Hello! Woke up incredibly early this morning (and therefore incredibly tired, as neither of us had fallen asleep until 1am). We had to be at our tour meeting point by 8:30 and wanted to make sure we allowed ourselves plenty of time to get lost, although we'd already plotted out our route yesterday evening. We're starting to feel quite accomplished at navigating the Tube! In any event, we were soon enough buckled up and on our way.
We were a bit concerned about the weather, and sure enough, it started to rain during the drive. By the time we got to our first stop at the cathedral at Salisbury, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky. (That's us within the watermark circle there in a corner ledge of the building.)
The cathedral has one of the only remaining copies of Magna Carta sealed by the king under which it was issued (it's been a long day, I can't remember who it was and Sherlock does well to refrain from deleting the *current* monarch. If you really want to know, google is marvelous!). Anyway, as we obviously couldn't be photographed with that one, here we are with a copy.
Then it was off to Stonehenge! During our short drive there, the weather took a turn again, but I really thought the low-hanging clouds quite fitting for the setting. Could have done with less wind...Sherlock and I both fell over from a strong gale force before we finally got this picture.
Bath was next on the agenda. It was nice, but we both agreed we preferred the first two stops of the day.
This Roman centurion was a bit not good when he pretended to throw Sherlock into the water in slow motion, complete with high-pitched screaming sound effect. Brought back some memories I'd rather not revisit. We scurried away from him immediately after the photo was taken.
After that, it was time to head back to the bus. Walking past this unique advert for a comedy, Sherlock declared that he was reminded of Billy and demanded a photo.
And then we had the long, cold (driver had the window open), that-one-annoying-guy-who-knows-everything-is-still-talking, tour-leader-and-bus-driver-bickering-again, we're-tired-and-everything-is-hilariously-funny-right-now drive back to London. We occupied ourselves for part of it taking selfies. Even Sherlock got into it! Here's a normal one:
...and here's a funny one. Our faces! 😂
Then...we got back to London and the driver declared that he was off the clock as it was one minute past his quitting time, pulled the bus over and shut off the engine. The tour guide was raising her voice and telling him where to go (Tube station, not afterlife destination, although that probably occurred to her as well) and he kept shouting, "No! I cannot! I cannot!" The tour guide called the company while the driver stomped off the bus and said he was leaving in ten minutes whether we were off the bus or not. Here he is, having a smoking break while we were all sat on the bus wondering what was coming next. That's him above my head.
During another shouting match with apparently his own boss (it appears that the tour company had a agreement with an outside bus company), he said what I think was my favourite line of the day, "This is not your taco cart! This is MY taco cart!" He then hung up with, "THIS IS MY FAVOURITE JOB!" and started the engine back up. It was a quiet ride from there to the station...except for Sherlock's and my stifled giggles, because again, everything was hilarious by that point (think of us post-case and you'll get the idea). Tube back to the hotel and then, because it was nearly 9pm, we ordered a pizza from the 24-hour hotel takeaway bar. Sherlock tried his with brown sauce and declared it superior to the malt vinegar, although he does prefer the malt vinegar on his chips, for anyone who cares.
Goodnight from London and see you for another update tomorrow!
- JW