I made the decision yesterday to stop using Facebook for my blogs for a while and to slightly change their content.
I started a daily blog in March when lockdown began to bite. The idea was to entertain a few people with my ramblings, my musings and my lockdown strolls. As time passed the focus of the blogs changed with most discussing Hethersett village matters and themes.
Yesterday I made the decision to stop using Facebook so that only genuine readers would go to my blogs. It followed a most annoying morning trying to track down and cancel a number of posts. I won't go into the reason for this here as it is of little importance. Nothing I had posted was in the slightest way defamatory or libellous (in fact the opposite was the case). But it did make me realise that the only people I want to read my posts are those genuinely interested in reading what I am writing about and they will visit my website.
So the blogs, which I hope will continue to be posted on a daily basis, will now take the form of discussions about art, music and other topics along with travelogues, photographs, walks etc and some facts and insights into our village but I will leave the village comments and campaigning to my e-magazine Hethersett Herald which is published towards the end of each month.
A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'm currently reading a biography by Rob Chapman of Syd Barrett. Maybe the name doesn't mean that much. Barrett was a founder member of Pink Floyd and a very strange character. I am fascinated by the music scene of the 1960s, particularly with relation to Liverpool and London.
In many ways Pink Floyd were the antithesis of the Merseybeat scene. Floyd consisted of cultured Cambridge art students who began as a rhythm and blues band before transforming into a psychedelic band which was initially as well known for its light show as its music.
Barrett is today looked upon as a trendsetter who died in 2006 after being a recluse for many years. His erratic behaviour led to his being fired from his own band. His songs have an ethereal quality whilst at the same time being ever so slightly weird.
Alongside the Syd Barrett biography I am reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." It has always been a mystery to me how a megalomaniac like Adolf Hitler - a penniless artist - could dominate an entire country. I don't think I've yet read a book that answers the question of how that happened to my satisfaction but Shirer was reporting from within Germany and lived through those turbulent years.
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Today we ventured over the border into Suffolk to visit one of my favourite places in this or any other country - Southwold.
We started the day with a visit to Covehithe. You have to park on the road just outside the village and then there are two places to visit. Just along the road is the magnificent church of St Andrew's which is partly in ruin and which has a fascinating story.
The oldest parts of the church date back to the 14th century, although most of it is from the 15th century. During the Civil War much of the stained glass was destroyed by William Dowsing, a Suffolk man himself, who was known as an iconoclast - that is somebody who saw it as their duty to deface or destroy what they believed to be monuments of superstition or idolatry and this included fixed altars, altar rails, chancel steps, crucifixes, crosses, images of the Virgin Mary and pictures of saints.
After the Civil War the large church became too expensive for the parishioners to maintain and, in 1672, the roof was removed and a much smaller church was built within the old structure and this is still used as a place of worship today, although it is currently shut due to the pandemic. The ruins of the old church are maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust.
The population of Southwold in the 2011 census was just over 1,000. On the surface it seems to be quite a large town with a largish shopping area. The problem (if it is a problem) is that most of the buildings are second homes or holiday lets with the population growing many times over during the summer season. I remember a few years ago having a chat with one of the residents who was tending her front garden. She told us that lack of support meant that very few organisations could thrive "there just aren't the people living here in the winter to keep things going," she said.
Today Southwold was heaving - the busiest I can ever remember. It was probably a last hoorah before lockdown begins to bite again and also a brilliantly warm day with temperatures in the mid-20s which seems ridiculous for the middle of September (where did this summer go I stupidly ask)?
Many people seemed to be congregating around the pier area. There was plenty of space on the beach and it was very pleasant a bit further up in the Gun Hill area.
The quay area beside the River Waveney was resplendent in the Early Autumn sunshine. I walked along the bank as far as the Beccles Sailing Club to add to the walking distance today which was approaching 10 miles. The photos below are of Beccles.