MEETING FRIENDS IN SALISBURY

We set off this morning in drizzle and whilst waiting for our bus to Salisbury, the heavens opened. Mr. HCB, being the optimistic soul that he is, predicted that the rain would soon stop and the day would be sunny. Well, I have to hand it to him - he was right and except for a quick shower when we were having our lunch, it has been a beautiful sunny and even warm day.

We sat on the top deck of the bus and could see that many fields were flooded and in fact, where the water was running off the fields, the roads were quite bad in places too. When a large bus goes through water at the side of the road, it is best to be ON the bus, not BY the bus!!

We hadn't seen our Swiss friends since we visited them in October 2012 so it was great to catch up with them again and also with our neighbour from Boscombe, who is married to their son/brother. Mr. HCB suggested I should be in the photograph, so here we all are in the bottom left photograph.

Our friends wanted to visit Salisbury Cathedral so we made our way there and despite it being half term, it was fairly empty. We spent some time in the Chapter House and were privileged to see one of the four original 1215 copies of Magna Carta. For more information look here.

I particularly liked the window dedicated to "All Prisoners of Conscience", which is shown at the top right of my collage.

There is also a beautiful and unusual font, shown at the bottom right, which is near the North Porch. It is in a cruciform shape with spouts at each of the four corners from which water constantly flows in smooth filaments of water. The piece is made from patinated bronze with Purbeck stone cladding around the bottom. I particularly liked the reflections in this photograph.

At 1 p.m. we were invited to stop wherever we were and pray, which was quite moving, and finished with The Lord's Prayer - although not everyone stopped, I felt a sense of being one with the many thousands who have done that over the years in Salisbury Cathedral.

We had lunch together and we laughter, chatted and caught up with each other, but sadly, before long, it was time to say "Goodbye" but we hope to see them again very soon. Thank you, dear friends, for a wonderful day.

There will be more photographs on my Flickr page soon.

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter,
and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things
the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Khalil Gibran


Thank you, fellow blippers, for your kind comments yesterday - I am still not commenting much, but am looking at your blips and enjoying them.