Saturday

Since we didn't get the tube pass Friday, we decided not to go to London today.
It was cool and breezy, but sunnier than Friday.

I had looked up tides and such Friday night, because Ced wanted to go back to the beach when the waves were there, and so I knew high tide would be at 10:50. That would mean a timely start to the day in order to see the tide come in. I really didn't want to drive 2 hours just to walk on the beach for 30 minutes, and we didn't have anything else lined up for the road out, so we decided against that.

We realized that we didn't get curtain rods for the drapes we bought Friday, so decided to go to Mildenhall BX to get some, and after that we'd find something - maybe go to Ely Cathedral.

So we packed up and went to get rods. We found some we both liked for $11 each. The children played a bit on the play house display, and we looked at toys and patio furniture.

After a trip to the toilets we were headed to the food court for lunch, when a lady standing at the cell phone place caught my eye. I smiled, and she said, "I saw you at the BX yesterday." I replied, "We're not organized enough to do it all in one trip." And so we started talking. They've been here just a month, but were here before, so know their way around. She asked about church, and we admitted to not finding a home yet. She said she knew of a couple of "plain" folks in the area, and also mentioned a pentecostal church in Ely. I gave her our number and she promised to call.

Well, as we were getting settled, they came into the food court, too, and sat down to lunch at the table next to us. We continued talking as we ate, and really enjoyed the fellowship. I hope she does call.

After lunch we drove to Ely, and finally found a parking spot. We walked over to the Cathedral in between rain showers, and then decided to go to the tourist info center to see what else was in the area. The TIC is also Oliver Cromwell's house, and there is a museum thing behind the TIC shop. So we walked in the door, and the lady said, "Can I help?" and Bob said, "We just wanted to see what you have here." So she said, "You can't take the pushchair in, because of the stairs, but I can park it for you." Oh, she thought we wanted to go through the Cromwell museum. So Bob and I shrugged at each other and decided to go. I didn't realize it was a charge, but it was about $25 for the family.
We got the audio tour things and went on our way. The rooms weren't labeled for the audio things, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. There was a short film in the first room, then the larder, then kitchen. Then we went upstairs to a family room, where the children tried on period costumes and played a game or two. We weren't quite done when a couple came through, so we hurried on to let them hear their audio tour. The next room had some war stuff - swords, armor, and info. Then the study, followed by the bedroom. Just for fun, the bedroom was dark and spooky, and there was a recording that came on automatically about how Cromwell died, and then how he was dug up and beheaded for treason, and something about the house being haunted... but we shuffled out before that got too far. I'm sure the devout protestant would be thrilled to hear that part!
The last room was the 'tithe' room, still decorated as originally with dark wood panels all around. But a nice big table in the middle with papers and crayons for the children to make their own coat of arms. They had fun with that.

Well, our car park had a 2 hour limit, and we decided against spending more money to go to the cathedral in the rain, so we headed back out of town.

Stopped at Tesco in Newmarket and bought some Nutella and 2 chocolate pastries, then home for dinner and play time.

wow.

Ced wore a pull-up and stayed dry all day! I'm pretty pleased with this effortless toilet training.

Time to get ready for church. We're going to the Ely one the lady mentioned.