Esk

Dan writes about the Aber Effect, inspired by Adam apparently.

I’ve been feeling it a lot since I’m one of the few who is *still* stuck here, and the lifestyle Liz has described was sort of whipped out from under me — at least that’s how it seemed! But I, too, am coming to terms with the fact this mass exodus had to happen sooner or later, and I’d be feeling similar even if I were the one who’d moved. I’m looking forward to getting out, eventually, maybe getting that push to grow up a little. The students are only getting younger and thus more irritating, plus I have less and less desire to make friends who are going to bugger off in at most 3 years. To be sure, there’s still enough people around that I can go for a pint at short notice, and I do appreciate that, but we’re all a lot older and busier than we used to be and we have to be in bed by 11!

What Ruth commented on Kit’s blog about the family in Aber is true, and I doubt I’ll ever be part of such a close group again. I’m going to have to break the habits of a lifetime and get good at long-distance, because it’s never going to be as easy as it has been here to make friends and maintain friendships. On the plus side, I hear outside of Aber you can go to things called “nightclubs” and “comedy venues” not to mention “see a band” (without driving for 3 hours) so I’m looking forward to all that. Scratch the nightclubs, actually.

It’s an open day today, and throwing Aber open day tradition to the wind, the weather isn’t great (cloudy, and windy). There are still nervous young’uns wandering about with yellow bags, and their parents look as worried as they always do. One day I’d like to be a worried parent at a university open day, making sure they’ve picked the right place and they’ve got their meal vouchers and they aren’t going to drink too much and they’ll definitely call me once a week (Sorry, Dad). And that shows a change in me I’d never have thought possible. So, I’m not worried about stagnating, nor wallowing in nostalgia. I miss the closeness, both figurative and literal. But I no longer think it’s the end of the world as we know it. I feel fine.

Hello again, blogosphere! I was gone, but I return.

Jim and I did a bit of a tour last week 2 weeks ago 3 weeks ago. We first travelled down to Hythe to spend a few days at his parents’ house, where…
…We did a lot of geocaching, including one bike ride out to the east. ‘Caching is so much easier on a bike, it seems the natural mode of transport for it. Thankfully I remembered how to ride a bike with little trouble (it was just like… itself) though I don’t seem to do very well with hills in either direction. I blame my place of upbringing.

…Walking the dogs by the rifle range, we found lots of spent ammunition which we carefully collected. (I could have spent hours doing that, I love finding things, unless it’s something in the house that I actually need, in which case I am incapable of using my eyes.)

…We took a trip to Ramsgate (which is lovely), where we ate a lot of seafood including whelks. I wasn’t that impressed, tbh. The prawns and tiny shrimp and cockles were excellent, especially with a bit of vinegar. Also in Ramsgate whilst sat for coffee Jim’s dad revealed that Jim’s great-uncle once worked on British rockets that were used to send up the only British satellite (it beeps like Sputnik apparently).

…We visited Canterbury. Jim and I went to the awesome museum there, it covers prehistory all the way to Rupert the Bear. I think my favourite bit was the 1980s mural in Bayeux tapestry style of the events leading to the death of Thomas Beckett. We also saw some street performers, and visited a slightly disappointingly warhammery gaming shop who only had expansions, no starter packs, for all the games we wanted.

Following our Hythe visit we headed over to Southampton where Andy and Faye’s wedding reception awaited. Our hotel was an old coaching inn, we liked it but you couldn’t describe it as modern! The reception was a blast, held on the Princess Caroline out in Southampton water, the water was fairly calm so it’s only the champagne I can blame for my unsteadiness at times! We danced the night away, and I think some people even went out for more drinks afterwards — I would have been there too but I promptly fell asleep on returning to the hotel to change my shoes!

The next day I was of course quite hungover, so the impending early morning ferry crossing did nothing for my stomach, though actually I survived the crossing without being ill, just sat by a table with my head on my arms the whole way. A ferry? Yes, for this is where our camping holiday began - we spent 3 days on the Isle of Wight.

Eventually I was a bit ill in the car, but we’ll skip over that part to say that driving through the Isle of Wight is really picturesque. Our campsite was in Shanklin, which had a nice beach, much nicer than the one at the Needles where there were more people trying to sunbathe. Fools. Campsite was a bit regimented, I’d have preferred slightly worse facilities in exchange for fewer rules about where you can park your car, and what time you have to be quiet. Especially since we were camped next to what can only be described as noisy toffs, who had visitors and totally ignored this rule in order to discuss which of their foreign holiday homes they liked the best. They did lend us a tin opener at one point though, so we can’t be too mad.

The first day we set up our tent (well, Jim did, I was still hungover) and then headed out to the Garlic Festival. This was much bigger than we anticipated, covering an enormous field and including a large stage for bands, a dog show, and lots of large tents with stalls inside where you could purloin any kind of food or hand-made craft object you desired. And yes, there was a lot of garlic about. We bought a bottle of garlic beer, but it was quite terrible so we used it in stew instead, where it seemed much more palatable!

The second day we paid a visit to the needles, probably the most touristy bit of the Isle of Wight. Highlights include watching traditional sweets being made, finding oh-so-many fossils in the mud and cliffs, and visiting the rocket testing site where apparently a relation of Jim once worked on the Black Knight rocket. I’m sure he can tell you more about the details, suffice to say it is very very cool indeed. There was also a national trust site on the old battery. If you go down into the tunnels they come out onto a searchlight and a brilliant view of the needles themselves, better than from anywhere else we tried. The cafe there also has free use of binoculars, and very good lemonade.

Day three saw us off Ryde on the train, which was an old London Underground carriage! This was an exciting way to travel on the way there, but on the return journey we were fearing for our lives on our sideways seats at the back of the train whilst the driver, apparently having a deathwish, sped all the way back to Shanklin. Anyhoo, whilst in Ryde we visited the Orrery Cafe, activating the planets that dangled from the ceiling whilst sipping tea and watching in the mirrored tables. Brilliant. Then we took a bus to Cowes for a quick look around, very yachty. The chain ferry was also an interesting experience - I guess it saves needing a rudder? It seems to be the only sensible way of getting from one side of Cowes to the other, and takes cars as well as foot passengers, who go free. Returning to Ryde by bus, Jim made me ask for “Two tickets to Ryde!” and the bus man was unexpectedly cheerful, asking: “Aren’t you going to sing as well?”

We struck camp the next morning in time to catch our ferry back, and the rest of the journey home was so uneventful I seem to have forgotten it entirely. I really must post this now, it’s been ages since we went and it’s getting silly.

PS: Congrats, Andy and Faye!