I must include these flags and the description of the donors. The U.S. Flag was a gift to commemorate our Bicentennial. Another piece of American-related history from Gloucester has to do with the organist and composer, John Stafford Smith. He served in Gloucester and London during the 18th century and wrote the tune which eventually became our National Anthem. How about that? I included a photo of Peter Baldwin, our fantastic British tour guide, who attended our Evensong service at 5:30pm Monday evening. Sunday and Monday were his days off. (His son, Simon, took good care of us instead.)
After Evensong, we made our way to a quaint pub on a river for a buffet dinner of chicken legs, pasta, quiche, sandwiches, fishsticks and the most decadent dessert - chocolate cake with cream and also cream puffs. I tried a ginger beer and enjoyed it. While the food was being brought out, the group had the opportunity to play Skittles, a game that's 600 years old. It's much like bowling, but with 9 pins. The pins are placed, however, just wide enough for the ball to roll between them without knocking pins down! There is nothing electronic about it either - a young man set up the pins and rolled the 3 wooden balls back to the next player. Everyone got to play two rounds. Our organist, Dan, had the top score of 16 pins down after two rounds. It was fun to see everyone try out this ancient sport. You'll see my first attempt hit nothing, and the second/third rolls got 7 pins down total. On my second turn, I only knocked down 5 pins. Oh well, needs work. Guess I'll stick with golf....
