Battleaxe is platformed, and a trip to Rye

Just a quick catch-up – and breathe – for now, following last week’s rant. We are gradually emerging from our brain-fogged lockdown and on Sunday we went to Rye for the first time since last September – and found ourselves buying another Louis Turpin painting.  Our front garden platform is now finished, except for the railings to go round it, which are still being made, and on Saturday we had the front hedge cut right down – very stressful.  The weather is very strange right now – still chilly at night, although the frosts seem to have gone, and so dry – I am having to water the garden almost every day.

 

Rye was looking pretty, but we expected the cherry trees in the churchyard to be more blossomy than they were – the cold is holding them back. Quite a few people about – many of them looked like tourists/visitors – where from?

We trawled a few shops – somewhat half-heartedly. I still don’t like being in enclosed spaces with other people. We were surprised to find the Rye Art Gallery open. Inside, Philosopher got chatting with Julian, who is currently the Gallery Manager, and who he knows through the WEA, and we also had a good look round. We saw this little painting by our old friend Louis Turpin in the window, and astonishingly, it wasn’t sold, and it wasn’t prohibitively expensive either.  So we bought it, to go with our other two. We just love the vibrant colours, and it is of the garden at Lamb House, which we know well.  We won’t get it until after 14 May though, when the current gallery exhibition ends. Hell’s teeth, readers,  Battleaxe and Philosopher have hardly spent anything over the last few months, and we continue to sell things on Ebay. Have written plenty about Louis before – here is the post about our last acquisition. Goodness – that was January 2020.

Julian had a wonderfully elegant greyhound type dog – so gentle and friendly, with beautiful brindle markings.  A woman came into the gallery and the dog wandered across to her – she recoiled and twitched herself away as if it was a fire-breathing dragon.  How strange some people are.  For some reason, the pandemic has really hit me with how differently some people think from Battleaxe and the people she associates with – if think is the right word for what goes on in their heads.  There are those who persist in thinking that it is a good idea to be a Tory, those who think Boris Johnson is doing a great job, Covid-deniers, anti-vaxxers, Brexit-lovers, those who still think Jeremy Corbyn could be the saviour of the Labour Party – the list is endless, and all these people currently seem to have far too much space to flaunt their ridiculous notions.

Pah, less of that. I did actually watch Prince Philip’s funeral.  I do like a good funeral – the spine-chilling wail of a funeral march played by a slow-pacing military band, muffled drums draped in black, the riderless horse with boots turned backwards, gun-carriages etc etc. In fact, this funeral was more moving than most grand spectacle events – at least we didn’t have to contend with gurning crowds of low-rent dignitaries and politicians – Blair, Johnson and Carrie, Elton John – yuch.  It was sad to see the poor little old Queen sitting on her own.

On the same day, we had the front hedge cut. In order to see the sea from our new platform, it needed to be lowered about two feet, and it had also got incredibly thick and out of hand on neighbours Angela and John’s side.  Of course, they had to agree to the plan to tackle the hedge, which they did, but it still feels a very stressful process… However, it is now done, and we can indeed sit and admire the view.  Here are the before and after photos. Philosopher is still in the process of making a little coffee table for the middle – hence the empty pair of legs!

 

Battleaxe has just been to an osteopath – have had disagreeable sciatica in one bum cheek. He thought it was long-standing tension, stiffness and tightness in the lower part of my spine, leading to trapping of sciatic nerve.  I think a combination of no Pilates during lockdown, maybe over-enthusiatic lifting of heavy pots in the garden, plus Covid-induced tension has seized everything up.

Tomorrow we are going to see the bluebells at Hole Park, with friends Peter and Jenny. Will have to be another post about that!

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