Sunday in Beer

Sunday started with a English breakfast where we could have boiled eggs and soldiers if we liked and we were to take our "pullys" to the quarry as it got cold. Titan the dog sat at our feet - so called because he used to live in a pub and he was so 'tight he never bought a drink'. The place next door adopted dogs out but his owners were a bit too fond of him. The quarry was interesting and has given me a different appreciation of all the stone buildings we have seen. When I was having a bad day at work I would often think of the coal miners in early England and realised my life wasn't that bad. But the quarry miners were also pretty badly off working in the mines, having to pay for their own candles and not getting paid if the limestone blocks were flawed or chipped. The mines must have been dark, smelly and very noisy. They grew mushrooms and rhubarb in the mined caverns. Their was a stone church window in the quarry that was mined and carved there (the masons were paid more and got their candles free) and later returned to the quarry when a church didn't want it any more. Very interesting, but at the same time a very sad part of our history. The quarry is closed for 5 months over winter to allow for the bats, which are protected, to hibernate in peace. They had a wooden wagon that they used to take out the 'gob' - this apparently meant 'waste'. We wondered if this is where the saying 'shut your gob' and the good old 'gobstopper' came from.

Had fun at the park which had model trains, a small steam train, a tram to have tea in (memories of Melbourne and our tram dinner with Leigh and Ken floated through our minds), a nice garden and a keep fit area. Also went to Brandscome where there is a historic mill and bakery (they can no longer bake there due to the hygiene regulations bought in during the 1980's but apparently they have a very large fire place and it took 3 hours to get the kilns heated for the bread).

Drove home along the M5 - lots of intermittent rain and quite slow coming into Bristol.