Sitting Among Ducks

This Photo Will Make You Want A Bacon Sandwich

Think about it. You know you do.

I Like This Red Leaf

Photographed where it lay in the Abbey Gardens.

Autumn in the Abbey Gardens

Have you ever laid flat on your tummy on wet autumn grass so that you can look at the twisty tree and the cathedral from a slightly different angle? I have.

Ruby in Starbucks

There's yesterday's photo! I uploaded it to my laptop just after I took it, set it as background, then photographed the laptop.

Mystery Rainy Day

This rainy day photo, taken from that nice seat by the window in Starbucks, has been on my blog before, but has only been pictured as part of another picture. You'd probably need to be quite a hardcore Ruby fan to know where ;-) Answer tomorrow.

Rainy Autumn Day on Out Risbygate

You and Me

My daughter used to say: "Look Mummy, 's'you and me!"

Bury Fish and Chip Shop

@myface.com/chomp

Remembrance

I remember that the army recruitment people visited County Upper School regularly.

When he was about 14, Erik got given a go in a real tank, and was allowed to sign up for a glossy magazine produced by the army for teenage lads, full of gadget porn, tanks and exciting commando training features.

Sometimes when the magazine arrived, and I got to it before he did, I put it in the black bin.

Warming House

When the Abbey was standing, and it was a cold day in late autumn, I wonder if all the monks went to sit in the warming house? I bet they did.

Secret Place

Can you see the secret swear word?

Addendum: This photo was taken a year ago, in Oct 2007. I went to reshoot the spot in Oct 2008 and found the swear word has vanished without a trace, although someone has now written "Magic" on Sir Eldon Griffiths' bench. Do you think it could be?

The Green Clean Machine

Look at it go!

Autumn Trees at Sutton Hoo

This one was taken last week.

Abbey Gate and Stripey Lawn

You may have seen this one somewhere before. I used it as a blog header for the most of last year. It was taken in October 07.

Abbey Gardens Fair on Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night 2007, Abbey Gardens Fireworks Display. This photo was taken a good while after the display, as things were starting to close up. The Helter Skelter had in fact just closed, but this customer was allowed a go!

Details for 2008: Abbey Gardens Firework Display - Nov 8, gates open 6pm, fireworks 7.30pm, adults £5, children, OAPs £4.

House in the West Front of the Abbey

Would you like to live in a house like this? And wear period costume? And write a blog from the point of view of your character? And then go bonkers and run away? I know I would.

Fallen Bloom

New Series

I have a really hooj archive of Bury St Edmunds photos. I thought I would do a "one a day" series here until I next return to Bury. Hope you enjoy.

Final Diary of My Visit

So it's time to go home already. The children are already planning their next return visit. I am not really planning anything except how to fit stuff in my case.

Yesterday, Saturday, I pottered for most of the morning in my dressing gown, then I weeded the patio until it started raining on me. Mr Ruby was out at hockey, and the kids were out at the Cineworld morning kids film, with friends. I didn't go out till the evening - family trip to Frankie and Benny's.

In Frankie and Benny's:
Ruby: It's funny, but in all honesty this is my favourite restaurant in Bury. This is the one we always came to as a family, and yeah, I know it's a chain restaurant, but it has a sort of feel good factor about it and a really nice atmosphere.
Erik: And it's not remotely like Bury St Edmunds in here, there's a totally different vibe.
Ruby: (thoughtfully) Yes. I think you're right. We could be in a big city - York, London, America, anywhere!
Erik: It was escapism. That's why you liked coming here.

We were going to watch the new Bond movie after the restaurant, but hadn't pre-booked and the next one was full. So home we went.

It's been a good visit. There was a friend or two I'd liked to have met up with, but didn't get the chance this time. Next time, because I intend to retain links with Bury St Edmunds, a place that has shaped me and my family in many ways.

And in the meantime, back to York, where my life has moved on.

Photos From My Archive #3

Diary of My Visit #5

Time goes past too quick. I haven't even been to see the giant silver bollock to see how things are progressing. Driven past it a couple of times, but not long enough to see anything much. Except a glimpse of giant silver bollock in the autumn gloom. Only in Bury St Edmunds.

On Friday I went to Sutton Hoo. I have always wanted to go, but just never have before, and was determined to do it on this visit. It was so beautiful I could have cried. A piece of the past that we know so much about, yet so little, and you can never actually walk into it and live it, however badly you might want to do that.

In the evening we had a Halloween Party. Then I took a big crowd of kids trick or treating around Bury. After an hour and a half, I was actually cold. It was brilliant. I haven't been cold for months (I'm always too hot). Long may the freezing weather continue.

Privacy

If I lived in the West Front, I would dress in period costume and write a blog as my character. I would sit in my window and look at the tourists and appear in photographs all over the world. Then I would get freaked out by it all and run away to a place where no one knew me, and live a quiet life under the assumed name of Doris, tending my allotment and never going on the internet.

A Letter

Dear Man on Cannon Street,

You are the best Halloween House ever! Last night I called at around 50 Halloween decorated Bury houses with a party of 8 kids. You delighted the most, as you did last year. You rock! We love you! You win! Love the way the door opens just a fraction, then out you come!

Love from Ruby and lots of kids.

Some of Ruby's Daughter's Halloween Booty from Last Night!

Bury Car on Parkway

Happy Halloween From Bury St Edmunds

Diary of My Visit #4

On Thursday I confess to not actually doing any toilet cleaning. Instead I went for a walk in the woods while my friend cleaned them, and I found an isolated church in the middle of nowhere. I signed its visitors book.

We ate lunch in Sainsbury's Cafe, Thetford, because McDonalds was full, with a really long queue.

In the evening I went for a Halloween tour of Bury St Edmunds graveyard with 21CM, and the Bury St Edmunds Women's Institute. Followed by drinkies and chatting in the Angel Hotel till late.

A Photo From My Suffolk Afternoon Out

Photos from my archive #2

There was a "cursing" ceremony in Bury St Edmunds on St Edmunds Day, 2005. Small town nastiness gone very bad. The Christian story is one of peace and liberation. Not curses and fear.

Diary of My Visit #3

On Wednesday Mr Ruby and I went to the market.

We bought minced beef, carrots, potatoes and a pumpkin. Then we came home and made shepherd's pie. Later today we shall carve the pumpkin for Halloween.

My mobile phone died not long after arriving here, and no-one has a charger I can borrow. At 12.30 I'm going to clean toilets in the depths of Suffolk with a friend. Mobile phones don't work there anyway. But it's still annoying.