A Day of Commemoration in Stroud

Today was a tough day to start. I will mention here that Gill's husband died of brain cancer a year ago and it's been emotional at times for us because this is the first time we've seen Gill and her family since Rich's passing. Today a boat was being dedicated to him from his men's boat club for charity fundraising and many other wonderful things he had done for the community. So we watched a small sailing vessel be christened and listened to the speeches of the many friends he had in the sailing club. This is a special sailboat as it is outfitted for people with special needs. Very cleaver design. Afterwards we went to a pub to lift a pint of ale to Dolly (Rich's nickname). 

Before the ship christening, we had a chance to visit with Gill's friend Jenny. I had met her several times when I was here before so we had a great jaw-wag, laughing and catching up on life. Poor Dick, the more the three of us women talked the higher (in pitch and tone) our voices got. When I noticed this (had to laugh to myself) and had a hard time adjusting back to normal. 

After these events we headed to Cornwall on the M1 (similar to the I-5 in Oregon and California) and arrived in Looe, Cornwall in time to have a cup of tea before our taxi arrived to take us to dinner. Here it seems that if you want to drink in a pub or restaurant, you order a cab the previous day to pick you up and take you to the pub and then arrange a time for them to come back to take you home. I think that's quite a sensible idea - and especially here where the roads are so small that only one car can pass at a time and I wouldn't think backing up a winding  narrow road after a few drinks would be a good thing.

After a nice dinner, we walked to another pub. Gill knows the owners and we had a great time visiting with them. They had a very good blues band there that has quite a following so the pub filled up quickly. Our taxi arrived so we headed for home. Lovely day all around.



Jenny, Dick and Gill

 Boat dedicated to Dolly

 Love watching tide going out

 Pub owner holding one of the signs they have on the walls