Week 7.
Tina McInerney
We have been here for 5 months now so it must be about week 20 and I haven’t written since week 6! My excuse is that we have been rather busy and by the end of the day, I sit and play freecell or read my book or knit which I seem to unpick more than I knit!. I will try to do a bit of a catch-up a week at a time.
Week 7
starting where I left off on August 16. Sunday morning, Tony and Andy arrived home from Brighton early - had a pleasant time, I believe.
August 17 - Monday was a trip to Winchester. I had to buy a pair of flat shoes for the wedding. I tried on the outfit with the shoes and realised that I couldn’t stand in them because of the ankle. It was a successful trip as I found something to suit - always a worry when you have something specific in mind.
August 18 - a trip to Southampton - probably a visit to Ikea as Claire was getting organised for the christening and you can’t have a party without buying serviettes from Ikea! There was also the purchase of a canvas gazebo for the deck. The forecast was the rain to tip down so we thought we should take some precautions - this was after much discussion.
August 19 - Just for a change, Dad and I drove over to Salisbury to visit ‘Wilton House’, another magnificent house belonging to an earl who is dire straits and needs to charge for people to visit his house. He has a rather large collection of supercars and vintage cars - not sure why he can’t sell those after all, most people trade in their cars when they get new ones!
August 20 - I don’t have anything for this os must have had a quiet day getting organised for the next week. Dad may have played golf
August 21 - and Dad did play golf today as it was a Charity Day for an organisation called CAFOD - it is the official Catholic Aid agency for England and Wales. A fellow from the church organised it. There was dinner at the club afterwards and I went along to that.
August 22 - Preparations for the christening - I think I made sausage rolls.
August 23 - The Christening and Claire’s birthday - the rain came tipping down! We went to church at St Swithin Wells - a charming little church in Halterworth, the next village to Romsey. A beautiful ceremony with Abigail behaving just as she should and looking very cute in her white lace dress. The dress was worn by Claire when she was baptised - 40 years ago - nearly to the day! and made by my grandmother who was my dad’s mother. The hat was made by Claire the day before - true to her mother’s form. The rain did stop and the sun came out - we needed the gazebo for shade! It was a lovely afternoon.
August 24 - and Tony and I travelled over to Rye for the wedding. We travelled over on the A272 - so picturesque with a stop at Petersfield - it was raining that day so not much point in walking about so we kept going to Rye. We did a bit of a recce of the town and bought some supplies.
August 25 - off to London where it was still raining - I really can’t remember too much of what we did?? We were staying in Daniel’s hotel in Leicester - Oh yes, Tony met up with Brother Richard and had a bit of a wonder around and I went off to look at something else - probably Liberty and a fabric shop I discovered which sells remnants - they are my go-to shops these days. I met up with Tony and Richard at a pub called ‘Lamb and Flag’ - only built in 1772 but it was a favourite of Charles Dickens. Off to the lovely hotel for an early morning.
August 26 - we met Daniel at the airport at 6am and took the suitcases he brought with him with all my wool and spare sheets and towels. Daniel went off to town and we headed down the road back to Rye. We were looking for breakfast but it was too early anywhere. We called into a National Trust village - Chiddingstone Village - it was just one street with a pub and a few houses built in the Tudor style - very pretty. Nothing open there so we went on to Lewes to have breakfast at a cafe called Bill’s - which turns out to be almost a chain! No complaints though as we had a delicious breakfast and a great cup of coffee! We had a bit of a look through the town then on to visit another Trust House - Monk’s house. It was the holiday house of Virginia Woolfe. the village was quintessential with thatched roofs and climbing roses. The houses was relatively small but interesting to know that this is where she lived and relaxed with her friends. I have read a couple of her books which I didn’t really like. and then on to Rye.
I will stop there and hope to get back to it later this week.
love to all mum xxx