Eternal Refuge

I took a couple of photos after I parked the car when I went to see Auntie Joyce, and day 1 was very typical Essex ... but, then the following day ... totally different ...

Day 1 -











Day 2 -

The question for today on the daily meme is asking about the State Flower ... well when I read it all I could think of was the fact that I am English, and we have a rose (points to icon) .... but thank you Google & Wikepedia as I now have found that each county does have it's own flower.

I was born in ESSEX and the flower is the Common Poppy ....


I now live in DEVON and the flower is the Primrose ....


So although I am not doing the meme, I did find that interesting

When I was younger we used to come to Clacton to visit the family, and a few times even had a dip in the sea.

Not this time .... but Auntie Joyce did take Jiffy and I to the beach, so we could see the area again, and also enjoy a walk.

( Oh, I do like to be beside the sea-side )

This morning as I was looking through my f-list I saw a meme on the LJ of rivertempest 

1. Go to Google (or Yahoo) and type, "You know you're from (your state) when..."
2. Cut and paste the list.
3. Bold the items that apply to you.

Well I changed it slightly - and have 2 lists on one English county (the one I come from ... and lived in till I was 25) and the other from the County (or more technically the Duchy) that I have lived in for 24 years now.  Two of those list come from that dreaded FaceBook, the other from another BLOG ....

( So here are loads of random facts ... and whether I know them, or not )


Oh boy - I'm more Essex than I thought!  ... But there's a bit of Cornish in there as well.

Funny really as Mum isn't Essex, I had no friends as a teen, and friends at college were from all over the world, and I only lived in Essex for 19 years, and have live in Cornwall for 24 ... you'd think that my Essex would be less.  But ... even some of the ones I didn't bold I know that when I'm in the area I take as normal.

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Yes - before I was 11 I went to 5 schools!!!

Flintmountain Primary School, Flint, Wales
I went there for a term and a half - it was a bilingual school (although I never learnt much ... and have forgotten it all) and our teacher was in her 80s!!

Branfill Infants School, Upminster, Essex
I went here for the rest of that school year.  However the reading they were doing was in ITA and as they had no maths lessons, I had some during play time so I could maintain what I already knew!  So Mum and Dad sent me to a Private School -

Butts Green Infants School, Hornchurch, Essex
I was only here for 1 year as that is as old I you could be - but I have some good memories of this place - including a brilliant Easter Egg Hunt ... the only one I have ever been on.

Goodrington School, Hornchurch
... and another private school ... and huge happy memories.  I loved being here, but it was too expensive for Mum and dad to afford more than me, so at 9 I left to go to

Upminster Junior Schhol, Upminster
I have great memories of the education here - really good stuff, and 2 great teachers ... but this is where the bullying started ... and followed me to ..

The Cooper's Company and Coborn School, Upminster.
An amazing school with a livery company heritage.  Again, the education was brilliant - very stict uniform and attendance rules until I left at 18 ... but a brilliant place.   Just afetr we had all left, Tim and I went to St Paul's cathedral to attend the 450th anniversary celebrations.

At long last I get back to my trip around England. The last county I did was Durham and with that I finsihed another letter of the alphabet and thus move onto E.

There is only one county beginning with E and that is ESSEX.  Before I get to the cut I will tell you one viatl piece of information - I am an Essex girl!  For a lot of you, that doesn't mean much, but for those living in Britain ... well, shall I just say, Essex girls have a certain reputation!

Let me start by telling you of an Essex girl.

She had a good job at a factory and got bored, so decided to skip work for the day and "go up to town" ... she and her friend had a great time looking around the shops of Oxford Street.  After lunch they walked through St. James Park and spotted 2 Coldstream Guards walking towards them.  The lady commented to her friends that she really fancied the slightly shorter guy and they stopped them.  The 2 guards were late back on duty .... but the shroter of the 2 admitted they were delayed by 2 girls, so he didn't get in too much trouble.

This is a true story - and is how, in 1921 my grandparents met!

Essex girls have a reputation with the soldiers - and of wearing white stillettos, which meant a vast selection of essex girl jokes have been around (in a similar form to Blonde jokes)

Anyway, enough of that - under the cut you will find some lesser known facts about the county of Essex -


There is much of the county I have missed, as I have with the previous counties.  But hope you enjoyed your glimpse into Essex life.