A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Now we headed west thru Portsmouth and Southampton toward Salisbury, with no Garmin, GPS tracker or cell phone to aid us. I don’t know how we ever found our way the rest of that almost 85 miles to South Newton, Salisbury and to our first B & B, but 
we finally got there just before dusk. Newton Cottage B & B was an “Olde Worlde” (circ.1670) thatched roof house, that we learned was listed as a building of historic and architectural interest. It was typical of a lot of the homes in this area, many of which had been converted into B & Bs. This was the only B & B reservation we had made from the U.S. and we were thrilled with the accommodations. Of course, the doorways and ceilings were very low, the stairs and floors squeaked, and when the ad said “Central Heat” that meant warm enough for the English, not for someone use to Florida weather.
There was another couple staying at Newton Cottage with us and we all had a 
wonderful time comparing travel notes. The local Pub, where we took our evening meals, was just across the street from our B & B, and down a small tree covered lane. What a picture that made! As it turned out, the Pub owner collected matchbook covers, as I did, and he gave me some of his duplicates. I made arrangements to send him some of my duplicates as soon as we got home. (Another fun hobby lost to the demands of the environmentalists).
DiVoran remembers sitting in the kitchen one morning with Mrs. Clark, looking at a field across the road, full of gamboling lambs, and saying how sweet they were. The mistress said, “Indeed they are adorable. But, every spring when I see them, I must school myself not to think of roasted lamb.“
We stayed at Newton Cottage two nights while we spent the days visiting the sites in and around Salisbury. Salisbury has a beautiful Cathedral which was finished around 
1260 AD, after the city was first established in approximately 1220 AD. We visited a unique War Memorial and cemetery for the men from this southern Wilshire area who fought and died in what was then called “The Great War” (1914-1917).
And, of course, we visited prehistoric Stonehenge, which is located only 8 miles north of Salisbury. Archeologists now believed construction of the stone structure, as we know it, could have begun as early as 2500-3000 BC. There are no written records of who built the monument or why, but the most popular theories are that over the years it was most probably used as an ancestral worship center and burial ground for 
many different cultures. Whatever religious, mystical or spiritual elements were central to the construction of Stonehenge over the centuries, its design includes a celestial observatory function, which might have allowed for the prediction of eclipse, solstice, equinox and other celestial events important to contemporary religions of those different times.
We asked our hosts at the Newton Cottage B & B to look over our guidebook, for the town of our next planned night’s stop, and give us their recommendations for accommodations. This turned out to be a wonderful way to set up our lodgings for the whole trip, as most of the time the B & B owners knew each other, or they knew of other respectable B & Bs which would best suit our needs. This took a lot of pressure off us and made our trip much more enjoyable.
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill shows me the stress cracks in the round tray that goes into the bottom of our pressure cooker to keep things from burning on the bottom. I’ve never heard of a stress crack before, but I see them, tiny tracks from one air hole to the next. Bill studied them in Aeronautical engineering school, could tell me a lot about them. The engineer friend he admires could tell us even more.
of the road, and steer from the right side of the car; that meant I was going to have to drive with my right hand and shift with my left hand, while trying to keep from hitting a pedestrian or running off the road into a ditch. Are you beginning to get the picture? All this, while trying to read the road signs and dealing with the “Round-A-Bout” intersections, that were new to both DiVoran and me. I was going to have to retrain my brain if we were going to live to see the rest of the UK we had come to visit. DiVoran and I agreed that she would remind me to stay on the left side of the road every time I started to stray to the right. Leaving the rental car agency parking area dumped us right into Charlwood city traffic, so it was white knuckle driving from the “get-go” with DiVoran yelling, “KEEP LEFT” – “KEEP LEFT” at every cross-street and round-a-bout.
those cool looking red telephone booths to call the rental car agency, who told us we would have to take the car to a Vauxhall dealer in the area to get them fixed. Great! Now we had to locate a Vauxhall dealership in a town we knew nothing about, and pray they wouldn’t give us a hassle reserved for “American Tourists.” As it turned out, we were able to find the Vauxhall dealership without too much trouble, and they fixed the wiper motor, without as much as a, “And where are you from, Yank?”
Museum there. The Royal Pavilion was built in three stages, beginning in 1787, as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, and was not finished until 1822, where it was used as a remote location for the discreet liaisons of the then King George IV. The Brighton Museum & Art Gallery contains beautiful displays of Art Nouveau, Art Deco furniture and other decorative art. There are also Sussex area archaeology relics and the history of Brighton. The Booth Museum of Natural History, the Preston Manor and the Grange Rottingdean are short distances away, but we were getting tired and saved them for another day.
After she died, and Jessie couldn’t keep them up, she placed some of her knick-knacks and beer steins there, so she could enjoy them.
was fascinating. Actually this same theme was throughout the house wherever there was tile – kitchen (white with black), downstairs bathroom (green with black), etc.
brother’s chose to not spend the holiday with me, I have mourned, cried, tried denial and even went on a Thanksgiving cruise. Nothing has worked to chase away the Thanksgiving blues. This year I am changing things up.
Old Things R New 