Bartimaeus

I had a jury citation for the sheriff court, but also an invite to a retirement party. Shane got an eye appointment arranged the same week to make good use of the time. So we set off for a bus to Wolverhampton station, after polishing off the perishable foods. There were roadworks but Shane had done some scouting for the bus stops. The nearest one was hourly so we went for the other route slightly further away.

As we reached the bus stop that had the more frequent service, a car drove up and the driver told us nothing was coming this way and offered to give us a lift to the next stop about ten or fifteen minutes away. We were in good time so decided just to walk and thanked him for the advice. He directed us to where to get the bus. There was no sign to say the stop was out of use and it seemed that while Shane had seen a bus coming along that road, they only went in one direction. It was good that guy stopped as I don't know how long we would have hung around before giving up. 

Heavy rain was forecast but it hadn't arrived yet. All went well with the bus and then we had plenty time to wander round Wolverhampton. We approached a modern square and I thought I had been here before eating lunch from a bakery, but as I looked around I realised it wasn't the place I thought it was. Shane concluded it was Northampton I was thinking of and I guess a few places have modern curved stone seating just up from a large church. What I realised was something I hadn't seen was the ground level fountain feature with some coloured lights. I thought it wasn't working well with only a few low spurts. It looked like you could meander round or even step over the few working ones.

We then realised it was a changing display. Just as well there was a straight through desire line that was fountain free. In seconds there was a lot more splashing. I should have guessed from the wet stonework and the memory of Coventry.

In the hot days we have had, I bet these were popular but now people were hoping to stay dry. The seat doesn't look safe either. I still wasn't sure if all the spout worked though.

We had plenty time before we needed to be at the station. I couldn't decide if I had been to the church before. déja vu feeling but we have wandered round so many towns now, the churches have a lot of similar features. A more thorough look found another fountain at St Peter's. Here passers-by were safe from an unexpected soaking, but it was definitely fully functional.

Previously moored near the station I realised we hadn't taken in the grand old part of town. We found another grand building that I felt should be a bank, town hall or four star hotel, and was surprised to see its current use was an Afromarket. Part of me fancied a look around and we were looking for food but not a grocery shop. They seem to have moved into larger premises from the small shop next door.

I had wondered about the connection between a town and wolves, was it name of a previous forest where wolves roamed? I soon found the reason. On the other side of St Peter's was a statue to the noblewoman who was granted the land and may have established the church community over a thousand years ago.

Wolverhampton is named after a person. The football team is named after a pack of wandering animals. There was a strange animal at bottom of the pulpit steps. It wasn't a wolf either. The notice on it said it was a lion but it didn't look very leonine, though it seemed to have a mane. It looked more like a baboon with fingers and long toes, either way it was an odd choice for the church. It looks surprised to be there.

Inside the church are also some beautiful organ pipes. It is a lovely interior. 

We made progress towards the station, still on the look out for lunch we found an outdoor market prowled around it in search of lunch. Raw fish and meat were not suitable and I am not a fan of offal but I have in fact enjoyed chicken foot stew in Trinidad, still I didn't get the recipe.

Shane was getting hungrier and hungrier as we looked at the food stalls. I did find a stall with Caribbean food and chose a savoury pasty. Shane had a double samosa chat from a different stall which had a whole heap of chickpea curry as well as the two samosas. He polished it all off. We had a look for some snacks for the train in case it was delayed at all.  I wasn't too sure if I wanted anything. In the end Shane chose a cheese and jalapeno loaf. I had a few crackers later in the jouney. The train wasn't very delayed, but Shane broke into his snack and wolfed his way through the entire loaf before we got to Edinburgh.