Bury St Edmunds

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." - Noel Coward

We ventured into Diss yesterday morning, stopping at the motorcycle shop to say hello to another of Merv's cousins. Myron diverted Merv into a book shop to give me a chance to go into the sports shop to buy an Ipswich football shirt for Merv. Jacob and I had planned to give the shirt to Merv for Father's Day on Sunday. Unfortunately there are no football shirts available until July. I managed to secure the only piece of Ipswich football memorabilia in the store - a cup then went into another shop to buy an English themed t-shirt and barbeque apron. As we had a trip to Bury St Edmunds planned for the afternoon, Myron felt quite assured I would be able to get an Ipswich shirt there.

Bury St Edmunds is a city, though it seems only marginally larger than Diss. What marks it as a city is the presence of a cathedral. That is the way it is here - cities have cathedrals. No cathedral, no city. We did a bit of shopping on the main street where every other store seemed to be a charity shop (what we call second-hand shops at home). There are some wonderful treasures to be found. Myron and I escaped to the modern mall where we hit three sports shops in search of the elusive shirt without success. Oh well. I will have to order a shirt from the Ipswich football team website and have it sent to Canada for a different occasion.

After our walk through Bury St Edmunds we headed home to enjoy a barbeque. Emma and Neil are returning home today so we said goodbye to them last night. I expect we will next see them in Toronto. They are travelers and one of their friends has recently moved to Toronto so they are planning a visit.

This morning we will go into Diss to see another of Merv's cousins, this time stopping into the funeral home. We have a visit to a steam train museum scheduled for later today. Late this afternoon were hoping to spend a few minutes with an elderly aunt and another of Merv's cousins. Then it is dinner at a new pub. Tomorrow we head to Cambridge for the last leg of the family visits. The pollen count is still sky high here and Jacob is still miserable. The weather forecast predicts some relief tomorrow.