This week we had a treat - we went to Lord of the Dance. We were looking forward to some foot and finger tapping music and a sing-a-long with the music we know so well.
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the Moon and the Stars and the Sun
I came down from Heaven and I danced on Earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth:
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
Great words and sung by lots of different people over time including Donovan, Sydney Carter, The Dubliners, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Family Kelly and of course us!! Apparently it is a show that 'continues to shatter box office records all over the world, leaving audiences breathless and clamoring for more' but unfortunately it didn't quite do it for us - there seemed to be something lacking although the dancers were very talented and I could never begin to match their skills - I got the feeling that the rest of the audience felt the same (volume of clapping is a good indication). And on another night we went to the Bath Christmas Market - they are so big over here but this is the first year we have intentionally gone to one. We chose straight after work on a dark, dry night and glad we did because we could wander around the stores and listen to carol singers without rambling slowly along with a very large crowd. The market was in about three different streets around the Abbey and we enjoyed looking briefly at the 120 or so stalls with lots of handmade and unusual gifts including Christmas decorations, mulled wine, almonds in ginger and caramel, german sausage (our dinner that night wasn't particularly nutritious!!). We didn't buy anything except food at the market stalls (we were tempted to buy a wooden tie but although novel quite expensive for a gimicky type of present) but as all the other shops were open we marched into a sports store and bought some more winter leggings, a replacement hat for me (the last one I lost climbing abbey steps in Geneva so quite fitting I bought another one near an abbey), and a really warm fleecy jacket for me. The hat lasted two days before I dropped it in a puddle while getting out of the car and found it the next day sitting miserable and dirty beside the car (after a wash it is returned to a wearable status). We also stumbled across Winchester Market on Sunday when returning to Bristol. That was so crowded that we couldn't wait to leave, but spent a bit of time looking through the cathedral and the ice rink before heading for the car. They reckon that a ¼ million visitors come to the Winchester markets, and some of those come in 120 buses. Busy!! The thing over here is 'German markets'. I think that means that the stalls are in little decorated German- style chalets, with their snowy roofs and little lights. The chalets circled the ice-rink and sold everything that the Bath market sold and possibly more. One quote I found was from a stall owner that said “ in 17 years of trading, and at all the major events in the UK, including those top ones in London, he had never made as much money as at the Winchester Christmas Market…..”. And there was also one in Southampton but much much smaller.
And there is another story about Winchester Cathedral (which incidentally was huge!). Jane Austen is buried there. After singing (does everyone do this when they visit new places?)
"Winchester Cathedral
You're bringing me down
You stood and you watched as
My baby left town
You could have done something
but you didn't try
You didn't do nothing
You let her walk by
Now everyone knows just how much I needed that gal
She wouldn't have gone far away
If only you'd started ringing your bell (which she did when we were there)
Winchester Cathedral..."
We still maintain that St Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol is the best church/cathedral we have seen. This was to the amazement of Harry's work mates on Friday night when we were having a Christmas dinner with them. Out the window was St Mary Redcliffe which most of the locals had not been to so we told them our thoughts and most of them were surprised, but not surprised enough to make a visit.
Anyway, we found Jane Austen's gravestone 'youngest daughter of the late Reverend George Austen' (where was Mum when all this was happening I asked?). We were particularly keen to find her gravestone and after reading the next paragraph you'll see why...On the Saturday evening we arrived in the dark into Southampton - a city we had never explored before. Arriving at the Tourist Information Centre right near to closing I found a leaflet called 'Jane Austen Heritage Trail'. Now wandering around Southampton in the dark with Christmas lights sparkling at us and looking at the places Jane lived, played and danced felt like a good idea - especially when Harry found another leaflet that told us we could burn up to 600 calories in doing so - is that equivalent to a latte and piece of rocky road we asked ourselves? It was quite an amusing walk and by the end of it we were laughing and saying things like 'this is going on a heritage walk when you aren't going on a heritage walk'. You'll see why ...
- Firstly we passed the old stone gate where a plaque reminded us that Jane visited Southampton as a girl aged 7.
- Then there was All Saints Church where she worshipped. The church no longer stands as it was bombed during the war. It is now just 'another shop' in the mall.
- Then we walked the wall to the Spa Gardens were the spa fountain and botanical gardens were where Jane and her family went for their daily constitutional - well now it is a car park.
- We continued to wander around the tower wall to the house where she used to live - No 2 Castle Square - it is now been replaced by a pub.
- The Long Rooms and Hot Baths which would have been nice to visit in winter is now a rather modern looking, probably 5* hotel (still nice to visit in the winter I imagine).
- The Theatre Royal where Jane and her family enjoyed the theatre is now a block of flats - built probably around the 1960's.
- The Water Gate where her family caught a boat to have a picnic in 1807 stands beside a busy road. The land has been reclaimed and marinas and apartments have been built (its called Ocean Village which I wandered around while Harry went to the museum). And some distance away the Queen Victoria was berthed for the night.
- And lastly on to the Dolphin Hotel - yes we could go inside this - and see the hall were Jane danced here 18th birthday nigh away. Yeah right - closed for renovations - we couldn't even see the outside. It does have a 'magnificent' bay window they say!!
You can see why we were so pleased to find her grave stone - yes it still exists!! and we did burn up 600 calories each so all was not lost!!
On the banks of the Beaulieu River not far from Southampton is Buckler's Hard and the New Forest National Park. We had a cornish pastie sitting outside in the cold before wandering through the little boat building village towards the river. Bucklers Hard (a Hard is a natural formation which is hard enough to allow boats to be launched) was created in the early 18th century by the 2nd Duke of Montagu. His aim was to create a port to import sugar from the West Indies. This idea didn't really work cos at the same time the French took over the West Indies so Bucklers Hard was turned into a boat building place for the Royal Navy. We wandered along the river - negotiated a few rather large puddles which were made worse by the incoming tide - and finished our walk when gumboots were needed to wade through the largest of all puddles. In times gone by this was a smugglers paradise. So called 'free traders' could navigate the river and unsuspecting men whose job it was to collect taxes could easily be lost in the creeks and mud without ever being found. And here is a hint - if ever in a similar environment do as the smugglers did - strap planks of wood to your feet to help them slide along and not sink. Another hint - make out as though the place is haunted - add a few clanking chains to clank in the wind, add some screams during the night and make sure there is an occasional ghostly apparition for full effect. Perhaps night time isn't the best time to visit. More recently, there is the story of the village offering a peaceful home to those living in the city during the bombings. They were inundated, not with families but 150 young school boys and there masters. Later on some land girls also came which 'added a new dimension to town life'. The town has its own little chapel (with a memorial to Chichester who began his trip around the world on the Gipsy Moth from here). Henry Adams who apparently was well known in 'boat building circles' and his family built the Agamemnon, the Euryalus and the Swiftsure here - these boats all went to the Battle of Trafalgar. Lord Nelson really liked the Agamemnon and when he was captain he met Lady Hamilton in Naples and then later lost his right eye at the siege of Calvi. I don't think those two events were connected. Once wooden ships were no longer popular and iron ships were becoming well accepted ship building at Buckler’s Hard stopped and it became a sleepy rural village where boats, mainly for leisure, are still built and maintained and many go sailing along the river on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Other famous people to be linked to this area include Neville Shute - his books are being re-released - yeah perhaps I can find some of the ones I haven't yet read in the library.
Driving to and from Bucklers Hard we came across some of the New Forest Ponies. They wander around the New Forest oblivious to people and cars, they appear to on the roads and the village streets. They are native to this area of the country and are known for their hardiness, strength and sureness of foot (all needed particularly in winter!). I didn't get to close to them cos I was a bit more shy of them than they of me. The ponies ancestors first came to the area over a thousand years ago and really they are quite a 'moggy' horse - with heaps of different bloodlines being introduced over the years. The horses are privately owned (the cut of the tail tells the rightful owner - though they all looked as though their tails were left to grow naturally - to our uneducated eyes), they roam free and are not wild in the least. Anyway, I read this description and thought it quite interesting...
"You can identify a New Forester by its free, even movement, plenty of frame, muscular hind quarters, good depth of body and a sense of solidity in the frame. The head should show pride, the shoulders should be well sloped with deep reach, the quarters, strong and well muscled, the body is deep, and the legs show an even line with strong joints and stolid hooves...They are noted for friendliness, intelligence, strength, versatility and are nearly always willing-to-please. New Forestors are amongst the most approachable of all the native British pony breeds, perhaps because of their history of frequent contact with man". So, naturally my mind wandered to the Kaimanawa ponies at home which are quite a different breed. Although, they descend from the domestic horses released in the 18 and 1900's they are wild in nature. They are known to be hardy and quiet, but numbers are controlled in order to protect the ranges where several endangered species of plants also live. Horses were first introduced to New Zealand by Samuel Marsden in December 1814 and 60 years later wild horses were running around the Kaimanawa Ranges. Over time they like the New Forest Ponies have had a number of bloodlines introduced, intentionally or not it is unclear, but I did read somewhere that in the 1960s an Arabian stallion was set free in the area. And if you can be bothered comparing the features of the Kaimanawa horses to the English New Forest ones here is the description of the kiwi four legged creature...
"a short, deep neck with a thick throat area, straight shoulders, a deep girth, and a short to medium back. The hindquarters vary from sloping to well-rounded. The legs are long and well-muscled, with strong hooves, and hind hooves that are generally smaller than the front ones".
Enough about horses (who incidentally I am quite scared of as they are so much bigger than me) and on to some other forms of transport - yes we are back to planes...The birthday boy went to an
air museum. He spent an hour or so wandering around a rather small museum cramped with aeroplanes. It was the first time he spied a Supermarine S6A which was a racing sea plane which won the Schneider trophy. Jacques Schneider was a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast who offered £1,000 to try and encourage technical advances in civil aviation. With that sort of money up for grabs it became a race - 11 races between 1913 and 1931. Harry also climbed into an ex-Ansett Solent Flying Boat which has quite a different cabin layout to the modern passenger airliner.
During my read of all the leaflets I could find in the hotel foyer (friends still laugh when they think I collect brochures) I saw one about a windmill. I didn't think much of it, because we weren't intending to go down that way but when we arrived at the air museum to find it didn't open until 12.00, and we were 2 hours early (yes it was on the leaflet but oh so small print) we decided to take a drive and I saw a sign to the Burlesdon Windmill. So, Harry turned the car in the same way as the sign while I sang 'I saw a sign' by that group called Ace of Base and we ended up at 'Hampshire's only working windmill'. It actually goes (I suppose that is what working means) so we had a short video and tour of the windmill - not a lot of wind so the crew manually turned blades for our benefit. We then were treated to a demonstration of flour making using early wooden machinery before taking some photos of the windmill's reflection in the small pond (isn't it interesting how the wind always blows just as the photo of a reflection is being taken?).
