crawley by katharine eastman
Yesterday a friend and I drove on over in her car to Crawley on the other side of Winchester and we parked in The Fox Pub car park and went in and for £25 each we had unlimited tap water and a Sunday roast and a pudding, which considering how posh Crawley is (average house price about 3 million) is I think good value - and it was good of them to let us in, considering how unposh we are. Our waitress said we were her favourite table (of course) and we rewarded her for this flattery by tipping her about about £50 (fact).
Now I know that a lot of my Bandampeering fans (fan) (no one at all) will be wondering how a failed broken-down failed shabby failed old muso like me can go around splashing a pony or three (yes I saw Minder once) on some poncey food - but let me assure you that I haven't sold out and that it will be my only hot meal all week - truly - the only other stuff I ever eat is Montezuma 100% dark chocolate and bags of Asda's raw hazelnuts. So I am still punk-rawk and untamed and look like an explosion in a charity shop.
But our main reason for toddling over to Crawley was to see the spring flowers - an open-garden event in aid of some charity. My friend had bought tickets months ago. And no doubt in a normal year all the pretty flowers would be in bloom this deep into February. Alas not a bit of it. A 6-acre garden, and it had about 7 snowdrops. There were a few yellow flowers too - not celandines or daffs. But I really felt for the owners and their embarrassment. About seven of us wandered around the gardens trying to look interested. The best bit was the walled veg garden. But even that only boasted one brussels sprout plant.
Right at the back of the garden was a paddock and we walked around it and someone pointed up at a bird - some kind of hawk - and he said it was a rare kind of eagle and the most wonderful thing he had ever seen. He said the strange weather is throwing up all sorts of fabulous anomalies, some good (eagles) and some bad (no flowers). It really does feel like the End Of Days. But in a good way and I am very happy that it is all ending like this.
recorded this evening, photo Crawley near Winchester yesterday
