Another Summer Saturday and a Wedding

We have been getting some nice sunshine lately in the Willingdon Trees but the wind seems to have rather got the upper hand, especially today when if felt quite cool walking around in town and even inland.

Views of Eastbourne Town Hall

We had the joyful experience of attending a wedding today, of two of Hazel's colleagues. The actual wedding ceremony was held in Eastbourne Town Hall, where we were treated to some nice George Gershwin piano solos very well played and which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a treat for me not to have to actually be playing on this occasion! The room where the ceremony was held was quite imposing but it wasn't really large enough for the number of people who attended. Nevertheless, it was a lovely occasion and it was really good to see such a large representation of friends and relatives of the bride and groom in attendance, especially these days when people seem to be so busy with their own agendas.

Following the wedding ceremony we proceeded to Alfriston where the reception was due to take place at the War Memorial Hall which is situated by the Cuckmere river right next door to the Parish Church. This brought back to me memories of when I lasted visited Alfriston to play the organ in this church. It was during the time when the Cuckmere had burst its banks and it was only possible to get into Alfriston via one of the back roads which hadn't been immersed in water. It was quite an unusual sight to see car rooves peeping out above water in the main car park. My main concern at the time was as to whether or not I would get out of the church after the service before my car was also submerged in water or the other roads were blocked by water, it was still raining heavily at the time. I discovered that a member of the choir owned a bed and breakfast establishment in the village and they were prepared to take me in if the need should arise. Fortunately I managed to get out of Alfriston all right before the water rose any higher.

Parish Church, Alfriston

What a contrast it was there today, the Cuckmere was reduced to a mere trickle and the cows and calves were grazing peacefully in the field next to the river. There were a lot of serious walkers and hikers out on the path which runs alongside the Cuckmere and a more peaceful rural scene would be hard to envisage. It's hard to believe that this lovely rural treasure is only about 4 or 5 miles from my home in Willingdon Trees! I hardly ever seem to get out and about to enjoy such delights, I really must make more effort.

Alfriston War Memorial Hall

View from War Memorial Hall towards the Cuckmere

The wedding reception went really well and we enjoyed some really nice music sung and played by a young lady soloist accompanied by a talented pianist. They performed mainly jazz standards and songs from musicals, including 'What a Wonderful World', 'Bewitched' and 'Someone to watch over me', the sort of songs I always enjoy hearing. We had a wonderful buffet with lots of different food to choose from and some nice wine and champagne. We departed before the evening entertainment began, which was going to be more like a disco/dance, something that we tend to leave for the youngsters to enjoy. On returning home about 6.15p.m. it was still a pleasant Summer evening and the wind had dropped a little bit.

I hope that now the school Summer holidays have begun we will get some nice hot days minus the strong winds that seem to have been so prevalent lately. If you are going away I hope you enjoy your Summer break, and for those of you who are staying at home why not try to visit some of the local rural villages like Alfriston? This is just one of many local villages that I hope to explore in the near future.

Eastbourne Pier

I know that it's not exactly situated in Willingdon Trees, but I came across a short feature about one of our local attractions, Eastbourne Pier, in which it is described as a 'Victorian Pleasure Symbol'. The article reads as follows.

Victorian Pleasure Symbols

'At the height of their popularity during Victorian times, more than 100 piers lined the British coast. The coming of the age of the train (I know, I had to wait ages for a train the other day, [inserted by me!]) brought the coast closer to the travelling population, while the passing of the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 provided the working classes with the opportunity to make day trips to the beach. With its promise of fun and provision, the pleasure pier quickly became the focal point of the nation's coastal resorts.

After the Second World War, during which time Britain's piers were sectioned (the removal of a large span to prevent their use as a landing point for a German invasion), many piers weren't repaired and remained closed. Their popularity declined further during the 1960s and '70s as Briton's developed a taste for overseas package holidays. Dwindling audiences saw the closure of end-of-pier theatres, while other piers were destroyed by fire and storms. Despite these setbacks, 55 piers remain along the British coast.'

There is an 'obscura', i.e. a bowl shaped object which works like a telescope inside the dome you can see on the above photo. When it was re-opened a number of years ago, a pick-pocket was spotted using the obscura and his progress was followed to enable the police to catch him. Was this the first CCTV camera to be seen in Eastbourne?

I don't know about you, but it is a long time since I last took a walk along the pier. It's only about 3 miles from where I live but it is very rarely that I actually go on the pier. When I do, it reminds me of our courting days c.1975 when we used to go to socialize in whatever establishment had replaced the original dance or music hall venue. There was some modern kind of drinking and dancing going on which would no doubt have been a culture shock to the Victorians if they had travelled forward in time to their much loved and frequented pleasure symbol. Now it is nice to take a leisurely stroll, breathe in the salt sea air and watch the seagulls and starlings wheeling around. I hope that the pier has a long future and is well maintained as an important historical Victorian treasure and Eastbourne landmark.

Meanwhile, I really do hope to get down there again soon.

'I must go down to the seas again,

The lonely sea and the sky,

I've left my vest and socks there,

I wonder if they're dry?'

John Masefied (adapted, I think by Spike Milligan).

A Summer Saturday

It looks as though our lovely heatwave really has come to an untimely end. I am quite keen on hot weather although I know some of you are not so enamoured with it. I heard recently that it takes our bodies 3 weeks to adjust to hot temperatures, at that rate we very rarely have the opportunity to get used to it.

Anyway, enough about the weather. I was working until about 2.15 today, after which we went to look at bathroom suites available for DIY fitting. My son is training to be a plumber and he is hopefully going to fit it for us with the supervision of someone we know who has more experience. It should be an interesting exercise.

On the news front, it was quite interesting to hear Barack Obama's speeches in Ghana today. He was obviously quite touched by the fact that his ancestors came from Africa and he encouraged the Ghanians to take control of their future and destinies. It was quite stirring stuff, especially during this prolonged recession which is set to have more of a lasting impact on the third world countries rather than the more affluent Western world.

Back to more local issues, Summer is the time of year when roadworks are carried out more widely. We are due to have some roadworks in our road starting on Monday, I haven't checked to see how long they anticipate them lasting. I will have to allow more time if I am travelling in that direction in the course of my work or other appointments. It would be interesting to know how much it costs our local economy in terms of increased costs to businesses due to travelling delays, after all time is money, as they say. I haven't checked to see how many roadworks are taking place in the Eastbourne area at the moment, perhaps you have them in your locality?Don't forget to allow extra time for travelling if you have to negotiate them, it may save road rage and frustration.

I do hope that the warmer and sunnier weather returns for when the schools finish their term in just over a week from now. We are planning to have a short holiday break a little distance away on the South coast. I think many people are having holidays which don't involve travelling abroad this year. If I was to make a list of the places I have never been to in the British Isles it would be a very lengthy one! There are even quite a lot of places even close to home which I have not explored thoroughly. Remember, if we visit places in our own vicinity we are helping local traders and businesses which is helpful to our own national economic recovery. A lot of the local concerns rely quite heavily on the holiday, tourist and leisure custom they receive.

For those of you on holiday, either local residents or visiting from elsewhere, enjoy the break and I hope you benefit greatly from the change and rest.

Here in Willingdon Trees, Eastbourne, East Sussex the weather has changed dramatically over the last few days. We have gone from a heatwave through thunderstorms to cloudy and showery weather and temperatures quite a bit lower, more comfortable for work! In Hollington, Hastings, they had floods with 10 foot depth water when a small river overflowed near a culvert. I felt really sorry for those who were trying to clean up the mess when their homes were flooded.

For those of you who live in the Eastbourne area, there are a number of local issues for which I would like to know some answers. Does anyone know when the new Aldi in Hampden Park is due to open? When was it that the travellers camped in the car park near the Somerfield (soon to be Aldi) empty store? Has anyone looked at the possibility of using Brightkite as a way of keeping in touch with each other in our local community? On the last question, it appears that you can only post messages of 140 characters or less, like Twitter.

From a personal point of view, I quite like the instantaneous nature of Twitter and Friendfeed and have only discovered the usefulness of Facebook in the last few weeks, even though I opened my account on it quite a while ago. However, one of the reasons I am now writing this blog and several other postings is because I now feel the need for something of a somewhat less fragmentary nature.

I have lived in Willingdon Trees for nearly 10 years now, and one of the things that I notice is how little contact I have with other people in the neighbourhood. I talk to both my next door neighbours (I live in a detached house) but I don't know my neighbours next door but one on either sides. I live on the edge of the Willingdon Trees estate and have rarely entered into the estate itself during the last 10 years. I talk to the people I meet in the local convenience shop and I know a few other people through my work contacts. I wonder how many of you in your own local setting are in a similar situation? I believe that I may in a sense be experiencing the alienation of which Karl Marx spoke in his political theory.

This sense of semi-isolation is, I believe a result of us living so close geographically to one another and perhaps wanting to have our own sense of space (yes, I am signed up to MySpace as well!). There are various ways we can overcome this without being unbelievably extrovert or if you have a tendency to introversion like me. We can become members of local community clubs and groups which meet regularly, perhaps churches or choirs. I used to beinvolved in both of these mentioned activities, the problem was, yes, you guessed, they were not in my local community.

I know that what I should do is practise what I preach and join something in order to get out of my semi-isolation. However, being of a post-modern bent and bordering on becoming a middle-aged social media and technical geek, I have taken to using my broadband internet to get in touch. This is something that I previously thought I would never do, but in many ways I have come to see the tremendous potential of the internet as a means of communication. I tried using the internet first about 12 years ago and was totally underwhelmed by the number of websites available and the lack of useful which could be obtained. I gave up on it after several attempts and only came back to internet use less than a year ago. The transformation since the early days is unbelievable, information is freely accessible and so much is free to the user.

I am beginning to see that the internet can be used very effectively for keeping in touch with people a great distance away from each other, but I believe it is an ideal medium for communicating to one another in a more local setting. I hope that many of us will catch the vision

to put the possibilities into action.