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In Memory Of Keith
Aug. 26th, 2025 08:19 am The temperature yesterday reached 27 degrees centigrade which is 80 Farenheit. That's by official reckoning. I bet it actually went higher. We were down on the beach because Frances, wanting to do all the things she used to do with Keith, had asked to be given the chance to paddle and then eat fish and chips. In the event, though she and I struggled down to the tide line, she found her bad knee made paddling too difficult to be worth persisting with. The fish and chips- from a beach kiosk- was good.
Keith also used to fly a kite. She hasn't asked me to do that. Just as well. I've never managed to get one off the ground.
She goes home today.
Keith also used to fly a kite. She hasn't asked me to do that. Just as well. I've never managed to get one off the ground.
She goes home today.
Like Venice
Aug. 25th, 2025 08:35 am Frances wanted to go to go to Sovereign Harbour and watch the yachts come in through the lock gates so that's what we did. Sovereign Harbour is pretty. "Like Venice," I said, "If you got rid of all the crumbly buildings and replaced them with nice new ones." I was hoping to get a rise out of my companions but neither of them took the bait.
Talking about bait the thing that excited me most about the harbour was seeing the big fish swimming backwards and forwards by the walls of the walkway. I imagine the water is warmer there. Also that people drop crumbs. I don't know what kind of fish they are. Just big. Long as my fore-arm. Grey, with a suggestion of irridescence along their backs. There's no fishing allowed so they're safe.
Talking about bait the thing that excited me most about the harbour was seeing the big fish swimming backwards and forwards by the walls of the walkway. I imagine the water is warmer there. Also that people drop crumbs. I don't know what kind of fish they are. Just big. Long as my fore-arm. Grey, with a suggestion of irridescence along their backs. There's no fishing allowed so they're safe.
I find I can cope with having all these people around just so long as every so often I can slope off and sit where they can't talk at me.
Last night we had a BBQ. Lots and lots of food which- as a vegetarian- I can't eat. I'd prepared for it by having a very big lunch. When the time came I ate chips and trifle (but not together)
Odi told Fab to get the BBQ started- and I discovered that today's yoof have never been taught how to light a fire......
Today the visitors are splitting up. Odi and the bigger kids are going to the Notting Hill Carnival and Ben and the younger kids are goig to a fun day at Herstmonceux Castle. We, meanwhile, will be taking Frances to the Meeting for Worship....
Last night we had a BBQ. Lots and lots of food which- as a vegetarian- I can't eat. I'd prepared for it by having a very big lunch. When the time came I ate chips and trifle (but not together)
Odi told Fab to get the BBQ started- and I discovered that today's yoof have never been taught how to light a fire......
Today the visitors are splitting up. Odi and the bigger kids are going to the Notting Hill Carnival and Ben and the younger kids are goig to a fun day at Herstmonceux Castle. We, meanwhile, will be taking Frances to the Meeting for Worship....
Manoeuvring
Aug. 23rd, 2025 10:17 am 1. I noticed- on the way back from Wilmington- that the trees are beginning to be tinged with brown. For, "Summer's lease has all too short a date...."
2. We have eight people staying with us currently- and the ninth is on her way. Thus far we've manoeuvered round one another quite elegantly and there have been no collisions.
3. Frances (that's Keith's friend) was telling me what she believes about the current state of world affairs. God, she says, is "sifting" humanity, but don't worry because he has a great future in store for us. This is is what I think too- only I wouldn't put it in theistic terms. That future, she goes on to say, will be pioneered by Britain and Israel- and here she loses me. "Why Israel?" I ask. "Because it's the centre of the world....."
4. The six year old breezes round singing to himself in what sounds like a proper language but probably isn't (though who knows?) In my days as a religious loony we used to call this "speaking in tongues".
2. We have eight people staying with us currently- and the ninth is on her way. Thus far we've manoeuvered round one another quite elegantly and there have been no collisions.
3. Frances (that's Keith's friend) was telling me what she believes about the current state of world affairs. God, she says, is "sifting" humanity, but don't worry because he has a great future in store for us. This is is what I think too- only I wouldn't put it in theistic terms. That future, she goes on to say, will be pioneered by Britain and Israel- and here she loses me. "Why Israel?" I ask. "Because it's the centre of the world....."
4. The six year old breezes round singing to himself in what sounds like a proper language but probably isn't (though who knows?) In my days as a religious loony we used to call this "speaking in tongues".
Odi and crew are coming back from France today and will be joined here by an old lady who has nothing to do with them. The old lady will require a bedroom of her own which means some of the others (do we get them to draw straws?) will be displaced to a tent in the garden. The boys may, of course, leap at the option of sleeping out. We'll see.
Ben has a tent and we have a tent. Ours is brand new- bought in anticipation of this eventuality. It's made of very thin plastic and cost us £13. We thought we ought to know how it works so we put it up this morning.
First thing that happened was the cat went and sat in it.
Orange tent, orange cat. They were made for one another.....
The old lady is Keith's friend. That's Keith who kept the Meeting House going during the post-covid crisis and died last year. She used to visit him in Eastbourne and wanted to keep coming- and we said, "So stay with us". We've only met her a couple of times- once at the funeral- and hardly know her. We warned her that we'd have a full house over the Bank Holiday weekend and she said, "Sounds like fun"....
Ben has a tent and we have a tent. Ours is brand new- bought in anticipation of this eventuality. It's made of very thin plastic and cost us £13. We thought we ought to know how it works so we put it up this morning.
First thing that happened was the cat went and sat in it.
Orange tent, orange cat. They were made for one another.....
The old lady is Keith's friend. That's Keith who kept the Meeting House going during the post-covid crisis and died last year. She used to visit him in Eastbourne and wanted to keep coming- and we said, "So stay with us". We've only met her a couple of times- once at the funeral- and hardly know her. We warned her that we'd have a full house over the Bank Holiday weekend and she said, "Sounds like fun"....
The Internet offered to show me Hercules Unchained- starring Steve Reeves- a movie I adored when I was nine and haven't seen since- and I said, "OK".
It would be pointless to take it apart. The innocent and uncritical nine year-old mind doesn't see how lifeless the direction and acting are; it just goes, "Greek Galley! Spooky lady! Hand to hand combat! Big Battle! Chariots! Siege tower full of soldiers falling over!" and has a whale of a time. As Tom Hood remarked, "I remember, I remember/But now 'tis little joy/ To know I'm further off from Heaven/ Than when I was a boy."
Footnote: Just about the most convincing performance comes from Primo Carnera- one time heavyweight champion of the world- as the giant Antaeus, son of the earth Mother- who gains new strength every time he hits the ground. Hercules finally figures out his shtick and picks him up and chucks him in the sea. He is ugly, he is expressive, he is dangerous- and in real life he'd have made mincemeat of body-builder Steve Reeves.....
It would be pointless to take it apart. The innocent and uncritical nine year-old mind doesn't see how lifeless the direction and acting are; it just goes, "Greek Galley! Spooky lady! Hand to hand combat! Big Battle! Chariots! Siege tower full of soldiers falling over!" and has a whale of a time. As Tom Hood remarked, "I remember, I remember/But now 'tis little joy/ To know I'm further off from Heaven/ Than when I was a boy."
Footnote: Just about the most convincing performance comes from Primo Carnera- one time heavyweight champion of the world- as the giant Antaeus, son of the earth Mother- who gains new strength every time he hits the ground. Hercules finally figures out his shtick and picks him up and chucks him in the sea. He is ugly, he is expressive, he is dangerous- and in real life he'd have made mincemeat of body-builder Steve Reeves.....
Pushing It
Aug. 20th, 2025 09:23 am Most doctors, says Ailz, would prefer not to live beyond 75. They know, you see, what comes after.
I'm 74. I'm thankful I can still walk distances, still run short distances if pushed, still have my own teeth.....
I'm 74. I'm thankful I can still walk distances, still run short distances if pushed, still have my own teeth.....
It's Very Quiet This Morning
Aug. 19th, 2025 08:21 am Our visitors have taken themselves off to Paris and will be back here on Friday. When they were planning the trip Odi asked the kids what they particularly wanted to see and they said things like, "Well there's this big shopping centre" and "We want to see if a French Lidl is the same as an English Lidl." I'm not sure if they were winding her up or being serious....
This my latest purchase from the tip shop.
He stands a little short of a foot high and is made of some sort of composite material. He carries nothing in the way of a manfacturer's mark.
Usually I have no trouble in getting the internet to tell me what a thing is, but with the Fireman I'm drawing a blank. I'm not finding any object that resembles him, nor any picture of an actual fireman of any nationality wearing comparable gear. I have the feeling he's not English but I could be wrong- and he's obviously been around for a while.
Anyone out there have any idea?
He stands a little short of a foot high and is made of some sort of composite material. He carries nothing in the way of a manfacturer's mark.
Usually I have no trouble in getting the internet to tell me what a thing is, but with the Fireman I'm drawing a blank. I'm not finding any object that resembles him, nor any picture of an actual fireman of any nationality wearing comparable gear. I have the feeling he's not English but I could be wrong- and he's obviously been around for a while.
Anyone out there have any idea?
Quakers For Peace
Aug. 18th, 2025 08:02 am Five of us walked down to the Peace Garden in our blue Quakers for Peace tee-shirts and took up position by the monument to civilian victims of WWII. Only Jacky really tried to engage the general public. After a while she moved off, leaflets in hand, to see if she could find any military men to challenge. The rest of us looked at one another and agreed that her kind of active evangelism wasn't for us.
After we'd stood about for what we considered long enough we drifted off- either to have lunch or watch the aerobatics.....
After we'd stood about for what we considered long enough we drifted off- either to have lunch or watch the aerobatics.....
The Miracle Of Flight
Aug. 16th, 2025 07:34 am We live about a mile from the epicentre of the Air Show. From an upstairs window I watched the tiny little planes doing their aerobatics above the chimney pots- first a Spitfire, then a jet I couldn't identify. Once or twice I thought I'd seen one of them come into view only to realise after a couple of seconds that I was looking at a gull.
The jet made a fearful racket and left behind a reek of aviation fuel. I don't have the affection for jets that I feel for planes with propellors.
The jet made a fearful racket and left behind a reek of aviation fuel. I don't have the affection for jets that I feel for planes with propellors.
As Zen As Possible
Aug. 15th, 2025 09:31 am Starting tomorrow we'll be having house guests coming and going for a fortnight. At the max there'll be nine of them vying for beds. There's a plan to put some of the younger ones in tents in the garden.
I reckon that the more of them there are the more they'll be taking care of one another.
This weekend is Eastbourne's busiest of the year- owing to the Air Show. Traffic will be horrendous.....
Busy, busy, busy. I'm going to be as Zen as possible- and let go and let be.....
I reckon that the more of them there are the more they'll be taking care of one another.
This weekend is Eastbourne's busiest of the year- owing to the Air Show. Traffic will be horrendous.....
Busy, busy, busy. I'm going to be as Zen as possible- and let go and let be.....
The Eastbourne Air Show started today.
A shadow flickers over the space I'm occupying and I look up and see a huge, slow-moving, flying behemoth moving away from me- and identify it as a Lancaster bomber. I'm a Quaker and a peacenik but I'm also the kid who grew up in the fifties- when we were impoverished and exhausted from the experience of four years of total war and keeping up our spirits by telling ourselves how well we'd done in standing up to Adolf- and I can't see one of our old warplanes and not want to jump up and down and wave my arms about.....
A shadow flickers over the space I'm occupying and I look up and see a huge, slow-moving, flying behemoth moving away from me- and identify it as a Lancaster bomber. I'm a Quaker and a peacenik but I'm also the kid who grew up in the fifties- when we were impoverished and exhausted from the experience of four years of total war and keeping up our spirits by telling ourselves how well we'd done in standing up to Adolf- and I can't see one of our old warplanes and not want to jump up and down and wave my arms about.....
Dream Snippets
Aug. 14th, 2025 07:24 am A wild party. A young man is showing his penis to the girls- who titter. I turn to the person next to me and say, "I am pretending to disapprove."
The dog is unhappy. It opens its jaws and I see it has a wrist watch stuck to the roof of its mouth. I remove the watch
The dog is unhappy. It opens its jaws and I see it has a wrist watch stuck to the roof of its mouth. I remove the watch
We were at the Farm on Monday and a Spitfire flew over and did a roll for us- practising no doubt for the Eastbourne Air Show this coming weeked. I pointed up at it and shouted "Spitfire!"- which is what I normally do when one turns up.
You got to love a Spitfire, right?
Well, perhaps not if you're a Quaker..
In this respect I'm a bad Quaker.....
There are those at the Meeting House who want to stage some sort of protest at the Air Show. I'm going along with it because it's been discerned as the will of the Meeting but I have reservations. I don't think that getting in people's faces and annoying them is the way to promote Peace. I could be wrong.
My contribution has been to pin this poster up outside the Meeting House.
There are those who find it insufficiently serious. Sure it is. Serious people start wars. Humourous people tend not to.
You got to love a Spitfire, right?
Well, perhaps not if you're a Quaker..
In this respect I'm a bad Quaker.....
There are those at the Meeting House who want to stage some sort of protest at the Air Show. I'm going along with it because it's been discerned as the will of the Meeting but I have reservations. I don't think that getting in people's faces and annoying them is the way to promote Peace. I could be wrong.
My contribution has been to pin this poster up outside the Meeting House.
There are those who find it insufficiently serious. Sure it is. Serious people start wars. Humourous people tend not to.
It was hot yesterday and will be hotter today. Tomorrow we're promised some blessed rain.
"Have you ever worked in a hayfield?" asks Damian apropos of nothing. And I say, "Yes, once in Kentucky- where it gets a lot hotter than it does here. I lasted for a morning; had I carried on it would have killed me- and I mean that literally."
Mike is working a concrete mixer in the front yard. "How do you know when you've got the mixture right?" asks Ailz. "By the colour" he says.
"Have you ever worked in a hayfield?" asks Damian apropos of nothing. And I say, "Yes, once in Kentucky- where it gets a lot hotter than it does here. I lasted for a morning; had I carried on it would have killed me- and I mean that literally."
Mike is working a concrete mixer in the front yard. "How do you know when you've got the mixture right?" asks Ailz. "By the colour" he says.
On The Farm
Aug. 12th, 2025 08:11 am We went round the farm on a big trailer pulled by a tractor with Peter the farmer driving. At intervals Peter would get down from the cab and tell us what we were seeing.
The farm covers something like 1,050 acres. Back in the Middle ages the land belonged to the Augustinians at Michelham Priory. Peter is the third generation of his family to farm here- and is in the process of handing over to the fourth. His grandfather moved the family south from Nottingham just after the war.
It's a dairy farm, but they also grow maize. The river Cuckmere runs through it- and they're taking steps to stop run off from their fields getting into it- and to eliminate the North American mink who are doing their damnedest to kill off all the native riverine wildlife.
Theyre building a new milking parlour with a a huge central turntable which will speed up milk production no end. They're trying to be scientific, they're trying to be ethical.....
I looked through the skeleton of the new milking parlour and many miles away were Windour Hill and The Long Man. I ran my telephoto up as far as it would go.....
The farm covers something like 1,050 acres. Back in the Middle ages the land belonged to the Augustinians at Michelham Priory. Peter is the third generation of his family to farm here- and is in the process of handing over to the fourth. His grandfather moved the family south from Nottingham just after the war.
It's a dairy farm, but they also grow maize. The river Cuckmere runs through it- and they're taking steps to stop run off from their fields getting into it- and to eliminate the North American mink who are doing their damnedest to kill off all the native riverine wildlife.
Theyre building a new milking parlour with a a huge central turntable which will speed up milk production no end. They're trying to be scientific, they're trying to be ethical.....
I looked through the skeleton of the new milking parlour and many miles away were Windour Hill and The Long Man. I ran my telephoto up as far as it would go.....
Small World
Aug. 11th, 2025 08:15 am We show up yesterday morning and the litter tray has been used and some kibble eaten so we search the house again- and this time we find her. She's nestled between two bags in a bedding box under the bed in the spare room.
Phew.
We have to go take a final look at her this morning and then- unless we hear to the contrary- her owners will be back.
Another heat wave is underway. This afternoon we've said we'll be going on the "hay ride" which a local Quaker farmer lays on once a year as a treat for Sussex Quakers and residents of the Quaker-run care home where Ailz is a trustee. He owns dairy cows and pastures them on a chunk of of lovely Sussex landscape in the parish of Arlington- and the tea he lays on after the tour of the farm is supposed to be fabulous.
The world of East Sussex Quakerism is intense and circumscribed and if you hang about long enough you get to know everybody. Happily everybody is nice. Oh, we all have our foibles and some of us have dictatorial habits but dive beneath the surface insecurities and fear and distrust drop away. There's a woman we originally dubbed "Scary Mary" because her public face is so formidable but I've got to know her properly now and she's become one of my favourite people.....
Phew.
We have to go take a final look at her this morning and then- unless we hear to the contrary- her owners will be back.
Another heat wave is underway. This afternoon we've said we'll be going on the "hay ride" which a local Quaker farmer lays on once a year as a treat for Sussex Quakers and residents of the Quaker-run care home where Ailz is a trustee. He owns dairy cows and pastures them on a chunk of of lovely Sussex landscape in the parish of Arlington- and the tea he lays on after the tour of the farm is supposed to be fabulous.
The world of East Sussex Quakerism is intense and circumscribed and if you hang about long enough you get to know everybody. Happily everybody is nice. Oh, we all have our foibles and some of us have dictatorial habits but dive beneath the surface insecurities and fear and distrust drop away. There's a woman we originally dubbed "Scary Mary" because her public face is so formidable but I've got to know her properly now and she's become one of my favourite people.....
