The Portchester Piss Artists

Visiting relatives is not usually top of my list of favourite things to do, that is unless of course it's my Dad's cousin Ron and his wife Pat.  Dad and Ron grew up almost as brothers and so when we do have a chance to catch up it means I get to hear all the shenanigans the pair got up to back in the day involving various tales of petty theft and the day they almost shot a farmer after mistaking him for a fox.  Also stories of my Grandad, as he died when I was very young, such as his time in Egypt during WWII and his surviving being on board 6 bombed ships during the retreat from Dunkirk.

Yep, Ron is a larger than life character in every sense of the word

And a little adverse weather will not interrupt the pair and their beer.

Axis of Awesome

These guys had me chuckling muchly, I always knew there was a conspiracy in the music industry

Fluffy Friday

Here's some fluffy cuteness from a Friday afternoon, brought to you by Oscar 'n' Archie

Two handsome kitties (L Oscar, R Archie)

When they first arrived at my sisters flat the pair decided the safest place to be in the new surroundings was under the couch...takes some coaching to get the little buggers out from under there too.

Archie will fall asleep anywhere.

And Oscar goes for total relaxation.

They may look like butter wouldn't melt....

Oscar finds gouging a chunk out of my leg is hard work.

Archie falls asleep halfway through the YMCA

And here's some uber cute and fun live action kittens

Tales of Portchester

Ack, I appear to have post kitten sitting blues.  Yeah I know that they did drive me slightly crazy, ignored my every command and left my legs in a dismal shape from all the scratching...though I could always make up a slightly cooler version of events to explain the scars 'The scar? Oh I just got that from a fighting off wild boar while trekking in the rain forests of Australia'.  Anyhoo, those balls of fluff are just so cute and I kinda miss having the mischievous little critters about.

While I was staying in Portchester, and before the weather turned to total kack, I did venture around the local area and to the nearby remains of the 3rd Century Castle.  Not much is left, the outer wall, the keep and the church are the main attractions, but it's right on the waterfront and the view from the top of the keep, up a ridiculously tight and twisty spiral staircase, is certainly worth a visit.  The ruins themselves also enable some playtime with my camera to create some atmospheric/ arty farty piccies:

The Castle is a leisurely 1 mile from my sisters flat and is popular with families and pinickers.

The surrounding moat a popular place for local kids to have a go at catching crabs (get your mind out of the gutter...sheesh)

The arty farty portion of my post.

Various folk have left their mark around the site over the years...found these two older scribbles towards the top of the keep.

The view from the top looking towards the ancient church and across the water to Portsmouth.

Down over the site of the ruins

Looking north toward Portsdown Hill and the South Downs

Chloe searches for treasure down the well...apparently all that was sighted was a few coppers, a dime and a chewing gum wrapper.

The local village, the oldest part of Portchester, is full of some wonderful rustic cottages and a pretty good pub.

Unlucky for Some

August has seemed to have taken on it's usual rubbishness in terms of weather, the distinct lack of H2O falling on our region is well and truly over...as is the summer in general it appears.  And today is Friday the 13th, so I was expecting a rather pants day...especially when the doorbell rang at stupid o'clock in the morning.  I had to drag my arse out of bed in my PJ's, sporting an ever-so-stylish bed-head hairdo and pillow crease on my cheek, mumbling some derogatory comments about parents never telling me of possible deliveries in the tone of yawny and opened the door to find an abandoned box on the doorstep....addressed to yours truly!

Oh yes...My awesome Bloddie from across the pond....aka FireflyMom...aka Carri-Ann very kindly sent me a box of edible and non-edible goodies:

A-MA-ZING!

And all this rich stuff came expertly packed in a titchy box...when I go on holiday I'm sending Carri-Ann my suitcase to pack ;-)

Oscar & Archie

I'm on holiday for the next week and a bit...well, I'm flat sitting for my sister down the road in Portchester while she goes on a cruise to the Med, but still it's a change of scenery anyway.  As a bonus the flat comes complete with two bundles of cuteness in the shape of 9 week old kittens Oscar & Archie.  Slightly short on brains these two spend most of their time charging/skidding round the (mock) hardwood floor, chasing their own and each others tails and biting fingers and toes of those silly enough to leave an appendage within 4 feet of them.

Standby for some vomit inducing overly cute pictures

One of the few moments these two settle for a kip (L Archie, R Oscar)

Then just when you get them off to sleep the doorbell rings....I failed to capture the image of the pair disappearing under the couch at light speed, brave little kittens they are not

Archie spying something interesting.....

Apparently fingers with pizza residue are indeed very tasty

Your Programme Will Contiune After This Short Break

So, it's been a little while and I'd love to say I've been ridiculously busy, alas it's much the same old stuff occuring in my little world at the moment.  New stuff includes a recent foray into the world of keeping fit via torturous devices contained in a mirrored room which smells every so slightly of musty old socks...yes, I've joined a gym.  From the advice of my doctor, because apparently exercise is good for you...who knew ;-)

Other bits of stuff include the continuing dry spell, indeed parts of the country are under a hose pipe bans and others have had flash floods.  My little town seems to be avoiding both currently, although it's now turned muggy as hell, a few steps outside leaves you sweating like a Sumo wrestler after injesting a packet of red hot chillis...great for burning off the calories I guess...less so for the amount of times you have to change your shirt in a day.

My is mostly a mixture of brain teasers, reading and writing these days, though I have been out locally a couple of times.  A visit to a nearby seafront gardens to see the impressive and very colourful blooms and a exploration of some nearby footpaths...of which I was sure to take a few pics to add some visual stimulus for this otherwise bland blog post.

First up Marine Park Gardens which is a 15 minute walk away and a mere stones throw (pardon the pun) from the beach.  I know I've shown pictures of this garden before but this year those involved with the garden have put together a very impressive and colourful display...Even after a group of chavvy vandals pulled up a bunch of plants and chucked them into the fountain the day after they had been planted...grr arg!

A floral nod to the anniversay of the Battle of Britain during WWII, I don't think Bognor was much of a target during the war, but saw more than a few stray bombs as Germans lightened the load. A Junkers 88 and a Messerschmitt 109 both ended up in the waters off Bognor during the Battle of Britain, as did a Spitfire...which I believe is still out there.

A bunch of local junior school kids put together this mosaic sun dial for the sensory aspect of the gardens, though when I tried it out it seemed to be 15 minutes slow ;-)

The next walk I did was a short 4 miles round trip and is only 10 minutes away.  I stopped by to feed the (rabid) donkeys on the way then on to a footpath leading across corn fields

The whole area was once an airfield used during WWII, so I dread to think what may be hidden under the earth round here.

And if TPTB had their way this whole area would become a new housing development...a couple of thousand pointless houses or argricultural land with these views...huh, it's a ponderer right? 

It started off dry and very hot as I wandered along the dusty tracks, then as I turned to make my way home I spotted this ominous sky creeping up over the downs.

Found a pleasant little corner of the field filled with vivid blue corn flowers, which unfortunately don't look quite as vivid or blue in the photo.

Yup, there's that arty farty button on the camera again

I did like the way the tractor marks and large cracks gave the impression of the Mid West and found myself whistling a touch of Ennio Morricone as I decided to get a shift on back to the homested.....

....Before this decided to dump it's load.

Even though day turned to night, as I walked back home, not a drop of rain fell once again in Bognor, so dads two 40 gallon water butts will just have to remain empty and the grass remain brown for now.  That evening was subsequently really comfortable for sleeping...if you like it muggy, sticky and hot as Hades!