Followers of my blog will know that I’m a bit of a football fan. They will also know that I like local football grounds. Lockdown has meant that instead of international travel we’ve been rediscovering our local area over the past year. Today took us over to Newhaven in East Sussex- another stretch of the coastline that I’ll cover in another blog.
Today’s picnic stop was by Newhaven Football Club grounds.
Newhaven FC ground.
Newhaven FC is one of the oldest clubs in Sussex, and was formed by the Towner family who were brewers in the town during the latter 19th century, plus some of their enthusiastic friends. A meeting took place at the Bridge Hotel in December 1887 when it decided to form the Club and 20 members signed up on the day.
They play in the Southern CombinationPremier Division. Unfortunately, as with the majority of local clubs the 2019- 2020 season was abandoned. Hoping for better things for 2021- 2022.
I walked a National Trust section of the South Downs this morning, from Went Hill to Brass Point.
Walking, my mind was full of mariners tales, coastguards, forgotten villages and smugglers- all fighting to survive in the rugged and wild conditions.
I will never tire of this landscape and its rich history!
A Smuggler’s Song.
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet, Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street; Them that ask no questions isn’t told a lie. Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark — Brandy for the Parson, Baccy for the Clerk; Laces for a lady, letters for a spy, And watch the wall, my darling, While the Gentlemen go by!
Running round the woodlump if you chance to find Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine, Don’t you shout to come and look, nor use ’em for your play. Put the brishwood back again — and they’ll be gone next day!
If you see the stable-door setting open wide; If you see a tired horse lying down inside; If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore; If the lining’s wet and warm — don’t you ask no more!
If you meet King George’s men, dressed in blue and red, You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said. If they call you “pretty maid,” and chuck you ‘neath the chin, Don’t you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one’s been!
Knocks and footsteps round the house — whistles after dark — You’ve no call for running out till the house-dogs bark. Trusty’s here, and Pincher’s here, and see how dumb they lie — They don’t fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!
If you do as you’ve been told, ‘likely there’s a chance, You’ll be given a dainty doll, all the way from France, With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood — A present from the Gentlemen, along o’ being good!
Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark — Brandy for the Parson, ‘Baccy for the Clerk; Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie — Watch the wall, my darling, While the Gentlemen go by!
Clémence Poésey as Elise Wassermann and Stephen Dillane as Karl Roebuck, the detectives
Based on the original Swedish series “The Bridge,” this British crime drama centers on British and French detectives who are forced to work together when a French politician is found dead inside the Channel Tunnel, sparking a complex cross-Channel investigation. This is very clever writing by the team comprising Ben Richards, Chris Yang, Jamie Crichton, John Jackson and George Kay.
Again a bit late to the party, but really enjoyed this.
I am on annual leave these last two weeks of January 2021. Like a lot of other people during this pandemic, I should have been elsewhere in the world. So we had to re-think. Plan B was a road trip to take in a few of these:
Then a third lockdown has meant staying in our home town. So plan C came into force and we took a walk and did these:
Eastbourne football grounds.
Eastbourne Borough, Eastbourne Town and Eastbourne United.
The Christmas Eve Carol Service from Kings College Cambridge was a bit different for 2020. There was no congregation and recorded in advance it was beautiful nonetheless.
Click on the link below for the poignant In the Bleak Mid-Winter, music by Gustav Holst and arranged by Mack Wilberg, especially apt for this 2020 winter.
Thanksgiving, which occurs on the fourth Thursday in November, is based on the colonial Pilgrims’ 1621 harvest meal. The holiday continues to be a day for Americans to gather for a day of feasting, football and family.
Unfortunately due to the 2020 Pandemic things might be a bit different this year. However there is the virtual option.
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
This was at the Martello Tower (small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards) at Seaford, East Sussex. Interesting!
As a post script to this post an old naval friend contacted me with a bit more information:
“It was flown first in the West Indies when the place was full of yellow fever by the Royal Navy but now it’s flown for other contagious disease.”
“Trick or Treat! Give me something good to eat. Give me candy. Give me cake. Give me something sweet to take!” “Trick or treat’…
Halloween- also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve, or All Saints’ Eve, is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day.
The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Halloween will be different this year with Covid 19 showing no signs of going away. However we can still carve and display our pumpkins, cook our Halloween food and scare ourselves with a horror movie.
Sadly not playing cruise ships at the moment, due to the worldwide situation. However in rehearsals this weekend for function gigs across the uk, Europe and internationally.
Last week (10th- 16th August) was Afternoon Tea Week. I’m a bit late with this post, but couldn’t let the occasion pass completely.
Afternoon Tea is a tea-related ritual, introduced in Britain in the early 1840s. It evolved as a little meal to stem the hunger and anticipation of an evening meal at 8pm.
The tradition of afternoon tea made its way into English literature around a decade after the brew made its way into British drawing rooms in the early seventeenth century. I love this quote from C.S. Lewis:
And of course don’t forget the sandwiches, scones and cake. Especially the cake…
We as a family made a lot of cake over the lockdown period. It was something to do and something to share from a social distance and became quite special to us all.
Here are my two favourite Afternoon Tea pictures from the unprecedented times of 2020.
The Grand Hotel treat after lockdown and VE Day 2020 during lockdown. We did a virtual afternoon tea.
The vividly painted architecture lining the Willemstad waterfront in Curaçao did not happen by design. The capital city developed after the Dutch claimed the island in 1634. The only materials available for construction, mismatched bricks scavenged from ship ballast, were finished with lime plaster made from crushed shells, which dried to a dazzling white facade in the intense Caribbean sun. Apparently a former governor of the island suffered from severe headaches and thought this was made worse by the sun’s brilliant reflections off the white buildings. He ordered that building exteriors be painted any color but white. Despite later discovery that the governor was a shareholder in the island’s only paint store, the tradition of painting in vivid colors has endured, making Willemstad’s Dutch and Spanish colonial style architecture a stunning Caribbean sight.
Willemstad, Curaçao, the last of the ABC islands to visit, was the final port of call on our Six week West Indies and American cruise. A cruise that had it’s ups and downs due to the start of Covid-19. Unfortunately although we could dock here, we didn’t get to go ashore. Another time, another cruise…!
Milly Space 