Lou had a day planned. It has felt about a week long in the best possible way. It started with a tiny little early Norman church at Coombes with the remains of the original really rather odd and brilliant artwork on the walls.
We wandered awhile amid sheeps and cowses, and then drove on to pop in on friends of hers. A lovely couple, obsessively renovating their already incredible cottage in the shadow of Chanctonbury Fell. We had Earl Gray and figs and lavender cookies. I’ve met their daughter, back in the day at BAC. Didn’t mention it though as we never really spoke beyond a spot of drunken mimbling. She’s in theatre as well.
Then a short drive to Petworth Park. Never been there before. Three quid parking all day if you haven’t got a national trust sticker. It’s an old deer run, like Richmond Park still full of deer, but unlike Richmond, very empty on a weekday. We strode through sun drenched scrubland and lay long in grass on top of hills surveying domains. Too many deer to count. Bright summer sun. Nobody around. I took my shirt off. Got some sun. Glory be. Some wonderful trees. The sweet chestnuts up there have done some brilliant damage recoveries. They are ready for a bumper harvest soon. Looking at most crops, I can tell right away that this is gonna be another red letter year for red wine, like 2020 was.
Early evening we drove to Worthing. It’s the eighties in Worthing. We went to The Perch on the pier where they serve things like Prawn Cocktail and Knickerbocker Glory. I had ravioli. The sun set in our faces.
Then we went and saw The Naked Gun. When in a time warp… The Dome is a lovely old preserved cinema and everybody please keep going to the cinema, daddy doesn’t have a pension to speak of yet. Liam Neeson playing action hero at 73 helps me be peaceful that there’s still hope for this old horse, you won’t have to put a bolt in my head yet.
Now we are back at Tessy’s. She’s running around making up for lost time with play. Lou has chamomile tea brewing, she bought a load of dried chamomile flowers which thinking about it is definitely the best way to do it. You can get enough for weeks for the cost of half a packet of those teapig bags with a few flowers wrapped up in them. I’m gonna go online.
Home and happy it has been a long strong day.
AlBarclay 