A celebrity in England, too

500,000th Visitor

In May of 1987, Nelle, my aunt who had practically raised me as a boy, took us on a tour of England. It was a wonderful trip. We had a mini-bus with a delightful driver who had taken Nelle on previous trips and was filled with wonderful stories. We went all over England, ate tea and crumpets of course, and had 'adventures' at nearly every stop. When we stayed in Stratford-on-Avon to visit Shakespeare’s theatre, we stayed in a small boutique hotel (as we usually did) that was hundreds of years old. After settling into our tiny room, we were called to Nelle’s room. She was sitting in the middle of her bed, luggage on either side so she couldn’t get off, and a ceiling that was not made for someone over six feet tall! After much laughter, they moved her to another room that was slightly more spacious.

One of our stops on the trip was to see Wells Cathedral and the Bishop’s palace. As we drove up and got out, a group of people came streaming out of the gate house with a great hullabalu! Andrea had gotten out first and they descended on her (much to her introverted chagrin) with great excitement. She tried to hide behind me, but it was too late. She was the celebrity!

Andrea immediately became an Extremely Important Person! She was the 500,000th visitor to Wells Cathedral. To celebrate the honor they presented her with a beautiful crystal bell etched with a picture of the cathedral.