Leyla and her silk pashmina

Beautiful Layla the Dalmation posing as if for Vogue on her silk pashmina

Layla's view from the pub

Don't miss the sunset...take a blanket

Dell Quay and boats

Welcome to the quayside pub

A peek into the dark mysterious interior

We are sailing...

Rules to save the lugworm apparently

On our search for a replacement roomy car for my broken but beloved Peugeot 406 estate (any leads or suggestions most welcome please email me) we enjoyed a happy lunch break on the estuary close to Chichester Harbour. We sat in the warm sunshine outside the charming and atmospheric Crown and Anchor pub in Dell Quay. Mr EM loved his beer battered fish and chips - light and delicious and delightedly reminiscent of Australian menus where this is a regular item. My local Selsey dressed crab was equally delicious. 

My blogging has had to take a back seat lately but I do try to visit and comment on your blogs when I am able so don't forget me but also please don't take offence if I haven't commented lately. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY TWO DARLING LEOS!

Both born on the first of August 

Though clearly not in the same year!

Proud grandfather Mr EM with our darling Australian granddaughter when visiting us in June. She's a real waterbabe and insisted on disrobing and jumping into the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, London. We tried to impress on her that the water would be cold unlike at the famous beach she lives near at home. But she splashed happily on several circuits around the undulating design which is built out of quite beautiful Cornish granite. I was surprised to find that it was very clean, not slimy or slippery at all. In fact it is a really enchanting memorial and not at all how I had imagined from all the publicity, some of it quite negative, after it opened. It's also in a lovely, sloped and grassed, setting close to the Serpentine. The whole area which includes old trees and younger plantings is surrounded with traditional iron railings and makes a safe play and picnic area for families. 

August 1st used to be known as Lammas Day in the UK. Tracey at The Vintage Bothy has written about it here as it is also her birthday (Happy Birthday to you too, Tracey!) I always thought it was one of the quarter days for paying rent but apparently not quite. Our house in London was next to Lammas Park in Ealing which we found was originally land on which local tenants could graze cattle after the harvest in medieval times. Number One son did a school geography project based on a his curiosity of the proximity of two local tube stations - you can see the platforms of one from the other. During his research he discovered photos of our area which showed it to be still very rural up to the time the stations were first built. All part of the late 19th/early 20th century need for new homes that encouraged a huge surge of entrepreneurial builders creating the suburban sprawl westward out of London. 

I shall possibly be revealing some of Mr EM's birthday gifts later.