Friday 16th Friday

I saw the doctor this morning about the intensely severe pain I've been having at the base of my skull.  I wondered if I ought to see an allergist, but she thought a neurologist would be a better idea, and has referred me to one in Norman, who is going to ring me next week with an appointment.  She told him I was an uninsured cash paying customer, and he is going to see me for $50, which is very reasonable indeed.

As I was going into the doctor's a little lad, in his daddy's arms, was waving goodbye to everyone, so I waved to him and he gave me a high five, it was so sweet.  Surprising how a little laugh and interaction with a child can brighten the day.

I've learned some surprising facts about Alfriston I didn't know until I started preparing for the presentation.  Here's a few - with apologies to those of you who don't, or haven't, lived in the vicinity.

The George.  One of the oldest pubs in the country, it was first licensed in 1397.

The Star, built in 1260, although I have seen two or three dates attributed to it. Originally called The Star of Bethlehem, it was a hostel run by the monks of Battle Abbey for pilgrims going to the shrine of St Richard of Chichester.  Believed to have become an inn in the 1520s, which is about the time of the Dissolution when we no longer had monasteries, pilgrims, shrines and relics.

The Market Cross.   I think we all know it was hit by a truck which demolished the base, but I always thought that was relatively recently, in fact it was hit in the 1940s by a Canadian Army truck.  The shaft and shepherds cap is from the 1406 original, but the shaft is half the size it was.

The Badger's Tea Shop.  Dates from 1510.  It was the village bakery for 200 years until the 1930's.

 

 

You can't see it very well but the former rector, Frank Fox Wilson, carved the village signpost.  He also renovated the Red Lion, outside The Star, which had come from the mast of a Dutch warship in the Battle of Beachy Head in 1690.  I wish I had taken a close up picture of it.

 

 

The Lock Up.  A temporary detention centre, usually for drunks.  They were situated in rural areas in England and Wales before the County Police Act of 1839 required police stations to be built with holding facilities.  Used to store weapons in the Napoleonic and Second World Wars.