Thursday, January 26,
2017
Stanstead
Mountfichet and Bishop Stortford, Essex
I am still
jetlagged and on Bombay time—so I am still awaking at 4.00 am. However, I am
able to return to sleep after I have spent an hour on my phone with Twitter.
When I do surface, it is after 7.00 am. I wash and shower and join my newest
little friends at breakfast which I eat with Rosa: Dorset Muesli with milk. It
is delicious. We then focus on getting the kids dressed for school—only Jacob
will go today while Daniel will hang out with us.
Off to Jacob’s School:
School is
about a seven minute walk away but it is simply freezing and I do not enjoy
getting out into the cold at all. Although layered warmly, smoke is pouring out
of my mouth every time I blow air out—I feel like Puff the Magic Dragon! We
arrive at the school where Jacob, who is thrilled I have accepted his
invitation to come to his school, bounds off. Daniel returns home with us and
Rosa immediately gets a fancy DeLonghi coffee machine ready to make me a
cappuccino that is delicious when eaten with her homemade banana bread. We
simply do not stop talking—there is so much to say. Next, we plan our day and
after Daniel has watched some TV, we get ready to go out into the cold again.
Exploring Bishops
Stortford:
The last
time I had stayed with my friends Rosa and Matt, they lived in Bishops
Stortford but had taken me exploring in Thaxted and Saffron Walden instead.
They live now in a sprawling new gated community in Stanstead Mountfichet, but
since we had not really explored Bishops Stortford, one of the oldest
communities here in Essex, Rosa decides we must go there. Matt had suggested a
visit to the Rhodes Museum (also known as the Bishops Sortford Museum). It
turns out that the Rhodes family (of the famed Rhodes Scholarships in Oxford)
hailed from Bishops Stortford and established themselves as colonial
entrepreneurs from this hamlet.
Visiting the Rhodes
Museum:
The Rhodes
Museum is free to enter. We park our car and make our way, past the Theater
that offers some fairly decent shows, to the museum where we are the only
visitors for the day. The most striking elements of it are a wonderful
Mural—which is actually an embroidered panel—very similar to the Bayeux
Tapestry—that tells the story of the town in patchwork applique and embroidery.
It is in glass cases high up on a wall but there is conveniently a gallery from
which one can scrutinize it carefully at eye level. It is fantastic as one looks
at its Tudor beginnings to its present.
Inside, the
biggest attraction for me was the Domesday Book—my first time ever seeing one.
This is a facsimile, of course, but it is fascinating, as I do not believe that
I have ever seen one (not even in the British Library). The page is open to the
entry on Bishops Stortford—which indicates how old the town is for the Book was
decreed to have been a record of all land holdings in England under orders of
William, the Norman Conqueror from France, who had just taken over England from
the Anglo-Saxon King Harold. The script is unfamiliar to us and we guess that
it is Anglo-Saxon.
There are
also exhibits on the Rhodes’ family contribution to the area and to the
world—heavy emphasis on colonial mining works in Africa (which would make any
post-colonialist shudder), as well as memorabilia and articles that belonged to
Cecil Rhodes. There are also section on Gilbey’s Gin (made in the region) and
information on a prominent family known as Pye. I do wish I had more time to
read everything but it is simply freezing in the museum—it is true that these
places do not believe in wasting money on heating in the winter as there are so
few visitors. We used the rest room and leave.
Lunch at Bills in the Town Center:
It is
almost lunch time and we drive off to the Town Center past the Mound which is
all that remains of a castle that once stood here. We also see a huge windmill
that is also featured on the embroidered mural in the museum. Finally, we
arrive at the car park at M and S
where Rosa gets a parking voucher and we go off in search of lunch at Bills, where she has a two for the price
of one voucher. There are lot of thrift shops on the main streets and I am
sorely tempted to enter a few—I will do so after lunch.
At Bill’s, I order the Fish Pie (I have
spent 6 months in England and not yet had fish pie—I realize that I must remedy
that immediately!). It is haddock, cod and prawns smothered in a white cheesy
sauce and blanketed with mashed potato flavored with chives. It could not be
more delicious and I savor every mouthful. It is also huge—so I ask for half of
it to be packed away for my lunch tomorrow. Rosa has a Bacon and Avocado Salad
with a Chicken Skewer and Daniel has Bangers and Chips with a Chocolate Brownie
and Ice-Cream to follow. It is my treat and I am sorry that Matt and Jacob are
missing to enjoy it but we simply could not swing things to include them.
After
lunch, I leave Rosa with Daniel as he finishes his dessert and I hurry off to
the thrift shops. Alas, nothing catches my eye. Rosa catches up with me and I
nip into M and S for some Battenburg
Cake to take back home. Alas, they do not have the tinned tongue that I crave
and always take to the US where it is not available. I shall try to get some
from Oxford Street tomorrow.
Since I had
booked a train ticket online to get back to London tomorrow, Rosa makes a short
detour at the station so that I could print out my ticket and receipt. Armed
with this treasure, I can arrive at the platform at the last minute tomorrow
morning to board my train.
We hurry
off to the car as we have to pick Jacob up from school. Daniel dozes off in the
car and is dropped off home with me as Rosa hurries off to get Jacob. His
friend Ryan returns with him and together they make a merry din as the three of
them play and leave Rosa and me to nurse a cup of lemony tea.
This is the
time Llew decides to Facetime with me as he needs my flight details. I chat
with him for a while and give him the information he needs. He also chats with
Rosa and with Daniel whom he meets online for the first time. I am pleased to
be returning home to the US but loathe to imagine what the country will be like
under the new Prez.
Soon enough, Ryan leaves, I go off
for a short nap, the children spend time coloring, watching TV and playing with
Rosa. Then it is time for their ‘tea’ (supper). They eat ham, cucumber, tomatoes
and tiger bread and finish off with milk. They are such good children—I am
struck by their obedience. Their parents will brook no nonsense and I can see
that when Rosa tells them to do something, they know she means it and they
comply. Most impressive! All the while, Rosa is busy turning one of Nigel
Slater’s tagines into what will become a princely meal for us.
Another
hour later, after they have watched some more TV and Matt returns home, their
daily bedtime routine begins—baths, stories, prayers, bed. I watch some of the
news on TV myself as I get more and more depressed at the thought of returning
to Trummpppphhhh’s America. When they are both settled in for the night, their
parents return to the kitchen. The aromas emanating out of the oven where
Rosa’s casserole bubbles briskly are very comforting indeed.
Dinner with the
Fradleys:
It is not
long before I am settled with a delightful glass of white wine which I sip as
we lay the table for dinner. Rosa gets out some couscous and we are about to eat
it with boiled sweet corn and the chicken tagine that is fragrant with the
addition of cinnamon, cumin, turmeric and smoked paprika. Rosa brings the heavy
casserole to the table and over the couscous that has cooked beautifully, we
sit down and eat a most delicious meal. The meat is so tender, it is falling off
the bone. There are apricots to lend sweetness. Overall, it is a meal to
remember—I can still recall the amazing Boeuf Bourguignon that Rosa had
conjured up, eight years ago, when I was last at her home one Mother’s Day. She
is a superb chef and we do justice to her cooking.
A little
later, after Matt helps clear things up and stack them in the dishwasher, we
call it a night. I am sleepy again and at 9.30pm, I say thanks and goodnight
and leave to get settled in my room. I shall pack my little back pack tomorrow.
For the moment, I am ready to sleep. It will be the last night I will pass in
the UK and in a bed different from my own…
Until
tomorrow, cheerio…
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