Fire and brimstone; more August activities

Received this inspirational pamphlet through the door recently. As evidence for life after death, it features a number of quotes from dying people who had behaved shortly before death in a manner interpreted as meaning they saw glimpses of “the other side”, including one Augustus Toplady, a hymn writer, who cried out “Oh, what delights!”, shortly before, presumably, dying, and a May Wilcox, who allegedly threw up her arms exclaiming “Oh, do you hear the music!”. Presumably the delirium of fever had been ruled out as a possible cause. Less fortunate souls included a Mr W, who allegedly cried “I am in the flames! Pull me out!”, an Unnamed Infidel, who saw a great high wall rising around him, and one Sir Thomas Scott, who, somewhat puzzlingly, cried “Begone you and your trumphery.” It ends (right) by suggesting ways in which one can avoid ending up in the lake of fiery torment, including sending for a free leaflet on how to prepare for Heaven courtesy of A & M McBride of 61 Sealstown Road. Thank God there are people like them who are willing to share their knowledge.

Overdue catch-up with Claire back in August at The Bull at Sonning, where we had a lovely Friday evening dinner sitting outside. Claire has recently left the hospital near Oxford she has been working at and has started a new job as an assistant Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, part of the NHS’ IAPT service. She had been doing a week or so’s training over near Shinfield when we got together, but is apparently going to be based in Bracknell, which she didn’t seem too thrilled about. We had a look around for George Clooney, who has apparently been to The Bull since moving into the village, but no sign. Claire noted that she’s been going there more often than usual in the hope of seeing him, but no sightings as yet. Uri Geller has, conversely, recently left Sonning to move back to Israel, after living in the area for many years.

Cat

This cat, believed to be resident two doors down, has recently been spending more time in our garden, and a few weekends ago I had to chase it out of the dining room more than once. There are two small children and a dog resident at its own house, so we feel it may be searching out a quieter environment. Have some sympathy with it, but we are reluctant to condone its coming into the house as Harley is (perhaps naturally) nervous of cats.

Afternoon with the Clarks on 22 August. Arrived at their house to be greeted by Ray Sr, who gave me a brief update on how things were with the family, then Carol and I walked around the corner to Ray’s sister Caroline’s house, where we spent a few hours at Caroline’s younger daughter Leonie’s tenth birthday party, though in practice we were able to spend most of it sitting in the kitchen chatting while Leonie and her friends did crafty things in the front room. Had a couple of slices of Meat Feast pizza, plus a few dips in a chocolate fountain that had caused Caroline’s husband Tony a certain amount of stress in the preparation but which turned out OK in the end. Tony and Caroline told me about Cosmo, a restaurant on Friar Street that I’ve never been to but which apparently has an amazing chocolate fountain – indeed Tony had a photo of it on his phone. Perhaps it’ll have to be tried. I have reservations about ‘casual dining’ (presumably, aka help yourself buffet) but perhaps I should overcome these.

The following day I galvanised Ruth into going for a Sunday walk with the promise of early evening dinner in The Griffin afterwards. We took the 25 to Peppard Stores, the last stop on the line, and then walked up to Peppard (via the ‘ravine’ referred to in the Wikipedia piece) and turned down Church Lane to the church. Saw Henley House through the trees, according to this Geograph entry the former rectory; looks as though it was for sale a couple of years ago.  After wasting some time on a bit of footpath confusion, gave up and took a footpath leading from near the church south to Sonning Common via Spring Wood, where we passed Sedgehill Spring before coming out onto Blounts Court Road, where we went for a drink at the Butchers Arms. Ruth picked up a soggy bag of runner beans from among some for sale outside someone's garden.

Soggy runners

Barbecue

Went down to Mum and Dad’s for the August Bank Holiday weekend. Had a fairly quiet time with a wander around Abergavenny on the Saturday afternoon and a family lunch with Hannah and Henry on the Sunday. A barbecue was attempted and didn’t work badly, but then it unfortunately rained most of the time we were actually eating. Dad insisted on sitting outside claiming the air helped his breathing, so Ruth and I gamely sat out with him while the others huddled in the conservatory. Ruth took the train back to Reading on the Monday while I stayed over until the Tuesday morning, mainly to avoid the gridlock caused by the festival departure day. Mum and I went for a pleasant walk around the town house-snooping in the afternoon.

Found Harley in this entirely unacceptable position last weekend. Told him he is not a cat and should get his bum off my pillow. I blame Willow - he never jumped up on the furniture until he saw her do it.