We’re back in NZ, but still reflecting on our time in the UK. We came across a few things that, from our perspective, fitted the title of this particular blog.
The ‘quiet’ was wandering around Stoke Newington with Kirsty one day and going into the cemetery. It was very overgrown, but two of the cared-for graves we found, with large tombstones, were those of the founders of the Salvation Army, William Booth and his wife Catherine. Several other prominent (i.e., officers) Sallies also lay nearby.
The ‘quirky’ covered so many things it’s hard to single out one, but in that same graveyard, further in than we had time or inclination to go, there is apparently a disused building of some kind where, that night, there was scheduled to be some kind of ‘performance’ of the spooky variety, around 11 p.m. It would have to be that late to be dark enough we thought, as in summer the sun takes a good while to set. Obviously we didn’t get photos of that, but for your edification, gentle reader, we insert a photo of the ruined abbey at Whitby – scene of some of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ movie!
The ‘quaint’ was the beach huts at Hove. We’ve seen these before, but they line the foreshore, effectively blocking the view of the sea for first-floor residents of buildings across the road. Bruce’s hypothesis is that they’re ‘baches’ for Poms who can’t afford anything larger, and apparently they are very expensive, costing over $20K according to Sarah and Chris. When we were walking along the promenade with Sarah, the kids and a friend of Sarah, Gillian, it was a very windy and quite cold day, but we came across one of these huts with its door open. Inside were sitting two quite large English people, husband and wife by the looks of it, and between then resided a large bucket filled with bottles of champagne! We thought they were set to make a party of it all by themselves. Bruce was quite intrigued, and was dissuaded by us with difficulty from taking a photo there and then. However, later he decided to go back, talked with the residents and learned that there was a wedding happening that afternoon and the wedding party were repairing to the hut for drinks! He didn’t stick around to take photos of that.
