Ryde two

For our second visit to Ryde, in the absence of the Island Line, already noticed, we decided to go by bus, having brought along our senior bus passes, just in case.

Hopped off the bus at the top of the town, handy for both the Ryde Bookshop and the Catholic Church. Opted for the Bookshop, as briefly noticed at reference 3, but opted against the church. There shall be no superfluous visiting in these plaguey times!

Opted for tea and Eccles cake at a nearby baker, Grace's Bakery, previously Duffett of reference 4, which ran to a couple of tables outside. First Eccles cakes for a while, pretty good.

Took a stroll though the old town, taking in the house with extended porch, snapped above. The good people of Ryde did not like to get wet between carriage and door. Even if the extension did rather spoil the lines of the door.

Vectis Hall not much improved since we saw it in 2019 and noticed at reference 5 (along with an even fancier porch), but now taken on by the town council who hope to restore it and return it to community use over the next few years. But how will they make such a thing pay? Can they really afford it?

A passage leading to another development opportunity. Perhaps a spot of gentrification for someone working at home for most of the week, just putting in the odd appearance in the City?

Entirely satisfactory lunch at the Ryde Castle, where some entertainment was provided by the party at the next table, a party which as well as a well-behaved dog had a cockatoo in a special basket, rather like the sort of thing one might have for a cat. A 42 year old golden cockatoo. Sporting enough to come out of the basket to be shown off, but with bad wings, bad feet and one bad eye.

Followed by a stroll along the front while we waited for our bus, having decided against a stroll on the great expanse of sand offered on account of the wind. We noticed that the rails at Ryde Esplanade were rusty, suggesting that the new rolling stock was not rolling there - although we heard a few days later that new rolling stock had been spotted out in the country. Last run of the old rolling stock snapped above at Shanklin, lifted from Wikipedia.

PS 1: BH scored a line of rabbits in a field on the way back to Brading. 

PS 2: not everything Google is online. When I first went to reference 5 (Monday), in text mode, the snap of Vectis Hall was offline, displayed in placeholder form only. But then, when one clicked on an image which was there, one switched, as usual, to image mode, with the current image in large above and the menu of images in small below. In that mode, the images were all there, including Vectis Hall, suggesting different storage arrangements for the images in text mode and those in image mode. In due course, the image which was missing in text mode arrived. And it is still there this morning (Tuesday).

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/disaster.html. Disaster on the island line.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/boss-boat.html. This was the day of the boss boat.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/clarissa.html. 

Reference 4: http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=James_Garland_Duffett. A family long established in trade in the town.

Reference 5: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/wight-three.html.