EASTBOURNE

DeAne and me standing by the flag pole in the center of the court.
Cannon aimed at the English Chanel - toward France

Each of the rooms around the center court housed soldiers - about 20 per room. Very small.

The wooden posts sticking out in a line every so many yards are called breakers. When the tide comes in it hits against them and breaks up the water, so it doesn't do so much damage. I want you to notice the rocks - they call them pebbles - but call it what you like, that's still not a sand beach. People say they just wiggle around a little to get comfortable and it fits them perfectly. I, of course, will always prefer sand and won't be lounging on any of these beaches any time soon.

The water was really calm, so there were kayakers and sail boats all over the water.

This is just a shot of part of the town - I have a thing for the chimneys. They call me Mary Poppins at the temple.

Rye

This is our trip to Rye. July 25, 2011. We started in Rye, went to Camber (very close) to see the ocean, then went to Bodiam Castle along really, really narrow roads. We had so much fun. Next Monday we go to London - just a few of us - the Bartchis, the Faucetts and us. We're going to ride the train in and spend the day. We don't expect to see everything - we're going to do it in sections as we can - every other Monday. Because on the opposite Mondays we go with the group to some area - but they won't take us to London. Today, Tuesday, we start the afternoon shift at the temple. We'll serve from 2:00 to about 9:00. See ya in a week!
Bodiam Castle - A short history. In 1385 Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a soldier of fortune, began the building of Bodiam Castle. he wanted to show off his power and wealth, as well as to defend the surrounding countryside. Debate continues over whether Bodiam was a fortress, a grand and comfortable house, or both. Its setting was a working estate with farmland, wharf and flour mill. It was also elaborately landscaped with ponds as well as the moat. These both added to the defences and made a picturesque scene to impress visitors.

Isn't this just great. Our first castle in England this trip. It was just beautiful. Its gutted on the inside - but it still has floors. We got here too late to get in. They stop new people from getting in at 4:30 and we were there about 5 minutes too late.

We're talking skinny roads here. This was on the way to Bodiam Castle.

This is Rye from a distance. The church is the highest point. Really a pretty sight, this was taken from the car. The roads are so narrow, with no shoulders like we have.

Then we went to see the ocean. Nice. Their beaches aren't as clean as ours. But the sand feels the same. The town is Camber. We didn't stay long, because we wanted to get to the castle before it closed.

more Rye

My knight in shining armor.

Cheesy - but necessary when right in front of you.

This was tooo cute. If you can see on the privy picture you can see the privy on the left with a guy on it - down below is where it all went and a guy cleaning it up. Really cool.

When it was a goal, they built this little building to house the women prisoners - it was a jail in the 1700s.

Ypres Tower, built in 1249 as part of the town's defences. Over the years its been used as a goal (love the English), as a home for a guy named Ypres, hence the name, a mortuary and finally as a museum. It looks like I didn't get a picture of the prison rooms - tiny and cramped with only a bed - no room for anything else. The doors were deliberately made smaller - so the prisoners had to duck to come out - then the guards would grab them by the neck and jerked them out to overpower them. This is what the guide was telling us. The prisoners were sometimes violent and that's how they subdued them - or killed them.

Some pictures of St. Mary's Church and graveyard in Rye, East Sussex, England.

Cooky and Nancy, these pictures are for you. I couldn't read much on them - no names and the only dates were about 1800. So not that old (to us) and already the names are lost. Sad.

This is the Lamb House where American-born writer Henry James lived. He wrote "The Portrait of a Lady" and "The Turn of the Screw" - neither of which I know anything about - however, he seems to have been a big shot around here.

All the streets are cobbled and really narrow. The sidewalks are so narrow that we walked in the street until a car came by. Can't remember the name of this one. Its on the way up to the church and tower.

Just cute little (ancient) places.

Entrance into another street in Rye.

Just one of the ancient buildings in Rye.

The Faucetts are walking in the street - have to get off when a car comes. This is Mermaid Street in Rye. Medieval town. A shop on Mermaid Street, below.

Pot Luck Dinner

We had a pot luck dinner Sunday, July 24, 2011 in the dining room of our building and wanted to include these pictures. More for my journal than for interest to you.




President Lock and Sister Lock, center standing, their daughter standing - she came to visit them. President and Sister Cook sitting on right. Second and First Counsellors to the President.

Left: Grant & DeAne Bartchi, don't know, then Derek & Jenny Jones from Tasmania (yes, isn't that cool) they are on a world cruise and stopped in London to visit his auntie (love it) and to stay at the temple for a week. They're in the room next to ours. Fun, fun people. They said the cruise was $10,000. each. Man!

The two in front are Bro & Sis VanPatten from USA. They are finished with their mission in September.

I can't remember names - but the sweet little old lady in purple runs up the temple stairs she has so much energy and is so kind.

The man on the right is Brother Thomas. He's about 5'2'' and is really funny - he's from Wales. She's from England.

On left side - can't remember names - but they're from Johannesburg, South Africa and he is the cousin of Ron Lowe. He says Ron and Carol are in SLC, Utah. On the right is John and Bonnie Faucett. We're going to London with them next Monday.

In the center are Brother and Sister Wilson. Outside split are Brother and Sister Drain. Our shift coordinators. Both from England.

Hello from London!

Hello from London, England. We've been here about a week. We're settled in and can't use jet lag for an excuse anymore. What a beautiful place - the English love flowers and there are flowers everywhere. Every home has flower gardens all around and of course the Temple grounds are no different.

We've been working about 8 hours a day. It's wonderful, I don't want anyone to think we're complaining. We love - love - love being in the Temple every day. The people are spiritual, kind, loving, helpful and really, really good.

The Temple President, Presiden Lowry was talking to Bill today and said that after he had set us apart as temple workers and we left his office, he said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for sending the Millets to him. WOW, I started crying when I heard that because I thank Heavenly Father every day for sending us to the London Temple.

Our shift supervisor apologised for changing my assignment to help somewhere else where I was needed and I told her to not worry about it - I was thrilled to help wherever I could.

Ok, off hours. We don't do much during the week - we're tired and we go for walks, visit with friends here or just hang out in our closet (home).

Monday is our P day (preparation) and last Monday we went to register at the doctor's surgery (don't you just love the English - it's a doctor's office). They won't take you as a patient if you aren't registered ahead of time. After that we went to a huge mall - called Bluewater - bought a shirt at Marks and Spencer and some hair spray, etc. We had lunch there then went in to East Grinstead and did a little grocery shopping. So that wasn't a really exciting day - but they will get better. Next Monday we're going to Rye a medieval town and cinque port.

Thursday is usually our shopping day - depending on our shift at the Temple, we go in the morning or afternoon. This week we will go in the afternoon and we will both get our hair cut in East Grinstead. That's a nice sized town with good shops and everything that we need. Their main streets are called high streets. (just a little education for you). Somebody told me today that an American was horrified to hear that a lady had her seat pinched by someone. Funny. You know what was meant - I won't translate. But the English say our two countries are separated by a common language.

Bill, DeAne Bartchi (the sister plus her husband Grant came over with us - we spent time with them in the MTC) and I decided to walk to Lingfield. A small town about 1 1/2 miles from here. What a disaster! They didn't have sidewalks for the first half of it and we walked through stinging nettle! The road is very windy and narrow. We had practically no room to walk and even when we got to sidewalks, they were attached to the road, so we were within striking distance from the cars that were whizzing past. We made it there and back and everyone here is really proud of us because noone else is dumb enough to walk it. I swear I could feel paint chipping off on my clothing. But Lingfield is really a cute little town. It has a tree that is so huge and old that it stands up on its four roots and you can walk under it. Right next to it is a little tiny rock building with iron rods in the tiny windows - it used to be used for poachers. They have a stream running through the town with a duck pond and benches around it. It's just quaint. Believe it or not - DeAne had to get some pence pieces to do her laundry and that's the only reason we went - she could have gotten change at the desk downstairs! Hey, it was great exercise.

This is the side entrance to the Temple. We have to walk across the driveway from where we live. I told Bill, I can hardly stand the comute to work.



These are just some random pictures of the grounds. We haven't been all around yet.

Just some little visitors.

I just love taking pictures of flowers and OH! they have some really beautiful ones here. I don't know the name of this one - but isn't it beautiful!

This is our little (and boy do I mean little) home - the one with the fan in the window. We live at the Accommodation Centre - Room 45. We have a kitchen area with a stove and oven, sink, plenty of cupboards and the cutest refrigerator - it looks like the cupboards -down under the counter space - one side is the refrigerator and the other is the freezer - really quite large with drawers. Then comes the bedroom area - two twin beds pushed together to make a king and that's all the room there is - a very small dresser on one side and two really comfortable chairs with foot stools and a computer table between at the other end of that same room. Almost no floor space. The bathroom is surprisingly roomy. Really quite nice - except for the weird shower head - but I'll get used to it. Look at it this way - I have practically no housework!!! You have to look on the bright side of things.