Day 2
We needed to be ready quite quickly so that we could get into Salisbury and St Osmund's Church in Exeter Street for about 1130am. The funeral was going to start at Noon.
We were early and I decided that I'd do a fly-past of the church and go around the block so that I was on that side of the road for Claire to exit. In the end we got lucky and one of the free on-street parking spaces was big enough for me to park in. I did a few back and forths to get the left tyres against the kerb. Luckily they are so tall (not low profile!). The sign said free for two hours and no return for four hours. I took a photo just in case a jobsworth parking attendant came along.
Claire got out about 1135 and set off for the church that was about 100 metres away on the right. I sat in the van. Windows open, Right mirror tucked in. I didn't want to leave the van there as we were only just into the marked space. In fact the wheels were but the superstructure does overhang a little both sides. Trucks and buses passed by easily so there should have been no problems at all. I sat and read for a while. Took a photo of the spire of the Cathedral over the wall and then decided that Reggie needed a pee.
I wrote a note for jobsworth and stuck it on the windscreen wiper to say we were in the Catholic Church for a funeral. Togged up. We set off up the street past the church. I took a photo. The hearse was outside.
We then took a left turn through some wooden gates into what appeared to be a road. This was apparently St Ann's Gate. The houses along her were superb and probably millionaires only! And then it opened up and on the left was the Cathedral. It is very impressive. To get a photo (to follow) I had to hand Reggie's lead over a fence post. Otherwise it's impossible to get the photo you wanted!
We didn't get a chance to photograph the "world's oldest working clock" as the sun was behind it and the camera on my phone just glared out. I expect had the KGB that came to (allegedly) kill a dissident had said that was why they had flown from Moscow it would have been more believable than the cock and bull they came out with....
We did the loop around the structure, carefully avoiding the coach parties, and hopefully not messing up too many of their photos.... 😀 and back towards Exeter Street and the van. I was in a hurry as I didn't want to be away when Claire returned and also because I had changed into funeral reception black jeans and didn't have a poo-bag with me. Luckily the latter wasn't a problem.
We passed the bug cathedral (photo to follow) and then through the Harnham Gate (photos to follow). It's a pedestrian and cycles only gate. It even has spikes on the road to deter even the most insistent car owner! We were back in the van in good time. No sign of the parko and my note was still there when Claire returned.
 |
| Bug Cathedral |
 |
| Hanham Gate |
We went to the reception/wake. It was a nice affair and I met Claire's cousins from her father's side of the family.
I went back a couple of times to get Reggie out for apee and a walk. He didn't really want to get out. Then we showed off the van to one of her cousin's husbands. They have a VW camper. Reggie got out and ran to Claire and him and I was dreading him being over enthusiastic, but he wasn't.
When we can to leave I had a little trouble with the slope from the car park to the road to turn right. It was about half the length of the an and each time I tried to pull out something came from one side or another. We made it eventually.
We stopped for diesel and then set off into the city to take the ring road out. I hadn't shut the front rooflight. I managed to stop at a bus stop and shut it. Luckily no damage but this is the second time our pre-flight check has missed something! In fact, the same something! We were lucky the traffic lights worked in our favour and I was able to get away without hassling other road users.
We arrived back at the site and decided to move from Pitch 31 to Pitch 32 as it was in the sun and we could sit out. We went up and bought ice-creams for us, none for Reggie, and told the wardens we had moved pitches.
I was very tired and I had a little sleep before dinner. Snacks today were Aldi cider and Aldi ridged crisps. A good combination. For dinner? Bolognese sauce and linguine.
Day 3
We didn't get up until 9am. A better night with hardly any interruptions from Reggie. He has taken to sleeping on the bench seat on a rug and spends less time trying to sleep on the bed with us. He seems to have given up trying to get into the sleeping bags as well.....
We left at 10.47am. The satnav said over two and a half hours to cover 143 miles. As we rarely go over 55 that seems about right. We stopped at Fleet Services on the M3. The northbound services aren't as good, or as nice as the southbound side. Tackier and older! Still as dog unfriendly.
Lunch? A coffee from Starbucks and a King Charles III Coronation Chicken sandwich between us.... It seemed pretty much like any coronation chicken sandwich! Coronation Chicken is really chicken in a curry sauce. No doubt a throwback to Empire! We eventually ate that at home as we wanted to get going and eating a sloppy sandwich is a no-no folks whilst driving!
We arrived home just after 2pm. We unpacked the van as quickly as possible then had lunch - yes the Chazza III sandwich.
And that's another trip over. Where next?
No comments:
Post a Comment