Swindon and Beyond

halleToday we puttered around Swindon and a few other places. The Cairn Mascot of the Five… the female one… joined us. It’s been a very long day for little blond doggies. Halle would like to tell you all she’s extremely tired and would appreciate small tidbits of bacon to be delivered to her place on the sofa.

Yesterday was London. The pouring rain was gone today. So if we’d gone to London today, it would have been sunny but honestly, I wouldn’t have traded yesterday for anything. It was the ultimate London experience.

  • Waited for a bus that didn’t come.
  • Witnessed a protest which affected cab service. More on that later.
  • Dug through the Tube map to get to where we needed to go. This was done quite successfully.
  • Queued like made
  • Called a cab that didn’t come because of above protest.
  • Managed the Tube again, despite the waterfalls of sluice coming down.

Have had a lot of coffee and tea. Some lovely biscuits and well, a begging Cairn.

Today we hit up lunch at the Riverside Pub. Fantastic Yorkshire Pudding filled with bangers, mash and young peas. So so nice. And then an apple and blackberry crumble with ice cream. Tamm said Bollocks after getting BBQ sauce on her shirt and the older women next to us fled like the banshee were on them. Okay that could have been because they were done with lunch but mostly… we said it was the swearing.P1020135 P1020148

Outside were two workers and I got them to show me their ink. I shall share the pix. They were adorable. One had Maori markings and had just finished them. They were at the first peel stage. He was so sweet.P1020151

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Further along the day… in a day of churches, we came across the gravesite of Tiddles the Church Cat who was a very beloved member of the community.

P1020220Sadly, Tiddles Too failed at being a Church Cat, mostly because he refused to stop bringing in half dead rats into the church during services and liked letting them go among the pews as well as being unable to be left inside of the church at night because he tore shit up. Tiddles Too’s Church Cat career ended one day when someone fed him canned cat food at their cottage and he said fuck this Church Cat shit, I’m moving in with them. I didn’t ask if there was a Tiddles Three.

In Cotswold, there’s a butcher shop with a Pickled Tongue sign and apparently hares. I took a picture of the Harry Potter Hare in the bookshop. There were other more disturbing hares outside. I’ll share those later. They’re the type of hares where one needs a bit of strong drink before viewing them.P1020307

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16 thoughts on “Swindon and Beyond

  1. Maryann

    Thanks so much for the Tiddles story. I am a collector of all things cats! I printed out the pic on photo paper and will add it to my collection. So glad that you are sharing your trip with us.

  2. jenf27

    Thank you for taking us along on your trip with you! I am enjoying the posts. I’ve never been to England, so appreciate getting a bit of it from you.

  3. Marilyn Adam

    Loved it all! I can tell you are having a blast in G.B. Now, if I could just get you to take me again to Paris vicariously. I would die happy!

  4. Patricia

    Great holiday stories. I’ve never before seen a picture of Yorkshire pudding filled with that delicious food–mmm, comfort food.

  5. Dee Ash

    Reading this and the comments makes me feel warm and fuzzy for my country despite your London trip list being a fair representation of living in London and the fact that I get sick to damn death of bangers and mash and could seriously do without Yorkshires’ as I don’t even like gravy.Do you not get much tongue in the US?

  6. Carolyn

    The Harry Potter hare is fab! I’m been having such fun going to visit along with you. My feet are not as tired as yours though, I’m sure. 😉

  7. Glad you are enjoying your trip, UK weather and all, next time you should venture up North and eat Yorkshire puds in God’s own county, fish and chips in Whitby, and afternoon tea at Betty’s after a spot of fresh air on Ilkley Moor……..Lovely .

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