Not prehistoric, prehistoric...

Fortified with our English breakfasts, we marched off to the cathedral Monday morning. This picture was taken the Sunday evening, in the clear sunshine, but next day, it was dreary and grey. We had a tour of the inside, and Stephen and Arthur then went up the tower, but they didn't let kids as small as Elaine on that tour, so she and I did the kid activity of "find the winged horse in the stained glass and the hedgehog on the big memorial" which was fun. The boys first saw the interior of the church, then Arthur had to pretend to be a worker from the 13th century and turn this big wheel, which was used to lift large loads of building stone. They used 4 men and could lift a ton in half an hour! Arthur had to do it alone, but only for a few minutes, and with
no load, so that was fine! Then when they reached the top of the tower (bottom of the spire) they went outside and looked at the view. Hmm, they say you can see Old Sarum in the distance!

We also saw the museum that day, which had lots of stuff about Stonehenge and its rocks, as well as old clothing (very fancy schmancy dresses and jewels, and the odd red coat for the soldiers) and ceramics and flintlocks and all that stuff!


On the way home we passed this lovely house, with stripes of brick and flint stones. Nice, eh? We saw a lot of brick and flint, but none quite so stripey as this!

Next day we headed off to Stonehenge. It was pretty efficient to go on the bus, and since it was a blustery day in October there were only about a quazillion people there, instead of the 20 quazillion there must be in the summer!

When I was little, we lived in England twice when my dad (my one loyal reader!) was on sabbatical, and we came to Stonehenge and just wandered among the stones, sitting on the flat ones! But alas, no more... The barrier is not too intrusive, but it would be great to get closer and mingle with the stones, if you know what I mean.
So here you have me and the kids (Elaine was starting to get sick, and the wind really was pretty outrageous, so I had to lug her around a lot!) and Stephen and Arthur trying to hear their audio guides. We took all the classic shots, and then some, but I think you've all seen pictures of big rocks before, and they are exactly the same as everyone else's shots, since we all walk around exactly the same route!

Now, being a knit-blogger, I knew it was my job to show my half-knitted sock a good time at this great photo op. So I had a sock ready... I've taken sock pictures at several places, but a sock on a flint wall is just not the same as a sock at Stonehenge... and I completely forgot about it in the wind and the kid-lugging.

I was crushed.

Obviously I had failed; I was not a true member of the knitting blogosphere, or blogiverse, or whatever... So, I tried to make up for it, by taking this picture of the sock and the grass and probably a sheep or two and junk in the background, when some bird flew in and made it a much more interesting picture! I hope it's some rare blue-crested walamazoo or something, but I think it's probably a crow.

And, where, you are asking, were all the post boxes? Well, I was quite disappointed in the post-box situation in town. You'd think a town so full of old buildings would have a bunch of Victorian post boxes, but I didn't find any.
Some George V, which I'll show you one day, and quite a few tiny little ones, including an Elizabeth II near Old Sarum. But the most odd, I thought, was this space-age (made in 1980, according to the Bath Postal Museum) EIIR at Stonehenge! (Sorry, I think Arthur is sticking his tongue out.) I like this style a lot, and especially at an ancient monument. The aliens must really have landed here, built Stonehenge, and left some bit of their spacecraft behind.

Let's see, the next day we advanced beyond prehistoric to the Age of Steam... Tune in tomorrow! Actually, tomorrow my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are coming from Victoria BC to visit, and it would be polite of me to get the dishes done and stuff, so I'll do my best, but can't promise. Elaine has been home from school for 2 days with hacky cough and fatigue, but she'll just have to be restored enough to go to school tomorrow!