It's an overcast day with a tiny bit of a chill in the air but not much rain so I am exploring Ipswich which is the main town nearest Tunstall. The family I'm sitting for is still here until Monday morning so I have a few days to explore the area as they have the responsibility for Teddy all to themselves. Ipswich is clearly a popular place to live because it's an easy hour and a bit ride from London, direct and it also connects you to many parts of England and Scotland very easily. There are lots of new apartment buildings near the train station and the center of town has lots of charming small walking streets with shops. Today there is a Christmas Market going one which is very nice. The stores and streets are packed. And they have the town decorated but the lights aren't on yet.
I visited St. Mary-le-Tower Church which has lasted through
eight centuries. It’s a very impressive building from the outside as well as in
with incredible stained glass windows throughout. Often when I go in to local
Church of England buildings they have clear glass windows even like the amazing
and massive St. Paul’s in London. From their web site: “The first church,
endowed with 26 acres and probably built of wood, flourished in the time of
Edward the Confessor as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Holy Trinity Priory was founded in about 1177
and for 360 years its black-habited Augustinian secular canons served the Tower
church and parish. The present fourth church was almost totally rebuilt in
phases beginning with the chancel in 1850-53. The two-bay south chancel arcade
was retained. In the 1860s the nave and aisles were tackled, again retaining
the arcades. The whole campaign was paid for by George Bacon, banker and
philanthropist, and the architect was Richard Makilwaine Phipson. Ipswich was
from the 17th century a Puritan stronghold, in early-Victorian times
Evangelical, but the vicars who oversaw the rebuilding of the Tower Church were
Tractarians and the furnishings and ornaments suited the ritual they favoured.
A tradition of choral services and sacramental teaching still exists, but the
churchmanship has never been extreme.”
I also visited the Catholic church, St. Pancras which from
their web site is described “Ancient Ipswich dates back to the Iron Age and has
developed as into an important industrial, commercial, shopping and tourist
centre. It has a long history with twelve Churches mentioned in the Doomsday
Book. Later it had at least five Priories and became a place of Pilgrimage to
the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Grace. This stood in what is still called Lady
Lane. The first Catholic Church in Ipswich was opened in 1827 on the outskirts
of the town. It was soon recognised that
there was a need for a central place of worship and the Church of St. Pancras
was built in 1861. Somewhat plain on the outside, it had an interior that is an
outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Architecture. The arches of the Nave
and Sanctuary have alternate courses or red and white brick, in what is known
as the Venetian Style. Behind the Altar and above the Reredos, five large
statues depict Our Lord and the four Evangelists. The statue of the Blessed
Virgin, in the small Lady Chapel, is over an ornamental marble Altar. This has
floral carving symbolic of the title of the Queen of Heaven: the rose, lily of
the valley and the marguerite. The
Tabernacle is rotary and available for both the High Altar and the Chapel. The Organ, which was built in 1891 and has
two manuals, stands in the recently almost rebuilt Choir Gallery which, with
the Organ, was badly damaged in a disastrous fire in 1985. Beneath the Gallery will be found the Caen
stone Font, the round bowl of which is a
sculptured band of water lilies and four bosses of crystal spar, and the parish
War Memorial of marble. The church also contains the Shrine of Our Lady of
Poland, a souvenir of the stay in the town of the Polish Free Army during the
second World War, which is cared for by the local Polish community. In the
Parish garden is a statue of Our Lady of Grace.”
One thing that struck me strangely or just made me ponder a bit was how they have a huge football stadium (soccer) and all the pubs, bars, etc. near there are allowed to post huge signs that say only fans of the local team are allowed. They do say please at the end of some of the signs but I'm pretty sure that would be illegal in the States. Certainly I don't think you could say to a Red Sox fan visiting New York that they can't come in unless they are a Yankees or Met's fan. Or even that a Met's fan couldn't eat in restaurant that is owned by a Yankees fan. Anyway, it just seems strange, but maybe that's normal here or they just want to avoid any violence between rival fans.
Down one of the lovely shopping streets I found the statue of the Giles family - " A statue of Grandma, some spherical babies and a dog. Being representations in bronze of members of the Giles family, characters from the long-running British cartoon series drawn by Carl Giles. It is in Queen Street in Ipswich, England. Grandma stands looking up at the newspaper office window where Carl Giles used to work. A bit about the cartoonist and a copy of one of his cartoons. "His cartoon style was a single topical highly detailed panel, usually with a great deal more going on than the single joke. Certain recurring characters achieved a great deal of popularity, particularly the extended Giles family, which first appeared in a published cartoon on 5 August 1945 and featured prominently in the strip. Of these, the most famous is the enigmatic matriarch of the family, known simply as Grandma. Another recurring favorite was Chalkie, the tyrannical school teacher who Giles claimed was modeled on one of his childhood teachers, and Larry, the mop-haired child from next door, often seen with a camera."
I stopped in at what I thought was another lovely old church, which it was years ago. But this tiny, yet ideally situated on one of the small lanes in the center of tow is actually the Ipswich visitor and tourist center. They have lots of great locally made items like jams and crackers as well as clothes, jewelry, soaps and stationary. They had samples of the yummy crackers and jam but I knew if I got any I'd eat it all while at the house and since I only get exercise when I take Teddy out better to not have the temptation of jam and crackers to snack on.
And one little side note to an entry I made on Scotland about a women on the train who mentioned Shivery Biscuits or at least that's what I thought she said but it is actually "Shivery Bites." I found this blurb online to confirm it. The reason, in case you were wondering why I was thinking of this today, is because I think I may use it in a play so I just wanted to be sure I got it right but never expected to find such a clear and succinct explanation or really any mention of it at all. So goes to show you check the internet if ever you're in question on something you may just find the answer. "Shivery bite" is an expression used to describe a little something to
eat after a dook(swim) in the sea. It was usually a biscuit or chocolate
bar or maybe a packet of crisps. I first heard it when I moved to the
East Neuk of Fife in the early 1960's. Children were hardy souls in
those days and everyone used to swim in the outdoor sea-water swimming
pools which still existed in Cellardyke, Anstruther and Pittenweem as
well as in many other coastal towns and villages. The water was usually
freezing even in the summer, hence the need for something to stop you
shivering when you emerged blue with cold... I don't know if it's used
so much nowadays but it's a great expression all the same"Sunday - Woodbridge
John drove me to Woodbridge so I could go to mass at the Catholic church, St. Thomas of Canterbury at 11:00am. The church is sort of modern but still very nice and it was packed. There aren't many choices for Catholic masses so I'm sure they come from all around. The music was very good and just nice to be able to go to mass.
The family is off again tomorrow morning to go to their conferences on the Contentant for the next three weeks. I am looking forward to getting back to my Tunstall routine, but it's also been so amazing to be able to see the Lake District, Scotland and spend time with friends in London.
Woodbridge was busy with people but a lot of shops and restaurants are closed on Sunday so I just walked around got a sandwich and went in to a few shops and then met John around 2:30pm and back to the house where I took Teddy for a 20 minute walk. His leg is doing much, much better but we are still going to have to take it easy for a week or so and build up to our longer walks. Maybe add 5 or 10 minutes each day until he's back to normal. I am going to have to have a talk with him he's still wanting to pull away and run when he sees a bird or something. I'll have to say "I know you like rabbits and you love chasing them and killing them but no, no, no, no, no!!! Now what I'm sure Teddy will hear from all that is "Yap, yap, yap, yap, RABBIT, yap, yap, LOVE, yap, yap, yap KILLING, yap, yap NO, NO, NO, NO NO! But even then it still gets the message clearly across "RABBIT LOVE KILLING, NO!!!
He really is a sweet dog though and I'm glad he's okay. A man who was walking his golden retriever today stopped to say hi and Teddy and his dog did the usual sniffing greetings and the man said he'd like to get a dog like Teddy because he's smaller. I wanted to say "Look at your lovely, sweet dog, being so well behaved while my little man here is all rambunctious and frenzied, why would you ever want to switch?"
Although Teddy is so loyal I can imagine why someone would want him. Elaine was telling me about a year ago when they started to travel so much for business that they decided to give Teddy away to a good home so they posted on the internet for families to inquire. The same day of the posting they got like 3 people wanting him, not unusual he is very beautiful and sweet, but that same day, within 12 hours of the posting, Elaine said Teddy started to get sick. By the next day he was really bad and they took him to the vet and the doctor couldn't find out why he was so ill so they took him home and over a few days he got so bad that he was barely breathing and they were sure he was about to die so she told John to take the posting off the internet right away which he did and she said within 12 hours of that he was completely back to normal hasn't had any issues since. She said some dogs, they've had him since he was a puppy, know that they are meant to be with one family and if that family no longer needs them then they know it's time to die. So strange and a bit melodramatic on Teddy's part, but still very sweet in a way. I'm just glad he likes me and hasn't become all dramatic and stopped eating or anything while they're away. He actually gets lots of attention from me because I have him next to me almost at every moment when I'm in the house.
