The Pig Yard

May 2002 @ the Pig Yard...

May has been a disappointing month in terms of the weather. The opportunities for flying our balloon have been minimal although Steve did fly commercially on 4th May, at other times it has been either wet or too windy.

We have managed to spend more time on the vegetable plot as we neglected it last year, see May 2001. Jane has planted some onions and replanted the strawberries but we may just keep the rest weed free and tidy until next season.

Digging and weeding this area by hand has proven to be a labour of love but we are slowly getting there.

For the first time since October last year we managed to get some time away on our own. Holidays with friends are really good but they are a bit like holiday by committee. Decision making as to what your going to do and where your going to go can become difficult and long winded.

After much indecision we found an Oast house in East Sussex which looked ideal. The setting was superb with views over vineyards and gently rolling hills.

This is an area of the country we had not stayed in before. Steve had spent a week at scout camp close to 40 years ago just outside Eastbourne but that was our only link. Old Hastings Town was very good although we did feel out of place because we were not carrying a bag of chips or a pot of cockles. Finding decent tea rooms proved impossible and we finished up with mugs of tea and a sandwich in a sea front burger bar of dubious quality.

The science centre at Herstmonceaux, home of the Greenwich Observatory until 1985, proved to be a great success. Although it was obvious Steve wanted to go, Jane was not convinced but we had a really good time. The experiments kept us playing for nearly four hours and because it was early in the summer season, if there is such a thing in England, we were not surrounded by too many noisy kids. There were 5 telescopes which were superb pieces of engineering, not only did they rotate the inner floor could be made to go up and down. With a lottery grant they will be restoring some of the telescopes to working order so that you can look at the planets during the day - provided there is no cloud.

The Seven Sisters cliffs between Eastbourne and Brighton proved an exhausting circular walk mainly because we went off track in Friston Forest and instead of the 7 miles it ended up more like 10 miles. The last 3 miles being the ups and downs of the Seven Sisters. On the walk we came across this superb field which was covered in buttercups except for the footpath which was white with daisies. When we arrived back to the car we just sat and allowed the feet to sing to themselves for a while before driving back to the Oast House.