The 5-Day Heat Wave

This was written on Sunday, the 2nd of July 2006
It has taken me almost a week to post this as we have been in the country with out any access to the internet.



It’s HOT! The week started out rainy and chilly and now that it is Sunday, London is now in a five-day heat wave. The heat comes and goes, but it is especially hot tonight in our hotel room. We were out in the country all day yesterday and we went to Sherbourne Castle, Montecute House, and we got to stop in Bath for the evening on our way back to London.

We only went to the garden at Sherbourne Castle and we saw a 17th century dairy. Ashlee Whitaker is researching those for her thesis. Then we went to Montecute House, which is where a part of “Sense and Sensibility” was filmed. It was the part of Mr. Palmer’s house where Marianne walks in the rain and gets ill. Courtney Peacock is researching a relief panel that is actually shown in the movie. The part where the doctor tells Charlotte to take the baby away, there is a white marble panel on the back wall that is fairly large (just incase you want to see it). There were beautiful gardens and it was a great Jacobean house with a little bit of Elizabethan as well. The family ran out of money so they never updated to future fashions, which makes it great for us art historians. We had a great time there.

Then the best part of the day came when we went to Bath, yes Lesley, Bath. We got there around 5:30, so everything was closed and the England vs. Portugal World Cup match was just about over. We stopped in at the door of a pub where we could see the big screen. They had just gone into extra time and tension was high. We watched for the first 15 min, and then we decided to walk on towards the Abbey and Pump Room. We actually, honestly, “partook of the waters,” but only Ashley, Mark, and I finished our glass full. Mark and Ash chugged it all at once. I took one sip and almost gagged, and then I had to be brave and finish my glass, so I chugged the rest. The water is rather warm, like shower water warm and it taste like water, except when you swallow it and it burns and taste like sulfur. It was an accomplishment to say the least. Then we walked up toward the Royal Circus and Royal Crescent. On our way, we stopped at another pub as the match was going into penalty kicks. It was exciting to be there as they were neck and neck. People were insane! As soon as Portugal got their last goal, we got out of there, beer bottles were thrown at the screen, and a bloody fight broke out with in the first 5 seconds. It got scary, but we just kept walking up the street. People were drunk and angry, which is a dangerous combination.

We went into the Royal Crescent Hotel and saw their garden. It is small but posh hotel. Then we tried to go to the Assembly Rooms, but there was a crowd of people in black-tie apparel. We then went to the new spa using the Roman sacred spring water. The architecture was really modern, which is out of place in Georgian Bath, but they did use Bath stone, but it is covered with high-tech glass; it looks really neat. Mark is way into getting “scholarly” pictures of us doing research and studying on-site, but he poses us to get the right shot. It is an extremely un-glamorous photo shoot. At least, it is hopefully getting what he needs to get more funding for trips like these. It has been amazing to study and do research, or at least get comfortable doing it here in London.

We left Bath at 8:20 PM and we arrived in London at 12:12 AM. It took us 4 hours to make a 1 hour and 45 min drive. There were a lot of detours/diversions on the M4 and so we had to drive through a lot of small towns like Marlborough and Salisbury. Mark would kept saying, “I’m not cranky, just frustrated!” It was an adventure to say the least.
Now that it is Sunday, we went to church and then went to Ham House. We had a picnic on the lawn that was pretty much cheese and bread and Tesco/M&S food. It was a refreshingly different kind of garden, pre-Capability Brown. The house is very well preserved along with the textiles on the walls. It was fun and a great Sunday activity. Now we are back in the hotel and dying of heat. It is 10:30 PM and we are sweating just lying in our beds, but it still does not feel as hot as last summer. This 5-day heat wave could end soon, so says the newspapers. Either way, we are all having a blast and enjoying our colleague’s interests. There is value in all the places we go, for everyone. Love you all and see you in a week!