To those who say I am never home – well, no, Battleaxe is here in Hastings most of the time, but I do like to write about trips and outings to new places. This post covers the end of the trip covered in the previous post. I won’t write about visiting my ill sister – too personal. Back here, Battleaxe has been getting to grips with the new challenges in her life as a volunteer.
I mentioned last time that we stopped for the night in Bournemouth? Well, it is quite a long drive from Penzance up there, but perfectly do-able, and we arrived early afternoon. First thing, a visit to one of our favourite places – the Russell-Cotes Gallery. I have written about it plenty before – here is an old post about our very first visit. We have been several times since then.. Normally, we visit in the mornings, this time, the afternoon – the light on the sea was beautiful. How Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes must have enjoyed sitting by the windows of their lovely new home, admiring the view.
There was an exhibition which was very much to our taste: A Century of British Art. It is on until March 2022. Here is a painting I liked, you will have to blow it up a bit to appreciate the lovely Art Deco detail… It is called ‘Miss Chaseley on the Undercliff’ by Maxwell Armfield.
We stayed the night in a new place, the East Cliff Cottage Hotel. I chose it because it looked suitably Battleaxe-quirky, a little old building stuck in the middle of a sea of concrete slab hotels – corporate package tour places. Would it rank highly in the Battleaxe Guide? Not sure. From the outside it looks very promising, and as you can see, it was once the home of old-time movie heart-throb Stewart Granger.
Inside, it was disappointing to fiind that the Arts and Crafts character of the house had been largely obscured by featureless modern hotel furniture and design. Our room was very large, very comfortable, with an excellent bathroom, but not interesting. The owner was very pleasant, the breakfast was good, you could park outside the door, it was quiet.. but it didn’t totally fire me up. You could so easily make that little hotel something really special – do it out in period style, or even, as Philosopher suggested, a Hollywood theme. Getting an evening meal was a bit dodgy too – we ended up in the Italian Cafe of one of the concrete slabs referred to above. I forget what the hotel was even called, but surprisingly, the food was excellent – my lasagne was one of the best I have ever had.
A couple of days later, we were back in Hastings, and Philosopher’s first job was to dig this out of the neighbour’s recycling bin. Hence slightly crumpled.
Yes, me, as a new Trustee of the Friends of the Conquest Hospital. I wrote a bit about that in an earlier post. Can’t say I’m that keen on the photo – Philosopher says it makes me look like a ‘middle-aged do-gooder’. Well, I suppose better middle-aged than old bag… And it is better to start off appearing wispy and earnest rather than release the raging Battleaxe that lurks beneath the surface. Am I a do-gooder? Not really, it is about giving my brain new material to chomp on. I like the look of the Friends because I have never had anything to do with the NHS, and also, unlike most of the charities I’ve worked with over my life, it is a cause that can really appeal to people. Stuff around alcohol and drugs, failing marriages, social housing and even the WI just don’t press people’s buttons. In regard to the NHS, people don’t like giving directly to it because either they think its the Government’s job, or else they think their money would be wasted on employing managers etc. But the Friends are much Friendlier… Now, if they were to house rescued donkeys in the hospital courtyards, that would really be something….
We just went for a walk along the sea front. It is a gorgeous day. Here are a couple of photos to finish with:
