Saturday, August 15, 2009

 

A great anniversary present for me

Another Saturday and another trip to Ford and Littlehampton.
It was a grey day.
And the wind was quite fierce and chilly on the sea front - no beach parties this week, just small family groups huddled behind the breakwaters.
My first purchase of the day at Ford delighted me - I wanted one for some time.
I'll leave you wondering, until the end of today's ramblings, to see what it is.
It has been a toy day - I bought 2 dolls. One is a hard plastic 1950s doll and the other is a clockwork doll who shuffles along. Bill bought more farm animals.
I bought a little china and glass - and a huge whisk. One has to wonder what size bowl the cook would have been using when wielding this whisk.
We seemed to be at Ford for ages.
Later we parked the car at Littlehampton and tucked between 2 coaches was an interesting lorry loaded with pigeons, destined to race back to the Northampton area.



We chatted with the driver, but he couldn't be sure when he would release them all. He wanted to give them the advantage of some sunshine and clearer skies.
"Could be 10 minutes.... could be an hour" he told us.
He said many of the pigeons were novices and would need the sun to guide them.
I am not sure about that..... surely even intelligent homing pigeons wouldn't know if they were north or south or east or west of their home. They wouldn't know if they had to fly with the sun on their backs or in their eyes.
But somehow they do know which way to go.
The man reckoned they would be back in their pigeon lofts about an hour and a half after their release, especially with the wind behind them. That's a lot quicker than our driver friend would do the journey.
We wanted to see them fly off - but didn't want to hang around for an hour. Shame really.
They were gone when we returned.
From pigeons we turned to the swans. Just for a change we had remembered to take some bread for them this week.
Swans have a sixth sense and are very quickly gathered together, attracted by a supply of bread!
The swans look so interesting from above as we stand above the fast flowing River Arun.



Then it was time to feed ourselves - or let The Balaton family feed us.
Picture below.
The kitchen is through the hatchway.
We have to walk through the busy kitchen to get to their Mediterranean style garden, where a pretty, clean loo is situated under the cafe.


Once back home we could sort out our purchases....... and here it is..... my purchase of the day!

At last I am old enough to have a shopping trolley!
It is for use at car boot sales and will save aching arms, hands and backs. And maybe there need not be so many trips back to the car.
I loved using it today.
Tomorrow I will try it out on the Pease Pottage field.
Shame we can't go further afield, but we can't be out for too long because we have agreed to do timekeeping over at the Horsham track.
At this moment Bill is vacuuming my computer!
My computer is sick.
Not sure what is causing it - but it is freezing up frequently. Bill wonders if dirt and dust might be causing the machine to over heat.
Maybe Ashley can advise - for he had this problem recently.
Do we have an infection by a deadly virus?
If he can't make a suggestion then perhaps we'll have to call the PC Doctor once again.

A great anniversary present for me
posted by Grandma P on Saturday, August 15, 2009