Digby Visit (Part 1): Weddings and UFO's

After starting Thursday with a couple of hours of bonus work - thanks to management surprising me on Wednesday arvo with some new work with a deadline of Friday lunchtime and not realising that I was not going to be in for Thursday or Friday - it was up to Billericay I go. Pronounced Bill-a-rick-ee, I was met by Mum, Dad, Steve, Eileen and ‘Aunt’ Edna, and if I can be half as energetic as her when I reach 84 years, I’ll be pretty happy. She put the energiser rabbit to shame!

With some time to kill before the wedding ceremony of my cousin Mark and his fiancé, Jo, (right) we headed through Billericay to a nearby park with its cafe, trees, squirrels, ducks, lake, field and a truckload of mums with pushers and/or bumps. Talk about your wives clubs. Anyway, lovely sunny day to be sitting outside catching up. It didn’t take much for Eileen to notice how much weight I’ve lost since I was last here in 2004 - I was around 92kgs back then, and today I’m 71, which is only 4kgs heavier than back in ’92 when I was competing in martial arts!!
Onto Crondon Golf Club we went for the wedding ceremony, which was really nice, although a bit tough to watch from a personal standpoint (for obvious reasons). Now, that ‘obvious reason’ was also the reason that I couldn’t fit in with the numbers for the reception that followed, so the plan was to go occupy myself somewhere nearby until that side of the festivities was over, and I could return for the after party.
As luck would have it, if you have a quick chat to one of the friendly female serving staff, it’s amazing what can be done/arranged at short notice. I simply asked “where was the 19th Hole” (the bar where the golfers have a drink or few after they finish their round), with the intention of hanging out there for a bit with a book and the laptop. I was told that it was members only and wouldn’t be an option, and she was curious as to why I would want to go there. A quick tale of how there’d been a mix up with numbers and being a ‘surprise guest’ from Australia, and she called over the woman who was running the staff and reception. Within about 2minutes (after being asked if I was with anyone at the reception and pointing out my parents), she’d decided that I could join the reception ‘on the house’ and my place was set at their table.
A great afternoon and night kicked off with the elder members of the family (Steve is mum’s cousin if you’re curious about the connection. Their fathers were brothers.) and also with other people that you meet at such events. Great food too, and as luck would have it, quite an entertaining table - it turned out that one of the folks there actually lives a couple of blocks away from where I do!
Oh, and if you’re wondering about my earlier comment regarding ‘Aunt’ Edna, well, there was no stopping her on the dancefloor at times and to all sorts of music! Absolute classic! (seen here on the right with Steve)
It was great to be a part of the entire day. As it came to an end, the 6 of us headed back to Steve n Eileen’s place, which is where we are now staying for the rest of the long weekend.

Friday, naturally saw us all have a rather leisurely start to the day, before heading off to Rendlesham Forest for a walk on the UFO trail. Well, parts of it anyway. A great walk through the peaceful forest that borders the Woodbridge Airfield, which used to be a massive USAF base, but is now used by the British military. It is also the location of some of England’s most famous UFO encounters. Didn’t see any UFO’s - not that we expected too - but we did pass both landing sites as we strolled along the several miles of trails. Those trails that have significance to the actual events of the two most famous incidents are actually sign posted (as you can see).
I’d love to come back here to trek through more of the other trails and even stay a night or two - not so much with the idea of seeing any UFO activity, but more for just that getting back to nature stylee type time. Having seen plenty of rabbits about as well as a few deer, the idea of replicating the 'Stand by Me' scene with the deer would be pretty cool.
From here it was back to the Cherry Tree pub and beer garden in the sun to sample some of the local ales and have lunch. (See below on the left for one angle of this pub.)
Tonight will see us at one of Melton’s other local restaurants/pubs for England’s most famous contribution to world cuisine - fish n chips. Hopefully, this will be far better than what I sampled in Edinburgh a couple of weeks back. Will let you know how it went...