A mishmash

Above: you might need to click on the image to read the "gypsy warning". Remnants of folktales, village lore and "stories" can be found all over the county, but for how much longer? Folk culture in the county is evanescent and ephemeral, as insubstantial as a light mist and just as likely to be blown away before it is properly recorded.

I didn't go anywhere this afternoon, mainly because I drank calvados at lunchtime and effectively passed out (luckily while sitting in an armchair). When I woke it was 5 o'clock. I think I will pour the rest of the bottle down the sink.

But the enforced idleness (when I was finally awake) gave me an opportunity to think about my "Exploring the county" posts and work out what I am trying to achieve. When I first started I intended to use Pevsner as my guide and see all the medieval structures in the county. As I went from village to village I came across hundreds of extraneous items that would simply disappear if I did not photograph and record them.

The result seems to be a mishmash of unconnected characters, anecdotes and traditions (traditions often teetering perilously on the edge of neglect and extinction).

And yet, beneath all the confused reportage I feel there is an underlying unity and value if only I can work out what it is. In many ways I am bound to go on with this "exploration". I could not stop if I wanted to.