Getting Beyond the Familiar #2: We Begin Walking Part B

The first bed and breakfast, in the town of Leonard Stanley, is a welcome site after a long day on the trail, a day filled with general confusion and disorientation. The place is run by Maggie, whom I meet right away, and James, whom I will meet later. Again, I am the only guest. The building is old, as in several hundred years old. It is near an old church. I sit at a table with Maggie, and we exchange pleasantries while we drink tea she has prepared. She likes birds, and we look at the many in the trees around us. When James arrive, we discuss hiking. We discuss our careers and jobs. He is a "social mediator" and that night will be meeting with families who have been in conflict that started because of one post or another through one type of social media or another. This is their third and final meeting, and James will be mediating some kind of negotiated settlement along the lines of "quit calling us names" or something. I listen to him talk (or, perhaps hear him talk), and I think, Three meetings to settle this? He is also taking food that Maggie is preparing because he says that people always do better when there is food to be eaten.

Later, I head toward the old church to look around, and then to a local pub, The White Hart, that Maggie has recommended. In the pub, I drink a couple of beers and watch a football match on the large TV across the room. Some locals begin playing darts, but soon enough lay their darts on the pool table and vanish. I am sitting at the bar, and if anyone started a conversation, I have already decided to be brave and engage with someone. Nobody says anything, however, so I have no obligations.

I pass by the church again. The church looks like this.

Back in my room, I watch one channel or another of the BBC, then turn out the lights and go to sleep.