On Friday night we decided we would try out the picture theatre down the road. It is a massive complex – 14 theatres in all – and we watched Bourne Ultimatum. The theatre complex was quite good (though the seats are quite low for a little person and I will have to take a cushion next time) and we discovered 2 for 1 nights on Wednesdays for Orange (cell phone company) customers so we thought we might go a bit more often. Saturday we spent around Bristol going for a long bike ride through areas which we haven’t been before (there are hills and plenty of them and I think we found them all!!!). After about 6 hours of biking and walking we settled down to watch a dvd from the library ‘A Year in Provence’ on the computer (with chocolates from Puyricard and licorice and lollies from NZ). It stars John Thaw and apparently was originally a tv series. We thought it would remind us of our great holiday with Jim and Margot and it did. The French countryside, little villages, the mistral and the grapes. One night in France we woke about 4.00 to the shutters blowing in and out – just like in the movie and the characters got grumpy just like the French say they do. I have wondered why us Wellingtonians don’t give our wind an affectionate name – it would give the wind character and a personality - we could have a Dominion Post competition. The movie also reminded me of the lovely grapes where you could almost taste the wine. Apparently grapes have to have over 11% alcohol in them to be any good for wine. The unexpected part of the movie though was when this couple about our age moved to Provence and bought a little Citreon (blue and older than ours but just as cute) and then also bought bicycles. As they biked up the hills they were passed by athletic cyclists half their age and we had to laugh cos that happens to us all the time. Sunday we decided to go to Wells (the smallest city in England) but never got there as we got distracted on the way. How typical is that?? We stopped at a place called Wookey Hole and thought initially it looked a bit like a 'family playground'. But despite the welcoming committee and partly because of the lovely flowering baskets we decided to take a look.

We found a magnificent cave that used to be inhabited by a witch (as the story goes). Apparently the villagers were so frightened they called the Abbott from Glastonbury over to talk to the witch who ran into the cave. The Abbott chased after her and found a stone that looked like a witches head (takes some imagination to see it but I guess the Abbott was a bit frightened and just wanted to get out of there) and so told the villagers that the witch had been turned to stone - the witch lived happily ever after in the cave (that is a constant 11 degrees) with clear flowing water (that is a constant 9 degrees) and the villagers apparently were none the wiser and blamed all the mishaps on some other poor soul. There are about 26 caves, we didn't see all of them, but a few years ago divers went down into one of the caves - down 200 feet in water and still didn't reach the bottom. Not my cup of tea at all - but there lies a challenge for another diver. Saw great specimens of Staligmites and tites (apparently Alexander the Pope liked the staligtites so much he shot them down and took them home (he probably didn't know that it takes about 100,000 years to grow one not much bigger than me!! Wookey Hole is not far from Cheddar (where they make the cheese) and the cave is also the storage home for the cheese while it is maturing (stays there about 6 months apparently) in the constant temperature. We decided to buy some cheese in Cheddar rather than at the caves but didn't stop at Cheddar because it rained very heavily - so no cheese - but some really yummy fudge instead.

We wandered out through the children's play area where there was a 1000 year old Yew tree (wood is used for bows and arrows apparently due to its flexibility), some dinosaurs and King Kong, through the penny arcade (heaps of old machines), through the mirror room (they are always good for a laugh) and to the paper mill. Apparently paper was first made in China around 2000 years ago, bought to Spain around 900AD when the Spanish captured Chinese paper makers, and then to England around 1300 when the first paper mill was built. This paper is made from cloth (old cotton rags and glue really) but now rags can't be used cos there is too much synthetic in it. The paper lasts for about 500 years compared to 100 years for wood pulp paper and this mill produces paper for legal documents and special invitations (like the Queen and Prince Phillips wedding anniversary and every Irish statute) and can even produce water marks. The mill is still operating on a small, boutique type scale.

In the mill there was a placard that said 'Rags make paper, paper makes money, money makes banks, banks makes loans, loans make beggers, beggars make rags' - food for thought. We managed to have our picnic lunch under the trees just before the heavens opened. The Cheddar gorge and caves looked as though they would be intriguing on a fine day (and because they are not far from Bristol we decided to leave it for one). The gorge is so unlike England - vertical cliffs - more like the Manawatu Gorge at home but no river. We drove through a place called Priddy and saw a thatched roof - housing what we thought first were deck chairs but soon discovered it was temporary 'sheep pens' used for the market that has been held annually in Priddy since 1348. Passed another lot of stone circles in Stanton Drew - as old as Avebury and Stonehenge - but less visited because off the beaten track. Still has huge archaelogical significance because they are not really sure why they were created possibly due to rituals or lunar patterns or both. Came home and settled down to watch All Blacks vs Scotland but did not see Jim and Margot in the crowd.