We moved to the Youth Hostel today

Today we walked our bags across the cobbled stones and down by the floating harbour to the Youth Hostel - a far nicer place to stay. We are disappointed it is only for one night and when we come back in 3 days time we will be in dormitories. I am not surprised that it is booked well in advance. The place is spacious with a lot of lounges and chairs and we have room in our room to open our suitcases while we stand on the floor. Harry got quite excited with the space we have!! We went for a walk around the area and didn't see much that took our fancy except an electronic gadget that told us it is 204016 kms to the moon and as the earth rotated etc it became 204024. It was quite interesting to watch it change as it was quite quick.

We saw the first railway station built and designed by a guy called Brunel who is quite well known here. He was around in the 1800's and built the first station where trains could come and people could congregate and which had a domed roof - most other stations are apparently modelled on this one eg Paddington in London. It didn't look particularly fascinating but perhaps we were just a bit tired. We can't download our pictures on this pc so will try and again tomorrow night. The fashions this summer take us back to the 70's - dresses that drop from the shoulders (great in Wellington winds) and oranges and browns seem to be the main colours. So, when we load the photos you can see what you will be wearing next summer!!

Harry has sorted out the number plates on cars - there are a series of letter codes which indicate the year it was registered so that you can tell what year it was made. In 2000 the code was X and in 2001 the code was Y - so it must have started a number of years ago with the letter A and there doesn't seem to be Z. After that they either used 02 or 52 for cars made in 2002 etc. No wonder we were confused. We will be buying a car soon and the Toyota man is looking at a Nissan or Hyundai as they seem to be going for around £1000 and of course are small and economical. With the price of petrol at around 96p per litre (about $2.80 a litre in NZ terms - or something like that) we have decided that the travel around UK will be slow but cheaper.

Tomorrow, once we have moved our bags once again, we might go on a boat trip to see the canal and up to the suspension bridge which is also designed by this guy Brunel. He also designed the first passenger steamship which took immigrants to Australia and New Zealand in the 1800's - a clever guy.

There are a couple of little jobs going that we might also apply for to see us through until we find something a bit more up our alley. I must admit working doesn't really appeal just at the moment - we both seem to feel quite tired. If anyone is coming over from NZ (ie Jill and Graham, Jim and Margot) would you mind buying us some horse radish and garlic from the supermarket and we we'll pay you when you get here (or shout you a coffee instead - though I have given up on coffee until I can get to the coffee shops recommended by Frannie a long time resident of Bristol) - the shops here have a wide range of health products but not horse radish and garlic which is a pity because it is good for warding off colds and bugs.

It is another nice day and we might go for a walk along the river. Thanks for keeping in touch everyone.

Denise and Harry