Rambles in the West of England

It's been a while since I wrote - we have been packing in the activities and travels, and are now actually in Biarritz, in the southwest of France, for a few days, but I guess that's a story for another post.  I've been making these little travel films of each adventure and posting them on my YouTube channel and between that and secret shop editing, I have neglected the blog!

We left the rental car in Edinburgh and hopped on a train to Carlisle, in the northwest of England, right at the northern end of the famous Lake District, home of Coleridge and Wordsworth and all those folks. Anthony and Caroline had a dream, when they got married, to live in a house at the end of a lane at the top of a hill, and here they were. They were kind enough to host us for a few days, and Anthony, my dear friend from decades ago when we all lived in York, schlepped us around the area, showing us the sights.

I tried to take a panoramic photo of the view from their house

I know the Lake District is known for the Romantic poets, and we did think about them, and I recited "The World is Too Much With Us" at Derwentwater, but mostly I was thinking about the timeless, enduring quality of deep friendships that last for decades. When I saw Anthony, it was as if no time had passed. We were talking and laughing about stuff that had happened to us 30-plus years ago, as well as the visits we had had in Seattle in the intervening time, and also having amazing new conversations about religion and spirituality and kids growing up (their daughter Lucy is the same age as Jack, and we got to meet his younger "kid," Emilia, who is now 18 and a barrel of fun!) and all kinds of topics while we rambled on the paths beside the lake. It also felt really homey to be there - we got to do a load of laundry and hang it up in the sun; Matt helped fix a window; Anthony baked bread for us, and invited friends over for Sunday lunch. We all went out to see the Downton Abbey movie (the perfect film to see with them!!) and just chatted up a storm the whole time.

I miss my friends in Seattle, but seeing my old friends in the UK reminded me how close we remain, even when we are miles apart. I sure hope they can come visit Seattle again soon.

Our next stop was Bath, because I wanted to see the Roman Baths and the Georgian architecture, but also because my old student, Nick Bayne, lives there and works as (of all things) a cheesemonger.  When he was in my humanities class, he had a pretty encyclopedic memory, and now he has used his keen intellect to develop a profound understanding of all things cheese. He presented us with a fine "bespoke cheese plate" at the Fine Cheese Shop where he works - bespoke basically means "custom," which I didn't know. He told us all about the history of each of the local cheeses he selected, regaling us with stories of the cows, the techniques, and more information about cheese than I thought it was possible to know.  We also got to tour the historic sites and spend one entire day in the Thermae Bath Spa, soaking in the same millenia-old water the Romans enjoyed.  You can't actually go into waters of the original Roman baths because, according to Nick, they are full of meningitis bacteria.

My favorite cheesemonger

Georgian architecture at the famous crescent

Here lies a Hampshire Grenadier...

Our next stop on this mini-tour of the west part of England was Winchester. Why? Because the AA Big Book mentions that Bill Wilson, the founder of AA, visited Winchester Cathedral when he was overseas during World War I.

"We landed in England. I visited Winchester Cathedral. Much moved, I wandered outside. My attention was caught by a doggerel on an old tombstone:




Here lies a Hampshire Grenadier
Who caught his death
Drinking cold small beer.
A good soldier is ne'er forgot
Whether he dieth by musket
Or by pot."

Since I am an AA history freak, of course we had to go visit. However, there are are a couple of things I have to point out about this.  First of all, this isn't the actual grave stone, but a replica. The original was moved to the Winchester museum for safekeeping. It was thrilling nonetheless to see the replica, which catches a person's eye right as you enter the cemetery there in front of the magnificent Cathedral, which was constructed in the days of William the Conqueror.

Secondly, the reason the Hampshire Grenadier died is NOT because he drank alcohol. The problem was that the beer was not strong enough! "Small" beer did not have as high an alcohol content as "Heavy" beer, which meant the Grenadier caught dysentery or some other bacterial disease from drinking the "small" or "weak" beer on a hot day.  The rest of the doggerel (not mentioned by Bill) reads as follows:

Soldiers, be wise from his untimely fall
And when you're hot, drink Strong, or none at all.

In other words, the beer has to have a high enough alcohol content to kill all the bacteria, so the advice is actually to drink MORE alcohol!  Oh, well. It's been inspiring sobriety since 1939 anyway.

In case you missed the travel film I made about this little section of our trip, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1HGJae-cZE