Bryhtnoth - part 1

I was cruising the profiles on Blogger last night just looking for the people that came from Maldon (where I am) it struck me that a disproportionate number of bloggers from Maldon seem to claim that they have an interest in running and swimming.  Really?? Where are ya then? 

I also came across the profile of a certain Bryhtnoth, whose interests are stated as 'Ruling Essex' and 'Fighting Vikings' and claims to be 1049 years old.  I definately think he's lying about his age - by my calculations he should be at least 1079 years old .  Now me being such a dedicated follower of Essex could not fail to look at his blog entitled 'The Battle of Maldon', but I was sadly disappointed to find that there were no posts.  On reflection, this is probably because he died in battle against the Vikings at Maldon in 991, decapitated. I will bring you more on the hero of the Battle of Maldon at a later date, but it's worth a read

We saw the Queen!!!!

On 28th October 2010 we were privileged to experience a Royal visit in our small and picturesque market town of Maldon in Essex.  This time it wasn't a rampaging Iceni queen, but Her Maj Queen Liz 2.  She was actually far from rampaging, for that matter, as the old dear is 84 now, but nonetheless she was doing very well indeed.

(Not too many people there yet)

In order to get a good view of her Majesty, myself, the kids and the mother-in-law were installed in the Tesco car park nice and early and trotting up Market Hill before 9am.  As it turned out we were in good time - the only other folks on scene at the High Street were coppers, streetcleaners, and a couple of obsessive-looking middle-ages ladies.  So we settled the kids into their beach chairs, bought ourselves some coffees & got settled in for a long wait (she wasn't due till 12.45), looking forward to enjoying the family atmosphere.  It was a fun morning - the notorious and shameless self-publicist The Town Crier - Lord of the Manor of ?? - seemed to cotton on to the fact that we had a good spot and  attempted to cosy-up with us.  I've got no problem being sociable and the whole day was a lot of fun, however when the space that we have been saving for 3 hours with 2 kids under the age of 8, gets invaded by a 6ft tall 70 year-old bloke, and the kids get elbowed to the side, just so he can get his face in the paper, I get a bit narked. 

(It got a bit busier)

I was more narked when her Majesty deliberately avoided coming to our place at the railings when she saw that dreadful man (i can't blame her) so the kids didn't get to see her really close up. 

Never mind - it's all an experience, never to be repeated.  God save The Queen (from Town Criers).

Boudica - One angry chick!

When I was growing up my parents took me to The Embankment in London to see the big statue of Boudicca (or Boadicea as she was then called) in her chariot, the one with knives on the wheels. It was an important moment in my life when my dad explained to me that it was an English tribal Queen that trounced the Roman army in Colchester and London. If anyone has to trounce the Romans you'd want it to be a hard-as-nails East Anglian warrior queen wouldn't ya. 

Boudica (hey - there are several spellings and even more pronunciations) was Queen of the Iceni tribe, a celtic tribe which occupied the land quite happily as an independant ally of Rome, in the area that is now Norfolk. On the death of Boudica's husband, the king Prasutagus, the Romans failed to honour an arrangement to leave Boudica and her daughters half the kingdom and instead flogged Boudica and raped her daughters. Understandably this made her a little cross, and her people, allied with the Trinovantes (our Essex celtic tribe) stomped the Romans good and proper. Sadly in the end she was defeated (although not without making a real mess of Roman Britain) and killed herself.

The BBC Horrible Histories website is phenomenal for sharing all this stuff with kids and getting a handle on it. I just love this song, which is not only hilarious, it seems to tell it much better than any Wikipedia page could do!

Horrible Histories - Boudica Song!!!!!

I am proud to have rampaging Iceni Warrior Queens as part of my Essex heritage. Should the Romans ever get too up-themselves again Queen B only has to give me a shout and I'll be sharpening my axe and joining the throngs to march on Londinium. (Is somebody bringing the mead?)

Burnham-on-Crouch 2nd best for quality of life

Isn't Quality of Life the only thing that matters anyway? According to a recent survey of seaside towns, by the Halifax, Burnham has been rated the 2nd best seaside town in the UK for quality of life, after Bexhill-on-Sea. Burnham has higher than average earnings, above average employment levels, residents have better health and longer life-expectancy. Incidently there are also longer sunshine hours and less average rainfall than most other places. Do not confuse the muddy and atmospheric Burnham on Crouch in Essex with the very different Burnham on Sea in the South West, although that Burnham also features on the chart at 27th place.


A few weeks ago my family & I were given a treat by a good friend, who took us out on his powerboat on the Crouch from South Woodham Yacht Club. We had a lovely cruise up the river followed by a good lunch at a lovely Burnham pub on the quayside (whitebait & salad for me, it has to be fish!) washed down with a modest amount of local real ale. Once we unhitched the boat from the town public jetty and continued on our way it was time to get our toes wet, so the most larey watersport of 'doughnutting' was to follow. All in all a cracking and very varied afternoon. (I wish I had copies of the photos to post here).

Let's also not forget that in a survey only a couple of years ago Maldon was also voted 3rd best market town in the UK (Halifax survey again, I think) and the Maldon District as a whole is in the top 15% for quality of life in the country (Experian. So all in all we are pretty happy with our lot around here!

Other Essex gems on the Halifax list include Leigh on Sea (always a pleasure) ranked 8th and Southend on Sea ranked 15th (on a sunny day, I would say). My personal favourite place in the whole of the South West of England - Sidmouths - (having spent most summer Saturdays there as a student) is also on the table , ranked 34th - but hey, least it's on there.
Let's raise a glass of Mighty Oak Maldon Gold or Crouch Vale Amarillo to glorious Essex!

Renamed again

Well, this is the third time I have renamed this blog since I began it. I haven't been able to settle on a name that was particularly appropriate for the content. The last one 'Amber Thread' did seem a bit too arty & pretentious. But as I am a real champion of my local area and believe that rural Essex is one of the best places you could choose to live, then this title of 'Blackwater Mudlark' is very much more doing 'what it says on the tin'. As I haven't managed to acquire any followers, as yet, I don't imagine it's going to bother anyone much anyway.

Well- roll on new title - an hopefully I will start to gather one or two followers, if not for the value of my wit and word, then for my appreciation of surreal and thought-provoking films (mostly recorded from Film 4 and watched when the hubby has better things to do), my literature snobbery, my big paintings or the fact that I totally LOVE Essex and will happily put right anybody who slams our county because they haven't seen what the real Essex is all about.