I woke around 6, in the dark, and snuggled into my feather duvet under the eaves, waiting for the central heating to come on. (Or, to be honest, for Paul to wake and go down to make a cuppa, whichever happened first). Funny, Paul woke fairly soon!
A swift rousing this morning as we had to have Amelia at Stratford Train Station to catch the 9.15 to London to meet Crys. We hadn't been to the station before, and the access road was closed, but we had plenty of time (early and well organised people proven right yet again: I can hear my kids groaning).
With Amelia gone, we looked at each other and said 'what shall we do?' Home for a cuppa and to consider the map. We discovered another quaint town, Tewkesbury, about half an hour away. Now, my brother Graeme lives in Tewksbury outside Boston MA, and it's his birthday tomorrow, so we decided to go and explore and send him some photos to show we were thinking of him. Off we set. Our first experience of navigating without the A grade student who is an expert in IT. Didn't do too badly, if I do say so myself.
Arrived in Tewkesbury, took the essential photo of me blowing Graeme a kiss beside the 'Welcome to Tewkesbury' sign, then, duty done, headed for ye olde inn for hot coffee to warm up. (1.5 degrees outside today - the doors were iced closed in the car).
Re-entering the frigid street, we saw in the distance what looked like an old church so headed up that way. What a bonus! A gorgeous old abbey, still operating as a church, and free entry if you pay 2 quid for a licence to take photos. Hehehe. Certainly got my money's worth! It was immaculately restored, so big it rivalled Notre Dame. Unfortunately my PA has deserted me for London and taken her laptop so I can't insert photos into my blog. The atmosphere was reverent, and I just love hanging round in places like this, it warms my heart.
Outside again, we wandered back to our car and headed home.
Rib eye steak, roast veges, real gravy, sautéed sparagus for a late lunch with a glass of Bordeaux red, mmmmm.
When Paul turned on the kitchen lights (at 2pm) there was a bang and we lost all lights to the downstairs of the cottage. This is a problem as the stairs are definitely too dangerous to climb in anything other than bright light. Guess who found the power cupboard, worked out the circuit problem, fixed it, and restored lighting to the house? Moi! Very proud of myself. Paul made noises about giving me a tool belt for Christmas. Pretty sure he has too much respect for his privileges to go down that road.
A few days ago on our ramble we had come across a lovely old church. Afterwards we researched it and found there were leper holes in the outside walls aimed directly at the altar so lepers could see the service without coming inside. Today we went back and found them! Very sobering, 2 vertical slits and a small hole in the stone. My imagination runs wild at the thought of the lifestyle the lepers were confined into.
There were many graves in the area surrounding the church, and on one stone was the following:
"Death is only a horizon
and a horizon is nothing
except the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, strong Son of God,
that we can see further."
I found this so full of hope for the future.
Home for a cuppa and then a last walk through this lovely village we have called home for the last week. By now it was 4pm and quite dark. At home we drive around at about 10pm to see the Christmas lights - here we can see them at about 3.30! The villagers really go to town on decorating - I guess it's worth it when there are so many hours of darkness!
I've loved being here. We've met heaps of people, and all so friendly. Now I have 4 days of alone time with Paul to look forward to. Feeling very blessed.
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