This week has been quite busy.  Tuesday we spent an hour with the chaplain of the University of Winchester, in which we briefly described our Young Single Adult program, then exchanged questions and answers about everything from what it’s like to be a university chaplain, to baptism for the dead, to Mitt Romney.  We were graciously received, and enjoyed the experience.  We hope to have more such discussions in the future.

The Moving Van and Movers

Wednesday, we rented a van and drove to Plymouth, where the missionaries loaded it with furniture and other items from a flat from which a missionary couple had recently gone home and were not being replaced.  We returned to Southampton that evening and distributed some of the furniture (dressers, sofa, kitchen table and chairs, computer desk) to three local sets of missionaries.  We had some misgivings about driving on unfamiliar English roads with a 7-foot wide, 18-foot long vehicle, when we have felt squeezed on these roads with our little Vauxhall Astra wagon.  In fact, Paul was hoping to be disqualified from renting a truck with only a US license.  However, things all worked out beautifully, especially with the timing.  For example, we were to drop off some kitchen items in Weymouth for the missionaries there, but they had left their phone in their flat and we could not contact them.  Had they been there, we would have lost a couple of hours unloading and reloading to reach their stuff and would have arrived back in Southampton too late to get help unloading the big things here.  To psyche himself for the trip, Paul had been reciting a favorite phrase of Gordon B. Hinckley, “Things will work out,” and they really did.  We covered 380 miles that day, unloaded furniture at three locations, and returned the van to the lot around 11 pm.  Since then, driving a car here has seemed like a piece of cake.  Incidentally, one of the pleasures of traveling in England is savoring the quaint place names we encounter.  For example, one highway sign we passed pointed the way to towns named Piddlehinton and Puddletown.  Affpuddle and Tolpuddle are also nearby.  We are told the names come from the River Piddle, but since “piddle” in a place name has a tendency to provoke smirks if not outright derisive guffaws, some of the towns changed piddle to puddle.  

On Friday we incorporated a sightseeing trip into our return to Weymouth to deliver the items we couldn’t leave on Wednesday.  We visited the ruins of Corfe Castle, which must have been magnificent in its day.  It covers the top a fair-sized hill.  Built originally by William the Conqueror, it was expanded in subsequent centuries.  The castle was partially demolished in the 1600s after its owners found themselves on the wrong side of the English Civil War.  Evidently the foundations were not set on bedrock, because some of the walls tilt severly.  On the other hand, some of the crooked walls may be the result of the demolition.   And on the other, other hand, the hill on which it stands is made of chalk, which may not be the best support for a stone castle.  After Corfe, we stopped briefly at Kingston Lacy, an elegant country estate built by the same people who lost the castle in the civil war but regained their status after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and decided not to return to the old neighborhood.  We didn't have time to go inside, but we hope to return when it reopens in the spring.

Sheep Graze Below Corfe Castle, View from Bottom of Hill

Castle Gate

Long Walk from Gate to Castle

Settling Problems, If Not Addressed, Produce Big Cracks

Ruins

 

More Ruins

This Wall Was Once Vertical

Another View of Corfe Castle Ruins

Much of Corfe Was Built with Stones from the Demolished Castle

Kingston Lacy, Built by the Family that Lost the Castle

Paul has sometimes been drafted to sit in on English lessons the young missionaries teach to local residents from other countries.  He is the token native speaker when our Filipino and Polish elders are the teachers.  

 And now the language lesson:  What we call a “buggy” in West Virginia and what most of the rest of America calls a “shopping cart”, Brits call a “trolley.”  Orange juice comes with or without “bits” rather than pulp.  Both countries have post offices, but the Royal Mail delivers the post over here, while the Postal Service delivers the mail over there.  And last week an announcement was made pertaining to church cleaning assignments for the members, that they “posted a new rota for cleaning the loos.”  

Our young single adults had another service project, this one at a “farm” in the city, actually a petting zoo, that employs handicapped youth.  The young adults assisted with car-park direction and setting up exhibits for last Saturday’s public day that was sort of like a combined flea market and mini county fair.  This one wasn’t quite as satisfying as the previous month’s project, as for some reason, despite good communications about our participation, they didn’t really expect us to show up and consequently didn’t have enough to keep everyone actively engaged.

Farm Project Crew

We haven’t done much sight-seeing in the past month, but there are interesting things to see all around.  One P-day we visited Southampton’s Titanic Museum.  Southampton was the Titanic’s home port for its one and only voyage, and hundreds of locals serving as crew members perished when it sank.  Notwithstanding having practically no actual Titanic relics, the exhibit was interesting.  One evening the YSA missionaries had a planning meeting with the stake relief society president in her home.  It was built in 1780, about the time the United States came into existence, in a little town called Alresford, where all the shops are painted in pastel colors (see picture).  The English prefer not to tear old buildings down, but rather to keep them as long as possible.

Alresford's Pastel Shops

Today for P-day we went to Portchester Castle, about 10 miles from here.  It started as a Roman fort around 290 AD, then the Saxons had it for a while, and after them the Normans, each occupant adding on to it.  Its last use was as a prison for French prisoners of war in the early 1800s.  There is a nice view from the top of the keep, but it was very windy.  In fact, it was very windy at ground level:  one of our missionaries lost his brand-new frisbee, mailed all the way from the US, on the fifth throw when a gust carried it over the castle wall and into the English Channel.

Portchester Castle - the Keep

Portchester Castle - View of Augustinian Priory Built 1120s, now St. Mary's Church, from Atop the Keep

Portchester Castle - Specks on Lawn Are Missionaries Playing Ball

Portchester Castle -Another View

Portchester Castle - Our Missionaries

Portchester Castle -Sea Side with Chalk Cliffs in Distance

Portchester Castle - View from Inside the Sea Gate

Language and cultural differences continue to intrigue us.  If they don’t interest you, skip this paragraph.   When someone asks about an auto’s “registration” they mean the license plate number, which is all they need to determine the year, make, and model, as the plate stays with the car all its life.  No need to look up the vehicle identification number for parts or service.  A metal can is a tin (e.g., “tinned meats” sign over a grocery aisle).  Prunes without pits are “stoned prunes.”  Corporations, teams, and such like are considered plural entities, as in a sign at a petrol station undergoing renovation, “Shell apologize for the inconvenience,” and a headline, “Northampton Battle Back to Beat Glasgow.”  The British equivalent of our exclamation meaning “great!” or “wonderful!” is “brilliant!” while “lovely” means “that’s fine.”   The short name for mathematics is maths.  A hospitalized person is said to be “in hospital” rather than “in the hospital” as we say it.  And finally an obsolete occupation from the list for 1871 UK census indexing:  a purefinder was typically an old woman or a young girl who picked up dog manure off the streets for use in tanning hides.  Seems like a euphemistic name, and probably a hard job to fill in today’s world.  One more thing, the town name Alresford mentioned in the preceding paragraph is pronounced with the "re" silent.  And if that seems strange, read up on Alnwick's pronunciation at this link: http://www.alnwick.org.uk/faq.htm (They throw in a good bit of British humour for good measure).