Shipwrecks were not an uncommon event in the 17^th and early 18^th centuries on England’s  East Sussex coast, resulting in the Belle Tout lighthouse, a temporary wooden structure, beginning service in 1828. A permanent lighthouse replaced it in 1834 using 30 oil lamps consuming two gallons of oil every hour!

The Belle Tout lighthouse was not as successful as had been hoped, with two significant flaws leading to an alternative being sought. The cliff-top location caused problems when sea mists obscured the light, significantly reducing the distance that it would reach. Vessels that sailed too closely to the rocks would not be able to see the light because it was blocked by the edge of the cliff. And, the cliffs of Beachy Head suffered intense coastal erosion over the years and the rocky area below started to be covered by the light.

Sited over 500 feet seawards from the base of the cliffs, the Beachy Head lighthouse, with its distinctive red and white stripes, became operational in 1902. For the next 80 years, three lighthouse keepers maintained the rotating light which makes two white flashes every 20 seconds and is visible 26 nautical miles out to sea.

In 1983 the lighthouse was fully automated and the keepers were withdrawn. Due to advances in high tech navigational systems, a new LED light system was installed in 2011 and the visibility reduced to 8 miles.

The Belle Tout lighthouse was decommissioned in 1902.

The Beachy Head lighthouse was repainted in 2011 by two teams of abseilers!

At the outbreak of the World War II, the Lansdowne Hotel, where I am staying with Mum and Dad in Eastbourne, England comprised of five inter-connected houses with 72 bedrooms.

Owing to war conditions, the hotel was closed from 1940-1946 and during this time it was occupied by troops manning a coastal battery stationed on the slopes of the Wish Tower located just along the road from the hotel: Wish Tower is one of 103 gun towers built on the south and east coasts of England to defend against a potential invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800s!

Over the years, the hotel’s owners bought other properties and incorporated them into the facilities and today, the hotel has a total of 102 bedrooms and is part of the Best Western Hotels consortium.

With its easy-going personal service, comfortable lounges and an “old-fashioned” style, the Lansdowne Hotel is quintessentially English and very popular with seniors!  One of the hotel’s main attractions is the full-English breakfast and endless refills of tea which are included in the hotel rate. My word, can those seniors pack away some breakfast first thing in the morning, my Dad included!

Mum and Dad enjoying one of the hotel lounges overlooking the sea.

The seaside town of Eastbourne.

Greetings from the picturesque seaside town of Eastbourne in East Sussex, England where I am now holidaying with Mum and Dad.

Renowned for its picturesque white, chalk cliffs and miles and miles of walking trails, it is a hiker’s paradise.

Among one of the most famous sites in the area is Beachy Head, named not for a beach, but rather the corruption of the original French word “beau chef” meaning beautiful headland. It remains in pristine condition because in 1929, a far-sighted group of Eastbourne council-men bought 4,000 acres of land surrounding Beachy Head to protect it from development. Thank heavens!

Beachy Head cliff is the highest chalk cliff in Britain standing at over 530 feet above sea level. Not only it is stunningly beautiful, but sadly it is also a popular suicide destination allegedly, only surpassed by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA.

In the car heading to Eastbourne – me, Mum and Dad in the back!

Beachy Head, pictured. We had dinner last night at the Beachy Head Inn!

And, what a treat!

I had lunch yesterday with brother Ian and his youngest son Jacob at the most fantastic Thai restaurant in Stansted Mountfitchet, a delightful English village in Essex. This is a haunt of Ian and Jacobs and will be added to my must return to list!

Wow, the food was simply superb and the presentation was stunning. Jacob and I both ordered the Dim Sun for starters which arrived with a hand-carved flower made from a swede as the decoration. We both also ordered the beef and coconut curry to follow which, had I not been in company, I would probably have picked up the dish and licked it, not something I would ever think of doing normally, but I just didn’t want to stop eating.

Ian ordered the platter for starters and the prawn and egg noodles for his main dish and again, he demolished the lot and said it was the best he’d ever eaten.

Here are father and son posing for the blog!

From Left: Brother Ian with his youngest son, Jacob (20).

On Friday night my very dear girlfriend Gill and I pitched up to the Deal Court car park in London’s Thamesmead to watch a Tilted Production’s performance of BELONGING(s).

The piece is performed by an inter-generational troupe, and provokes thoughts on the notion of belonging, migration and the fleeting nature of what surrounds us. Our friend Cecil, whom I have known for over 30 years, has been with the dance group for over three years and is now living his dream as a dancer. We watch him perform in the fierce and unusual London heat, stretch his fibers to the core, and lift a fellow performer with intense grace as if he was a feather, simply amazing.

In all honesty, Gill and I approached the starting venue, located in a dated housing estate in a not so nice part of London SE2, with a sense of trepidation. As we walked past a gypsy encampment, several pubs which Cecil had warned against approaching, it was refreshing to meet fellow thespian enthusiasts on a warm and humid night, ready to challenge ones own boundaries through dance and performance.

As Act I, Scene I opened in a car park, with some ten professional performers using cardboard boxes and gramophone records to portray industrialisation, automation and the decimation of both, timed perfectly to well-chosen music, one was immediately drawn into the many concepts of what the dancers where conveying. It was mesmeric. Graceful. Thought provoking. And, as we and the audience followed one of the dancers along the streets to the next scene, each of us had our own ideas of what we had just witnessed and what it each meant to us. And, as we debated, and Cecil joined us, there are no wrong answers and, interestingly enough we are still thinking about it!

From Left: Cecil, one of Tilted Production’s performers, girlfriend Gill, and me. I have known Cecil for 30+ years, Gill for 20+ years and the one thing we always do is laugh!

Gramophone records featured throughout the performance of BELONGING(s)! Cecil is second from right.

Act III of BELONGING(s) took place in a field overlooking Greenwich peninsula where to my delight there were three working wind turbines!

 

 

 

Greetings from London!

After a quick 8 1/2 hour night flight from Houston, a long 1 3/4 hour wait to get through customs, a rapid 45-minute drive around the M-25 trying to re-acquaint myself with handling a manual car on the right-hand side of the road, I arrive at 389 High Road, Woodford Green, my London house!

It’s not exactly much to look at from the outside, but bearing in mind that it is a Grade 2 listed building which pre-dates 1730, making it and its sister property next door the oldest houses in Woodford Green, it’s not doing too badly at some 280+ years of age!

The differences between the two houses are quite marked. The adjoining property (with the red door) has had few alterations made to it since it was built, including the original staircase which was made from horse-hair. Mine on the other hand was bought by a builder, gutted inside and turned into a seven level, fully open house which includes two spiral staircases and a mad layout which entails you taking staircases up and down all over the house.

In the 1990s, after the builder finished messing with it, the council listed it as a Grade 2 building making further major alterations difficult to ensure the integrity of the building remained in tact. It was at this time that I bought the house and continued with cosmetic modernization such as adding floor to ceiling radiators in stunning colours such as purple, orange and yellow, painting the spiral staircases a magnificent shade of green and adding stainless steel cladding and wooden floors.

Typical July weather for the Wimbledon tennis championships – it has just poured with rain!

 

Packing Assistants or Packing Assistance – you choose! Whichever is your choice it certainly made me smile!

I am heading to London tonight to see the family and take Mum and Dad away for a few days.

So today I have been getting myself ready for the trip with some much needed assistance from the furry assistants!

I don’t know what it is about suitcases and kitties, but whenever we get a case out they are straight away vying for a position inside it. Even Holly for whom today was a whole new experience as she has never seen a suitcase before, was the first to check it out.

More from London!

Holly exploring her first ever suitcase!

Abigail quality checking if the suitcase is comfortable!

Archer sitting in my hand-luggage case licking a bag containing English money!

Hooray! Americans are free! Free from a life of cucumber sandwiches, playing tennis on the lawn, watching cricket, drinking warm beer, driving on the wrong side of the road and speaking in forked tongues! Phew, what a lucky escape, HA!

Today, the US celebrates Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July or July Fourth, and it is a national holiday, so all non-essential federal institutions such as post offices and courts are closed.

The day marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence 241 years ago on July 4, 1776 when the Continental Congress declared that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and no longer part of the British Empire.

Many politicians make it a point on this day to appear at a public event to praise the nation’s heritage, laws, history, society, and people.

The Fourth of July is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, family barbecues and parties with buildings and homes decorated with flags and all things red, white and blue including High Meadow Ranch and our fur babies!

Patriotic Poppy-dog!

Archer catching a much-needed snooze!

Abigail only just tolerating the photo shoot!

Not even a bandana will get Artie out of Poppy’s bed!

Holly trying to use the bandana as a disguise to raid Artie’s biscuit bowl 

Happy Father’s Day to my Dad and to all the other Dads out there; this is your day to be celebrated and thanked for all that you do for your children!

For daughters, I think that Dads can be very special people in our lives, and I certainly know that my Dad has shaped who I am today and given me the grounding by which I live my life.

In some strange way, or because of my relationship to my Dad, I have very many of his same passions: I am a very keen gardener although I could never hold a candle to his skill.

Growing up, all five of us in the family enjoyed a different apple so Dad grafted each of our favourites onto one apple tree in the back garden. Every member of the family had their own branch with their own brand of apple –  just how clever is that!

I still consider myself in my elementary gardening phase and follow the premise that unless you have killed the same plant seven different ways, then you cannot consider yourself a true horticulturist!

Just like Dad, I would put photography as one of my favourite hobbies. Dad was singularly passionate about it too and the family and the generations to come will be forever grateful. He took thousands of pictures – of the three of us growing up, family holidays, gardening shows……….and we will have these forever as a family record.

But, most of all I have inherited my Dad’s sense of humor which, first and foremost, finds hilarity in the sense of the ludicrous.

One of Dad’s favourite stories is that he and Mum were members of Chigwell Library when they lived in Essex, a county in the UK. Visiting the library, Dad asked the Librarian if she had any big books which contained lots of coloured photographs. The Librarian looked quizzically over her glasses at Dad and raised an eyebrow hinting that she wanted an explanation before the request was granted. Without batting an eyelid, Dad explained that he liked to cut-out the pictures and paste them into his scrapbook. The Librarian did not smile, and deigned not to respond and my Dad has lived off that story for years, and years!

There are very few photos of me and Dad together as usually one of us is behind the lens! I think this pic was taken in 1992 in the dining room of the Chigwell home where I grew up.

Starting in early May and heading into June, High Meadow Ranch is brimming with newly born fawns.

They are everywhere, and I have to be very careful when walking Miss Poppy-dog each morning as the new-borns are very often curled up asleep in people’s front gardens!

Exactly like Bambi, the fawns are cuter than cute, sporting their baby-white spots and balancing on legs which they have yet to grow into. As is deer custom, once born, the doe will leave her fawn in a place she feels is safe while she goes off foraging for food. She returns to feed her fawn and walk slowly onto the next grazing spot but she will not take her offspring with her until it can run at the same speed as its mother ensuring its safety and well-being.

A few years back we bought the lot next door to our home giving us an extra 1.5 acres. We have since cleared the lot of the scrub and tidied it up and I have a small trough where each day I put corn to feed the deer herds that come through. It is a daily joy to watch them feed and then settle down for a rest and of course, I get to see some of the fawns. This year one clever doe has had twins which are simply adorable.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures but I don’t like to get too close to scare either the adults or the fawns!

 

The twins and their Mum in our lot!

Another fawn in the sub-division keeping cool in the shade!