August 11 2019 It's Rainy in Pershore

We had talked about Pershore many times as it is a town only 10 minutes away from Worcester by train, never mind that it takes 15 minutes to get to the Forgate train station and when you get to the Pershore Station you still have a mile and half walk to get to the town. Weather forecasts showed 70% chance of rain and it was't raining much here in Worcester, so should be okay. We had gone to the 10:30 service in Worcester Cathedral and had a bite to eat and rapidly set off to catch the train. By the time Peggy and Walt arrived at Pershore, it had begun to rain fairly steadily. It seemed the closer we got to the Abbey, the main attraction in Pershore, it was coming down steadily. The small trials of this trip started at the ticket booth where we eschew the automated machines for the live person. The person at the counter was befuddled about where he was really going so it looked as though the train would leave without us. So we rushed up the stairs to board the train without a ticket, which is permitted as the conductor has the ability to issue tickets on the train, though usually it is reserved for the small stations which have no ticket machines or people to sell tickets or the occasional person who tries to get by without paying which is possible as there seems to be few stations in this part of the country that have stations with entry and exit checking. On the train we were able to purchase our return tickets and in the bustle of this operation Peggy left her brolly on the train, so when the rain started in earnest she discovered that it was missing.

We put up our hoods and Walt tried to cover 2 people with one brolly as we walked briskly to the Abbey Church. We had a lovely time resting and wandering in the church as the rain continued steadily outside. So much for discovering Pershore this time. While in the abbey we had a chance encounter with an English tourist, who was fascinated with how the folks managed to build such a beautiful stone building, and who obviously had not studied how they must have managed. After some picture taking and noticing the continual increase in intensity of the rain, we decided to catch the next train back. The first call to a so-called taxi service ended with Walt hanging up because the person on the phone didn't seem to know where the Abbey Church was in Pershore. So we decided to just get on the road. As we approached the pub we had passed earlier, Walt decided that the locals would know who to call for a taxi. Got inside and they did know a number for a local hire, but was unavailable until 4:30. This was late for the 3:52 train and before the 4:56. The upshot was we said 4:30 was OK and we ordered drinks to while away the hour in a noisy sports watching pub in Pershore. We were glad we waited as it started to really rain hard the moment we got in the taxi and really came down hard while waiting for our train.