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sussex-nature-lover · 5 years ago

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Saturday 1st August 2020

In the Garden, Down the Lane and Some Memories of Last Summer in London

It was nice and sunny this morning and the threatened storms didn’t appear last night, although the promise always seemed to be there and it was a very hot and humid night with disturbed sleep. The windows were wide and so the dawn chorus was very obvious. One slightly odd thing is that I heard Wood Pigeons cooing loud and proud.

We’ve got the sun parasols out in anticipation of a nice afternoon, but there are some dark clouds gathered ready. We shall see. Here’s the forecast for August.

On our walk the other afternoon we went down the lane to one of the ponds, but the metal gates were chained shut so we didn’t go beyond this point.

We’ll have to go back and see the lilies in bloom.

Talking of blooms, we seem to be having a purple and mauve phase in the garden.

I’ve got more Lavender flowering and a little Common Mallow appeared in the lawn.

Plus when we put the blinds up at the side of the house this morning, some more Wild Cyclamen have popped up through the weed resistant membrane and stones.

Where there’s a will eh? Maybe that’ll apply to the lockdown F A Cup Final this afternoon*

* Renamed the Heads Up FA Cup for 2020. More Info Here.

It’s been odd seeing build up on the TV. It’s so quiet around Wembley, I’ve sent myself off at a real tangent now. The last time we walked down Wembley Way was in June 2019 going to and from a concert that our girls had treated us all to. LINK.

Whoever took that phone footage can’t have been sat too far away from where we were, just a bit higher up maybe. We had the most brilliant day and the concert was amazing. Sheryl Crow was support - fabulous and the band were just as good as the first time we’d seen them at Twickenham Stadium years before (supported by the Dixie Chicks - recently renamed The Chicks, who were also superb) Even going home was brilliant as tracks were played all down Wembley Way back to the tube station and the crowds sang along. We were staying in London that night - also a girls’ treat - and wound down with G and Ts in the bar of the LaLiT Hotel (just fab-u-lous) with a floodlit view of The Shard through the window in front of us. Simply magnificent and I’m so pleased to have these memories to look back on. That was the London trip where we saw a Seal swimming in the Thames way up River towards the City, everything conspired to make it one of the most enjoyable breaks ever. Happy Days and superlatives well and truly exhausted for now.

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ADDENDUM: in pictures because they’re worth it

Service Notice at the Tube Station

Wembley Way

A big photo of tiny Sheryl Crow

Stage over view

Special mention to Deacon Fry who’s taken his late father’s place in the most seamless and accomplished manner

No I wasn’t falling off my bar stool, it’s an attempt at capturing an arty shot of The Shard thank you

A small part of our room at The LaLiT showing the architectural detail

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sussex-nature-lover · 5 years ago

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Wednesday 17th June 2020

Country and Town

Well until I got this email yesterday I had absolutely No Idea - Sussex Day

Round-headed Rampion belongs to an extensive cosmopolitan family of plants known as Campanulaceae, the 'bellflowers.' The globular blue-purple flower-heads seem as if they'd be more at home in the sea, for they look like a cross between an 'over-armed' octopus and a colourful sea anemone. Each head may appear to be one flower, but is in fact a cluster of up to approximately thirty individual florets, though they're all packed closely together.

All Info taken from the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

Sussex Day was chosen back in 2007 to mark the feast day of St. Richard of Chichester, patron saint of the county. Five years prior, Sussex had already chosen a county flower, the rather uncommon Round-headed Rampion (Phyteuma orbiculare), now known widely as the 'Pride of Sussex.' It does indeed have intricate ties with Sussex, for it grows in the highest densities on the chalk grasslands for which the county is so famed. Unfortunately it won't be possible to celebrate the day by spotting a blooming Round-headed Rampion, for it's a little too early in the year. These herbaceous perennials thrive when the sun is at its peak, waiting until the warmth of mid-summer before unfurling their complex flowers.

For anyone who doesn’t already know, Sussex isn’t one County, it’s two - West and East. We live in East. It’s absolutely glorious, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) with beautiful rolling countryside, equally beautiful coastline, history a plenty and all on a main train line between London and Hastings, so for us, we’re living the rural dream but within an hour of ‘The Big Smoke’

The garden looking very green and the chairs very empty

Hastings itself has the beach, its fishing trade, art gallery, museum, castle, country park, old town with the individual shops and restaurants and the old fernicular railway up and down the cliff face and that’s without mentioning its famous fish and chips. Inland, of course, is Battle and yes, famous for the scene of <fanfare> The Battle of Hastings Info Here

His and Hers Mugs from when OH used to commute

When we were relocating 20 years ago (in the midst of the petrol crisis no less) we had absolutely no idea where to start house searching. We were coming from right across the country (South Gloucestershire on the Welsh border) and had never visited Kent or Sussex before. My Other Half (term chosen to protect the identity of the innocent husband) was working extremely long hours and I was finding it incredibly hard to travel anywhere. Initially we decided to rent a house as our buyer was pushing hard for a moving date and it was on one of the trips out with a rental agent that we drove past the house we live in now. She pointed it out to me. It stayed in my memory but was way out of our search area and it was only after a series of unsuitable viewings to buy that I recalled ‘that house’ after OH, somewhat crossly (it was frustration) exclaimed ‘is this all you’ve got?!!?’

We knew nothing of the area and it was going to be a 40 minute drive to work, not to mention being somewhat remote for two young girls, however, the house ticked the boxes and there really hadn’t been anything else of interest. Later when OH had to commute to London for work the location turned out to be a god send with its direct train connection. I think he enjoyed that commute, especially the very early morning walk across London Bridge and the Summer scenes as the train took the strain through the countryside, especially the Lavender Fields following on from the Bluebell Woods.

In Lockdown it’s been all the more of a god send, with the space, seclusion and tranquility. Getting food shopping was a little bit tricky at times, but good neighbours helped us out and apart from missing family, it isn’t a hardship at all.

In different times we’ve still enjoyed being able to take an hour’s journey to go and see the sights. Last year we enjoyed a glorious Summer and went to the Tower of London twice, Kensington Palace, the Banqueting House and Hampton Court Palace - all included when you purchase a Royal Palace’s Membership.

Tower Bridge seen from the Tower grounds

Kensington Gardens seen from inside the Palace and the Palace from the Round Pond

About nature on the Serpentine

Banqueting House’s famous painted ceiling. This is the site of Charles’ I execution

The world famous Astrological Clock at Hampton Court Palace

On other days out we enjoying exploring Greenwich with the park,

Greenwich Park seen from The Queen’s House and the restored Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

The Queen’s House and all its other museums, visiting the Cutty Sark and walking underneath the Thames through the foot tunnel to Island Gardens - very well worth it as the view is amazing.

Do look on the Greenwich link as it has a further link to sights you can view from home.

It’s a mistake to think that you can only get close to and enjoy nature in the countryside, on a trip down the Thames we actually spotted a seal - we were only travelling between London Bridge and Covent Garden areas, so it was quite a way up. I can’t tell you how exciting that was. And when we got off the boat, there was a Bee on the pavement, struggling, so we picked it up and put it on a leaf (usually we’d make a sugar syrup at home, but that was the best we could do)

Grey Wagtail, Ecology Park, N Greenwich Peninsula and the funniest and most vocal young Heron I’ve ever seen (R Thames at Richmond)

And to end my trip down memory lane, I saw this on Twitter the other day and was captivated. Go to the link and click on Show This Thread. It’s Monopoly Board London in photos during lockdown. Brilliant.

https://twitter.com/danbarker/status/1272634582941171713

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