366 Photos - 260, 261, 262 and 263/366 - Jaunting!
I was so sure I'd keep up with my 366 photos this weekend, but while having guests is lovely, it turns out not conducive to posting - even when it's a Pros-y guest. Too much talk and exploring and visiting... *g* gilda_elise and her friend stopped by on her Grand Tour of Over Here, and so there was... talk and exploring and visiting. *g*
Friday
Do you remember this place? Old Wardour Castle, which I found after wandering past Fonthill Bishop, home of William Beckett (who'd fled England for Italy after being found in bed with a beautiful boy, and went on to write the first English-Oriental Gothic Horror story (which I'd entirely forgotten about until I looked again!)
I did get a bit distracted by the grafitti - QVR are Queen Victoria's Rifles, who were a London regiment, and one of the first regiments in France when war was declared in 1914. Only 40 of them survived Hill 60, at Ypres, in 1915, and they suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Gommecourt on 1st July 1916. I wonder if Milles had already been invalided out, when he carved his name here at Old Wardour, or if he was at home on leave perhaps, and yet to fight at Gommecourt...
It was rather fab visiting with a friend, this time!
Saturday
On Saturday we went to lots of brilliant places - and so there are lots of photos... *g* First, my favourite Stonehenge. I was pleased to see that Purple Velvet and his pals were still around. *g*
Or this could have been him! I can imagine him doing something like this... although perhaps he'd be a bit older now. Maybe it's his sons... *g* I rather sympathise with their cause, though it's true that so many visitors mean that the stones need looking after - probably alot more than they realise...
Then off to Old Sarum! I'd completely forgotten that Old Sarum was actually Old Salisbury, complete with the original cathedral, and only slowly remembered a bit as I mulled the place over through the day.
Loved the long views too, and the skies stretching away...
Guardian...
...and shades of Philip Mark! *vbg*
Into Salisbury itself next, which looked like a really nice city, and its not that I thought it was awful or anything, but perhaps I imagined it more work-a-day (it's years since I was there, and then only briefly) *adds to list of places to go again* *g* We were visiting the Cathedral, which was also rather cool...
...although is it very bad of my head to be thinking boing-boing-boing as I look at those photos...?!
There was a glass exhibition there too, and while I rather liked the big droppy things on the table...
...I preferred the stained glass window to the fibre-optic light thing here... *g*
And then there were these chaps on the outside of the cathedral - being rather viciously treated, I have to say. I reckon that stone carver really enjoyed their work...!
Oh, I also got to see one of the 40 copies of the Magna Carta, which is on permanent display there. You can't take photos of it, sadly, but a quick google will show you what it looked like. I wonder if they really thought their efforts that day would last so long - and actually make so much difference in the country (and the world, since various other laws/constitutions are based on it)... slowly, and not perfectly, and we're still hoping it'll get better, but it was a start...
Home we went, via a rather impressive dinner at a local(ish) pub - I don't get to go out often enough to know where's open for evening meals, and it turns out that you really have to know to find anything. Two towns we tried, on the way back, before I finally headed out to Bruton, and the Castle Pub, where I'd been for an international book day event. I figured a pub that would host that couldn't be too bad - and happily I was right. *g* Then properly home, where we all collapsed in front of Servant of Two Masters and Backtrack. So nice to watch Pros with friends, with people who get it - I do miss that! Lovely lads... *g*
Sunday
And then it was Sunday, and Gilda and A were off eastwards again, sadly... it was a lovely weekend! I spent the rest of it doing laundry and the like, and reading, and I even managed a hacktrack walk, and some brambling!
Poor old sunflower though - we had high wind the other day, and Cowley fell over and I didn't realise, so now he's looking even more Cowley compared to our two sunshines...
Monday
And then it was Monday even, and back to work and normality,
I seem to have picked up a bit of a sniffy-cold - all this going out and seeing people and what-not! - but so far it's just sniffiness, not a sore throat or anything, so cross fingers. There's all sorts this week too - well, two things, nor really all sorts... *g* Writing class/group is back on after all - they didn't have enough people sign up, so they retracted the course back to being a term at a time - I sort of felt I had to sign up then, so that's Wednesdays again for 10 weeks. Maybe I'll even get some writing done this time! And then on Thursday I'm off to a library event, with a local author, cos he actually wrote a book set in the Isle of Man, which I'm reading right now. I'm not really convinced by his island, which seems unfair cos he lived there for 11 years, but none of his characters actually sound Manx...
Last bit of good news - well, for me *g* - I accidentally did an extra 12 pages of work today, so I should hopefully have time tomorrow now to catch up with emails and lj and book posts and all!
How're you doing? *g*
Friday
Do you remember this place? Old Wardour Castle, which I found after wandering past Fonthill Bishop, home of William Beckett (who'd fled England for Italy after being found in bed with a beautiful boy, and went on to write the first English-Oriental Gothic Horror story (which I'd entirely forgotten about until I looked again!)
I did get a bit distracted by the grafitti - QVR are Queen Victoria's Rifles, who were a London regiment, and one of the first regiments in France when war was declared in 1914. Only 40 of them survived Hill 60, at Ypres, in 1915, and they suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Gommecourt on 1st July 1916. I wonder if Milles had already been invalided out, when he carved his name here at Old Wardour, or if he was at home on leave perhaps, and yet to fight at Gommecourt...
It was rather fab visiting with a friend, this time!
Saturday
On Saturday we went to lots of brilliant places - and so there are lots of photos... *g* First, my favourite Stonehenge. I was pleased to see that Purple Velvet and his pals were still around. *g*
Or this could have been him! I can imagine him doing something like this... although perhaps he'd be a bit older now. Maybe it's his sons... *g* I rather sympathise with their cause, though it's true that so many visitors mean that the stones need looking after - probably alot more than they realise...
Then off to Old Sarum! I'd completely forgotten that Old Sarum was actually Old Salisbury, complete with the original cathedral, and only slowly remembered a bit as I mulled the place over through the day.
Loved the long views too, and the skies stretching away...
Guardian...
...and shades of Philip Mark! *vbg*
Into Salisbury itself next, which looked like a really nice city, and its not that I thought it was awful or anything, but perhaps I imagined it more work-a-day (it's years since I was there, and then only briefly) *adds to list of places to go again* *g* We were visiting the Cathedral, which was also rather cool...
...although is it very bad of my head to be thinking boing-boing-boing as I look at those photos...?!
There was a glass exhibition there too, and while I rather liked the big droppy things on the table...
...I preferred the stained glass window to the fibre-optic light thing here... *g*
And then there were these chaps on the outside of the cathedral - being rather viciously treated, I have to say. I reckon that stone carver really enjoyed their work...!
Oh, I also got to see one of the 40 copies of the Magna Carta, which is on permanent display there. You can't take photos of it, sadly, but a quick google will show you what it looked like. I wonder if they really thought their efforts that day would last so long - and actually make so much difference in the country (and the world, since various other laws/constitutions are based on it)... slowly, and not perfectly, and we're still hoping it'll get better, but it was a start...
Home we went, via a rather impressive dinner at a local(ish) pub - I don't get to go out often enough to know where's open for evening meals, and it turns out that you really have to know to find anything. Two towns we tried, on the way back, before I finally headed out to Bruton, and the Castle Pub, where I'd been for an international book day event. I figured a pub that would host that couldn't be too bad - and happily I was right. *g* Then properly home, where we all collapsed in front of Servant of Two Masters and Backtrack. So nice to watch Pros with friends, with people who get it - I do miss that! Lovely lads... *g*
Sunday
And then it was Sunday, and Gilda and A were off eastwards again, sadly... it was a lovely weekend! I spent the rest of it doing laundry and the like, and reading, and I even managed a hacktrack walk, and some brambling!
Poor old sunflower though - we had high wind the other day, and Cowley fell over and I didn't realise, so now he's looking even more Cowley compared to our two sunshines...
Monday
And then it was Monday even, and back to work and normality,
I seem to have picked up a bit of a sniffy-cold - all this going out and seeing people and what-not! - but so far it's just sniffiness, not a sore throat or anything, so cross fingers. There's all sorts this week too - well, two things, nor really all sorts... *g* Writing class/group is back on after all - they didn't have enough people sign up, so they retracted the course back to being a term at a time - I sort of felt I had to sign up then, so that's Wednesdays again for 10 weeks. Maybe I'll even get some writing done this time! And then on Thursday I'm off to a library event, with a local author, cos he actually wrote a book set in the Isle of Man, which I'm reading right now. I'm not really convinced by his island, which seems unfair cos he lived there for 11 years, but none of his characters actually sound Manx...
Last bit of good news - well, for me *g* - I accidentally did an extra 12 pages of work today, so I should hopefully have time tomorrow now to catch up with emails and lj and book posts and all!
How're you doing? *g*