Our first Christmas in Bristol

Well I did it. I managed to get an English bug two days before the end of work and have coughed and sneezed my way through Christmas and Boxing day to the next weekend. The doc said that it could last a month - and what did I expect coming to a country with 60 million people living in one island. Where was that English sympathy? At least the cough medicine worked so should be grateful for some things from the National Health Service - and of course it is free if you don't count the tax you pay. The few days I was in bed before Christmas were sunny but icy. As I lay in the bedroom in the sun I noticed that our car windows had continued to remain icy all through the day and so was slightly sympathetic when Harry came home from work saying it was cold out there - about 2 degrees at 4.00. One day when I was feeling not too bad we went for a short walk around where we live. Rugby was on (Bristol is sitting top equal on the Heineken Cup ladder) and so we walked with lots of fans along a number of streets. We weren't really dressed for 2 hours sitting in the cold so didn't go into the stadium but will one day. Our walk wasn't through a very exciting part really (the houses were pre/post war prefabs and apparently are being demolished due to anti social behaviour). They are little one bedroom prefabs with a little garden etc more than what so many people have in Bristol. Went to the new swimming pool - nice complex, but again realised that this is one of probably only 2 swimming pools in Bristol that is available for public use compared to how many we have in Wellington - our children seem to have so many more opportunities.

Mike and Becks arrived on Christmas Eve and that cheered me up no end. It was somehow very comforting to have familiar voices around the house when I wasn't feeling too good. We ate alot over the next 3 days and managed to show them a bit of the city between raindrops. On Christmas day Haz acted as tour guide while I spent the afternoon in bed. They went to the floating dock and suspension bridge and Harry surprised himself on how much he knew about Brunel and the river etc and how he could get to places now without getting lost. Becks had a great time in Bangkok and we enjoyed looking at her photos (got some nice suits made there too) and Michael talked about his trip to Munich, his visit to see Manuel and the upcoming New Years Eve party (not sure I really want to know the details). Christmas evening we played cards and 'trivial pursuit' with chocolates (a birthday present for Harry). With questions like 'What bar did Mary meet Frederick in?' and 'What colour was Christopher Columbus's hair?' it is hardly surprising we took a long time to win a chocolate each!!!

Boxing Day - Mike wanted to see Stonehenge. Becks spent her 12th birthday there. Still a fascinating sight the second time round for us. It seems to be a place where there will always be people no matter what the weather - in some ways its the intrigue for me of 'why is it really there'. We couldn't resist showing Mike and Becks Avebury as well - not quite as spectacular stone wise but covers a rather larger area with the little village inside. Mike amused himself with taking a video and providing a commentary while we walked around (it is on his facebook if anyone is interested interested)


Day three of Mike and Becks visit was a quiet day, Becks went to see some relatives at the zoo (they live in Bath but were showing some littlies the animals) and we took Mike for a bit more a tiki tour. It was sad waving goodbye to them but we got ourselves busy and went home to open our christmas presents from New Zealand (I didn't want to open them till I felt better and could enjoy them) and it was good timing as it helped us to occupy those first few minutes when we realised some special people had gone.

Anyway this Christmas holiday we learnt a few things. English spent £84 million online on Christmas Day alone. Harrods sold £10,000 worth of goods every minute in the first hour of the boxing day sales. We washed our new dark brown sheets with towels, pillow cases, tops and socks and now everything except the sheets are mauve!

A geological marvel

Christmas is near – and our work lunches and dinners not to mention birthday’s have seen us eating heaps and enjoying people's company during the week. On Monday after work we ventured into Newport to eat Italian with Anne, Elspeth and Keith and to celebrate Anne getting a year older. Once the waitress found out where we were from she asked the standard question ‘Why are you here?’ with that amazement in her voice that we have found so common over here. I think I have said before that we now realise what a priviledged position we are both in – able to work in a different country (even though only for a few years) yet to have the right to return to another one which is so special or of course Australia which is so much warmer. We are all going back to NZ for short trips, Keith and Elspeth leave just a few days before us in February while Anne in January – just can’t keep away!! Tonight Mike has left to come over to see us for Christmas via Munich and a few days skiing. Becks leaves tomorrow via Thailand and with luck with the weather and british transport we will all be together for Christmas day. We also managed to find ourselves some airfares to Brussels to see Mike and Becks in January. It took a while, firstly we found £200 ones from Bristol, then 1 pence ones from Stansted and then £10,000 from Cardiff (with 2 nights accommodation thrown in). The 1 p ones were quite tempting -but a 3 and a half hour car drive to catch a 6.00 in the morning flight and returning at 11 in the evening and then another drive didn't sound that appealing. We thought there must be something better. So we slept on it and the next day found some £47 ones from Heathrow at a reasonable hour so jumped at them. We got carried away then and we found some cheap flights for two of the bank holidays next year - so have heaps to look forward to. I walked to work one day as my work was having their Christmas lunch was and I didn’t fancy riding my bike half way across town. The morning was frosty, car windows had a sheet of thick ice across them, the footpath was all sparkling and the sun was coming up. A group of allotments on the hillside looked in the morning darkness like a minature shanty town. The lunch was in a restaurant in an area that we walked when we first arrived in Bristol. It feels quite bizarre going back to places, that when we first looked at were amazed by the garden or the architecture or the narrow street, but now is just ‘part of our daily existence’. Harry’s Christmas dinner was the next evening in an area we hadn’t been before – needless to say we got lost but not quite as spectacularly as we used too. We danced the night away (one of the last to leave) and requested songs like Grease lightening so we didn’t have to dance to the latest music. The young ones equally seemed to enjoy the ‘older’ songs. Quite unexpectantly we woke up early on Saturday and since it was a cloudy day with no rain we decided to take off to Quantock Head. What a geological marvel. It is a stretch of coastline sitting between Burnham on Sea and Minehead. Both these places have little to offer unless you are into Hi de hi holidays or living in terraced houses that you can find in the cities - but Quantock is quite different.

Quantock Beach is quite a few miles long and around 200 million years old. The beach is rocky but the layers of stone, slate and dirt have come together over time to create a magical wonder. We were lucky enough to arrive at low tide (no planning there) and could walk on some of the smooth stones and look at the more rugged ones. The pictures speak for themselves really. We sat sharing a cup of tea (we forgot the other cup!!) just enjoying the scenery and the colours. I've decided I really must get another hat!!


The walk took us along the cliffs and then though farmland and down muddy lanes. The farmer had left a notice on the gate to say someone had reported him for including ragwort in his hay - he mentioned that he had explained to 'the authorities' all that he had done to try and eradicate it. Probably felt a bit pipped that he had opened up his property to walkers and then someone had complained. We didn't really know what ragwort was but looking it up on the net tonight, it is a noxious plant and 1kg can kill a horse. It grows biannually and can only grow in unharvested fields - looking at the pictures there was quite alot down the muddy tractor paths where many a horse had trod (Sherlock could tell by hoof prints and other evidence). We also passed other crops (I think probably turnip) and a grass that had a bamboo stalk but a top like a toi toi. We walked into Quantock East a cute little village with thatched cottages, little lake, ducks and a few christmas decorations.

It was getting close to dusk and so we decided to take a quick trip to Minehead before heading home - and we found - Dunster castle. One of those places we must go to once the National Heritage has finished doing their renovating. Wonderful wooden staircase (which showed an intricate hunt scene) and the ceilings (the detail which we have never seen before). While others lined up to see that little fat man in red, or to buy Christmas decorations, we wandered around with our eyes peeled to the ceilings - lucky we didn't trip over any little ones. The elderly gentleman who spoke to us, because we were obviously interested in the building, said that it had been built in the 1600's and that the ceilings and staircase were originals. At one stage someone had painted the staircase but this had been stripped back to the elm and oak. The bannister was so smooth and shaped like a water slide and I was tempted to let Caramello have a slide down but somehow didn't think the little man showing us around would approve.

On the way home, we missed the turning for our place - was it Junction 18 or 19 we discussed as we flew past 20 and 21 which would have been far more direct.

Sunday morning - a truck got stuck in our street - just when I had decided a lie in was in order. I am not sure what the driver was trying to do - but after edging their way between cars (not scratching one I might add) I think the driver wanted to turn left. There was heaps of reverse beeping going on before he decided to give it a miss and slowly continue through the narrow street to the end. About an hour later he came back along our street - maybe he wanted another challenge - or perhaps just wanted to wake up those that hadn't been woken the first time!! This afternoon was cold so all wrapped up (Harry in his woollen jersey from NZ, Tui scarf and balaclava and both of us in polyprops from Kathmandu) we went to Bristol Zoo. It is quite a smallish zoo on the flat and they have done a reasonable job of giving the animals as much space as they need. After we saw the flamingos we came across two keas and all I could think was 'you are a long way from home'. Funny, it just didn't feel right that they were there. It has never occurred to me before when I look at lions, tigers, zebras, bears etc that they are also perhaps shouldn't be there. Anyway the notice said that 'Bristol Zoo owns the european studbook for Keas' and told the story of an innocent tourist leaving his car in the park near a national park down south and coming back to it with the wipers, chrome strips ripped off. The zoo had heaps of reptiles and spiders but most of the animals we had seen before except two Opaki which belong to the giraffe family - their rear end is like a zebra and their children follow their parents by recognising the stripes. (Can you believe we forgot to take a photo of them - so courtesy of the web - which also told us there was an Opaki school in the Wairarapa which I think we have passed).

The Forest of Dean

Winter is now here - gone are the warmish days and here comes the rain and wind!! We took the car to work one day (the excuse was we needed to fix the window and install the new radio and so we decided to wait for a day where the weather wasn't brilliant for biking). We managed to bike every other day and didn't get too wet or cold. It seems to rain around midday alot and then the mornings and late afternoons are just a bit drizzly. Anyway, we were having some friends around for dinner on Tuesday night and so we decided (or should I say 'I') decided to decorate the fireplace while Harry watched 'Top Gear'. I was quite pleased with our little fireplace and even though we can't use the fireplace the decorations have given the dining room a Christmassy feeling. We had a bit of a confusion over Tuesday dinner. I emailed these friends (I worked with them at the hospital) our address and phone details etc but my computer crashed just after I did that and they never got the email. So, they didn't know where we lived, our phone number and what was worse I didn't have their details. Harry and I enjoyed lasagne for the next two lunches and two nights (for those of you who came on a holiday with me to the West Coast of the South Island - endless lasagne will conjure up memories you probably would prefer to forget). Anyway, we met in the pub on Friday evening instead and had a lovely time - they have just bought their first house (yes they are heaps younger than us) and it is down the road from the bed and breakfast that we stayed in when first arriving in Bristol. We knew the building as the terraced houses are all different colours and I can remember taking a photo. Thursday was Harry's birthday and he was really spoilt with presents, cards and phone calls from the Southern Hemisphere. He is wearing his Tui scarf this week and we are waiting for the first kiwi to say 'Are you from New Zealand?'. We went to our NZ friends for tea to celebrate in style - home cooked Indian and apple crumble, chocolate cake and icecream.

Saturday Anne came over from Newport. We had planned a trip down south to walk the cliffs along the coast but the weather wasn't really suitable - even I gave in to the pressure! We went instead to the Bristol Museum. Had a range of things on show including an Egyptian display with mummies, the box kite which was a replica built for 'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines', Moa bones, kakapo and kea (stuffed - hopefully they died naturally) and an amazing photographic display of pictures taken to show the greenhouse effect. We spent some money at Kathmandu (went to buy polyprops but came out with something else that was on sale but keeps us just as warm - apparently polyprops weren't big sellers over here and they were all sent back to NZ), bought some papers and came home to the warmth to read all about the canoeist coming out of hiding after 5 years, the political scene etc.

Sunday dawned - wet, windy and cold. But I woke up and said 'what can I write in the blog if we don't do something' so we decided to drive off to the Forest of Dean which we assumed would be a bit more sheltered - it hardly rained at all while we were there. It isn't far, but a bit further if you take a road that you think will cross the Severn but doesn't. With the distinct seasons here it seems the colours are so much more definite for each season - autumn and the forest was characterised by reds and browns, not only were most of the trees without their leaves, the undergrowth (dead leaves and bracken) made everything look reddish brown. Quite lovely. We came across a sheep in the middle of the road and when she saw us she ambled across in front of us to make us slow down (worked better than a speed camera). It happened again but the second sheep went back into the middle of the road once we passed. We stopped the car to take a look at the Severn River meandering through the countryside.

We made our way through lines of trees (at one point in the day the trees formed a low lying canopy over the road - the trees weren't cut but a road sign warned travellers in trucks and campervans). Had morning tea outside the Heritage centre which attracted little robins and we were pleased to find that it was open and had made an effort for Christmas (we can't decide why we expected the decorations to be so much better over here but we did). Father Christmas told me that if Becks and Mike have any trouble getting from Heathrow just to let him know and he will take his sleigh over to pick them up. The Forest of Dean is the 1st National Park in England created in 1938 to try and stop the devastation from logging and mining. We learnt all about how you make charcoal from wood - it really is fascinating the things we are learning. There is a charcoal making season - the makers came and lived in little huts by a some cut woodland. They would pile on top of the wood (up to a ton at a time) dirt and basically smoke it (I thought a bit like a hangi but on top of the ground). There were holes at the top and when the smoke turned black they knew the wood at the top had turned to charcoal filled in those holes and made some in the middle etc until the holes were at the and the smoke was black. It takes a few days and needs to be tended constantly over that time to fill up any cracks in the mound. And we learnt about free mining. Apparently in the 13th century King Edward 1st granted those born in an area the right to mine coal with no charge - they did have to pay a commission on what they mined though. It still stands today that if you are born in the area you can be a 'free miner' but you have to have a home birth not born at the local hospital - you'd think they would have placed the hospital right by the mine entrance wouldn't you? Anyway, a little poem from a 'free miner':

Gold for my lady, silver for the maid

Copper for the copper smith, who's cunning at his trade.

But said the miner picking up his fall

'a big churn of brush ore is better than them all'.

We looked in an old mine where the adit (door) was propped up by some branches - it really didn't look very secure or inviting. Cider was also made here, apples crushed by a big wheel turned by a horse (not something I think we would allow today) and then dejuiced (didn't quite get the full picture of how it is made but we've decided we have to try some as it is so popular and being made from fruit must be good for you).

It was getting late and so we decided to finish the day by visiting an iron quarry. It had a Christmas story theme throughout it and was inundated by families (you had to wait at least an hour to sit on Father Christmas's knee - we decided not to wait and so also had to forgo the present we could have had!!). The mine was man made and there wasn't a lot to see -except if you followed the story of Cora, who swam around trying to find a big blue monster with a loud voice who scared everyone but really was very lonely and once he stopped yelling he made lots of undersea friends and they all went home happily to Cora's place for Christmas dinner once she had been rescued from the sharks!). Anyway, these children enjoying the lights, stories and presents probably didn't realise how fortunate they are to be born today rather than the 1800's where children as young as 6 were required to carry up to 8 tonnes of rock from the quarry each day. The iron was mined by candle light - the miners worked by candle time since they didn't have watches and couldn't see the daylight. When they were half way through their daily allocation they knew it was lunch time and going home time was I guess just before the last candle burnt out.

Our last drive for the day took us to Monmouth as the sun was setting. The bridge is 1 of 2 in England - as the gate sits in the middle of the bridge rather than land. We drove beside the River Wye - which looked swift and close to overflowing its banks and seemed to go across the English/Welsh border a number of times. It was easy to know when (no not because of all the Welcome to Wales or Welcome to England signs). All welsh road signs are bilingual and so when we saw SLOW and beneath if ARAF we knew we were in Wales, and when we saw just SLOW we were in England. We are learning quite a few Welsh words but the pronunciation is quite hard - last weekend we were saying Laugharne as Larfarne but it is pronounced Larne according to the Welsh man I work with. Speaking of work, one person spent a lovely weekend in Paraparaumu last November - he said that the train journey into town was as picturesque as anything he had seen - when you think about the rocks and hills by Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay, the countryside, Plimmerton and Porirua Harbours, and through the tunnels into Wellington is very special. His friends who live there though, had told him the trip takes 35 minutes and seemed to give the impression they were always on time....