Denise's day in Glastonbury

Harry and I had a great day on Saturday - he went to the Air Fleet Museum for the airshow and after I dropped him off I drove to Glastonbury. Unfortunately, the long way round because I got on the wrong road and couldn't get off and ended up driving to Taunton (just a few extra miles).

Glastonbury was where the large music festival was a few weeks ago - but thankfully it was not raining when I went. I had so much fun experiencing the culture of the place and smiling at what I saw.

It is a town steeped in history, with an abbey and church thought to have been visited by Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea (Jesus's great uncle apparently). Alongside it live people practising witchcraft, tarot cards, hari krishna, buddhism - you name it it is there. The shops reflect this culture 'the Labyrinth', 'the Music, Men and Myth', 'Heartfelt Thanks', 'Gothic', the George and Pilgrims Hotel, HSBC and wait for it the very best name 'the Psychic Pig'. Harry was saying that in England you don't seem to be able to buy schnitzel here - there was even a Schnitzel shop which sold English, American, Mexican, Italian and Chinese schnitzel - you name it he had it - I wasn't hungry but I can only assume that he cooked the same piece of meat in various ways. It wasn't unusual to see a man with a pony tail dressed in a white muslim shirt, or a woman in a long flowing skirt and dreadlocks (I honestly did see one woman with red dreadlocks and another bright purple). It seemed quite ironic that on this day 2 years ago the London underground was bombed, and today an Iraqi was going to court for the Glasgow bombings. Here in this lovely little town, covered in flowers and greenery, peacefully lived a multitude of beliefs and cultures (I do imagine that on a Saturday night at the pub, religion would not be a topic that would easily be debated).

I sat in the grounds of the abbey mesmerised by its beauty and its history and found it hard to leave. The photos show what is left after it was excavated (the kitchen is the little round building still completely in tact). Apparently, Queen Genevieve and King Arthur were buried there, but one of the Henry's moved them a while later but I couldn't find out why. The kitchen told the story of the simplicity of the monks food - they were only allowed red meat when they were sick. So, they devised the theory that a bird was related to fish because it swam and the badger could be eaten because it must be related to a shell fish because it was the same colour - hence there diet expanded within their laws.I had lunch in the grounds (amongst the yew trees) and enjoyed the history of the area. Yew trees flower twice a year - once in the English summer and once when they flower in the middle east (apparently Josephy bought these over on one of his visits as well).
At the top of the hill was the Tor. It was quite a long walk through muddy paths past cows and a road with lots of bush along each side and up a hill, across very high stiles and through swinging gates and past a Thai buddhist temple. The Tor was a very old church that the monks and the public went to pray in. It is a bit like a marae if you can picture the building at the top (made of stone not bushes) and all around the hill the rows of terraced gardens and paths and other buildings. Lovely, view from the top. When I got to the top, huffing and puffing, there was the noise of the hare krishna drums and I found a man (with a cowboy hat on) playing drums and singing those funny songs inside the church. Before I left he had finished to the relief of most of the visitors with 'we all live in a yellow submarine'. The cows obviously visit the site regularly as well, as there was little place to sit to enjoy the view in the wind (whoever gave me the impression it wasn't windy over here!!).

I wandered down the long path and came to the Chalice Gardens which again they believe Joseph of Aramathea went to. The garden was unique reflected in the handout which said 'please refrain from smoking or drinking alcoholic beverages and remain clothed whilst in the garden'. There I saw a man in white clothes being coached on how to hug a tree - 'you need to get the balance right' said the coach and I watched as he went between two large trees hugging them and meditating at the same time. The garden was lovely, a place where people could sit and meditate and in some places I felt like joining in and sat quietly thinking about all the people I care about and how lucky I am to have these opportunities. On the way back was the rural farm museum, a telephone box in someone's garden with soft toys in it, another lovely park and cemetery and lots of people enjoying the sunshine.

Met Harry at the airport - I found the place more by chance and watched the last helicopter display. (268 photos later on the new camera and he has written another blog for our friends deeply into airplanes). We drove through back roads to miss the traffic had a lovely dinner at a little roadside pub in the sun, saw the Eastern Somerset Railway (steam) which we will have a ride on sometime and visited Frome, where they were having their summer festival. It was here that we saw the biggest dog we have ever seen - nearly up to my shoulders (ok I know I am short but....). Then the travellers went home.

Sunday was fun - we went to a big band concert in the park - and we almost didn't get lost getting there. We sat in council provided deck chairs (which I discovered in the most upright position I can't touch the ground and in other positions I tend to slide down). The concert had shades of Dad's army in it - with the members looking through pages and pages of music after each song, laughing and looking surprised when we applauded. A man sitting at the back on his mobility scooter (with an Andy Capp Cap on) put his hand up between songs saying 'excuse me excuse me' added to the occassion as did the dogs which barked and howled as the music played, and ran round the band (I was waiting for the conductors music to be knocked over). To finish off there was an elderly man sitting with a black hat with a huge sunflower on it and a girl listening to the music as well as her ipod at the same time. The band played some fun music but the most apt I thought was Cole Porters 'Anything Goes'. I think being in a different country makes you far more observant - the concert probably would have been similar in NZ but we probably wouldn't have noticed all the fun characters around. After that concert on came the Salvation Army and we sang hymns in the park with what seemed like every member from the Bristol army.

Some things of interest this week:

• bus drivers have a kit for taking tests so that those who spit on the bus can have their dna checked out by policy it is called an anti spit kit

• went for dinner on Friday night to a local pub - it was done in little rooms with all the furnishings different and quite quiet as it is not in one big room


• got my hair cut. Neil the hairdresser had lived in NZ for 18 months and half that time lived in Cuba street (the big white house right at the top - is it still there?) and cut hair in the James Smith centre - he said thing he noticed about coming back was how everything looked so grey - rather than colourfully painted. Loved the night life, coffee culture and music scene in Wellington. He was nice to talk too, but won't be going back cos a bit expensive.


• I can now go to the post office and bank without thinking about what street I have to go to - we'll soon be at home in Bristol.