A big catch up post

As (at least up until now) all these posts are being written some time after the events they describe I thought I'd bundle most of the ones before I started the blog together into one entry so that I can get around to letting you know more of what's going on now.

So ...

The 22nd of December was an unusual day as it was the first since moving to our cottage on the 14th where Chris was off to work and I was left alone. As a consequence, I spent most of the day sweeping outside, cleaning the lounge windows (a quick and simple job compared to those huge bay windows of Wilbury Road!), tidying the lounge, kitchen and bathroom. It was nice to get on but odd not having Chris around but it was clearly going to be a pattern I'd need to get used to.

On Christmas morning it was a first for me (but not Chris!), namely Panettone and Champagne. The Panettone was huge, though I've since seen bigger, and from Carluccio's and was delicious. We ate some as was, some with butter and some toasted. The top was crispy and tasty and the champagne went very well with it so certainly a recommended combination.

Almost a month later to the day was a sad day. Chris's Uncle Fred, who I had met only once in hospital, had died during January and on the 24th of January we found ourselves in Sawbridgeworth for his funeral. Age is a funny thing as many have observed before me - the elderly and weak man I'd met in hospital had taken to the air in over 20 planes and never landed in any of them ... he was a member of the paratroopers and a boxer of 60 fights of which apparently he'd won every one. Even at my ripe old age of 53 I still tend to think of myself as being fit and hearty well into my (even) older years but we don't know how it will go and the whole thing is quite sobering. A number of paratroopers, none of whom knew Fred personally, came to pay their respects in their uniforms and with a large banner. They said that Fred's named would be inscribed on its brass plaque. One of these men had come, on his own and with a walking frame from across the other side of London! During the funeral service the man with the banner stood silently at the front of the church with a great composure and dignity that I found very moving. It was good that Chris and I managed to chat to them in the Masonic Lodge afterwards where the post-funeral gathering was held. They were real gentlemen, every one and that was an honour I felt.

A couple of days later Chris and I went to Colchester which was a bit of a busman's holiday for Chris as he works there! We had some shopping and an appointment to keep but we had a fine time wandering around the streets of Britain's oldest recorded Roman town. We stopped for coffee in the The George, a 500 year old coaching inn which just drips character from its wonky walls, floors and ceilings to its wooden beams all through the lounge area. We were really chuffed to get taken by the manager into the bowels of the hotel, where the old bar used to be (the old counter and pumps were still there!) to see a glass panel set into the wall through which we could see the layers of soil making up the street above. Allegedly, the ash is in there from the time that Queen Boudicca razed the city to the ground some 2000 years ago! We couldn't see it ourselves ...

My Mum had visited Colchester once a long time back and could only remember a delicious meal that she had in The Cups hotel. We tried to find it to no avail ... but then a little internet searching produced this information (The Cups is mentioned about 1/4 of the way down the page with a photograph). The building in its place not far down the high street from The George is an utterly bland and featureless grey office block - criminal.

Later on we went to the Colchester museum but it was too late in the day to do it justice so we'll visit another time. It's an 11th Century Norman Keep and the largest in Europe and looked and felt great during the time we wandered around the entrance area. The next evening they had a talk about witchcraft (or perhaps witch hunting and burning) in Essex which I would have loved to have attended but it was not possible. Maybe another time if I'm lucky.

And, almost another month later, on the 22nd of February we attended a meeting in the Town Hall to discuss the Christmas Lights for 2012 in Maldon!! That was surreal.

On the 23rd we went to see Steven Spielberg's latest film, War Horse at the wonderful Rio Cinema (the site is totally written in Flash so it can be hard work and won't display on most mobile phones and tablets! Oops.) in Burnham-On-Crouch. The legroom in each of the rows of chairs in front of us was truly stupendous but we sat together on one of the enormous sofas about halfway down the length of the cinema and ate popcorn. Quietly. The film had some really beautiful moments, gorgeous scenery in Dartmoor and was an unusual tale from a horse's point of view (though not nearly as much as in the book we've been informed). It was very glamourised with a lot of filters and special effects and I felt that the final scenes would not have been out of place in Gone With The Wind.

OK. That's enough for today. More to come soon ...