I was walking back after checking the sheep on Whitehawk Hill with Helen, who's a lookerer, and last week we were up there admiring a new lamb, possibly an hour or so old, finding its feet, eventually feeding, waiting for the farmer, as another ewe with a lamb moved closer to the new mother. We sat on a log, looked out towards the sea, shivered in the wind and realised how lucky we are.
This week, Helen had brought her binoculars to help her count the sheep better and there was a third lamb, like the one from last week, with sandy legs and face. On our way back I spotted the scrabble letters made into a sign and stuck to a wall near the racing stables. I don't know why it reminded me of a short story by Edna O'Brien about war. In it the violent death of a woman and family cow are linked, not in a crass way, but to explore sentience, kindness, whatever the absence of cruelty is...
Yesterday when I went with Bernadette to Crawley I had an idea it would be nice to visit Ardingly Reservoir, because I've never been. It's not easy to find, visitors not encouraged it seems and when you get there, activity not encouraged either. While children from the private schools splash around in their racing skiffs, canoes and yachts, the general public is left under no illusion - you are not welcome.
You also can't fail to notice the number of signs at the reservoir, which appears as a very large blue shape on the map, but which is not marked on the road and you're tempted to give up on the approach, there's so little information. You pass the private school and its prep school and the impression settles that this is all their land, nothing to do with the public, but you remind yourself this is South East Water, you are paying your water rates.....in your mind is the sign on the gate warning DON'T GET LOCKED IN as you bump into a car park and there's really very little encouragement to do anything except get back in the car and leave. We stagger up a slope, look at the grey water, the public footpath sign by the gate is knocked over and we get back into the car and drive away.
Comments