have been loaded up into the car, and I guess being driven around would not have felt any more comfortable. Also, I have reasonable muscle tone and strength to support and control my upper body, but my mother does not.

I was also not prepared for the level of anxiety and insecurity I felt, especially going up and down slopes. Even though I had confidence that my father wouldn't actually tip me over or run the wheelchair over the edge of the ramp, I still felt tense and "on red alert" while these operations were in progress.

Finally, driving the e-wheelchair isn't like a fairground game. I found that I had to concentrate to keep myself straight, pick a smooth path, watch out for obstacles. It reminded me of when I first learned to drive and all I ever took any notice of was the immediate view through the steering wheel. So, an outing "in the country" wouldn't actually involve taking in any of the scenery at all, except when parked up in some pleasant spot. Travelling along the paths would be more like a jolting yomp through hostile territory.

All in all, being the passenger in a wheelchair isn't the passive, relaxing experience that I had anticipated.

This is not to say that The Plan is a Bad Idea in principle. I think it has distinct possibilities. We just need to work out how to maximise all the positive elements, namely

getting out, seeing flowers and birds and people, change of scene, fresh air, something new to talk about, easy, spacious, smooth environment for driving the chair in

while reducing the negative elements
exhausting messing about manoeuvring the e-wheelchair out of the flat, down the lift, down the ramps, into the car, and the tiring mental and physical effort of steering the e-wheelchair over narrow, lumpy-bumpy jolting paths.
    
Now to plan Phase Two. I have my eye on the sensory garden in the local park with disabled parking spaces beside the entrance, broad, flat, smooth paths, flowers, people to watch, convenient café...

Monday 14th April - Today

Today is the

Tomorrow you

worried about

Yesterday

Trite, but true.

I went to bed last night worrying about various things, and have woken up this morning at peace.

(Temporarily. It won't last. "Peace" never does!)

Living "in the moment" will ensure that The Peace will linger for a while.

One more cup of coffee, and then I shall make the "To-Do" list for this week;

Immediate tasks - Easter Eggs to wrap and post, a letter of condolence to write, postcards to write, various house work chores, clear the dining-room table, sweep and hoover through the house, change the sheets on the bed, laundry, ironing (that's been on the list for several weeks, and refers to 9 tablecloths, one from Christmas!).

"Work" work - lesson planning for next term, tidying away piles of music from last term, The Music Jungle blog to update (that's been silent for three weeks now which is Not Good).

Gardening - I'm about to lose the battle with the goose-grass and mares-tail again. I've seeds to plant and lawn edges to trim and general junk to clear/throw/tidy.

"Me" stuff - writing, drawing, painting, playing the piano.

Well, let's just see how much of this gets done this week!

April 10th - Tewkesbury - Self Catering

Landmark trust properties are pricier than your "Happy Holiday Cottages" - but you get what you pay for in terms of interest, quirkiness, difference.

We've squared the circle by self-catering rather than eating out. By using Waitrose cheats it has been a non-sacrificial saving.

Monday:
Lunch at the National Trust café at Avebury - I strongly recommend the sausage sandwiches. He would say the same about the bacon sandwich. We both rated the coffee and walnut cake as a good'un.
Supper was some Waitrose pork ribs that we had intended to eat over the weekend. They briefly joined us for a little holiday with carrots and baked potatoes.

Tuesday:
Breakfast was croissants and marmalade.
Lunch was home-made soup. I'd brought a bag of potatoes, and various bits of veg from the bottom of the fridge. Take half a large leek, soften in butter, add a large potatoes cut into cubes and some stock and dried herbs. Leave to cook. Stir in more liquid if needed, and also some leftover diced roast pork that had travelled up from home. Bring to the boil and serve with bread and butter.
Supper was a pizza from the Waitrose in Malborough (my word, that shop is HUGE, you wouldn't think so from the outside!) with some salad, followed by fruit.

Wednesday:
Breakfast as before.
Lunch; home-made soup again. As well as the leek and potato I added some peeled and chopped cherry tomatoes and a diced carrot. For meatiness I crumbled in some corned beef that we had brought. Bread and butter and fruit - perfect.
Supper was a Waitrose slow-cooked leg of lamb, that just needed another 35 minutes in the oven, with baked potatoes and braised leeks and cabbage, followed by some incredibly sticky coffee eclairs.

Thursday:
Breakfast was toast and marmalade, as the croissants were now a part of history.
Lunch - I'll let you guess - yup - souper soup. This time the meatiness came from leftover lamb from last night. While the leeks and potatoes were getting going, I boiled up the lamb bone and bits and pieces with the green part of a leek to make a little stock, added that to the veg with the leftover lamb cut into chunks.
Supper - ah to be confirmed. This is where the system will self destruct, as we are meeting up with some of the family and going out for a meal. You can go with the fixed price menu - two courses for £20 - which looks good and reasonable. However, he has already spotted the fillet of beef with mushrooms and a red wine sauce. I've got my eye on scallops with chorizo and rocket and capers. yum yum yum.

I'll tell you what though, home-made soup is so easy, and takes some beating. It doesn't need much in the way of preparation, ingredients or cooking, or even time. I reckon half an hour from the thought, through the deed, to the proof of the pudding souping. One chopping board, one knife, one saucepan. Not much washing up neither.

April 10th - Tewkesbury 8 - Our comfortable abode

Old engraving of the gatehouse (photograph of picture at the bottom of the stairs to the "bedroom"

Where we sleep - a sort of balcony, with the bathroom and kitchen built underneath;

The kitchen area - there is a window opposite the sink.

View from the upstairs sleeping area looking down at the living room. The log burner is going beautifully.

The table, two chairs and a bench are directly under where I was standing to take the last picture. I reckon you could seat 10 people without being too crowded. I'm sitting at one end right now, where my laptop is in the picture.

I think the other chair must have been made for Richard 11, the Crookback (according to Wikipedia he developed idiopathic scoliosis. ) 

 

 

Anyway, this chair, made to the same pattern as the other, doesn't have a straight line in its body. It's surprisingly comfortable to sit in.

 

A bathroom is a bathroom. I'm not getting up to photograph it. It has a loo and a basin and a bath, in a darkly panelled cabin under the sleeping platform.

April 10th - Tewkesbury 7 - Belated Birthday Present

Someone in the family had a birthday a few days ago, and we weren't there. We had left presents behind, for opening, and we phoned, but it's not the same.

Here is a belated birthday present - someone's blog that I have just tripped across. It will appeal to his sense of humour.

How I found it is like this; while rambling around Tewkesbury this morning, we spotted this.

 

 

By the way, I have just learned how to crop photographs on my phone! Who's clever then!

 

We are avid plaque and sign readers, and I enjoyed this one. Once back at the ranch, I investigated to find out what might have happened, but didn't, on that day - Tewkesbury has a long and complicated history.

 

It's a mixture of disappointing, interesting, dull and amusing.

 

The plaque is "an amusing gift item", and can been seen on buildings in Bourton-on-the-Water and Rye and all sorts of places; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cast-Iron-Sign-NOTHING-HAPPENED/dp/B00F4479M4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397134332&sr=8-1&keywords=on+this+site+nothing+happened

 

(Hurry, only one left in stock, price £14.85)

 

I also discovered from this blog, which I am about to make you a present of, that it is the date of an indecisive Naval battle in the American War of Independence (I'm pleased to note that his blog is as full of typos as mine)

 

AND, if you accept the theory that the year should have been 1752, not 1782, the "nothing" really did happen, as the date lies in that period of 13 days that were "lost" when changing from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.

 

So, here's the blog; www.uselessofblog.blogspot.com "Infrequently Asked Questions". It's also got quite a lot of techie stuff to amuse and entertain.

 

Happy Birthday 

April 9th - Tewkesbury 6 - Deerhurst some more

We walked a short distance, past this tree with a gaping hole in its trunk

 and just the other side was the River Severn, flowing innocuously, but deceptively fast when you took a second look. Fast enough that the ducks on the water were fairly whizzing past, and preferred to fly back upstream rather than swim..




Looking back, we could see the tower of St Mary the Virgin, the parish church, and all that remains of the Saxon Minster. That was our next destination, just a few minute walk.

When we got there, past two sets of formidable steel floodgates firmly mounted to solid walls, and the remains of the old defences close by, we saw a sign:

Angels are becoming a sort of ostinato. You can just make it out, up high, on a wall at the east end of the church. The original circular apse was replaced by a later seven-sided building, which was later demolished, leaving just this angel. 

 Here he is in close-up, a photograph of a photograph from the information board inside the church.

The church interior, what's left, which is plenty, is stunning. Two more pictures from the information board:

 And one of a pair of Saxon carved beasts either side of the entrance door.

We left in peace, and came back to the Gatehouse for lunch (via shopping for milk and firewood for the log fire).

He went out for a prowl afterwards, while I stayed in, listening to music and getting on with working on the current patchwork quilt - this one -

I'm at the stage of quilting around each of the patterned squares to layer up the filling (an old fleece cot blanket which was second hand when I got it) and the backing - the remains of a duvet cover that he already had when I married him. So far, on this holiday, I have done 9 squares. That's not bad, as they take at least 15 minutes each. It's the right task for here because I can tuck myself under the rest of the quilt while I am working on a section - very cosy and warm.

April 9th - Tewkesbury 5 - Odda's Chapel - Deerhurst

I was going to call this post "Odds and Sods"

This morning after watching the mystical effects of the dawn on the stone carvings around the roof again,

I went back to sleep (bet you weren't expecting that!)

When I did get up an hour later, and we had finished - in every sense - the croissants - (cereal and toast tomorrow) we went to Deerhurst, a minute hamlet  about three miles South along the River Severn from here. It is a lovely walk, but we went by car. Walking three miles there would be fine, but not sure if I have the stamina yet for walking back again.

Why Deerhurst?

Let the place speak for itself. Imagine a warm Spring day, clear blue skies, bright sun, a slightly fresh breeze...

The chapel was discovered in the 19th Century by the vicar, George Butterworth, (father of the composer of the same name, who was killed by a sniper in WW1). The chapel had become incorporated into the farmhouse, which appears to have given back one room, upstairs and downstairs.

Today a builder was there, doing general maintenance, cleaning the windows, checking to make sure everything was as it should be. That's his window cleaning stuff by the door.

The section through the arch, where the ladder is, looks as though it used to be part of the farmhouse. We were asked if we wanted to go up for a look around;
"yes please",
"well, don't fall of the ladder or anything, will you",
"we promise not to"

There was a floor, and a fireplace to the left, and a blocked in door to the rest of the farmhouse to the right.

The place was a stark, plain, bare, solid, statement of enduring faith. That's what Admiral Hopwood thought too;

April 9th - Tewkesbury 4 - Music

There is no television here, no radio, CD player. And no microwave either - I'd brought a couple of sachets of popcorn from my graze box to have in the evenings, but they will just have to come home with us. I'm not so keen on popcorn that I'm about to mess about with saucepans.

So, we have spent the evenings reading, watching the fire and listening to music.

Because, although this is a low-tech place, we came prepared!

How do you think I am getting these posts up - letter by letter on my mobile phone, and then hour by hour over a weak and flaky internet connection? No Way!




Dangling from the medieval masonry is a magical black box that gives us wi-fi! I may be on holiday, but I can still gmail, and tweet, (and, until I messed up my password this morning, do facebook). I am CONNECTED!

Ranged on the stone sills are - to the right - all the chargers for kindles, phones, tablet, laptop, mp3 player and power for a portable speaker. To the left, the mp3 player and the speaker itself, not very powerful, but enough to provide gentle background music.


Over the past days we have listened to

Bach cello suites - perfect in this ambience,
The Hilliard Ensemble with Jan Gabarek  - a haunting interpretation of early choral music and saxophone improvisations
The London Quartet (a vocal quartet, just to explain!) singing my totally favourite album "Lullabyes and Goodbyes"
Chopin Etudes.

Last night I was able to buy and download The London Quartet's latest CD, "Songs of Love and War" from the ChampsHill label, and I listened to that today while He was out exploring and I was having a lazy afternoon.

I could, I suppose, go browsing, using my laptop and our wi-fi connection, and buy even more music... tempting...

All this music somehow seems to enhance the peace and quiet of this place.

Tewkesbury 3 - So like Skegness

Weather - bright, sunny, dull, overcast, drizzling, raining, sunny, bright, dull....

We went through the Victoria Pleasure Gardens opposite, down to a river. Not a river, an off-shoot of the Avon, made by the Benedictine monks for their mill. We could see the marks of the floodwater on the walls which bounded the gardens. This is what it looked like at the beginning of the year;



http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/WEATHER-Gloucestershire-flood-warnings-remain/story-20402012-detail/story.html

 

If you think of the Abbey as being at the centre of a clock, the Victoria Gardens are at about 9. The blobs are the trees we walked beside, and the building completely surrounded by water at 10 is the mill. Perhaps I should reassure you that the water is all back where it belongs now so our feet were quite dry.

 

Once at the mill, we walked up towards the town, peering along the hundred of little alleys that run between the buildings back down to the river. Just about every building has to be listed as grade something-or-other, especially the house that is only 8 feet wide...

 

I didn't take any photographs, exect this one; a rather fine angel carved onto a door.

 

 

He said I should have waited until the angel had emerged from the shadows but I couldn't hang around that long. Why not? Well, did I mention the weather? As well as the sun and the clouds and the rain and the drizzle, there was a continuous ICY WIND that made his ears tingle and kept my hands firmly in their pocketses. April? It's January in there here parts! SO BRACING - like the Skegness of the railway posters.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74309/skegness-is-so-bracing-poster-hassall-john-ri/

 

 

We walked up the length of the High Street and it started to rain. So we dived into an excellent cafe where we thawed out with hot chocolates (mine was a "baby choc", his was the "eggstravaganza" involving whipped cream and crushed mini-eggs). And immediately, the rain stopped and the sun came out. That was the kind of weather it was.

 

Excitement was provided by someone's car catching fire in the main street - one fire engine and one police car and all sorted.  

 

By now we really were too cold, so we made our way back to warmth and shelter.

 

On the way, we looked in at estate agent windows - we could sell our 1950s surburban heap of bricks and afford a four-bedroom sweetly pretty roses round the door cottage and have money over for cheese (we know people who really like cheese)

 

But if it is always going to be freezing or flooded here, we might think again....

 

Spent the afternoon back in the Abbey, having another look at the beautiful stone tracery, the stained glass, the ceiling bosses, the misericords (can't pass up a good misericord). They have a splendid selection here; I liked this hen and cockerel.

 

http://www.misericords.co.uk/tewkesbury.html

Back at base camp - less of the base, more of the mid-altitude camp, we played with fire, and finally won

 

 

 

At least, for a brief hour or so. It has now reverted to a pile of embers.

 

Oh well, "and so to bed" as Pepys said.

Tewkesbury 2 - Darkness and Light

When we put the lights out last night, it all went dark. Properly dark. We have out own personal streetlight at home, planted outside our bedroom window, which stays on until midnight.

After a few minutes, the darkness became less complete, but even so, it was night time for real.

The wonderful thing was waking early in the morning (the alarm has been set for 6 am for so many years that our internal alarms are hardwired now). A pale, silver light was creeping in through the windows and differentiating the high lights and shadows of the monk who supports one corner of the ceiling. How fitting, that he should be the one to see in the dawn - lauds?

The light slowly, imperceptibly, but actually rather quickly, if you see what I mean, became yellow and then gold. The Angel Gabriels's hair was tinged with gold, then his face, then the angels on the other side of the room...

We started the day with coffee in bed (I did that bit) and then croissants and marmalade and more coffee downstairs in the morning sun (he did that bit). Whisky marmalade, thanks to a Christmas present, and Chantry Hotel marmalade, thanks to a good friend.

Once we were ready, we sallied forth into the town.

Tewkesbury 1 - Angels!

Horrible horrible drive through  driving rain and blinding spray thrown up by vehicles. Rain reduced to just a light drizzle when we got to Avebury (remember the stone circle? I think we stopped there with Hilary on our way back from Cornwall). Well, we stopped there for lunch, but didn't stay long - cold, windy and wet.

 

Extraordinary swathes of COWSLIPS along the verge of A417 towards Gloucester and M5 - never seen so many in one go in my life. I've read about making cowslip wine, and always wondered as you need BATHTUBS full of flowers, and I've not seen that quantity in one go before. 

 

Arrived in Tewkesbury shortly after 4pm - still raining. The gatehouse is stunning - in many ways. Was pretty much pole-axed by the stairs to get the "first floor" - steep spiral staircase of 44 narrow windy stairs - well lit, glad to say. Once I'd made it to the top, and caught my breath, I found myself in charming living room with old-fashioned furniture, antique portraits, polished dark wood tables... You can see all here|:

 

http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/abbey-gatehouse-4453.

 

The man was a hero - he made a zillion trips up the winding stair from the car with all our stuff (food, clothes, "tech").

 

Once we had recovered we lit the fire, had a cup of tea, and later went for a little potter round the Abbey itself. The quality of the stone carving in the Abbey is amazing - there's a chantry where the stonework is as thin as wood, and appears to be so light that a breath would blow it away. There are ceiling bosses and arches and pillars and niches where statues used to be, and traces of wall paintings... some fabulous, glorious modern stained glass in rich green and gold. We'll have to go back there.  

 

When we go to bed there are beautifully carved stone angels keeping watch (how DID they escape the vandalism of earlier times?). Here's Uriel, with the book of Revelation

 

 

and Raphael, praying for healing (a previous guest worked out who they all are - there are four, Gabriel, reading a long message, and Michael with a shield are also with us.)

 

 

 

 

 

I remember singing this song, from "Hansel and Gretel", when I was at school. The London Quartet sing a luscious version of it on their album "Lullabies and Goodbyes" which I frequently listen to;

When at night I go to sleep,
Fourteen angels watch do keep,
Two my head are guarding,
Two my feet are guiding;
Two upon my right hand,
Two upon my left hand.
Two who warmly cover
Two who o'er me hover,
Two to whom 'tis given
To guide my steps to heaven.

Here it is for you to listen to...

http://metoperafamily.org/video/watch/hansel-and-gretel-evening-prayer-aleksandra-kurzak-kate-lindsey/1498420822001

Sleep well.

 

March 31st - A Predictable Life

It came in a cool retro designed box - I can't show it to you, because it has been recycled.
I saw , I wanted, I bought. As someone famous and long-dead sort of said.

So, I took it to bits, and reassembled it with ice and salt in one section, yoghurt, milk and maple syrup in the other section.

I started doing the shake-for-three-minutes bit, as per the destructions sheet.

Unfortunately, I had left out one part of the assembly, so shaking abruptly ceased because the kitchen was suddenly covered in yoghurt/milk/maple syrup.

Once everything had settled down and the noises had stopped (floor-cleaning, washing up, laughing, ((that was him)) and, I regret to say, a few choice epithets ((that was me)) we tried again.

I could show you the lovely tangy maple-yoghurt ice cream that I dug out of the inner container.

But I've et it. Cream would be even better that yoghurt, but I didn't have any at the time, a situation that has been rectified.