Newbury, England

April 17 Friday 2009

THATCHED HOUSE IN VILLAGE

Today we spent the day discovering Newbury.....a wonderful town, really special and has tons of history

to start with we went to a village nearby which is known for thatched roof homes. the design on the top of the roofs is amazing and really qualifies as art. it is so tiny that there are NO stores, so it beats La Bocana in this category = 1 point. there is no gas station = 2 pts. No pub = minus lots of points !!!

then we went to town. in the information center, we got some brochures and started to walk around: one of the first places was St Nicolas church which is exquisite with many stained glass windows. there, i got a chance to pray - believe me, I could pray giving thanks for the rest of my life and it would NOT be enough, so I prayed for us ..but I also prayed for maureen rich and kids - prayed for dalton gabrielle and kid - esp prayed for mom cause I need for her to live forever and I am thankful that she takes such good care of herself. prayed that christine will see the light and lighten up so that we can all enjoy her once gain. prayed for bruna so that she will have an easier time at life and make ends meet easily. prayed for les's kids - that they reach their individual goals. so you see, it took me a while and I asked Les to take pics of the stained glass windows while I was praying. it was early and he was patient !!

THIS IS AN ANCIENT ALLEY

Newbury is busy, but not too busy. It is old and new mixed together. the butcher shop was amazingly well set up. the arcade is an ancient alley and has had stores for centuries.

We are at the back door and think it's the front door !!!! dumb mistake cause the museum was in fact open !!!!!

Newbury has a number of old stabling establishments as it used to be the middle point for people traveling to Bath from London in an attempt to escape the heat and stench of London in the summer. They say that one of the inns could house 300 horses. There is a famous story of a man who made a be that he could sheer a lamb inthe morning and create a coat by tat evening. I guess he won, 'cause the coat is still on show in the museum (which we did not have a chance to visit since we erroneously went to their back door - it's the pic of me in front of a door with an interesting lion knocker). oh well. the swans swim all around the canal which has a very strong current. Les tells me that many places in Englan have small reservoirs to collect rainwater. However, they are so small that, inthis land of mega rain , there are still water rationings during the summer when it is very hot and sometimes doesn't rain for 6 weeks. Bizarre, cause it really does pour down when it rains. and we all know it rains quite a bit to put it lightly !!

we are here with Malcolm and Linda and Ed and Kate. they are being so very very friendly and kind to us. Linda is a treasure trove wealth of information - ask her about any town and she can give you details !!!! they have already been to new zealand this year and will also be going to Norway .... he collects old cars from the 50's and fixes them up for fun. Ed is a chip off the old block since he does the same for porsches bmws and other cars i do not even recognize....

Arthur's sister Linda

just a quick mention - in st nicolas church there is someone who was buried in 1776. ummmmmmmm ummmmmmm ummmmmmmm the U.S. was just becoming a nation ..... staggering to me. just staggering to think of all the history here. and the style:

The Perpendicular Gothic period (or simply Perpendicular) is the third historical division of English Gothic architecture, and is so-called because it is characterised by an emphasis on vertical lines; it is also known as International Gothic, the Rectilinear style, or Late Gothic. in other words - st nicolas is breathtakingly beautiful.