Dover
Last week we set off early on Monday mng. for Canterbury. Having just joined the camping and caravanning club who have a site there. I phoned to check they weren't over-run and that it would be ok to arrive at 8am. All went according to plan until the woman in charge of the site told us they 'didn't have room' for us.
After we met our commitments at the Chaucer exhibition (which was quite good except for the 'goodwife of Bath' section!!!) and a brief tour round Canterbury Cathedral (at schools rates - £2 per child and I was free) and its exciting encounters with Edward the Black Prince's gauntlets, helmet etc and other surprises. Back at the site - where we had been permitted at least to leave our caravan while we went for our booked visit - I phoned Keats Farm in Dover (actually 4 miles north) and headed for there shaking off the worm-casts (well, it wasn't exactly DUST) from our feet.
We thoroughly enjoyed Dover castle which we visited Monday afternoon and then again on Tuesday - all day. Last year I joined Cadw and that means I can get in half-price at Eng. Heritage places. Of course if you have foresight you can book visits to Eng. Heritage entirely free of charge but I do like to be spontaneous and keep my options open depending on the weather and other things which might crop up.
The visits we made later in the week to Deal and Walmer castles didn't cost anything. On Wednesday we headed north to RAF Manson near Ramsgate and visited the Hurricane and Spitfire museum which was nicely laid out and very informative. Next we took a turn off the main route leading us to Richborough Castle. You may imagine my excitement when I discovered that this was the Rutupiae familiar to us through Rosemary Sutcliffe books! What the Romans must have thought when they rolled in from sunny Italy I can only imagine. A 15 min. run over the site gave us a feel for it and was brief enough to entirely prevent us from losing all sense of feeling in our noses and ears due to the bitingly cold wind.... The indoor museum was a welcome (warm!) shelter from the wind. So there, within sight of Sandwich we ate our sandwiches. Next we headed for Deal Castle where we took the audio tour which was very well done (except the headphones kept falling off Joanna's head!) and running round in the basement Joanna ran into a brick which had been hollowed out by the wind and still has the remains of the bruise.
Walmer Castle was the final call in the day (by now I was beginning to feel like an AMERICAN tourist - how they ever manage to cram so much into a day of touring in England I cannot fathom). Here we were greeted by the friendliest steward ever - I recommended he ought to be in period costume. he was someone who obviously was doing the job because he loved castles! In this one there was a house built into one side of the castle - not too big to become too tired (even at the end of SUCH a day!). We took the audio tour again which, this time was electronic. The best thing about this one was that you could get more information on aspects of the room visited if you so desired. The information on the Duke of Wellington (including his world-famous invention - remember? - and his bronze death-mask) were
a reminder of the goodness of God to this nation in providing key men of integrity who would faithfully do the right thing. I coveted (am I allowed to say that?) a delightful piece of furniture which was an 'arm' chair designed to be sat on 'back to front' with a lectern on the 'back' of it - ideal for hours of uninterupted reading - perhaps another shelf for the coffee cup would just complete the enjoyment! Hope one of my boys becomes a cabinet maker or something similar !!!

We were thankful for the electric hook-up, we left the fan heater on in the caravan all day while we were out which chased out the damp. If I had KNOWN it was going to snow/hail etc I would never have planned to go of course but we all enjoyed it very much (except the first night which was the coldest...)

On my return on Friday evening I found that Timothy had got 93% on his Business studies AS paper and 100% on two of his accounts (and 90-something on the other). Very praiseworthy - the Lord has honoured all Timothy's hard work and confirmed that this is the area in which Timothy is most definately gifted.

Saturday I headed off for Tring with David where he took part in the taxidermist's guild day conf. He enjoyed it and I took a stack of things to do - including my 'BSF' work (which I didn't touch!), Cancer Ward by Solzhenitzyn (brilliant book), patchwork and lastly drawing. I did some drawing in the van first - copying a sketch from a brochure bought at the museum last time I went - which I did using the 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' technique (ie - turn the picture upside down and copy it upside down concentrating on the lines and their relationship to one another) and had a presentable polar-bear before I went in to to try something (the right way up!!!) in the museum. I went in boldy and selected a Grevys zebra beside which was a chair. I spent a lot of time praising God for the amazing 'ricky-ticky' stripes of the zebra and drew the head. I was embarassed when people sidled up to 'have a look' at what I was drawing (even though it was the right way up!!) but was very gratified when after (how long? I didn't look at my watch!!!) I had a fairly presentable representation of a zebra. I recommend to you Edward's book 'Drawing on the Right side of the Brain' - you are sure to be able to borrow it from the library although it is well worth the investment.
It was very strange being on my own (apart from lunch time when David joined me in the van while the rest of the taxidermists headed to the pub!!!) for a whole day but quite a cause for praise and refreshment of soul - the sun even shone - Praise the Lord.
Plans move forward for the 8-week trip to Scotland and as it draws nearer I find the need to pray more. We would still like the Lord to provide us with a roof-rack and a cheap mobile phone before we set off. Yesterday we made some 'ship's biscuit' and tested it out in the garden - ask for more details!!!