North Sea Serenade – Wincanton

This morning we got up – took a shower in a bath whose sides were as large as the Saracen stones at Stonehenge and Tom had to help me in and out.  I will be so glad to get back to my own shower.

So we have breakfast and all I felt like – after weeks of excess – was toast and coffee.  You would have thought I shot these people in the foot – anything else madam?  Nothing madam?  Are you crazed madam?  LOL  All I wanted was toast – and it was home baked and delicious and I didn’t need anything else. 

So off we go to Wincanton.  We are driving and the entire trip is like this:  you are too close on this side – I’m too close on this side – OMG Tom you’re too close – I’m too close on this side too.  It was nuts.  You have tiny two lane highways and people parking on both sides and traffic going both ways.  It’s insanity.  And so finally we make it to Wincanton and luck upon an excellent parking place.

When we get to the Discworld Emporium (DE) they fell upon us like lost family members.  It was so warm and inviting and special.  There was a whole bunch of stuff in that store that I still could have purchased but we had to carry it home.  It turned out on that day that they (DE) were entertaining a woman from the tourist bureau whom they were trying to get to add a tourist attraction sign to the highway so that people would come and see Wincanton and Somerset because of the DE.  So between sessions with that woman Bernard invited us into his office – which is one of those offices you would love to say oh my what is this and what’s the story behind this – a lovely office.  And he sat and talked to us for 45 minutes.  He is having extreme pain in his right knee and had a hard time getting around but he was so warm and wonderful and I have to say I love this man.  He told us that Terry Pratchett had offered to pay for his knee surgery which he is now scheduled to have in January thanks to socialized medicine but he didn’t want him to because he said then “Terry would own my knee and make me tattoo on it that this is the property of Terry Pratchett.”  If you have any opportunity to spend time with Bernard or Reb or Ian or Isobel (of DE) you should avail yourself because they are the most wonderful people on the planet.  And they have two lovely lovely cats.

So after Tom and I purchased everything in the store which Tom is now trying valiantly to pack we started our way back.  Tom bought me a silver quantum butterfly made by Ian who helps run the DE.  They also gave us a couple of sneak peeks about what is coming up for them and Terry.  But we can’t post about it because they trusted us not to leak the information.  Suffice it to say – it is amazing. 

As we were exiting the shop the woman from the tourist bureau wanted to speak with us and asked us if we really had come all the way from California to see the DE – well you know the answer is absolutely.  She said she didn’t have a lot of opportunity to speak with foreigners.  So we told her we would take her information and next time come back and be even closer to DE.  Bwahahaha.  LOL

I wanted to get a picture of the sign which says Wincanton that says twinned with Ankh-Morpork.  So Bernard tells us that it is by the grocery store.  We go to the grocery store and I walked up and down the highway looking for the darned sign only to find on returning that it was right there all along.  So we have pictures.  And also there is a housing development beginning in Wincanton which is based on Terry Pratchett novels unfortunately the sales office was closed and we couldn’t see his hands in the cement.  But I did get a picture of the street signs: Treacle Mine Road and Peach Tree Lane with Hens and Chickens Lane and a couple of others. 

So we are wending our way back – Wincanton (which goes right by Stonehenge BTW) with our you’re too close, I’m too close, there’s a car!!, there’s another car!!, it’s only due to Tom’s excellent driving that we are back here in one piece.  I would still be sitting in a roundabout crying.

So we come back to the hotel thinking we are going to relax but the room across the way has a bride for another wedding and the door is slam, slam, slam constantly.  Happily she is getting married at the moment however I’m worried about what is going to happen when they come back upstairs.

Tonight I had a scallop, salt baked cod (which was not salty as the name suggests but very tasty and lovely) and that banana macaron again and Tom had the scallop (which does not taste at ALL like Pacific scallops) and the lamb that I had last night.  The manager of the restaurant, the server and another girl that has waited on us before says where did you go today?  Wincanton.  I love Terry Pratchett too.  See? I’m never leaving!

So it appears that Tom has finished and we’re going to sleep and so tomorrow – home.  I will do one more blog which will be a recap of our feelings and bests and worsts probably not tomorrow but Sunday.  So now we go to bed happy, happy campers after a wonderful, amazing day and a wonderful, amazing trip.