Life Observed

Have you ever considered the role of the Blacksmith in medieval society? Here is someone capable of real every day alchemy. Armed with fire, hammer and anvil, the village blacksmith could forge a tool, a fastening or door catch that would last for hundreds of years. Next time you get a chance, have a look at an old door and examine the hinges. There is a good chance they were made for that door by a blacksmith. There is also a good chance they will outlast the door. So: When you meet someone called Smith, step aside for a master of the black arts.

On Westerham green (a charming market town, attractive to residents, according to its web site) hard by the old A25 you will find an imposing statue of Churchill. He sits, leaning forward and glowering with some disapproval at the state of the world today. I tend to sympathise.

Robin hood received repeated ASBOs for weapons offences in his early career and was eventually banned from owning bow and arrow altogether.  He was therefore reduced to robbing the rich with a pretend gun.

Another star property spotted down on the shingle. Not much space inside (though plenty of space outside). No amenities. No facilities, no services. However there are no neighbours, though it may be a little bit bleak in the winter. There is a tea shop at Rye Harbour about half a mile away.

Showing your age. Not much use to anybody. In needs of funds and still tied down somehow.

Have you noticed? Tour around your average National Trust property and it soon becomes obvious that previous generations seem to have been fortunate and very well heeled. It seems nobody lived in poky little houses. They didn't have to look at wood chip wallpaper and sit on cheap MFI furniture. They had beautiful oak panel walls and real leather seats in their well stocked library. Outside the house would sit in many acres of land, and sometimes many thousands of acres. All in all the people we chose to commemorate appear to have been wealthy, while the poor and the merely average have passed silently into history unremarked and unremembered.

One of the Romney Marsh churches. Much photographed by every snapper and his dog I gather. I expect there is a queue of tripod wielding landscapers some mornings. Anyway - here's my version.

Another view from downstairs. Summoned by bells, and at the beck and call of your betters. Ah, those were the days.

Another National Trust property ticked off the list. Our annual membership is paying dividends. Pretty soon we will have saved so much in entrance fees that we could buy another car...

Bexhill, innit. Ah the excellent De la Warr pavilion. We were expecting cream building and blue sky but there was a sea fog that had turned the town from summer to November in the last mile to the sea front. No matter. Mist is a thing that can transform photographs, and can't be created in Photoshop.

In case you wondered, this is what is at the end of the line..

Weirdness from the south coast. Spotted at Dungeness. Two dilapidated sheds surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Exactly what is this about? The army posting from hell?

It's no use waving your arms around.  I can see you in there watching me.

A coffee and a croissant twice. That will be ten pounds sir. Ah yes, but this is a trendy coffee shop that has just opened in town and the curious are still thronging the place before there is the inevitable exodus to the next new thing. BTW: It is a good thing I cleaned my cutlery when I arrived. I hate to think how much our short break would have cost with a clean fork... Harrumph.

Had a nasty moment in town recently.  We presented ourselves in the latest trendy coffee shop recently opened in our shopping centre. While we were standing in the queue of supplicants waiting to be ignored by the serving staff I looked around and suddenly had a thought. What if they won't serve us because I haven't got a tattoo?  Well I decided to rectify this situation immediately and an hour later I discover I am now fully respected down on the street.

Help! Last night I looked out at our garden and I saw this weird alien spaceship . It was silver grey and kept morphing into different shapes as I watched it. I grabbed the camera and took some pictures. Then quite suddenly it vanished, I couldn't see it any more* *Well, I couldn't see it because I decided to draw the curtains. OK. It was actually the moon reflected in the greenhouse.  Har Har. April Fool!