Canoeing on the Avon

Saturday dawned – cold and frosty. But that didn’t stop us getting up early for our canoe trip along the Avon and Kennet canals. Harry’s late Friday night almost did though – he went to a farewell do at work and tried to ring me to come and get him but we forgot that we don’t get cell phone reception at the back of the house. I was half reading a book and half thinking about going to sleep when our new land line rang and it was Harry saying he was ready to come home. By the time I had answered the phone, I had two text messages (one on my cellphone and the other my work one) to say ‘someone had rung but didn’t leave a message'. It was very frosty driving along and as we drove through Bath I thought I saw icebergs in the Avon River!! It was foam from no idea what but shows what a little bit of frost on the grass and trees does to the imagination. (I think I had just also read that canals in Amsterdam freeze over). We found Bradford on Avon fairly easily, a sleepy little hollow but very pretty. As the sun tried to come out we got into our canoe and paddled towards Bath. We were in a Canadian Canoe - we had never tried them before - but both of us decided very quickly that we far prefer kayaks. The canal was a picture – frost on the Old Man’s beard and trees, still water where canal boats were berthed with their inhabitants sleeping and oblivious to the beautiful morning. Trees shed their leaves as we paddled past, birds landed in the water as we stopped just to admire a peaceful and picturesque view. Was it cold?? And then it started to rain – not huge drops – but enough for us to be pleased we had bought winter woollies and our wet weather gear and to make it very cold. Our feet were frozen and when we stopped for morning tea, we could hardly scramble out of the canoe (it didn’t help we were laughing so much). Harry made the tea under the bridge out of the rain while I stood in the rain standing on the canoe rope so we wouldn’t lose it. We drank our cups of tea while shaking and wondered if this was the right day to canoe - a bit late!! We decided to turn around and chose under the bridge (well it was dry) but found that the bridge was not as wide as the canoe was long - so our three point turn turned into a reverse and a bit further forward trick.

What a great trip - well it was now that it was over and the frozen kiwis could sit near a log fire eating cottage pie and fish and chips. We took our time reading the newspaper and then remembered how early it gets dark so regretfully decided to go for a wander around Bradford on Avon. We had downloaded some information historic things to see so we wandered around the town up narrow lanes and across bridges. We looked in vain for the gasworks but then read that 'they used to be where the modern apartment block now stood'. Had a wonderful time nosying in gardens - the public walk way went right through a row of houses and their gardens, looked at Mary Tory church on top of the hill and then found a cute little 1675 villa to have a devonshire tea at. Not that we were hungry - still a bit cold and the log fire so tempting. Bradford on Avon is a textile town - and many sites were where mills (that washed the cloth), spinners, wool and cotton merchants, clothiers, manufacturers etc once stood and sold their trade.

So, many people have said that Christmas is different over here. It is true. Its now dark by 4.00 and you can see all the Christmas lights as you go home. (There aren't many in Bristol as the retailers have refused to pay and the council don't want to spend too much money - but some of the little towns are beautifully lit up). Wrapping up and coming inside to a log fire somehow makes it feel more Christmassy. We're even putting up christmas decorations in one room and thinking of mulled wine. Talking about Christmas as we walked through a Tithe Barn (which had a wooden roof shaped like a church), and across a very old bridge used only by packhorses, we came across Father Christmas and Prancer and Dancer. We had read the day before that Prancer and Dancer may not be able to come to Bradford on Avon due to the Bluetongue scare. Their farm is just half a mile from the exclusion zone and the farmer had to find someone else to look after them until the ban had been lifted if they transported Father Christmas to the party. Seems like some good soul volunteered to have them.

Sunday proved to be a much better day for canoeing - beautiful and sunny - but we think once was enough and so we did some domestic things like lawns and a bit of cooking and cleaning and then went for a drive out to Yate. On the way we stopped at Ikea a huge shop which I was told sold curtains. Why do I never listen to myself - never go shopping on a weekend - I will repeat it in my sleep and it just might sink in. Ikea is like a mega warehouse but sells amongst heaps of other stuff huge kitset furniture that every second person was trying to load onto a trolley and then navigate around rows of shoppers. We couldn't find our way out - it is a bit like a huge maze - and we had to meander through rows of things we had no intention of buying. Relieved we drove to Yate in the diminishing sunlight to find not alot but enjoyed the trip. Interesting things this week are that the Australian elections didn't get a mention in the news and that 12.5 kilometres of books are added to the British Library every year (they have to have one copy of every book published) and they are building a huge warehouse that will hold over 500 kilometres of books (if you stood them all in one row).

The Isle of Wight

This week started off with someone stealing our car radio. The only thing we can be thankful for is that they were obviously dab hands at this and did little damage and with a bit of effort on Harry’s part we could lock the door and close the window after the event. Though coming out of the house in the early frosty morning to that wasn’t very nice. In some ways, I can feel sorry for them as they can’t get much satisfaction from their lives if they have to steal someone else’s belongings. The feeling sorry for them didn’t last long but there you go – I’m not always thinking straight in the mornings. Harry was a bit disappointed as we had to drive to the Isle of Wight in the weekend in silence. Well not quite silence... one of the things that has struck us while here is the places we are seeing are the places we have read about in books, see in paintings and movies and sing about in songs ... it is coming alive ...
'When I get older, losing my hair
will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine...When I'm sixty four
Every summer we can rent a cottage In the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera Chuck and Dave
Send me a postcard drop me a line...Will you still need me
Will you still feed me When I'm sixty four'
Anyway, before setting off to the Isle of Wight...On Wednesday night we set off to go to the pictures and took a slight detour to a bed shop. We had so much fun lying on beds that we missed the movies but did buy a bed – one of those new ones with little springs stuck in foam rubber – ooh it felt so nice – and we just can’t wait until it arrives. Then our visitors can have the air mattresses!!! It’s even got a 10 year guarantee against ‘sinking in the middle’ but I am not sure if that will apply in NZ if we bring it home. We decided on Thursday night (that’s our night for the ‘what shall we do in the weekend’ discussion) that we would go to the Isle of Wight. It gets dark now by 4.30 and so an early Friday night could possibly mean that we would be able to get up on Saturday morning to get out of the house by 7.00. It nearly worked we were only about 15 minutes late and congratulated ourselves that it was a cloudy morning (no scrapping ice off the windows) and that we bet most of the traffic. We arrived in Southampton with a few minutes before the car ferry left and ate our bacon butties and drank our tea sitting on the wharf listening to the seagulls and watching the people fishing and the boats leaving and arriving. Although misty and cooooold it was peaceful and water calm. We need more polyprops!!! Had a long discussion with one of the ferry guys about NZ he has spent some time in Australia and is hoping to spend another holiday in NZ. (Incidentally we have found a good butcher – supermarket meat over here is not high quality – and one of the people in the shop is a young New Zealand girl from Otago – she lives in Horfield and could pick my accent !! The butcher sells good meat, but not too sure about some of the exotic stuff like springbok, buffalo and zebra steaks as I thought they were protected.)

If ever you want a good coffee in England we would suggest hopping on the Isle of Wight ferry just for the sheer joy of a very large, hot coffee that tastes like real coffee. We were amused by the lid on the disposable cup Huhtamaki – it sounded so Maori but looking at the web at home – it is actually a Dutch packaging firm. We sat outside on the way over with all the other tourists, I think most of the locals sat inside in comfort, but we did eventually give in and sat on the top deck in the ‘animal’ enclosure which protected us from most of the rain and cold breeze but still gave us a 180 degree view of the sea and the island. We shared it with a very big black and ginger dog who had a coat on to keep him warm. We drove to the Needles at Alum Bay on the other side of the island (its about 10 miles across so nothing takes too long). Besides enjoying the fabulous views from the 18th century gun emplacements we enjoyed rambling over hills and the climb down to the beach of 188 steps (in summer you can catch a chair lift but it was closed and it really did spoil the naturalness of the place). Anyway, on the beach where we stood Queen Victoria many years before watched the ‘enchanting coloured sands in Alum Bay and was presented with samples in glass containers’. If we wanted we could have still bought some – or if we weren’t environmentalists at heart we could have collected our own. The limestone cliffs are slowly being eroded away and it was fascinating to see a ‘man made’ building slowly being eaten by sea that is one of the photos.

By then it was getting darkish (3.30) and so we found a little b and b on the road to Ventnor and then wandered around Ventnor in the rain and the dark. At 4.30 we were feeling like dinner but decided that we should wait a while so wandered up some roads past some shops which we thought would be closed but weren’t and I bought some tops and some Christmas crackers with cats on and Harry a pair of gloves. We arrived back at the pub and found everyone else was already eating. Our little table in the ‘poop’ was cute and while we ate hotpot and cottage pie we could see the waves crashing in and the rain beating on the window. At our b and b the next morning we saw our first red squirrel hanging upside down from a tree. The grey squirrel is apparently native to America and is considered a ‘pest’ someone bought it into England (it could have been Sir Walter Raleigh when he bought gifts to Queen Elizabeth I – he really did it was in the movie) and now of course it is threatening the native red squirrels food etc. We were told that the Isle has no grey squirrels and we were also told that when a captain of the ferry discovered that someone had bought grey squirrels in their car he turned the ferry around and went back to Southampton – no law or tight customs regulations– but obviously the locals care. Sunday morning was very wet so we decided to catch an early ferry as everything we wanted to see was either closed for winter or outdoor (which meant we would get wet and cold!!). Next time we go back we will walk the gorges and the beaches and perhaps go to the miniature village and the wildlife sanctuary. We drove to Beaulieu via a little tidal flour mill. The Eling Tide Mill has been making flour for 900 years (some bits have been replaced over time so you could probably say that most of the mill is younger than that). Each day, when the tide comes in it fills the millpond and then as the tide falls the trapped water spins the water wheel, which turns the stones, which crushes the wheat into flour. The wheat makes very nice ginger biscuits and the ones we bought are now all gone. Beaulieu was huge, park like surroundings with a palace where Lord Montagu and his family have lived for years and abbey ruins. To modernise it they have added a car museum, James Bond exhibition, monorail, playstation exhibition and simulators and an exhibition of Stately Omes of England (SOE stands for Special Operations Executive – they trained spies during the second world war). If it hadn’t been raining cats and dogs I would have spent all my time wandering the gardens but instead did a quick skirt of the abbey (I was the only one there) where my umbrella was blown inside out (thought that didn’t happen in England), a longer look at the palace (they had a huge log fire burning in the dining room and heaps of family portraits dating from a few hundred years ago to 2002), and watched the video on the SOE’s before a 10 minute sojourn into the car museum. Guess where Harry spent most of his time?? We drove home in the dark – a long trip on narrow, wet and busy roads. The English sure know how to make puddles!! Now off to finish my book that is set in Bristol....

A weekend in London

We don’t seem to be able to stop seeing new things!! Firstly here are some photos of our new home with our car (Pierre) outside with Harry. Then our street – our house is on the left just round the corner so you can’t see it and then the park (its called a ‘Common’ in England) just behind us. It is very pretty on a fine autumn’s day and also on a cold frosty morning and probably in the snow but not really sure I want to see that one.

We spent the weekend in London. What a treat – Harry’s firm shouted us all for Christmas. There were about 70 of us. We went in two 50 seater buses as some pulled out at the last minute). We had about 10 on our bus going up but the driver said his smallest number was 1. (A secretary was asked to book some transport so booked the bus and the driver drove the business man from London to another city because that is what she ordered – wonder if she kept her job). The traffic was pretty heavy in London and it took an hour to go the last 15 miles so we got some pretty good sight seeing in like the ice rink and lots of buildings and gardens. On the way home the journey took over 4.5 hours due to the M4 being closed and us having to take a back route past Stonehenge and through Bath. Our hotel was on the corner of Oxford Street – yes Oxford Street. Out the door and round the corner and we were right beside the Christmas lights and window displays. Outside House of Fraser, Debenhams, Selfridges and not far from Harrods – are you envious shoppers? We walked passed all of them without going in - those of you who know us well wouldn't be too surprised at that. However, it wasn't quite true – Harry couldn’t resist buying a jacket in the Motorsport shop (McLaren what else!!) and I cruised into a shop when I saw a nice dress in the window which I thought was cute. It's true what they say ‘if you want to know the price you can’t afford it’. Harry and I thought perhaps £150 which was way above what I wanted to pay but it was £520 – I should have tried it on anyway, but they probably wouldn’t have let us jean clad kiwis near it.

We wandered all the way to Trafalgar Square and had a peak in the National Art Gallery for an hour before it closed. We saw da Vinci, Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh. It was amazing cos we saw some Cezanne’s and Van Gogh’s that were painted in Provence where we went with Jim and Margot. Having been there made the paintings come alive and we could feel the warmth and dryness of the Provence summer as we looked around them. There were paintings back to the 1200’s (most had religious themes back then) and it suddenly occurred to me why some people were interested in Art History as there were definitely themes through the ages. It was captivating – more so than the Tate Modern Art Museum which we raced through in 20 minutes (I think there are 5 floors). Back to the hotel for dinner (through the crowds, shoulder to shoulder, bumped by a few umbrellas put up by brave souls wanting to miss a few drops).
Dinner on Friday night (and breakfast both days as well) was on Harry's work and we enjoyed the company of a few of Harry’s workmates at all those meals as well as the good food.

Saturday dawned and we wandered through the streets again to watch the Lord Mayor's parade. It was a bit like a Christmas parade at home but without Santa. The Mayor must have been in one of the first horse drawn carriages cos he wasn't at the end like the celebrities at home. We watched a variety of bands (brass, piano accordian, pipe) and cars (Harry says their were early and new Rolls Royces) and lots of floats (I discovered that a float is from the time when parades used to be on the Thames. They would float passed the crowd. Once the Thames got a bit too polluted they moved them onto the roads and there they remain.) One of the most intriguing things was the army groups that walked by with real guns (I thought that they were toy ones from the Warehouse but Harry put me right and said that guns now have lots of plastic parts which make them look a bit like toys) and real bayonets. There was also a display of those in camouflage for the desert with masking tape stuck onto the guns for a bit of the brown look. I did wonder at the appropriateness of this in a parade - the day before Armistice day - and whether by doing this we were actually glorifying war rather than commemorating the war and remembering all those that died. Food for thought.

Using cell phones Michelle and Zane found us standing on the footpath watching the last of the floats. I wonder what we would have done before cell phones. With us not knowing London well we could have been waiting at different corners for a while before we gave up!! We wandered to an Aussie and South African pub by the Thames for lunch where if you wanted you could eat kangaroo or springbok or just a good old burger or pie. We all chose the latter!!

We watched the parade go back after lunch along the Thames while eating lunch and then wandered over the Millenium bridge to the Tate Modern Art Gallery which was the same way as the flow of traffic (we gave up trying to get to St Pauls against the flow). Well, it didn't take long to realise that all of us was not really taken with modern art - our first piece of art we viewed was an 'earthquake fault' along the length of the building, deep and jagged which seemed to intrigue a lot of people but not us. St Pauls was far more interesting. We wandered to the top 431 steep spiral steps later to see the view, went down to the Whispering gallery where we could whisper romantic things to each other along the wall (when the woman wasn't whispering 'no photography please' ). Got a lovely view from the top and I thought Zane was joking when he said 'we could view the fireworks from the top'!!! Saw the crypt down below - the biggest I think in England. All that when I thought I was going to see a church.

Because it was Remembrance Sunday the next day and Armistice Day as well there was a fireworks display along the Thames. Roads were closed off so that the hoards of people could watch a fairly spectacular display with the London Eye as a backdrop. The underground stations were closed (a regular event says Michelle) due to over crowding so we wandered past Big Ben in the early evening (it's dark by 4.30 with fireworks at 5.00) and Westminister Abbey. Big Ben was smiling down on a very special place. Each regiment in the wars had a little place marked out on the lawn of the abbey and people had placed crosses on the grass to remember their loved ones.

Sushi for tea at Victoria Station and the four of us sat mesmerised by little coloured bowls of goodies going round and round in circles in front of our eyes. Zane and Harry couldn't resist the chocolate dessert but Michelle and I stayed with the authentic Japanese food. Then the last treat for the evening - we all went to Wicked. The story of how the witches became good and bad before Dorothy wandered the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz. And also how the Lion lost his courage, the straw man his brain, and the tin man lost his heart. A very funny show with some very powerful singers and actresses. Lines that tickled my fancy were ‘when will you start teaching us history and stop talking about the past’, and the good witch looking in the mirror like the typical blonde she was saying ‘ooooh hello there’.
The next day we were leaving at 12.00 so had a quick wander down Baker Street (home of Sherlock Holmes) and along to Regent Park.