A favourite...

Chalk Paths, 1935. © Estate of Eric Ravilious

Just a quick post today after a hefty break (all will become clear!) - I went home to Sussex for the weekend and as I was ambling around the Southdowns with my friend I thought of Eric Ravilious and how much I love his work. Today, The Persephone Post has featured one of his images - it's funny how you think of something after a long time and then it crops up elsewhere as a secondary reminder!!

I loved the old slam door trains - there was nothing quite like the feeling of speeding through the countryside with the window pushed down to the bottom whilst the warm summer air blew in your face. Somehow, I don't think Brief Encounter could have happened on our electric, aeroplane style trains!

Train Landscape, 1939 © Estate of Eric Ravilious

A belated welcome to 2010

View from The Trundle in West Sussex

It has been too long since I last posted. I came back to London after my week in Sussex refreshed and ready for the new year so I decided to completely overhaul my flat and sort everything out which turned into a week long endeavour rather than the afternoon that I had anticipated. Two trips to Ikea later and I am now sitting at my brand new desk in my transformed bedroom. At long last I have somewhere proper to write! I have no excuses now (theoretically).

This is the first year that I have no official resolutions. Last week, as I was rummaging through a cupboard wondering how it had got so full of tat, I found a crumpled list. It was my New Year's Resolutions for 2009. Evidently, I am no good at fulfilling resolutions as I had spectacularly failed to fulfill any for 2009. As my mood started to droop I realised that I may not have 'achieved' any on the piece of paper I was holding but I had done plenty of other things in 2009 that could easily constitute a resolution. The most important one is this blog.

I started this blog because I love writing and I love reading and I was losing a connection to both of these things through the monotony of full time work, sleep, domesticity and just life after university. I am still finding my way and my voice but this blog helps me to do that. I have loved dipping my toe in to the blogging world and I am so grateful for all the comments since I started. And I am actually staggered that there have been any at all as I thought my only readers would be my mum and sister. Both of whom should take all the credit for this as without them I doubt I would ever have picked up a book in the first place. My sister has been a reading inspiration since the moment she read Peace at Last to me - with voices. And my mum, a dedicated reader, has the best bookshelves in all of Sussex.

The other major achievement for 2009 was that I gained a City & Guilds qualification in bookbinding. It was a year of hard work but was worth every moment as I met some fantastic people who have become good friends and I learnt a wonderful craft which I hope to take further and turn into a bigger part of my life.

So, no resolutions for 2010. I am going to see where the year takes me and when I am clearing out my cupboards in preparation for 2011 I won't have a stark reminder of what hasn't been done - only a year's worth of memories, all of which will be a bonus.

As for my reading challenge to read 50 books - I read 44, which I intend to beat this year! My reading highlight for 2009 was absolutely Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, followed closely by both The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald and Princes in the Land by Joanna Canaan. I am determined to reach 50 this year - perhaps I have made one resolution after all?

An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin

Chichester Cathedral

One of my favourite buildings is Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex. The green, copper roof and elegant spire can be seen from the English Channel to the South Downs and are a beacon of home as Chichester is where I grew up.

Chichester Cathedral houses the tomb of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel and his wife Eleanor of Lancaster. This tomb was made famous by Philip Larkin as it inspired him to write An Arundel Tomb which was published in his 1964 collection The Whitsun Weddings.

An Arundel Tomb describes the stone effigies of the married couple - who are tenderly holding hands. On first reading, the poem celebrates their 'faithfulness in effigy' and seems to be a proclamatory poem about the longevity of love. However, I always trip over the final stanza and wonder if, in fact, the reality is that they never intended to be bound together for eternity and that Richard Fitzalan and Eleanor of Lancaster may not have loved each other at all. The final line seems to trail off in tone; a weak statement of hope.

An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin

Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess lie in stone,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd —
The little dogs under their feet.

Such plainness of the pre-baroque
Hardly involves the eye, until
It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still
Clasped empty in the other; and
One sees, with a sharp tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.

They would not think to lie so long.
Such faithfulness in effigy
Was just a detail friends would see:
A sculptor’s sweet commissioned grace
Thrown off in helping to prolong
The Latin names around the base.

They would not guess how early in
Their supine stationary voyage
The air would change to soundless damage,
Turn the old tenantry away;
How soon succeeding eyes begin
To look, not read. Rigidly they

Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light
Each summer thronged the glass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless altered people came,

Washing at their identity.
Now, helpless in the hollow of
An unarmorial age, a trough
Of smoke in slow suspended skeins
Above their scrap of history,
Only an attitude remains:

Time has transfigured them into
Untruth. The stone fidelity
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.

Taken from Philip Larkin Collected Poems Published by Faber & Faber

An old Sussex custom

Horn Fair, 25 July 2008

On St James's Day every year (25 July) the small Sussex village of Ebernoe holds Horn Fair. A centuries old custom, the fair is a celebration which takes place on the village common and a main feature is the cricket match between Ebernoe and a local village. At the end of the day, the highest scoring batsman is presented with a set of horns as a trophy - traditionally taken from a sheep which has been roasting throughout the day on a spit in the corner of the common.

Over the centuries the fair has moved with the times - waltzers, burger vans and bumper cars are all present but many traditions have held fast. The Horn Fair song is one such tradition and is sung around the cricket pavilion once the match is over and the horns have been presented.

The Horn Fair Song

As I was a-walking one fine summer morn',
So soft was the wind and the waves of the corn,
I met a pretty dansel upon a grey mare,
And she was a-rinding along to Horn Fair.

'Now take me up behind you, fair maid, for to ride!'
'Oh no, and then oh no, for my Mammy she would chide!
And then my dear old daddy would beat me full sore!
And never let me ride on his grey mare no more!'

'If you would see Horn Fair, you must walk on your way,
I will not let you ride on my grey mare today,
You'd rumple all my muslin and uncurl my hair,
And leave me all distressed to be seen at Horn Fair'.

'Oh fairest of damsels, how can you say no?
With you I intend to Horn Fair for to go.
We'll join the best of company when we do get there,
With horns on their heads boys, the finest at the fair'.

They are the finest horns you ever did behold,
They are the finest horns and are gilded with gold.
So merrily, right merrily, to Horn Fair we did go,
A jolly brisk couple boys, and all in a row.

Ebernoe Horn Fair epitomises the stereotype of a quirky English rural custom, this is realised through the symbolism of the horns - the bawdy association with cuckoldry resonates with a time when there were many horn fairs across England, which were boisterous occasions and widespread seduction was then part of the horn fair tradition. The Horn Fair song completes this picture with its suggestiveness of sexual pursuit, seduction and horn associated euphemisms.

Horn Fair in the 21st century is upholding an element of rustic sexual flavour with the annual 'Dip the Lady' competition - you need to witness this first hand; just think, young women, bikinis and wet t-shirts - for the ladies the odd cricketer takes part (usually fully clothed). For the more faint-hearted - there are the traditional skittles, children's sports, hot air balloons taking off and the all important tea tent. The sheep roast sandwiches with mint sauce cannot be rivalled.

The fair is a reassuring sign that these rural customs are continuing, are still being upheld and enjoyed by younger generations and will, doubtless, continue for many generations to come.

Much Ado Books - for true Bloomsbury lovers

Much Ado Books is a lovely independent bookshop in Alfriston, East Sussex, run by a very friendly and helpful couple from America. They sell both new and second hand books and have a great collection of books by and about the Bloomsbury Group.

I found several first edition Iris Murdoch's in there (I bought them all!) and they currently have a first edition copy of Virginia Woolf's Between the Acts; all reasonably priced. The decor is comforting, bookish, homeliness and the shelves have been decorated with patterns inspired by the work of the Bloomsbury artists, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.

Alfriston is a quaint Sussex village nestled in the South Downs and is packed full of tea shops and little independent boutiques. It also boasts the first property acquired by the National Trust, Clergy House, which is a beautiful house with a cottage garden and Medieval Hall.

Alfriston, Clergy House. Image courtesy of the National Trust.

Charleston Festival 2009

The Charleston Festival is a wonderful literary festival held at the Bloomsbury Group's country home in East Sussex. It is such a magical setting with the rolling South Downs overlooking the untainted farmhouse where the Bloomsbury Group used to paint, write, read, debate and, ultimately, work. http://www.charleston.org.uk/

It was the topic of work which led me to sit in a bustling marquee to listen to Alain de Botton talk about his latest book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work http://tiny.cc/L4dLV Alain never seemed to draw breath as he held the audience captive with tales of shipping goods across the world and the workings of a biscuit factory. For anyone who ever feels bored, frustrated or even numb in the workplace - this is the book for you. Alain does not provide the answers, instead he explores the modern workplace with all its complexities and absurdities and he presents it back to us in a digestible form - the lasting message? It is ok to turn off the Blackberry; work does not have to define who we are.

I also went to see Debo Mitford, otherwise known as, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. She is a stunning, bright and inspirational eighty-nine year old with a quicker wit than I think I have ever encountered before. Hearing her talk about her life is both hilarious and awe-inspiring. Having attended major events of the 20th century, such as Kennedy's inauguration and funeral, she is a true witness to the mind-boggling change that took place during the last century.

Lastly, the Charleston Festival is one of the best places in the known universe to get a cup of tea and a slice of lemon drizzle cake. The Charleston Tea Tent is situated in the orchard overlooking the Sussex countryside; peppered with cow parsley that skirts around the trestle tables and knarled apple trees, the orchard is where tea was made for drinking.