Western England October 2008

Tea time in Bibury, the Venice of England, the river is crossed by a mile of foot bridges, all needed to get around town because the town needed water power to run machines to process wool from the sheep that are everywhere. Makes me itch just to think about it. No wonder the Mad Hatter was mad!

To give an appreciation for this last weekend it needs to be in perspective. That is why Jeff is placing Libeary on the top of the big rocks at Stonehenge. Bear in mind we are a good 100 yards away from the structures. After all these years no one can say for certain why they are here or why we pay money to walk around them. Other sites on the tour were Bath where we were greeted with showers. Cotswold's boasts of famous residents, Prince of Wales for one, who was not receiving visitors when we passed. High grove may well be a nice place to visit, but the gate was closed to buses. Oxford's Bodleian Library was also closed to visitors. The greatest library in town does not allow checkouts and you must prove you intend to have academic reasons to look at the books. The blue gorilla was not allowed in either. Just having a library card will not get you in the door. You are welcome to enter the gift shop, located in the astronomy college, no doubt due to the sky high prices. The local lockup will allow all comers as you can see, there is no lock on the door. The mineral water hospital in Bath serves just that for immersion and imbibing. Several of the group tried what they described as tasting like sulfur and salt. I have enough trouble with the ale and was not game to try.

The local book mobile will, on the other hand, pose for pictures and let all readers aboard.

It is directed study week here, so I must return to the books. Next weekend Paris!

Cheers!