I really struggled to get up this morning and while we were feeding the animals and sorting out water etc. Jill appeared to say we could have the day off. Wish she’d said last night 😉
Jill had mentioned earlier in the week about a big Flea Market at the Bath & West showground nearby and we’d said we’d be up for going along so she said we could go with her. Johnny was staying here but we met up with Tasha who works here sometimes as a tiler, her mother and son, and John the carpenter with his wife and their two daughters. Jill’s posse ;).
On the way we discussed why flea markets are called flea markets and came up with the same speculated reasons I’ve found on the internet, discussed why some letters and numbers can be formed in various ways (which led on to talking about fonts, fashions for writing, handwriting and different countries writing in different styles eg the French 7 always with a cross through it) which reminded me that I want to get Davies a calligraphy pen and book on it. He’s not really interested in improving his handwriting (which is clear but quite large and almost all upper case) but I think the artistic side of it would appeal to him and he’d enjoy doing decorative letters. So we talked a little about calligraphy too which was something I spent a short time obsessed with when I was about his age, when my best Christmas present was a calligraphy pen set with NINE different nibs 🙂
The flea market was mad – huge queues with people paying to get in – £3.50 per adult! Ady and I were quietly being horrified and looking at each other with raised eyebrows but Jill paid for us to get in. She reckons she’s still used to London prices and thinks everything is still cheap down here! 😯 I can never quite get my head round the idea of paying to go somewhere to spend money!
There were hundred and hundreds of stalls, mostly selling overpriced tat – think antiques fair at very inflated prices. Ever conscious of both our financial situation and the fact we don’t actually have a house we found it very easy to resist finding anything we’d buy anyway :). Jill bought us hot drinks and bacon baguettes too (the kids wanted chips instead and she went off to try and pay for that too but I’d beaten her to it – she is very generous and takes very seriously the deal of hosts paying for all food even though she’s not actually a WWOOF host 🙂 ). We spent most of the time walking around with her but some time off on our own too. I bought nothing (other than the kids chips), Ady bought a very old OS map of Worthing and Lancing as he has plans to frame part of it as artwork for our new house one day and a book for me, spending £1 each on them. Jill bought a table and chairs, a bed headboard with bedside tables and a vanity unit with sink for the cottages. We bought them home in the 4 cars we were all in and the kids all hung out in our cottage watching TV, playing games and adoring Humphrey while all the adults went to Jill’s to drink coffee and eat fudge. I do like the little community Jill builds around her of people. It makes me know I want to be part of something similar, where people hang out together for work and socialising, help each other out and I guess has taken the place of the extended family these days. I do also know I wish I was doing all this work on something I’ll be around to be a part of for longer though and as beautiful as Somersetis (and it is very beautiful) I’m missing the stunning views of Scotland.
Everyone dispersed and we came back to our cottage to start cooking dinner (Ady) and working out how to make my phone ringtone louder and ring for longer before going to voicemail (me), make something tall and impressive with geomags (Davies) and play on Davies’ 3DS while having Humphrey on her lap (Scarlett). I went out to put the animals to bed as it was getting dark and Jill appeared to help.
Dinner was lovely, roast chicken followed by trifle – love having a kitchen again even if I’m not the one using it ;). We watched Hugh’s Three Hungry Boys which was interesting if the ‘boys’; were a bit annoying with their general wussiness and lack of a plan. Full of big talk and not very much action. Made us all long for being on the road again.
Scarlett cleaned Humphrey’s cage out and then the kids went off to bed, we are slowly wearing them down with early mornings and plenty of fresh air ;). Ady and I need to work on our financial plan for Rum and once the rent goes in we will book a hotel /travelodge / something for the night before the interview.