Bartimaeus

Yesterday I heard bell ringing when we moored in Worcester. We didn’t know if that was a Sunday thing or a Remembrance Day thing, but tonight we can hear them again, so seems a pretty regular thing. Scottish churches usually have only the single bell toll rather than this complex arrangement for many different bells.

We had decided to stay put today and Shane had checked out that there was a museum and gallery in town so we checked that out. As usual I quite liked the stuffed animal section. The majority of the exhibition space was given to Worcester regiments and soldiers and war service through the years, and it didn’t look like a special event for Remembrance either.

In the hallway for some reason there was a massive fish. I thought at first it was a pike. It turned out not to share its name with a weapon, but a Scottish First Minister, and a similar length too.

On the other side was a statue of a young woman, being thrown over the balcony, but it was Sabrina Thrown Into The Severn. It turns out the Severn is named after the legend of  Sabrina, victim of of a cuckolded wife who had her husband’s lover and daughter (Sabrina) killed by being thrown in the river, not over a balcony.

As we searched for lunch we saw a pharmacy advertising free walkin flu vaccination. We walked in but they said it wouldn’t start until  after 2. Time for lunch then… We went back and started the form filling but without an NHS number could go no further so we went back to Bartimaeus so Shane could look up numbers he had saved. We returned but these numbers did not apply. The pharmacist phoned up to find out what to do with Scottish people. After about 10 minutes the verdict was that it was not possible to get them without an English NHS number, unless we paid £15 each. The staff at the pharmacy were very patient and trying their best to be helpful. We were seen immediately and all over in a jiffy. No ill effects yet.

I wanted to have a look inside the cathedral. Shane was more interested in buying bread and continued with that task, leaving me to tour the cathedralmby myself, though we both admired the nearby aptly named ballgown and bridal shop “Cathedral Belles”.

The cathedral was beautiful inside as well as out. Although there was mainly very ancient carvings, alongside the medieval, was the modern. And I was surprised to find an artist’s exhibition on the theme of the stories of women who suffered sexual exploitation.