May
Teresa
spent Thursday 2 in London with Helen, but we remembered to vote in the County
Council elections when she got back.
On
Saturday 4 we redeemed a Christmas gift voucher for Jay to have a riding lesson
at Tallands, a leading school of equitation near Cirencester. We needed to call at a supermarket on the
way, and headed for a Tesco we had not been to before, which Teresa’s phone
informed us was in Upper Slaughter, near Bourton. Satnav,
unfortunately, took us to a moderately sized Tesco in Stow, but we
gamely turned around and headed for Bourton, remembering on the way that we had
visited Upper Slaughter only last year, but had seen no sign of a
supermarket. Indeed, what would be the
need in an area of population c. 5,000?
It turned out that the location was in error.
Thus
we continued on to Cirencester, thinking that at least we would be in plenty of
time for Jay’s lesson. However, though
we had been to Tallands a couple of times before, we hadn’t learned from
previous mistakes, and we let the satnav guide us via an endless series of slow
single track roads to the wrong destination.
As we drove past the ‘Private – Keep Out’ signs we realised our mistake
and sheepishly turned round: luckily
Tallands was just around the corner.
Jay had a good lesson: it was nominally a group lesson, but in fact
all four riders in the group had their individual instructor, so it was
one-to-one tuition.
When
Jay had finished, we went into Cirencester to find a supermarket, ending up
in new Tesco, bigger even than the ones
in
Roger
vowed to avoid the back roads on the way home, but, alas, we made a wrong turn
almost immediately on leaving Cirencester.
Thinking that the satnav would soon return us to the main road, we
followed its instructions, only to find that for the whole way back we were on
another series of narrow minor roads all the way to the top of Stanway
Hill. A very direct route we discovered
afterwards, looking at the map, but a tortuous drive.
◄ Jay at Tallands
On
Tuesday 7 Teresa held a coffee morning for half-a-dozen of our near neighbours
(ladies only). Roger buttled briefly.
We continued to visit Jay in
◄ Teresa’s pizza
The
long, cold, and sometimes wet, spring finally started to relent towards the end
of the month, and by the Bank Holiday weekend the sun had returned and
temperatures crept up towards normal.
Both girls were home. Winchcombe
was holding a cultural festival throughout the weekend and Teresa had booked
for a few of the events, including a local choir and a pottery session for the
girls. There were also street
entertainers and stalls to enliven the town.
On the Saturday 25 we had our first barbecue of the year.
Morris dancers on Abbey
Terrace Helen hands-on potting
Roger tends the barbecue
On
Sunday 25 we took Helen for another look round Malvern. A beautiful day saw us buy picnic food en
route, and we headed to the Winter Gardens for an alfresco lunch. As we ate we saw members of a brass band
heading towards the bandstand, followed by numerous couples carrying folding
chairs. It was indeed a free open air
concert. Before stopping to listen, we
made the steep climb into the town centre, where we saw many interesting niche
shops and enjoyed the views both over the valley and up towards the hills. On the way back we looked round Malvern
Priory, before returning to the gardens and listening to the band. A thoroughly pleasant and relaxing day out.
|
The
|
Roger and Helen after
their picnic |
|
Malvern Priory – among
many interesting features, it boasts some of the finest stained glass windows
in the country |
The Great East Window
dating from the 15th Century |
|
The cultural nature of
Malvern was demonstrated when, out of the blue, two gentlemen approached
Roger outside the Priory and asked whether he could tell them where the
onomatopoeia occurred in Dulce Et
Decorum Est. Though, luckily,
Roger knew the poem, he was at a loss for an answer, whereupon the questioner
supplied his own. |
Roger and Helen pause to
listen to the band – in the background the fine view up to the |
