6/5

Day Ten

Well days like these are rare, indeed. I woke up a little later than usual, so yeah that was normal. I usually do. Then after my breakfast, we went to Berry Pomeroy haunted castle! A very old castle built originally in the 15th century, we got an audio tour shaped like a cell phone to narrate our exploration of the castle. I really learned a lot, especially about the two main ghosts that haunt the castle. The thing that really spooked me was that the audio guides would fuzz in the sound for a second, and then go back to normal. It was only creepy because it sounded like those glitches in sound like in scary movies. I'm sure it always happens and is quite common. No worries there. Where I WAS worried was outside one of the doors, where there was an almost-dead rat. I thought it had been dead for a while until it twitched and opened its eyes, rolled on its back, and then closed its eyes again... How eerie. But it added to the scariness, nonetheless!

We came home after that to eat lunch, which consisted of (gluten-free) sausages, some olives, and a mixture of cheeses that I sampled. I absolutely ADORE olives and cheese. Two of my favorite snack foods! Then I went out to pick up my good friend Agnes from school to take her home. She's spending the night tonight! And when we got home, we played a bit of tennis in the garden until dinner time. Oh, dinner time. Now this is the fun part...

Dinner tonight was at The Mogul's Palace. We've eaten there before, yeah, and it was good. It was buffet night tonight, so we decided that would be a good idea to try. But halfway through our meal, we saw police circling the building and coming inside, requesting all the staff to sit down for a talk. We looked at each other with curious eyes, until we saw on their uniform that they belonged to the UK Border Agency. At first, I was worried that they were there because the food was poisoned or something--and I started to feel quite sick to my stomach--but then I thought "Nah, the police wouldn't be here for that; It'd be someone else." But it was almost interesting to watch it all go down as we were finishing our meal. It wasn't really a dramatic scene, but they were talking all at a table, the police asking for ID. I only saw one of the cooks get taken outside, but other than that I think everyone else was fine. But wow. What a strange turn of events! We went home after that, and Agnes and I played a bit more tennis and then came inside. WHAT a DAY, though!! When I see Agnes again, someone will bring it up and we'll say to one another, "Je me souviens!"*

You'd think my inspirational topic of the day would be about the happening at The Mogul's Palace, but actually it's about that insignificant, half-dead rat I saw. I was going through the castle ruins, thinking that I didn't really feel the atmosphere of the "haunted" part of this castle. But when I saw that rat... It really jumped out to me. People died here, long ago. Soldiers have lost their lives, right where I am standing in these dungeons. It made me really have a deeper respect towards the soldiers and knights that protected their kingdom. I related it to soldiers today, and how they fight honorarily for their country. If you're ever on war grounds, or if you're in the presence of a veteran, give them your sincerest respect and kindness. They've fought for you; the least you could do is give 'em a big smile. 

*French: "I remember!"