Wednesday 15th August 2007
Salt - Dibden Purlieu (185 miles)
Today's plan was for me to catch a bus from Salt to the centre of Stafford and then another bus down to the Boat Club so I could collect the car. I knew that there were only two buses a day from Salt, at 7:50am and 9:20am - not exactly a regular service. I decided to go for the first bus in case anything went wrong...
There are no bus stop signs in Salt. The locals know where the bus stops and which direction it comes from so why would they need a sign? As regular winners of the best kept village award, the Parish Councillors probably objected to anything as common as a proper bus stop. So I worked out where the bus would be coming from and where it was likely to stop, and I got it wrong, then had had to wait another hour and a half for the last bus of the day.
The bus travelled all around the local villages and into the centre of Stafford. By contrast, the bus down to Wildwood and the Boat Club was very frequent with about 30 buses a day.
Having collected the car and done a quick bit of shopping, I drove back to Salt and collected Lucy, Robert and Rosemary. We drove back to Dibden Purlieu leaving Jen and the dogs to look after Sophie-Jane No.2. The journey was pretty bad with torrential rain and powerful gusting winds.
It is probably obvious that I am not an experienced user of public transport. This didn't bode well for tomorrow's journey.
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Rosemary Ruth Edwards
27th March 1992 - 5th September 2007
Sadly, this was Rosemary's last family holiday. She disappeared from home on the 4th of September 2007 and was found later to have walked 10 miles through the New Forest before committing suicide. She was missing for almost three weeks before her body was found.
This has been a devastating time for her family and friends, who had no idea that she was struggling with some kind of mental illness. We can only hope that one day society's attitude will change and that psychological problems will attract no more stigma than physical illnesses.
My attempt to make some sense of what happened to Rosemary can be found at www.dtedwards.org.uk/rosemary.
Rest in Peace Rosemary
Thank you for fifteen and a half wonderful years
I will never forget you and will love you forever - Daddy xx