6/11 – The best view in Gloucester

What I did:

I woke up and read a little (I wanted to finish a book before I left so I could take a different one with me, which I did). Then I just waited around a little until it was time to go to the train station. I did not have to be in Gloucester until 7:30, so I was planning on getting a train at 3:15ish. I walked over and it was a really beautiful day. The train that was leaving for where I was going was leaving earlier than I expected, but I made it and got on. Halfway through the trip, though, we had to stop because there was an obstacle. Apparently there was a tree limb that had to be removed. Now, when they announced this, I thought it was a limb lying across the tracks. I don’t know what it really was, but they had to get some guys with saws out there and we were waiting for a while. But the obstacle was removed and we were on our way.

I had some more train problems, mainly because of that first delay, but to make a long story short, I made it to Gloucester at about 6:45. So I had some time to kill and I walked around the city center. Now, I don’t think I can even describe this but as soon as I turned onto the “main” street, the one with all the shops and stores, it was like nothing I have ever experienced. It was almost dead quiet. Ghost town is the first thing that pops into my mind. I could hear every little move I made. It was incredible. There were a few other people walking around, but ultimately it was as close to silent as I have ever been in the middle of a city. Granted it is no big city, but still, I was really taken aback, and a little creeped out. I guess the biggest contributor was that there was virtually no traffic there.

Anyway, I walked around a lot and found some interesting ruins and walked down to the “Historic Docks.” Before long, it was time for me to head to the cathedral. The community I was meeting today is called Feig, and every other month they get together in Gloucester Cathedral for what they call a feast. This was pretty much all I knew going in. So, I found the cathedral alright, and met Michael, who is the guy in charge that I had contacted. I walked into the cathedral, which was pretty much empty and up into kind of a second tier area (I am sure it has an official churchy name) where lots of people had gathered. I met several great people right off the bat and had some great conversations. After a while of waiting for everyone Michael greeted everyone and introduced me. Apparently, the large group that was there tonight is actually a bunch of smaller groups that meet on their own outside of this “feast.” So, he encouraged everyone to meet each other and blessed the food. It was kind of a potluck type of this but there was lots of food and wine.

So I talked for a long time to lots of people from stuff ranging from US geography type of things, to why I was there, to emerging churches in US, to Obama (which always seems to get brought up), to all kinds of things. We ate and after a little while we had the opportunity to go up into the tower. This part was great. We got to go to the very top of the cathedral into the topmost tower. The view was amazing. I stayed up there for a while talking to people some more, then headed down. When I got down I ran into a guy that was taking some people to see the cloisters. Now, these very cloisters were used in the filming of Harry Potter. No joke. It was pretty cool. I walked were Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked. I think that made this whole trip worth it. Lol.

The cloisters were pretty cool though, as was the whole cathedral. And we had free and open access to it all. After walking around for a long time and talking to people the whole way, I met back up with Michael and talked to him some more. He took me around to where they had kind of a contemplative area set up for people to walk through with several stations. It was in a quiet area, and he told me all about it. Then we went back and I talked to even more people and hung out around the food through the end of the evening. I helped tear down, and then Michael gave me a lift to his house, which is literally a one minute walk from the cathedral, and I crashed for the night.

What I learned:

Gloucester is pronounced glawster. I explained to one guy my inability to pronounce it and he said it should be spelled Gloster.

Live, active ghost towns can exist.

Trees are mightier than trains.

Some people even over here really, really like Obama. One lady confessed to me that she even had bought an Obama hoodie.

I might have an opportunity to play on some grass courts! I told someone, but I never met the guy who actually would have access to the courts. Hopefully that chance will pop up again.

There are some amazing people here. I was blown away at Pall and his hospitality, and tonight was equally incredible (not to say anything against Pall). Everyone was friendly and I enjoyed every minute of it.

There a LOTS of steps to get to those high towers.