We read in Matthew’s Gospel that the magi observed the star at the nativity ‘at its rising’. Knowing this to be a sign fulfilling a prophecy of a Messiah’s birth, they followed it to Bethlehem. But what was this star? The last 2000 years has given us a feast of knowledge based on solid research, so that we are now in a position to unwrap the story of this wonderful and significant sign.
The most likely interpretation seems to be that this was a supernova [Read more…] about Star of Wonder
Itchen Valley Country Park held a Fungus Foraging event this week. I saw the advertisement for the event at about the same time as I saw this news story and thought I would go along to make sure I knew what I was eating.
The forage was led by John Wright, who is an expert on all things mycological. Anyone who watched the original series of River Cottage may remember him from that. He was very interesting and entertaining, and gave a lot of insights into the recognition of different fungi, and their life patterns. There are over 15,000 different species of fungi in the UK – that compares to about 3,500 plants. [Read more…] about Fungus Forage at IVCP
Despite having lived in the area for over 50 years between us, Mrs Chippy and I had never been to River Hamble Country Park until we took part in a running even there earlier this month.
The run took us on a delightful route through woods and alongside the river (and up a few hills), and this was enough to whet our appetite for a return visit for some less strenuous exercise. So, this was the venue for today’s Bank Holiday walk. And the park lived up to our expectations. [Read more…] about River Hamble Country Park
After COVID, cancer, the cold and a few other obstacles, we have found our way back to Kandy. We spent a few days sofa-surfing, including a few days in the Hanthana Hills at Jungle Tide, a lovely place to stay. The track up to a lovely traditional house was interesting; see the picture. The views across the valley to the opposite Knuckles range of mountains are fantastic. Eventually, we found a spacious apartment beside the Mahawali River. I told my friend where we were. His response was, ‘We’ll come over for dinner tonight. The whole family.’
One of the joys of cycling is the ability it gives to explore an area in more detail than by car, but more quickly than by walking. On a bicycle, you travel at a pace fast enough to make progress, yet slow enough to stop and look at anything interesting along the way.
When I go for a bike ride, I usually have a destination in mind, but am more than happy to venture off-piste if an interesting-looking path crops up. Even more exciting if I don’t consult a map, and so have no idea where I am going – a proper mystery tour. After all, isn’t it more rewarding to travel than to arrive, and doesn’t every path lead somewhere? Even if “somewhere” turns out to be unknown and/or where you don’t want to be and/or back where you started. [Read more…] about Magical Mystery Tour
Have you been to Sir Harold Hillier Gardens recently? We went for an afternoon walk this afternoon with Chippy and his wife Annie. They also did a 10k run in Eastleigh this morning. Wondering how many steps they have done today?
We have captured some photos to share with our readers today. [Read more…] about A Walk on a Beautiful Sunny Day – Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
The spring is sprung, the grass is riz
I wonder where the birdy is
The bird is on the wing
Don’t be absurd
Everyone knows the wing is on the bird
We’ve been in meteorological spring since the beginning of the month and today, 20th March, is pretty close to non-meteorological spring (which probably has a better name). And the weekend’s weather has also been spring-like too, for the first time this year.
What better time to visit Hillier Gardens at Ampfield and see the flowers starting to emerge from their winter’s sleep.
Here are a few photos from today’s wander. I’m not a botanist so some of my descriptions may be a little haphazard. Sorry, Wellie. [Read more…] about Spring is here, spring is here. Life is skittles and life is Beer
Gucci has used real tigers in their recent adverts celebrating the Year of the Tiger. It seems the tigers have been trained or tamed to be used as props, accessories, and friendly pets. These adverts really have reminded me of the adorable tiger and his friendship with the little girl Sophie, in The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr.
In the commercial adverts, actual tigers roamed the scenes, and joined a group of friends for high tea, in various spaces of a luxurious, retro-style hotel. See this report. [Read more…] about Should Real Tigers be Used as Props?
By Steve Allen and Derek Johnson
We have been walking this part of the navigation for many years and in our opinion this 30-minute stroll has capture the river and canal in it entirety.
After making your way to Twyford Road and finding the track down to the canal you turn left, which takes you down past properties on the left bank, which dip their toes into the water edge. Look out for the signs of the kingfisher as they look for food. These bird are very elusive so you must have a keen eye to catch them perched on branches as they fish. Or you may see the distinctive turquoise rear as they fly past you at great speed.
The view opens out on the right. At this stage, just pause a while to see if you can watch many spices of birds going about their daily life. Some say a small blot on the landscape is Nuttall Construction but I feel this gives a sense of what the canal was used for in years gone by.
Passing under the railway bridge you emerge to meadow land on the right. High on the first pylon it has been known to see up to seven cormorants surveying their territory. In the meadows deer and geese can be seen grazing.
After crossing the road, stop a while to look at the lock, check the depth by looking at the ledge on the other bank. At this time the water is high above and we encounter flooding as we progress. As we wonder through the canopy of trees, just be aware of the river and watch for ripples on the waters edge, as this is a sure sign of the water vole as she make her way through the reed beds to her riverbank home.
New growth is starting to show along the edges of the canal; new life is about to begin.
On the left the meadow land opens out in the foreground; the reeds are growing. If you just stand awhile you may hear the distinctive sound of the reed warblers as he tries to encourage a mate to his domain. He loves to climb up the reeds to have a look at you before he flies away. Most odd.
Depending upon the rainfall, the canal can be clear as crystal. ThIs is a good time to watch the water surface as life is in great abundance on or below the surface.
Many a time I have stopped for a while to take in the peace and tranquility of the canal with its changing moods. Once you are up by the sliuce gates you will see the canal and river side by side, both trying to race one another as they make their through the Itchen Valley.
Lurking in the deep waters is a predator the river barracuda the pike – we have named her Jaws and have seen her in action taking a grayling or two. The heron and egret find this stretch of the river good hunting grounds. As we cross a wooden footbridge we come to the end of our stroll at Brambridge garden centre on the right. We can be found sitting outside under the canopy having a pot of tea and medium cappuccino and a nice ice buns.
THIS IS THE LIFE – ENJOY ONE OF GOD’S PIECE OF HEAVEN.
By Steve Allen and Derek Johnson
It is June 30th 1991, four days after Jane’s funeral. Gran writes:
I rang Beverly to ask how she is and she said she had recovered from her exhaustion and was very touched and proud that Jane had asked her to be with her during her illness. I thanked her for being with Jane at the last and for her support for me in the Church at Jane’s Funeral Service.
The following day Gran receives a heartfelt and uplifting letter from Julian, based with the RAF in Germany, praising Jane and her “spirit, her values and her bravery”, adding, “… I’d be really proud if I were her Mum”. And with Julian’s communication is a letter from his son, Sam, saying, Gran writes, “Dear Great Gran – we were very sad too”.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 183, the last)
On September 10th 1987 Gran’s gas supply is being upgraded, and she writes at the end of the day:
There was still no gas and the men dug up the top part of the drive and drilled a hole through the wall and from the cupboard under the stairs into the garage where the new meter is to be installed. The mess everywhere has to be seen to be believed… The gas was restored at 4.45 and the last man told me that men would return in a day or two to re-lay the drive and level the ground outside the gateway.
January 4th 1987, Gran writes, is “a dreary and dull day starting overcast after night rain and soon pouring for the rest of the day” but we feel that after a long period of stressful and unhappy events, she has managed to regain some of her equilibrium, as she continues:
… and I have seen no-one, and the front door has not been unlocked. Yet I have been contented and at rest. A thrush was singing when I went to take the temperatures soon after eight o’clock this morning.
The middle of the month is bitterly cold and family and neighbours worry about her keeping warm enough in The Ridge, a house, like many others at that time, with no central heating or double-glazing, and just a gas fire in each of the main living rooms. Barry offers to bring a sleeping bag for his Mother to use when sitting in her chair, and recommends she buy some cling-film to rig up some primitive double-glazing on the windows.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 181)
Difficulties at home continue for Gran. Grampa is increasingly frail and unwell, more or less confined to bed and needing daily nursing care, and, Gran says on November 1st 1986 , “The plumber came and cleared the airlock in the downstairs hot water tap and is coming to deal with the overflow pipe in the toilet and the leak under the sink”. Jane Elizabeth has been a wonderful support for Gran, her Mother-in-law, at this time but she needs to return to Bushey on the 2nd and Gran is sorry to see her go, writing also:
She meant to leave me half of the large brown loaf she bought yesterday but forgot. She phoned from Winchester Station to say she had left it in the grit bin by the Hiltingbury Road bus stop and luckily, Cousin Bill Worsfold came at 11 a.m. so I was able to go and get it while he was here with Bill.
Gran has mentioned several of her husband’s relatives or friends lately, as they visit Grampa at The Ridge, but we are not always enlightened as to their relationships to him. There is not only Bill Worsfold, but also Cousin Ray, who has often provided transport for Grampa; Anthony (a nephew) and his wife Hazel; Joan and Ken Birch (“Bill’s half-sister and her husband”, Gran writes), and Joan and Alastair McKenzie (“Joan is his Cousin”, Gran tells us).
“I made a bad beginning with tummy ache after I had taken Bill his breakfast and was sick just as nurse came to the front door”, she writes on November 4th, continuing:
I called that I was coming but I look so ghastly when this happens, she was very concerned and made me sit down and made me a cup of tea. I assured her that I do this occasionally but soon feel perfectly alright. After attending to Bill she took my pulse and blood pressure, both of which were perfectly normal, which is reassuring! Ruth came in, with a stick, because she saw me looking to see if she were about. She has broken and chipped ribs!
Joan and Alastair came early this afternoon and whilst they were talking to me, we heard a thump and Bill had fallen. Alastair picked him up and got him back into bed!
The following day sees Grampa taken by ambulance to the South Hants Hospital in Southampton, because he has lost all feeling from the waist down. There is much concern throughout the Family and amongst close friends. Bob Fowler and his daughter Jill visit Gran to give moral support, and Gran is delighted to receive from them, “… some very gorgeous red Maple leaves from Tommy’s favourite tree”. She presses them within the journal. Further support is provided by Barry on the 6th, who, given the beauty of the day, suggests a drive up to Farley Mount, where Gran delights in the beautiful colours, especially of the fruiting Spindles there.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 180)
On September 10th 1986, after the Nurse has visited The Ridge to check on Grampa, and Gran understanding that things are “somewhat easier”, she goes on the Club outing to Marlborough, having “something of a scramble to be ready…”
Gran describes all she sees on the coach journey, including:
We stopped at Stonehenge at 2.45 for twenty minutes but I did not leave the coach as I have been to the monument many times since my teens when access was freely available with no fences or circling pathways. I did not want a cup of tea or an ice cream at this time.
It’s May 14th 1986 and more memories are brought to the fore for Gan three days later when she walks to the Club for its usual afternoon meeting:
Miss Wise, late Headmistress of Sherborne House School, who, when an assistant to her Mother, taught Barry and Jane to read, entertained us with poems she had written after her retirement. I had a chat with her and she was pleased to hear news of Barry and Jane, and quite amazed that their children are grown up and Barry a grandfather!
Barry himself is in Chandler’s Ford at this time and he and his Mother, in spite of wet weather, make the now rather rare journey into her beloved New Forest, to look for flowers and birds. They have a lovely time there and on the nearby coast, although failing to find a rare plant of particular significance to her upsets Gran:
We went first to look for [Narrow-leaved] Lungwort Pulmonaria longifolia in its usual habitat near Beaulieu but to our horror, there was no sign of it. Council workers, I presume, had thrown large quantities of thick mud right over the ditch and bank where it had flourished for years.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 178)
Christmas is looming and on breezy December 21st 1985 Gran, as always, has made presents for her great friends, the Hardings in Merdon Avenue. She writes:
… I took Mary’s posy and other gift, and calendar for Granny Pickford [Mary’s Mother], and walked through the pinewood to avoid as much of the wind as possible. Both recipients were delighted and especially Mary with her innovation. I did not stay long but met Mary’s brother George, and Frank brought me home. He is able to play some golf again, I was pleased to hear.
Christmas in is spent with daughter Jane and family at Longton, near Preston and close to the Ribble marshes. On arrival there, Gran is touched to find that Jane, “… has given me her room, to be convenient for my comfort just across the landing. We were late retiring…”
Dec 24th provides an evening of television programmes, before they attend a local Church for Midnight Service – a new experience for Gran. Gran lists the programmes: The Slipper and the Rose; Benjamin Luxman and Aled Jones in a musical one; and Rush, the Fallow Deer, by John and Simon King. This was followed by Charles and Diana, a Working Year, and then Val Doonigan [sic]. Gran notes that the Church they attend is where Judy usually goes and she adds, “I had earlier met Judy and found her very nice indeed”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 177)
Gran does not feel well on September 1st 1985 – she often feels sick and unable to eat, has troublesome back pain and sometimes is very sleepy. After a two-hour afternoon sleep this Sunday, and not eating owing to a prolonged bout of acute hiccups, she watches television but finds it disappointing at first, saying this:
“Songs of Praise” [came] from the Greenpeace Festival and consisted of all pop versions of worship, appealing only to youngsters who were wound up to such a frenzy of clapping, dancing and arm waving, which left me wondering if it were a great love of God or only of Pop “music”. A later programme about English silk was very interesting and enlightening.
Her ailments, considered by stoical Gran as simple inconveniences, rarely prevent her doing what she wishes, so, on September 17th:
This afternoon I gardened for just over an hour, weeding more of the Crocus – Cyclamen bed, which was made difficult by the presence of many minute new cyclamen seedlings, with only one tiny leaf showing amongst the moss and the insidious Sheep’s Sorrel. I also dug up some Brambles, Goutweed and Ivy, after which I was very tired and came in and slept for close on an hour.
Gran has joined several coach tours, mainly to the West Country, in recent months, organised through her Club. She enjoys noting the passing scenery and wayside flowers but is often frustrated by stops for refreshments and shopping. She usually wanders off on her own at these times.
On June 12th 1985 there is a half-day outing into Berkshire, which includes a canal trip:
We went over a level crossing towards Hampstead Marshall where the Kennet and Avon Canal was our stopping area… Our barge, the Avon, was awaiting us and after we embarked, I learnt that it was purpose-built for these excursions but on the traditional narrow-boat principle though now is a motor barge and not horse-drawn as originally… The windows were large with seats all round and a little shop and bar at one end. I bought a little ribbon plate for Ruth, a thimble with our barge on it for Sue, a booklet, “On the Kennet and Avon” and a biro for myself.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 175)
March 2nd 1985 is not a pleasant day for Gran: there is some domestic conflict and she writes:
After an unpleasant morning of continual complaints, I spent the afternoon in my room, wishing to be alone in tranquil and quiet surroundings. I mostly read Arthur Marshall’s book. “Life’s Rich Pageant” and had a short nap. This evening more reading and listening to the radio and, later I stuck in today’s cutting about Julian.
The cutting is from The Daily Telegraph concerning Julian’s decision not to run in the National Cross Country Championships, owing to a heavy cold. But the following day, after the race is run, she is pleased to read in The Sunday Telgraph that the first eight home in yesterday’s National Cross Country have been chosen for the England team, “plus Julian Goater who has been so consistent always”. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 174)
It is December 14th 1984, “My driver”, Gran writes:
… called for me at 10.15 this morning to take me to hospital again to have part of the spot cut out for analysis… the operation, under local anaesthetic, did not take too long and I was home by 12.20. I had taken ham rolls in case I was much later, but had one after soup at home. I am perfectly well and am to see Dr Charlewood on Wednesday or Thursday to have the stitches out.
Gran and some other Club members are picked up by coach in Kingsway for transporting to their Christmas dinner on the 15th, and Gran has clearly managed to produce the required floral table decorations, asked for at short notice. She writes:
… as I stood with the table decorations, a lady came and asked me if they were for sale, and another, who lives over the wine shop, and knows Ruth, said she had seen a copy of my “Te Deum”, [recently read out at one of her Club meetings] which Mrs Burton has and she wanted to know if she might read it to a prayer meeting to which she goes. I gave her permission…
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 173)
