Sunday, November 01, 2009
Rain and Apples.
Today was not a day for going out.
So, just for a change, Sunday morning gave us a lie in.
The rain and wind were quite fierce for a while.
Torrential rain was driven across the outside world.
But others were up for their big day. About 550 veteran cars set off from London for the annual drive to Brighton.
It must have been a tough ride today.
Normally people gather close to our house to watch them - but not today. I hope there was activity in the town centre where the drivers stop at The George Hotel - they would have welcomed a hot drink there I should think.
I have relaxed and enjoyed this day of rest.
I spent a while describing and listing some more things for EBay. I am not sure how worthwhile it is whilst the postal strikes are still in place.
I have also caught up with some emails.
And how good that 2 of my old college friends have already been in touch.
Inga has agreed to host a reunion for as many as can make it at the beginning of December. She lives just the other side of Hastings.
Those "girls" are really very kind and supportive.
And now for produce from The Garden of England - Kent.
The hop gardens seem to have vanished, but there are still orchards.
We had heard that apples were being left unpicked because supermarkets thought their customers preferred apples from the other side of the world.
Just up the hill from the farm where we were staying was an orchard with fantastic looking apples. We planned to photograph them.
On the day we arrived, the pickers were at work.
We got talking with the orchard owner and so learned a little more.
He had Braeburns and Jazz apples. We had never heard of the latter. They are a modern cross between Braeburns and Gala apples.
These apples were destined for Waitrose and Marks and Spencers - not for them bags of Golden Delicious!
Being a little cheeky I asked if we could pick up some that had already fallen from the trees.
But our man suggested we just pick a few for ourselves.
These are Braeburns.
And Bill took Braeburns from the tree.
So, I picked some Jazz apples.
They are a little more oval than Braeburns and with a golden yellow as well as the brilliant red
The pickers filled baskets on their bodies and then loaded the fruit into the crates for the tractor to tow away.
Back at the cottage Bill took some "portraits" of our special apples. And they were exceedingly good.
