We have slowed down our travelling - not really out of choice but sometimes we just have to take a few days off in the sunshine to recover!! Well, I did while Harry spent a night in hospital having a small operation and for the rest of the week I have played nurse, done housework and gardening, and also relaxed a bit. I did browse at Harry's horoscope the day he got out of hospital and it said 'Waiting hand and food on your partner will yield good results' - huh they got that one wrong!!!
After explaining to a few health professionals at various times why us kiwis were testing out the National Health System we settled down in the waiting room for a day operation to begin. We hid behind newspapers trying not to laugh as other day patients described their ailments (one saying he didn't know why he was going in but the Doctor said he needed too). Harry was operated on quite late and they decided to keep him over night and well into the next day - he arrived home in time for tea!! But no complaints, really he is recovering well with the help of a few painkillers and some good advice and care from the nurses. One nurse described our visit as 'Health Tourism', something we probably would have preferred to do from a distance but we can't always choose these things can we?
Anyway, while Harry has been playing solitaire, reading car magazines, watching tv and dozing, I tackled our garden. It isn't very big but with a wet and warm summer so far, the weeds (and slugs) are having a field day out there. We don't have much opportunity for gardening except in the evenings so it was good to have a couple of days to do that and the housework - I hate to admit it but I think I actually enjoyed the pottering around and wandering to the shops without having to hurry - and having time to read the newspapers and my book in the sun. I also went for a long cycle one day to get some much needed exercise around the Clifton Downs. It was a lovely sunny day and I kept stopping to look at the view and houses and people enjoying themselves before heading into the town to go to the library.
The Bristol papers are full of all the attacks by youths on pedestrians and cyclists on the Bristol to Bath cycle path (we went on it recently and I had begun to cycle on it before making my way home in the evenings). It is a Catch 22 because they say that the more people that go on it the safer it is - but who wants to be hit by a baseball bat for no apparent reason? There has been something like 5 vicious attacks in 1 week - rather nasty as it doesn't seem they even want to steal anything - the police have arrested some youths and let them out on bail!!! The other news is that the council is still trying to get buses to share the cycle paths with cyclists - lets hope they don't achieve that cos it wouldn't be much fun for the cyclists and pedestrians. Another road rule coming in is that cyclists will be allowed to go the wrong way up a one way street, but there won't be a cycle lane and it will be the car drivers fault if there is an accident - can't see how that would work and I don't think we will be testing out that rule!! Why, do I get the feeling that some of these policies just might not be encouraging taking the 'green' transport options. Another interesting little fact we discovered the other day - as we are beginning to meet people now we have some locals to ring occasionally for a chat. Our first phone bill with a local call registering for any length of time (I will not admit to how long we talked) was more expensive than the same length of call to family and friends in New Zealand (land line only). And who said things aren't dearer over here? We also read and heard about the All Black and Irish game and the great Wellington weather that was put on for the occasion (there is a newspaper article about what will happen to rugby if it loses New Zealanders support - empty seats for the game was the reason for the article - it seemed to think that if New Zealand, Australia and South African supporters lost heart the game could also become a minor sport). In Swansea I listened to many a despondent Welshman talking about their loss to South Africa (including Justin Marshalls hairdresser who no longer dresses hair). I went there for work on Monday morning and returned to more nursing tasks on Tuesday evening (actually Harry doesn't really require nursing I am just looking for some sympathy now) for a management team meeting and evening presentations. I prepared a second quiz (first in March had a good response - I am getting a reputation as the quiz master - you might see me hosting 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' next). All the questions had a transport theme because I am in a transport agency. Anyway, people said this one aged me (they don't like to admit that on some of the questions all the teams could answer 60% of the questions and some got as high as 80%). Anyway, just to see how old my friends are who read this (Harry and I came up with these one night with the help of Google).
1. What would you be on if you were ‘rocking, rolling, riding, out along the bay, all bound for Morningtown’?
2. What would you be on if you were ‘riding downtown in a hurry honey, down south avenue…’
3. What would Daisy look sweet upon the seat of …
4. What would you be in if you could ‘sing a song and sail along the silver sky …search the clouds for a star to guide us …, float among the stars together’?
5. Where would you be going if you were 'Standing in the silent hall waitin' for the final call, Says he doesn't love me anymore, Shaking hands I pack a bag, trembling voice I call a cab, Slowly I start walking to the door'
6. What would you be riding in if you were listening to: ‘Ah breaker one-nine, this here’s the rubber duck, you got a copy on me, PigPen, c’mon’
7. What is the name of the boat in the documentary that used this theme song?
‘I am sailing, I am sailing, home again across the sea, I am sailing stormy waters to be near you, to be free…’
8. What vehicle is this man’s tool of trade?
‘Some people make a fortune, others earn a mint, my old man don’t earn much, in fact he’s flippin skint…’
9. What type of vehicle are these two people in? ‘And she said “How are you Harry?”, I said “How are you Sue” through the too many miles and the too little smiles, I still remember you’
10. Who would you be watching if you saw ‘They go up diddly up up, they go down diddly down down’?
Anyway, let me know how you do - if you get near 100% you must be oldish, and if you get closer to 0% you don't know much - so you can't really win.
That's it for this blog 'Haz and me signing out...'
On the Saturday we picked our own strawberries and raspberries for dessert and then drove to Lyme Regis. Geologically Lyme Regis is on the edge of the Jurassic Coastline and as you can imagine the pebbles on the beach have been washed down many millions of years ago by giant rivers which now no longer exist. The cliffs have suffered from erosion over many years and there was a photo exhibition of the cliff face in the early 1900's compared to now. Where did it all go? The cliffs are red (they look the same as those in Dover but just a different colour), the pebbles white and pink, but no where near the size of those in Ladrum Bay which were as large as the foot of a primary school child (or mine as some people might say). It is apparently loaded with fossils on the cliffs as well as the sea shore and so another time we will wander along the beaches - preferably when the tide is out as there might be some sand. We wandered around the town, which for a while was home to Jane Austen (we are finding more about her life as we travel around) and where she based part of her story 'Persuasion'. The little town is perched on a hillside and not too touristy, so we enjoyed drinking coffee and eating toasted tea cakes, chatting, wandering through the gardens (lavendar, flaxes, petunias, begonias, geraniums and hydrangeas), laughing at Tilley as she tried to make lots of dog friends. Tilley, was exhausted by the end of the day and lay about giving the impression she had done a hard days work. Admittedly all that sea air, exercise and good food did tire us out and after a few games of scrabble we wandered off to bed. But not before I had remembered how fun the game is ("if only I had a p or s or a or e", "why do I get all the consonants and you guys all the vowels?", "what can you do with a v, j, k and w?"). We had great fun making up words (Harry maintained that NIKE was a Greek God and proved it today on the internet - the Goddess of Victory). 
On the way back from Lyme Regis we stopped at Seaton where a year ago we had a thermos explode in our boot, we got very wet and spent most of our time in a local cafe drying out and warming up. It was sunny this time and we rode on a tram to Colyton a little village about 3-4 miles away. We rode through pastures where rabbits hopped, foxes played and deer, cows, sheep grazed. We wouldn't have seen Tilley if she had not had her leash firmly held. She is a little Welsh Terrier and renowned for her lovely personality and her ability to scamper off and not to return even to Paul and Shiela's worried calls late at night. The tram (Barbie we named her) was built in 1968 in Eastbourne and was painted pink in support of Breast Cancer. She took us to rather a nice little cafe in a converted barn where we sat in the sun and ate baguettes and drank coffee - otherwise the town seemed closed for the afternoon - but the old English Rose gardens were rather picturesque and smelt wonderful. Other trams were built between now and 1906 but we managed to get Barbie for both the outward and inward bound trips. She trundled along passing other trams and drivers stopped to discuss passengers, wildlife and timetables.
The next day our friends drove us to Exmouth. Another seaside resort, but with a long sandy, golden beach (great for wind surfers, paragliders and kite flyers), a river estuary (great for wildlife and wandering around), more lovely gardens enjoyed by wood pidgeons and squirrels (Tilley again stretched the lead and tried to climb a few trees - they sat on the branches laughing at her probably out of relief). As we parked the car we were amused that one side of the road had black 'pay and display' machines and the other side grey. One side the parking money went to East Devon Council and the other Devon Council - presumably two people empty the machines and police the areas!! We were also amused by the notices along the footpaths 'No dogs on beach for 698 yards' then further on 'No dogs on beach for 703 yards' - us kiwis would have rounded it up and hoped that no one would take the trouble to measure to see if the sign was accurate or not. And that took us to Sunday afternoon and back to Bristol - we had a lovely time made more special by sharing it with others.
We wandered along the path by the river for a few minutes and came to Tintern Village. Quaint little pubs and tea houses were built around what was the mill (where the monks got the flower to make their bread - their staple food). We spent a while looking at the craft shops (not many and it didn't take long but I did think of that some of my friends would have enjoyed this part). The shops were all quite small with different crafts for sale and so I started my Christmas shopping (are you impressed?). We wandered over the bridge looking back at the Abbey and thought that when we are able to walk further will make another trip to walk the track along the River (or perhaps bike?). On the way home we ducked into the shops and came out with a tent (to try out in a few weeks when we want to go to Skomer Island in Wales), a little gas cooker to boil a cuppa when we camp), a couple of fold up chairs (for air show picnics), a bike rack (to take our bikes back to the Wye River etc etc), and 2 cheap bags with wheels so we can pull rather than carry our bags onto the plane (it costs more to put them into the hold and you have to wait at the other end). So, didn't we do well.
I did have a little look at the aircraft flying (and listened to the band playing), but the birds of prey caught my imagination and I spent considerable time there watching them fly or looking at me from their perches. Between the airfield and the birds was a little Swiss garden which I wandered through a few times - quite pretty but not quite at its best as the daffodils had long finished and many of the other flowers and trees were just budding. Plenty of purple rhododendrons, and a few red and orange ones as well. Harry also managed to walk through the garden before the show started and managed to take a tumble on a little bridge that has probably added to his other very big, deep purple bruise he managed to collect during the week when a car got a bit close to his back wheel. Thankfully besides the bruise the only damage was that which money can fix. A little reminder about how vulnerable we are, whatever we are doing.
I saw a range of owls, falcons, vultures (and also some little moreporks from New Zealand). The barn own – tu whit tu whoos but as it gets older only the male whoos and the female whits (or is it the other way around?). Anyway, this little owl reared from birth at the refuge is a bit confused as it whoo's in the morning and whitt's in the evening (or is it the other way around?). Owls have black eyes, orange eyes or yellow eyes depending on whether they are nocturnal, mainly dawn and dusk, or daytime hunters respectively. They can turn their necks 270 degrees as they have extra vertebrae in the neck, contrary to a popular opinion that they can turn it right round (it would come off!!). Vultures and falcons have such acute eyesight they can see a mouse in a field 100 metres away. But all these birds are born lazy - they move when food is around and only attach themselves to humans when they get fed. So, getting them to fly means putting bits of food strategically on poles. Many of these birds are still declining in numbers despite the efforts of conservationists. In England, it is about the growing population being housed in the country with the result of less bush for them to nest and live in and less rodents for them to catch. The little barn owl (or ghost owl cos it is white in most places) has reduced from 6000 barn to about 3000 in just 2 years.
There are more floods in England - some families have been flooded 5 or 6 times during the last 2 years, but before that completely dry. Some places, they reckon it is drains that have not been kept up to standard and in the recent one where a months rain fell in 2 hours, they think it has to do with the inadequacy of the Thames pumping station. With the population growing and more housing being built in flood prone areas it seems that the councils need to get their act together. These people have homes that can't be insured, or are insured with premiums rising at a rapid rate, and some have not been able to live in their house for six months only to have to leave the next week because of another downpour. Must be very distressing. Bristol, does seem to miss the worst rain and since we are on a hill we remain dry. Besides, house prices falling, petrol increasing and one council asking the public to empty their bins as they are too heavy for the men that are paid to empty them (???) that's the news from England for this week.
