'England expects...'

Today being Trafalgar Day, marking Nelson's famous victory 205 years ago, it might be expected that I would post something on that subject. But I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to blether on about yesterday.

It was decidedly nippy when I took Fern out after breakfast. So much so that I looked out my gloves and wore a thicker coat. Although we had no frost, being protected from it partly by being in a town and partly by being so close to the sea, people the other side of the Downs were having to scrape their car windscreens. However, it was a sunny day but the temperature seemed lower than it really was due to the wind chill from the brisk northerly.

I could see from the kitchen window that the farmer had moved the cattle and sheep from the fields leading to the Chattri, so in the afternoon I braved the wind, which was blowing just as strongly straight into my face, and walked Fern up there so I could see the new memorial, dedicated just over three weeks ago. (The photos will appear on Fern's blog over the next day or two.) An hour of it was enough, but it was an invigorating walk.

Today is just as sunny but fortunately the wind has dropped so it feels warmer. But we have had our first frost of the winter. In fact, the car roof was frosted when I left the Lions' meeting last night. Admittedly it was nearly eleven - we had a lot to discuss. And now I must get on with writing the minutes.

Before I do that, perhaps I should just mention what the Chattri is. It is a memorial to the Indian soldiers who died in hospital in Brighton during World War I, erected on the South Downs north of Brighton at the spot where the funeral pyres were built. In Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, 'chattri' means 'umbrella', which reflects the deisgn of the memorial and reflects the protection offered to the memory of the dead. See a general picture here on Fern's blog.