Morning came very early this morning; and
it came early several times.
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| We hadn't realized how much farther north
England is than Michigan until we discovered that darkness lasts about
two hours less here than at home. |
After determining - several times - that the
clock had not stopped, and was, in fact, reporting the correct time, we
eventually got up and headed down to breakfast.
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The "cooked breakfast" is a traditional English
breakfast, consisting of an egg (fried medium), a sausage, a ham/bacon
hybrid, toast & marmalade, juice, and coffee or tea. [Later days
would reveal that the included (but infrequently eaten) half tomato could
be deleted.] Alternatively, there was cereal and milk to go with
the toast.
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| After breakfast, we collected our bags, grabbed
our packed lunches, and climbed aboard our waiting Johnson's Coach, this
time driven by Mark, with an assist from his fiancée, Mandy.
A brief count of heads and/or hands, and we were off for Bristol and Bath. |
| Mary Ruth McNew had told us, though, of a
lovely village with a 14th century church which was very nearly on our
way. We prevailed upon Mark's good nature, and added a stop at Chipping
Campden as we started out. First stop in Campden - the chemist's
shop seeking insulin needles for one of our number who had brought an insufficient
supply - with no luck. |
The church, though, was lovely, as were the
adjacent ruins of a manor house destroyed in the Civil War (the English
Civil War, that is - 1620's).
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| Back to the coach, and off we set for Bristol,
and the oldest Methodist building in the world - the Wesley Chapel, more
properly known as the New Room, in the Horsefair. We lucked into
a bit of a tour and history, then upstairs to the living quarters qua gift
shoppe. |
| It was here that Providence's Hand was seen
- the Rev. Dennis Hurl (retired) just "happened" to be there, struck up
a conversation with Rachel, and proceeded to tell us the history of the
building, and of Methodism. |
| He bemoaned the overemphasis on John Wesley's
part in the founding to the detriment of Charles's - especially in the
countries outside of England and the U.S. where John's influence is historical,
but Charles is encountered weekly through his marvelous hymns. |
He mentioned that we now own Charles Wesley's
house, and ended by taking us on a special tour of the house - which isn't
really open to visitors.
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| After apologizing to Mark for missing our
original rendezvous, we returned to the New room for a devotion.
Back on the bus, we ate our lunches as we made for Bath, and the Roman
Baths and Abbey. |
| After roaming about seeking a bus tour, we
gave up and walked around on our own. The admission to the baths
was far too steep, so we took ourselves over to the Abbey for a bit. |
Here is where the first strange parallel to
1975 struck. Just as I had lost a piece of jewelry at Bath in 1975
(a ring), Abby lost a piece of jewelry at Bath in 1994 (a watch).
Absolutely scary.
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| We headed home for Nando's from Bath, but
didn't make quite the time we had hoped (and Mark had estimated), necessitating
a call to Pat (the proprietor) to tell her we would be a few minutes late
for dinner. |
| She was not pleased, I'm sure, but handled
us quite graciously. |
| At dinner, David led us in what became our
Tour Grace - the very one which Christian and I had shared with everyone
the night before (Come, Thou, Lord Jesus ....). |
This became our practice, and impressed Pat
enough that she mentioned it to us - quite nice.
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| The evening was fairly uneventful, with small
groups of us wandering about in the town. However, one of the most
important and impactful things that happened to the group happened this
morning and was missed. We all became enamoured of a programmed on
BBC2 called "The Big Breakfast" - a very strange, zany, and high energy
show - "Housey, Housey, play Housey-Housey!" Good viewing, that BBC! |
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