Jailhouse rock

My first reaction told the story. I thought someone had stolen all the pockets in my waterproof walking jacket, as I prepared to head out on my walk. In the deluded state I have reached now that I have lost so much weight, I had not realised that I was wearing my oilskin inside out.

But I must stop complaining about my lot (or rather little).  I was admonished yesterday by one of the coven of limerick writers who has have taken up literary squatting rights in the comments section of this column. The limerick implied that I was failing to be amusing about the 5:2 diet, and she is right. It is a recipe (there I go again with the food references) for misery. I shall try to be upbeat from now on.

But yesterday was a non diet day, Hurrah! So normal service has resumed. Being another horrible murky miserable day in November in England, we decided to pop out for a pint before an early dinner, wanting to get an early night before tonight’s foray into London to see Barry Humphries at The London Palladium, and all the eating , drinking and partying that such a trip inevitably entails. The first mistake was, on the way back from the Red Lion where I had quickly stored a couple of pints of the second best beer in the world -Timothy Taylor’s Landlord – to pop into the White Hart. It was here that we discovered that there was a blues night at Arundel Jailhouse taking place last night, so after careful consideration, concluding that it would be stupid to get wasted before such a big night,dinner we went.

My he evening started to accelerate down hill with a bottle of wine but after enjoying some music, in the way home for some unaccountable reason, stopped in at the Eagle, just to ensure a messy end to the evening. So instead of being up quite the lark with a song in my heart (bloody hell that sound like part of a limerick. It must be contagious), I overslept and have a mouth that tastes like bottom of a parrots cage.

It is a fantastic old jail, as its name suggests, which is used as a venue for music, theatre occasionally, murder mystery dinners and stand up comedy. What a fantastic discovery in the middle of Arundel! Gloomy and intimate, with the old  jail cells still sporting the old locks and cots, now proving extra seating. Very atmospheric.

It is not good planning to go to see an Australian comedian just after England were thrashed in the first cricket Test in Brisbane. The Auzzies love a bit of “Pom bashing” as they like to refer to to English that visit (they tend to do the colour of pomegranates after going out in the midday sun). I am expecting “heaps” at tonight’s show. I shall feign ignorance of our recent defeat, which will be reversed this coming week in the second Test which starts on Thursday in Adelaide.

Hiorne’s Tower, on a rare splendid winters day in Arundel

Before that I shall be on my route march which will today take me past Hiorne’s Tower, a folly built in the grounds of Arundel Castle, which provided the backdrop to an early episode of the iconic cult science fiction TV series, now in its 50th year, Dr Who. Having just looked out of the window, I can see that the weather forecast is correct, so it will look nothing like this.

So there has been a lot of history, culture, science fiction, scenery, ghosts and jails featured in this weeks output, but not nearly enough mention of the fine foreign exchange services of Currencies Direct.

Chris France

@Valbonne_News