under another sun

Up and another gorgeous day. Lorraine and I did a bit in the garden, including varnishing a window cill, one of many that will have to be done. In the evening Lorraine did some planting out of vegetables into the raised beds, and I did a spot of watering newly planted things. At midday, a beautiful leafy drive to West Hoathly and a pub called The Cat, where I'd been once with Anton after a walk, to meet Penny and Steve. We had an excellent Sunday lunch in the pub garden. Nice to see Penny and Steve who I'd not seen since they'd been to Japan -- a challenge for Penny as she hates fish. Meanwhile in the Cat I had some generous slices of roast beef trusting that the threat of orc foot will be staved off by my allopurinol. Washed it down with a Wobblegate cider, from Bolney near Lorraine's last school. Just once every couple of months red meat is marvellous. A Great Dane type of dog, but in grey, in the garden, that even I found it impossible not to smooth its head when pas...

Up fairly early and brought Lorraine breakfast in bed, before getting into my walking gear and being collected by Anton. As we drove to West Hoathly down wooded roads, Anton's sat nav went into night mode a few times as it was so dark under downpour of dark clouds. We walk into the lovely wooded landscapes around West Hoathly. Now transformed into a relive the Somme experience. Beautiful country, however, and we were soon lost. Finding ourselves in a forest at a time when the deluge was at its strongest. Still we had a really nice walk and a good chat. Something wild and lovely about walking in bad weather, and there is no better way of letting conversation fall out slowly. After a couple of hours, having accidentally found West Hoathly again, we neared Anton's lovely BMW convertible for the return drive home. As we did so, the clouds absconded.  A dreamlike return journey sitting in heated seats, with the roof down narrow rainwashed lanes, everything gleaming with sunshine...

The road goes on forever Up early to set off for a wonderful day's walking with Anton. Got to West Hoathly , to begin again from our last stopping point, the Cat Inn. Today we headed broadly eastwards, walking most of the way across the OS map to a village called Groombridge, straddling the Kent border. We skirted the Weir Wood Reservoir and then had a hobbit's second lunch in the village of Forest Row, under a plaque which told of President Kennedy's visit on 1963. Our last two hours were a straightforward 8 miles along a disused railway line, which is now a cyclists' and walkers' highway through East Sussex. Beautiful spring day, although many of the tracks were bootsuckingly muddy, especially around the reservoir. We walked through woodland often carpeted with bluebells, and the edges of fields adorned with primroses. Lots of rabbits about, and we saw a herd of deer, which Anton thought were a pack of Alsatians at first, a fox streaking red through a lush field f...

An English afternoon in March Up this morning to go for a walk with Anton. First time we'd gone for a walk together since October - mainly due to ghastly virus I had over Christmas. Currently Anton is offensively skinny, due to his so-called Kamikaze diet. For the last week he has not really eaten, and endured headaches and general enervation. He was impeccably prepared for our walk, of course, with the right clothes and equipment. He had also taken with him about 5000 calories worth of food: slow cooked Boston baked beans, which were contained in a large vacuum flask, a large and delicious pork pie from a specialist pork pie and sausage butcher, and a small snappy container full of a generous helping of Piccalilli sauce. Not to mention a big bag of mixed nuts. I made do with some sandwiches from M&S. Anton thoughtfully encouraged me to eat some of his pie, as increasing other people's weight around you is an important part of successful slimming. A really nice four and a h...