A Visit to the North Sea

As far as beaches go, I'm told that these are not the best in England.  And by "not the best," the English mean "the mist covers a multitude of ex-coal mining village sins."  Apparently, they used to push all the waste from the coal mines into the ocean with bulldozers.  It looks like God has redeemed the place quite a bit in the last 20 years, eh?

We were invited to church in Peterlee, lunch, and a walk on the coast by the headmistress at Durham High School for Girls, Mrs. Templeman, and her husband.  Nathan and I met her when we came in March.  Mrs. Templeman visited my last school, Whitefield, a couple of years ago when she was doing some research on private schools in the States.  She also was connected to us through some friends from Christ Church in Atlanta.  It was a lovely service, a lovelier lunch, and the loveliest walk.  Lovely, lovely, lovely.
  

 Also with us was Paul, Mrs. Templeman, and Naomi, all who work at the school in Durham.

This is Mr. (Dr.?) Templeman and his 87 year-old mother-in-law, Mrs. I-didn't-quite-catch-her-name.  She and I talked for probably two of the three miles we walked, and she was so interesting.  She told me a sad/touching story about a black American GI who asked to walk her home from her job in London at the Royal Mail in 1943.  It was the first time she'd actually met a black person, and she was scared to death about what her mother might think, but he said, "I don't mean any harm, but it's just that it's illegal to walk down the street with a white girl where I come from."  She agreed ("I think he liked my red hair," she winked.), and she never saw him again after that.  


What an amazing day...  Thank you, Templemans, for your hospitality!


If you want to win a prize, leave a comment.  You have until Friday morning (in England) whenever I decide to wake up. :)