Arundel Climping Diablo Bow-Drill

Saturday was Arundel Castle, what with the pirate festival there and all. It seems wholly unecessary to have pirates and sword-fighting demonstrations and "have a go" archery and fencing and even a staged skirmish (scrimmage) between the Redcoats and pirates - all of this seems rather unecessary when you have an honest-to-God castle right there, built in 1067 by William the Conqueror's right-hand-man, Roger de Somethingorother, in order to protect Sussex from attack via the Arun river. But there it is.

The kids held birds of prey - Rowan and Berit held the barn owl, Willow, and Griffin held the falcon, Amy. We toured the ancient castle which ws utterly amazing but for skirmishes of our own as Griffin took a hard stance on the no photography rule, which Rowan was merrily flaunting. 

We hiked to the keep and we walked through the library with 10,000 books and we saw massive stags' heads mounted on a wall and a lion rug on the floor and all of the accoutrements you'd expect in the home of the Duke of Norfolk / Earl of Arundel. My favorite stuff - the crossbows and rifles and the women's writing bureau of ivory veneer - was all intricately carved, and I wanted to sit and copy the designs. But I didn't.

Kim's Bookshop, a three floor, labyrinthine bookstore in the town of Arundel, yielded a used, hardcover copy of the last British version Harry Potter book the girls needed to acquire and provided some downtime space for them as well.

After Arundel, we headed for Bognor Regis, but I took a sharp left at the sign for Climping Beach and lucked into a nearly-deserted, or at least not highly-populous beach that was a wonderful venue at which to swim and play until Griffin fell while running up and down one of those wood embankment things that seem to hold the beaches up here.

A brief stop at Bognor Regis on the way home, long enough to be serenaded by a drunk bellowing a tune that I believe was called "The World's Going to End Tomorrow so Let's All Get Plastered Tonight." Cruel English teens threw a rock at him and he disappeared. We did too.

Today, Sunday, was the annual South Downs Wood Fair, and, as usual, any misgivings I had about this choice were proven pointless as it was really great hanging out with the English woodcarvers, watching demonstrations, and talking about the craft. Two highlights here:

Peter, of double-braided beard and Saxon lore and myth, helped us use the bow drill to decorate pieces of antler for pendants that we purchased from him. Not only was did this participatory craft yield great souvenirs, but the discussion with Peter sparked my interest in my Anglo Saxon heritage, which I have long given short shrift, possibly due to having come of age among peers of seemingly more interesting cultures - Jews, Italians, and Chinese. It is perhaps high time I discover what there is to learn more about my WASPy heritage, about these ancient tribes - the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.

The second highlight:  Dan the Hat! Yesterday, at Arundel, Griffin evidently had to spend nine pounds on a diablo - it's that large double-belled thing that you roll on a string between two sticks, if you're a juggler on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall. I had no idea why he had to buy this thing at Arundel Castle, but now I do. It led us and adhered us to Dan the Hat, a juggler / busker / comedian who had these devices, along with other juggling paraphernalia, laid out for public enjoyment. He taught Griffin (and the rest of us) some of the basics of the device's operation,  was a very talented and funny juggler, and was just a super-friendly guy. 

Hayling Island for the rest of the afternoon where Rowan and I tried to ride the small waves, Berit and Pam hung out on the beach, and Griffin went back to the car, complaining that he was too cold. Back at home (Emsworth) tonight, where Pam cooked up a fantastic meal of tortellini and Scottish salmon. We're resting up for our big day tomorrow at the Warner Brothers London Studio and the Harry Potter Tour.