Cheltenham

It was one of those quiet weeks. I spent a couple of days in bed and the rest wishing I was still there, while Harry went to work and then looked after me in the evenings. We did our normal weekly shop, caught up on all the news from here and abroad (most of it not good - Mumbai, Bangkok and Airbus Crash in the Mediterranean, plus England's budget). On the Friday night we went and bought me a new camera. Mine was quite old and my photos weren't as good as I would have liked (some of it is the photographers ability but not all!), and I decided a while ago that a new camera would help minimise the impact of my ability. So, Friday night was all about charging batteries, reading manuals and getting excited about playing with my new toy in the weekend. Saturday dawned cold, but dry (we've had a few weeks the same and we can cope without that torrential rain!!) and Harry went to a course on diesel engines and I did some housework, cooked dinner for some friends who live just around the corner and cycled into town to Kathmandu and the library. The trip back took alot longer as while going down the hill my front brake snapped - thankfully the back brakes worked adequately to stop me at the red light. So, I dropped the bike off to the bike shop (Harry has yet another puncture and I thought one bike a weekend was enough to fix). I went to Kathmandu and came out with another thermal top, some shoes but couldn't find a hat (I lost mine somewhere in Germany) and someone from work came up and said 'hello'. That was a first - the first time I saw someone I knew in a place I didn't expect them. Dinner was as good as the cook could make it and we spent a nice evening getting to know our neighbours. Sunday, was a slow start - late night, lots of food (I am getting quite good at beef and ale stew) and a few wines didn't lead to an early morning. We decided to go to Cheltenham for the day - about 1 hours drive north. From a tourist perspective there wasn't a lot there - but is quite a nice little town - another Spa town and very similar to Bath - but with a bit more of a spacious feel about it. It is known as a Regency town in the local papers and it is the first place, that I have thought it would be o.k. to settle in if we were going to live in England permanently - but we're not! Not many famous people seemed to hail from the town (which I must say is very unusual for an English town) except for Gustav Holst, a composer (whom we had not heard of but the information board said was famous). A quote from the internet says it all I think...

"Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham in 1874. He began composing while at Cheltenham Grammar School and spent two months at Oxford learning counterpoint before being sent to London to study composition under Stanford at the Royal College of Music. Stanford found him hardworking but not at all brilliant and their lessons were often frustrating".

The Christmas markets were open and so we wandered passed them and I found a hat to replace my lost one. As I went to try it on, Harry took his off, asked if his would fit me and then proclaimed that I could have his (it was a touch too small) and he could have the new one. He denies that he had been thinking about this while wandering around - but I am not so sure.

On the way we stopped at a little place called Painswick - the trees in the church cemetery just said 'Stop!! Take a photo of us please'. They had also spoken to a Canadian couple living in Cheltenham who were taking photos and sipping coffee in the churchyard and told us that 'their ancestors came from New Zealand' - first time we had heard that!!

On the way back we stopped at an Abbey with a name neither of us can remember (Harry thinks it began with Pink and I think it ended with Neck but Pinkneck doesn't sound right). We went for a little walk around the grounds, taking some photos of the very wintry landscape (there's a tint of pink in the trees and I think it must come from all the autumn leaves on the ground).