Day 8

After the excitement of craft shopping yesterday, we had a quiet day this day.

Carol suggested a ride to Coombe Park to have a look at the gardens.

The tulips were still flowering gloriously and we wandered through the garden to a seat at the top of the park. It was sunny but cool. The tulips were stunning colours and varieties and the photo does not do them justice.

Day 9
Carol and I decided to go over to Bromley to have a look at the shops. It was still pretty cold so I decided to buy some new jeans, as I was sure I would need then for the cruise as well. Spring just has not been at all warm while we have been here. Managed to find some good bargains and we headed back to the Vicarage.

Day 11
Sunday, and we went to church. It was an interesting service as the preacher was Adjoa Andoh.
Adjoa is a lay reader from Herne Hill who also starred in Invictus, the movie about Nelson Mandela and the Rugby World cup. After the service we had a brief word with her and she was the most delightful, unassuming person who has a strong Christian faith. She has also been in TV programmes such as Dr Who, Casualty, The Bill etc.

After church we had lunch then headed off to Birchington, Kent, where David and Carol have a house that they plan to retire to in 2012. It takes about an hour and a half to get there from Shirley.

Spent the next few days at Birchington and visited a few places, including the shopping centre at Westwood Cross, a garden centre at Broadstairs and Canterbury.

Canterbury is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. They now charge for entry to the Cathedral as they are trying to raise a lot of money to undertake repairs to the cathedral, but David flashed his clerical ID and we were allowed in for nothing!

We spent  quite a bit of time walking around the cathedral as it has been added to over the centuries and has a lot of little chapels as well as the main body of the cathedral and the crypt. A lot of tombs are there as well, Henry VI and his wife, a number of archbishops and wealthy patrons from centuries ago.

It was a very cold day and Roger and I ended up buying jackets to try to keep warm. Still, they were quite cheap and will be useful for the cruise  too!


Picture above: Memorial outside the gates to the Cathedral at Canterbury.

Picture at right: Canterbury Cathedral - looking towards the main entrance.