Dreamy Ramsgate

Hey peeps. How’s summer been treating you? Ok I hope - despite everything? I’ve found it a bit strange and melancholy. I didn't feel comfortable or quite frankly flush enough to go abroad, and the successive lockdowns feels like it’s quashed most of what was our social life. But hey, there has been some good things too, and good people, and some new places to discover much closer to home. At the beginning of July me and Mr Famapa headed down to Ramsgate to visit some friends for the day, and being there was positively exotic.

So exotic that for some people it was perfectly acceptable to walk around with your shirt off. Well I guess we were by the sea, so why not?

Ahh the sea. I mean is this a view or is this a view? Our friends house is a truly eccentric beauty (more on that later), which they have done up beautifully . We thought we were only coming for lunch, but it turns out there was a miscommunication, and we were expected to stay the night. Luckily Oomoo was already on a sleepover, but unluckily I didn't have my glasses with me, or spare contact lenses.

So we hopped on bikes and cycled into the town centre, where at an optician’s I was kindly given some extra contact lenses for free (people can be so nice!!), and then got ourselves toothbrushes and everything else we needed from the chemist to see us through the night. At least I brought my camera, eh?

Lucky us though, because it meant we got to spend the night in this beautiful bed, with the view in the picture with the view that is a view.

The house used to be a photographer’s studio in the late 1890’s, and was built straight onto the cliff wall, as in the back of the house is the cliff wall.

And the whole front wall into the dining and living room area is just glass, with the most amazing light, or silhouettes - whichever you prefer.

A & E have impeccable taste, and I love how they salvaged a broken table football into a cool piece of wall art.

When they found the property it had been on the market for over a year, and I’m so glad they were the ones who got it, as they have turned into such a great space, with utmost respect to the house.

Yes, that view again.
Sorry (not sorry).

The lady of the manor, making me miss having short hair.

And this has to be the nicest shower room I’ve ever seen! Imagine the daily joy of looking out to a different seascape every day. Sigh.

Remember how I said the house was an eccentric beauty? Well, through a door from the utility room, off the kitchen, you come out into a set of tunnels that were old smugglers caves. There’s also a staircase in the rock wall that goes up to a hotel at the top of cliff, that Queen Victoria used to use (amongst other less historical hotel guests - all though probably not at the same time) to access the sea easier. In its heyday Ramsgate was a very popular sea resort, but the town has lost its glamour since the advent of charter holidays, like almost all British seaside towns.

Ironically, since I’m now a cold water lover, swimming in the North Sea is much more alluring now than any tropical beach. At one point in the day I took my camera out for a walk to check out the town and have a look at the architecture, but that’s a whole other post in itself.

Please don’t poo on me.

When I got back from my walk the house was asleep. All that sea air seemed to have tired everyone else out. As we didn’t know that we were staying over I hadn’t brought my book with me, so I had a look in the book shelves for something to read. To my surprise and relief I found the book I was reading! ‘Great Expectations’ by the brilliant Mr Charles Dickens. I managed to find where I was in it, but I also for some reason read the blurb on the back - which gave away the ending - doh. It was an old copy of the book, which might’ve explained why the publishers thought it was a good idea to do so, but a blurb should never give away the ending, right?

A had earlier in the day bought this puzzle in a bric a brac shop, and while I was away it had been put together, but with Ireland missing. A puzzling mystery indeed.

Once everyone woke up from their naps, we cycled to a pub for pre-dinner drinks in a nice spot by some sort of shallow pool and views across the sea (not in this direction obviously). Our phones thought we were in France and pinged with messages telling us so. If nothing else, my phone has at least been abroad this year.

Cycling back to the house.

Had to lie down for a bit and rest my legs and feet, from the walk and the bike rides.

A putting the finishing touches to our dinner that he had cooked outside in the wood fire oven.

The following morning, with the tide in, me and A went for a swim (I had at least packed my bathing suit!) in the +16c water, which was a perfect temperature. I stopped swimming in the Ladies Pond when the temp got to +19c in early June, as it was like swimming in soup and way too busy for my liking. But here in the sea we were the only ones in it, with people looking at us like we were crazy, or as one lady said as we got out to A: ‘Can I touch you? You must be Superman swimming in that cold water!’ A perfect way to end our 24hrs in Ramsgate - which now looking back on it felt a bit like a dream. Everything worked out perfectly, without us being prepared, and it made me realise how good it can feel to not have everything planned. To go with the flow. Must remember that as we head into an autumn/winter, wondering what’s coming next.

It's a Suffolk thing

So many of our friends have left London over the years, and last summer our peeps SA and Y packed up their London life and moved to Suffolk. It had been on the cards for years but Covid sped things up. A few weeks ago we finally got to go for an overnight visit, and it was so nice to see them and their kids again. We began our stay with a no-cook lunch - the best kind of lunch.

Since we saw them last summer there’s been a new addition to the family - Ruby.

She and Mr Famapa became friends immediately.

Even though he lost her ball.

Digression. Don’t know what these are, but they were pretty.

In the early evening we went for delicious pizzas at @theshedsframlingham and the super relaxed setting was just perfect.

So crazy that our kids are or are close to becoming teenagers. Seeing how much this young lady has changed in the past year is quite something. It’s Oomoo’s turn soon (well, not that soon, we’re 18 months away…). Gulp.

One middle aged lady with a camera was enjoying the planting very much.

Very much.

After the meal some chose to digest their meal playing football.

Nut jobs.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather; this summer has been British to say the least. Maybe it’s a Brexit thing? Luckily the fire pit at SA and Y’s made it possible for us to continue sitting outside for the rest of the evening.

What you looking at Ruby?

Whatever it was - a cuddle was even better.

Y going in to get provisions.

It got late.

Click click. We started playing the Intro Game where you have to guess the song from the first beat of the intro. SA and I were very good, and I may say so myself. It’s amazing that you can recognise a song in a second or two. Of course we’re talking 80’s and 90’s music here. We didn’t attempt any songs from after then.

The fire had me mesmerised in between.

Day 2. How’s this for a conservatory/dining room? Drool.

It was way too hot to sit in though.

Had a look through SA’s interior books, and this portrait of an elderly couple in the Apartamento book, made me fast forward a few decades - I really like her style.

Stop Hammock time.

Summer and friends are the best.

Hope we get to see them again soon.

Let's go back in time

Let’s go to Venice and marvel at the view.

Let’s look down narrow canals and at gondolas and colourful houses.

Let’s also look at wider canals with less colourful houses.

Let’s take pictures of other people taking pictures (and let’s also see the guy on the right later in the day again somewhere else in Venice too).

Let’s see a hug from a distance.

Let’s look at shafts of light and at shadows.

Let’s look at the majestic

and the less so.

Let’s look at cool signage and great colour combos.

Let’s walk for ages and ages, through quiet and narrow streets to find the best gelateria in town.

Let’s take the water bus back home to where we’re staying and take in the beautiful architecture on the way.

Let’s walk the last bit and marvel at what someone else’s everyday life looks like.

Let’s go out for dinner later and feel like we’ve traveled back hundreds of years in time.

I’m reading Venice by Jan Morris at the moment (ridiculously well written), so I’m really glad that I can look at the pictures from our trip there in March 2019. Who knows how long it’ll be until we can go abroad again (next year maybe??), so I’m making sure I read my way out of the here, and am grateful for all the trips I’ve ever made in the past, and for the fact that I’m forever taking pictures. Where are you dreaming yourself off to these days?

Happy Monday

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, Aug 2nd 2018

Seriously need some distraction right now. And a bit of silliness. So here’s Oomoo with his cousin, with all eight eyes between them. I bid you a good day!