Through a dim haze...
Aug. 7th, 2003 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cybermule...I remember the yesterday that was.
I went up to visit my grandad. This involved a very pleasant journey up the A46. This is my favourite time of year in some ways - everything is at its absolute trembling peak of perfection before the decline into autumn. Before starting my main travels, I picked up some bargainous pots in town - 6 large clay pots for a tenner! - and ran into some rather pretty purple peppers. It was overcast as I headed up towards Stroud, but the A46 is bordered by some magnificent wheat fields (one has a rather splendid iron-age fort in it!) and as I drove past, the combine harvesters were busy making those big plump uber-neat cylindrical hay-bales. The only sad part was a butterfly hitting the windscreen - bugger! I really hate driving sometimes, although I've never hit anything larger than a bug.
Just as I reached the further edge of the plateau, before the descent into my home valley, the clouds suddenly lifted and it was a glorious day. Hazy, but beltingly hot, and the world looked beautiful. In some ways, I always get sad driving through my home town. It's got a lot prettier since I lived there, with cafes and brightly painted gift shops, but the memories are always bittersweet and something has always changed. They've boarded up the house next door to where I live - I guess it just got too dilapidated - but my dad's old van is still parked in the same place :/
Plus, worst of all, Stroud has got a new and glaring McDonalds, and every time I drive along the road to my grandad's house, I almost get marmalysed by some moron munching on a McBurger. Sigh. My grandad is doing pretty well considering he's 87 now. I didn't stop long because he had to go for physiotherapy at the local hospital, but we got chance to munch crisps, drink tea and catch up on some things. I think I probably take after my grandad to be honest - most of my family are bouncing extraverts, but there's a quiet streak that must come from him, I guess. It's not without it's downside, but I'm happy to get that hand from the genetic shuffle. He was also really pleased with a rather nice new painting that he'd just bought, done by a friend of the family.
I was slightly at a loose end after packing off my aged gramp in an ambul-bus (he was lapping up the attention ;)). I had planned to go for a walk along the local cycle track, but it seemed so hot that instead I decided to go and visit the church at Selsley. This is something I've been meaning to do for years - it's supposed to be a very fine "Arts and Crafts" style church, built by a guy with the reputation of being a satanist/pagan/general nutter, according to who you speak to. The plan went well until I overshot the local parking. "Oh well", I thought, "I'll just pull in at one of the laybys on Selsley Common". Forgetting, of course, that a mile or two can fly by in the company of Mr Automobile. Result: a very long trek across the savannah that is a stroud hilltop in the summer, stumbling wildly up and down the banks of small stone quarries, hoping feverishly that I was going in the right direction. Once you've got about 100 yards from your car, you generally can't see it any more.
So despite the heat, I managed to use up a good half of my flash-card before I'd even got to the church, and acquired a rather fine black feather on the way. The church was very nice - pretty and continental looking, with William Morris windows and pretty earthy tiles. There were some loud people, but they went away after I tried to make friends with them ;) so I got some good photos (to be uploaded soon!) and stopped in the graveyard to take advantage of the handy shade and water supply. I grossly over-estimated the distance back to the car and popped up in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, on the summertime hills of Stroud, the middle of nowhere often also contains a Winstone's icecream van, where I revived myself with finest icy coldness before wandering back to mysolar charged oven on wheels car.
Apart from having a great day, a discovery to be proud of is that I can jam my sunglasses over my driving glasses. Looks a little strange, but at least I can see on sunny days :)
I went up to visit my grandad. This involved a very pleasant journey up the A46. This is my favourite time of year in some ways - everything is at its absolute trembling peak of perfection before the decline into autumn. Before starting my main travels, I picked up some bargainous pots in town - 6 large clay pots for a tenner! - and ran into some rather pretty purple peppers. It was overcast as I headed up towards Stroud, but the A46 is bordered by some magnificent wheat fields (one has a rather splendid iron-age fort in it!) and as I drove past, the combine harvesters were busy making those big plump uber-neat cylindrical hay-bales. The only sad part was a butterfly hitting the windscreen - bugger! I really hate driving sometimes, although I've never hit anything larger than a bug.
Just as I reached the further edge of the plateau, before the descent into my home valley, the clouds suddenly lifted and it was a glorious day. Hazy, but beltingly hot, and the world looked beautiful. In some ways, I always get sad driving through my home town. It's got a lot prettier since I lived there, with cafes and brightly painted gift shops, but the memories are always bittersweet and something has always changed. They've boarded up the house next door to where I live - I guess it just got too dilapidated - but my dad's old van is still parked in the same place :/
Plus, worst of all, Stroud has got a new and glaring McDonalds, and every time I drive along the road to my grandad's house, I almost get marmalysed by some moron munching on a McBurger. Sigh. My grandad is doing pretty well considering he's 87 now. I didn't stop long because he had to go for physiotherapy at the local hospital, but we got chance to munch crisps, drink tea and catch up on some things. I think I probably take after my grandad to be honest - most of my family are bouncing extraverts, but there's a quiet streak that must come from him, I guess. It's not without it's downside, but I'm happy to get that hand from the genetic shuffle. He was also really pleased with a rather nice new painting that he'd just bought, done by a friend of the family.
I was slightly at a loose end after packing off my aged gramp in an ambul-bus (he was lapping up the attention ;)). I had planned to go for a walk along the local cycle track, but it seemed so hot that instead I decided to go and visit the church at Selsley. This is something I've been meaning to do for years - it's supposed to be a very fine "Arts and Crafts" style church, built by a guy with the reputation of being a satanist/pagan/general nutter, according to who you speak to. The plan went well until I overshot the local parking. "Oh well", I thought, "I'll just pull in at one of the laybys on Selsley Common". Forgetting, of course, that a mile or two can fly by in the company of Mr Automobile. Result: a very long trek across the savannah that is a stroud hilltop in the summer, stumbling wildly up and down the banks of small stone quarries, hoping feverishly that I was going in the right direction. Once you've got about 100 yards from your car, you generally can't see it any more.
So despite the heat, I managed to use up a good half of my flash-card before I'd even got to the church, and acquired a rather fine black feather on the way. The church was very nice - pretty and continental looking, with William Morris windows and pretty earthy tiles. There were some loud people, but they went away after I tried to make friends with them ;) so I got some good photos (to be uploaded soon!) and stopped in the graveyard to take advantage of the handy shade and water supply. I grossly over-estimated the distance back to the car and popped up in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, on the summertime hills of Stroud, the middle of nowhere often also contains a Winstone's icecream van, where I revived myself with finest icy coldness before wandering back to my
Apart from having a great day, a discovery to be proud of is that I can jam my sunglasses over my driving glasses. Looks a little strange, but at least I can see on sunny days :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-08-07 02:53 pm (UTC)Another one for the to-visit list, along with Tyntesfield and the A&C gallery of Cheltenham Museum. I haven't been to Westonbirt in ages either.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 06:30 am (UTC)I'll post a note when the photos are online. If you ever decide to pay a visit, let me know and I'll give you some directions if you need them. You could also stop by at Woodchester Mansion while you're in the area. Westonbirt has some exhibition on at the moment - I keep meaning to visit. What's the A&C gallery?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 07:19 am (UTC)Doh - I really should have worked that out! Thanks :)
I just went and looked at the website for the gallery, and it seems really interesting. Keep meaning to catch the train up to Cheltenham one Wednesday, so maybe that'll be an incentive!
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 04:06 am (UTC)Well, I thought so; everyone else said they looked silly!
Sounds like a very pleasant day :)
Barring the wierdly jarring hometown blues... I got that last time I went through Blackburn (and I left there 21 years ago, eeek), and I'm wondering what Aber will be like next time I go back..
Nathan, The Toxic Pixie
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 06:44 am (UTC)Yeah - you spend all your childhood wanting to leave, then you just get nostalgic and want to go back. Sigh. Is that 'Aber' as in Aberystwyth?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 11:51 am (UTC)I spent four years there, and often want to be back there living that life.
Mind, I think I'm romanticising about how great it was 'cos I was quite majorly fucked up (in hindsight).
Nathan, The Toxic Pixie
no subject
Date: 2003-08-09 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-10 04:18 am (UTC)Oddly, it has the highest proportion of smack addicts in the country.
Nathan, The Toxic Pixie
no subject
Date: 2003-08-10 09:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-10 11:37 am (UTC)Or breed them; one of the two..
Aber graduates also had the highest rate of alcohol problems as well... its 'cos there's pants all to do that doesnt involve beer. Not sure if thats good or not...
Nathan, The Toxic Pixie
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 07:21 am (UTC)Hmmm. Were they those flip-up clip-on things? I had an ex-BF who used to wear those and it put me off them for life!
no subject
Date: 2003-08-08 11:54 am (UTC)No, these were huuuuuge wrap around jobs that fitted over the entirety of my normal glasses and obscured half my face:)
Nathan, Teh Toxic Pixie