Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Surprises
Well, what a day.
This morning, hurriedly packing up all our needs and getting on the road - the motorway roads....M23, M25, M1, M18, A1M.
It was dull and damp for the entire journey.
I amused myself as I often do on long journeys with sort of word games. I was looking at lorries to see where they came from and hoping to find one or more for each letter of the alphabet. Today I failed on E J V X Y and Z.
Daft to have a favourite - but I do like the company called Knights which are located at Old......they are Knights of Old.
Also jotted down the names of the Eddie Stobart lorries - most must be named after the daughters of the drivers; very modern names, like Kylie Louise. One driver had I am sure, named his lorry after his mother - Ethel May.
The miles slipped by - not the most scenic of routes.
We stopped at a motorway service station for a rest and a bite to eat. This was not the most desirable of services.....and some of them can be pleasant.
We did seomething never done before - we had food from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Poor Bill stood bemused by the choices! I ordered. I had a chicken sizzler fillet burger, and it was pretty damn tasty. I could have done with a knife and fork though - my teeth are not yet up to the job of biting through a crispy covered chicken fillet - had to pull it apart with my fingers! Bill had a Big Daddy burger!
We arrived at Ashley's just about 6 hours after we left home.
We slumped down and enjoyed a cup of tea and a slice of the cake I bought in Waitrose yesterday.
Ashley cooked a meal for us - and that was excellent; he did a well flavoured vegetarian rive dish, which for want of a better word, he calls risotto.
And then we went out.
It was a meeting of the local history society.
Rather like going to the post card club at home, without the postcard dealers.
The title of the talk was Monkey Business at the Abbey.
The speaker was excellent. He is an archaeologist with a passion. He was so human and yet erudite and very, very funny.
He talked about abbeys - mostly ones that didn't survive as even a ruin after Henry VIII destroyed them But then, as he said, if you have seen one medieval abbey, you have seen them all; they all have the same ground plan.
As I listened my memory was also jumping into action.
I remeber in the 1970s, whilst on holiday in Northumberland going to visit somebody my father had kept in touch with. My Dad was very good at keeping in touch with people.
I felt slightly embarrased for this man was my old English teacher at Ifield Grammar School - Stan Beckensall.
Now I was not a hard worker at school and paid very little attention to my studies. I did English A Level for want of a better subject and did it very badly. Reading the set books might have helped!
I realised when we visited Mr Beckensall, that although he must have lofed English literature, he must have hated trying to enthuse the likes of me.
In Northumberland he was able to pursue his far greater passion - archaeology; in particular rock art (which is not as trendy as it sounds). He has studied ancient cave art work and written extensively about it. I didn't realise there would be so much to find in the UK - and Northumberland in particular.
One of my friends had kept in touch with him and I thought I had heard from her that he had died.
Not so.
He has just celebrated his 80th birthday.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/StanFest/368606793214627
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/stan-s-surprise-80th-birthday-party-rocks-1.998499?referrerPath=news_at_a_glance_2_2978
I don't know if non facebook people can open up that facebook page. I have just written on it and sent best wishes.
So another day of surprises.
Tomorrow remains a mystery - no plans have been settled. But there are lots of things to do and see.
This morning, hurriedly packing up all our needs and getting on the road - the motorway roads....M23, M25, M1, M18, A1M.
It was dull and damp for the entire journey.
I amused myself as I often do on long journeys with sort of word games. I was looking at lorries to see where they came from and hoping to find one or more for each letter of the alphabet. Today I failed on E J V X Y and Z.
Daft to have a favourite - but I do like the company called Knights which are located at Old......they are Knights of Old.
Also jotted down the names of the Eddie Stobart lorries - most must be named after the daughters of the drivers; very modern names, like Kylie Louise. One driver had I am sure, named his lorry after his mother - Ethel May.
The miles slipped by - not the most scenic of routes.
We stopped at a motorway service station for a rest and a bite to eat. This was not the most desirable of services.....and some of them can be pleasant.
We did seomething never done before - we had food from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Poor Bill stood bemused by the choices! I ordered. I had a chicken sizzler fillet burger, and it was pretty damn tasty. I could have done with a knife and fork though - my teeth are not yet up to the job of biting through a crispy covered chicken fillet - had to pull it apart with my fingers! Bill had a Big Daddy burger!
We arrived at Ashley's just about 6 hours after we left home.
We slumped down and enjoyed a cup of tea and a slice of the cake I bought in Waitrose yesterday.
Ashley cooked a meal for us - and that was excellent; he did a well flavoured vegetarian rive dish, which for want of a better word, he calls risotto.
And then we went out.
It was a meeting of the local history society.
Rather like going to the post card club at home, without the postcard dealers.
The title of the talk was Monkey Business at the Abbey.
The speaker was excellent. He is an archaeologist with a passion. He was so human and yet erudite and very, very funny.
He talked about abbeys - mostly ones that didn't survive as even a ruin after Henry VIII destroyed them But then, as he said, if you have seen one medieval abbey, you have seen them all; they all have the same ground plan.
As I listened my memory was also jumping into action.
I remeber in the 1970s, whilst on holiday in Northumberland going to visit somebody my father had kept in touch with. My Dad was very good at keeping in touch with people.
I felt slightly embarrased for this man was my old English teacher at Ifield Grammar School - Stan Beckensall.
Now I was not a hard worker at school and paid very little attention to my studies. I did English A Level for want of a better subject and did it very badly. Reading the set books might have helped!
I realised when we visited Mr Beckensall, that although he must have lofed English literature, he must have hated trying to enthuse the likes of me.
In Northumberland he was able to pursue his far greater passion - archaeology; in particular rock art (which is not as trendy as it sounds). He has studied ancient cave art work and written extensively about it. I didn't realise there would be so much to find in the UK - and Northumberland in particular.
One of my friends had kept in touch with him and I thought I had heard from her that he had died.
Not so.
He has just celebrated his 80th birthday.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/StanFest/368606793214627
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/stan-s-surprise-80th-birthday-party-rocks-1.998499?referrerPath=news_at_a_glance_2_2978
I don't know if non facebook people can open up that facebook page. I have just written on it and sent best wishes.
So another day of surprises.
Tomorrow remains a mystery - no plans have been settled. But there are lots of things to do and see.
