Jeremiah Watt

The very first panel of the Over Lord Embroidery Project.

Our day would commence by Jeremiah heading to a Lebanese owned Internet Café and working on the BLOG for a 2.5 hour stint. Most of what I done was down load photographs, since it takes so long to attempt to download from my laptop and air card. I wasn’t to worried about the text, since I could type it any time and throw it all up later. While I worked on my Blog, my wife and kids found a laundry and washed a few clothes, so that we could have a few clean ones when we hit London.

Overlord Embroidery Project.

From the Laundry, we began the day by heading to the Over Lord Project, which is a Museum dedicated to the preservation of honor and education, for those troops who participated in the event that you and I know of as D-Day.

Mom stands in admiration of an immense project, and an honorable group of men whom inspired its undertaking.

Have you ever heard of the Bayeux Tapestry. Most likely not, and don’t feel badly if you haven’t heard of it. I had never heard of it either until I got into Grade 3 History. But then that would take us into a whole”nuther”discussion of education and the equity within education. The Bayeux Tapestry may well be the most famous Tapestry in all of European Museums, and for several reasons. To begin with it is the longest Tapestry in the world, totaling some 235 feet if I remember my Grade 3 teacher. The whole Tapestry was done as a method of retelling the story of the Norman Invasion of England, back in 1066. Now take all of these facts with a grain of salt, because I am too darn tired to jump up and go hunt down the hard facts for you tonight, but this will get you close enough to get the flavor of the story. No matter how you dice it the Bayeux Tapestry is quite impressive.

Over Lord Project.

Over Lord Project

As for myself, being a fan of history and the such. I think that the whole D-Day story is a very impressive one. Moreover it is a story that seems to be lost within the education system today. There have been numerous formats which have attempted to tell the whole story of D-Day and show the magnitude and the awesome character of the men who made it come together. The Tapestry covered all of those, from the lowest Private to the Generals planning, from the French Resistance to the numerous civilian women who volunteered as actual medics. The Tapestry was done by a group of 20 women, all of whom were involved in needle point and embroidery, who banned together to do the actual work of building a Tapestry panel to tell the story. In the beginning they had no intention of making a project as long as the Bayeux Tapestry, that came as the story unfolded before them from interviews etc of actual soldiers etc on the field.

Over Lord Project

Walking the streets of this small town, searching in Antique Shops for items to add to our collections.

In the end, they concluded a Tapestry, known as Operation Over Lord, the actual code name for D-Day, that was longer than the Bayeux Tapestry by some 15 feet and wider by about 10” per panel in height. Now I have to say that JW is not exactly an EMBROIDERY enthusiast, but walk into this dimly lit room and take one look at any of the 95 panels which by the way are continuous in there manufacture and you will be impressed. The detail and effect of the many types of stitch as well as the use of fabric color and print creates a very believable account of the events. Along with the Embroidery exhibit, there was also a very good artifact museum alongside which gave further evidence as to the magnitude of this battle front. You cannot come away from an exhibit like this without having a huge appreciation for the thousands of men who gave their all for the very freedoms we now enjoy in the free world………………and our kids will take another year of Malcolm Who X?

Even the back alleys held treasures

Oh well, don’t get me going on the darned education thing, not tonight.

From the WW Museum we head for Arundel Castle only to find it closed for cleaning…………oops, just closed. That was the line I used to tell my kids on why we couldn’t go to the beach when they wanted too. But being as how the Castle was closed, we could still explore the small town……..right. SO, my boy Pine had his heart set on finding a good quality Dirk before he left the UK, and we started to search out the Antique shops for such a thing. Now its really quite amazing how a simple conversation can lead to so many interesting things happening in ones life. But just that, a simple question began this hour long opportunity to visit with a shop owner who knew an Arm our Collector. Over time, when he finally realized the Pine was serious, he then agreed to call his friend down to the shop and introduce Pine to him. It was neat, the fellow was a very well known collector of high end items, and gave Pine some valuable tips on spotting the real thing from the fake, also a lesson on price ranges for the quality of item he sought. All in all, fun and learning was had by all. Pine and Darren are both quite interested in Numerology and as such each bought a couple of old coins. My daughter, Nevada, has a growing Tea Cup Collection and the accessories that go with it, so she bought a 1785 era Cream Pitcher. We moved on down the street to a second Antique Shop that had been recommended to us, and the boys found a few more coins to go with the collections.

The Broghton Royal Palace as we approach in the rain, the clouded sky does nothing to enhance what is a beautiful exterior to this Palace.

It was now time to head to one of the strangest of Palaces. This was a beautiful building there is no doubt, but just very unusual for an English Royalty Palace. It resembles something Arabic on the outside, and very Oriental on the inside, and very English in its pomp and circumstance, built in 1780 or so for King George the 4th. The palace grounds are large enough in case you were wondering about the lack of shots, it’s just that it was pouring rain and I was wanting to get inside. But upon entering I then found it was another of those no camera Museums, so it became an audio tour and a few shots to keep the lens dry.

Looking for the entryway inot the Brighton Royal Palace.

Brighton Royal Palace to the southwest side.

There is no mistaking the majesty of this building, it was a very fresh approach to decorating, that is incorporating the arts from the Orient. Sort of like our “Feng Shoe” that is sweeping our homes today, why we have even done a little “Feng Shoe” in the barn and I think our horses are more at peace. There are several rooms within this low slung Palace that are worthy of consideration as the neatest, but for me it’s the dining room with its 2 ton, 20 foot silver Dragon Chandelier. I am telling you this beast just looks like he is about to leap off that Walmart Light fixture and eat your Chicken Fry, then drag his whip like scaled tail down the table to the last of the Cobbler and eat that as well. The table was set as it would have been in the day, with sterling plates sitting atop the gold trencher which goes underneath………..shoot, I would be happy with just one plate. Then there are enough different knives/forks/spoons for at least six folks to eat with………..and there all set at one place setting. The center of the table had huge sterling dinner trays, and huge soup Tureens that would hold gallons of soup. The ladle that was used to ladle soup to guests was a huge Conch Shell, which had been silver mounted and fixed to a two handled ladle…………I am telling you this was serious soup serving equipment. The kitchen was considered the MOST MODERN in all of BRITAIN, with automated meat rotisserie, and a rack of wall ovens burning wood underneath, running water and live steam ports in many locations. There were enough solid copper pots around that kitchen to re-roof the entire Canadian Parliament buildings.

The onion domes associated with middle eastern architecture dominate the roof line at Brighton.

It seems that our King George loved the extravagant life that came by living in Brighton by the Sea. It took a toll on his life though, as they tell the story in the audio guide, he became somewhat of a recluse and longed to be left alone by the end of his days. In the end he was a very ill man, having diseases that come from an early promiscuous life, he was very depressed in his later days and as it is described he died a very lonely man.
>>Cowboy Wisdom, says live in a single wide in Battle Mountain and be happy, Palaces must affect a mans psyche.>>

Our accommodations for his evening are really posh, by our standards at least. We had a very nice Bed and Breakfast accommodation that was only a block away from the Atlantic Ocean……………..but it was raining so much nobody really wanted to get out to the beach for a walk or swim. AS it is with all the bed and breakfast stays, you get breakfast but do not have any access to the kitchen itself. So for an evening meal, you must go out and find it. We had decided that what we wanted to find was just a good home cooked meal, didn’t have to be fancy nor exotic…………..just home cooked. We ended up right down town Brighton, and a small Café with a sign that read what else but “Home Cooked Meals “ our specialty. Now did I tell you how much I hate Liver. MY thoughts are that this is the one thing we could feed to prisoners to force confessions or convultions. Man, I sure don’t want Darren to find out that I, hate something………EEEEEEE gads this could be bad.

The dining Hall at Brighton Palace.

The entry to the Library Room at Brighton Palace.

We venture on in, and find a place to sit. Our cute little waitress comes out and speaks to us with a heavy accent of someplace maybe eastern Europe……….not quite sure but not English. We all order a Ginger Ale, Mom gets 3 glasses of Wine since she is not sure how quickly the waitress will come by again…………….we finally talk her down out of the tree and assure her she can drink her Wine one glass at a time like every one else. With our drinks comes a Menu, and we slowly go thru the whole thing looking for that item which appeals to us……………until Nevada spots a dish having Liver in it and that sparks a conversation that revolves around Aunty Elaine who will actually order Liver &Onions when she could have Steak………………….my Dad hates liver says Nevada as she is leaning over the table to emphasize the fact that DAD hates some food thing. So what are you ordering Mr.Watt, says my young charge Darren, with a huge Cheshire Cat grin on his face.

This is a view down the entry hall at Brighton Palace.

Mom order something she liked, Nevada ordered something that she liked, and Pine ordered something that he liked as well, I noticed Darren done the same as Pine…………and Jeremiah ordered the Liver in Red Onion Gravy. WHAT……………Your going to WHAT MR.WATT, order LIVER………..but I thought you hated LIVER, MR.WATT.

20 feet in hieght and 2 tons in total hanging wieght, this is quite a piece hanging over the Banquet Hall Table.

Folks, her is what I told my young friend. Gag or not I will try it…………..besides, didn’t you notice that the guy who owned the B&B had a dog……………I can always feed it to him. Besides, I live my life looking out the front window not out the rear window, I would sooner blaze a new trail that follow a mundane path………………gag a maggot………….bring on that Liver.

This Sterling silver, slithering denizen of the Dutch Oven, haunts every meal served, with his skulking presence over the heads of diners.

This may never happen again, but this liver was just amazing. Now lets be honest here since we are all friends, I mean if you remove KETCHUP from the table………..nobody eats LIVER……………..am I right……………common now brother, gimme a high 5 for truth…………right. I ate my liver tonight sans ketchup and loved every bite of it. I will put it down as one of the best meals I ate while in England.

To the parlor we go, after partaking in a fine meal in the Banquest Hall.

The Liver was seared, and doing so made the outside crisp and very flavorful, it actually had a little tinge of pink in the center so it lacked that tuff a sole leather consistency. It had been covered in bacon after the searing step, and then nicely browned and topped with a deep red/brown Onion gravy along with some mashed Tatties and Neeps. Very fine and my night of eating CROW turned out to be just grand after all. We had desert, some sticky puddings and custard, along with a Chocolate Pudding Pie which was also very good. Over a strong cup of Turkish Coffee we sat and talked to our waitress who as it turns out was from Poland. Matter of fact, while we visited Poland some 2 years ago we ate at a Restaurant called Perogianna which I highly recommend, and she knew well of this eating establishment and of the Wetzl Ice Cream shop that I mentioned over on my web site in my R2A Library and our little travel books you can download.

Just seems that a ceiling cannot get any prettier than this for example.
So it was a fun day, its rolling past 10 pm, and we are looking for a clean bed and some rest.
Good Night and God Bless

Thanks to a postcard, we found some sunshine over Brighton Royal Palace.