Ceresalia

The Roman feast Ceresalia was named in honour of the goddess Ceres, from where we get the word cereal.  The Anglo Saxon Lammas (loaf mass) celebrates the same stage in the agricultural calendar – the first harvest. Although the means of harvesting has changed, I’m sure this landscape would not be too alien to our Anglo Saxon or Roman ancestors.

As I was doing the driving to and from Durham on the 7th and 8th August, I can’t be sure where this photo was taken although I do know it was somewhere on the A1. It’s on viewing such landscapes that I really wish that I could paint.

Dirty Dog?

Don’t worry. Your beautifully clean bathroom will not need to suffer a bit.

Just head westwards down the foot of England to the Gables Filling Station, Trevenan on the A394, north of Helston, Cornwall.

As you can see from the sign inside the garage there is a choice of washes for your four-legged friend: short, medium or long.

I’d be interested to see how this works. How is it any different from standing your dog on a garden table and hosing him down?

I suppose that the water is heated, is it? Is the water in a carwash heated?  Does the shampoo come out automatically rather than you having to squirt some from a bottle onto your canine companion?

No Room at the Inn, B & B, Country Club …..

I can’t believe that I spent nearly two hours last night trying to find us a bed for the night of Sat 29 Sept. We are dropping The Loom Monkey off at Durham Uni and as its the longest distance I will ever have driven I have no intention of doing the journey in both directions on the same day.

Slowly I worked my way south from Durham, clicking with my mouse to see if I could find a bed for us for ONE NIGHT only.No room at the inn, hotel, ghastly looking motel. Nothing!

I was 110 miles from Durham, somewhere near Rotherham when I found what must have been the only spare bed in the UK.I can’t say I was ecstatic. Restover Lodge Hotel doesn’t sound TOO bad till you see the picture they were stupid enough to provide online. In its favour was that we could probably just slide down a motorway sliproad straight into the car park. I suppose you keep your eyes closed when you are asleep, so you don’t really have to look where you are staying, do you?

Something stopped me from booking online. I had found a B & B in Richmond, Yorks, about 35 miles south of Durham and it wasn’t possible to check availability online, and I thought that 1015 was just a few minutes too late to call, so I left it till 0815 this morning. Whoops, the delightful Jill was having a lie-on, something she doesn’t usually have the chance to do and muggins here just ruined it. “You won’t believe it, I’ve had to disappoint so many people over that Saturday night”. Oh yes, I would! Something is going on on that date. The government must have passed a new law that obliges everyone to sleep away from home on Sat 29 Sept 2007!!

But guess what? She had just had a cancellation the night before and we have a bed at the top of this very nice looking house in Richmond, Yorks only 35 miles, less than an hours drive, from Durham. Hurrah!