bodiam castle

to get here? bayswater tube to victoria station, oops, back on the tube to charing cross, train to Headcorn (yes that is the name of the city) then take a bus to Tenterden, rush your butt off to get on the "thomas the train" (yes the real one) to chug chug chug an hour to the castle (after a short walk uphill). was it worth it? you tell me!








for emily and lizzie:




for chris:




see we really are here, not just photos we pulled off the internet (no makeup and comfy clothes, but here none the less)



just the teeniest bit of sun today, squeaking through.


now, for our ride home from the castle: we waited and waited, the bus time came and went so we approached another bus to take a different route. the driver said he could get us to the train station, but (and here he grimaced i kid you not) this is a school pick up bus which means we stop and pick up kids on their way home from school. i immediately said, "oh, lots of stops?" and he said, "oh no! just LOTS OF KIDS and LOTS OF NOISE!" so of course my mom says, "oh i LOVE kids!" sealing our fate.


lets just say the monkeys that got on that bus (literally they swung from the handrails) could have put on a great show at the zoo. we heard the f-word more than i have ever heard a person string in one sentence (and remember i work in a hospital where the doctors/nurses/techs swear like truckers) these were the girls too, we saw a kid get "playfully" kicked down some spiral stairs and another kid who was so obnoxious (i heard him say, "dont make me spit on you!") my mom and i started saying to each other what we were gonna do to him if he hit or kicked us on accident with all his shenanigans. that same obnoxious kid tucked himself into some kind of luggage storage and when another kid threw his backpack in there full of books the kid started crying serious boo hoo tears like a 2 year old (when he finally came out he had a black eye, no joke)....this was a long long ride and it was not scary or anything, just seriously theatrical. not sure if i will go back for that teaching credential after all.

we made it back though!

oh i forgot to mention the bus had to stop so some official lady could pull a delinquent kid off who had been doing grafitti on the school walls, he looked very south central to me, it was quite the scene! the best part of all were that the kids wore very formal school uniforms. my mom and i had more than a good laugh over that bus ride!