Busy as ever! Had some nice days out with old friends – no photos, sadly, and yes, it was New Car time in Battleaxe land. We now have a bright red Toyota Yaris Cross, automatic, hybrid… not new, obviously, but very, very low mileage. Been busy writing as usual, and examined a batch of loos in Alexandra Park. Talking of loos, Battleaxe went to a WI meeting at Jamie’s Bistro in Ore last night, and Jamie said ‘are you the lady that writes about toilets on the internet?’ Oh, indeed I am.
Friends? Went up to London to meet Shaun last Friday. Had lunch in a little Italian restaurant, Caprini, just by Waterloo. Philosopher used to go there to meet his sister when she was alive, and I met my old school friend Plum there before the pandemic. Even Shaun said he met a date there back in the mists of unrecorded time. It is real old-school Italian, kept by a jolly band of well-fed fratelli. It used to be very modestly priced but sadly not so modest now. The high spot for me was when one of the fratelli agreed to whip me up a Zabaglione – you so rarely see it in restaurants these days. I shared it with Shaun, which I felt a bit bad about because it is horribly alcoholic and he doesn’t drink. But he manfully ate most of his… Horribly rich, horribly unhealthy – delicious, but when paired with a large plate of fegato you were lucky Battleaxe didn’t collapse on the spot with heart failure. On Sunday we met our old friends Liz and Richard Hermon, who used to live in the Old Town but have moved to Oxford. We went for a windy walk round Winchelsea Beach and then ate roast Sunday lunch in the New Inn in Winchelsea. Not the best roast beef I have ever had but perfectly serviceable.
So, goodbye to the Nissan Juke. No regrets, to be honest. We got it in December 2020 – four and a half years ago. Interestingly, looking at this post I wrote about it when we got the car, I was obviously not too keen on it from the first. I likened my first attempt to drive it as being like being a little girl again, faced with riding a scary, unfriendly and over-large pony. Don’t get me wrong, it was a reliable and willing car, but it was always the wrong model for us – too sporty. I could barely see over the dashboard – always had to prop myself up with cushions and back rests. The bonnet felt very long, and the seats were just too low and recliney. Philosopher had some of the same problem, but not as bad, but he didn’t like the intrusive technology… it screamed alarms so frequently and so loudly it scared our passengers half to death. The damn car just had to see someone standing on the pavement, think they were about to run across the road, scream a warning and apply the brakes… the sort of pony that would shy at a crisp packet in the road and then buck you off. And it was so very grey…
We took a lot more care choosing this one. None of our usual coming home with whatever model the garage had in stock. We decided as we would keep it for another five years or so, we needed to future-proof ourselves by getting an automatic. The hybrid business was a bonus. And, so far, so very good. It feels smaller, has a higher driving position and a lower dash, so I can see, and the automatic stuff makes it incredibly easy to drive. If it was a pony it would happily snuffle up a carrot if you held one out to it… see that old post again. The only ridiculous thing is the hopeless handbook that comes with it – probably the most useless I have ever seen. It tries to cover all Yaris Cross specs in one book – hell, if you were paying well over £32,000 for a new one of our sort you’d at least want a book that related to the car you were paying all that money for. You can’t find the simplest thing – Philosopher has had to resort to using Google.
Before I get onto the loos, look at this little cutie from Mallydams. He is far, far too tame, and sadly, trusts humans too much for his own good. He comes rushing eagerly up to you when you go to the pen, while, rightly, his friends all run away. He obviously comes from a family of garden foxes, and I don’t like to think how he will manage when released into the wild. People, please, please stop taming wild animals. Phew, foxes are so smelly. It is young animal and nestling season at Mallydams right now – many fox cubs and baby birds. Just preparing for the great gull chick invasion.
Oh dear, as I write this, poor Philosopher has had to have an emergency dental appointment and has had a tooth out. Did I mention we have just changed dentists from the inefficient Battle Road (now Southcliff) to the gentler environment of the Harrow Lane Dental Practice? This was our first treatment experience of the new ones, and Philosopher pronounced himself well-satisfied – if you can be satisfied with such a horrible business.
LOO LATEST – ALEXANDRA PARK
Not many more to go now! We chose one of the last of the sunny days for our park walk – it was all looking lovely. There are three blocks of Council public loos in the main part of the park, as well as the toilets in the Pump House Cafe and Eat@the Park by the bandstand. I have not included the loos in the cafes – they are not really open to the public.
We started with the block at the top of the Park, by the Alexandra Park Greenhouse and the Pumphouse Cafe. This was the shabbiest and least appealing of the three blocks. Also, quite small – just one big combined Ladies loo and disability, and the same for the Gents. Level access, but not great. Rating 3.
Then, the big block opposite the bandstand. One of the best public loos, all rooms in a long block. Separate Ladies, Gents, Parents room, Disability locked with a radar key. Very clean, well-equipped, no smell. Level access. We think we saw the cleaning company van outside – they had done a good job. Rating 6/7.
Finally, the bottom block, near what is now Art in the Park, but used to be the bowling green. When we first came to Hastings we used to enjoy the name of that bowling club – Alexandra and Clive Vale. Much idle speculation about the private life of the Vale family… Anyway, more very good public loos – a bit of a surprise, because Battleaxe had never been in them. Well equipped, spacioous, clean. Single gender again. Rating 5/6
