A day in the life...

A very good friend of mine wants to know what life is like over here in England during the intervals between all our historical gallivanting. She knows (because I complained bitterly to her about it before I left Canada) that the flat we are living in is very, very small. She knows (because we have been friends for over 25 years) (sheesh) that I like my elbow room, real and metaphorical, and that chances are good that the lack of elbow room will drive me crazy.

Fear not, friend (and any others who may be wondering): I have not yet lost my sanity. Emphasis on the word "yet."

A while back I showed you the outside of our building, which looks like this:


The door with the white X is ours

The two-paned window above the door is our bathroom, the four-paned window to its left is the double bedroom (dominated by full length, closet-wide funhouse mirrors) and the six-paned window is our living room. Looking out our living room windows, we can see the local recreation centre and several of the Ramsey School buildings.


On Saturday mornings there's not a parking spot to be found

Across from those buildings is the Halstead Cemetery. Quiet neighbours, which is more than can be said for the guy downstairs, who apparently fancies a career as a rock guitarist, but who should not quit his day job.


This was taken on Easter Sunday. See! We DID have snow this year.

I think the biggest trial for us has been learning to co-exist in an environment which provides virtually no place of escape. For example, two people, especially two rather large people, can fill up the entire living room.


Lounging

Keep in mind that this room is Taylor Central, where all eating, reading, conversing, computing, tv-watching, and knitting happens. To say nothing of eternal clothes-drying.


Did you know that it takes two days to dry a pair of jeans by this method?

Poor Nick and Ben are at a distinct disadvantage in this place. Everywhere they go in the flat, they eat up space. In this picture, they're standing on the bathroom floor; the floor of the bathtub is several inches higher; take a look at Nick's head in relation to the light fixture, and at the location of the shower head, and then do the math.


Talk about lack of elbow room


Doorways can be a problem here


But not as big a problem as in Yorkshire

Lest you use up all your sympathy on the twins, please note that there are challenges to living in cramped quarters even for average-sized people.


Stocking the Wee Fridgie

Heading outside is a welcome relief from all this squishing. Our usual route to the high street shops takes us through the cemetery, a walk I particularly enjoy. The citizens of Halstead seem to have been fairly long-lived, as the tombstones of all the Elizabeths, Sarahs, Isaacs, Edmunds, Elishas and Maryanns frequently record ages in the 80's and 90's. Anyway, it's a lovely place in which to spend eternity, and a remarkably quiet one for being in the centre of town.


My favourite tombstone

Of course, devout parishioners of St. Andrew's Church (C of E, naturally) would prefer to spend eternity in the churchyard, which we also pass through on our way downtown, but alas all the spaces are taken. And who could blame them; it is a very beautiful place, isn't it?


Daffodil time

Here's a view of the high street, not far from Nick and Ben's favourite chip shop, and looking back up the hill toward the northern end of town where we live. Somerfield's (grocery store) is on the left, the building with the bright blue trim.


It is up this hill that we must schlep our groceries

Halstead came of age in the nineteenth century with the success of the silk-spinning industry. The white building in the background of this picture is the old Courtauld Mill, which was opened in 1809. Nowadays it houses an antiques centre, which we have yet to visit.


Boatful of flowers

Here is one of our favourite destinations - the local library. The Halstead Library may be somewhat small, but it's fully automated in terms of check-in and check-out, there are six internet-connected computers available for public use, videos and audio-books galore, and the librarians are cheerful and friendly. The county of Essex has an excellent inter-library loan system; you can search for and request books online, and they appear in Halstead in a matter of days.


Love this place

I'll leave you with a view of Halstead, taken while exploring one of the rural walks that circle this pleasant town.


The spire of Holy Trinity Church

Wish you were here...

Abbeys and castles and forts! Oh, my!

Boy, do I have some catching up to do. I've been getting the gears from several of my offspring on account of my blog-laziness. Here's a start at bringing things more or less up to date.

Sudbury, Suffolk
Waaaaaaaaay back in February, on the 23rd in fact, we drove to Sudbury, a market town about 20 minutes from here. It was market day, so we explored.


Two guys trying to look interested in vegetables


We bought some lovely purple broccoli

If you squint really hard you can see the statue in the background behind John. It's Thomas Gainsborough, palette and all. He was born in Sudbury and they're proud of him, as well they should be. Behind the statue is St. Andrew's Church, which is quite old and very pretty, and which boasts this inexplicably small door.


Vestry for Munchkins?

The best thing about Sudbury? We finally found ice cube trays. Made the whole trip worthwhile, didn't it.

Tilbury Fort
In order to get Nick and Ben to look at vegetables without moaning, we promised them a bit of military history. On Sunday, February 24th, we headed off down the Essex coast to the Thames estuary and the mighty Tilbury Fort.


Aerial photo of the fort

The fort protected London's seaward approach from the 16th century right through to the second World War.


Nick and Ben firing on Gravesend


The question is, can they see the whites of your eyes?


Not the best idea this recruit ever had

Henry VIII built the first fort on this site, and it was near here that Elizabeth I made the resounding speech that inspired her soldiers as they prepared for an invasion by the Spanish Armada.


The heart and stomach of a king...

Well, thanks to some bad weather, the Armada never arrived. Nor did the fort experience any of the action that its moats, bastions and powerful artillery had prepared it for. In fact, we learned that the worst bloodshed within the fort occurred in 1776, when a fight following a cricket match left a cricketer and the fort's sergeant dead. Hooligans.

I'm going to stop here and publish this post right now, as Tilbury was the last interesting thing we did in February. March, however... March was chockablock with fun stuff. Just you wait...