*The Fright of my Life*

After getting a good meal and settling in at the hostel, we had some group time to get everyone on the same page and get questions asked and answered.

After that, there was time for everyone to relax and get used to their surroundings. I decided to try and find the pay phone that was rumored to be about a five minute walk away.

This is about 8:30 at night and the sun sets around 5:00, so it was really dark. A quarter moon was up and the fog was settling in as I started to walk in the direction that had been indicated to me. As I got closer to the first turn, I realized that I had to walk past a cemetery (that’s right, another one). With the gravestones starting to obscure the fog, I realized that I was walking in the English Countryside. Like the same English Countryside that so much folklore and scary tails come from. Thinking about it now, I’m surprised that I didn’t end up seeing the Hound of the Baskervilles.


That's right...another cemetary

Now, my imagination has been overactive since the day I was born (my sister likes to say that I was a “nervous child” when I was younger), but I am also, now, a six-foot-tall bald man who can look pretty mean if I have too. After collecting myself for a second, I put my imagination away and kept on to see if I could find that payphone.

After about two more minutes of walking, I was starting to feel pretty good about keeping on going and was striding out, trying to get to the phone and be done with my creepy walk down the shadowy, cobblestone street.

Just then, a bell tolled out and four bright shining lights came on to my left and above me, casting shadows everywhere that I was trying to look.

Stopped in my tracks and covered in light, feeling more exposed than I ever had before, I froze. Looking slowly to my right I realized that I had set off the motion detectors for the driveway that I was passing and that the lights were just there to mark the gate. The bell that had tolled was the clock tower of the church that was ringing on the half hour.

Merely coincidence, to set the lights off at the same time as the bell rang out, but just enough to give a twenty eight year old bald guy quite a fright. Seriously, I thought I was in Scooby Doo or something.

I made it to the phone though, unfortunately, after all that, I had to leave a voicemail. Some nights you just can’t win.

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The next day (today), after class…I did a little more exploring of the Stratford Area: the house of Mary Arden, one of the tourist sights in Stratford-upon-Avon. It had live actors who portrayed a maids, farmers, and workers from the time of Shakespeare. It was like a real live working farm, but unfortunately it was a three mile walk from town. Now, I knew it was supposed to be that long, but I thought it was going to be a nice leisurely hick down a couple miles of foot paths. In stead, it was the side walk that ran along a busy highway, just past the Burger King, Staples, and Mattress King (it seems that not even the birth place of the most notable writer on Earth isn’t even immune from fast food, office supply stores, and furniture outlets). Once I got back to town, I wasn’t able to see any more sights. Here's some pictures from just walking around Stratford-upon-Avon.


The sign at the edge of town, as I walked back in.




Holy Trinity Church (where Shakespeare is buried).




Me at the Avon River.

Tomorrow is a bunch more sights after class, and then Henry VI (part 3) at the Crown Theater…