four

The following day my Aunt took me for a walk in the quarry near their house. I learnt all about stinging nettles and how much pain they can bring. We were hot and tired by the end of the walk so we stopped off at a pub on the way home and had a bicardi breezer and coke on empty tummies. We went home singing and very happy. My Aunt was singing the following song:

    Show me the way to go home,
    I'm tired and I want to go to bed,
    I had a little drink about an hour ago and it's gone right to my head.
    Oh, show me the way to go home......(continue as before).

We just relaxed in the afternoon and got sober again! Little did I know what I was up for in the following two weeks!!!

I got out of bed and ate some breakfast. My Aunt and Uncle took me to Arbeia Fort. This fort was built in AD 160's. It was the main port of entry into the Roman Empire in Britain. Originally it was a Garrison but became a military supply base for forts along the wall.

We then went onto Bedes World in Jarrow. Saint Bede was a monk that was born in 673 AD ( Anglo - Saxons times) on the land of a monastery. He was entrusted into the monastery at the age of 7 under the care of Benedict Biscop who was the founder of the monastery. Bede spent the rest of his life at St.. Paul's in Jarrow. He was ordained deacon at the age of 19 and a priest by the age of 30. Outside of him singing in the choir he worked as scholar and teacher. He wrote a lot of books as well. He wrote about the tides and the moon and he also wrote a textbook for his students on poetic meters as well. He died in his cell at St. Paul's in 735. You can read all about his life at Bedes World.

What they have also done is to try and replicate what it looked like when Bede was around. It is amazing to see how Bede used to live. The monastery was at St.. Paul's Church which is around the corner from Bede's World where we went to next!

St. Paul's is a nice little Saxon church. The Church and monastery was built on land given by King Ecgfrith in 681. It was founded by Benedict Biscop. In 794 the Vikings sacked the church and monastery, but in 1074 the church was repaired. You can see the remains of the monastery.

We went home for a while and then my Uncle took me to the St. Peter's Church in Monkwearmouth where they got married. It is the sister church of St.. Paul's. St.. Peter's was built in 674 AD by Benedict Biscop as well. Glazers from Gaul (France) created the windows establishing the Birthplace of British Stained glass.

The was a person there who asked us if we wanted to see a video, have a look and ask questions or have a proper tour. Me without thinking told him that we would like a proper tour. 1 and � hours later we were still standing listening to him. It was really interesting, but he took ages to take us around this very small church and tell us about everything. It is a very nice church though.

We were very glad to eventually leave the little church, but it was pouring with rain when we left so we went home for the rest of the day.

I got out of bed early to go to the Metro Centre with Cheryl - Lee. We had to catch a bus and then a train and then another bus. It took forever to get there. The Metro Centre is the biggest shopping mall in England and probably Europe to. The two of us got lost in there and we didn't get to see even half the place. Just as we had decided to go home we released that we were where we started. So we did our bus, train, bus story all the way home. The Mall is too big for me. I did go on a roller coaster ride that I enjoyed, but it was nothing like the Cobra that we have in South Africa which is the biggest roller coaster and fastest in Africa.. or so they claim. Anyway! It was really enjoyable, but glad to see the house when we got there. We had a quiet evening in the end.

Go to next chapter

Go back to contents page

Go back to home page