welcome Team Member #1!!!!

more March UK holiday:

Tintagel was all I expected and more. The sheer ruggedness of the cliffs, the pounding of the sea, the ancient walls the sense of something mystical and powerful. here be dragons I think! I enjoyed the wilder environs of Cornwall, hedgerows are not neat and tidy rectangular shapes, In Cornwall they meander following the lie of the land, or where trees have grown up, or where ancient boundaries were decided. The hedgerows are bushy, thick and yes wild! The use of slate in bridges and other buildings is everywhere. There seems to be huge reserves of slate going by the quarries we passed. Arthurian legends re-iginite my mystical side.
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random googles of the day:
In King Arthur Country in Cornwally co-author and Bossiney Books editor Brenda Duxbury, recalled the magic of the atmosphere of Scilly. those Island outposts, a Cornish contender for Avalon when she reflected:

'When you have left behind the pressures and demands of everyday life-that grosser living that takes so much of our time - and in your search arrive at these final outposts, there you have to stay, for there is no place beyond.

And as you fall under the spell of these islands, you realise more and more that now there is no other place to search for the Holy Grail - all our problems have to be resolved within ourselves.'

"The quest for Arthur then is a search for our better self and selves." - Michael Williams
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Tuesday March 23rd was a visit to Southampton in the morning where I walked the ancient city walls and soaked up all the history of the departures to the new world. The remaining late medieval buildings are stupendous, the over hanging rooms and windows really create a mental buzz.

In the afternoon off to Sarum, and Salisbury Cathedral - this again is breathtaking, the history the architecture, the sheer size 'well pleased' me!!!! Modern altar frontals and sculptures in wood and stone can be disconcerting but on reflection create a continuum in the holy place.

The bishops chapter room had an excellent display of church ware and ancient volumes as well as a magna carta page. The gargoyles and grotesques were well carved. The sense of history in England really came home to me with the display of so many historical artefacts relating to just one place.

Just outside Sherborne is the three elms pub where I went one evening for a fantastic pub meal. The master of the house is an avid collector of 'toy' motor cars and also numberplates from the USA and Australia. The food was brilliant, cooked to perfection with lashings of great beers! And this is meant to be Lent - bring it on I say!

The population density really amazes me! The continual masses of people walking from bus terminals and train stations, wave after wave is incredible. People are very patient on the narrow roads. The paucity of wildlife is noticeable compared to the creeping crawling hopping flying Australian landscape.
The blustery weather with regular gusts of hailstones will not be missed by moi!