Corgettes
So I picked my first vegetables from the garden this week. I have been properly impressed by the growth of the courgette plant and how nice the flowers are, which seem to come and go according to the weather. However there was definate joy to be had when I went for my morning constitutional round the garden and discovered two beautiful, ready to eat courgettes hidden under the foliage.
I have of course now shown them to anyone that will spend two minutes and have a look.
A visit from Anna
Friday 17th July 2009This weekend saw a visit from my old house mate Anna, with the weather forecast - doom and gloom I was feeling a little apprehensive about how she would view the wilds of Essex and after spending 2 hours trying to get through the Dartford Tunnel things were not looking that good. She eventually arrived looking a little frazzled just in time for Gin! and a spot of baggers and mash with onion gravy - which seemed to go down quite well and after a lot of catching up and a good nights sleep we were ready......
Saturday saw the day dawn bright and sunny and after an awesome breakfast of best Italian coffee and fruit salad with home-made drop scones, drizzled honey and clotted cream we headed out to Southend. We decided to check out the library which also houses the Focal Point Gallery (located on the second floor). It was hosting a display by Milly Thompson - bizzar at best, it appeared to be a display of old fashioned draft excluder's with cavity fill on the end which had been painted to represent bodily fluids. Yes it really was quite gross to look at. These had been placed over images of beautiful women advertising beautiful things carefully cut from expensive magazines and pasted on to (deliberately I'm sure) unattractive chip-board boxes painted in magnolia. On the upside the images were colour co-ordinated so that was nice. I am positive that the artist was going for some thoroughly deep and thought provoking angle about us all being the same on the inside even if some of us are attractive on the outside, but personally I found it all very amateurism and disappointing. Who knows with conceptual artists though, maybe that was what she was going for.
Saturday saw the day dawn bright and sunny and after an awesome breakfast of best Italian coffee and fruit salad with home-made drop scones, drizzled honey and clotted cream we headed out to Southend. We decided to check out the library which also houses the Focal Point Gallery (located on the second floor). It was hosting a display by Milly Thompson - bizzar at best, it appeared to be a display of old fashioned draft excluder's with cavity fill on the end which had been painted to represent bodily fluids. Yes it really was quite gross to look at. These had been placed over images of beautiful women advertising beautiful things carefully cut from expensive magazines and pasted on to (deliberately I'm sure) unattractive chip-board boxes painted in magnolia. On the upside the images were colour co-ordinated so that was nice. I am positive that the artist was going for some thoroughly deep and thought provoking angle about us all being the same on the inside even if some of us are attractive on the outside, but personally I found it all very amateurism and disappointing. Who knows with conceptual artists though, maybe that was what she was going for.
The library was however very good, with loads of space and books, films, computers, research facility's and the hustle and bustle of a well used resource.
This was quickly followed by a trip the the museum - but with the weather still bright and sunny outside we did not stay long and moved our way through the town centre, via a quick look round the next sale (got some very reasonable red and blue tights) and Marks and Sparks for lunch and headed on down to the seafront gardens to eat our picnic. The event was spoilt slightly by some obscene old man making inappropriate comments and gestures. As Anna pointed out - you get less and less inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt!
Lunch finished we headed down to the sea front and wondered about what I think is referred to as the "Golden Mile" but what is certainly an oar-inspiring combination of lights and noise. Adventure land provided entertainment but neither of us felt inclined to take on the assortment of gut-wrenching rides. After all if one is going to pay for a Marks and Sparks picnic, you are unlikely to want to give it up! We eventually wondered along the sea front until the need to sit down and drink coffee overwhelmed us and we had to spend a pleasant half hour watching the world go by as we drank our coffee in the sun.
Lunch finished we headed down to the sea front and wondered about what I think is referred to as the "Golden Mile" but what is certainly an oar-inspiring combination of lights and noise. Adventure land provided entertainment but neither of us felt inclined to take on the assortment of gut-wrenching rides. After all if one is going to pay for a Marks and Sparks picnic, you are unlikely to want to give it up! We eventually wondered along the sea front until the need to sit down and drink coffee overwhelmed us and we had to spend a pleasant half hour watching the world go by as we drank our coffee in the sun.
As we made our way back towards home the call of TKmax and Debenhams was just too much and we spent a pleasant couple of hours rummaging through the assorted sale bargains until we were asked to leave as they wanted to close up and go home.
Sunday started with a good lay in and then a trip to old Leigh where we started the day with a very fine bacon sandwich. What more could a girl ask for? Our stomachs taken care off we headed for a little constituional walk along the side of Benfleet creek taking in the the views and enjoying the blustery conditions whipping across the mud flaps. As the sky's darkened further we decided to head up to Hadleigh Castle by car.
Once there the views as always were quite staggering and we caught a break in the clouds so that we could enjoy them without fear of being drown by the promising bleak skyline. We had a good explore and hunted up and down the site for clues of its former glory. It was about this time that the need for coffee became quite prevalent and as we wondered back towards the car we found ourselves instead sat at the top of the hill in the Salvation Army Cafe drinking a very good brew and enjoying the views from the veranda. As the rain drew in we headed back towards home for a late lunch.
You will be glad to know that Anna's return Journey to Kent was slightly less fraught and took a much more reasonable one and three quarter hours.
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