under another sun

Monday, and up and moving. Downstairs for another nice breakfast -- the owner chatting to us. A lovely woman. Then after paying we mooched our gear into the car, and then went to see Matt in Acorn & Pip  where Reuben works. It's a toyshop, with excellent educational toys, sells clothes, and has some tables for coffee and teas. Reuben's boss stopped to chat too. A lovely bloke. Said cheerio to Reuben, then Matt walked us to our car. It had been brilliant to see them both. Off then driving up across the high hills and down into valleys, including the one where the filmed Last of the Summer Wine, until we made it onto the M1 after being rerouted due to an accident. A fairly miraculous journey home, with few slow bits, and even the hideous M25 behaved itself. The time went fairly quickly, we did a crossword, listened to music, and so on. We were home in Seaford at about ten past four, but drove to Morrisons first to get a bit of shopping in.  Having spent five hours at the whe...

A nice English Breakfast and coffee, then off to meet Matt and Phoebe to go for a walk. We also went to his house, crossing the little river, where a heron was standing immobile in the water, and climbing up a hundred steps. His house is on the Manchester Road. The front of the house is close to the road, but view from the back windows is all of the treetops of the wooded hillside we climbed. Then along the Manchester road, and cut down to walk by the side of the canal, to the next little town called Marsden. Apparently it is where  Simon Armitage our current poet laureate was born. An inspiring valley surrounded by high moors. We had a good canal side walk in the bracing Yorkshire rain, and ended up having a cheeky cup of coffee in a cafe before catching a bus back to Slaithwaite.  Here we went straight to Hillside Harmonies, where Reuben had been holding the fort, to meet old pals of Lorraine's Lesley and Jeremy, who live in a town not too far away called Diggle where we sta...

Up and had a decent breakfast in the Beefeater, and then faffed about getting ready. Then at noon we set off, stopping off at immense shopping centres in Warrington and St Helens, as Lorraine was in search of something which proved unobtainable.  Then to Yorkshire, where people speak their minds, to Slaithwaite not far from Huddersfield. We drove on the M62, which went over windy hill, near Denshaw, apparently the highest point of any motorway in England. Some breathtaking countryside as we neared Slaithwaite, descending steeply down narrow roads of a valley from the high ground, with some amazing views. We parked up near our bed and breakfast, and carried all our stuff into a perfectly pleasant room. The owner Mike et us in and showed us to our room, and his wife, when we met her later was welcoming and friendly.  Slaithwaite is one of those places pronounced very confusingly. Locals pronounce it Sla-wit, and our hostess at the BnB pronounced it Slath-wait (which Matt told us...

Up and out today. A gorgeous sunny spring day. After collecting a phone charger Dawn had left at a pal's house, off to Steyning to collet Dawn and Lorraine drove us to Chichester. Went to the Cathedral there which has a few gorgeous windows, and a window by Marc Chagall , which I didn't like very much, but that may have been because it had little light passing through it when we were there. A cup of coffee and an eccles cake for me in the cafe, and enjoyed chatting with Dawn and Lorraine. Dawn cheerful at present and has been dating a nice man. Chatting later it seems by coincidence that he has exactly the same birthday as me. Then we went to The Pallant House Art Gallery  which has a lot of twentieth English Art in it, some of it quite interesting. Several pieces by Graham Sutherland, a Lucien Freud and this piece by Ceri Richards I enjoyed . There was a big exhibition of Leonard Rosoman's work called Painting Theatre , which was interesting but brought out my inner Pl...

After recent events, finding it hard to concentrate today, and so found myself doing things like ironing and laundry instead of pressing on with the story. In the afternoon I took myself to get a haircut and go to the gym, and this was helpful and found myself much clearer headed than before.  Went out at 5:30 to meet Glen and Richard in the Evening Star. Glen fresh off the plane and looking cheerful and well. An enjoyable chat with them, and arranging to meet up again soon. Richard had been over to Greece recently and had played with Glen doing his Shakespeare Heptet material. Steve unable to come because of a leg injury he got while putting the clay pigeon ejector away at his shooting club, which sounded ouchy. I walked down past the Brighton Tavern only to find Matt standing outside having a cigarette. So I simply joined Matt and Reuben for a drink. Great to see them. A very sociable evening, although drinking on a school night possibly not the most sensible thing, I felt...

Beth's 25th birthday today. It started in traditional (for Beth) style with Beth, and John, sitting on the end of our bed to open her presents. And as usual Betty very excited. At lunchtime we all got a cab with a very friendly driver to take us to The Eagle, where we had the room upstairs which was soon full of Beth's pals, including Dylan, James and Kitty and Sarah and Matt and their bairns -- and some folks who were in Annie that Beth has known for years. We had a good Sunday roast in there and a few beers during the afternoon. I was particularly pleased to see  Matt and Reuben who are all chuffed at their engagement. Lorraine, sensibly went home at tea time, but I stayed out with Beth and John, John's pal Matt and James. We went up the road to the Brighton Tavern, where Matt and Reuben had gone a bit earlier, for another drink with them. Then off to The Mash Tun, which was noisy and full of idiots. Then we went to another pub where there was an open night for musicia...