Sussex Ouse Valley Way Day 2

We got up in the morning to a cooked breakfast, which quite frankly was not the best I've seen, although the sausages were the bollox (Kaz wasn't impressed, being a veggie an' all). We said goodbye to Heidi, bought some lunch for eating on route and headed out. The sun was already out by 9.30 and it proved to be a very hot day. The path headed south east towards Scaynes Hill and entered Henfield Woods.


Before we got to the Sloop pub we managed to go off in the wrong direction. We managed to realise our error shortly and after much head scratching, chin rubbing and sucking of teeth managed to get back onto the route. It was probably the only time on the walk that the signposting let us down. Ironically the book instructions were the same for the point we found ourselves in, although they refered to Wapsbourne Woods- not the woods we were in. We walked pretty fast to make up time, because we had to cover about 17 or 18 miles to get to the Chalk Pit Inn above Lewes by the end of the day. As we climbed through Wapsbourne Woods we reached the crest and hidden maybe 50 yards back from the path were a number of Roe Deer, watching us intently with big, round eyes.

Soon we had arrived at Sheffield Park station heading towards Rotherfield Woods and Fletching Common. It was slightly after midday when we reached Newick. The village has three pubs and somehow I think we managed to chose the most overpriced. Dad was outraged and spent the rest of the day in shell shock that two pints of lemonade and two pints of beer were £13! We sat and soaked up the sun for an hour and then we pressed onto the next stage of the path.

This took us out of Newick on a road as far as Founthill, where we finally got off the road and headed across country once more. Soon we were walking along the Ouse until we got to a point where we could hear the roaring of water. This was the weir above Isfield. WE sat a while, eating our lunch and watching the grey wagtails play in the dappled light. We continued to walk along river, passing the reconstruction work on the Isfield lock- a reminder of the industrial past of parts of Sussex, reclaimed by nature, so that the casual passerby would not even imagine that here once had been a busy paper mill.

Soon we entered familiar territory - the paths around Isfield that Kaz and I have walked a couple of times- it was here I picked my sloes last year for my first batch of sloe gin. As we walked along the river I bumped into Cyril Bourke, the permanent officer of the Student Union at Brighton Poly. Having said "Hi" we continued until we reached the "Anchor" and retopped the alcoholic contents of our bodies. Again we headed out onto the path, reluctantly leaving this haven of peace behind. The path continued to follow the Ouse until we reached Barcombe Mills. More weirs and rushing water and an old toll booth with charges attached.

The path now headed inland across farmers fields until we reached Hamsey and here we left the path to climb the hill up to Offham, turning onto the A275 and finding ourselves outside the Chalk Pit Inn. This was our B&B for the night. The Inn used to be the offices of the old chalk pit here, and Kaz and I have stayed here previously. Again Heidi joined us and after sinking another well earned pint we went to freshen up. We ate in the restaurant that night. John and I had home made steak and kidney pudding- delicious! Latter we went to the bar and drank so more pop. Dad was on good form that night and hit it off with the young landlord. When Dad went to bed, the landlord said he wished he had a dads like that. I offered to sell him mine...

Finally, I guess about midnight we went off to bed, as we could afford a latter start on the third day, given we only had about 10 1/2 miles to do.

Sussex Ouse Valley Way Day 1

I've been waiting to start this walk for weeks now. Kaz continually checked the weather. It was going to rain. No, it was going to be sunny for three days. No, it was going to rain... etc, etc. The walking party consisted of Kaz, Dad, John (Kaz' bro) and myself.

We caught the bus to Lower Beeding and started walking. Almost immediately it started to rain, a fine downpour and we quickly entered a woodland which bordered Leonardslee Gardens. The first village we got to was Slaugham which has a unique ols style telephone box- painted white. Then we entered Handcross and the rain intensified. We decided to beat a hasty retreat to the pub. We sat there relaxing with a pint and watching the rain falling with increased intensity. We finally got our sacks together and headed back onto the track. From there we entered more woodland (Nymans wood) and desended towards a small lake, as we watched fish coming to the surface we looked up to see a large male Heron flying across the water. The bird was huge with black, white and grey markings, it reminded me somehow of those massive seaplanes from the second world war. Dad couldn't believe his eyes.

Eventually we arrived at Staplefield, where we had yet another pit stop at the pub!! I put my jacket onto a radiator to get a bit dry... this was pretty sensible except I had forgotten that I had a piece of chocolate in my pocket! Yuk! I pulled my hand out of it and it looked like I was cleaning up the H blocks after the dirty protest.

From there we headed towards the Ouse Valley viaduct. We could see it occasionally on the horizon, then it would dip below a hill or a hedgerow. We climbed up a slight incline and crossed a stile. There in front of us, dominating the skyline was the viaduct. An alter to the industrial age. The harbinger of urbanisation running across a beautiful rural scene. It was built in 1842 and carries the railway to Brighton. The arches of the viaduct were hollowed out, and when you looked down the length of the structure, it creates a kind of optical illusion. It was one of the main reasons Kaz and I wanted to do this walk, and it was even better than we had imagined.

The path took us long the river into the woods aptly named "River Woods". Soon we were crossing over the railway rather than walking under it, then onto a golf course and through more woods to emerge on the road just above Lindfield. This was our first stop over and we stayed the night in the Bent Arms Inn. It was ok. The rooms were nothing special, but we were glad to have a shower and clean up. Heidi, John's pregnant partner, joined us for the evening and brought out our bags containing fresh clothes etc. We ate in another pub that evening. By this time our muscles were starting to stiffen. Its a long time since I walked 14 miles in day. When we got back to the Bent Arms Dad went to bed and the rest of us stayed up for another drink, but then we too went off to bed, tired after a day walking along the SOVW.

Beware Sleepovers

America has a lot to answer for, Iraq, McDonalds, Michael Jackson, The Trail of Tears and SLEEP OVERS! I blame it on American TV. "When I were lad" we (one of us, maybe two) would be allowed as a very special summer holiday treat, to sleep over at a mate's house. But with my kids it seems to have become a weekly event. And its never one bleedin' kid, its a whole football team (or seems like it!) Either high pitched screams and laughter from Cassie's friends or growls and yells from Liam and his friends (I know that sounds sexist, but this is reportage not the world as I would like it be!)

When Cassie has friends over its cooking, making popcorn, dvds and looking on Bebo.

When its Liam, its creating a wrestling ring, X box 360, crisps and sweets.

Either way, they take over the front room and me and Kaz are banished like a couple of Palestinians to the Gaza Strip...ok our bedroom!

Liam had three friends over last night. I forced them upstairs but beat a retreat (he who runs away lives to fight another day) about 9.15pm. Earlier they had been playing in the garden when Honey took a shine to one of the boys sleeves on his hoody and promptly detached it from the rest of the garment before I could stop her.

I hate sleep overs.... ba humbug!

Still without a second toilet...the tiling saga continues

The job of sorting out the on suite shower room continues. It started in December when I pulled the ceiling down. But only in the last three weeks have we become a one toilet family! I don't know how you manage with one toilet and a household with three women!! But everyone else manages, so I should stop my bitching!

Left is what the tiling - noew completed will look like- no this isn't an actual picture, but we shamelessly copied this design in most regards. Kaz baulked at the cost of the stuff, and so typically of us we shopped around and bought stuff from various places- the back to wall toilet and shower cubicle from ebay (!) and the shower and circular small hand basin from Wicks. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. But my tiling is not perfect. The wall and floor tiles were from tileclick. They delivered- (well a delivery company they sub contracted did) but didn't tell us they'd been, and left the tiles in the garage... which we found by accident! I was about to ring them and sound off when Kaz hurried to tell me that the tiles were sitting in the garage. PHEW! Panic over. Anyway. Yesterday I finished the wall tiling and did a bit on the floor, which is a bit of a bastard, given the room is not square and therefore each tile needs to be measured at each end. The plan is to finish today, before we go walking tomorrow... we'll see!

Sussex Ouse Valley Way Here We Come!

On Monday Kaz, John (my Bro in Law), my dad and myself are going walking for three days doing the SOVW. It will take three days walking about 14 or 15 miles each day. You can find out more about the walk on http://www.sussexousevalleyway.co.uk

We are starting at Lower Beeding and working our way down to Newhaven over the time of the trip. It should be beautiful, as long as the weather holds. We are taking it easy- staying at B&Bs on Monday and Tuesday night. Heidi, John's partner will be joining us each evening, and will transport our bags. So its only day sacks- so its a gentle introduction to longer distance walking for Kaz and John. I used to backpack with dad, but its been a few years since I last did any sustained walking. But its not the most strenuous walk.

Kaz is really looking forward to it, so I hope the weather is kind and she gets no blisters!

Mr G

Mr G- Ty Goddard, 44, is my closest friend.

The photo (left) doesn't really capture his "essence". He's a tall bloke with a "big" personality. A lover of good wine, beer, food and company. He's a charasmatic person with brilliant verbal communication skills. Sometimes he almost sells me his view that the New Labour Gov't is the best thing to happen to Britain in the post war period.

When you see these so called "New Labour" socialists (although I guess they admit to NOT being the S word knowdays) privatising everything that moves, using PFI with no regard to the future, attacking public sector workers terms, conditions, pay, two pointless and unwinnable wars etc it does make you lose heart. Even worse is the Tories now draping themselves in the humanist mantel. Why one Tory MP even said that PCS should go on strike to defend public services... The world turned upside down! Sorry, went off at a tangent just then, not like me at all!

Anyhow I've known Ty since I was 22... a long time now! We were both Student Union Sabbatical Officers - and that's how we met. I was President at Brighton Polytechnic and Ty was Communications Officer at Sussex University. Those were exciting times. Organising local demos against the Fowler Review and going on national demos. Getting our own Student nightclub- the Gloucester. Ty and I got arrested outside the South African Embassy on an NUS Anti apartheid march that year!

When my first daughter was still born, Ty stepped in to officiate and speak the words I'd written. Probably the first and only time he has let me put words in his mouth!!! And on my Wedding Day, when I'd been really crap and somehow ended up with two Best men, it was Ty that diplomatically sorted out, what could have been, a disaster.

For a number of years - probably more than a decade, he almost disappeared from view, working as a Labour Councillor in Lambeth. But the point is, when I needed his support he was always there. What more can you ask from a best friend?

Now he's back in Brighton and although he works too hard in my opinion, I get to hang out with him pretty regularly. Even when Kaz and I turn up almost unannounced he is welcoming and gets excited like a big kid. Me, I'm more acerbic, and generally as welcoming as a guard at Abu Gharib. So I'm often left wondering why we're such good mates.

He's not without faults, and I'm not blind to them, but at the end of the day his positive qualities far outweigh his negative ones...

System Crash and the end of the world

My regular readers... well Tina, will have noticed that I haven't posted recently. And this despite some cracking nights out and just plain funny ol' things happening.

Somehow my PC wiped out all my emails and saved favourites on internet explorer by reconfiguring the system... and yes, I committed the cardinal sin of NOT BACKING UP MY DATA!

So what things can I remember?

Well there was the night out in a pub over the other side of Worthing that's run by my old neighbour from Manor Road. Loo from Worthing showed up with her scabby little dog. Loo fussed over it like it was a child. It was lovely to see Loo after so long. She's still the same. Age hasn't done much to change her. As we sat there talking I realised what an insightful woman she really is. Loo is a walking metaphor for "Not judging a book by its cover." Kaz and I used to spend a lot of time with Loo, including dodgy Haven holidays when the kids were young. I have threatened to post a picture of her in her bra and knickers, with a gorrilla mask on!! (Don't ask!)

There have been some memorable evenings at the Goddards- including Izzy's naming ceremony, where Izzy's sponsors must have numbered about a dozen, including Matt and Oli- a gay couple who announced they were the "Fairy Godfathers"!!!!! And one of them is a copper- so its good to know that diversity is stating to happen in the MET!!! Another evening Ty was pretty tired and sneaked off to the sofa, so we put various toys around him (on his head, under his arm etc) and took photos of him. There is nothing quite like a sophisticated 40 something night out!!

I've been meeting Sally a few mornings on the train going up to London. That's been really lovely. Catching up and talking union stuff, which probably bores everyone else around us... usually means we get to spread out as the seats with us are rarely occupied!!

At the last PCS strike I was sent to RAF Wyton, and had to travel up over night to be able to get onto the picket line first thing. So I ended up staying in the George Inn in Huntingdon. The Inn was an old staging Inn for coaches, it was really something, steeped in history. And of course, Huntingdon is where Cromwell was born. They even had a tiny museum about him there. I wandered the high street in the evening and was struck by how few people were around- in Brighton its always buzzing! In fact Huntingdon retains its rural aspect so much that rabbits can be seen right by the railway station car park!