This is the time of year which I call famine to feast . Everywhere you look there is an open day, Arts Trail, County Fair, Village Fete, specialist interest days, and if you’re not careful you will miss them.
The trouble is that apart from the Mendip Times who do their best, there is nowhere that you can go to find out every function say within and 10 mile radius.
Smaller organizations do not have the budget to advertise widely so if you’re lucky you might get a few handmade banners and posters in the village or area concerned but not much outside that.
I came across Dragonfly Day quite by chance when I attended a local talk on the maintenance of ponds. We wanted to buy some water Iris so the speaker said he was going to be at the event above otherwise we would not have heard of it.
We love going to the marshes and the Avalon Marshes Centre plus Sweets cafe (see frequent references) much patronized by cyclists especially on a lovely sunny if windy day. Any excuse to go is not too difficult to resist.
On the way I discussed homophones which are words that are pronounced in the same way but have different meanings. Such a word is soar / saw / sore / I have a sore arm, I bought a new saw to cut trees, the birds can soar in the air, I saw something interesting. What a challenge in this must be to a foreign student.
The drive to the marshes themselves – have a look on Google Earth BA6 9TT – is a joy particularly at this time of year. It’s like a time warp. We saw large herds of cows and sheep doing what they have done for hundreds of years contentedly munching at the luscious grass. Everything that can grow is doing so with great aplomb (I think this term applies to humans only but never mind).
Except for the odd farm building there is very little man made construction and is mostly down to the trees, the water meadows and undisturbed nature . We saw large flocks (bevy or bank are alternative collective terms) of swans. They were just sitting in the sun taking it all in.
Dragonfly Day
The first stall I stopped at that was the ‘recorders of the Avalon marshes’ and it is quite clear that there is a small but dedicated group for the preservation of wildlife and the identification of new species.
First thing in the morning one of the organizers of this stand had just dipped a tray into the water and we were invited to examine the number of different types of creatures we could see and without much effort there were about 15 and that’s me not really knowing how to identify one living thing from another.
I was most excited by seeing the youngsters’ excitement when they spotted something in the water and could barely restrain themselves from jumping in and catching it but health and safety being what it is they were not allowed to do so or should I say gently discouraged. I love it when young children see such things because you never know what seeds are planted in their minds.
My next stop was at the Somerset wildlife group which reminds us that every garden, big or small, is a potential nature reserve. Gardening for wildlife is all about creating many habitats so animals and plants can thrive alongside people. The person I was talking to was called Sal and I immediately recognized her as a fellow net worker and joked that there is no known cure.
She broke off her conversation with me once or twice to supervise a group of children whom she encouraged to say what they thought of gardens and wild spaces and was there any image that occurred to them. This was a very good way of stimulating the imagination of a young child. Drawing materials were at hand for the children to use.
Sal was clearly very well versed with a number of different community organizations and obviously had developed many skills over the years. I talked to her about grounding which is where you stand on the earth in bare feet and allow the acupuncture points in your feet to connect with the energy of the Earth and either balance you out or drain away unsuitable or dysfunctional energies.
She said she had attended such a course in Bristol over a three month period and although the course was not cheap it was worth every penny. I said that if you do not accept your own body it is very easy to abuse it by neglect. In other words if you are alienated you will not respect yourself enough to want to treat your body well and nurture it.
I said that nature has so many free offers to us in times of bounces or full supply of fruit common nuts, greenery, fresh air, water, fresh air, sunshine and we do not take full advantage of this.
Sorry excuse me
She discussed with me taking on therapeutic groups of people whose estimation of the themselves is so low that they keep apologizing almost for their very existence. I wrote a piece on this many years ago on soundcloud.com and the article was in titled sorry, excuse me. I noticed that when people passed me within a certain proximity they apologized presumably for invading my space.
I have finally learned to stop saying sorry for bothering you to people when I need directions and ask the nearest stranger. She had a credit system when you lost five points for every time you apologized.
I think this sort of self-depreciating behavior is built in to the British culture in a way that is not the case we can say with Russians or Germans or Mexicans or Greeks in fact almost anybody but the Brits. We also have the habit of apologizing for crying which I covered in a recent diary. We are all unique beings with lots to give so I think we should behave like it.
John van Gowler opened the proceedings about 10.30 am and introduced Chris Sperring MBE who invited everyone to deepen their understanding of nature. He has unfortunately fallen for the con that carbon dioxide is our enemy when in fact it is an essential ingredient to photo synthesis without which we would all be dead but I didn’t take him up on that because the mood of the 30 or so crowd who attended was jolly and positive.
Off we drove via the Sweets Cafe which was overcrowded with cyclists and did not have much savory food so we decided to pass on that one and continued our drive.
The iconic French Deux Cheveaux 2CV
stock photo
We noticed a number of 2CV’s driving in a convoy so thought there must have been some communal meet up for such wonderful vehicles that were so popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The name “deux chevaux” translates to “two horses” and refers to the car’s tax horsepower, not its actual power output. The 2CV was produced from 1948 to 1990 and became a symbol of French ingenuity and post-war recovery. See 15 facts about the 2CVÂ
Francoise was brought up from a child on one so knows them well. They were very easy to service and she had memories of her father repairing the engine. The only problem with such small cars is that in an accident you will definitely come off second best.
This is a picture of a Greengrocer shop come cafe come stationers come newsagents in the little village of Wookey adjacent to Wookey hole. I felt like I was going back to the 1960s. Here was a community centre masquerading as a general store with a cafe attached so we decided to have some early lunch. There was a large menu and we had a quiche each but unfortunately the pastry was far too thick. I mentioned it to the owner but I might as well save my breath for all the reaction there was.
Was the owner working 7 days a week?
I did have some sympathy for her because she has a staff of about four and was very busy on this summer Sunday. People who have to work seven days a week, and I think she was one of them, must get very tired, even worse than that generally fatigued and their vitalities must be worn down to more or less zero so they are running on robot mode.
Anyway at least we filled our stomach and on the way out we had a chat with a CV enthusiast who was beautiful metallic blue example were sitting over the road so we had a long chat during which Francoise talked about her own upbringing which was inextricably entwined with the iconic 2CV
Next, off to Rockaway Park (general view above) where I’m going to have my portrait drawn by an artist called Caroline Thatcher who describes herself as a figurative painter. I wanted a pencil drawing on myself to celebrate my 81st birthday which is coming up shortly. She said that the quickest way to do a drawing is for her to make a number of photographs of me of which she will choose one.
She said that sittings take many times longer because ‘people move and talk’. Having been duly photographed and approved one of the images I went off to look around and maybe have some coffee and home made cake.
Rockaway Park always stimulates me due to the ever changing nature of the anarchy that prevails. Search this site for many references. The Park is always open for visitors and there is no charge.Â
