And, we’re back! To those of you who thanked me in advance for the possible absence of the Picayune this weekend I can only apologise. We had a great visit to the south coast with great friends, we rode the Hythe to Dungeness railway, the dogs had a fabulous time on the wide, open dog-friendly beach, we ate like kings (hmm, perhaps not) and we scoured the beautiful village of Rye looking for some water.
We spent three nights in the very well-appointed 98 The Parade, Greatstone, Kent with our very good friends the Waltons and the Kelly-Browns. Even though we had recently spent a few days in this area (back in May to avoid the King’s coronation) we were delighted to visit again – it’s always a fun-filled time whenever we get together.
The house was splendid – very well-appointed and right on a wide, sandy, dog-friendly beach. Daisy and her pal Maisie (the Walton’s golden retriever) had the time of their lives sprinting along the beach and interacting with the dozens of other canines who similarly enjoyed the beach.
As well as the beach, the house also had the distinction of having the narrow-gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway running right at the end of the back garden. On our first full day we wandered down to Romney Sands station (about a two-minute walk from the house) to catch the train down to Dungeness (and back). Great fun although Daisy was a bit disconcerted to be in a small bumpy carriage which hurtled along at up to 20 miles per hour.
The railway has an “interesting” history.
The RH&DR was the culmination of the dreams of Captain J. E. P. Howey — a racing driver, millionaire land owner, former Army Officer and miniature railway aficionado and Count Louis Zborowski — eminently well-known racing driver of his day (famous for owning and racing the Chitty Bang Bang Mercedes).
The Count was keen to build a fully working railway using the 15″ gauge and Howey was inspired by the vision also. To try to fulfil their ambition the pair attempted to purchase the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in the Lake District, but to no avail.
Despite this setback, the Count ordered two Pacific locomotives to be designed by the leading model engineer of his day, Henry Greenly and built in Colchester by Davey, Paxman and Co.
Before they were delivered the Count was killed while racing at Monza in the Italian Grand Prix. Howey was left with two locos and the task of finding somewhere to run them. He commissioned Greenly to help him, and it was he that came up with the Romney Marsh.
The official opening took place on 16th July 1927, with Hercules hauling that inaugural train from Hythe to New Romney. When first opened to the public the line only covered, in double track, the eight miles between Hythe and New Romney. Owner Captain Jack Howey soon had his eye on extending the line and in 1928 double tracks carried the trains to Dungeness via Greatstone.
During those early years, the railway became famous and people came to ride on the ‘Smallest Public Railway in the World’.
It’s now run entirely by volunteers and runs a regular schedule of locomotives from Hythe to Dungeness (and back). Great fun.
Dungeness was a revelation – it’s the site of a National Nature Reserve, a Special Protection Area and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). It’s a bleak, windswept diverse landscape home to many unique plants, animals and birds – one third of all UK plant species are found at Dungeness, apparently. It also happens to be the site of the Dungeness B nuclear power station, the first Advanced Gas-cooled reactor to be constructed in the UK. The power station is now defunct and in the process of being defueled.
Dungeness is also the location of what turned out to be the culinary high point of our visit, lunch at the Snack Shack. This is a family-run affair with fresh fish, chips and the best lobster roll I’ve had in a long time.
Just down (or up) the road from the Snack Shack is Prospect Cottage, the former home of artist, filmmaker, gay rights activist and gardener Derek Jarman (1942 – 1994).
Apart from the Snack Shack, our culinary choices were disappointing. I am guessing that these establishments up their game considerably during the summer – how else to explain the relatively positive reviews. But even if the food wasn’t great, each establishment we visited provided its own entertainment.
The first night we had dinner at Demetrios, a Greek restaurant just down the road. The matron running the establishment proudly told us that the restaurant had been there for fifty years which is quite an achievement considering there was only one other couple dining while we were there. They must have enough business in the summer months to tide them through the rest of the year. The lamb kleftiko I had was pretty good although the calamari was ordinary to say the least. Thankfully, the matron’s bizarre accent – a combination of Greek and East London – was enough to keep us entertained through the evening.
On the second night, after our visit to Dungeness, we ate at the Mulberry which, again, was just down the road. This place is a bar and restaurant as well as a venue for wedding receptions. If you ever find yourself in the neighbourhood, this is one establishment that you’d be advised to give a miss. Everything was out of the freezer. Although there were a few patrons at the bar, we were the only folks dining in what was a large cavernous room and I think I can see why. Entertainment at this venue was provided by a middle-aged woman who was propping up the bar when we arrived and who seemed, to my eyes anyway, to be well-lubricated. She had a deep-throated belly-laugh which frequently filled the room. Turns out she was the chef. I suppose I can see why everything comes out of the freezer.
The next day we fancied a visit to Rye, a lovely, very picturesque little town on the East Sussex coast. We had visited on our last visit but were more than happy to go again. I had thought that Rye was one of the original Cinque Ports but I am mistaken. Rye did join the “confederation” of the Cinque Ports in the 12th century but, like a lot of these places, it is now some distance from the sea.
We parked up and strolled into the town. We fancied a bit of lunch or, at the least, a coffee and cake, perhaps. But every eating establishment we passed seemed to be closed. Some of them had notices on the door explaining that they were closed because of a lack of water. We discovered in a conversation with a local resident that places were shut because there had been a burst water main exacerbated by another water-related incident and the general incompetence, it seems, of the local water board, Southern Water. I believe the original estimate was that it would take a day to get everyone’s water back on but it had, so far, taken six days. Southern is one of our marvellous, privatised water boards who are fined repeatedly for dumping raw sewerage into the sea and rivers while at the same time paying their CEO just over £1 million per year. Nice work if you can get it.
Thursday night we wandered down the road again for dinner at the Jolly Fisherman. With a name like that we had imagined that they might be a number of fish choices; there were some but not a great deal which was a bit of disappointment. Still, my crab pot starter was pretty good and the baby ribs were very good. This is more of a pub than a restaurant and on the evening we were there it was fairly full – it was bingo night! And, we weren’t the only diners in attendance – there was one other solitary diner.
Friday morning we packed up and set off on the journey home – a lovely few days with a lovely group of friends.
YCNMIU
Civitas, a thinktank at 55 Tufton Street, much admired by our short-lived PM, Liz “49 Days in Office, I completely f**ked the economy but I was right about everything and everyone else was wrong” Truss has published a pamphlet calling for an “honest debate” about climate change and the “cost” to reach Net Zero by 2050.
Unfortunately the report’s author has confused power capacity in megawatts (MW) with electricity generation in megawatt hours (MWh). As a result, he presents a distinctly unrealistic “£1.3m per MWh” figure for the cost for onshore wind power. The true number is around £50-70/MWh – more than 10,000 times lower. He then compounded his embarrassment by mixing up billions with trillions.
The Civitas report claims to offer a “realistic” £4.5tn estimate of the cost of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and says “the government need to be honest with the British people”.
This estimate is much higher than the figure produced by the government’s official adviser, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which has said that reaching net zero would require net investments of £1.4tn by 2050. Note the difference between Civitas’s “costs” and the CCC’s “net investments”. The CCC also found that reaching net zero would generate savings in the form of lower fossil fuel bills worth £1.1tn, resulting in a net cost of £0.3tn.
In his report for Civitas, Stewart adopts the well-worn climate-sceptic tactic of simply ignoring these savings. He also ignores what the Office for Budget Responsibility has called the potentially “catastrophic economic and fiscal consequences” of unmitigated climate change.
They walk amongst us, people.
Finally, congratulations to my elder sister Sallie and her husband Rod who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They’ve been married almost as long as we have!
And, to my younger sister Susie who celebrates her birthday later this week and to our great-nephew Theo whose birthday happens to be on the same day. What are the chances of that?
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg