Monday 8th April 2013

We woke up on Sunday with the sun burning off some mist and with a hard frost on the grass outside. The promise was for sunshine and more sunshine with light winds. So, what to do with the day?

In the end we went round to see the old folks as we had not seen them in three weeks due to outbreaks of flu and the rest. To say we were not greeted warmly is an understatement. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say that we go to visit them and do they grace us with their presence at Chez Jelltex? I’ll leave you to answer that question. So, after a while we decided to leave and find something to do that would appreciate us being there.

We ended up at Coldred, where I wanted to snap an unusual building next to the church. That done we sat on a bench in the churchyard listening to the service going on inside. Mostly listening out for the bum notes on the organ. Whilst all around us, the mist had cleared and the sun felt warm on our backs, so it seems that nature had decided to choose that day to wake up. Birds were singing, I mean singing a lot.

I then decided to head to Barfrestone where there is a very fine Norman cburch. Now, you would think that it should be simple enough to find, it was just four miles away and signposted. We set off and drove along narrow lanes through huge fields and dormant woods. Then the signs stopped. We had a choice and turned left, which felt the correct direction.

It wasn’t, we ended back where we started, just about. And so retraced our way back to where the signs stopped and turned right. And there just 50 yeards round the corner was the welcome to Barfrestone sign. We had been begun to think it was another Brigadoon, moving at will.

We parked up and I went to get the shots I wanted. I wanted to go back as it was some years since we had been here and I have a great appreciation of churches now, and so notice more details than I did back then. There were four others looking round the church, and I was able to recommend other local churches they might like to visit. Anyway, I got shots of all the carvings before we decided to head back home for lunch.

That afternoon, Jools worked in the garden and I got the mower out. By the end of the afternoon the back garden looked half presentable. Once mowed, I took to the sofa to listen to the football and I amazed myself by snoozing the two games through.

And so my two weeks at home draws to an end and tonight I head back to Denmark with lots of work to be done.

Stay cool.