Aug
2
2009
Ode to Aldeburgh
Check out my groovy little dude, strutting his stuff to the imaginary music in his mind whilst talking to his (presumably imaginary) “friends in the sky”. Taken on Aldeburgh beach on Friday evening, after scoffing fish & chips for tea. Such a treat!
Aldeburgh is about 20 minutes or so from us, and is one of a number of beautiful, unspoilt beaches nearby. It’s kind of fashionable with the Boden/arts/crafts/literary/musical types but is no worse for that. It’s not my favourite beach, but it has a special place in my heart as I associate it with our first trip to Suffolk, back in December 2005, when Bertie was 12 weeks old – the beginning of our love affair with Suffolk which resulted in our move out here earlier this year.
As I wittered about in yesterday’s post, time is speeding up for me and no amount of turning back the years with my No 7 Protect & Perfect Intense Serum can stop it. Only 3.5 years ago my baby snoozed his way through his first visit to Aldeburgh…
Aww, let’s get a closer look at this little button nose shall we?
Me and MrSpud must have been giddy when these photos were taken..the child was ACTUALLY NAPPING. Naps were pretty rare/short at that point in his life. Although, now I think about it, he was very possibly not sleeping but temporarily blinded by mummy’s horrendous pink raincoat. Argh, I’m surprised I wasn’t arrested for crimes against fashion although, in my defence, I bought that coat from Boden so I was kind of in my spiritual home?
What was I thinking? Well, clearly I wasn’t thinking as it was a panic purchase. No one told me that, when you are a mummy, you need a coat with a hood since you can’t push a pram and hold an umbrella at the same time. Likewise, no one told Bertie (or Diggy for that matter) that they were supposed to nap during the day without needing to be pushed/driven/carried in a sling for hours before they would eventually give in and sleep for 5 minutes. Again, no one told the British weather to stop with the constant rain already wouldya? So a panic purchase ensued and ‘that’ coat was the result. Bright pink rubber lined with orange fleece…it clashed so nicely with my red pram…I must have been quite a sight round the streets of Hackney.
The following year we went back with a 1 year old Bertie, and Diggy stowaway in my tummy. Bertie and MrSpud braved the cold and wind to throw stones in the sea…I have no photos to share as I was grumping in the car with only my stowaway and pregnancy hormones for company.
Fast forward a couple of years and I’m looking a bit jollier, less hormonal; fashion sense seems to be improving although why am I wearing a pashmina on the beach in August? And didn’t pashminas go out with the arc anyway? Also, why is my child wearing stripes and checks in the same outfit? I need some help I think.
And then it all got a bit arty. I was bitten by the photography bug, suddenly my trusty Sony point & shoot wasn’t cutting it anymore..I kidnapped MrSpud’s Nikon DSLR and the rest is history and 2,500 photos on Flickr.
There’s a wonderful, and contraversial, sculpture on the beach at Aldeburgh – a huge, steel scallop by Maggi Hambling – a tribute to the English composer Benjamin Britten who is synonymous with the town. The top part of the shell is pierced with words from ‘Peter Grimes’ (an opera by Britten)
“I hear those voices that will not be drowned”
Now wouldn’t that be a brilliant title for a blog? Shouldn’t that be a kind of blogger’s motto? Anyway, it’s a beautiful work of art, so tactile and is made to be clambered on…and it screams like a siren to be photographed too…
‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’…indeed… hopes and dreams of making the break from the Big Smoke and living in Suffolk finally became a reality. What started as a little weekend break way back when Bertie was a tiny baby ended with us making a life here and it’s a world away from our life in London. I brought my pink coat though…and wear it with a wildly clashing red hat, just like the old days. Do me a kindness and alert the fashion police would you? I thank you.
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