This Time Last Week...
Jul. 29th, 2012 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
londonronnieSunday dawned bright, clear and hot (again!) and I finally persuaded ‘imself to venture out of the village. We hadn’t visited the nearby village of Winsford this time around, and I wanted to put that right as I am very fond of the place. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that one of my favourite Pros fics – Lizzie’s ‘A Family Affair’ – is set there. Or maybe it’s because I think it’s possibly the prettiest village in England. Or a bit of both perhaps...
(I'll admit that I'm not the world's biggest fan of garden gnomes, but I certainly had to smile at the cricketers in this village garden! *g*)
The churchyard in Winsford is one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever known so I wanted to visit it once more. JD wasn’t bothered as we’d been up there last time we were in Winsford but I insisted and this time there was a bonus as we discovered that the church was open to visitors, which it’s never been before when we’ve been there. Maybe because it was a Sunday, I don’t know, but we took the opportunity to have a look inside, and I’m so glad we did because it was beautiful.
There was a rather strange coincidence though – I may have mentioned to some of my flist over the past few years that I’ve wanted to write a Pros fic set during the First World War. I’ve been gathering info and doing research during that time, mainly concerning the exploits of the Royal Flying Corps. So, my newly found muse has led to me revisiting my rather paltry attempts at writing this fic over the past few days, and last night I wrote this –
” Sunlight was glinting off the wings of the flight-leader’s Sopwith as they were waggled in warning; there were hostile aircraft ahead. It wasn’t completely unexpected, given that their flight path over Douai took them into an area where German scouts were particularly active. This did not bother Bodie unduly however; the scouts in this region were notorious for allowing their Royal Flying Corps foes to pass on their way unchallenged. Any attack, when it came, was more likely to occur on their return journey, when they were tired and running low on fuel, with their machines quite possibly damaged by the anti-aircraft fire encountered on the raid. The Germans, of course, would be fresh and alert and only minutes from their launch sites on the airfields below. Bodie couldn’t help but admire their tactics.”
And today, in that tiny village church, I read this on a memorial set in the wall –
Owen Vincent Le Bas, Lieut. the Queen’s Regiment and Royal Flying Corps... killed with his Observer... in an air fight near Douai in France, Nov. 1915
Quite spooky, I think you’ll agree... (Doubly spooky actually, as my Grandfather also served in the Queen's Regiment!).
Lots more laziness when we got back (we’ve only got two more days to actually do something, for goodness sake!), more reading, watching buzzards overhead, and enjoying the all-round tranquillity. Then into the pub for a few pints...
And a bit of excitement before bedtime – just before we left the pub we heard them take a phone call; someone was asking if they could possibly turn up to eat at 9.15pm (the food usually finishes at 9) as their car had broken down on the way. “No problem” they were told. As we were going through the door on the way out two women and a man were hurrying breathlessly down the path – obviously the party that had telephoned. We stood back to let them through, the woman in front thanked us... and I am totally and utterly convinced that it was Susan George! I do know that she has a place somewhere near here where she breeds horses, so it’s not totally outside the realms of possibility. So, how many degrees of separation from Lewis Collins can we find...?? Ermmm... one? JD has gone to bed thoroughly fed up with me rabbiting on about Cluedo and 1066...
I shall have to get the inside info from someone in the morning...
ETA: It was Susan George!! I knew that she bred horses somewhere in Exmoor but I didn’t realise that she lives in Withiel Florey, which is only about three miles down the road. Apparently she is a rather infrequent visitor to the pub, and we’re told that she always likes to make something of an entrance – hence the phone call and the breathless dash down the path. I was sort of cursing that we were leaving just as she was arriving, but looking at it realistically, would I actually have engaged her in conversation in order to bring up the subject of 1066? Or to discuss Cluedo? No, of course I wouldn’t...
Oh, and apparently she performed the opening of the Village Fete a couple of years ago - pity she didn't do the honours this year because with a few Pimms under my belt I just might have succumbed to the temptation to grill her! LOL.
(I'll admit that I'm not the world's biggest fan of garden gnomes, but I certainly had to smile at the cricketers in this village garden! *g*)
The churchyard in Winsford is one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever known so I wanted to visit it once more. JD wasn’t bothered as we’d been up there last time we were in Winsford but I insisted and this time there was a bonus as we discovered that the church was open to visitors, which it’s never been before when we’ve been there. Maybe because it was a Sunday, I don’t know, but we took the opportunity to have a look inside, and I’m so glad we did because it was beautiful.
There was a rather strange coincidence though – I may have mentioned to some of my flist over the past few years that I’ve wanted to write a Pros fic set during the First World War. I’ve been gathering info and doing research during that time, mainly concerning the exploits of the Royal Flying Corps. So, my newly found muse has led to me revisiting my rather paltry attempts at writing this fic over the past few days, and last night I wrote this –
” Sunlight was glinting off the wings of the flight-leader’s Sopwith as they were waggled in warning; there were hostile aircraft ahead. It wasn’t completely unexpected, given that their flight path over Douai took them into an area where German scouts were particularly active. This did not bother Bodie unduly however; the scouts in this region were notorious for allowing their Royal Flying Corps foes to pass on their way unchallenged. Any attack, when it came, was more likely to occur on their return journey, when they were tired and running low on fuel, with their machines quite possibly damaged by the anti-aircraft fire encountered on the raid. The Germans, of course, would be fresh and alert and only minutes from their launch sites on the airfields below. Bodie couldn’t help but admire their tactics.”
And today, in that tiny village church, I read this on a memorial set in the wall –
Quite spooky, I think you’ll agree... (Doubly spooky actually, as my Grandfather also served in the Queen's Regiment!).
Lots more laziness when we got back (we’ve only got two more days to actually do something, for goodness sake!), more reading, watching buzzards overhead, and enjoying the all-round tranquillity. Then into the pub for a few pints...
And a bit of excitement before bedtime – just before we left the pub we heard them take a phone call; someone was asking if they could possibly turn up to eat at 9.15pm (the food usually finishes at 9) as their car had broken down on the way. “No problem” they were told. As we were going through the door on the way out two women and a man were hurrying breathlessly down the path – obviously the party that had telephoned. We stood back to let them through, the woman in front thanked us... and I am totally and utterly convinced that it was Susan George! I do know that she has a place somewhere near here where she breeds horses, so it’s not totally outside the realms of possibility. So, how many degrees of separation from Lewis Collins can we find...?? Ermmm... one? JD has gone to bed thoroughly fed up with me rabbiting on about Cluedo and 1066...
I shall have to get the inside info from someone in the morning...
ETA: It was Susan George!! I knew that she bred horses somewhere in Exmoor but I didn’t realise that she lives in Withiel Florey, which is only about three miles down the road. Apparently she is a rather infrequent visitor to the pub, and we’re told that she always likes to make something of an entrance – hence the phone call and the breathless dash down the path. I was sort of cursing that we were leaving just as she was arriving, but looking at it realistically, would I actually have engaged her in conversation in order to bring up the subject of 1066? Or to discuss Cluedo? No, of course I wouldn’t...
Oh, and apparently she performed the opening of the Village Fete a couple of years ago - pity she didn't do the honours this year because with a few Pimms under my belt I just might have succumbed to the temptation to grill her! LOL.
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Date: 2012-07-30 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-30 08:03 pm (UTC)And what a gorgeous village! I have JUST finished re-reading A Family Affair too!!