About half an hour from our homestay in Cheltenham, we spent most of the morning milling around this little town called Bourton on the water. A stream running through the town and it has become the pivotal attraction to this place. Apparently without the stream this town has nothing to yell about. Interesting isn’t it how a stream could be so important to a town even holds the survivability of it.
But the stream was beautiful and well maintained. The water was crystal clear, clean and home for a company of ducks. If we talked about nature and preservation of the green environment then this is it. People just strolled around with their small kids and the elders sit on the benches and chit chatted. Such a serene atmosphere to spend your day before the cold autumn breeze rolls in the afternoon.
The next stop was called Slaughters. Nothing seems interesting here so we moved on.
As the day wore on, the sky was getting darker. A reminder that autumn is here. Misty breeze turned heavier and the wind started to nip your nose and ears. I retreated inside the car and my body refused to go back to the time when we struggled to escape the autumn weather for every single task that needed to be done. Getting home, reaching your car, walking back from school, and just about anything we did outside’ would be a hasty effort to run away from the cold.
“So let me sit in the car and you guys go on and take some more pictures”, I said to my family. My feet were aching anyway, these shoes were not made for walking.
Night sky from Montpelier Villa (our homestay)
And then we reached Sainsbury’s for some groceries. That was the place I went to see some delicious food and attractive packages. Back then ,I could not afford most of the products here. We went there, looked around wishing someday I would get this and that, then ended up at the “reduced items” section and found the ones that were still okay. Usually bread and fruits that would go down to a few pence a piece. As a student, scrimping was our useful skill to survive and save a little from the allowance for something else. Sainsbury’s used to give out coupons for the purchase we’ve done; at some point the collected coupons were the only “money” we had to live by until the next allowance to arrive. It was late all the time.
The late afternoon traffic was busy. But it moved seamlessly. Cheltenham is not a big city and seems to have a good ambience to live in. It has a university campus and colleges. The best part is that the town is surrounded by endless grassland. They rear sheeps and cows as we can see along the winding roads.
Broadway Tower
