After the disasters recorded last time, I was really pleased to enjoy two domestic triumphs. The baked on apple spill-over on the hob had proved totally resistant to quite firm scraping and, frankly, hammering with a flat wooden spatula. At a loss, and it was time for bed anyway, I thought simply to pour some oven cleaner I had come across on to it and to leave it overnight. The following morning I found it had worked. Not completely, but it was certainly a whole lot better than it had been. Shortly afterwards I found I had done apparently irreparable damage to the top of an early 19th Century music stand that we had bought back in Meopham. In my continuing bid to live in gilded splendour I have adopted Cherry's liking for bringing flowers and the like into the house and had put an earthenware vase on top of it. Although there was no sign of any leakage, I found a big perfect white circle right in the middle of the marquetry top. Dismayed I thought to try the same thing with it and sprayed on a thick layer of Pledge. Sure enough after a few hours that worked too, and the white circle completely disappeared ! Perhaps I should abandon 'boats' (as Philippa likes to call the subject of my academic endeavours) and write a book on household tips instead !
Cherry would have been somewhat startled at the whole idea, domestic expertise never having been my strong point. I find myself thinking of her even more as the three year anniversary approaches and there was a bit of extra sadness when I heard from friends in Singapore that our great friend Sam Bateman had suddenly died. A retired Commodore in the Australian navy, he became arguably the leading figure on maritime security in the Asia-Pacific. He 'went native' after leaving the Navy, espousing liberal interpretations and causes (on things like the South China Sea dispute) that went against official opinion. The Americans in particular liked him as a person but were uncomfortable with his views. He was extraordinarily popular and prolific around the region. He never entirely shook off the habits of naval command though. I remember once we were being taken out to an island off Taiwan by the Taiwanese navy in a patrol boat bucketing over the waves, when he was enraged at the fact that all the young sailors were staring at the screens of their displays and no-one was looking out of the window. He certainly give them the benefit of his views. Hardly anyone looked at the screens on the way back. He could be formidable on the very rare occasions when a taxi driver tried to 'take us for a ride' as well.
But this was atypical for he was a truly genial and friendly soul. He took a shine to Cherry and I when we first went out to Singapore as green Westerners and really introduced us to an entirely different way of life out there, far removed from the usual touristy sort of things(which of course we also did but off our own bat). He took us to all sorts of places in Singapore to sample the 'real thing' (with only one adverse gastronomic consequence, which he had more than us, curiously) both there and in countless conference venues around the region. After I had written to her, his daughter answered that he was always saying how much he had enjoyed our company. We certainly enjoyed his; Cherry was very fond of him and would have been much upset at the news. In a way losing him has reinforced my sense of having lost her. There's another link gone.
But others survive. I hosted a meeting of the old University group, Tony, Maya, John and Melanie at the Peppermill in Devizes, taking advantage of the fact that the Southwest was then in the lowest category of anti-Covid regulation, with Wiltshire having figures in the middle of the local range. Generally but not always we dine and wine 'chez host' but I really didn't think I could offer fish-finger butties or baked potato with cheddar and baked beans - which is pretty much the height of my culinary accomplishment, that is when the seas are fair and the wind is following. But we did repair to the cottage for tea and the woodburner. The trouble was that no-one really wanted the goodies I had brought in, so I will just have to wolf down the cake and biscuits myself.
At least this will set me up against the lockdown. The garden is still producing as we head into November. More tomatoes than I can cope with and still more apples ! Also, to help, I took a walk to the village shop to stock up on some essential supplies. I found that I was down to my last half-a-dozen Yorkshire tea bags ! Disaster. It was after a morning of heavy rain, so in my wellies I squelched across to the canal via the swing-bridge and through a sodden field of cut-down corn-on-the-cob, ankle deep in water in places. It was Halloween and some of the village kids and parents were out on a daylight pumpkin trail, rather than trick-or-treating in these hazardous times. I came back, laden rucksack on my back, the long way via the main bridge and by the time I reached home, another 8000 or so steps on the clock, I really needed one of those tea bags.
On the way of course I had passed the field where Deb and I picked up all those pottery bits over a year ago. Last week I had managed to get the read-out of what the more interesting bits were. It was a curious but nice experience, booking into the Museum in Devizes and being conducted to a little backroom, where two young enthusiasts were operating with their laptops carefully isolating. They are both part-timers now. Despite that, it was all amazingly efficient. Now all the bits are recorded digitally, complete with long descriptions of each piece by a specialist in Oxford. They printed off the reports for me. Fascinating - most of it was Roman, including one small piece of Samian made in France from 2-4th Century AD (on the left below). With a darker red top surface. Another piece (on the right) was a little later, made near Oxford and designed to look like Samian ware, which was quite high-class apparently. There were also medieval pieces including some made in the north of the New Forest. I found all this hugely interesting. There must have been some quite substantial settlement nearby in Iron Age/Roman times. Deb, who is on the point of moving to Portsmouth unfortunately, came over to unload a last box of his local history stuff on me and to get the read-out. I also showed her a squashed brass button I had found on the little lane that goes through the village. In the middle of the road, bare of earth just lying there. We pored over it with a magnifying glass noting the GR initials with a crown above, and managed to decipher the manufacturer on the back. Then five minutes on the internet - to find out that it probably fell off a postman's uniform almost certainly just before the First World War. But what it was doing in the middle of the road beats me !
So all in all a busy, sociable time, but it doesn't look likely to continue over the next few weeks I fear. So, everyone, hunker down again and keep safe......
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