In and around Bath

After stopping off for vital supplies at the art shop, and breakfast at Waitrose, we headed to local areas around Bath, as it was not a great day weatherwise, with a constant drizzle of rain as if we were sitting in a cloud. (We were). Visibility was poor and it didn't seem sensible to go trundling off too far.  Armed with our usual snacks, first stop was Charlcombe, the most delightful little church set up on one of Bath's hills, above a garden and St Alphege's Well.

The one problem with font-ing in this season is that there was no light and churches seem intent on saving electricity (who can blame them) as there are only minimal lights for visitors. You can see lights up above but no switches, so perhaps only the vicar has the key for these. It makes visiting on a dull day rather a dark affair and we were literally peering through the gloom all day. But luckily with the front door propped open we could just about see the delights of Charlcombe font, a real gem, which impressed me the second I opened the door. It is a lovely shape, with an interesting and unusual design set around the bottom. I took to calling the swirly bits "chelsea buns" and then there were definite mushroom designs between these. All rather deeply carved, which was accentuated by the light which fell on it.  We had to peer closely to draw it. The best thing about the font was that it was from one piece of stone and that it had an original stem and base! I do not even recall the last time we saw this as usually the base is later and the font bowl has been put on top. It was for me an absolute delight to see a whole, unaltered font. It somehow made such a connection to the past because the whole thing was as it had been from its creation.  Apparently the writers Henry Fielding and Jane Austen both visited the church (Fielding was married there. I often think if I got married I would use it as an excuse to have a nice font at the back of the room and to make this a focal point for the guests. "Now, if everyone can please admire the font.")

We stepped carefully through the wet grass of the garden on the slope below and found St Alphege's Well (on the hunt for moss again for other purposes). It had atmosphere in such a secluded setting, with the trees dripping around us, and apparently the water was good for eyes, so I doused my lids in the hope that I will no longer have to wear glasses. So far, no change.

Next stop was Langridge, where we have been before and I did remember it once I was there. The columns in the porch are lovely with some fine spirals, always fun to draw. There was also an arch of saltire crosses, or were they circles with shapes in that then formed saltire crosses where they met? I don't know if there is a difference. Inside there is a very impressive arch with much zigzagging and we noted some new things this time: two feet-like carvings at the bottom of columns and also two arch ends that looked like they could have been the start of dragons, they really did - we could see the faint line of where a mouth or teeth would be, as if the carver had been going to start dragons and then been called away or the church said, no, don't bother, those zigzags are more than enough.  See, we really are like Antiques Roadshow experts now.

Finally we finished in the small hillside village of Swainswick; again, somewhere I remember going in times before we drew. I did not remember a most unusual feature inside the church, which was a kitchen area. I jokingly asked my sister if she wanted a cup of tea, and then saw to my surprise that the church provided free tea and coffee for walkers and visitors. What an innovation. If more churches had kitchens, this would be ideal. It felt really kind.  I remembered a strange corner of the church where there was a weird bit of carving - a long piece of fish/finger/weird things like eels all coming out of the wall. Didn't really care for it then and didn't care for it this time either. There was a weird head, a roll of carpet on a famous Bath architect's memorial tablet, and some heads in the porch. I drew one of them - it had an okay expression, but turned more into a halloween mask in my drawing.

Tests and tea

This week has been a nice change as we have been giving the students tests, so while they have been busy, we have had a break from standing at the front teaching. It has not been without its challenges, as I had to keep the student with ADHD occupied while the others took their test and this was itself a test of my resources. I drew a picture of Etna which entertained her so she started copying it. I have discovered that I can entertain myself quite well with little things like this.

Italians clearly have a different view of tests to the English, as they do not seem to stick to the no talking rule, or understand that it's not really a test if you ask me, or the other students, what words mean. "It's a test," I said, "I can't help you."  However, I am quite pleased with the results, in general, and I hope they will be too. I quickly got bored of marking the same thing several times, though. The higher levels are quite tricky and I can't always mark them without checking the answer key.

We (the teachers) make each other laugh by sharing the things we find frustrating in class; usually our students make the same mistakes which I suppose come from their own language. One guy is convinced the word for "match" or "join" is "colleage" (well, I don't know how he would spell it) which comes from the Italian word. I have told him the English words, of course, but it's got to the point now where I've heard this word "colleage" so many times that I am almost using it myself. I'm sure our pigeon Italian is just as entertaining to them - language learning is quite difficult, I know.

This week we had the most fun we've had in ages, without any expense at all. I'd created a treasure hunt for my housemates, after Luna saw some kids doing one in the supermarket. I'd written a set of rhyming clues, like Rupert Bear, where one clue led to the next one. I hid them in various places round the flat and the last clue was the treasure (chocolate, and other small things from the Chinese shops, which are shops that sell cheap clothes, knick knacks and household stuff).  My flatmates absolutely loved the treasure hunt and raced round the house in delight, which was great fun.

After that we played "hide n seek" in the dark. It may sound like we are ten years old but everyone really enjoyed it. The flat is large and has many places to hide, and with the lights off it was very dark. Rather dangerous you might think, and yes Ella and Jo did bang into each other in their haste to hide.  One person looked for the others each time. I must be good at hiding because I was last to be found twice. It was very hard to keep quiet when people were coming into the room to look for you. One time I was behind a door in the hall and Sticky, Ella's friend, walked past me a few times. Eventually Ella and Jo were standing in front of the door and wondering where I was, when I started laughing. They freaked out and said, "Luna, is that you laughing?" Luna came into the hall and said it wasn't. At which point I started laughing even harder, except I was trying to stifle it so it must have sounded quite strange. Ella and Jo realised I was behind the door - cue screams and laughter. It was very funny. I was quite scared when it was my turn to look for people, as you couldn't see a thing and had to feel for people in the dark. When you did touch someone it was such a surprise to feel something soft you screamed because you weren't expecting it, and the other person screamed, and it was all good clean fun, like when you scare yourself watching horror films. We haven't laughed so much in ages. I think we are all secretly looking forward to playing it again soon.

The landlord announced we have a large electricity bill to pay which we are all puzzled about as we are sure we can't have used that much electricity since the last one. We've asked him to bring all the paperwork over so we can scrutinise it. The irony is we were playing a game with the lights turned off.

Today Ella and Jo have given me a nice surprise in return for the treasure hunt, as they have bought a cute little kettle - I was always complaining that Italians don't have kettles. And a box of my favourite new tea, which I have had at the cafe. It is now a joke that the new guy working at the cafe has a bit of a thing for me - before you get excited he must be late 50s. But yes it is clear he thinks I am "carina" or sweet, as Jo heard the other guy teasing him. Anyway it makes a change. Yesterday they were trying to get me to go to the karaoke there to sing with him, but I don't sing. He will be disappointed now that I have my own kettle and teabags at home, so I won't have to drop in for my usual "te caldo" around 5pm.