golden primulas
yellow pottery dish
bowl of sunshine
yellow pottery dish
bowl of sunshine
Thursday 26 March 2015
Monday 23 March 2015
Old and new
We have just returned to our home in France from an 8-day trip to England.
We were saddened and angered to find the motorway from Folkestone and the A13 in south Essex were litter-strewn and the very few lay-bys without rubbish bins…but would they have been used anyway? What an impression for overseas visitors on their first view of the country and a disappointment to those returning. We remember the “Keep Britain Tidy” movement from years ago. Seems well past time to bring it back. It was a relief to turn onto a B road which was clean, clear of rubbish and in pretty countryside.
On the way up to Essex, we stopped at Maidstone Services in Kent and spotted these…
The first I’ve seen but no doubt more and more will be installed as more electric cars are used.
We arrived very close to our destination but our satnav couldn’t identify it and we couldn’t find it without first getting lost and, second, asking someone for directions! The delightful self-catering Bee Cottage in Langdon Hills, near Basildon, is one of a few barn conversions tucked into hidden woodland with large urbanisation all around it.
We had heard of shabby-chic furnishing but experienced an excellent version of it inside the cottage…
The kitchen and bathroom were on a lower ground floor...
Chic indeed and not so shabby!
We spent a week there and it was an ideal location for us to catch up with some of my cousins - we are now scattered but try to meet up once a year for lunch somewhere - this time at The White Hart at Margaretting Tye, which is in rural Essex. We were also able to visit or meet up with old friends in Upminster, Brentwood, Mountnessing, Benfleet, Wickford and Langdon Hills. Three, and their husbands, from my teenage school days (a move from Somerset back to London in 1951 when I was 14), previous neighbours from our first house in 1963, a friend from Townswomen’s Guild days, 1965, and the daughter, and her husband, of friends (sadly now departed) since the 1960s when their children and ours grew up together.
A merge of memories old and new. Some of our friends are not “online” so I won’t include photos here other than one taken by one of them which illustrates how happy we were to be there.
We smiled a lot last week.
We were saddened and angered to find the motorway from Folkestone and the A13 in south Essex were litter-strewn and the very few lay-bys without rubbish bins…but would they have been used anyway? What an impression for overseas visitors on their first view of the country and a disappointment to those returning. We remember the “Keep Britain Tidy” movement from years ago. Seems well past time to bring it back. It was a relief to turn onto a B road which was clean, clear of rubbish and in pretty countryside.
On the way up to Essex, we stopped at Maidstone Services in Kent and spotted these…
We arrived very close to our destination but our satnav couldn’t identify it and we couldn’t find it without first getting lost and, second, asking someone for directions! The delightful self-catering Bee Cottage in Langdon Hills, near Basildon, is one of a few barn conversions tucked into hidden woodland with large urbanisation all around it.
We had heard of shabby-chic furnishing but experienced an excellent version of it inside the cottage…
The kitchen and bathroom were on a lower ground floor...
Chic indeed and not so shabby!
We spent a week there and it was an ideal location for us to catch up with some of my cousins - we are now scattered but try to meet up once a year for lunch somewhere - this time at The White Hart at Margaretting Tye, which is in rural Essex. We were also able to visit or meet up with old friends in Upminster, Brentwood, Mountnessing, Benfleet, Wickford and Langdon Hills. Three, and their husbands, from my teenage school days (a move from Somerset back to London in 1951 when I was 14), previous neighbours from our first house in 1963, a friend from Townswomen’s Guild days, 1965, and the daughter, and her husband, of friends (sadly now departed) since the 1960s when their children and ours grew up together.
A merge of memories old and new. Some of our friends are not “online” so I won’t include photos here other than one taken by one of them which illustrates how happy we were to be there.
We smiled a lot last week.
Sunday 8 March 2015
the only
the only breeze, my sigh
as I relax in warm sunshine
letting Winter drain from my bones
the only sound, birdsong,
sparrow chirrups and coot calls;
grey thoughts vanish as Spring commands my mind
the only place, right here
looking at water surrounded by trees
while white daisies lift their faces to the sun
the only season, now
when the countryside is greening
bringing life more meaning in warmth’s glow
8.3.15
plan d'eau
Marville
as I relax in warm sunshine
letting Winter drain from my bones
the only sound, birdsong,
sparrow chirrups and coot calls;
grey thoughts vanish as Spring commands my mind
the only place, right here
looking at water surrounded by trees
while white daisies lift their faces to the sun
the only season, now
when the countryside is greening
bringing life more meaning in warmth’s glow
8.3.15
plan d'eau
Marville
Thursday 5 March 2015
At last there are snowdrops!
Today the sun is shining from a mostly-blue sky. It is not hot but definitely warmer than of late and, at last, there are snowdrops!
By the sign for the village of Jametz, at the base of a crucifix statue,
two stone troughs are full of them…
On the opposite side of the road are the remains of an old castle, now just a grassy mound, and the recently-refurbished old wash-house…
On returning home, we see the signs of spring flowers in our narrow strip of garden between the house and pavement…
Spring is arriving and our spirits lift.
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