Day in West Sussex
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
It's Tuesday. It's 2:22 pm. I am at home eating pistacios and listening to the radio. I've turned it off now so that I can concentrate.

No longer employed, I had pictured myself out and about in London or in a park, or at least drinking coffee al fresco. Pah! We're being punished for such a mild winter and for the past few days it has been chilly, grey and overcast and raining. I can certainly put up with it for a few weeks more, and all told we've been lucky these past four years. With global warming, we've experienced more sunshine and less rain than the previous hundreds of years. So I musn't complain. Well, I will complain, but about logging and coal burning!

Brrrr...just had to close a window...got a cuppa and some digestives...now, where was I?

Not working has enabled me to plan out next week's trip to Cornwall. Unlike our trip to Wales, I've booked accomodation for 3 nights, and printed out directions from the AA website, which shows how long each journey should take.

So on Monday we'll pick up the ol' Vauxhall Corsa and drive the 4 hours 44 min. to Padstow in Cornwall. This is right on the coast in the Camel Estuary. We'll stay here 2 nights in a B&B that's close to the harbour. After our breakfast the next morning, we'll rent bicycles for #10 each and cycle around (weather permitting--I do have a plan B--if it's raining we'll go to the haunted Bodmin jail.) and if time in the afternoon, drive up to Tintagel & have dinner. On Wednesday we'll make our way to Tavistock, which is on the edge of Dartmoor, and probably sightsee along the way. We're staying in a garden cottage in Tavistock for one night, and the following day, again weather permitting, we'll explore Dartmoor before ending up in Woking again.

We'll see how much of this goes according to plan!

I realized today that we never posted pictures from our trip last week to Arundel and Bognor Regis. It was last Sunday our South African friend, Debbie, picked us up on a grey and overcast day & we drove south for about an hour until we reached Arundel, a very pretty town with a stunning cathedral and castle punctuating the hilly village.

This is Arundel castle, one of the oldest inhabitted country homes. I repeat, this is a country home!

And here is Stephen & Debbie in front of a gate:

So we went inside the "house" and saw the result of a very old and very greedy family...lots of opulance and relics of past riches. Lots of old portraits by well known painters. The drawing room was so huge and the ceiling so high, the grand piano in the corner looked dwarfed.

Afterwards we strolled through the gardens....

and came upon the second private chapel which had its own little garden and a pond that spewed black water. Now even though we had to pay #12 each to just look at this family's stuff, there weren't any guide books to explain anything...so legend has it that this pool gets its waters from the depths of hell...

And Stephen outside the chapel:

And the door into the chapel captured my fancy perhaps more than it should....

From the castle gardens, you get this view of Arundel's catherdral:

We ate at a nice pub in the village and then set out to Bognor Regis. Debbie thought a friend had recommended it but we know realize it was probably Lyme Regis....for Bognor Regis, well, lets just say it reminded me of an American sea side, but more run down.

There were misspelled shop signs, mothers yelling at their children to shut-up, and a very unwelcoming vibe. Turns out it is a major hub of the British National Party.

Anyway, we didn't stay long and had a good diversion driving through beautiful Chichester, then up through the south downs and back to Woking.

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Stephen is working again, today and sleeping in tomorrow...I've already bitched at him, but hey, if he enjoys it...this Saturday we're going drinking in London, but otherwise, blissfully there are no plans.