Home, Sweet Home ...

I've just had 3 days with no work and not getting up until gone 9am, which for me (Who normally gets up between 04:30 and 05:30 most week days) is brilliant. We didn't do a lot, saw 'Hotel for Dogs' which the girls loved, and took the Jackson, our dog for a lot of walks ...

One walk was around Manningtree, where we live, and as a couple of US based friends had asked about the town, I went armed with my camera.

The high street - barely wide enough to get two cars down at the same time, and you have to walk single-file on the pavement on the left. The shop with the yellow awning is D'eath's bakery (Which I always think isn't the best of names for a bakers), the owners of which every year show the infants class at the girls school how they make bread, which in turn means the children pester their parents to buy cakes from the nice bakers!

See ... ! Another place the girls like is the library. The building has been a variety of things, including a church and corn exchange. It is a bit hit and miss with it's opening times, as it doesn't do 9-5 Monday-Friday, but odd hours here and there. I've learnt (And so have the girls) that it's open to 7 on a Thursday, so that's when we normally visit. The library also house the Manningtree Museum, which is only open a Wednesday or Saturday morning, and is manned by a man with the most amazing buck teeth ...

The building in the picture below is one of my favourite places in Manningtree, 'The Mogul' Indian restaurant! The chef is apparently very good, as there was a story in The Sun (So it must be true ..) where someone in Greece or somewhere ordered a take-away, and then had it flown out to them ... I had lunch there the day Bethany was born (Mia being in hospital, so unable to make me lunch ... tsk .. any excuse), and have spent many an evening there with friends. Admittedly the Mogul did lose quite a bit of their staff a couple of years ago, when they were raided for people working illegally, so I'm not sure if the chef is still there.

Opposite the Mogul is South Street, home to the area where witches were ducked in the 1600's, but more importantly the barber shop where I occasionally get my hair cut, and even more importantly the Dragon House chinese take-away! Until I had a special curry from the Dragon House, I never realised that curry sauce and pineapple went together so well.

South Street was also mentioned in a novel set in Manningtree, which had the heroine driving down South Street ... Now it's plainly obvious in the picture above that the street is one-way as it has not one, but two one way signs, and that you drive up South Street. I hope some editor got fired for that henious error.

Moving on ...
The main part of the high street. You'll see the road narrows, and cars coming up the road have to give way to cars coming down the road. I tend not to park on the right, as it's impossible to see any oncoming cars ... Incidentally, 'Tantastic' is the place I bought Mia a voucher for on our 7th wedding anniversary. Traditionally you're supposed to buy copper, but as neither of us has a love of copper items, I decided to turn her copper instead ... I do think about these things you know.
End of the high street now. The War memorial is out of shot to the left, and the house whose side wall fell off late last year is out of shot to the right. The pavement becomes so narrow at this point that you end up in the road, which isn't a good thing as there's a blind corner at the bottom of the road where the road swings round to the left. But, the Crown Inn and their great pub lunches is here, and I always buy a 'War Cry' from the Salvation Army person when they come round, if only to see if I know anyone in it.

Round the back of the Crown, you have the beach at Manningtree. I've mentioned in previous blogs how it was this that swung it for me when decided where Mia and I would bring up our family. We don't visit it enough, but really should.

The tide is out in the photos, which explains why all the boats are stuck on the mud. I'll try and get down when the tide is in as it does look quite impressive. Our friends from the US, Jenna and Will came to stay a few years back, and Will never seemed to get his head round the whole boats on the mud thing - everytime we went down to the river we missed the tide, I think he was sure I was making it up and that the British like to row on mud ...