day 50: saturday
- charles woke us up a bit before 9 so we could have english breakfast before leaving the cottage. after breakfast we finished packing, i read a bit more decameron, and we left virginia cottage around 11
- went back to osborne house, wandered around the walled garden and went to the café for tea and cakes (so english)
- drove to the red funnel and sat in the car lines for about an hour so i sat in the back of dad’s car and read most of day 5. i decided i needed to go to the bathroom, so i headed to the terminal station and, of course, as soon as i left the cars started loading onto the ferry so i had to run back to make sure i didn’t get left behind… typical
- the ferry was, unsurprisingly, very windy and cold as we crossed back to southampton. i finished reading day 5 and snuggled with daddy for the 55 minute journey
- arrived at the coach station where caryn and i bought our tickets for poole! we also divvied up our family’s sandwich rations so we wouldn’t starve on our journey and said goodbye to everyone… i can’t believe our “week” together is already over! we decided we were so hungry that it was worth sending caryn to mcdonalds to buy us fries… 20 minutes later she returned. it was super crowded, apparently. while i was waiting I looked up TGV prices for our train from lyon to montelimar. it’s crazy to realize all these lofty future plans we had of visiting granny, london and france are here!
- it was exciting recognizing all the signs during the bus ride: ringwood, bournemouth, poole… so close!
- arrived in poole and got the bus to broadstone where we were met by granny and grandad. we loaded our suitcases into their car, but there wasn’t any room for us as well so we walked back to the house. i got to show caryn the roundabout underpass and granny’s woods so she had her first exposure to the sites of my childhood summers
- chatted with granny and grandad for a bit about traveling Italy, our florence apartment, the decameron… the usual. for dinner we had shepherd’s pie and for dessert there were mince pies with cream… so many of my favorites! then, of course, caryn and i did the dishes and i impressed grandad with my ability to remember where everything goes… it’s not like i’ve been doing the dinner dishes ever since i can remember or anything
- caryn and i showered and unpacked to the point that our things our usable, but still in our suitcases. it’s quite odd (and inconvenient) going from living in one place for 3 weeks at a time to moving every 5 days
- wandered down to the heath with caryn. we tried to walk from the viewpoint back through the neighborhoods, past the spot i’m sure we always go through, but i didn’t recognize where we were going so we turned around and went back the way we came… i’m sure we were basically in the right place, ah well. we watched the sun set over the heath, took lots of pictures of the nature, and seeing poole all lit up in the dusk was pretty cool. the moon was also gorgeous. all in all, a good adventure. i even got to stretch out my legs properly! they have been pretty sore from riding on thursday… nothing unmanageable, but it was good to get the muscles going again
- went through all granny’s albums of the family weddings and made commentary on all the lovely 70s and 80s fashion. we also found this album from ’74-’78 that had all of chrissie’s old dance costumes which was particularly exciting for caryn
- read the first 2 chapters of middlemarch (by george eliot) before my eyes got so heavy i had to go to bed
day 51: sunday
- introduced caryn to the breakfast routine (toast with jam or peanut butter and tea) and got ready for church
- church was interesting… it was sudan sunday since granny’s diocese is linked with sudan and south sudan just declared its independence yesterday. it was weird to realize just how oblivious we have been to the news for the last 7 weeks. at least caryn & i got some world news along with the sermon
- returned to granny & grandad’s for tea and biscuits in the sunroom. once we’d finished our drinks we showed them our pictures of the key sights in rome. their interest/screen tolerance lasted just long enough to get through rome, perhaps we will show them the rest another day
- made lunch with granny and caryn. It was the usual: cheese and egg sandwiches, salad (grapes, tomatoes, lettuce from the garden, apple) and yoghurt. we ate in the lounge and chatted some more
- caryn and i headed off on an adventure to sandbanks (the beach, for those of you not in the know). we had to negotiate the limited sunday bus schedules to get into poole and then out to sandbanks (and back again in time for tea) a bit, but we managed without much problem. there were lots of tents set up on the sand for the british polo tournament, which apparently is now hosted down here, but there was only a small football game going on there so it wasn’t particularly crowded. caryn and i took all the requisite photos, collected some shells, and wandered down the beach for about 40 minutes until we were tired, then we got ice creams and walked all the way back. the walk back was into the wind, so by the time we got to the bus stop we were exhausted! i read a few more chapters in middlemarch and our ride back to poole was quite chilly (we rode on the open top of the double-decker bus, of course). we had about a half hour wait at poole bus station, so we decided to entertain ourselves with walkers crisp flavors and got 3 to try (roast chicken, Worcester sauce, and cheese & onion) and ready salted, just in case. the bus back home was 25 minutes late so we arrived back at the house half hour behind schedule, but only 10 minutes late for dinner… just in time!- chicken roast for dinner with roasted potatoes (lovelovelove) as well as carrots, broad beans, gravy… the usual. i was very proud of caryn for eating all her carrots and even taking seconds to help me finish up the vegetables. dessert was loganberries in cream with shortbread… always so good
- caryn showered while i did the dinner dishes with granny, then i showered and we all settled down to watch the kite runner together. it’s such a good film and i loved the book, but i think this was actually the first time i saw it from start to finish… i always seem to walk in for the last hour or so and always, always, always miss the beginning!
- uploaded photos, blogged, and read some more middlemarch before settling into bed
day 52: monday
- woke up around 9:45, had breakfast, and helped granny hang out the washing so they would be dry before the next loads came out (as she said, “all your little bits are going to run us nearly out of pegs!”)
- walked down to the high street to use the computers at the library. when we got there they were all taken, so we went on a mission for postcards instead. after scouring nearly every shop, including the post office, we found a few and headed back to the library. both of us managed to find an open computer and spent half hour catching up on facebook, email, etc. got proper hot sausage rolls from greggs (a café/bakery on the high street) and walked home
- helped granny make lunch – this time the sandwiches were pate and cheese and we had cucumber for the salad as well as the usual pieces. also, we were down to the heart of the lettuce, which was a special treat for me. since it was a lovely day, we ate in the sunroom and listened to the fountain tinkling in the garden while we ate
- i walked back down to the high street to buy stamps and mail all of our postcards. i quite enjoy the simplicity of going to the post office to buy stamps and post letters compared to the onerous chore it was in Italia
- tried to begin writing my proposal… which turned into taking a nap
- granny called us down to dinner and woke both of us up. today we had marrow, carrots and potatoes with the rest of the chicken... yet another vegetable victory for caryn! dessert was rhubarb crumble with custard… eeeee! :)
- caryn and i did the dishes, brought in the rest of the washing, and retired to our room where we actually sat down to write our proposals. we struggled a bit with the concept of writing a paper without the usual facebook reward system, but about half hour later we were both nearly done
- took a break at 9 to watch a detective program that granny and grandad enjoy… it’s about these old retired cops who do a bit of detective work. the plot wasn’t exactly riveting, but it was funny nonetheless
- caryn showed me all her pictures and videos of kitties (which i countered with going through all my pictures of heath!) before we settled down and i finished my proposal draft. listened to Maroon 5 in honor of July 11 and read middlemarch
day 53: tuesday
- woke up at 9:30, had breakfast, made sandwiches, and took the bus into poole. from there we transferred to the bus out to corfe castle, which took about 50 minutes. the bus drove past the bear in wareham, which made me verra happy
- explored corfe castle village, including the church, before retiring to the greyhound inn. caryn and i each got a pint of cider and crisps and we spent about an hour chatting
- bought postcards and an old fashioned lollipop from the sweet shop before walking back down to the bus stop. the bus was a bit late, but we arrived back in poole just in time to hop on the bus back to the broadway so that was convenient.
- tea and cupcakes in the kitchen while granny finished putting on the dinner. hung out upstairs wishing we had the internet to fritter our time away on until dinnertime. instead, we played several card games on our computers
- dinner was, as usual, immensely filling. we had stew with dumplings which were so so so good and plum pie for dinner… it’s a good thing i only visit once a year. over the dishes grandad and i were talking about all of granny’s delicious desserts and how perhaps he is even too well taken care of, so i responded “you only live once” and he countered with “oh don’t i know it.” which led to a great conversation (that is not as morbid as it sounds, i swear)
- caryn and i both showered and then we settled down to “plugga” which turned into playing countless games of hearts and getting very angry with the 3 players controlled by the computer… we gave them names we deemed appropriate as retaliation. once i got frustrated with cards i wrote some more postcards to my boys before returning to CRUSH the computer at hearts (finally!!!)
day 54: wednesday
- woke up at 9:30, had breakfast, read middlemarch while waiting for granny and grandad, and made sandwiches
- walked into town to buy caryn stamps, pick some things up from boots, and use the computers. we had to wait quite a while for the computers to open up, but finally we had a chance to check emails and print our national express ticket!
- bought a fresh out of the oven sausage roll, an anniversary card for granny and grandad, and got the bus to wimborne
- had a picnic on the green outside the minster with caryn, then we went inside to add another church to our list from this trip (one of these days i want to count how many we’ve been to). we discovered the chained library inside the minster and spent a good half hour geeking out over all the books up there. of course we were particularly excited by the “books of machiavelli” though other notable titles included “the life of henry VIII,” sir walter raleigh’s “history of the world,” and “the gentleman’s companion” (written in the mid 1600s). there was also a copy of the old testament in greek and a map of the world from 1750... and there was some books with the tudor rose/queen katherine’s pomegranate stamped into the leather cover and an unfinished charter from charles I for a school in wimborne (written in 1639) and an original manuscript of how to be a priest from the 1300s or something. the ladies in the library quite enjoyed our obvious excitement and told us all about everything… it was just so cool! such a madison moment.
- explored wimborne a bit more, including an old fashioned sweet shop hidden off in a courtyard down a little alleyway where i bought several sherbet lemons (!!!) NOMONOMNOM.
- took the bus back to broadstone and walked the long way home to make some room in our tummies for dinner since it was THE BEST DINNER EVERRR… aka the one where granny makes chips and sausage and bacon and beans and mushrooms and it’s wonderful. then we finished off the plum pie for dessert and taught caryn about tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor.
- caryn and i took a walk to upton country park, after the dishes of course, to walk off some of our dinner. i was glad to have the chance to revisit another one of my old haunts. the walk is only about 4 miles round trip, but my shins started to bother me since the path through the forest was cement… grrr, track injuries. other than that, it was quite pleasant
- had some milk and biscuits with granny and grandad before bed… we talked lots about university and living at home and grad schools/graduation plans; i love hearing all of their stories
- played some more hearts, sorted through our photos, blogged, read… the usual. there was a gorgeous nearly full moon straight out our windows and the clouds kept passing across it in a very eerie, halloween-esque manner… ‘twas bewitching. i also won my second game of hearts, which was far more exciting than it should have been, so it’s probably good that we return to internet land tomorrow
