Days Out

Sometimes life is just one long round of pleasure. Two Sundays ago we spent a lovely family day in beautiful sunshine in M's lovely garden in Ringmer. Lunch stretched into afternoon tea !

This last Sunday we went to a village close to Bath to spend the day with our friend from Tokyo who is visiting her family. Another perfect day in convivial company. Then yesterday another visit to my good friends in Seaford for coffee and cake and chat and laughter. A lot of giddy gadding about courtesy of Mike and Amanda.

Felpham

When Don's parents retired they moved from Aldershot to Bognor. We spent many happy holidays with them especially when our children were small. Grandad would rent a beach hut at nearby Felpham. [Pictured left, Roger with his big cousin Ian, on Felpham beach.]

We would walk the couple of miles to the hut carrying all our impedimenta in the pram along with the babies. We went every day no matter what the weather. We had a small methylated spirit stove. We cooked soup. potatoes, eggs, sausages etc. We made tea and Grandma would give us home made cake and biscuits. The only facilities were a cold water tap and some loos.

[Roger aged 5 took this picture of Don and me outside our beach hut in 1958.]

Between the rows of huts and the beach was, and still is, a grassy lawn on which we played cricket. When the tide was in our children would join others playing on the grass. When the tide was out we made magnificent sand castles and looked for crabs in the rock pools, we went swimming and paddling and had a lovely time. Ice creams from a small shop were our only expense.

Sometimes we were joined by Grandma and Grandad and other members of the family or friends from London who would come for the day. If it sounds idyllic that's because it was.

This is why a couple of years after his death Amanda and I went to Felpham to scatter Don's ashes. A place of happy memories!

Frensham

In the late 1930s Don and his friend Arthur would cycle from Aldershot to Frensham Little Pond near Hindhead and go skinny dipping. After their swim they would make a small fire and cook sausages and bacon for their breakfast. As a family we would all spend many happy days there, swimming and having a picnic. In the 60s we would go in our splendid old Humber Super Snipe. I would sit in the back feeling regal like old Queen Mary waving to the populace. I think this was the car with running boards on which my two young nephews used to ride as we splashed our way through the small ford on our way to the lake. So much for Health and Safety. I think swimming and boating has been forbidden now. Too many people, I expect. It is a beautiful spot and could so easily be spoilt. Boating and swimming is allowed on the Big Pond nearby.

One Sunday Don went to the rescue of a man who had got into difficulties and saved him from drowning. Some years later Don and I were in a rowing boat when a man in the middle of the pond started shouting for help. Don rowed over to him and told him to hang on to the boat and towed him ashore. A remembers there were leeches there and I vividly remember being bitten by a horse fly but Don said all these hazards added to the enjoyment ???

Swimming

Talking of swimming my brother Frank took me to Lambeth Road Swimming Baths when I was about eight years old. The second visit I got a bit too bold and found myself out of my depth and started to panic. The lifeguard armed with a long pole with a hook on the end hooked my swimming costume and brought me spluttering to the side. He then said to me "Get in and stay in the shallow end". I was afraid to get in again but I was even more afraid of this big man with the pole so I got in again.

The Baths was a very big building. Besides the swimming pool there were facilities for washing oneself and one's clothes. There were often queues for the slipper baths where one waited on wooden forms for one's turn to have a bath. There was also the washhouse where you could do your laundry. Many people did not have access to even cold water. The tap might be in the yard and have to be shared with several other families. We were lucky enough to have a cold water tap in the kitchen and a copper under which you lit a fire to provide hot water for baths and doing the laundry. This latter was only lit twice a week, on Mondays for the washing and on Fridays for baths.

I enjoyed swimming and during my schooldays swam at Westminster Baths near Buckingham Palace. 1940 was a hot summer and as I was often on night duty in Brixton I would go in the daytime to Tootimg Bec Lido for a swim. After the war, while living in Dulwich, I swam at Brockwell Park Lido. These were excellent places to spend a summer afternoon. I think Tooting Bec is still in use. Lambeth Baths, at the corner of Lambeth Road and Kennington Road, was badly damaged during the war and has been demolished. I expect the many places in London where you can swim are vastly smarter than in my early days.

Spectators

Didn't we do well? as one TV quiz host used to say. A remarkable three weeks. My family have been doing their bit going to London to watch various events. A was one of 81,000 spectators at Wembley to watch the football. All the competitors were very good but the spectators cheered, sang, jumped up and down and were magnificent !! My grandson has been so often as spectator adding to the general euphoria that I think he should do a Lap of Honour ! My contribution has been to cheer on TeamGB from my armchair. Although I swam well into my eighties I can no longer run, jump or do anything more athletic than walk to the shops. My PB for going to the Post Office, the Coop and Boots is 55 minutes. (I must try to improve on that). Life's a struggle. This morning I think I deserve a gold medal for putting on my socks !!

Going for Gold

Olympic fever has really grabbed us all. After watching Britain's success in the rowing and athletics yesterday I went to bed quite exhausted !

Last week we had guests staying here - a couple with two teenage adopted Chinese daughters. They went to London to watch the gymnastics and didn't know whether to cheer for Britain or China. They were very impressed with the organisation especially the volunteers at the railway stations being so helpful, telling people where to go for tickets and the tube and etc.

After all the doom merchants it is great to see the supporting crowds who rejoice at victories and suffer disappointment at defeats almost as much as the athletes themselves. The contestants showed real sportsmanship. It makes one feel good about our youngsters.

I have just watched the women's marathon passing all the wonderful London landmarks. Buckingham Palace, Admiralty Arch. the Tower of London, the Big Wheel and all those examples of modern architecture all new to me. Although I worked in Whitehall and close to St. Paul's Cathedral how bright and clean it all looks today. My memories of the city are of 1940s London with bomb craters and ruined buildings and boarded up shops ! Even in the rain today it looked nice and when the sun shone it looked superb.

Can I bear now to watch Andy Murray striving for gold?

I did and he got it. Hooray !!

The Typewriter

My typing speed is not quite as fast as this! La maquina de escribir ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4nX0Xrn-wo

Taxes

I have spent the last few days putting off dealing with a horrid form sent to spoil my watching of the Olympics by the Inland Revenue. How I wish Don was still here. What is the good of being married to an Inspector of Taxes for years and putting up with all those awful jokes if he is not here when his nasty bosses send me a form to fill in. I really should have paid more attention . Oh well ! I'll send it off and hope I don't end up in Jail. Back to the Olympics.

Why is it necessary for us to carry on if our Olympic competitors don't get a medal? I think they are all marvellous to get there at all. The dedication and sacrifices they have to make ! I'd like to see some of those armchair critics having a go. However, everybody cheered up today as our team GB got some medals.