PP6 day 2 Art Historian and Filmmaker Suspected as Terrorists

I actually managed a run in the dry first thing this morning, and after breakfast we set off to record the glories of the Romney Marsh and Dungeness. We bagged East Guldeford church, a forlorn barn of a place, without too much trouble from the itinerant sheep and proceeded to Dungeness - which is where the trouble started. I didn't park prettily at the end of a layby but there was no one around in such grim weather - by now it had started raining again and the wind was howling without obstruction across the wastes. We lugged the gear along to the beach and set up the tripod and camera on the highest bit of shingle with the power station behind us and the lighthouse of which Piper had made a collage in our sights. I was wearing a fluorescent yellow raincoat and Charles is well over 6ft, so we weren't exactly camouflaging ourselves. The weather was so remorseless we actually had to give up without filming anything and staggered back to the car with wet equipment and damp us. A police van was awaiting us - 'Oh gosh, sorry, are you going to reprimand me about my parking' was my opening gambit. 'I'll disregard that this time' responded the fully equipped policeman - think flack jacket, gun, god knows what else strung round his waist but it all looked exceptionally frightening. Did we realise that one required permission to film here, what were we doing, did we appreciate that there was a power station behind us? We tried to explain about Piper and that he created is images before the power station was even there and we desperately DID NOT want said building in our film, and anyway we hadn't managed any film due to the lousy weather, and I hadn't realised one required permission (which is odd because I've checked just about everywhere else we've been, politeness being my middle name). One would have thought that if we were dangerous criminals we would not have stood on the highest bit of shingle for everyone to see, together with large tripod and camera, let alone the yellow peril raincoat. Anyway said policeman had to fill in the relevant Stop and Search form (he did put my hair colour down as dark rather than grey which was flattering!) after which he took Charles' details and then said they'd have to do a check on the car. Why couldn't his mate have done this while we were waiting? No wonder policemen don't have time to catch the real criminals. In all we were at the mercy of the LAW for about 90 minutes. UGH!

The situation was marginally improved for Charles anyway by a sighting of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch train!

By now we were late for our meeting with Sir Donald Sinden at St Clement's, Old Romney at midday and I wanted to dash but didn't dare add a speeding fine to my sins. The churchwardens had been in and the place looked spotless, flowers everywhere. Sir Donald was his usual exemplary professional self and I tried manfully or even womanfully to play my part asking him about the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, of which he is a Vice President and discussing generally the features of the church. This was followed by lunch at the Woolpack during which he kept us vastly amused with his hilarious stories all delivered with such aplomb. C&I tried the same jokes out on each other during the afternoon but our renditions fell completely flat.

We tooled back to Old Romney and tried to do some outdoor shots in the drizzle, and were just about to call it a day when I fancied I saw a flash of blue sky so we then dashed over to St Mary in the Marsh and Ivychurch but by then the rain it was a-raining again! Photos indicate the bleakness and the wind.

Back to Film Farm the following day, a drying out session, a play with the letterpress which I can quite see I'm going to get completely hooked on, and thence back to Kent. About 10 days of grace before the next outing during which Charles has 2 sets of work related visitors and I have to drive to Yorkshire for another of mea mater's 90th birthday celebrations and want to work on the Christ's Hospital monograph. It's all go as someone once opined.

PP6 day 1

A 2 day dash to Bruges to do some Brangwyn filming (see http://frankbrangwyn.blogspot.com/) and we are already in Piper mode on the return ferry - watching Pink String and Sealing Wax on the laptop (they used a Piper drawing of Brighton for the titles). No rest for the wicked.

And so to Chichester and its cathedral, a delightful small sized friendly and light edifice with some stunning art works mainly commissioned by the Very Rev Walter Hussey, including of course the Piper tapestry which just glows with colour, quite sensational and reminds one very much of his collage work, even some bits of marbled paper here and there. One of the guides, Alan Bradford, was brilliant so we cajoled him into doing a spot of talking for us. Unfortunately when the day chaplain did his hourly spiel and asked for some reverential quiet Libby dropped her lens cap on the encaustic tiles, which clanked resoundingly. I made my apologies later and he was a super chap, very friendly and jolly. In fact everything went swimmingly until it was time to go - and then we needed to swim, literally - because in the meantime the heavens had opened and it was fair bucketing it down. No chance of getting all the kit into the car without it becoming seriously damp. So were were marooned for about 90 minutes.

It was supposed to be one of the wettest weeks of the year (along with the week we chose to visit Wales of course) and it certainly wasn't kind to us. We travelled on to Brighton to match up the Brighton Aquatints images, the journey punctuated by sudden showers. Arriving at Arundel Terrace we could see the rain advancing across the water but set up the tripod and camera anyway in the hopes of filming before the rain caught up with us - no such luck. We had to dash to the car, dry the equipment as best we could and wait for the storm to pass. This became the procedure as we slowly moved along the front towards Hove - Royal Pavilion, Metropole Hotel, Regency Square, Bedford Square, Brunswick Terrace, First Avenue Hotel - it was completely and utterly miserable, cold, and the wind buffeted us and the camera. Charles soldiered on and gamely tried to cheer Libby up periodically but she went into a cold and damp despond and was a very unhappy bunny. Finally at about 7.30 in the evening, with the light starting to go, we finished - or at least we hope we've finished - only the rushes will tell. A dismal drive back to the hotel with low visibility, the windscreen wipers working overtime, and then a careful drying out of kit - and ourselves!