Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Sunday, 28 December 2014

late breakfast, long walk cross country to clanfield, steam engine, the clanfield tavern, sandford's piece, downton series five



















Lovely late breakfast of porridge followed by sausage and bacon from the local butcher.

Then a long walk via Weald, across farmland and along green lanes to Clanfield, where we saw a steam engine and had a drink in front of a roaring fire at the Clanfield Tavern. I had a pint of Ringwood Best - delicious and very refreshing for the walk back.

Returned to the village as dusk was falling. We crossed Sanford's Piece with the church silhouetted against a nightening sky on the far side.

Passed the spot where Lord Grantham and others discuss the possibility of building new houses in Downton Series Five, which we're watching this Christmas. Seeing this scene made sense of the bridge that had mysteriously appeared on Sandford's in the summer before vanishing.
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