day out in cheltenham, uk, etc

no blog yesterday as i got back too late and in truth it wasn't that exciting a day. ran five miles in the morning on the usual route that i begin with, but came home with gail rather than run anymore. seemed like a good idea to get some rest and cut it short, then do a day trip today and essentially have two days to more fully recover.

the run yesterday went as ok as a tired run could go and the day was cold but nice. afterwards i did some work around the house and some reading and then went to hit some balls-not well as it turns out- and went home early. more house stuff and on-line banking and we went out for dinner for a change.

went to a new burrito place that had just opened this week and hoped for the best. turns out that a guy from oxford who had lived in san francisco for nine years had moved back and opened this little place. and it was pretty good. for two decent sized burritos, some chips and two cokes it was only $24. and the place was full of americans looking for a burrito they could enjoy rather than what tries to pass as burritos at some of the local places. not bad. i go out always expecting the worse and am hardly ever disappointed in eating out here.

as planned skipped the run today and left pretty early for the bus to cheltenham, a decent little spa and market town about 56 miles from here. we were able to get a free ride there as the city council just changed the rules for bus riding for people over 60( almost hard to say that) and that gives us access to places we might not have gone otherwise. for instance today it saved us $36 in bus fares. thank you city council. FYI i will add that we pay $300 a month in city council tax here which they then use to pay what they call concessioners bus costs. would need ten trips like today each month for us to break even, but the tax has to be paid regardless of whether we ride the bus or not.

and we had a decent time despite the cold, somewhat windy and drizzly weather, meaning a pretty normal day's worth. after a ride with some really pretty farmland and hilly woods views, we had some breakfast there and gail bought a new hat she looks pretty cute in, and then we went to the art museum and enjoyed that. they had some nice stuff there in paintings and really old furniture and also some new ceramic pottery work that was pretty innovative.

afterwards we walked around and visited some of the old churches and gardens. the town has architecture somewhat similar to the town of bath, but on a much smaller scale. we met some interesting people who gave us some advice on what to see and to avoid and that was interesting also. we found an indoor mall and just walked around to see what type stores they had and then walked around there market place a bit.
after a little light lunch at an italian sidewalk cafe we did the walk around thing some more and gail stopped for a hot waffle treat at a stand.

and then back to the bus for the 90 minute ride back to oxford and we passed the time chatting with some people from nova scotia who also live in oxford and we compared places we had been to hike and ride the bikes. and then back to town and to the market to get a little something for a light dinner.

all in all an ok day out despite the weather attempts to ruin it. not as much history to see, but not bad. the town was a market town before it discovered in 1715 that it had healing mineral waters. read somewhere they watched the pigeons in their town and they looked healthy and found that it was the water. what can i say? that changed their mission and the town grew to about 105,000.

so an ok enough day and another one done. more rain coming this week and at long last the penna. primary will be held. let's get this thing over so we can get on with the real fight. btw, gordon brown is under attack here as prime minister like bush is back there. not disliked as much, but definitely going in the wrong direction. more on the state of the world on another day. i do grow to dislike and distrust the media more every second i breathe.

also coming up this week is the boston marathon and woman's olympic qualifier. boston was always a fun marathon to run as it is point to point and when you are out on the roads running it was neat to pass by towns and actually head somewhere. best of 3:02 there and had a good time there that year. weather can always be iffy and i hope they have good stuff this year. deena and kate should make the team, but i have no idea who will get the third slot. luck to all. will try and watch some of it on the computer.

last note- 40 years ago today i was on my way home from viet nam. left my outfit and headed to the than san neut air field. flew on flying tiger airlines from there to okinawa where i bought a hershey bar (my only memory of the stop) and then on to oakland, ca. and eventually flew united airlines back to philly arriving on april 21st, a sunday if i remember it right. it was great being home, but a little weird sleeping in a bed and not hearing all of the noise of the compound and wondering how everyone back there was doing. first time in over a year i slept without a rifle leaning against the bed.

i hope the guys in iraq get to go home soon also. also hope some of this made sense. thanks.