I never understood why there are areas in England called Wessex, Sussex, Essex and Middlesex. Not to mention failing to understand why there is no Northsex? Ever since I was a child, whenever we sent Christmas card to my uncle who lives in Middlesex, I was mystified by the notion of combining terms for geographical bearings with the 3 letter word at their ends. The meaning was undisclosed upon my arrival to the UK a few years ago (the names are remnants of the old English names for the various kingdoms of the Anglo Saxons). Last weekend, my wife and I headed off for the eastern part of the country - Essex - and this trip included "firsts" on many levels.
It was the first time out of London for October. It is always welcome to flee from the capital and its busy life and spend a few days away from the laptop and not think about work and Uni work.
It was the first time I was on a "HOST" visit. By some serendipitous accident, I found out about this scheme a few months ago, whereby one can apply to go and spend a weekend with a host family, whom the organisation locates for you according to your likings and travel limitations. Once there, the hosts will show around the local area and be introduced to English customs and food. So after the application, all arrangements were done and off we were to Chelmsford, the main town of Essex.
Upon arrival, we were picked up by our hostess (her husband was still at work). We drove to their cosy home outside Chelmsford in Bicknacre and started chatting about our studies and work, Malta, their travels across all over the world and plans for the weekend. The husband arrived soon after and then we had a lovely cottage pie for dinner and after a warm shower headed off to sleep to recharge for a day out tomorrow.
On the Saturday, the weather was absolutely wonderful. Sunny and crisply fresh. We got into the car and headed off to Thaxted in the north of Essex. We walked around the quiet village, its church (more of a cathedral, really) and up to the windmill, which reminded me of the windmill in the cartoon adaptation of Orwell's Animal Farm. Back on the motorway, we headed to another tiny village, Finchingfield, where another first occurred: having English cream tea. A very tasty and anything but low calorie meal of fruit scones, Tiptree jam and clotted cream, all washed down with English tea (or coffee). It was really wonderful but the cholesterol intake made me feel guilty for the rest of the day! A "quick" stop at a massive shopping village forced us to buy a new pair of shoes each and a jacket for me too at great prices, and the day's travels were concluded by a visit to Maldon along the River Blackwater, where we saw a number of barges, which looked very pretty under the setting sun. A drive back home and we had a lovely dinner of chicken and another first (eating swede), accompanied by endless talk and a glass of good red wine. The day was finished off by a good sleep, including an extra hour due to the end of summer time!
The weather on Sunday was less attractive; it was drizzling in the morning. After breakfast, we went off to church and then drove down to Southend-on-sea. Except for the varying tide (which I always find very fascinating and beautiful to photograph), this seaside town reminded me of home but had a particular characteristic: it has the longest pier in the world! A mile and a third to be precise (2158 m if you happen to decipher metric measurements more easily, like me). We walked down the pier, had a quick lunch at the cafe at the end, walked back the pier (in the hope of burning off some of the previous day's cream tea!) and then visited the many amusement outlets along the promenade. It was a pleasant visit indeed! Back home, we had a great Sunday roast cooked nothing short of perfection: pork, crackling (mmm), stuffing, potatoes, parsnips (mmm!!), courgettes and gravy, followed by rhubarb crumble (another first) and coffee.
It was time to head back to London and so our kind hosts drove us to Chelmsford station and after bidding goodbye, started our journey back to London. It was a welcome break amidst the scholastic year and I am sure that "HOST" will be getting another application from us for sure!
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