I’d love to have seen Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet — the first time I saw the play was with Ben Kingsley (then still unknown) in the lead role at Stratford. David Tennant (aka Dr Who) has just finished an RSC winter season as the Prince of Denmark, selling the place out to critical acclaim — and a film version of this finest Hamlet of a generation is now in the offing.

I’d forgotten about Wanda even existing. Haven’t seen it in ages and I really enjoyed it.

Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet was delightful. For all other instances, I’ll take my frothy Lucia. (Froth. Now I’m thirsty too…)

Have a great weekend!

Your mention of Georgie and Lucia inventing Italian words mischievously reminds me of the scene where Kevin Kline’s Otto uses restaurant Italian to seduce Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) in A Fish Called Wanda. As I recall, food was the route to that lady’s heart, and some way beyond…

Raspberry fool? Did I hear whispers of panna cotta? I’m hungry already.

I actually created a dish called Lucia and Georgie Chicken, which has been on my blog for some time. Georgie and Lucia loved dropping Italian words (some made up) and phrases, using just enough to make it seem they could speak Italian when they could not. My dish uses just enough Italian ingredients but of course it’s not Italian. I also have a raspberry fool, a direct result of the earlier Riseholme/Broadway Lucia books.

Will I go to hell for enjoying Lucia more than Hamlet?

Here are some scenes from EF Benson’s novels as set in Rye.

Sad to say that I didn’t spend a lot of time seeking out Lamb House. Mermaid Street looked distinctly uphill at the point when breakfast called. It’s good to leave something to see in my next visit.

For those interested in exploring the scenery of the levels on foot, coincidentally The Independent featured a similar route along the opposite bank of the river from the path I followed, and you can find it here: The sands of time have left Rye high and dry.

Many thanks again.

No photo of Lamb House?

Nor was it the development of a massive and laterally extensive entirely new dune system some 5km long and over 10m high, all within less than four centuries. These sand dunes are still growing today if partially limited by the road and the village of Camber behind them.

Like much of the British coastline, the English Channel has an extreme tidal range of around 5m. In combination with a southeast-facing shoreface and prevailing southwesterly winds, the scope for sediment movement through longshore drift, erosion and redeposition is huge.

To the east of Camber Sands lies Dungeness — a vast headland wilderness of shingle which juts out into the English Channel. It’s clearly visible on the old map of the Cinque Ports above as a promontory sticking out into the sea.

The Romney Marshes, one of the largest and most important wetlands in Britain and an easterly extension of the Rye levels, lies right behind it. A process of spit migration here closed off the Romney harbour entrance in the Middle Ages, leading to diversion of the River Rother and most likely indirectly leading to the destruction of Winchelsea on its shingle bank to the south.

That’s all very intriguing, illustrating the extreme lateral mobility of the coastline in this most remote part of southern England. And it’s just that little bit more worrying when you realise that the remoteness of Dungeness, and not its geological stability, was the reason for siting Dungeness nuclear power station just a few kilometres to the east.

That’s not the kind of structure you’d really like to see built on a shifting bar of shingle. But that’s exactly what has happened.

Many thanks again.