I started the morning off with a quick breakfast and I packed my bags then left to Euston Square station where I rode to Paddington and boarded a train to Taunton. The train ride was pleasant an I spoke to a girl from the University of Florida who was staying in London as an intern for the next few weeks. Her and a friend were headed to Newquay, a popular beach town, if I'm not mistaken. Upon arriving in Taunton, Ray and I recognized each other immediately. I hadn't seen him in some time, but he looked as I remembered. After greeting each other, we got in Ray's automobile (which doesn't use a key, but a strange card-like device to unlike the doors and start the vehicle via a push-button) and rode over to house of Ray's son, Andrew.
There, we picked up Andrew and his things for his stay over at Ray and Connie's house for the weekend. I got to meet Andrew's girlfriend, Tina, and their dog Gabbie. We then rode back to Ray's home where we unloaded everything and I got to meet Connie. We sat down to a quick lunch of sandwiches (which were delicious) and then the three of us (Ray, Andrew, and myself) set out on our trip around Somerset.
One of our first stops was a place called Cheddar Gorge, where you drive through a rather large granite, I think it was, gorge. The rock-face walls reach high above you and the views are amazing. We stopped and ate some ice cream before proceeding on. We drove for a quite while and got to admire the views. We also rode by a placed call Wells Hill where, one winter, 300 sheep died by being buried in the snow. Keep in mind that we were at quite an elevation. Somerset, unlike much of the rest of England, has some rather large hills and whatnot. On our tour around we also rode through a town called Glastonbury, a supposedly very "spiritual" town, where they have a well that people used to believe ran red with the blood of Christ. It is in fact the effect of water running through iron ore in the hills. Also there is a legend of some saints arriving there then striking the ground with a staff, causing a tree to grow. We saw several odd little shops and quite a few hippies/folkies walking around there. Which, on our way out of Cheddar Gorge we saw true-to-life gypsies! Ray called "Romanies" because they roam around. They had a caravan, ponies, etc. It was something fun to see.
We arrived home later that afternoon and I found that Nana had called but I missed her phone call. She had called earlier when I first got there. After dinner (a tasty roast), Ray and I went over and saw Mick, my grandmother's brother. Ray and I went inside and spoke to Mick and his wife, Betty, for quite a while. They were very pleasant and welcoming and we had quite a good time. After talking with them, we went and saw Connie's sister, Iris, and her grandchildren Kate and Charlotte. Ray startled me a bit because he just walked into their house and yelled for the girls, then walked by a wall and into the living room. As he did so, I walked into the house as the girls were coming down the stairway. So, I stopped in the doorway as not to frighten them. Since they couldn't see Ray, I didn't want them to think some stranger just barged into their house. They were all very nice and fun to meet. The younger grandchild, Kate, had hurt her left arm in gymnastics.
Now that I come to think about it, we may have eaten dinner after we returned from Mick's, though I'm almost certain it was before. The rest of the night we sat around and chatted a bit, before I went to bed. The room I was in faced the street and although there is a streetlight that shines into the room, I slept quite well.
