2 December 2011 - a lovely evening

Following the trip around the various "haunts" of my family, John Shirley and I stopped here for lunch. It is a lovely pub, and they were definitely "getting into the holiday spirit", as at once stage, towards the end of our meal they were laying tables with crackers and other festive cheer. Unfortunately, on the Saturday evening when Dee and Dan treated us to the wonderful opportunity to stay at Cutsey, this, like many other eateries, was fully booked, but I will get to that later!

Following lunch, we then drove home, and despite feeling rotten, there were a couple of things I still needed to get from the shops, so walked into Ilminster. As I have commented a number of times, one has to have been in the UK (and I would imagine any of the northern hemisphere countries) to really "get" what Christmas is all about with the lights and that "magical feeling in the air".

That done, I walked home, and following dinner, John, Shirley and I walked back to the previously mentioned "church" hall (aptly called "The Meeting House", and it used to be the Unitarian Church in the 1700s http://www.themeetinghouse.org.uk/) where there was a Christmas Craft Faire that was held during the day.

The streets were beautiful as there were festive lights up all over the place - the streets had them strung across, and then many of the buildings were decked out in lovely festive cheery lights - all acknowledging that Christmas was coming! Below are some of the pics I took of the lights as we walked to the hall - and in the process I nearly made John and Shirley late for the event! They really were most patient with me, but I also think it was worth the effort! :-)

John striding ahead as I tried to capture the essence of the moment - quite a nice "mood" pic, I think, in retrospect!

Along the main street - I think the wet weather just adds to the whole thing in terms of the sparkling lights being reflected in the water!

One of the buildings that had been decorated

Looking down the main street from what was a kind of square in Ilminster

And then we arrived at "The Meeting Place" in time to enjoy a lovely concert by a group calling themselves "Diaspora" (http://www.diasporamusic.org/). It was just one of those evenings where you could just sit back (much to the band's consternation at times, as they felt that we ought to be doing Irish jigs :-)) and enjoy the music. Some people sang along to the various numbers that they knew, and all in all a lovely way to end my week's trip to Somerset with Mum's cousins! The concert was in aid of some or another charity, but for the life of me I can neither recall the name of the charity, or find any reference to it, so I guess it will have to remain "nameless".

That evening following the concert we walked back to John and Shirley's and while I was having my bath I could hear John playing the Diaspora CD that he had bought on a previous occasion that they had been to watch them perform. (Unbeknown to me, this was the self same CD I purchased as part of my "Thank You package" for John and Shirley, but that has now been resolved by John sending it out to us for Mum.)

And so ends yet another day of my journey!