Roll call

A synopsis of our recent visit to the other island, that is to say, the Isle of Wight, once well-known to holiday makes for its fine weather and fine beaches - that is to say before the invention of package holidays in even hotter places.

I had thought that I could track down our various outings by consulting the PayByPhone - the (rather slow) telephone charging for car parks provider used by the council - on my credit card bill. But as it turns out, all that that says, in effect, is 'Isle of Wight', which is no help at all. No doubt a policeman could do better.

Given the more or less unbroken hot weather, we did not stray far, and generally stayed out of the sun in the middle of the day. From that point of view, having a cottage to go back to was a great improvement on a hotel, at least the sort of hotel that we can afford.

But to start with travel, contrary to my expectation, there was no long queue to get across Malden Rushett at 09:00 on the way out. Chessington World of Adventures had not taken it over. On the other hand, we did lose about an hour in road works at Guildford on the way back, managing to miss the turning into Guildford Cathedral along the way. We ended up taking our picnic in the comfort of our own kitchen instead.

On the way out, we took a break at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park of reference 4, quite near the Hambledon and Butser Hill of our younger days, noticed here from time to time. A useful pit-stop with all the usual facilities - other than petrol, although I dare say there was charging - and lots of healthy people, either with their bikes or their walking boots. We even came across one youngish lady walker, solo and foreign, with a large back pack, who may have told me that she did not have a tent, but just slept under a tree or something. Very brave of her: not something that I have done very often - if ever. Occasional barn yes, tree no.

As it turned out Ryde West and Ryde East (aka Puckpool) took a large chunk of our time. This because it had a long esplanade with a good supply of shade and of what we called bus shelters to sit in - plus various other facilities. Not least the fine beach. Puckpool scored with its shady car parking and fine cafe - offering quite decent line in things like bacon and eggs baps - even if the baps were not that clever. See references 1, 2 and 3.

In previous years we have made much heavier use of the fine beach at Yaverland, but this year we were defeated by the sun. Plus we don't swim any more. Notwithstanding, we did manage the one visit, as noticed at reference 5.

Baywatch is shorthand for the cafe at St. Helen's, a pleasant and airy place on a hot summer's morning. To be found at reference 6. We took coffee (for her), water (for him) and sweet scones, but there was a lot more to the place than that and I was amused this afternoon by the inclusion of an AI assistant on their website: very go-ahead and up-to-date of them. I dare say they get crowded later in the day.

Moving on, the gold star for food went to Tesco for its fine premium bloomers. Silver star to Brothers of Brading for their traditional fish and chips. Bronze star to the café at Yaverland for being an old-style beach café, untouched by foodies or television chefs.

Some of all this has been noticed already. More may well be noticed in the days to come - particularly if I continue to be marooned indoors, out of the sun!

PS: I was in error regarding the AI assistant at Baywatch. The assistant, by name Concierge, is a function of OpenTable, not the places to which OpenTable is connected to. But I thought his answer about the availability of Ventnor crab sandwiches was fair enough.

Gemini is a bit more fulsome. He goes on to tell me about wholesale fish markets on the mainland, and, in response to a supplementary, agrees with me that it might be a lot simpler for a fisherman to sell direct to a wholesaler, perhaps at auction, than mess about with selling bits and bobs to small eateries. My bet is that not many of these last want to bother with actual fishermen either: but I don't know and I don't suppose Gemini does either - although he may like to give the impression that he does. Unless, of course, I suggest that I am expecting a 'sit-on-the-fence' answer. He is often responsive to hints which are part of the question. 

PS 2: last night, having failed to find the adaptation of Thérèse Desqueyroux which we had watched earlier in the year and noticed more recently, Amazon Prime offered us instead a French/Belgian biopic about someone called Violette Leduc. Never before heard of, but someone who, after a long apprenticeship, found fame after the second world war. A rum bird, but we got through it in two sittings, helped along by subtitles and music which did not dominate in the way that it tends to in other Amazon offerings like 'Bosch'. Didn't involve BH continually having to turn the volume and down. Much more restful. However, I very much doubt if I will ever attempt any of her books, in either French or English. Far too French and avant garde for me. See reference 8.

I associated to Thyde Monnier, noticed at least three times in these pages. Probably because she too was an unusual writer from France, very much a contemporary.

But Gemini knows all. It seems that they moved in different circles in mostly different places and probably never met, despite the link through Simone de Beauvoir.

PS 3: the curious need to be careful: Blog search might be case blind but it is not accent blind.

PS 4: STOP PRESS: I have just learned that our new leader, otherwise anxious to be all things for all men, is not minded to be helpful about letting us off messy and unpleasant deaths. That is to say, he is against the assisted dying bill, certainly in its present form, and is not minded to be helpful. Which is disappointing, but not unexpected, given that he is a Catholic. He may also be close to Streeting, also against. An Anglican rather than a Catholic, but then our new Archbishop is against too. Perhaps they all think that taking the pain is good for our souls.

References

Reference 1: https://theoldbarracks.co.uk/. Gemini tells me that the 'f' top right is probably an error left behind by the software tool - Avada or something of that sort - used to b.uild the website. It might well have been intended as a link to the corresponding Facebook account, although the 'f' itself is more likely the first letter of something called 'Fusion social'. A story entirely consistent with my having seen these 'f's from time to time before.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puckpool_Battery.

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/07/scone-report.html. Previous notice of the Old Barracks.

Reference 4: https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryparks/qecp.

Reference 5: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/07/yaverland.html.

Reference 6: https://www.baywatchonthebeach.com/.

Reference 7: https://quarrabbey.org/.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_Leduc.

Reference 9: https://www.dignityindying.org.uk/.