Dear Jack,
I woke up and had class as usual. I checked my email and found that there was some complications with Robinson and his election to bishop. He is accused of touching a man inappropriately. There is a full inquiry going on about this. I am interested to see what it's all about. It is a shame I must learn things a day later though.
After a quick lunch (pizza), we got on a bus to head for Stratford-upon-Avon. The bus trip wasn't too bad, as it was air-conditioned, and I had a seat to myself. Betsy sat in front of me. I am not sure why, but she comforts me with her presence. It is sort of a strange thing to have between friends. In Stratford, we took a bus tour around the basic town. We stopped at Holy Trinity Church and went inside to see where Shakespeare was buried. The church building was beautiful. We then went to his wife's house... the Anne Hathaway Cottage. It was out in a hamlet NW of Stratford. We took a walking tour through the home with a few stops at a guide inside. I learned a few things such as the origin of "a square meal", "window", and "upper crust". A square meal comes from a type of plate that was used in the Elizabethan era which was square with a carved out bowl area. The people would put a stew in it, eat it, sop up the juices with bread, lick it clean, and then set it back in the cupboard. To do this meant you had a square meal, as the plate was square. Window comes from Wind Hole where the smoke would go out through the walls. Upper Crust comes from the idea that when bread was baked, the lower half usually was burnt. Thus a roll would be cut in half, and the "better off" or more important people were given the upper crust... thus where that term came from.
After the Hathaway house, we were dropped off in the town center. We took a group photo. Then everyone dispersed. I figured I'd go to the Shakespeare birthplace. William Br., who got left behind again, came with me. The exhibit wasn't all that interesting, after seeing similar exhibits before. The house itself was very well preserved. Many of the rooms had tapestries on the walls. After touring the house, William and I went to the park by the river to eat our sack dinners. I had a rather bad tasting egg sandwich. I think it would have been better with salt and refrigeration. We then sat by two large swans sunning themselves. These swans were around three feet tall, if not bigger. We told stories to each other from different books we had read. That is something I cherish about the friendship of William. Very few others sit and just tell stories, and discuss literature. At around 7 we found the rest of the PC crew and got our tickets for the Shakespearean play we were going to see... Richard III. The theatre was not impressive. I was hoping for a Globe-styled theatre. The play was interesting for the most part. I though that some of the acting was a bit cheesy, including the death scene of Richard III where he squirms like a cockroach recently squirted with Raid. Margaret, the former queen, also was given some cheesy movements. Specifically she sits on her haunches and rocks back and forth taunting the other queens. It looked like a scary scene from a 70's porno... although I must admit that this idea comes from speculation, as I have never really seen a 70's porno. But if there are any surviving... Margaret was surely in them.
We rode the bus back around 10:45 that night. Jeffrey G. sat next to me on the way back. I had asked him to tell me about his calling. I find it interesting to see how different callings are so similar. He then asked me to share mine, which I did. Afterwards we chatted about PC and how are callings have brought us there. I think all was good. One thing that I must note is that he has a very distinct way of talking... uses "just", "you know", "like" and talks a lot about "the Lord". The first two are noteworthy as they were in replace of ums I guess. He said stuff similar too, "Things are like, just awesome for me, you know?" The second note regarding the Lord was that he said it often as a replacement for God the Father and Jesus Christ. Thus things became ambiguous for me as to what he really was saying. I think it is something interesting how different back-grounded people describe the same Being who is known to both by those differing titles.
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