Funtington No 3

Hi Family, Friends, Davenanters and Bloggers,

Everyone staying at the Barns (thirteen Spanish relatives and me) were up early today, making breakfast and preparing for a day out in the beautiful English countryside.

At 10 am we all piled into the mini bus that was booked to take us around to the various places of interest. Our first stop was Chichester and we were dropped off near the Cathedral and the Cross (photos 1 and 2) which are the two most famous landmarks in the area. We met Paul and Kenny at the Cross but, unfortunately, they were too busy with wedding preparations to spend the day with us. We all then had a walk around the main streets and we were fortunate to catch market day so the streets were full of beautiful market stalls selling lots of traditional craft products as well as lovely looking food!

Chichester is a fantastic place to go shopping. There are so many small, independent shops as well as the many up-market chain shops and the streets are all pedestrianised, quaint and clean. It was a lovely experience.

Pilar and I then did a breakaway visit to the Cathedral and were absolutely blown away by the beauty within it. The modern pieces of art combined with the eleventh century architecture was breathtaking. The Piper Tapestry on the subject of the Holy Trinity (photo 3) and the Anglo German Tapestry relating to the life of St Richard (photo 4) were two of our favourite pieces. I also liked the relatively new baptism font designed by John Skelton in 1983.

When I was in school studying for my O Levels I studied a poem called An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin and I remember the first time I visited the Cathedral back in the 1970s when I came across and recognised the Actual Arundel Tomb from the poem. I enjoyed the moment of recognition again today when I explained the story to Pilar. You can see in photo 5 that the Earl and Countess are holding hands and it says in the poem "they would not think to lie so long, such faithfulness in effigy" and the last line of the poem reads, "what will survive of us is love". With the wedding tomorrow I thought this imagery would be quite appropriate.

After this cultural slice of stimulation we then went off to lunch in Woodies and another trip down memory lane. Woodies Wine Bar was opened in 1972 and it was my favourite place to go when I was a student. I use to like ordering French bread and pâté at 30p or French bread and cheese at 25p with a glass of wine and I couldn't believe the prices that were on the original menu, in a frame, on the wall. Woodies has changed quite a bit but in photo 6 you can see all thirteen Spanish relatives and me waving at the camera. We had a lovely lunch and then got back in the mini bus and went to Bosham Harbour for a walk and afternoon tea.

Tonight we are having a meal all together in the Barns and the Spanish mums are preparing Spanish omelette, with cold meats and French bread which all sounds delicious. The immediate family and other important people are all at a rehearsal in the church and the rest of us are all getting excited about the big day tomorrow.