Antwerp

Just thought about adding another holiday record.  There's been a long gap!  This time to Antwerp in September 2023.  We're always looking for city breaks and didn't know Antwerp at all.  Turned out to be well worth the visit.   Our Airbnb apartment was light and airy and overlooked the river. 

We visited a musical instrument museum housed in a beautiful brick built building.  There was an excellent audio guide which played music by each of the instruments on display but as we didn't have earphones with us and none were supplied, we didn't make much use of it in case we bothered other visitors. 

A bonus was a young man playing a piano in an upstairs room and we sat for a while for a free concert. 

This was an easy city to walk around.  Some great architecture and good restaurants and a spectacular art gallery by the river. 

 

To round off the visit Peter had a haircut!  We were at the supermarket and he complained about the length of his hair.  I spotted a barber across the road and we went in.  The barber was the silent type and cut Peter's hair, trimmed his eyebrows and moustache and shaved him without a word!  

We were there for about 3 days and kept busy, though we can't now recall what we did! 

Holiday at last!

 Spring Farm, Toll Lane, Cackle Street in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex

We're drawing a veil over the last few months or even longer!  Our casual weekend in Nantes, France, is on hold.  We spent 6 weeks in Southwold over the summer, but now we are on a 'real' holiday.  Just 4 nights, but in a part of the UK we don't know so well.   

On our way down we stopped off at a church with windows designed by Marc Chagall.   We had heard about the church in a recent Arts Society lecture and it was worth the detour.  Luminous colours and we had the church to ourselves.

We had a delightful Airbnb on a farm (or something that was a farm, with an oast house) in what was basically an old shed, which has been done up really well.   The first morning we went for a short from the front door, through the forest and only got lost once.  Safely returned for coffee before setting off again. 

We had lunch at the National Trust Cafe at Sheffield Park and then a long walk round the park, admiring the trees and the autumn colours.  It was warm enough to leave coats in the car.  

Then to East Grinstead for a few supplies - in particular, parmesan for the spaghetti Bolognese that Peter is cooking tonight.  

Other trips included a visit to an interesting museum devoted to the Salomon family whose house the hotel originally was, a walk round Tonbridge and a visit to Tonbridge Wells.  

7th May 2020: Coronavirus Day 53

Well, another long silence!  There's rather little to say.  We are keeping busy.  The loft is cleaner and more sorted and piles await the opening of the 'dump' and their final destination!  We will also be bombarding the charity shop when it opens.   I wonder if they have contingencies in place to cope with the overwhelming amount of stuff that is surely coming their way. 

We have had a modicum of what passes for social life.  This week friends who live at the end of the alley came and sat in the garden with us for an hour.   They brought their own tea in flasks.  They are both vulnerable health wise, Parkinson's and cancer, and have not stirred from their house and garden, so they enjoyed the change of scene.  We also celebrated a friend's birthday in another friend's garden.  There were 9 of us well spaced out on the lawn in the sun. 

We did two other things to lighten our existence.   We bought a table tennis set for the dining table.  On only our second game Peter lunged enthusiastically to reach one of my better shots and overbalanced, hitting the knob on the cellar door before crashing to the floor!  The cellar door knob was distinctly wobbly after the incident but is now repaired.  Peter's grazed arm is mending!

Our other extravagance (!) was a smart TV.  We have been trying to find out how it works.  We have been watching opera from the Royal Opera House but barely scratching the surface of what's on offer.  Abe and Saul were delighted with the news but were mortified to hear that our TV is bigger than their's!

We now have the second highest death toll from the virus in the world.  Second only to the USA.  Nothing to be proud of there.  A terrible case of hubris and mismanagement and I hope the government get their comeuppance.   Although lockdown may be lifted to some extent from next week, we shall be maintaining our isolation in case the next phase is managed badly as the first. 

22nd April 2020: Coronavirus Day 38

Still the lockdown continues.  The media is full of bad news about deaths, especially of minorities, and government incompetence.  Today the UN warned of famine of 'biblical proportions' for people in the third world.   We wake daily to sunshine and our little sheltered existence.  It is quite unreal.  Apart from giving money, we are unable to do very much.  I add neighbours' shopping to my online list, but it's a infinitesimal contribution.  

A highlight of the last week was a brief visit from Rupert, Laura and Etty.  Etty has developed so much! The three of them stood outside the house and we talked to them from the front door.  It was hard not to give them a hug.  They had come to collect some antibacterial wipes which Laura is finding hard to get.  I've added some to my online shopping order for them, so we shall get another distanced visit soon.  We also passed over a bag of Rupert's stuff we have liberated from the loft!   

Seagull in the study!

We also liberated a mobile - a large wooden seagull.  Peter went to great lengths to fix up a fishing line from one corner of the study to another in order to hang the bird.  Pull the string and it 'flies'.   That's the sort of thing you get up to when you're hunting for something to do!   I've finished a sweater for Pearl for next winter, and have returned to the large sloppy sweater I'm knitting for myself, which is taking ages!   I must persist with it.  

For Pearl

Two large plastic troughs have arrived for growing more stuff in the garden.  Now to decide what to put in them!  Flowers or vegetables! Definitely some basil.  


We have two films to watch before a cinema club meeting by Zoom on Friday.  We have seen one, The Last Metro, and did not enjoy it.  We are hoping for a better experience from the second film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which we'll watch tonight.  

Looking through my diary is an interesting experience at the moment.  It's full of things that aren't happening.  This week Rupert and Laura should have been in Spain and Peter should have been in China. I should have been going to an art lecture at the university and Peter should have returned from China and gone to watch the football at Norwich City.  We were supposed to be having friends for Sunday lunch.  Instead I have three Zoom meetings (one with the Walking Group, one with Etty and Pearl for a story, and the cinema club discussion) and an online shopping delivery! 

15th April 2020: A digression

Peter just reminded me that we began this blog in 2012 just before we were due to go to College Station, Texas for several months.  I was wondering what I'd find to do to keep me busy and so I made myself a speculative list.  Here is it: 

• Visit all the museums and art galleries in Bryan/College Station

Well, I certainly did that.

• Locate a craft shop, buy some yarn and do some knitting

I did plenty of knitting and even went along to a knitting circle where they had someone each week to give a talk about some form of textile craft.  I didn't go very often as I didn't find the ladies particularly friendly! 

• Hire a bike and get some exercise

Failed on this one! 

• Go for walks (if I can find pavements!)

Surprisingly we found a number of walking tracks in small parks and green spaces dotted around College Station which were very enjoyable, even if you had to drive to reach them.  Our best walking was done at weekends when we would drive for a couple of hours to reach a state park.  We often had the forests to ourselves. 

• Do slow shopping (i.e. shop little and frequently, European style)

Nah!  The supermarkets are huge and fascinating so once there I was mega shopping.  There was nowhere to walk to buy a few groceries anyway.  It was drive and get a trolley full or nothing.  I loved HEB in College Station, all the huge vegetables and fruit glistening in the misted spray.  

• Investigate the public library

I don't recall using the public library.   I found a lot to browse through in Barnes and Noble, the book shop.  There were plenty of chairs and tables so browsing was encouraged. 

• Read
• Join a book club

I was lucky enough to be invited to join a book group almost as soon as we arrived.  We read some interesting books and I enjoyed the meetings even though we met in a strange room in a golf club.  We ordered lunch from the menu brought round by a waitress and ate while we talked.  The food was horrible!  Nobody liked it much but the golf club didn't charge for the room.   I made a good friend at book group - Lynn McCarl - and saw her on a recent brief visit to College Station. 

• Write this travel blog

Yes, and it's still going! 

• Research and plan weekends away

I paid a visit to my cousin David in Florida.  We visited lots of small towns around College Station.  Some had old high streets with verandas others had interesting historic trails.  We had some good walks around Lake Somerville. We visited Houston, Dallas, Bastrop to see Bob and Mary, Galveston and 

• Make friends and visitI 

We got to know lots of interesting people.  Chief among them Carol Parzen who took me under her wing and came and collected me every Wednesday morning.  We'd drive somewhere for 'an adventure' which always involved lunch!  Most visiting was done in restaurants and cafes.  I was introduced to Patricia Cleer who I met for coffee many times and who took us to a 'Victorian' tea party in a town outside College Station.  The Needlemans, the Saslows  and many more...

• Take a class (art? language?)

Who would have thought that I'd be going to aquafit every morning!  It was in a heated outdoor pool.  I'd get into my swimming costume at 8.30 am and drive to the pool in my dressing gown.  Swim, exercise, chat and then get back in the car (wet) and drive home for a shower.  No one bats an eye at people driving around in the dressing gowns! 

• Volunteer

I volunteered at the Carnegie History Library in Bryan.  I transcribed audio tapes into word documents.  The ladies were very kind to me.  I found the aural history of the black and Latino residents of Bryan fascinating.  At lunch time I went across the road to a cafe called 'It Must be Heaven'  and had a sandwich and fruit lunch. 

Carnegie History Library, Bryan, Texas

Well, that was a happy time and great to bring back memories! 

15th April 2020: Corornavirus Day 31

There's been a significant slow down in commitment to recording our current, very limited life.  Somehow it's difficult to summon up the energy.  It's 9.15 in the morning and I'm sitting at my laptop, which is now permanently on the kitchen table.  Early on there was a decision to move my 'work station' out of the study that Peter and I share.   I didn't rationalise it to myself at the time, but it's been a good move.   It means we are not on top of each other all day. 

There's a constant stream of messages coming in on the Pottery What'sApp group which is a combination of the Wednesday and the Friday classes and the tutor is putting up pottery YouTube clips for us to watch and a newsletter.  It's a very brave attempt to keep people interested, but mine is waning.  I had thoughts of going back to pottery in the autumn term after taking the summer term off, but the newspaper is suggesting that social isolation for over 70s may go on for a long while.   Not a message to cheer us up.

Nothing in the news is cheering at the moment.  A terrible death toll in care homes, not counted in the official figures, though heaven knows why.  The cartoon in the Guardian today is entitled: 'At last, a plan for social care'  and shows a giant roll of government branded black bin bags. We have a blustering government treating the pandemic as a 'war' and constantly trotting out inappropriate metaphors. Their inefficiency is highlighted daily. There's a myth going round that G5 causes the virus and arsonists are destroying G5 phone masts.  We laugh at 'simple' folk in other countries and their misguided beliefs and it's reminded me that we have plenty of nutters of our own.  And in the US Trump is threatening to withdraw funding from the World Health Organisation and generally behaving like a deranged despot. 

We did some good in the past few days.  On our almost daily trip round Gill's garden we helped her by working out how to assemble her new garden table. And yesterday we worked out why her television wasn't working, much to her delight. All managed at a distance.  I have also added a long list of groceries to my Waitrose order for Caroline, some items for Ros and a few things for Gill.  The bill this week will be over £200!  We have a colour coded list so that when we unpack we can sort the groceries into new bags for collection at the back gate! 

The garden gets greener by the day and I've planted lots of seeds in pots and seed trays.  Apparently growing things is of benefit to well being!   Let's hope so.  

9.40am.  Time to get dressed! 

11th April 2020: Coronavirus Day 27

A hot sunny day.  Nothing much happening except sitting and reading, a bit of gardening and a failed attempt to create a photo book.  But here are flowers in the garden gladdening the heart!