Yesterday I took my first two NZ friends to visit Sussex around the important places of my childhood. Something that no-one I have met since 1997 has been able to see. I've talked about it plenty but this was my first chance to connect my recent past to the distant past and it could have gone better. On the way to Ashdown (not Ashford!) Forest we drove through Lewes, the pronunciation (like Lewis Carol) seemed to cause trouble for Bronwyn. We did a quick breeze through along the upper high street and passed the 15th Century Bookshop, still wonky and askew. Then onto the forest where A.A Milne and his son Christopher Robin spent lots of time playing and based the famous Winnie The Pooh books on. We parked near The Enchanted Place but seeing as Bron had never heard of Roo's Sandy Pit we carried on to Pooh Corner to get directions. Not much later we were on our way again, this time walking though the woods to the central attraction of the area, Pooh Bridge. This is the traditional site of the Pooh Sticks game where players drop sticks off one side of the bridge and watch whose floats out the other side first. Watch this video (5.9mb) to find out who won.

Bodium Castle

   Next stop on the tour was Bodium Castle. It's a classic castle set in a wide moat and with an impressive view over the countryside. Although we were able to walk right up to the front door the door was locked. It turns out it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays which isn't cool. But I really liked the place. After that we went to take a quick look at the Long Man Of Wilmington, which as Bronwyn notes was cleaned up quite a while ago for a visit by the queen.

   On the way home we took a little tour of my old villages, Ripe (where my sister Laura was born), Chiddingly (Chid-ing-lie), Muddles Green and Laughton (pronounced Law-ton by the way). Chiddingly was the site of my early acting career at the village festival. I remember the hall being packed out, standing room only, for the nights that 'the show' was on. My brothers and sisters (back when there were only four of us) and the Penrose and Dyke families would get together to produce a short musical skit each year, directed by Jo and Amy. We did Grease, The Jungle Book and a few of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. I did the lead males roles a few times, and narrated some, and even took on Mucky Mabel in 1989, the year I visited New Zealand and had to rehearse my lines on the other side of the world. Apparently the hall is smaller than Whitianga Retirement Home where everyone knew Bronwyn.

   I think I'll be staying around here this week. Getting my C.V. looking nice. A lot more photo editing and possibly working on getting a full photo graphic tour on line, and of course the Lewes Bonfire Night.