Joshua is home for the weekend from UCL and very much enjoying the power shower in his bathroom. The showers in his hall at UCL are pretty nasty and didn’t smell too hot even on the first day of term. Anyway he is finding the Steve Jones lectures on genetics fascinating and is planning a big essay on the alpaca genome that has been completed in the USA. He’s also looking at how antibiotics work and resistance to them, they use e-coli in these experiments and also marvelling at how the Phd students manage to stay sane while counting fruit flies.
We went to Charmouth yesterday and didn’t find a single ammonite on the beach. When the boys were small, even when I was small, it was a matter of who found the first one and how many you found, not whether you found any at all. We did see lots in the flat rocks that were exposed as it was a very, very low tide. These are soft so there is no point in gouging them out of the rock, you just stare at them amazed. Alice, the fluffball, came too. She stays close at heel off the lead all the time which is very unusual as she is hopelessly untrained and deaf as a post after her illness. Very large dogs kept bouncing up to her but she was not amused. There are quite a few small falls along the cliffs and the usual streams of grey, glurpy mud which, of course, Alice trotted through. We had to carry her into the sea to wash her feet, even more unamused, Alice is not keen on water underfoot or falling from the sky.
Afterwards we decided to inspect the River Cottage canteen, pretty disappointing to be honest. We tried to order something to eat but the girls at the till just ignored us, one was on the phone, the other standing next to her, odd, so we left. Then we contemplated buying some cheese but there was only one lad serving and loads of people waiting. We left again and found a little cafe where Joshua downed a large bowl of soup. Post soup we had another go at the River Cottage shop as the cheese looked very interesting. This time there was no one behind the cheese counter or at the till but eventually they reappeared. I think Hugh needs to get someone to manage the place properly as I saw several potential customers walk out without buying anything having waited for a while.
Tom A –
Perhaps the Charmouth clay comes in waves, like every ten years or so, with fossils washing out all the time in some waves and not in others. It’s true we haven’t found any good ones for years now. Or perhaps there’s more attention on the beach these days and others pick them up before us…
Alex A –
Good old Alice.
jo –
Met some old school friends @ River Cottage canteen in the Spring, and like you was not impressed at all, would not bother again. If you happen to be in Sidmouth have a meal at The Vine next to the Radway cinema, we had a fabulous meal there this week.