Change of Plans

We were supposed to go to Spain for winter break this year, but we put off purchasing tickets during the flooding, and the day after the election, Josh commented that we needed a trip that felt like a hug. We had a family meeting that night and decided to switch plans and go to the UK.

We wanted to end up in London, staying in our favourite hotel and going to our favourite restaurant and doing our favourite things. But we also wanted to add in a few places we haven’t been before, so we dropped in Devon, Suffolk, Norfolk, Yorkshire, County Durham, and Oxfordshire; visiting a few towns in each county.

I loved spending time with the kids in a place we enjoyed and watching all of us relax for a few weeks. The ChickieNob walked us through the architecture of every cathedral and the history of each town. The Wolvog photographed each space so we could look back on it once we were home.

We ate cake pretty much every day, and one time, the Wolvog convinced us that it would be an excellent idea to eat a second round of scones. (Spoiler alert: It was not.) We saw two plays, had two sessions in rare book rooms, went back to Buckingham Palace for the East Wing tour (which took you into the room with the famous balcony), bought a lot of books, fell in love with two churches, walked on the beach in Southwold, and saw the earliest mermaid carving in England in Durham Castle (around 1078).

A story: Before we left Bury St. Edmunds, we returned to the abbey gardens to walk through one last time on the way back to the bus. A man sat on the ground by the front gate, surrounded by 30 – 40 pigeons. Some of the pigeons had lined up in front of him, and they took turns jumping into his lap where he would pick them up, cuddle them for a moment, nuzzle the top of their head with his cheek, and then open his hands to release them. They would fly a few feet away, and the next pigeon would hop into his lap for its cuddle. One, it was incredible to see the patience and organization on the part of the birds. Two, the moment filled me with hope for the world. There are people out there who spend their afternoon cuddling birds, and they are just as real as the people out there set to do damage. The key is remembering that.