TO BATH

Up early, before the six-o'clock alarm this morning, ready to join Flora in taking Hugo to the train station--a daily ritual on those days when Hugo returns to Cirencester for the night. It's a demanding schedule for a fourteen-year old, leaving on the 6:43 train from the neighboring village of Kemble, spending the day at school and, sometimes, working at a voiceover or acting job after school, returning home on the train at 6 or 7 in the evening, or even later. Remarkable dedication, for one so young.

A quiet meditation with Flora in her sitting room... always good to have the company; and a bowl of porridge cooked up with a touch of fresh ginger, quite delicious. Time enough to get the blog posted before leaving Cirencester for the hour's drive to Bath, to meet up with Flora's daughter, Louise and her husband, Martin for lunch. Passed through Tetbury, where Prince Charles has his country home and celebrated (and originally much mocked) organic garden, on on through lovely Jane Austen countryside, green meadows, gently sloping hillsides, woods, ponds and bridle paths, all somewhat marred by the driving rain. It was cold, wet and gusty by the time we reached the park-and-drive outside Bath, but the views of this gorgeous Georgian city were still spectacular as we drove into town on the top floor of the double-decker bus...

Once there, we walked down through the soggy center of town...

... to the local Marks & Spencer, to acquire something warmer to protect a Southern Californian against the inclemencies of the English climate, then back up to the Jamie Oliver restaurant, where we found Louise...

and Martin...

... waiting for us. We soon worked out that it has been thirteen years since we last saw them. They have been living in Spain, so we have missed them on our visits to family in England; but have now moved themselves and their business to this very lovely city, bustling not only with the tourist trade but also those coming into town from the surrounding county--as they did even back in Jane Austen's day.

An excellent lunch, and a wonderful opportunity to renew contact with our family...

Flora is fortunate indeed to have two such lovely daughters, and a grandson who is so talented and dedicated to his passion for the theater. Between us, we consumed more food and wine than we should have done, in celebration of a grand reunion. And gabbed endlessly.

After lunch, some sunshine...

With Louise and Martin returning to an afternoon's work, we wandered the streets a bit and stopped in to visit the abbey--a huge church remarkable not only for its graceful architecture...

... but also for the hundreds of elaborately engraved tombstones...

... that line the walls on either side of the chancel, all quite fascinating to read with their wonderful epigraphs in flowery prose and funerary verse. A good moment to pause and contemplate the life and death of so many human beings who once walked the earth, as we do, with all the same pains and pleasures that make up our own lives.

We made it back to Cirencester in good time to rest up a bit before Hugo arrived back home. Out to dinner at a local restaurant, easy walking distance, and home to bed.