It is about Day 700 of Covid restrictions and thankfully not many more of them left. Nearly two years have gone by and we have had enough . There are more problems in the world far worse than a Covid at the moment . Time to move on and get on with life .
I have not found many half decent sayings on my calendar but todays was pretty poignant. Jiddu Krisnamurti came out with a good one One is never afraid of the unknown , one is afraid of the to an end How true that is. Covid to an end. How will that affect us in the future? What will happen when we find ourselves abroad for the first time in two years ? Who knows? The unknown though does seem quite attractive and we are ready to embrace it .
We spent lunchtime in the small market town of Whitchurch . Two special celebrations and a meal booked at our favourite restaurant Etsio . We parked up , paid our 70 p parking and headed off for our our booked lunch . I looked down Bargates the approach to the
The restaurant was not full but did begin to fill up over time . Service seemed slow which was unusual . We were given our menus and our drinks were chosen . The drinks arrived and we were asked if we wanted water . That was brought round and five minutes later the bread. We ordered our meals and waited . Ten minutes went by and nothing arrived . A further ten minutes and finally the next table was served .Perhaps our meal would turn up next . The owner popped over - have a wine on us - we are extremely busy . The meals still did not arrive and a further conversation went on - have two coffees on us . The next tables starters turned up and an hour had gone by and we were beginning to get very hungry . We even contemplated paying the bill and leaving . Eventually the meals turned up . An extremely tasty Risotto ai fungi and Saltimbuco followed up with a Crema Catalana with raspberries . An Aperol Spritz
to remind me of holidays in Italy . The meal was wonderful and worth the wait . But it would have been nicer served up sooner . We normally book another meal out for a month or so down the line but today decided not to bother .
After the meal I walked down the town towards the Almshouses and the Old Grammar School . What did i know about them ? Virtually nothing even though Whitchurch was a town I visited many times over the years. I had walked up and down past the almshouses and school many times . Have you noticed that ? You walk past a place times many and give it no thought at all . It is there and that is how it is . You dont know its history nor do you look it up. YOu just take it for granted and walk past .
I started off at the top of Bargates close to the church Immediately north were the Almshouses. A row of red brick houses built in 1679 founded for six decayed housekeepers . Decayed seemed a very outdated and odd description . . Now they are available
for Whitchurch parishioners . The inscription proudly stood in Latin Deo et Pauperibus - Higginson MDCXVII . To God and the Poor . The words were fairly easy to work out Deo - God and it was clear that it related to paupers but the exact saying was harder to work out . . The almshouses had been in constant use certainly from the 18th century and were now listed buildings . The brickwork was neat and tidy with pretty herringbone patterns . They looked stunning in the afternoon sunshine. I wondered what it must have been like to live in one of them . Originally they would have been homely and a retreat for the poor of the parish . Now well I guess they were having been brought up to modern standards internally . They had no front garden . They opened out onto the street . Did they have a back garden ? I have no idea . There was no way of seeing through the houses to the back yards .
My walk took me down the street to the Old School House which was located between the almshouses and the
former school buildings . Built in 1708 of red brick and grey sandstone it was another listed building and matched the old almshouses.
