As part of the many events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War, a number of Silent Silhouettes were installed in different parts of the country.
I first saw these ghostly figures in London at St Pancras station one day as I was in transit from work to home.
Silent Silhouettes
I saw a few more as I was walking The Pilgrim’s Way in August.
Puttenham –
Silent Silhouette – Puttenham
Chaldon
Silent Silhouette – Chaldon
Limpsfield
Silent Silhouettes – Limpsfield
A poignant and fitting reminder of the huge sacrifice that was made by ordinary people; people who believed in freedom and King and country….and who can forget the extraordinary Poppy installation at the Tower of London in 2014, as people from around the country came together to plant over 803,000 ceramic poppies in a breath-taking vista; Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
Planting the final Poppy at the Tower of London 11.11.2014
Currently on at the Tower of London is the amazing ‘Deepening Shadows’ ritual; an evolving installation with the Tower moat gradually illuminated by individual flames. A powerful symbol of remembrance.
I’m planning on attending the Remembrance Sunday service on Whitehall at the Cenotaph this Sunday 11.11.2018 as we mark 100 years since Armistice Day in 1918…a day that officially, albeit not actually, brought The Great War to an end…the war to end all wars…..
Tuesday 21 August 2018 Day 1 Winchester to New Alresford : 11.94km / 40,690 steps elevation 114 meters
Sooooo excited today!! I feel quite boisterous LOL. I didn’t start off too well though….got myself ready real quietly so as to not disturb my host, checked to be sure I had everything packed, and that the room was clean and tidy…managed to get Pepe onto my back without knocking anything over, got my shoes on and crept quietly out the flat, dropped the key carefully through the letterbox slot, heard it land on the floor…turned around to start walking and…..whattttt????? noooooo!!!! I’d left my walking poles in the bedroom. OMG my heart!! sank right down into the tops of my shoes. Seriously Cindy WTaF?? My horror was unbounded. Now what? I stood there with the hair standing up on my neck and wondered “what to do, what to do?” Well, as much as I was totally reluctant to wake her, there was no option…..I rang and rang the doorbell till she woke up. The sight of her tousled hair and sleep-filled eyes made me feel like a complete idiot. Oh my lord, I felt absolutely mortified.
Poles in hand, apologies trailing behind me I finally set off and decided that if I left anything else anywhere I would just kiss it good bye LOL Taking a quick walk through the streets I hurried as best I could, now well behind schedule as I wanted to catch the 9am train to Winchester….I don’t hurry well with a backpack on!! Got to the station with literally 2 minutes to spare and a long queue for the ticket office. Cue regret for not buying my ticket the night before!!! Urgh. Anyway I pleaded with the woman in front of me who wasn’t catching the train that day and she let me in…got my ticket as the train pulled in to the station and then I ran…slipping on as the doors closed behind me. Whew! Made it 🙂
What a joy to arrive in Winchester again. Of course I had to take a quick walk past the Great Hall, the West Gate and 15th century The High Cross aka the City or Butter Cross, then I almost skipped to the cathedral I was so excited! Followed the avenue of trees and there it was, looking gorgeous. Excitedly I made my way to the ticket counter, pulled out my pilgrim’s passport and voila!! my first stamp as a pilgrim about to embark on my journey along The Pilgrim’s Way – Winchester to Canterbury.
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A lovely gentleman came over and gave me a short tour of the cathedral, took some photos, gave me a viewing of the medieval paintings in the 12th century Holy Sephulcre Chapel, and directed me to St Swithun’s Shrine where I sent a small prayer to the Universe for safe conduct and lots of adventure and discoveries. I visited the crypt (pretty awesome) then lit a candle in memory of my Mother (Marjorie), Mother-in-law (Dixie), and Father (Derrek), took a few last photos and on my way out, one of the Chaplains said a blessing and sent me on my way with lots of cheerful waves
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And I’m on my way, Winchester to Canterbury……with a final glance at the cathedral, I set off. First a quick visit to St Laurence Church then following the directions in the guide I made my way out of the city and along The Pilgrim’s Way. Whoo Hoo. My mood was exhilarated and excited and full of joy.
The route is unbelievably varied; initially following city streets and then through the suburbs, I passed the ancient site of Hyde Abbey (destroyed by Henry VIII)
site of Hyde Abbey destroyed during the Reformation
St Bartholomew’s Church (I forgot to get a stamp grrr)
St Bartholomew’s Church, Winchester
and suddenly I was into countryside and a nature reserve. From here on the terrain was quite simply gorgeous.
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Passing through King’s Worthy, Abbot’s Worthy then Martyr Worthy I soon reached Itchen Abbas. Crossing the River Itchen I reached Avington Park where Nell Gwynne (that other Charles’s mistress) lived. I meandered up the drive (it’s very long) hoping to visit the house but didn’t see a soul about. The front doors were open so first I put my nose through the door, not a soul about, and before long (like maybe 10 seconds) my whole body was through the door and walking around. LOL I still didn’t see anyone…but on my word…the room wow!!! fabulous. I thought I might chance the stairs, but caution prevailed, and instead I walked around took a few photos and left. Before heading back to the pilgrim route I strolled across the lawns and enjoyed the green and shady trees.
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Reaching the road again, I headed up towards the golf course where I saw one of the most welcome signs you can imagine: Walkers Welcome 🙂 yayy, just in time for 4pm tea. I stopped off to use the facilities, had a cup of refreshing tea, a piece of delicious cake, by now I was really feeling the heat, and the shade of a tree was most welcome.
Although it was a truly beautiful day, and made for some fabulous photos, it was very hot and personally I would have enjoyed a light rain. 😂 😂 😂 😂 (be careful of what you wish for! sometimes the Universe gives you what you want…not necessarily at a convenient time or day!!)
Oh my word….England is soooo quaint. I passed some of the most gorgeous houses…total house envy!! The route today was fabulous, mostly very flat for which I was grateful.
Scenes from today’s walk along The Pilgrim’s Way:
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Church interiors- I visited 6 churches in total, some had a pilgrim stamp, others not – all without doubt amazing:
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Finally I got to say “I’ve arrived at tonight’s destination after a very long and hot walk, then stroll and finally a stagger along The Pilgrim’s Way”. I’d visited some amazing churches, met loads of people along the route, had some interesting conversations and seen some beautiful places. I met up with the lady who was to open up the Church Hall for me, and oh my word…I was blown away. She very kindly gave me a sleep mat, an air mattress, a pillow and a towel. I could have cried with gratitude. I then sat out under the trees, enjoying the peace of the graveyard and the colours of the setting sun, and enjoyed my dinner of fish and chips and mushy peas.
New Alresford: I’ve dined in some interesting places, but not yet in a graveyard 😜😜
a first for me …..eating dinner in a graveyard – First time for everything 😂 😂
I was so amazed at the varying terrain of the route….
take your pick……The Pilgrim’s Way, The Watercress Way, Allan King Way, St Swithun’s Way, The Itchen Way
The route along the first few days is a mix of 5 different ways; St Swithun’s Way, Itchen Way, Watercress Way and the Pilgrim’s Way, along asphalt, gravel paths, woodland, narrow winding paths through copses of trees, crossing the Itchen River a few times, and fighting my way through an overgrown tangle of scrub, shrub and weeds. Roughly 12-14 kms. Its a lot harder than the start of the Camino last year. But I’ve made it. Hoorah. Thankfully tomorrow is a shorter day (or so I thought).
My bed 😂😂😂 I slept in the church hall at Alresford and they kindly loaned me a mat and air mattress and a pillow…oh the luxury of a pillow.
my bed for the night
I was quite comfy. The church is beautiful and I had my passport stamped. Mostly the stamp was attached to the wall with an ink pad nearby and you just stamped your own passport. As I did last year on the Camino, I left a small donation at each church.
my Pilgrim’s Passport – Winchester Cathedral 21 August 2018 (the chap made a mistake and dated it 12th 🙂 urgh
End of Day 1 on The Pilgrim’s Way – totally amazing.
A short video of my journey from Winchester to Alresford
In case you missed my prelude to my walk along The Pilgrim’s Way – click for
I was in London last week and decided to make a visit to the Imperial War Museum to see the Weeping Window…..a cascade of several thousand ceramic poppies created in 2014 for the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower of London.
Weeping Window, Imperial War Museum, London
Once the installation was uninstalled most of the poppies were sold off to the public and some went on tour around the country to various landmarks.
14-18 NOW is bringing the two sculptures Wave and Weeping Window to audiences across the UK as part of the Poppies Tour. The sculptures are free to view.
Seeing the poppies once again was so poignant and brought back memories of the day I helped to plant some of them at the Tower of London’s moat back in 2014, as well as the finale on November 11th when, during a very moving ceremony, they planted the final poppy after roll-call.
Tower of London poppies
Tower of London poppies (taken when I still did 3 days in London)
Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London 11.11.2014
The Weeping Window installation will be at the Imperial War Museum until the 18th November 2018
Well what a day it was. The 3rd of 4 days of the Doula Course and turned out to be completely different to what I was anticipating or expecting. It was an emotional roller-coaster. I’d been surrounded by some amazing women and although it was an extraordinary day, I was emotionally shattered….in a good way. I was been surprised by some of the things people have said about me, how they see things I thought were well hidden. The exercises we did, that made us dig really deep and although in a safe space, it’s left us feeling very vulnerable…but safe.
Interestingly some of the women have said how doing this course has made them realise how unprepared they are for working in this field, and how they feel that perhaps its not for them, yet its left me feeling more empowered and ready to go (so to speak).
We also did some role playing (which I’ve always hated, and avoided at all costs), but weirdly I found it really easy to slip into another persona and surprised the group (apparently). It was actually good fun, and the prognosis is that I may appear to be all sweetness and light (uhmm really??) 😂 😂 but that I’m really good at shocking them with my ability to be someone else. Actually our group practically ended up on the floor with laughter (very inappropriate laughter) at some of the stuff that came out of my mouth 😂 😂 I actually threatened to send one client to hospital in an ambulance on a stretcher… In context of course. But it was hilarious. We were laughing so much that the facilitator came to find out what was going on and none of us could speak for laughing. They’re a brilliant group and its been truly enlightening. I love learning new stuff and exploring preconceptions and how our beliefs and values are shaped by society, expectations, outside influences and family dynamics. All good. But boy am I tired 😴 😴 😴 ready to sleep now. I didn’t even have the energy to watch Strictly Come Dancing. 🤔🤔🤔
I remember hearing about Broadstairs from one of my clients some years ago. I thought at the time that I would have to visit, so when my daughter announced three years ago that she had found a house here, I looked forward to visiting to see what it was like. I am now totally smitten and truly I must live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
fantastic cloud scape lends an eerie glow to the sky and sea; Viking Bay
One of my favourite activities is to take an early morning walk to Ramsgate…just because it is quick; 45 minutes if I don’t faff around, and the scenery is just amazing. On Saturday I woke quite early to watch the sunrise
sunrise over Viking Bay, Broadstairs
and as it was such a beautiful day, decided to take a walk along the beach to Ramsgate (I had to visit the bank anyway) and while I was there, I followed an impulse and carried on walking till I reached Cliffsend.
one of the prettiest village signs I’ve ever seen; Cliffsend
Along the way I stopped for a swing in what has to be the best type of swing ever. One day, if I ever have a house with a garden, I plan to have a swing like this installed.
best swing ever
It is one of my favourite walks and I do so enjoy the scenery along the way. It was terribly windy and standing on the cliff edge was a tad tricky.
This is a very timely and useful article. It definitely pertains to me in that climate change and the effect that plastic is having on the oceans has been causing extreme anxiety, especially since I learned that my daughter is expecting a baby…her first child; my first grandchild. Since her and her husband announced the baby’s pending arrival, my stress levels have gone up quite a lot #understatement
I’m doing as much as I can to negate my impact on the climate, but as they say in the article, individually we can only do so much. But if our governments are not taking responsibility or massive action then that in itself will cause more stress, and I can well imagine the scientists must be under extreme stress. Just the very fact that the UK government has allowed fracking to go ahead tells us the story of their interest in their citizens and community. Of course we know that they’re going to make money off it, and not necessarily for the public purse… #justsaying
There are people who will continue to deny it…. “It’s the people who don’t seem bothered by environmental crisis who need therapy the most, to figure out why they are so numb and in denial,’ he tells us.”
The article suggests joining local community based groups who are also environmental activists in order to keep sane. I have already joined a number of community groups on instagram and Facebook and its encouraging to see how much they are doing, it keeps me focused, as well as which I do what I can. But quite honestly, it does keep me awake at night 🌃
Converting to veganism – an ongoing process and I do fall down occasionally when it comes to dairy products, although I have now finally converted to soya milk in my tea. 🙂
Saying no to plastic straws – I took a pledge nearly 2 years ago to never again use a plastic straw and I haven’t. Someone at a local coffee shop put a plastic straw in an avocado drink I was having and as my daughter said to the waitron “take it away before she goes into meltdown”. LOL
Saying no to plastic water bottles – I stopped this a long time ago. It’s bloody ridiculous to sell us water in plastic bottles that take thousands of litres to produce. We have tap water. We live in a 1st word country. We don’t draw water from an infected well. fck!! This is the one thing above all else that irks me the most.
Buying products in glass where available, even if its more expensive.
Buying products in cardboard where possible.
Not buying for fashion, but rather as I need it. Have you seen Stacey Dooley’s documentaries about the fashion industry?
Conserving water 💦 and being mindful of my usage.
Changes made by others due to my persistent requests:
Our local milkshake bar changed from plastic straws to biodegradable.
Our local chip shop changed from polystyrene boxes to compostable.
As individuals there is so much we can do, without experiencing overwhelm. I love the #2minutecleanup campaign on instagram
I share the devastating images of dead seabirds and other sea creatures from @balloonsblow in facebook
I am constantly alert as to what more I can do to make a difference and reduce my carbon footprint, and mindful of what I buy and why I buy it.
I try and set an example by modifying my behaviour
I try to share information for others to be aware of the catastrophic effects our throw-away plastic lifestyle is having on the planet.
I realise that we can’t live a life completely without plastic in the immediate future, but we can drastically reduce our consumption of the product by avoiding it wherever possible. – I used the word consumption, because as you know, microscopic plastic fibres are now in our water supply and our food chain….even in salt.
Regards going vegan, I get mocked by family members who feel comfortable with sending me what they see as humorous images of what is tantamount to cruelty to animals. Friends come up with the old bullshit of vegetables having feelings too and how they feel pain. That is throwback to when people who were going vegan were regarded as nutters or veganism was considered a fad. Its not. Try watching ‘What The Health’ on Netflix then come talk to me again.
The biggest impact you can have on saving this planet for future generations is to cut back on plastic, stop buying bottled water and if you can’t become vegan, at least try being vegetarian or flexitarian.
I am currently attending a course on becoming an End of Life Doula. It fits in with my job and is something I have been interested in for quite a few years. It has been a very interesting journey so far. As part of our homework for the 2nd part of the course this weekend, we had to complete a few exercises relative to what we learned/experienced at the first weekend, so the first place I started was at http://kristiewest.com/aboutkristiewest/
Kristie is a long-standing friend of mine and I have always admired her approach to life and death. We actually met at an event where her path in life changed course, and took her on the journey that was to lead her to where she is now, and to specialising in her field of expertise. I’d like to share this with you because I fully believe that what she shares can have a profound affect on how we view or approach death and grief.
The course I’m doing has so far been very interesting and surprisingly the first section didn’t actually deal with death at all, but rather about our, the participants, beliefs and values. The exercises we did all revolved around us, the potential Doula and about how we think of death and relate to people.
We delved into subjects like confidentiality, communication skills, about our attitudes, ethics and most importantly about our listening skills. We spoke abut the types of listening and then we had to share a story from our lives to one of the group while they practised effective listening as another person observed how they ‘listened’. We explored our ideas and again beliefs on a range of subjects from euthanasia, keeping secrets, involving family, about a dying person’s last wishes, rituals about the role we would take and what we would find acceptable in that role or not.
I’m looking forward to the this weekend where we participate in another 2 days of training.
After 9 days in the area my assignment ends tomorrow so this morning I took the poopster for one last ‘wander where you want to’ walk…the last till when I return in December.
We passed the church along the way so I quickly popped in for a look. Charles Dickens lived at Gads Hill Place in Higham, so its imminently possible he worshipped at this church in his day. The marshlands around the area lent itself to the opening of Great Expectations.
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St John’s Church is Victorian, but a church would have existed here in Saxon times. Higham is also listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as having a 56 households: 24 villagers, 12 smallholdings, 20 slaves. Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
I remember visiting this church on my Canterbury Tales walk last year from Southwark to Canterbury. I do love exploring this country 🙂
Leaving on a jet plane and I don’t know when I’ll be back again……as it turns out…I never did return – not permanently anyway.
taken on the day I landed after my Spitfire flight on 26 April this year – seems apt for my journey
Today marks the 17th anniversary of my arrival in the Northern Hemisphere and the UK then Ireland for the first time.
All three happened on the same day in the space of a few hours.
I left South Africa on the 8th October 2001 bouncing with excitement and joy. At age 46, although I had travelled extensively throughout RSA and lived in any number of places, I had never left the borders of South Africa except for a brief weekend sojourn to Swaziland in my misspent youth.
I flew from South Africa on the evening of the 8th October landing in Zurich on the 9th. After an hour or so at Zurich airport where I had my first European pastry and hot chocolate and searched for the ‘red’ post box which turned out to be green LOL (a learning curve for sure), from there it was an emotional flight across Europe and the skies in which WW2 was fought. I am fascinated by the history of the 2nd WW and it gave me both the chills and a thrill that I was flying through the same airspace that our pilots flew all those decades ago…as a result I spent nearly the whole flight just crying….I couldn’t believe I was actually in the same airspace.
Soon, as we came in to land at London Airport I had my first view of the city I was to come to love so much; suddenly I was on UK soil. I could hardly believe it.
Lovely London – my soul city
A short nerve-wracking bus-ride later I took my first ever tube ride – first on the Jubilee line and then the Piccadilly line to Heathrow. I remember how terrified I was of getting lost, of not finding my way to the airport, and a total wreck with all the stories I had heard of how big Heathrow airport was….wasn’t. It was easy to navigate.
I remember as if it happened yesterday; as we exited the underground near Hounslow I looked out the window and fell in love…..with the chimney pots on the houses around the green. I am a huge fan of the film Mary Poppins and it looked to me just like a scene from the film….the trees and the green surrounded by 3-storey brick houses, their roofs adorned with chimney pots.
“I could live here!” I thought…..
And now I am….I first spent 6 months in Ireland with my darling sister and her husband (her 30th birthday was the reason for my visit),
and then after my visa expired 6 months later I came over to the UK to collate the paperwork I would need in order to apply for and obtain my ancestral visa (my grandfather had the good sense to be born in London (Battersea). After securing letters from agencies to say they could employ me, I flew back to South Africa in March 2002 and by 22nd April 2002 I was back in Ireland; ancestral visa in hand. After a few months of gallivanting in Ireland, I once again flew back to the UK and started working and living first as a resident and then a citizen of the country.
I have never looked back, never had even one second of home-sickness and never longed for the country or yearned to ‘go back’ with all that that signifies. If I have missed anything it would be certain foods like OUMA rusks, or peppermint crisp chocloate LOL
I have grown to love the UK so much, albeit not the politics (or some of the parties), and I have had so many amazing adventures, learned so much, written a couple of books and immersed myself into the very fabric of this country. The history is phenomenal and it’s like peeling back an onion…one layer reveals another.
I used my ancestral visa/SA passport to good effect and and travelled to a number of European countries and a few states in the USA over the next 15 years (and back to Ireland 9 times).
Sphere Within Sphere is a bronze sculpture by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, located at Trinity College, Dublin
I also travelled far and wide throughout the UK and have probably visited more places than many British-born people….certainly I’m sure more Domesday Book places.
I then applied for and obtained my British Citizenship.
it’s my 17th anniversary!!! this is from the day I got my new passport as a UK citizen 2 years ago
My daughter followed me in 2003 and she too is now a British citizen and married to an amazing man with a baby on the way…..the first baby in our family to be born in the UK since my Grandfather was born in Battersea in 1890. Our little Peanut aka my first grandchild. I’m so in love with this baby already…my heart swells when I see this. 🙂
my beautiful grandchild. a 3D scan taken yesterday…
It seems perfectly apt, albeit coincidentally, that we got this scan photo on the same date 08/10, as what I left SA 17 years ago. Never did I think on that day back in 2001 that I would be a granny-in-waiting at this time 17 years later.
The UK has always felt like ‘home’ to me and I have felt more at ‘home’ here than I ever did anywhere in RSA….except possibly Cape Town which I’ve always said was my heart city. Well London is my soul city, and my heart has followed me to the UK.
I’ve had an extraordinary journey since arriving here in 2001 and although it hasn’t always been easy, that’s mostly been due to my own bad decisions on various life aspects. But I have never regretted my decision to return and to stay…..
So today is my 17th anniversary and I am still ‘home’.
And Ireland is still my 2nd favourite country in the world.
If you are interested here is a link to some of the place I have visited since my arrival. My goal is to still travel even more extensively and visit as many places as I possibly can – Project 101
Tuesday 21 August 2018 Day 1 Winchester to New Alresford : 11.94km / 40,690 steps elevation 114 meters
Not Just a Granny 
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