Sunday was an historical day, I have known for a while that the Pope was due to visit Cofton Park which is 2 miles from my apartment.  On Saturday crowd control barriers appeared and then at 5am the road was closed in both directions.  I felt unwell at 5am and got up to get a drink from the kitchen and saw the police vans heading towards the park, I then went back to bed to be woken at 6am by choir practice.  Eventually, I emerged and decided to head off to the corner shop for a bottle of Ribena so that I could make a hot blackcurrant drink to soothe my throat (Beechams Lemsip Hot Berry Flavour was awful and I could feel my mouth dry up only Ribena would do).  I had to remember to take proof of my address with me so that I could get back in..everything seemed to be in lock down.   Getting to the corner shop was interesting as barriers needed to be negotiated and I had to keep an eye on traffic turning into Tessall Lane because a diversion had been set up.  I was surprised that the corner shop was actually open and I managed to get my Ribena – I declined a bag because I felt that the bottle is slightly bomb shaped and it was better to have it on display rather than hold the bag up for inspection.

I decided to walk home on the opposite side of the road (same side as the shop) because I had seen police on the pelican crossing closest to my apartment and thought that I could get through there.  I stopped to chat to a policewoman who had been sent from Shard End as she was manning the barrier across the end of Farren Road, the poor thing looked bitterly cold and she did comment on my sandals but my feet were warm despite the drizzly day.  after the chat, I continued to walk towards the other crossing and when I arrived was told by the policeman on duty there to walk back the way I had come, I decided then to show him proof of ID and gesticulated towards my home..he let me cross.

On arriving home, I decided that as the roads had been closed that I would grab my camera and wander down to Longbridge Island where I knew that there was an old mini sculpture that had been created by the council which was covered in flowers – I have wanted to take a photograph for a while but its kind of hard with traffic whizzing around.  I managed to get my photos despite the rain and on wandering back I noticed that where the old Metro works were it was now being used as a coach park with 1000 coaches parked there.   As I walked back a crowd of police officers headed towards Longbridge Lane and on looking back I saw the Pope’s cavalcade drive past – it has been rumoured that his helicopter would land on Cofton Park but to be honest I didn’t see how it could so think that he landed on Waseley School.  I went home into the warm where I could have a hot drink and watch the Mass on the television.

I am not a religious person and disagree with the Catholic Church and their archaic ideas but I felt that it was an historic occasion.  It has been 500 years since there was a state visit to the UK by the Pope (the visit in 1982 wasn’t a true state visit) and he was due to beatify Cardinal Newman so that he was one step away from sainthood.  Cardinal Newman is buried in the Oratory cemetary which is close to the Lickey Hills and he used to walk around the Lickeys and Cofton Park to ponder his life etc.   Cardinal Newman also founded the Oratory in Birmingham.  It was interesting to watch the beatification and the mass – and have learnt that the waving of incense is to assist prayers to heaven (I always thought it was to waft away the smells of the worhipping populace).  I was surprised too that in some ways the Catholic mass is similar to the CofE gatherings in that they had the Lord’s Prayer and sang hymns which are the same.  It really was a joyous occasion.  At the end of the Mass, I switched off the television and headed out once more..this time down to the traffic lights outside the old Rover works to wait at the barriers because I had heard from talking to the policewoman earlier that the Pope’s cavalcade would be driving along Bristol Road South to the Oratory.  We didnt have long to wait as the policeman looking after that set of barriers announced that the Pope was on his way (earpieces are fabulous things) ..soon two police motorcycle outriders came past followed a little while later by 10 more and then by the cavalcade of vehicles – the Pope was in the Black BMW and he waved as he went past..above our heads were helicopters circulating..the police and Sky News.  It was sad that not many people had turned out along Bristol Road South to see the Pope but then we didnt know that he would be travelling that way – we had been told that we could approach the local parishes and pay £25 to see the Pope or we could go to the Hagley Road by the Oratory to see him there…Sky News commented on the fact that so few people had turned out to see.

I felt that seeing the Pope and watching the service on the television that I was part of an historical day..something to tell the grandchildren (if I had any but I don’t as I am childless).

It turns out that 2000 police were on duty and there was only one arrest – loads of people were treated for hypothermia on the park because they were inappropriately dressed for the weather conditions and it was rather cold and wet.

One thing that I did notice about the day was the number of other religious factions pushing their religion onto others – I had the Jehovah’s Witnesses trying to tell me their Truth and telling me that the Pope was the devil incarnate, I reminded them that pushing their religion onto others is a mortal sin (I know it is a sin it says so in the bible) and then I said that I was a pagan which was even worse.  I cannot be doing with such people.

I went on a road trip this weekend as I was attending a photography course in Honiton, Devon on Sunday so I thought that I would drive down on Saturday and maybe get some photography in, however, this was not to be.  Saturday was extremely wet in the morning so I waited for the rain to stop before heading off on a two and half hour trip to Honiton..big mistake as I got held up near Junction 4a of the M42 (I was on the M5) due to rain?? Who knows really what the problem was.  Everything seemed to be going well despite the gantry signs telling me that there was queuing traffic from Junctions 14 to 23 but they were miles away and surely everything will have cleared by the time I got there.  I soon realised that I was heading south on one of the busiest days in the holiday calendar with loads of cars, caravans and the like all heading the same way as me.  The traffic was so bad that people were queuing onto the motorway to get into Strensham Services.  It went from bad to worse as I soon hit the expected traffic and my average speed slowed to a mere 9mph to top it all my X10 phone’s battery died so I couldnt find an alternative route off the motorway…it has a poor battery life..it lasted 2hrs!!

The gantry signs changed to say that Sedgemoor Services was closed..but people must be thick or can’t read because they were pulling into the services and you could see queues forming tailing back onto the motorway.  I missed Junction 25 which was signposted Honiton and a host of other places thinking that it would be better to jump off at Junction 28 which would be a more direct route to Honiton and then I came to a grinding halt and then inched along the motorway past Junction 26 (sometimes I can be really stupid) to come to a grinding halt again with ambulances whizzing past on the hard shoulder at such a speed as to rock my car, police cars were seen racing up the other carriageway to Junction 26 where they could turn and come down to us.. just by Junction 27 there had been a massive pile up caused by stupid drivers who had rammed each other.  Coming off the motorway I discovered that the road to Honiton was closed..or rather the road signs were telling me it was closed yet cars were coming from the direction I wanted to go..so I took a risk and set off.  I eventually arrived at my destination at 5pm having set off at midday!!

I stayed at Home Farm in Wilmington on the outskirts of Honiton on the A35 Dorcester Road..the place was pleasant and I was given the tour by Steve Lundy, the owner.  My room was an outside room which was better for me really as other rooms had to be accessed via the restaurant which isnt good when you get back late.  I soon met up with Pete whom I had met on the previous course and he invited me out to dinner with the 4 of them, his mate Ryan was there along with two new people, Sheila and Pete – initially I wasn’t going to go but decided it would be a bit sad if I sat in the restaurant on my own eating dinner.  We headed off to Sidmouth and found a pub selling reasonable and cheap food – I had steak & ale pie with chips, gravy, savoy cabbage, carrots and cauliflower and although the portion was fairly big I nearly demolished the lot because I hadnt eaten since breakfast.  Getting to Sidmouth in Pete & Ryan’s car was an adventure as their satnav kept trying to send us up farm tracks but eventually we arrived at our destination, Pete 2 and Sheila arrived about 10 minutes later as Pete had headed towards Seaton instead.  We had a wander found the pub but afterwards Pete 2 decided he was going back to the hotel and I went with him leaving the others to take photographs of the night sky.

Sunday was ok – breakfast was ok and I admit that I went back to my room afterwards and promptly fell asleep until about 11.45am when my best mate rang me for a chat.  I had to ring off because I thought that I was getting a knock to meet for the off for the photography course but it was only the housekeeper.  We gathered for lunch and I had crisp belly pork on a bed of bubble & squeak with creamed savoy cabbage although it was nice there was far too much cream for me…we headed off on our trip to Dartmoor which is quite a bleak place.   I never realised that I had signed up for an extreme adventure..the trip was hair raising at times not helped by going off road in a large taxi which isnt built for offroading and then having to negotiate dark, narrow lanes after the sun had set – there were no street lights so we had to avoid sheep, rabbits and the occasional pony (these run wild on the moors).   Before the offroading and night driving we stopped at various picturesque spots to take photos and we stopped in one village for a proper Devon Cream Tea with tea, scones, home made jam and clotted cream (so thick it wouldnt fall off the spoon without help)..not bad for £4.40.  I still didnt learn about composition though!! 

Trying to find food late on a Sunday night was nigh on impossible and we stopped at a Little Chef (aka Little Thief) but were given short shrift by the gobby manager who yelled at us that they were closed and that they closed at 10pm – it was 10.01pm and we had followed someone else in who was being served..so the hunt began and we ended up at Sowton Services for a foul burger from Burger King.  We arrived back at the hotel at around 23.43pm but I went straight to bed because I was tired and my eyes were sore because I had missed taking my meds.

I shall post some photos when I have uploaded and tinkered with them.

After a gloomy day yesterday, this morning dawned bright and pleasantly warm.  I went for breakfast at 8am and had poached egg on toast (wierd that the toast wasn’t buttered but hey ho), I saw the others too – they were heading off for work, Pete 2 looked worse for wear but he said that he didnt get to sleep until 5am.  I decided that I didnt want to go home via the motorway so decided to take the scenic route instead.  I headed off along the A35 to Dorchester, stopping for an hour in Bridport (for some reason I thought it was on the sea but it isnt – the sea is at West Bay which I avoided).  Bridport is an ok sort of town – one main street looks like any other street in the UK but the small street I was on contained some interesting looking shops.  I stayed for an hour or thereabouts and headed towards Dorchester (lots of police activity in the area too), I headed for Blandford and then to Shaftesbury.  I last visited Shaftesbury in 2003 for the Moto Guzzi Club GB V-Twin Rally (this is now held at Fordingbridge in Hampshire), the town used to look forward to the Guzzisti but the arrival of Tesco put paid to our staying on the cricket field because they swallowed up so much land.  Letting Tesco in was a huge mistake because Shaftesbury has lost its spark…it is becoming like other towns where superstores have opened..just full of letting agents and charity shops.  I was disappointed to say the least – I parked on Somerfield for 2hrs (turns out I could have parked on Tesco for 3hrs), where the butchers used to be, is Blackfoot Stores (this used to be off Park Walk in a tiny shop) and the bakery next door had also closed and become a Costa Coffee, King Alfted’s Kitchen was still there and the small greengrocer near Somerfield was still hanging on (this shop is quite ancient and has been in Shaftesbury for at least 50 years or more).  I wandered to the Salt Cellar at the top of Gold Hill but this was heaving with customers and I couldnt be bothered staying, I nipped into the Mitre and used their loo but again decided against eating there.  I ventured into a charity shop and bought a melamine sandwich tray – this is going onto my windowsill for my bottles etc.  Feeling peckish I headed for The John Peel Restaurant which has had a face lift but still contains bench seating in booths altmost – this is affectionately known by the Guzzisti as The Whale’s Gullet.  Here, I had a pot of tea (contained enough tea for 3 cups) and ham, egg & chips for around £4.95 altogether - I should have known how much food I would get as the plate contained 2 fried eggs, a portion of chips, 3 large slices of ham and salad.  I feel mean that I didnt visit Bob, the Town Crier but I didnt have hours to waste as I wanted to be heading home.

I nearly didnt make it home as I nearly hit some stupid nitwit..I had pulled across a junction and had checked that there was nothing coming from either side but nitwit had his foot put down and he never bothered looking – he cut me up a treat and visibly jumped out of his skin when I tooted my horn (thank goodness for good brakes).  Nitwit proceeded to the roundabout where he indicated right and proceeded to travel around the round about in a dangerous manner – he didnt like being in his lane, he wanted to be in mine only I was going a different way.  Thankfully I managed to avoid him and headed off up the A350 towards Warminster.

It was a lovely drive along the A350 to Chippenham and the A429 to Cirencester and onwards towards Warwick and Junction 15 of the M40..it started to rain by the time I reached the A429 towards Stow on the Wold but it managed to hold off properly until after I arrived home at 4.55pm – the A roads are better than the motorway and I barely saw a car.