when we get up it early this morning it promises to become a hot day: 27°C have been forcast…we don’t really care that much: we are off to cold & rainy england.
12:05 — hmm…having landed 20min before the scheduled arrival time we are on our way to the ncp flightpath location where we intend to pick up our easy-car: it’s rather hot and humid…nothing in the direction of rain or coldness, not even vaguely!
14:15 — we arrive in winchester and i manage to find the wykeham arms on the first attempt! (which is no small feat: the wykeham arms is located in a twisty little maze of very narrow roads [a bit narrower and i could touch both sides of the road with my arms outstretched…well, almost :-)] and finding the right hole to disappear into is not exactly easy)…unfortunately, the car park in the back is “under construction” (apparently the kitchen is being redone) and we have to park our easy-vauxie around the corner (at first we are way down the road, then later in the afternoon manage to move up to half-way down, and then finally in the evening manage to snatch a space right around the corner: once we’ve squeezed easy-vauxie into that spot [and it must have been the tightest spot i’ve ever parallel parked a car into; i’m rather impressed with myself that i pulled that miracle off, usually, i’m not a great parallel parker and on occasion dorothee has called for a taxi to the curb] we unanimously declare the bazaar closed and decide that easy-vauxie is going to stay put until tuesday when we shall leave for the isle of wight).
after checking in (we get the very beautiful chapel view room in the saint george building across the road from the wykeham arms, facing to the back towards winchester college) we take advantage of the fanstastic summer weather that presents itself outside and walk through the cathedral gate towards the deanery — the deanery’s garden is open today: a wonderful, walled garden, maintained by volunteers under the direction of the present’s dean’s wife (“a keen gardener”) stretching all the way back to the bishop’s place. we enjoy the warm afternoon sun, the occasional slight breeze, the little kids playing in the grass, and, of course, the lovingly restored deanery’s garden.
after a walk about town we return to our room for a quick nap before we meet with friends for dinner at ghandi’s (an indian restaurant, as the name suggests ;-). before we leave i decide to cable-lock the laptop to a cloth rail in our cupboard, forget to tie in the camera — and hit panic stations when the bloody cable-lock won’t open with on the programmed number combination! it’s a nerve-racking 20min during which i try to get the stupid cable-lock to obey its master (or at least the combination i programmed into it) and it’s when i start looking at the mounts of the cloth rail and contemplating getting a philips screwdriver that it all of a sudden yields…pheew! after a quick shower (i was completely drenched in sweat after these panicy 20min) we are off for a short drink at the pub and then on to ghandi’s — we enjoy the evening with steve…the food is OK… getting a jug of water for the three of us turns into a struggle of wills: the first attempt at least produces three glasses of water; attempts two, three, & four are duly acknowledged and duly ignored; finally attempt five seems to breach the no-jug-of-water-wall and we get a nice jug of H2O.
a nice, relaxed day inspite of all the travelling.
