Well, that’s what they said to me when I got back to
Singapore after the Christmas break. That was because under my current contract
I am resident of Singapore not a visitor, but it felt strange all the same as I had already had a very good welcome home beforehand ! Nice though, all
the same. I had a hassle free flight to the UK arriving in the early hours of
December 9th, got home finding everything in order, unpacked and
then went out straightaway to Devizes to get the necessary Christmas tree – or two
if there was a suitable small one for the dining room. I was shocked to find
the usual place of purchase almost completely denuded but managed just one and
that was shorter than usual. The rest of the day everything went up and two months of postage was processed.
Team Powell arrived just after a big Sainsbury’s delivery
which also had to be stashed away. The Walthamstow gang arrived the following
day. The first Christmas dinner was at te King’s Arms – an enormous affair and very
welcome. Fun and jollity followed. It was great first part of an extended
Christmas-New Year break. Packed with activity and two weeks completely free of
academics, apart from emails, which just can’t be escaped.
A couple of days on my own, in which I sorted things out and started packing for my return flight and chased up an errant US bank account and arranged the fiendishly expensive travel insurance I now have to pay for an extended stay abroad. The to Cross-in-hand. On the way I treated my self to a trip to Bosham, a place connected with the House of Godwinson and the beginnings , I like to think, of the family history project I am aiming to do. Fascinating and lovely place well worth a visit. I parked at the water’s edge and enjoyed a sandwich before doing the local Church. It’s thought also to be the place where Cnut bade the tide stop rising. His 8 year old daughter is buried in the Church after having drowned in the harbour. It doesn't lookit from this angle but is one of the oldest Saxon/Early Norman Churches
It's also the place from which Harold Godwinson, the future victim of the Battle of Hastings, and the Tills' probable landlord set out on his ill-fated visit to William Duke of Normandy. This is how the Church is portrayed in the Bayeux tapestry. The church looks a bit different now but the great Saxon chancel arch is still there.
On Christmas eve, a carol service in which we made our way around selected suitable sites, a pub appropriately called the star, and into a very upmarket stable (with a swimming pool in a local farmstead) with a real baby Jesus who only had a melt-down when being out back into his car having performed his role perfectly up to then. The Church itself of course and some moments around a blazing and most welcome bonfire. All very nice, and made up for the fact that at the last minute I couldn't get into Salisbury cathedral for its spectacular version because it was completely full. Christmas day itself was a jolly one and busy one, especially when all the Patricks came. Time also for a walk to a nearby wood and on Boxing day all the clan turned up for present exchanges more eating and drinking and of course the expected photo on the stairs.
Back to Wiltshire for a couple of days via another House of Godwin Church (Compton two miles north of West Marden the first documented Till residence in 1386). I largely finished packing for the flight back to Singapore, changed library books, got my next stash of pills, brought some firewood in from the garage and battened the garden down for what seemed likely to be a cold snap after I left. R,S + V arrived on the 30th. The second Christmas supper out at the Peppermill in Devizes followed. New Year’s eve to the Savernake forest to track down – and measure ! – some of its collection of grand old oaks, the Big Belly Oak is especially famous, one of the 50 finest old national trees, right be the road unfortunately. The Seymour Oak 10 meters in circumference also had a hollow interior which Violet enjoyed and the equally impressive Cathedral oak. Here two members of the team peer out from the latter.
It was a beautiful day and the slightly misty woodland looked fantastic even without the big oaks.
The cows in Allington got a second visit, though Violet wasn’t as keen on
being licked as Barney’s Ambrin was ! Then it was take-down and departure time. All
hands to the plough. RS+V left at 1200, my Heathrow taxi an hour later. Timings were tight !
And that was that. Or so I thought. Because for only the second
time in my life I was given an upgrade to First Class which turned out to be a very nice way to start the New Year !
No comments:
Post a Comment