Yesterday we drove out to the little town of Battle, so-called because it's the site of the Battle of Hastings, where William the Conqueror's Norman troops defeated King Harold and his men in 1066.





The interactive audiotour is quite impressive; as one walks through the battlefield one listens to the story told from the perspective of, and in the voices of, various historical figures.





The fields look so peaceful it's hard to believe that they were once a sea of mud and blood. Well, actually the mud part is easy to imagine. It's pretty darn muddy at the moment, and that's before it's been churned up by troops on horses. But it's so tranquil and beautiful; just doesn't feel like a place where a horrible battle was fought.

After we'd finished the tour, we walked through the ruins of the abbey, visited the museum, and strolled through the town itself. Here's Emily, looking into the window of the sweet shop. The first part of the drive home was sticky and silent, as we all picked one variety to sample.





It was a good day out.

A few more pictures:

The abbey
Trees
Girls plotting something
Bobby in an archway

Emily had a party to go to in the evening, and Steve went to hear a band play with some friends, so Sophie, Bobby and I went to the local Indian restaurant. It's so cheap eating out with just one child as opposed to one small child and two teenagers, especially when said child is still small enough to share her parents' orders, and doesn't need anything of her own. The two older children were irate when they discovered that we'd eaten out; both felt that it was totally and utterly unfair to exclude them. They dismissed the fact that they were both out enjoying themselves as irrelevant.

Today has been spent in such tasks as buying Emmy new school shoes, and cleaning and tidying, and doing laundry, and scrubbing the shower out, and washing the car. The price of both of us working; one of our weekend days has to be sacrificed on the altar of household cleanliness.