Visit with Sue

Hello again. I spent the last two days on the south coast of England with my former youth pastor and friend, Sue. I arrived in Chichester on Thursday just before lunch, and we dropped in at her work nearby and then had jacket potatoes for lunch. The restaurant provided us with baked potatoes plus a buffet of potato toppings for 4.95 each. After lunch, we walked around Chichester Cathedral, which had an interesting Anne Frank exhibit on display. From the Cathedral, we walked around town for a bit, and then drove to Bosham, where Sue lives, about a 10 or 15-minute drive away.

Seeing Sue's home was a neat experience. I saw a side of Sue that I largely missed when I was a youth and she was my youth pastor. It was immediately obvious that she loves giraffes as soon as I walked in the door. Her travels throughout Africa were also apparent from the photos on the wall, the print hanging over her dining room table, the elephants carved out of wood lining the window sill, and other figurines and decorations...even the leopard print fleece blankets on the couch and the warm brown paint seemed to evoke the Savannah or a safari. The guest room where I stayed, was a mixture of African and Canadian momentoes. We had fun playing various games like Dutch Blitz, and a new dice game that Howie and Myrna taught her on a recent trip back to Canada. I also found out that Sue actually spent 19 years in Canada, so when she came back to Britain four years ago, she had many of the same questions/confusion as I about British culture and vocabulary.

The baseball glove chair in the furniture exhibition at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Standing in front of a palm tree in Brighton.
Looking back at the coast from Brighton pier.
Sue, with the Brighton Pier in the background.On Friday morning, we took the train from Bosham into Brighton for the day, where we walked along the beach, ate a delicious take away Chinese meal (two boxes jammed full for only 4 quid) along the water, and meandered around the Brighton Pier, which contains an arcade, amusement park, and shops selling candy, ice cream, and Belgian waffles, all on the pier. From the carousel, you could look down into the water below. Neat. Then we climbed back up into the centre of town again (Brighton really slopes down to the water) where we visited the Royal Pavilion, which was the temporary residence of the Royals during the Victorian period when it was considered beneficial to get out of London and take in the sea air for one's health. The Pavilion had several exhibits on display, including one of old and contemporary furniture ( see baseball glove chair above), and a very interesting one about the Women's Land Army, which operated during WWII, and which apparently was about getting women to take over the farming jobs. Besides that, we did a bit of shopping, including a 2 for 1 water bottle deal. We got identical 1L bottles for just 9.99 altogether. After a long day in Brighton, we came back home and ordered take away fish and chips--my first of this traditional dish since arriving, though I've snacked on other people's chips here and there a few times.

I had a super trip, and a fun time with Sue. Back to Barking again today so I can get to a farewell at the Mennonite church for a fellow Canadian tomorrow. JKN