Worthing

If we had known what the weekend was going to turn out like we would have organised a teddy bears picnic. But instead we organised instant noodles for lunch on Saturday supplemented by a few cups of tea and bacon sandwiches along the way. Our first stop was Chichester. Our little teddy bear Caramello was born here - though we could find no evidence of where he was made - not even a teddy bear shop. Harry wandered into a Toy Shop looking for cousins, aunties, uncles and other distant relations but I said 'Quite frankly Caramello is a cut above toys' to which Harry agreed and we walked out.
Chichester is quite a pretty little town, it has its own little cathedral - built in Norman and Gothic styles - we didn't go inside but enjoyed walking around the Bishops Garden and the close. It isn't hard sometimes not to go in because we have been spoilt with castles, abbeys, cathedrals, forts, heritage homes etc and sometimes we just feel as though we have overdosed on them. Saying that I always wonder what I missed out by not going in. There is quite a nice long wall to wander around which of course we did, looking into people's back yards - some of them which were just waiting for the sun to come out so that the owners could enjoy the petite gardens and furniture. The city appeared quite small and this is supported by the not too complimentary quote from Daniel Defoe "I cannot say much of Chichester, in which, if six or seven good families were removed, there would not be much conversation, except what is to be found among the canons, and the dignitaries of the cathedral". A bit unkind I thought.  Anyway, Caramello enjoyed having his photo taken by the wall and it was here that we began to muse how we have given our little bear a personality. We tried to think of a word that would describe him for each letter of his name but that became a bit contrived - so some of the words we used to describe our little bear in no order in particular are: organised as he is still carrying his map; curious as he enjoys the travelling around; shy in that he is usually quiet; a little bit naughty - because we always ask each other if we have Caramello as if he just might wander off a bit by himself; patient because he doesn't mind when we get lost; adventurous as he has been on a micro light, boat, plane, bike and canoes; easy going as he is happy to go with the flow.
On leaving Chichester we saw a sign for a aircraft museum - it unfortunately was closed but we'll be going back to the area and so no doubt it will be on top of Harry's 'list of things to do'.  We had our lunch sitting on the shore at Bognor Regis which was quite a nice thing to do in the middle of winter.  The seagulls looked on in the hope of a piece of noodle at the end (no such luck there - we were  hungry and also know what happens when you feed seagulls).

So, onto our second cuddly little creature... it's a long story so stay with us.We stayed at Worthing for the night and on Sunday we took a wander up Devil's Dyke - it had been recommended to us by a work mate who lives not far from there.  I have no idea why it was called Devils Dyke but it is in the South Downs Way and is a long narrow valley that has over time been carved through a landscape formed from chalk and grassland. Some people believe that the Devil dug the valley to drown the parishioners in the valley below while others have suggested that it was formed during the last ice age - it does have a glacial type appearance so Harry and I thought the last suggestion had some merit. Over 2000 years ago Devil's Dyke might have been home to a small farming community and there are signs  of the walls of an old hillfort (you have to look quite carefully).  In the late 1800's, if you were 'anybody' this was the place to go.  You could walk along under your umbrella (I keep hearing about those great summers a long time ago and so the green house effect really is having an impact) and travel up a funicular railway to the top. Nearly one million people were 'somebody' as that is how many visited the Dyke using this mode of transport back in 1897.

If you didn't just want to admire the view you could walk not far and travel across the valley on Britains first aerial cable car - remember this was over 120 years ago so I think that is quite impressive having such a tourist industry back then. I must admit we enjoyed the walk and probably would have done it even if the cable car was still working (it is only a couple of concrete pads now, a bit like the railway, so you've probably gathered they photos aren't ours - I found them on the National Trust website). 

Then at the top where the paragliders jump off the hill and circle above the dyke and the spectators watch from below there is a pub. We and the paragliders and their friends saw the same view that Constable saw when he came to the area to paint and stated that 'this was the grandest view in the world' - nice view but not the best we've seen.  After doing a bit more wandering we went to the outside seats in the pub enjoying the thought of eating outside while paragliders floated above.  But they wouldn't serve food outside in winter because of the wind (lovely sunny day and no wind but it didn't seem to matter - company policy).  So, thankfully we found a seat in the sun inside and looked out over the landscape as we ate a reasonable meal. I was doing a bit of research about the area and we might have chosen not to eat there had we seen the following comments. "My wife and I made the journey up to this pub because of its location and memories I had from my childhood. When we arrived we were met by the most aggressive and threatening man I have come across in a long time. I later discovered that this was in fact the landlord and while he did not receive our custom then, he will not ever receive it in the future either" and "the server put up two glasses, one of which had a white rime of dried bubbles coating the whole of the inside of the glass. It was quite obvious that the glass was dirty and had not been washed at all, this was refused. The other glass looked cleaner but not by much as clumps of gas bubbles formed on the inside surface as it was filled". However, if we were going to add a comment to that website which we probably won't we would say"We found the food average and knowing my taste buds any soap in the glass would have been clearly noticed and returned for another drink". Amazing what good or bad publicity will do to a place.  Anyway, you may wonder about the little furry creature that was here.  Looking over the hills to the other side of the Dyke is Ashdown Forest - the home of, wait for it, Winnie the Pooh.  So I began to surmise on our walk back to the car what the similarities were with our little bear and Harry said "they are both bears" - where has his imagination gone? So, I put on my thinking cap and decided:  they both have a friend called Kanga; they both have round tummies (though one has not yet tasted honey); and when Winnie was described by others on the web he was easy going, whimsical, calm, gets-along-with-all types (which is exactly what we thought about Caramello but in different words).  The web also described Rabbit as passionate; a leader, temperamental, stubborn and prone to anger and Kanga and Tigger as optimistic, fun, talkative, popular and sometimes over-bearing. And what about Eeyore and Piglet? Moody, prone to bouts of depression or negatitvity.  What fun A. A. Milne (who incidentally moved his family including Christopher Robin and his wife Daphne to a country house in Hartfield, East Sussex - very close to Ashdown Forest where Winnie lives and where Christopher Robin and his nurse would explore and play.  Most people will know that the characters in the stories were based on Christopher Robin’s toys but as a child when I was given the book for Christmas (we incidentally were camping at Hatepe and on the drive to Taupo in a little Ford Prefect, over those hills and around the bends, I read my new book and was quite car sick) the characters seemed so real.  On talking to my work mate he said if you read the book and remembered the places you could pick up where they were in Ashdown Forest but there wasn't any plaques to help to identify the spots - might do a bit of searching on the web for our next trip over that way. Anyway, some quotes from Winnie which just go to show that bears are intelligent and perceptive:

• “If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”
• “If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
• “If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart. I'll always be with you.”
• “Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”
• “You can't always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you... you have to go to them sometimes.”
• “Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other was the left, but he never could remember how to begin”
• "It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”

Anyway, leaving devils dyke I had 2 questions one which was answered along the way.

Question: Why were all the electric fences around with temporary 'kissing' gates.  Answer: The National Trust graze cattle to keep the grass down.  Otherwise within 50 years they think the valley would be quite covered with scrub and we wouldn't see a thing.

Question: Why was there a group of young men at the top of the Dyke throwing bananas and apples into the air in unison? Answer: No idea.

So far so good, two little cuddly creatures.  The third little creature would have been cuddly too if he wasn't so wet and didn't have a long rat like tail - yes we saw our first river vole - you could be mistaken for thinking initially that it was a floating fat bit of wood.  The little voles were swimming across from one side to the other side of the moat that surrounds the castle in Arundel - a magnificent piece of architecture - still used today - and one which we will return to when it opens.  It sits high above the town over looking and overseeing everything the town people do - from wandering into the little tudor buildings, the priory garden, churches and along the little street of boutique shops. The castle was built around the William the Conqueror era and has a long history of royal visitors (eg Queen Victoria and Prince Albert), royal weddings and features in tv series and moveis eg Doctor Who episode Silver Nemesis and The Young Victoria. Anyway, the moat around this castle is where we saw the little vole and the locals who told us what he was also said 'we were lucky to see it' as usually the live inside their little riverside homes.  We saw not one, but three paddling furiously from one side of the moat to the other. And after coming back to Bristol and doing a bit of research on a vole I discovered that Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the Willows' was actually a water vole - not a rat. They are good swimmers, paddle furiously but don't have any particular natural gifts that help them swim unlike the beaver or otter. The voles make their nests in a little hole on the river bank and swim around at any time of the day or night. They have lots of little voles between spring and autumn and that must be a fun time to go and see the moat - little voles (voling?)and ducklings and goslings. Teenagers are chucked out of the home, when Mum has her next litter (about five litters a year). They are legally protected in Britain as they are a bit rare one of their main predators being the American mink which escaped from fur farms and numbers also declined due to changes in farming patterns and flood control. The story of many a rare breed of animal and bird. I can't remember much of the Wind and the Willows story but Ratty is described as relaxed, friendly, caring and likes a bit of adventure (ie he took Mole for a ride in his boat to visit toad) - and some quotes from Ratty:

• "There is nothing, absolutely nothing so much worth doing as messing around in boats." 
• "There's plenty to do, lots of time too, Messing about on the river. Wherever you go, you go with the flow when you're messing about on the river". 
• "Whether you get there, whether you don't. You think it will matter, but I tell you it won't. Lots to be done, and it's all of it fun. When you're messing about on the river".http://orangecow.org/pythonet/scripts/windinthewillowsquotes.txt

So we enjoyed our wander around Arundel. We noticed that in one of the hotel walls was a couple of dice embedded into the brick work with the commentary "In 1928 the Old Cross was rebuilt after a fire. When dice were discovered in the foundations and displayed in the brick work for good luck for all who visit". A great way to get custom - but we didn't go in and so missed out on that piece of luck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Water_Vole

So, there is only one more thing to write about and it doesn't involve a cuddly animal but something old.  In Worthing we went to the movies (Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle probably would not have minded the modern version directed by Guy Ritchie and the portrayal of Sherlock and Doctor Watson character - I have a feeling he might have enjoyed especially the new take with a few explosives, kung fu and special effects). But it wasn't really the movie I went to see but the theatre - The Dome. It is described as "a unique example of an Edwardian Leisure Centre" - it was like the old picture theatres we have at home - we used to go to one as a kid - it seats what feels like hundreds (580 actually) in big comfy seats with lots of leg room. The entrance is old wooden panels and the bar has that "I want to sit and have a drink in there" feeling. The building was built by a guy called Seebold and designed by one called Theodophilus Allen and in the local Gazette the highest complement was paid "Worthing may well be congratulated upon the possession of a townsman sufficiently enterprising to provide so pressing a want in such a satisfactory way". On our way to the theatre we did some 'promenading' yes that is a word and explains the strolling along a "long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk." There was a history of promenading but somehow I think that those who bike, run, rollerblade, skate, jump, hop ie do everything but drive a car along the esplanade is nowadays 'promenading'. We've done it before and I imagine since it is a feature of English seaside towns it won't be the last time we promenade with the locals and visitors.

On the way back to Bristol we stopped at the Cissbury Ring (no it is not a car racing track but an Iron Age hillfort which was a fortress some 2300 years ago). We walked the 600 or so feet up the hill (as though we hadn't done enough walking for the day) and it was sort of worth the effort as you could clearly see the rings around the hill and a view of Worthing in the distance.  In its history there were also flint mines (explains why houses in the area are built of flint I guess) and some of the mines went down 40 feet with lots of tunnels (they're called galleries) radiating out from the long vertical tunnel.
And another Denise thought for the week - An owner at the top of the Cissburg Ring was calling to her dogs who weren't really listening - one was called Daphne and the other Rocky.  Why do we call girls after flowers and not boys?

http://www.findon.info/cissbury/cissbury.htm

Great Yarmouth

I must admit I felt like another lazy weekend. But we'd booked a bed for the night over at Great Yarmouth and Harry was keen not to be stuck inside the house for another two days. So early Saturday morning in the dark and the cold and the rain and the wind I followed him out the door for what was hopefully around a 3 hour drive over to the East of England (it turned out to be 3.5 hours both ways which was great especially since we had to negotiate traffic on the M25). In the end I was glad we made the effort as we had another fun weekend exploring new parts of England. Art comes alive for us when we see a painting of something we have visited (eg buildings, sea and land scapes, ruins, castles, gardens etc). There was a wonderful moment at Norwich Castle (which incidentally we weren't particularly enthused about as we couldn't go outside to see the view of the city from the top. The castle is a huge box built during Norman times and perched on top of a mound - they say the highest castle mound in England).

During our tour of the castle we came across the the art gallery and after wandering past many great paintings we didn't appreciate we turned and said "That's Yarmouth" - our interest suddenly increased ten fold. The first art work we came across was a painting by John Berney Crome - we'd never heard of him before (he was the son of a famous painter in the early nineteenth century called John Crome - we hadn't heard of him either). I went on to the website of the Norwich Museum and found a couple of his paintings as they depict the scene a little bit better than our photos do - rather a drab and wet weekend for photos (particularly the Saturday)!! The two paintings that gained our attention for more than a few seconds was the one of Burgh Castle and the one of a Windmill - both of which we visited earlier that morning. Burgh Castle overlooks the river and was built in the late third or early fourth century. It's actually one of many forts built along this coast by the Romans. It has 3 of its 4 walls still standing. The walls are a fascinating mix of flint (there are old flint mines around here which we will come and visit when they are open in summer) and mortar. There were round towers on the sides but most of them were collapsed. Around the area bird watchers were out for the day hoping for a look at some of the birds that live near and breed in the reeds. We saw some but didn't recognise them.  They could have been bearded tits, reed and sedge warblers, water rail, yellow wagtail, marsh and hen harriers, bittern or Cetti's warbler (or some other breed we hadn't heard of). All these birds and others like the Broads presumably because the mudflats are a good food source. Across the marsh was one of the many windmills in the area and a little church. There are windmills all over the place - the Broads (sort of the marshy farm land that skirts the whole of Yarmouth) is flat and open to the sea so a great place for wind power (not just the modern turbines) and some of them are open in summer to have a look at. Not far away at Carstairs there is also a modern wind turbine farm (I have begun to realise that no idea is new). Scroby Sands is one of the first commercial offshore wind farms and it has stood proudly out to sea since 2004.  It now provides power to around 30000 homes - and wait for it - saves the emission of 67802 tonnes of carbon dioxide, nearly 600 tonnes of sulphur dioxide and nearly 200 tonnes of oxides of nitrogen each year. It's got to be good - and not too visually intrusive out there in the distance. Anyway, the Norfolk Broads which is what we were wandering around is called a "wetland landscape". It looks all natural, but when driving through Harry and I remarked on how it looked like a peat landscape (a bit similar to the bit of land around Raumati). And funnily enough it was a result of peat digging in the Middle Ages (peat was used as a source of fuel). The empty peat pits were filled by rain and I am assuming some tidal water and now it has over 125 miles of navigable waterways which we intend to canoe around in summer some time. We also saw as many sheep over here, that we have probably seen in the whole country and some lovely draught horses.

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/tours/crome.htm

Alongside the paintings by J B Crome were some from Joseph Stanard (or it might have been Alfred - sorry remembered the surname but not the Christian - but they are probably related so the credit can still go to the family).  This painting was special - of a family with all their belongings - watching a fisherman. We could imagine the family just arriving to live in a row house and feeling very hungry at the sight of all the fish in the basket. The painting depicts Nelson's Column far away and in the foreground the wonderful golden sands of the Yarmouth beach. We'd been to see Nelson's Column the day before (rather a tall monstrosity really - funny how big isn't necessarily beautiful). The column was built around 1840 in memory of Admiral Horatio Nelson's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It is 5.5 metres tall, cost £47,500 to build (that is a lot of money 170 years ago) is made from granite and one report says is hollow inside. In my opinion (which I have come to realise isn't really that important) it would look a lot better standing in the middle of a meadow with some flowers around it.  But it is in the middle of an old industrial site with old buildings all around it. It was placed here because this is where Lord Nelson left on most of his ships. There are some funny stories going about this column

• In 1925 a man from Scotland "sold" the column to an American (he also "sold" Big Ben and Buckingham Palace) - not sure how much he got.
• If Hitler's plan to invade Britain (ie Operation Sealion) had worked Hitler was going to relocate the column to Berlin.
• The column has been graded as a climb and several people have climbed it.
• In May 2003 someone parachuted from the top of the column to draw attention to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

And then there are some stories about Nelson as well which shows he had a sense of humour:

• When asked to place his right arm on the bible to take an oath to be given the freedom of the borough he said to the Mayor "that's in Tenerife".
• He stayed in an inn which the inn keeper wanted to rename Nelson's Arms - he replied  "that's absurd I only have one".

There is another side to the beach front which we didn't see in any paintings - but it seems quite typical - we now know the difference between a beach and a pleasure beach.  The latter has lots of buildings and piers with slot machines, games, side shows, miniature golf, mini villages, casinos, piers etc etc and seems to come alive in summer and closes for winter.  Because it was  dark and cold and wet we decided to play 10 pin bowling after our wander around Great Yarmouth - a game we haven't played since we came over here - so all good fun.  I must admit that I was quietly amused by the young family playing next to us.  There were two boys (aged 10 and 7 probably) and the older boy was losing - he was unimpressed - infact sulking quite a bit.  The younger one was just playing (no skill) but he kept on knocking them down and the older one kept missing them altogether.  I always wonder what makes some of us competitive (or bad losers) and others of us not.  Anyway, I wondered who invented 10 pin bowling because England seems to be home to skittles. I never did find out the answer but many think that the Egyptians were the first bowlers (round about 3200 BC), some think it originated in Germany around 300 AD but we do know that in 1366 King Edward III of England banned his troops from playing bowls - it was distraction from achery practice (Golf was also). They think that Henry VIII bowled using cannon balls to knock over the pins and some 500 years later a Connecticut law was introduced to ban ninepin bowling lanes as they seemed to have become the home of gambling and crime - guess what - the ever creative Americans added another pin to get around the law and  ten-pin bowling was a new game. Anyway, without that knowledge we enjoyed our game at the 'Pleasure Beach' grateful that the crowds had stayed away so we could have an alley.

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/tours/crome.htm

The last artist to feature in the blog is a guy called Lodge (not Neville!! I think Warren - but I can't find anything on the web which proves he is a Warren).  While wandering around in the cold and the wet and the rain we decided to stop off at the Star Hotel -built in the 1700's and oh so worth a look around even if you don't want to warm your hands on a coffee and have a bite to eat.  We'd been past a few places by then and I must admit they looked pretty drab and uninteresting - even with our guide book (carefully kept dry under a jacket) we didn't find much that was inspirational. But the Lodge drawings on the wall of the Star Hotel made me take another look. With a few brushes and a little bit of watercolour the town scenes had turned from dreary and dingy into bright and alive.  If they were for sale I would have bought one.  So in his drawings were some of the things we saw:

• The city wall - which is quite derelict but circled the row houses (145 rows) back in the 18th century.  The rows were built East to West so that the easterly wind could blow the stench from the sewage on the paths away and the cobbled paths were built leading down to the river so that the rain could wash some of the mess into the river.  The row houses were built only a few feet apart, the narrowest about 18 inches apart and so a law was passed that the doors had to be hinged inwards (if they opened outwards they often attacked passers by).  If you didn't rehinge your door, not only did you get a fine but you also had your door nailed in place - so I guess you had to climb out the window. Not many of the row houses still exist - many were bombed during WWII when 8000 bombs fell in this area (by my reckoning that is about 4 a day).
• St Nicholas Church - where it is rumoured that in the 19th century the Vicar presided over funerals and then in the night time exhumed the bodies and sent them to his nephew in a London hospital for his anatomy classes.  Although rather a grim story, I guess we have people like that to thank for modern medicine today.  And on a stone by the door of the church is the following inscription "That the said borough be a free borough forever and should have soc and sac toll and team and infangenthief and outfangenthief.  Yes it was in English.  After a bit of research  I think it means that they were allowed to ask for payment for allowing people to set up a market and sell their wares and cattle etc.
• The cutest little house where Anna Sewell (Black Beauty Fame) was born in 1820 to a devout Quaker family.  Her mother was apparently an author of children's books as well. When she was 14 she slipped while walking home from school and severely injured both of her ankles. They moved to Brighton in the hope that the weather might help to cure her but she was lame for the rest of her life. She only ever wrote the one book (when she was in her late 50's so there is hope for me yet) and dictated it to her mother as her health was not good. She described her book  "It's a special aim being to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses." A quote from the book "There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a shame."
• Nine (yes 9) caravans selling chips (about a third of all the stalls in the market that day).  If we hadn't had that coffee at the Star Hotel we would have succumbed to temptation like the many others huddled in groups eating hot salty chips from punnets.  What surprised us was that the caravans only sold chips there were no hamburgers, sausages, fish - only chips and sauces - boy what a temptation - there was mayonnaise, garlic mayo, brown sauce, ketchup,  blue cheese sauce, sweet and sour sauce, thai sweet chilli and if you really wanted a treat you could top them off with beans, pickled onions, gherkins, pickled eggs or make a chip buttie.  The mobile chip shop has been going for a couple of hundred years now - we saw history that Saturday!!
• The hospital which had a plaque above the doorway "An Hospital for Decayed Fisherman 1702" - a reminder about how our language has changed over time.  The hospital was originally built for retired fisherman and has now been renovated into apartments - looks great I might add.  On one wall is a plaque stating "That no person would be admitted under 60 years. That fisherman only be admitted if married if their wives accompany them. That if any fisherman becomes a widow he should not marry outside of said hospital...that no person be allowed to lodge in any other house..."

And some bits from the weekend that don't really fit in anywhere else in this story...We had a look at Norwich Cathedral from the outside before wandering back to the car for the long trip home - and at the museum we saw a cabinet of custard cups ... never heard of them before - here is a quote that rather tickled my fancy..."Custard cups...are sometimes called cream cups, mustard pots, and even mistaken for bourdaloues, those ceramic chamber pots used discreetly by ladies in carriages and at the theatre...Custard, indeed! They were designed to drink from, and contained rich consommé made from the roast at royal banquets in France of almost unimaginable splendour. Among eighteenth century European royalty, following the re-invention of porcelain at Meissen, there was a mania for dinner services. Sometimes comprising more than 2,000 pieces, they took years to make and cost more than their weight in gold. They became symbols of power, gifts to foster international alliances, influence betrothals and reward loyalty. Napoleon gave them to friends and enemies alike. Catherine the Great of Russia owned 20 or 30.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2000/oct/15/alternativeinvestments.observercashsection