Purple Town

We did it! We did Glastonbury! We trotted up The Tor, after being mooed aside by a herd of cows at the start of the path. We discovered that we both had a passion for photos of benches. We reflected at The Chalice Wells, began our picnic lunch, got interrupted by wasps. At the very last minute we rushed inside the gift shop as the heavens opened and torrents of water poured forth. Yes I did the tourist thing and snapped away with my digital camera and bought (blush blush) 20 or so post cards. It was a magical two days where time seemed suspended, stretched out, and I floated weightless and free. Thank you Denyse and Chris for this wonderful gift of time-out-of-time at Glastonbury.

I was delighted to see so many books stores, heavenly! The Green Goddess book and gift shop scored top of the chart for both of us. We loved Truckle Of Cheese and so did our tummies! Cafe La Lune served the best coffee, coffee that this gourmet coffee loving snob swooned over. Why so much so that the young and very charming flirty server sent me off with a gift of some of their coffee beans. Denyse groaned out, "things like this happen only to my mother." Every time we asked directions to a shop or cafe it was 'around the corner.' By 6:30 PM we seemed to have regressed to our teen years and were a mass of giggles. We giggled around that famous corner and back several times. Denyse and I must have trudged up that hill to our B & B and back at least eight times as well that first day. I guess practicing for our trek up the Tor the following day.

Early on in our first day I began to notice the colour purple occurring with increasing frequency. Several shop windows had purple as their predominant colour scheme. There were purple priestess robes and purple items of medieval style clothing on display for sale. The locals of all ages wore items of purple. I saw purple jackets, cardies, scarves, hats, dresses, trousers, and yes even socks and shoes. There were varying shades of purple. How strange that I had chosen to wear a pale purple-pink dress my first day there, see photo. Our B & B room had purple duvet covers and pillow cases! Yes, may I digress here with raves for Jacoby Cottage B & B, a fabulous fairy tale place. Their gloriously wild garden in back went on in every rising levels, as if to infinity. The peace of that 14th century cottage and it's beautiful decor touched my very soul. In the morning our hostess Michou appeared and - yes you've guessed it -she was dressed all in shades of purple! Her jacket, shirt, pants (whoops I mean trousers) and socks were all purple. So I, being the shy and reserved person I am asked her, "what is the significance of all this purple in Glastonbury?" She didn't actually answer my question which seemed to speak volumes. Mind you those volumes must have been speaking in a foreign tongue as I didn't quite get it. Michou did tell me that you could also wear hot pink in Glastonbury!

From this my avid imagination zipped on to secret rites and exclusive mysterious groups such as the Masons for example. Was it a sign of a Glastonbury resident? Perhaps it was the sign of a mystical resident,maybe a priest or a priestess? Or was it a sign of a reincarnated ancient of Glastonbury? I have googled purple and found some fascinating facts. It is a mysterious colour and associated with nobility and spirituality. In the Elizabethan times clothing was very important and the color purple signified wealth, status, and high social standing. It was a very expensive dye thus the significance of wealth. It was Tyrian purple from Tyre, Lebanon. It was made from crushing thousands of sea shells. There was no mention of what sort of shells nor of the poor creatures who dwelt within. This dye ceased being made after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. After that a much cheaper purple dye was made from lichen and madder. Madder being a southwest Asian perennial plant of the same family as coffee hmmmm! Back to coffee now.........Should I begin drinking my morning coffee out of a purple cup!