Southend Pier

Two weekends ago, my sister and her boyfriend came to stay.  We decided to head to Southend-on-Sea for the afternoon and take a trip on the pier train!

Southend pier is the largest pleasure pier in the world and extends 1.34 miles into the Thames estuary.

The Victorian era was a great time for the rise of the seaside holiday so many visitors to the coast, so relatively near to London created a demand for infastructure.

It first opened to the public in 1889 (in its current form) and the pier train opened in the early 1890's.  It was the first pier train in the country.

The pier train has played an important part of Southend's history.

In both World wars, it played a part. In WW1, ships which container German PoW's were moored on the end of it. In WW2, it was commandeered by the Navy and was closed to the public. After that time, it received many visitors from the late 40's onwards. In the 70's, there was some structural issues and there was a threat of closer, only stopped by protests. Grants were awarded and the pier was renovated with a new pier train in the 1980's.

It costs a minimum of £1 to walk on the pier. If you want the train, a one way ticket is £5.70 per adult. If you're feeling lazy or infirm, you can get a return ticket for £6.20.

We decided to take the train there and then walk back.

As we left, my musical era was delighted by the regular ostinato (repeated pattern) rhythm the train made.  The train moves fairly slowly so you can take photos as you go. I enjoyed looking at the underside of the pier at this height.

Here's the only shot I took inside. It was quite busy!

The train is a jolly green colour. Does it seem like it's smiling to you?

When you reach the other end of the pier, you can see some of the older trains including the royal carriage (the red one)

 I enjoyed the BR sign!

The seagulls were enjoying something edible on the railway line!

You can see Adventure Island behind.

It was a glorious day and this was a great activity for a sunny winter day.

At the end of the pier, there are quite a few facilities including Jamie's Italian. There are various kiosks which were all shut but I imagine, in the Summer, they house souvenirs and ice-creams.

Above, is a view from the end of the pier.

There is an RNLI centre and launchpoint at the end of the pier.  We saw one of the RNLI boats coming back in and got to watch it being winched back in.

Behind the lifeboat station, there is a great point to sit and look out to see with a large bell. Sadly, we couldn't really get to the end as there was a large amount of Twitchers/Birders who were all patiently there with vast cameras and binoculars as a Winter White Diver (or something like that) had been spotted there 2 days prior.

Lifeboat spam detailed below.

We noticed this great postbox cosy on the skinny little postbox!

Alas, we couldn't stay too long as we had to get some lunch before driving into London for a show (me and sister- Frozen. Boyfriend an CBC- De Peche mode.

I loved these three birds enjoying the halcyon day!

I recommend a visit to the pier.  It's easy to get to from Liverpool Street via the C2C or the Abellio Greater Anglia line.

I recommend a visit to Utopia cafe if you don't fancy the pier fare. It's a really quirky independent business. And if you want Fish and Chips, you are spoilt for choice!

x

The week that was!

 This week has felt like an Eternity! However, before I get started on that, I thought I'd share today's outfit with you:

The context of this is, I am playing my flute for my new church's carol service, Carols on the Green, which will take place on the village green, opposite the church and next to the pub.  

This means layers are necessary!

Under this blue/teal cashmere polo neck from Edinburgh Woollen Mill, I'm wearing a breton striped cotton top.

Under this charity-shopped Indian Rayon skirt, I am wearing black Cashmere joggers (charity shopped)

Along with my Esoteric London star necklace and earrings (sample sale) and a handknitted hat made by my friend Ellie and made for her daughter when she was young, I am wearing my  Fatface down-filled gilet which CBC bought me as a Christmas present in 2012.

How perfectly apt was it, that these floral embossed Dr Martens, that I bought from Lorelai Le Quillec, second hand (bargainous £10 + postage- they are MINT condition!) arrived this morning. I was wearing black boots but I changed once I opened the parcel! They are so comfortable- I am chuffed!

I am also going to wear my Parka coat plus you might have spotted my recycled cashmere fingerless gloves from TurtleDoves in the first picture?

So, this week...

Well, I awoke to a text message on Monday at 7am from my Deputy Head saying that School was closed because of the snow.

"Snow????" I asked, looking out the window at my own frost but definitely snow-free garden.

Yes, it was indeed so.  Where I work had had a lot of snow, as had my mum,my sister, my Dad, my stepmum and sister BUT my sister still had to go to school!  CBC's school was also snow-free and was open, but he'd been pretty unwell all weekend and took the day off (possibly the second day he's ever had off except when he's had Covid).

I prepared online lessons for the children and put away washing. Thankfully, they didn't send us loads of CPD training to do, it was thankfully, a proper snow day- almost, except for the lessons! I was quite glad not to be at school in some ways as I'd made veg and lentil soup the night before and it had affected me internally a bit!!!

My mother-in-law was due over to us and arrived around 8pm.  CBC cooked salmon and veg and we had a jolly evening.

I was anxious about not being at school because I was supposed to have had the final in-school rehearsal for Year 3-4's carol service in the morning and taught all Year 3 classes their first lesson on Jingle Bells- I can't teach Jingle Bells in January and the carol service rehearsal was important.  Already, I began to worry about whether we would be able to go to the church on Thursday. I discussed plans on the phone with my Deputy to try and fit both year 3-4 AND year 5-6 in for their rehearsal the next morning, before the dining hall would have to be set up for Reception lunch at 11am.

The next day, I awoke around 6.45am with a confirmation text that school was open and got myself all wrapped up on my bike to ride to the station for day 1 of train strikes.  The first train of the day, the 7:38 train arrived and got me to my interchange station. The snow increased as I travelled.  When I got to that station, I had to go and wait for 29 minutes on a cold platform for the next train (not the usual 2-5min wait) so I went and bought myself a hot sausage sandwich from the bakery and a roll for lunch. I arrived at school at 9am and quickly tried to get things across to the dining hall for the first Dress rehearsal for the carol service.  One class was 8 minutes late (I gave them evil looks!).  We got started and lots of songs went well but lots of the readers read too fast or quietly and a few children forgot about interludes between verses! One of the French twins was being really rude during our French carol, Il est ne le divin enfant by sticking his fingers in his ears (he gets cross at mispronounciation though he's told me I have a good French accent, "You sound like a proper French person!") so I told him off and he gave me dark looks for the rest of the assembly. The choir hadn't expected a rehearsal and none of them had their words nor had I got my piano parts so we had to miss those out. We overran by 8 minutes (grr) and the children were very fidgety!

Years 5-6 were all waiting outside the doors to come in.  Their rehearsal was much more efficient although again, I didn't have the music ready for choir, nor had I had time to tell drumming club to fetch their drums so it wasn't complete. Most of the readers were pretty good.

After playtime, I took my year 5 class and, because I'd missed one class's lesson for the carol practices, I decided not to do music with the others to make sure my classes are all in the same place. Instead, I taught my first class to make Origami stars out of a whole load of  old flyers from my orchestra concerts.It was very hard doing origami with 30children at the same time!

In the afternoon, I taught my year 6 children who were creating their own performances of a Baroque Chiaccona and then made the folded, cut paper Christmas trees out of the remaining magazines with the remaining year 5 class. Much easier than the Origami! They were all chuffed with their makes though!

Choir after school was a bit mad as the children hadn't been allowed out to playtime because of all the ice so they were hyper. I finished early because of the train strike and headed off to the station after having a quick discussion with my Deputy about whether we would be able to walk the mile to the church for our carol rehearsals the next day.  It was precarious as it was so cold that the snow had frozen over on the pavements and whilst I was ok cycling on the main road for a bit, the side streets and the walk up the hill to the station on the pavement was treacherous!  I ended up waiting at the station for 20mins for the train- SO cold! It was late. At my connection station, I had to wait 25mins in the cold!

I had to take the train to the terminus as I was singing as part of CBC's school carol service. There was a tense 15minutes waiting for a taxi at the train station as none were coming! I arrived to the church with 10minutes to spare.  

The carol service was gorgeous. His girls plus esteemed adult guests did a fantastic job! I sang tenor with 2 other men and 2 other women (we were the smallest part). CBC did a brilliant job as his first turn as head of music.  Disappointing that no PTA members were there to serve refreshments and it was up to the mums of CBC and his colleague to do that. At the end, I did some frantic hoovering to help the elderly churchwarden who was awaiting our exit.

CBC , his mum and I headed to the Thai restaurant for dinner! When we got home, I discovered that David, lovely church warden at the church had OFSTED in the morning (he's chair of governors at a couple of schools) and so wouldn't be there to let us in the next morning so I prepared carol sheets just in case for the kids! At midnight, I went to bed.

Wednesday morning, I awoke anxiously- would the roads be clear for the carol service?  Alas, I had a text from my Deputy Head saying, No, it was too risky. Woe!!!

 Train strike day 2 made my journey identical except that I chose a egg mayonnaise and crispy bacon roll for my breakfast.Oh, and the train was 20minutes delayed, meaning I got to school at 9.20! I walked with our Lunch time provision supervisor who slipped on the ice just in front of me!

I didn't have to teach any of my first class as cover was in place.

After that, I had to go and cover in year 1 and did a sequencing of the Christmas story RE activity. Very hard  at times with a class with quite a few SEN children without any support!

My roll was delicious at lunchtime - Brie, Bacon and Avocado!

After lunch, I had about an hour to get some prep done for school and then I went to cover in Year 3 as a teacher had to go.  Remember my worry about Jingle Bells?  I cunningly came up with a plan and persuaded the other two teachers to bring their children into the large Year 3 classroom I was in so I could do the teaching input on reading the stave so they'd be able to do Jingle Bells next Monday. My bribery was to give the teachers 25minutes to go and do some work whilst I juggled the 90 kids.  Thy then set the kids on the task of identifying the note names when they took them back.

After school, we had an INSET and then I had to dash to the station to catch my train. Again, freezing cold, very precarious, icy pavements. Train was delayed on the way home, had 30mins waiting on an arctic platform as the waiting room was full again.

At home, I did very little except we ate more of the purple lentil soup and cry about the fact I'd worked SO hard this term to get the carol services ready, so many extra practices and grappling against technology (no working projector or computer all half term until last Wednesday), done so much admin to get it all ready and prepared and knowing it probably wasn't going to happen and my poor kids would be denied the chance to do a proper performance and visit the beautiful church (not our usual church but my old childhood church. I'd told the children childhood memories of it and they kept asking me if they'd see things I'd talked about)

The next morning, hurrah, there were no train strikes. I rode to the station super early though, anxious to find out whether we'd be able to go to the church with the 360 kids (180 morning, 180 afternoon). Ahrgh, I was super early and the train was SUPER delayed!!!! It was freezing on the platform and I eventually got to school at 9ish.Sigh.  Alas, they made the decision that no, the roads weren't sufficiently safe to walk 180 children. So, our alternative plan was to squash everyone into the dining room, morning and afternoon to perform.

The Year 3-4's did REALLY well in the morning.  The readers, whilst not perfect, were much better than previously, and my choir did really well and didn't shout and all the kids sang really well and behaved in between! IN between, I walked from school to the care home (see below) to vet the state of the pavements for walking conditions.

In the afternoon, Year 5-6 did a superb performance. The readers were brilliant- pretty much all of them had memorised their readings and did stacks of expression. Choir and drummers did a super job and the year 6 instrumentalists all did really well in their solo song!

After school, choir practised their carols and we starting learning a new song for our Royal Albert Hall concert in March. I gave them all Covid tests and chocolate lollies to go home with. The tests were because we were due to go to a residential care home for the elderly to sing the next day. But would we be allowed to go?  All the children were begging me but I had to explain it wasn't my decision..

I was supposed to go to Gamelan but had an absolute splitting headache so headed home.  Had a cold 15minute wait between trains. CBC was out in London watching The Life of Pi so I bought dinner from the chippie and lay on the sofa watching Doctor Who and Gilmore Girls!

The next morning, I had a nasty shock to discover there was ANOTHER train strike I didn't know about! Luckily, CBC mentioned it as I was getting dressed and I managed to dash, despite icy roads, to make the 7:51 train. Had to wait 25mins for the next train which was then....DELAYED!

At school, I took Year 1-2 to perform and film THEIR nativity songs in the dining hall. They did well on the collective songs though lots of them a bit starry-eyed on their solos!

I dashed over to Year 6 to take Baroque Chiaccona lesson no.2 of the week, still hadn't had time to see the Head to see if we could go to the care home. Ambushed by choir members multiple times to find out if we were going. At playtime, I caught him where he agonised over whether we should go or not. Finally, he said, "The people in the care home will really appreciate your visit so you can go BUT you can only take 12 children maximum as that is easier to monitor them!"

Ahrgh, how to choose?!!?! I decided to take Year 6 only as there were 10 who had sent back their Covid test negative results.  The year 5's were understandably upset but the Year 6's were euphoric!!

I taught Chiaccona lesson no.3of the week and did my Covid test and helped one of the Year 6 girls whose mum had forgotten to do it, do hers with many giggles and watering eyes!

We headed off at 1.40pm and managed to get there without any slips.

Despite their only being 10 of them, they sang amazingly and I accompanied on my mini accordion (badly- the kids gave me 7 out of 10!).  The care home residents were really appreciative and sang along and the staff super friendly. They gave the kids presents and snacks and the kids chatted to the residents.  They were buzzing as we left, saying how lovely it was and how nice the residents were and how they really wanted to go back! On the way back, they jubilantly sang the parts of the Chiaccona together and we got back without any mishaps!

All the staff were excitedly chatting about the Christmas do, which was last night. I hadn't booked to go- good thing as I wouldn't have got home!

Stupid train was delayed by 20minutes. Considering I'd got there 10minutes early, after an icy trudge as my bike lights had run out of charge, this was annoying. I fretted about whether I'd make my connection as this was the LAST train because of the strike!!! Luckily, it came just!!

When I got home, CBC was sleepy on the sofa. I made us dinner whilst we watched 'Christmas with a prince- a royal Wedding'.

Honestly,this week had felt SO long with all the strikes, delays, rehearsals, performances and anxiety over changes of plans.

Tomorrow, CBC and I are singing carols at a winebar-I'm singing Tenor again!

2 more days left of school- THANK THE LORD as I've started to get a sore throat!!!

xx

Commuting with long legs

Hello there,

Here's one of my random discussions that sometimes inveigle their way into blog posts.

I commute on trains every day and have done for 5.5 years now.  Before that, I commuted to university for 2 years, commuted to another uni for 1 year (and school placements) and commuted to London for 3 years.

And I always find I just don't have enough leg room to sit comfortably. I DO have long legs, particularly the thighs/upper legs which makes them stick out more. Thus, I have to sit quite firmly pressed back into the seat to avoid knee-touching with strangers.  Then there's always man-spread. You know, where you sit next to some hulking great individual who apparently thinks that their legs cannot possibly touch and they must spread their legs to encroach on your territory.  It's always harder at Rush hour because inevitably, every seat ends up being taken.  Do you have this problem too?

It's also hard when you have bags and worse, nowadays, a bike, even though it is a fold up.

I would put my bag in the luggage rack (where there is one) but it is quite hard to lean over people (they get your groin in their face) in order to get it and worse, I have been known to leave things on trains when I put them in luggage racks...

This is why I was very pleased, when moving to my town, to discover that the carriage that quite often is the one I need to get on to line up exactly with the stairs, is one that has a seat on either side of the carriage which is rather like a rather uncomfortable long sofa.  It can only fit three but those are three generous-sized seats so you can have your bag next to you and not touch the adjacent stranger.  One side has room to put your fold-up bike right in front of you, not blocking the vestibule as is usually the case.  It's easy to get out of without doing my usual of tripping over the feet of everyone who is sitting in the seats opposite because there is such a gap between the two sides of the carriage.  If you are tired and want a sleep, it has a nice high side to it that you can lean against. It even has space under the seat should you want to brave the germs.   In summary, it is ideal!

I got a very strange look from a man standing in the vestibule as I took this grinning.  He must have
wondered what on earth I was doing...

Thus, on the days where, for some reason, this carriage is not in its usual position, or worse, recently, they've introduced NEW trains without the 'sofa carriage' I feel quite bereft!!!

On holiday in France in 2016, we sat in this seat on the local surburban train which was even nicer!!!

The soles of his feet didn't touch the seat, worry not. I asked him to
pose for this!

What's your experience of commuting with long legs or even average-sized legs but insufficient-sized seating?  Do share your experience!!

xx

Whitby wanderings - Goathland station

It may be May, but I am still taking mileage from my visit to the North Yorkshire Moors in February.

We were staying in the beautiful village of Goathland which is where the iconic TV series, Heartbeat,  was filmed.  Goathland also has a second claim to fame with its picturesque railway station which doubled for Hogsmeade Station in the Harry Potter films.  The North Yorkshire Moors railway is really worth a visit- riding on a Steam Engine is such a treat!

Alas, in February, when we went to visit, the railway was not open for rides but it did mean we could really explore the station without getting in the way or running the risk of getting hit by a train!
Outside the station was this pretty weir.

The station itself is formed of these large stones with red and cream detailing.

I was amused that after taking this picture...

I was standing on the railway line...

When I see these sights, it really makes me feel like an extra from The Railway Children and I do confess to embarrassing CBC by running down the platform saying, "My Daddy, oh, my Daddy!"

It does feel very odd standing on a railway track- it felt inherently wrong!

There goes my beloved Red Riding Hood

Despite it being out of season, there were quite a few people prowling around.  Having seen it in the Summer when it is heaving, I was very glad to be largely bereft of the great masses!

Not much to say, but much that is visual to admire!

Have you been to Goathland Station?

xx

Beautiful Essex Walks- The Saffron Trail 2 -from Felsted to Great Dunmow

Last week, I shared a beautiful walk which was part of the Saffron trail.  On Saturday, CBC and I decided to continue the walk from Felsted where we had finished off.  Would it be as beautiful as the previous stretch?

The first part of the walk goes behind a riding school and we were delighted to see this young lady being led out as we walked past. Her fur (?) was so soft

 The first field held the beautifully photogenic OSR as before.

 The verdant green crops that continued on were beautiful to see too and less cloying than the strong aroma of OSR.

 Soon after, we encountered more OSR.

 The walk suddenly reached a path which it transpired used to be an old railway line.

 This helpful information informed us that the Flitch Way was the railway line that used to run between Bishop's Stortford and Braintree. I can't help but think that it would be great if there was still a railway line! Certainly helpful to people who live here, miles from any station.

 As a canopy of trees overhung the old railway route, it leant a dappled light to the path and certain trees were highlighted. I really like the shard of light on its ivy-clad trunk.

 There were some pleasing examples of flora to interest us. Are these Corncockles?

 And some potential bluebells?

 At one point, we saw a marker as to where Felsted Station once stood.

 Most of the walk was beautiful thus far but I was extremely disappointed, just after crossing the road after the Felsted station sign, to see an absolute stream of rubbish- dumped rugs, plastic bikes, buggies and rubbish a-plenty just littering the path, undergrowth, streams and bushes and was saddened to see a traveller-site to our left. It saddens me when stereotypes that people often spout are seemingly fulfilled.

 Still, the sun shone on and gradually we left the mess behind us.

 There are a few bridges left from the railway line

 For some bizarre reason, I was strongly put in mind of The Railway Children.

 We took a right through a field and found ourselves going through a mysterious tunnel of green.

 Again, the way the light hit the leaves was something I found exquisite.

 The church in Little Dunmow was really attractive. I particularly liked the tower.

 As before, there were some really ancient, quaint and picturesque houses. I love how wonky the lines are!

 We reached a collection of these spiky plants and I really wanted to photograph one but they kept rearing up at the camera in the wind! This looked like hedgehog attack!!!

 Finally, we reached Great Dunmow outskirts. I stood and watched this Cricket match for a little while, feeling like I wasn't alone...

and it seems I wasn't the only one interested in the cricket scores!

The final destination on our walk was the Doctor's Pond which I had visited in 2010 when CBC and I cycled from Brentwood to Cambridge. We stopped here for photos.

 Read about Doctor Lukin's leach pond. Sadly, not Doctor Who- though I wouldn't be surprised to see some daleks emerging from it alla Dalek Invasion of Earth!

 He looks cosy, Mr Mallard

 Here was my dear companion.

We hopped on the bus back to Felsted where we picked up the car.

Conclusion: another delightful stretch of the Saffron trail. I preferred the previous stretch but this one certainly still had some beautiful points of interest!

xx

P.S. If you missed it, here's part 1 of the Saffron trail