A breath of fresh air

We - that is the Old Bat and me - decided the time had come.  Actually, this being a small decision, I took no part in it and the Old Bat made the decision on her own.  It had been part of our life for almost seven years, but having to call out the engineer every week was just a bit too much.  Besides, the manufacturer has gone bust and part that really needed replacing is not available anywhere.  So we now have a new washing machine.

It arrived just after lunch, by which time I was out with the dog.  As it was a really glorious afternoon with much blue in the sky and not a lot of wind, I spent a few minutes staring from the bedroom window to see if there were sheep in the second of the fields I wanted to walk.  I could see quite easily that there were no cows in the first and the second looked clear as well, so that's where we went, up Scare Hill and on past the Chattri.  The views are magnificent.  This isn't what might be called "serious" countryside, but the views up the Standean valley and across the Downs are somehow calming, and looking back the sea was shining silver.  I thought how little this might have changed, not just since a hundred years ago, but even two hundred.  Then I thought again.  Back in the early years of the 20th century much of the South Downs, this being sheep grazing country, was open and unfenced.  At least, that is what I have been led to believe.  Now there are fences and almost as many cows as sheep.

Standean valley

One thing would stand out as being different: the Chattri.  This is a memorial to Indian soldiers who were injured on the Western Front during World War I and brought to Brighton, where the Royal Pavilion had been turned into a hospital.  53 of the soldiers who died were cremated at this spot.

The Chattri has been cleaned since I took this picture.

A distant view of the Chattri.