The wifi and communication in general were really either non-existent or very poor where we have been in beautiful W Sussex. I would have posted while we were there but it proved to be so frustrating and difficult I just gave up.
I wrote this yesterday (Monday) hoping to post at a friend's house but it didn't work out, so I will do it today now we are home.
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A few days have passed without my posting anything, mostly due to the difficulties of getting online. This part of the country has poor connections, and the campsite has no wifi in particular. The campsite is pretty stressy, or was during the weekend. It used to be a rated/certificated site - with minimal facilities, but the new owner took over at the start of the year, not having run a campsite before, and of course with no idea that the lockdown would bring people in their droves. What works perfectly well with 10 or 20 groups does not work with 150. One ladies’ toilet, for instance, is not enough……
We were jammed in, so close and crowded we could hear everything and no doubt our neighbours heard us too. Dogs were roaming and barking and howling and pooing…. The showers quickly ran out of hot water. Bonfires and music and clattering …. agh! That was from Friday till yesterday morning when (blessedly) most people left. Now it’s just lightly populated and we can hear birds singing.
All this pressure was exacerbated by the extreme heat and humidity. We have been so grateful for the trees all around. They are lovely, blessed things. Their shade, their coolness, their beauty......
On Saturday we went to the Roman Villa at Bignor (wow!!!) and then to the painted church - St Botolphs's at Hardham.. the gracious little interior filled on every square inch with 12th century paintings… all the Bible stories. An amazing place, quite empty, so we had this treasure to ourselves. The wonderful lanky Adam and Eve are on the inside of the chancel arch, reminding the priest of the wickedness of man, I suppose, every time he faced he congregation. They would be looking (among many other images) at the Lamb of God, the Annunciation, the Presentation, the Flight into Egypt, the trials of St George, what’s thought to be a scene from the Battle of Antioch (previously thought to be a dragon-slaying scene), the Magi, etc etc. These paintings are glorious, humbling. Coming straight after our walk around the mosaics at Bignor, it was quite a feast for the eyes all day.
In the later afternoon we went up to Bignor Top, a clear space on the down… with fantastic far views. A cycling rally station was manned by a team ready to offer them water and oranges, but not many had made it up there in the heat and they were deciding how and when to pack up. This involved quite noisy phone conversations wth other organisers or team members…. it was a relief when they went and we had the place more or less to ourselves. I painted one scene - the ash die back …. the acrylics dried out really fast despite spraying but I was quite pleased with the result. We did not walk to the very summit - it was really still very hot and that pathway had no shade.
Later we drove to Sainsbury’s at Chichester, to see if I could get a pair of cotton shorts. Yes. We drove past he Lavender Farm where it seemed from the road way that families of African origin were wandering….
The shade from trees has been essential… we were lucky, in that respect, to get a pitch with more shade than some. And the countryside is so richly wooded, unexpectedly green and ancient… some of the woodland is being cleared out (to create stronger timber I suppose, removing the competitive undergrowths) but few of the roads through these lovely forests are fenced, so the feeling is very unspoiled. The villages are in the valleys (water) and unbelievably pretty and quaint. One poor old thatched house in West Burton looked very sad…
everything else is spinked up and looks pretty plush. I asked the campsite owner about it. He said it would be owned by Lord Mersey, Ned Mersey, He called him a bigot. He said he’d once had words with him. Mersey had ticked him off for being too close to his horse, and William retorted that the horse was lame…. ‘How would you know?” sneered his lordship. ‘Because we have horses, race horses, always have done…. Take that to the vet or the farrier….’ And late Mersey said to him, ‘you were right. The horse had an access in its foot…’ But William don’t like him anyway. William says he’s a cockney, though he was actually born in Shoreham. His family is split between Hackney and Shoreditch and Sussex. He’s very tall, bald, scary looking. Could have been a boxer. Is now a builder and man of property (Vale of Health included), and since the start of the year, a campsite owner. He has a fair amount of work to do here to bring it up to scratch.
Yesterday I managed to wangle enough sitting-and-doing-nothing time to make a painting. During the last few weeks, campaigning against that wretched man’s ambitions to build on Ordnance Wharf, my beloved and demanding art course has suffered… just not enough time to think or do…. And here too, on the holiday - Andrew’s drive to be doing something all the time has been difficult….Off we go again! Just sitting and looking, if I am doing that, must be very frustrating for him. It looks like nothing. But I have to do it to be able to paint. I have taken so many photos, of the trees, the glimpses of distant landscape (so tantalising as we sweep past), the light and shadows. I can hear him now, saying ‘Right!’ which means he wants to be off. We will do a bit of shopping about, and then head towards Chichester again, for lunch w my friend Sandy.
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