Dear old Sussex by the sea

Hallo, blogspotters.

This is my most ambitious photo gallery yet. And I've found something new - photos load in reverse order. So the first photo was meant to be a PS - a wee depiction of the never-failing politeness of the English. I'm still looking for the rude notice that says No Parking.

The next set are all about Hampton Court Palace and garden - a very sumptuous palace built by Cardinal Wolsey, under Henry 8, then taken over by Henry when the Cardinal fell from grace and his head no doubt fell from his shoulders. In the second piccy you can see a fountain that literally flows with wine on festive occasions, except that these days you pay 3.50 a glass to quaff from the fountain. Loved the wee dogs and dragons on the roofline to the right.

The formal gardens are wonderfully Tudor, but in fact only a few years old as they kinda got lost during Victorian times and have been faithfully re-createdfrom the original plans and, literal archeology. Vut very stunning. Jane took a zillion garden photos.

These pics are of the town of Battle, where the Battle of Hastings was actually fought - several miles inland from Hastings on the coast (which, by the way, is THE most decrepit town we've seen anywhere. What amazed me at Battle was that William the Conquerer very nearly didn't conquer - it was a very long battle by medieval standards - and by all the odds, he shouldn't have won. Harold, his opponent had the high ground, and William's lot had to fight uphill, where neither his archers nor his cavalry had any advantage, and in fact, all Harold's lot had to do was hold them off, and he would have won the day, But by a combination of guile and good luck, Harold's troups got lured off the high ground, Harold got his arrow, and the rest is history. But history teetered on a knife edge that day, and it is fascinating to speculate how history may have been rewritten if it were not, basically for a random arrow.

One wonders what or who may have been burnt at the bonfire site.

After the battle, William, as a penance, built an abbey on the battle site. Here is a tiny detail that rather caught the imagination.

This is the battlefield site. Although the picture doesn't show it well, it is a steep uphill slope to where the abbey walls are, and where Harold's 5000 strong shield wall stood to fend off William's troops.

Dear old Eastbourne looked like somewhere that had been built a few centuries ago, updated to the 1950's, and then frozen in time - except that on the pier, the concert hall/ballroom had been filled with spacies. But the atmosphere of the town was quite wonderful - it was the kind of place where you almost felt undressed if you were not carrying the obligatory 'ice'. But very sweet, very uncle Alf and Aunty Mae.

So, that's all, folks, from dear old Sussex by the sea. Note, by the way, the colour of the sky!

Go well, and don't forget the seaside spades.

Richard & Jane.

Just reporting in after a rather wonderful trip to Wales. Will try and attach a few pics if i can. Wales was quite marvellous! We spent nearly a day getting there, crossing england, and then a great bridge that stretched several miles across the Firth of the Severn, a bridge high enough to take ships underneath it, and found our accommodation at Pontypool in South Wales. We had a bit of spare time, so went down to Cardiff, Caerphilly, and other South Welsh towns starting with a C. We were not overly taken with South Wales. It had all been heavily industrialised in the 19th Century and was full of rather dreary looking Victorian towns full of Victorian Terrace houses, and not an awful lot between the towns. Although Cardiff had a rather pleasant park and Castle right in the middle of town. However, everything changed for the better the next day as we drove north through central Wales, away from the industrialisation and into the older, more untouched parts of the country. It's a place of steep hills, green valleys, and rather spectacular views. Much more like the back end of Tinui than anything else we had seen on our travels. The towns had wonderfully unreadable - and unpronouncable - names, like Llanwrtyd.(Khlan-wor-tid) Came across a lovely old market town called Brecon, where, instead of the usual English grey stone houses, most of the houses had been plastered and then painted, quite a wonderful range of colours - and where one building was shared by two residents, the colour would change halfway acrosss the building. We got into conversation with a couple of ladies with a wee dog. 'What do you call her?' asked Jane. 'Charnty!' they chorused. 'Charnty? Is that a Welsh name?' asked Jane. 'No, they said.'You know, charnty - beer and lemonade!' Mind you, the same evening, i also got into a cross-dialect mixup. We got to our hotel, booked in, and i said, 'Do you have a spare pen?' He looked completely puzzled and said, 'I've never been asked for one of those before. Do you want a straight pen(pin) or a safety pen(pin)?' 'Just a pen to write with', i said, as the penny dropped. Anyway, words are not really adequate, so here are a few samples of Wales.

Hi guys itlaics added by me, R. has talked about all the picies so you,ll be able to piece them togther.We sat and had lunch opposite the colourful houses.I think I liked the place so much because they didnt have all these hedges lining the roads and paddocks, like they do in England and it appeared a much less manicured place, than England, quite rough and take us as we are sort of place, more identifiable with NZ. However must away to bed 10.35. Temps are moving upwards. It was 15 in MK today.