Friday 28 September 2012

visiting Nessie

I didn't think I would even get on the trip as we got wedged in the morning traffic down at Ipswich docks, I had to get out and run.  First mistake.
As luck would have it, I panted up just as my cohort was about to climb into the coach, so I dived into the front seat.  A routine move for those who know me as a travelling companion, I get travel sick.
The 2 tutors looked somewhat surprised to be ousted, but let me be.
Then it is a short ride to the Ness on the ferry boat.
Like much of Suffolk, it seems, lots of the paths were closed and diverted, so we walked MILES to get round to the evil pagodas, which were fenced off anyway!  The shingle is out of bounds as they try to grow stabilising cabbages on it, or something.
The Ness has a dark and troubled war time history, so is now dotted with crumbling concrete buildings which were used for radar, atomic and other secret experiments. It felt like I was walking thru the end of the world, wild, desolate but sunny!!
Being arty our tutors insisted we should go onto forbidden areas, and then be harassed off by the wardens, which added an element of tension as we crouched and tried to time the wardens sweeps round the area.
We were each given [well in our party, the other half of the cohort disappeared and wasn't found till we got back to the coach] ancient cameras, mine was a little plastic Brownie from the 60s I should think.  We each had to take a wibbly wobbly picture, and then sketch 5 times on different textures of paper, the same scene.


Challenging, I must take a little old ladies folding chair next time