Off to a good start in that we were allowed on the 1100 ferry instead of the 1200 ferry we were booked on. But then found that we had forgotten to bring the instructions - most importantly, the key box number - on how to get into our cottage. A very cheerful lady at the agency was able to put us right - so cheerful that I imagine she must deal with plenty of people who manage to forget the same item. Would have been more tiresome in the days before mobile phones.
Not much naval action to be seen. Two frigates parked round the back and two RFA auxiliaries parked in the back harbour. Victory missing, or at least missing its top masts. Giving rise to the thought that it was a long time since we were able to smash the combined French and Spanish fleets in a couple of hours. As stunning a victory on the sea (at Trafalgar) as Napoleon achieved on the land (at Austerlitz) at about the same time. And having read Sir Herbert Maxwell, that is to say the Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, 7th Baronet of Monreith, KT, PC, FRS, FRGS, on the battle of Waterloo recently, I offer a battle factlet: it seems that both Trafalgar and Waterloo were the product of drill power. The gun crews of the battleships were drilled on their guns and the redcoats of the thin red line were drilled on their muskets - to the point that they could carry on firing, fast and furious, through thick and thin. And so to carry the day. Perhaps also of industrial power: we had more or less unlimited supplies of ammunition with which to practice.
Parking the car up after we had delivered our luggage to the cottage, came across a wedding at Brading Church. Lots of fancy dress. I inquired whether they were using the next door village hall, not very old, for the reception, to learn that the bride came from Carisbrooke and that the reception was to be held at East Cowes, making an equilateral triangle with a side of around 10 miles. My informant had no idea why the wedding was at Brading, beyond observing that it was a pretty church.
We fine dined at the 'Kynge's Well' where we were served by the same waitress that had served us for the past two years. Grub rather good - in my case fried mixed mushrooms to start and fried sea bass to follow. But they could have done even better had they eased off on the oil and goo, used a better baker and a better wine merchant. It remains a puzzle, given the huge amount of energy expended on cooking, restaurant inspectors and television cooks generally, that the standard of bread in such places is so poor.
PS: we might have BT broadband here, with a black box behind me which looks very much like the one we have in Epsom, but it is very slow compared with Epsom. Maybe the pipe under the Solent is a bit long in the tooth.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/brading-ring.html.
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