Another week in Bristol

It has been a great week for us. Four big things have happened.... my first happened on Monday when I was going to work and passed another cyclist - a first for me (and no I was not driving the car). Since then I have passed a few more cyclists which proves I am getting a little bit fitter and faster and no longer an absolute novice. The evenings are getting shorter and we have just bought ourselves wet weather gear (bright yellow) which means we should be able to continue to bike until it snows or we give in to the weather which ever comes first. But daylight saving soon ends (so we will no longer be 12 hours behind NZ - because I heard NZ has just started as well). The second big thing is that we have been invited to dinner at someone's place our first English invite (someone I used to work with at the hospital). We have been to Shane and Adrienne's but they are New Zealanders which in itself is quite special and heaps of fun but also different. In fact we had a lovely evening at their home this week. It was quite funny as we drove into their street we realised we had no idea which house they lived in cos they all looked the same. We ended up having to ring them up to find out and we were about 10 houses out. In NZ if we couldn't remember the number we could usually remember something unique about the house like the letter box or garden or colour. I remember Frannie saying to me how special it was when she moved to Wellington and was invited out by New Zealanders - its a bit like feeling that you are accepted. Which moves me onto our third event - we are moving in a months time into Frannie's Bristol home. For those of you who don't know Frannie she worked with me for about 18 months in Wellington and is a born and bred Bristolian. Her house had just become available at the same time that we decided we would like to find a place of our own. It is across the other side of town, so we can explore another part of Bristol and is also within walking distance from work. Its a terraced house (a very similar design to the one that Adrienne and Shane are in). We went shopping last night and bought things like a jug, toaster, pots, dinner set, coffee mugs, cutlery and were very pleased we could outfit the kitchen for about £50 (things like that are very cheap over here but the cost of food especially fruit and vegetables is high). It is quite a novelty being able to outfit a home from scratch - poor Harry couldn't see the importance of colour co-ordinating our new assets - but he eventually gave in to my suggestion that the toaster and jug should be either both white or both stainless steel. We will be on the lookout for some furniture but not a lot cos we aren't over here permanently. And our fourth piece of news is that we have booked to come home to NZ for 3 weeks in February for Sharon's 21st. We are so looking forward to it. We went shopping in Bath on Saturday. The first time we have been to Bath without it raining. I knew that it would be a delightful little place if it ever stopped raining. We parked up a very steep hill as the traffic was horrific and the parking just as bad and walked down into town where we started our Christmas shopping. I had to slow down at one stage and look up at the Roman Bath House and the church and the old markets as to rush passed them seemed so wrong. I can see why busy people take it all for granted. I never want to stop being a tourist and a visitor because then I won't appreciate the lovely surroundings like the flower beds, stone buildings, architecture etc. - so there is a fine balance of being accepted as a local and being a visitor at the same time. It was very busy there today with lots of tour buses, people milling around and one shop mentioned that it was student loan day which explained the number of students in town. We stopped in a pub to see the last few minutes of the Fiji/Wales game and the cheer from the watchers when Fiji won nearly raised the roof - sounds as though there might be a bit of competition between the 2 country's like NZ and Australia. Anyway, the quarter final games look as though they will be fun to watch. Everyday we hopefully look at the website to see if any seats have come available for the All Black quarterfinal in Cardiff but so far no luck.




Sunday we went to Cheddar gorge. We drove the long way round and drove down the gorge. The gorge is a popular place for abseilers and rock climbers. The first person to climb this rock took 5 hours and according to tradition was allowed to name it. He decided to call it Coronation Street because it goes on and on and on and on.

The caves were magnificent staligmites and stalictites and we also discovered there is a thing called curtaintites (instead of growing downwards they grow across ways and hang like curtains). The reflections in the water created a lovely peaceful atmosphere and we enjoyed wandering around the caves. We still haven't seen any glow worms though.

After the caves we wandered around the little town, did a bit of shopping and had a picnic lunch by the waterfall. The town is quite lovely and covers both sides of the road going down the gorge. There are a lot of boutique type shops and so many tea rooms and food places obviously catering for the summer season (they weren't that busy today). One shop person recognised us as being from the southern hemisphere when I asked how much some 'gumboots' were. She was from South Africa where they also call them 'gumboots'.

We then had a real treat - wandered up 274 steps (Haz and I counted more than that) to the top of the gorge and walked 2 miles along the top. It wasn't that steep but we followed a rocky path(which would be a river in the winter I imagine) and the paths were bordered by gorse, scotch thistle and blackberry. Lots of colours and great views! We saw a rare wild goat, which after he had posed for a while for photos wandered down a steep hill we would never have contemplated going down. The gorge is owned by Lord Bath and one of the regular events is for abseilers to clear the growing vegetation from the cliffs. Goats and wild sheep used to but there are not enough of them around now. Apparently, if the vegetation is allowed to grow the roots get into nooks and cranneys and split the rocks causing rock slides. Funny, cos in NZ the clearing of the bush caused land slides.

After wandering back down the hill we visited the reservoir in the background. As if we hadn't enough exercise we walked around it which took about 50 minutes. The sheep were very curious of passers by and not scared at all (we think it is because they aren't herded by dogs and probably are bred for their wool rather than their meat and so have never had anything to be frightened of). We passed a couple walking 4 dogs of which one sat in a push chair (looked quite well to me but possibly just lazy). Had our cheddar cheese (the tasting shop was great could have had dinner there) and a red pepper pickle for dinner.

On Friday night we decided we would try out the picture theatre down the road. It is a massive complex – 14 theatres in all – and we watched Bourne Ultimatum. The theatre complex was quite good (though the seats are quite low for a little person and I will have to take a cushion next time) and we discovered 2 for 1 nights on Wednesdays for Orange (cell phone company) customers so we thought we might go a bit more often. Saturday we spent around Bristol going for a long bike ride through areas which we haven’t been before (there are hills and plenty of them and I think we found them all!!!). After about 6 hours of biking and walking we settled down to watch a dvd from the library ‘A Year in Provence’ on the computer (with chocolates from Puyricard and licorice and lollies from NZ). It stars John Thaw and apparently was originally a tv series. We thought it would remind us of our great holiday with Jim and Margot and it did. The French countryside, little villages, the mistral and the grapes. One night in France we woke about 4.00 to the shutters blowing in and out – just like in the movie and the characters got grumpy just like the French say they do. I have wondered why us Wellingtonians don’t give our wind an affectionate name – it would give the wind character and a personality - we could have a Dominion Post competition. The movie also reminded me of the lovely grapes where you could almost taste the wine. Apparently grapes have to have over 11% alcohol in them to be any good for wine. The unexpected part of the movie though was when this couple about our age moved to Provence and bought a little Citreon (blue and older than ours but just as cute) and then also bought bicycles. As they biked up the hills they were passed by athletic cyclists half their age and we had to laugh cos that happens to us all the time. Sunday we decided to go to Wells (the smallest city in England) but never got there as we got distracted on the way. How typical is that?? We stopped at a place called Wookey Hole and thought initially it looked a bit like a 'family playground'. But despite the welcoming committee and partly because of the lovely flowering baskets we decided to take a look.

We found a magnificent cave that used to be inhabited by a witch (as the story goes). Apparently the villagers were so frightened they called the Abbott from Glastonbury over to talk to the witch who ran into the cave. The Abbott chased after her and found a stone that looked like a witches head (takes some imagination to see it but I guess the Abbott was a bit frightened and just wanted to get out of there) and so told the villagers that the witch had been turned to stone - the witch lived happily ever after in the cave (that is a constant 11 degrees) with clear flowing water (that is a constant 9 degrees) and the villagers apparently were none the wiser and blamed all the mishaps on some other poor soul. There are about 26 caves, we didn't see all of them, but a few years ago divers went down into one of the caves - down 200 feet in water and still didn't reach the bottom. Not my cup of tea at all - but there lies a challenge for another diver. Saw great specimens of Staligmites and tites (apparently Alexander the Pope liked the staligtites so much he shot them down and took them home (he probably didn't know that it takes about 100,000 years to grow one not much bigger than me!! Wookey Hole is not far from Cheddar (where they make the cheese) and the cave is also the storage home for the cheese while it is maturing (stays there about 6 months apparently) in the constant temperature. We decided to buy some cheese in Cheddar rather than at the caves but didn't stop at Cheddar because it rained very heavily - so no cheese - but some really yummy fudge instead.

We wandered out through the children's play area where there was a 1000 year old Yew tree (wood is used for bows and arrows apparently due to its flexibility), some dinosaurs and King Kong, through the penny arcade (heaps of old machines), through the mirror room (they are always good for a laugh) and to the paper mill. Apparently paper was first made in China around 2000 years ago, bought to Spain around 900AD when the Spanish captured Chinese paper makers, and then to England around 1300 when the first paper mill was built. This paper is made from cloth (old cotton rags and glue really) but now rags can't be used cos there is too much synthetic in it. The paper lasts for about 500 years compared to 100 years for wood pulp paper and this mill produces paper for legal documents and special invitations (like the Queen and Prince Phillips wedding anniversary and every Irish statute) and can even produce water marks. The mill is still operating on a small, boutique type scale.

In the mill there was a placard that said 'Rags make paper, paper makes money, money makes banks, banks makes loans, loans make beggers, beggars make rags' - food for thought. We managed to have our picnic lunch under the trees just before the heavens opened. The Cheddar gorge and caves looked as though they would be intriguing on a fine day (and because they are not far from Bristol we decided to leave it for one). The gorge is so unlike England - vertical cliffs - more like the Manawatu Gorge at home but no river. We drove through a place called Priddy and saw a thatched roof - housing what we thought first were deck chairs but soon discovered it was temporary 'sheep pens' used for the market that has been held annually in Priddy since 1348. Passed another lot of stone circles in Stanton Drew - as old as Avebury and Stonehenge - but less visited because off the beaten track. Still has huge archaelogical significance because they are not really sure why they were created possibly due to rituals or lunar patterns or both. Came home and settled down to watch All Blacks vs Scotland but did not see Jim and Margot in the crowd.

The French Countryside

The next couple of days we spent driving around looking at little villages like Bonnieux, Mernebes and Lourmarin - some on the flat and others perched on hill tops. Each had its unique features such as a little market, cafes, museum, winery or chateau. I must admit that living in some of the houses on the hill didn't look too different from those in the cities - terraced housing, doors opening on to the street, no garden or outside living and very little sun. The ones on the flat appealed more to me as although there was less of a view there was plenty of greenery with the 'historic' appeal still quite evident. I did enjoy the colourful berries and the magnificent trees that lined many of the roads and so did Haz. At one point Haz stopped by a car yard and I thought he was going to take photos of cars (so I decided to sit patiently and wait) instead he hopped across the road and took photos of the orange berries (what is happening to my car crazed man???). The other unique feature of country life is how the snails enjoy their summer. One of the photos below gives the impression of little white daisies under the trees until you get up close the notice that it is snails snails everywhere!!

Our picnics and meals have been varied and enjoyable. All of the larger cities had an Irish pub (and yes Haz and I ate an Italian pasta at an Irish pub in France - how multi cultural is that??), and some of the towns even sport an Aussie pub but there were few takeaway places evident eg (those American type restaurants like KFC and McD's). We said goodbye to Jim and Margot on Thursday evening (and Caramello and Trev said their goodbyes) at a bistro in Jocques - well it isn't really goodbye as we see them again on Wednesday night when they pass through Bristol.

Driving and parking in France has been an experience. Sometimes it is unclear if streets are one way or not and we did get told (in french with quite a bit of hand signalling and face pulling) that we were going the wrong way up a little lane in Puyricard one day. Parking is a bit of a nightmare - car parking buildings are built for midget cars (our little saxo would feel at home here - oh I forgot for a moment it is a Citreon), and if you find a park then it is quite difficult to park so that the driver can escape from the car, as those with bigger cars tend to park at an angle and take up more than one park. Parking in smaller towns doesn't seem to be policed at all, and 'no parking' lines are ignored. We did see this unique style of parking (note the back wheel is actually off the ground) - they must have been in a hurry to get to the nearby market. We were also very surprised when we discovered that our hostess could drive her little car around without a drivers license because it was small (there is a photo of it in our blog when we talked about Puyricard).

We said goodbye to Sandra on Saturday morning and on the way to the airport stumbled across another little gem - Vitrolle - a suburb of Marseilles. We walked up some rather crumbly and steep steps to the top where we found an ancient and little prison building and chapel. We came back to reality quickly when we discovered England was mourning their loss to South Africa, the sad aircrash in Thailand and the 'potential' collapse of Northern Rock with many standing in queues for hours attempting to get their savings out of the bank. Amazing to think that the bank would lend home buyers up to 125% of the value of the house, and up to 6 times their annual salary. Seeing a table of banks it appears that the HSBC is the only large bank in the UK which has a savings to mortgage ratio of more than 1 - a little bit scary I think. There was great relief last night when the government guaranteed that the savings.