DAY TWO HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE - home to mouth of the River Wey

The three of us – in Malcolm’s rental car – picked up his brother, Stuart, at Heathrow around 10, and took off immediately for home – Weymouth.  With me and Becky in the back, it was a perfect place to observe a little sibling interaction. (Till the day we die, it never goes away, you know – even when the players are all grown up.) Stuart, who is the younger of the two, gently – and subtly – teased/harassedpoor old Malcolm on a regular basis along the way as we drove. (It was when we were alone together, later, that Malcolm revealed that though he was the older brother, both Stuart and his dad had teased and belittled him {As smart as he is, Malcolm struggled, and struggles, with some definite learning disabilities.} quite shamelessly through his growing up years. Oh, those triangles – I know how they work, and they are deadly! Made me very sad for him, because he is an awfully good guy. You would think treatment like that would cause you to turn out to be NOT such a nice person.) That said – and I learned it subsequently – Stuart was a pretty amazing gent himself. (A reminder that both Malcolm and Stuart are Scottish, with wonderful brogues.) He married an American and has been living in Connecticut for years. He is a retired college professor, I believe. He was very well-spoken and interesting.

One potty stop, a little look at Dorchester as we drove through on the way home, the having dropped Stuart off at Malc’s home, our local guide took me and Becky to a place he  had been wanting to take me for weeks – a little country hamlet called Little Bredy (said like Breedy), much like stepping back in time. (With the exception of those who live there {maybe six or seven families} automobiles are prohibited from driving down the sloped lane into the area, to help keep the magic.) It was lovely:  fields and old farm cottages in the rolling Dorcet countryside – its own little community, with its own church and everything. There was an old, enormous manor home, as well – still lived in by the lord of the manor (most of the property remained in the hands of the family) – though we could not trespass close enough to see it well. Malcolm told me that the branch used to come here for outings – back in the day when times were simpler, life was kinder – before he was divorced and kids grew up. (Little Bredy was all very much like the old feudal system I studied in my History of England class back at BYU before coming across the pond – very much like out of the past. Cool!)

As we neared our hotel destination, I asked Malcolm if he would please drop us off near the bird preserve, where, with Jennifer, I finally had had a chance to make use of my binoculars! From there we began our walk home – Becky’s first introduction to my seaside home, Weymouth – first stop to Aldi, my all-time favorite grocery/everything store (Can you believe they actually have Aldis in Tennessee where Becky lives . . . AND it’s the very same store?! She just never goes there because it is too far away to make it convenient. I first came across it in Independence, Missouri, introduced by Jenny, and now I’ve been there in Amsterdam, as well. Boo – regrettably, we do NOT have them in Utah!)  – to get us some provisions for the next couple of days that weren’t fried or full of fat. Then, having dropped our bags off at the Richmoor, we took a little evening stroll through town in the waning light. (Didn’t buy anything, of course, because, as Becky soon learned, the shops/stores had closed for HOURS!)

For that one night we got to stay on the topmost floor of the hotel, in the room of my chosing – because of its incredible view of the ocean. (Of course, as you know – if you’ve done something similar­ – it’s dark when you arrive and by the next morning you want to get out and about, and honestly don’t spend much time sitting around admiring the view! Oh, well, such is life! It’s the thought that counts – right?!) We stayed up WAY too late babbling away, just like a coupla tweeners at a sleep-over.

[Oh, man, I remember running back and forth a million times that night – between our hotel room on the 3^rd floor (four floors up, if you’re counting American style!) to the main floor, down the flight of stairs into the private areas/heart of operations of the hotel, through the kitchen, then into the Godwin house, up two more flights of stairs to my bedroom over there, and then back again! We kept needing different little things . Boy, I sure did get my exercise that night!

On one of these excursions I had run to get my binoculars:  Becky had been peering out at the black sea (what you could see of it) and suddenly exclaimed, ‘I think that’s plankton out there – see? There on the crest of the wave? It’s glowing! I’m sure that’s what it is – Ray and I have seen it before!’ I passed Loraine in her lounge, vegging – something I hardly EVER saw her do – and as I ran past, I told her what Becky had discovered. ‘Nah, sorry – it’s the lasers. It’s green, right?’ Yeah . . . it is. As I dashed back, wheezing through the door, as I had just broken the sound barrier hurrying to get back to have a gander at this proposed phenomenon, Becky said sheepishly, ‘sorry, it’s gone.’  Well, great! It seemed the city had invested in laser lights to produce a magical night show on the sea during this past summer’s Olympics – when sailing had been the event in the local harbours and drawn in the crowds.  I had seen the towers, but never made the connection. Haha – the joke’s on us.]

Photos_

1- Dorchester - a gorgous medeviel town (close, within our branch's boundaries); Becky will attest to the fact that this site is in no way unusual in England - in fact, quite common
2- In front of one of the cottages in Little Bredy; (Connell told us that existing homes that have thatched roofs have lost the option of doing away with them or not, and are now required by local law to maintain them – no matter the expense {they do disintegrate over time due to the elements} – due to policies of British heritage. How about that?!) I know we look a little dodgy– chalk it up to Malcolm taking our picture before giving adequate warning

3- the Lord of the manor’s church, to which all the peasants were invited – the way it was (still in operation)

4- where the streamlet runs through the rock arch and cascades down along its course (you can barely see the arch just above us on the left) - these are a perfect example of exactly why when people say, 'here' let me get you in this one.' Thank you, no, I just don't fancy being in every single picture. I just really happy to get a shot of what it is - and that's it!

5- view from the other side, with a different perspective

6- mystery of the plankton solved!