Old hands at the bar

Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home

It is said
That if you sit down quietly
On your own
In The Parkes Hide
At The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve,
In East Sussex, England,
Facing south west,
And train your Leica
10 x 42 Trinovid binoculars
Carefully
On The Ternery Pool,
In the distance,
And using only
Your peripheral vision,
You may see
The cloud spirits
Over Fairlight
Re-enacting
Scenes of rape and pillage
Dating back to 1377,
When the French invaded Rye
Without invitation or consent.

But who,
Exactly,
Would say such a thing?

And why has it become
Common knowledge
Among the shingle banks,
And the Sea Kale
And the lonely, deserted
Rotherside pillboxes?

These are not questions to be asked;
They are questions to be answered.
And local help is available
From old hands
At the bar
Of the Inkerman Arms,
Where you can get a decent plate
Of cod and chips
And volumes of lubrication
Of the kind which would keep
An entire saltmarsh happy.

Sadly,
Not everyone
Appreciates East Sussex.



....................................................

The Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

The Inkerman Arms at Rye Harbour

Rye Nook Fishery
100 acres of still water on the edge of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Barbless hooks only. Includes a hundred peg match venue for roach, rudd, bream, dace, eels and carp.

Fairlight cliffs
A photograph

Images of Sea Kale
1 2 3 4 5



.........................

A required tonic

#

Happy hour

#

A taxi is possible

#

Out beyond the Gas Giants

#

More Norfolk koans

#

Index of blog contents

#

Spirituality websites worth watching

A required tonic

Alcuin Bramerton profile ..... Index of blog contents ..... Home

A long slow lunch
With like-minded friends
In misty mid-winter
At the Queens Head Inn
In Icklesham,
East Sussex,
Is a required tonic
Before strolling wistfully
Over the Brede valley downland
To the ancient medieval hill towns
Of Winchelsea and Rye.

This is Old England
At its best.

There are ghosts hereabouts
And the memories of ghosts.

Creep into
The thirteenth century
Rib-vaulted cellar
Beneath The New Inn
In Winchelsea
And listen,
But do not extinguish your candle
And do not go there after dark:
The smugglers will have you still.

The liquid treasure
Of Gascony
Still lubricates life
On the other side.

And then on
Past lonely Camber Castle
To Rye
And The Mermaid Inn
Rebuilt in 1420.

Those who remember
Still talk in the tea shops
About what happened here
In 1377
And spit, politely,
At the French.

In this part of the world,
It is only the present
Which seems unreal.


................................................



The Queens Head at Icklesham
The pub's website

The New Inn (Winchelsea)
A photograph

A note on the cellars of Winchelsea

Camber Castle
A photograph

The Mermaid Inn (Rye)
A photograph


...................



Happy hour

A taxi is possible

Out beyond the Gas Giants

Old hands at the bar

More Norfolk koans

Index of blog contents

Spirituality websites worth watching

Out beyond the Gas Giants

A pub is a place of safety;
A place where hobbits
And men
Can exchange news;
A place where a ranger
Can sit quietly in the corner
And observe, but not speak.

If you wish,
You can play patience in a pub.

Tonight,
In the saloon bar
Of The Whore and Condom
In Church Street, Ventnor,
The conversation
Is about
Pluto, Yoda and love.

Pluto will survive.
It has plenty of friends
Out there in the Kuiper Belt
And the Oort Cloud.
They talk.
They party.
They exchange energy.
Everything is intelligent.

What Earthling astronomers think
Doesn't matter
Out beyond the Gas Giants.

And Yoda?
The thing about Yoda
Is that Yoda doesn't blog.

Yoda is everywhere all at once,
Except you don't notice.
Think quantum transdimensionality
And you think Yoda.
But you don't touch Yoda
With your thought;
Yoda touches you with his.

Love is more tricky.
But after a second glass
Of Benedictine liqueur,
Even the concept of love
Becomes accessible
In the saloon bar
Of The Whore and Condom.

Love is a dance;
A dance of colour;
A dance of energy;
A dance of inclusiveness
Shared with the universe.

Out beyond the Gas Giants,
They understand that love
Is all there is,
And that love includes Pluto
And energises Yoda
And surrounds the saloon bar
Of The Whore and Condom
With a felt sense
Of metaphysical safety.


..........................................


SolStations's Pluto factpage

Nine images of Yoda
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


..........................................


Yoda wisdom for Gungan groupies

A taxi is possible

A required tonic

#

Old hands at the bar

Slinky ClubGirl goes out on the town

More Norfolk koans

Index of blog contents

Spirituality websites worth watching

A taxi is possible

They decide
To go out to a pub
For lunch.

The pub they decide
To go out to
Is called the
Fox and Hunting Horn at
Newton-on the-Moor,
Northumberland.

But there is a problem:
It is 11.55am
And they are in
Port Isaac,
Cornwall,
Which is nearly five hundred miles
Away from
Newton-on the-Moor,
Northumberland,
As the crow flies.

And they have no car;
Crows don't have cars.

A taxi is possible,
But it will cost
Several hundred pounds
And the journey will take
Several hours,
Which is several hours
Too long
Because they are hungry now.

Five hundred miles
Is a long way
To go for lunch,
If it is already
Lunch time where you are
At the moment,
Unless you are very hungry
Indeed.

Instant gratification
Is not the immediate objective,
But imminent gratification
Most certainly is.

So instead of going to
The Fox and Hunting Horn at
Newton-on the-Moor,
Northumberland,
They decide to go, instead, to
A pub called
The Ship and Mermaid
In Port Isaac,
Cornwall,
Which is just round the corner
In Middle Street,
From where they are standing now
In the rain.

It is horizontal rain
And there is a wind-chill
Factor of minus 7
Degrees Celsius.

It may be warmer
In Northumberland,
But the Cornish pasties
Are closer
In Port Isaac.

And the potential saving
On the taxi fare
Is not inconsiderable.

Scrooge-like frugality
Is not the immediate objective,
But prudent cost control
Most certainly is.

But there is a downside
To rejecting
The Northumberland option:
At the Fox and Hunting Horn at
Newton-on the-Moor,
They serve
Sheepshagger's Five Star from the wood,
Whereas at the Ship and Mermaid
In Port Isaac,
Cornwall,
The best they can manage
Is late-bottled
Amphibian urine.

In a perfect world,
The competing options
Would be less vertiginous,
And the decisions required
To navigate them
Less excruciating.

But, although, pleasant,
Neither Newton-on-the-Moor,
Northumberland,
Or Port Isaac,
Cornwall,
Is perfect.

However,
In the end,
And in the particular circumstances
Cited in this case,
Lunch turns out to be
Manifestly tolerable.

..................................................

Harriet feels a burning sensation

Olive restaurant in Bromley

More Norfolk koans

Index of blog contents

Spirituality websites worth watching