The next birthday coming up is next week, when K. has hers. The following week it's F's birthday. And we have just also had a great birthday meal with Young A. He's now 18 and will be leaving school next year. He usually drops by to see us every week or two and it is always good to hang out with, so it was an honour to join him and others in Winchester for a great meal in a friendly pub just opposite the medieval City Mill, a watermill which once ground most of the town's flour. Here is the view through the stone balustrades of the bridge.
The mill now belongs to the National Trust but it used to be a youth hostel, and a very memorable one it was too. After we left the pub, T. and I had a little walk around the city centre, watched the mill race rushing beneath the bridge, and remembered staying there long ago when we were young. There was a cavernous space used as a common room, and very few modern conveniences. We recalled being told stories by older hostellers about how in their past, the the living accommodation had been so primitive that the men had to haul water up from the mill race if they wanted to wash. I never went into the men's washroom myself, but T said that they also had to tip their basins of dirty water back into the mill race, even though by then, cold taps and basic electric light had been installed.
Young people can take quite a bit of discomfort in their stride, and we caught the end of the period when many YHA buildings supplied discomfort with great generosity. Despite this, many of the ancient buildings were incredibly old, beautiful and atmospheric. They had become hostels in the 1920s or 1930s, when out of date stuff like watermills or decaying mansions were considered a liability, and ideal for providing basic accommodation for hikers and cyclists. (These days, of course, they are considered priceless, and would sell for millions.) I'm so glad I had the chance to stay in so many of them.
In its hostel days, the Mill retained its old machinery (which didn't work at the time, though I believe it has now been restored) and at night it was extremely dark and full of the noise of the water, which you could also see rushing along if you peeped through the gaps in the massive oak floor boards. The last time I stayed there was at this time of year. It was truly freezing, and clouds of my own breath surrounded my bed all night. In fact I was mildly surprised my breath hadn't spread frost across my pillow by the morning!
Winchester Mill was, however, much more comfortable Willy Lott's Cottage in Suffolk, where I had to sleep for a whole week. You may recognise this beautiful old cottage on the left of "The Hay Wain" by Constable.
It is still there, and I imagine it has now been fully modernised, but words won't convey how awful it was when I stayed there. It was in fact used as accommodation for a Field Studies Council course and we students were doing a course during the day and trying to sleep at night. Not easy when the place has more or less been built in a pond. Each night I tossed and turned, figuring that my body heat was evaporating away some of the dampness, but not nearly fast enough. The sheets were far damper and colder than a mere human body could ever manage to make warm!
Talking of cold, I think and hope we're past the worst of the cold this year. It's been pleasant going out and cycling around and seeing things. Went to the V & A museum yesterday. T. was doing something there so I just looked around the first gallery I came to. It was full of magnificent jewellery. It's been reorganised recently to explain much more about the background of the treasure on display. An interesting section on magic and belief had this 15 carat gold bracelet from 1975, which uses gems taken from older jewellery: lapis lazuli, purple glass, jadeite, almandine garnet, black opal, diamond, green tourmaline, white opal, citrine, bloodstone, pearl and moss agate. Most of them have traditional meanings or supposed powers, and are just the thing for a rich hippie with money to spare.
