Ivor's Home Town Visitors Page 13

The moment that Evelyn, from Kansas City, U.S.A, stepped off the train
I knew we were going to enjoy our 1066 Experience


  My "Christmas Eve"   December 2001
She says she doesn't like flying, but she's already planning to visit Moscow, or Hawaii,  or Alaska,   or     . . . . . . . .  ?
        Your guess is as good as mine.


 "Tea for Two, and Two for Tea"  ?

A candle-lit lunch at the "Pilgrim's Rest"  right next door to the Main Gateway is a   'must'  for a fully flavoured tour of the
    1066 Battlefield at any time of year.

A friendly waitress took the above photo    using  Eve's 'Mickey Mouse' camera

 Evelyn took these panoramic shots inside the Abbey Grounds with a "throw-away" plastic  camera brought in the U.S.A.   It was a very dull day and I didn't think they would be printable.  Well done, Evelyn !

With the very  kind permission of "English Heritage" I was able to escort Evelyn through the grounds to see the "South Lodge",   a  sand-stone cottage  where I was born in 1926, and what is left of the gardens which were so lovingly tended by my grandfather, and three generations of my family for over half a century.

      Evelyn had made the journey from her home in Kansas City, Missouri, USA - flying first to Pittsburg where she had to wait for a problem on the connecting  plane to be resolved. The flight from Pittsburg to London-Gatwick was delayed and then Evelyn found herself on the wrong train from London to Battle. It was actually going to Brighton, but another passenger pushed her out at Eastbourne and pointed her towards Hastings.  I was waiting at Battle for her but after meeting several trains with no Evelyn on board I managed to contact her Mobile phone and found she was actually in a train heading for Warrior Square, St.Leonards.    That was where I met this intrepid lady who had had no sleep since the early morning of the day before.  To think that this lady had travelled all that way to see me and my Home-Town after a chance meeting on the Internet is quite mind-blowing.
 In her latest E-mail she tells me that she enjoyed every moment of her 1066 Experience, and as she   is still writing to me I think this must be true.

 Happy New Year to Evelyn, and all her fellow Americans, hoping that her example will encourage more of them to visit my Home-Town, and this beautiful South-East corner of England.
It's going to take more than Osama bin Laden to keep this brave lady's feet on the ground.

 

Now it's  YOUR  turn to contact me !