Aberystwyth, Wales
Sun! I awoke to sun! Didn't help. I still didn't want to get up:/
11 am (sitting at the laundromat) But finally did and was blessed with Donna, Griff, and Tomas. Mom and kids going down to the river via the cycle path before nursery school. Said hey on the way down and we got chatting on the way back. I needed that! Thanks Donna for the lift me up.
8 pm What a fabulous day. Did less than 5 miles and couldn't care less. Spent the day in Aberystwith (I'd been missing the y before), gots lots done, got little done, enjoyed the people I met and got to facetime with my daughter, Dana for hours this afternoon. Was like spending the time right with her. Would love to do the same with my other daughter and her hubby, but time differences is one challenge since she's in San Diego so it's 8 hours and I have to be in wifi range and the skype has to work. I've been trying to skype a few different friends lately and it just drops. Don't know why facetime works. But wait! Avery, don't you have an iTouch? Can you do Facetime with it? Dennis can with his. Send me an email and let me know. I can't even make an appt because I don't know where I'll be when.
Aberystwith is a mini city right on the coast with a harbor and a beach and condos! And a lot of one-way streets, my nemesis. I don't even know how to tell a street is one way except to watch the traffic flow. I never saw a one way sign anywhere today. I did see some Do Not Enter slashes. They don't mean me! I take to the sidewalk usually if it's a one way because I don't know how else to necessarily get where I'm going. These streets aren't laid out in a grid, ya know.
So met the most fun people today! The guy by the laundromat who said he had seen me yesterday and wanted to stop then and talk but didn't. He'd been researching these trikes and knew a lot about them. He didn't accept my offer to take Blaze out a spin though.
Then the lady that I asked directions to a cycle shop and it turns out she was giving me directions out of town to a hardware store. When we were chatting about TV, she said "I like a bit of my trash!"
And the girl at the coffee shop with free wifi who just couldn't get over that I was going to cycle all the way to Sheffield, but gave me great directions to the shore road (where I'm camped tonight).
And the little girl about 3 all dressed up in her princess costume of a full-length pink dress with wand. Princess Sophie! Precious! (Meeting kids is great because I'm right down at their eye level!)
And I got clean clothes!
The downer today was a technical challenge. For some reason, my mail accounts wouldn't download onto my iPhone while everything else was working fine. And it had been awhile since I had checked my mail so I was a bit peeved. I know I've had this problem once before but I''ll be damned if I can remember what the fix was. And a quick google brought no solution. So I thought I'd try deleting one of them (I keep 2: business and personal) and reloading it. But when I went to reload it, it wouldn't. Arrghh! Then I tried to get into it through Safari and it didn't like my password. Really? I know it's right. It's really odd how disconnected it made me feel not to be able to check my mail. And I felt like I couldn't get the problem fixed from my phone...and it's gonna be a long time before I'm home at my own computer. I already can't use Facebook except on my phone because I have turned on login controls that only work by sending me a code to my phone when I try and log in from a new computer...and my phone is turned off so I can't get the text message...and I can't change this option from my phone, so I'm stuck. And from the phone I can't "Share" or send "Friend Requests". So today, while on the phone with Dana, she was able to get into my gmail accounts and get it so I could view them in Safari. I still don't know why they don't load onto the phone as they used to. Anybody else know what's up with that?
To top off the day which started with me feeling lonely, was the invitation from Tina and Huw, my new neighbors for the night, of a cuppa tea. Yes! Newlyweds of just a year, so lucky to have found each other, beautiful modern home, great stories of his hitchhiking through Canada to Alaska and her daughter going to Rio Grande University in Ohio for an exchange program. But the best is just sharing a connection. Thank you both for the hospitality! I needed it and you shared it with me!!! And hot water is quite tasty...try it some time:)
Ok, my last tidbit tonight before I sign off is about my bath. I told you I got the clothes done today, but what good are clean clothes on a dirty body? It's only half the job done. But I didn't know how I was going to complete the other half. I cycled by a campground tonight and thought about getting a shower there and cycling on, but that would have felt quite cold to bike afterwards in the evening. But the Universe provides! Of course! I'm camped tonight on a plot of grass across from a church. An old church. And churches over here have their cemeteries right in the front yard...and the side yards...and the back yard. So for entertainment while I munched tonight's salad I wandered the grounds. And right next to the front gate and the front wall was a spigot! Hmmm. Unlimited water...hmmm. Get some and heat it up and ...oohhhh...hot bath in a cup! But wait...what about my hair? I know...under the spigot...so I did...crouching down behind the wall so I couldn't be seen...I lathered and creme rinsed...and now...it's CLEAN! Then I heated my big pot (all 3 cups) with water and used some to wash and some to rinse. A full, warm bath! I'm all clean and shiny now!
And full...of connections. No, I'm not lonely any more...just traveling alone...meeting the nicest people...who are filling me me up! Thank you to all the wonderful Welsh folks who are are reaching out to me on this journey and warming my soul:)))
I think this is the first time I've seen it get dark over here...it's 10:30.
Blessed BagLady
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