Wintry Wonderland

Work was hard this week - another round of restructuring and interviewing of staff and having a bit of a bug didn't help either. We managed to cycle to and it didn't really start to snow again until Friday.

Oh the weather outside is frightful, 

But the fire is so delightful,

And since we've no place to go,

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Bristol seems to be a bit immune to the severe weather conditions experienced by most of the rest of the UK - which to kiwis not used to suburban snow is a little bit of a disappointment. But not to others as the country's transport system grinds to a halt for the second time in two weeks.  There are loads of homeless presents waiting to find the right Christmas tree - online shopping does have its disadvantages!!  

"Several internet retailers stopped taking orders for deliveries in Scotland and freight experts warned families in many parts of Britain that they might not get their Christmas gifts in time as the country hunkered down for more snow, sleet, wind and ice. With snow forecast to move down from Scotland, across northern England and into Wales and the West Country before moving east on Saturday, airports, rail operators and road gritting and breakdown services were again on alert...Companies have been struggling to clear a backlog of millions of Christmas gifts that built up when earlier extreme weather coincided with peak online ordering...described the problems as like "bailing water out of a sinking ship". Although many people still stand a good chance of getting their presents in time ..."This year in Scotland and the north-east it is likely Father Christmas won't be coming...There is the very real possibility that for the first time everything won't be delivered".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/16/snow-christmas-presents-delivery-delays

So, having some sympathy for parents Harry and I decided to give them some possible explanations to tell the kids.  Christmas is late this year because...

• Rudolph had a cold and couldn't leave the warm Reindeer Barn.
• It snowed so hard at the North Pole that the elves couldn't dig the snow away from the sleigh garage.
• The internet was down so Santa didn't get the present order in time.
• The power was out in England so he couldn't see the lights from the Christmas tree and thought nobody was home.
• Power in the North Pole was also out so he couldn't access his computer to see the list of presents, children and addresses and he didn't want to deliver the wrong present to the wrong house.
• Power outages also caused a problem for the elves during their busy toy making season and they couldn't see to finish making all the toys.
• Santa ran out of salt and grit and so the sleigh runway was too slippery for the reindeer to take off and we wouldn't want a reindeer with a broken leg would we?

 and because of all this it was so cold Santa decided to stay in and sample Mrs Klaus Christmas dinner and wait until the snow clouds drifted away.... Glad I'm not an internet shopping parent.

Saturday we woke up to a lovely spread of snow - a bit like icing spread over the bumps of cars, bushes and fences.  So, we took a long walk up to the tower and enjoyed slipping and sliding, throwing snow balls at each other and watching the kids toboggan down the hills. 

We got back to the house in the early afternoon and set about barbequing sausages - well Christmas really is the barbeque season - so why not we thought as we pulled out our little disposable bbq.  Mulled wine and sausages in the back yard.  In the evening we went to our local restaurant for a yummy Mediterranean meal (it was a bit warmer in there).

Besides the weather there has been some interesting news this week. Like mathematical experts have come up with the perfect formula to always win the christmas cracker...O=11xC/L+5xQ.  In layman's terms that means pulling the cracker at an angle while gripping the cracker one inch from the barrel.  The angle depends on the length and circumference of the cracker as well as the quality.  What's wrong with using two hands and all your strength I say!!  Also some cannabis factories have been found out - the tiles on the roof are a bit warmer due to the ideal growing conditions inside the loft - but the snow melts faster than on their neighbours roof - there is a roof like that not far from where we live!!

We are missing all our special people... its our first Christmas without Mum who loved the season and buying of presents for everyone.

The Fortnight Before Christmas

It is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death this week and so here is one of my favourite Christmas songs which has been on the radio nearly every hour of every day we have listened to the radio...
"So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young...
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear..."

And then it was the 50th anniversary of Coronation Street - it still has a very, very, very strong following here and so we sat and watched about 20 minutes of the disaster before getting rather bored ...

And in the same week of the same year a little boy in Wellington was just beginning another Christmas school holiday after a long year in the junior school. Yes, it was also Harry's birthday - and sorry to say it was a pretty ordinary day with going to work and then going to our last dancing lesson before Christmas. As the song goes 'Another year over'...

And a number of years before Lennon, Coronation Street and Harry were even thought of Handel wrote the Messiah. I have always wanted to see the musical but needed the right building to set the atmosphere. A cold, large cathedral was just the place on a winters evening. So, wrapped in hats, scarves, jackets and our thermal socks we sat in the Bristol Cathedral and listened to this master piece with lots of others. I enjoyed it, and so did Harry (through closed eyes) - the mix of music, solos, choral music - something quite special. And half way through with the snow outside I thought about Handel composing this piece for generations to enjoy - sitting at his desk or musical instruments in a room with dark beams and sinking ceiling, the fires burning, the candles flickering and the snow falling gently outside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)

On Saturday, after a relaxing start we went over to see Mike and Barbara in Northampton. It was good to see them and catch up over a nice dinner (cooked by Adam) in the little pub in the picturesque village of Kislingbury.  A long time ago when it was warmer we went for a walk through this village and I took a detour into the pub - the publican showed me around his 19th century home taking me into the restaurants where the old piano stood, out to the back courtyards, behind the bar, and into the kitchen but not up the stairs to the bedrooms - while the others waited outside vaguely wandering what had happened to me.  In the morning we woke up to a cooked breakfast (chef Mike) and then said goodbye - needing to get home as Chris, Glen and Ben were coming for dinner.

Waddesdon

A bit more jive and cha cha cha started the week and dancing to a band at Harry's work Christmas party finished the very cold working week. More snow over the country, though just a dusting in Bristol - enough to form ice, not enough for building a snow man but enough to discourage even the heartiest of cyclists. On the Saturday we went over to Milton Keynes (I'd found a good deal at a hotel and since it is Harry's birthday on Monday we thought we would have another treat). The jacuzzi was broken - disappointed we were - but we swam in the pool, sweated in the sauna, ate lots of food, played pool on a mini table which was just my size, and  danced another night away (limping at work the next week I explained to concerned workmates that I had pulled a muscle when we gatecrashed a disco - where was the sympathy?).  On the Sunday we went to Waddesdon Manor.  This had huge potential as a place to go to. Its the home of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (of the banking dynasty who owned the place in Nice we went to visit) and was built to display his collection of art, collectibles etc.  The house is in the area once known as Rothschildshire (really Buckinghamshire) due to all the Barons rellies buying up or building around the place.  We thought we could spend all day there and we did because it was busy and it was a timed ticket to the house.  It was a magnificent building from the outside surrounded by a garden (some of it decked out for Christmas), a stable and a plant centre (which included a Christmas food fair - chutneys, crackers, cakes, coffee and sweets) and an aviary (a haven for some fairly endangered species who would have had to acclimatise quickly to the English weather). We wandered the around in all sorts of weather, at times watching the fog roll in and other times enjoying the faint warmth of the winter sun.  Inside the rooms were decorated with trees and lights but we were only allowed in a few of the rooms (or at least two or three of them - the others we were allowed to peep through the doorway) - so we had difficulty seeing most of the things in the room.  Although owned by the National Trust the Manor is run by a family charitable trust chaired by the present Lord Rothschild.  Perhaps that explains the small number of 'public' rooms.

Rugby

We started the week off by going to a RAF Concert at Colston Hall - a memorial to the Battle of Britain - it was one of the best we've been too.  Also learnt to do a bit of jive in our dancing lessons which are coming on nicely - it will be Strictly Come Dancing soon (yeah right!).  It is the season for rugby and in zero degrees with snow outside what better place to sit than in the Cardiff Millenium Stadium watching Wales and New Zealand thrash it out for 80 minutes.  It wasn't a particularly enthralling game from the spectators perspective - a bit stop start - but given the temperature (even a roof over the stadium and 74,000 fans weren't enough to get it to a comfortable level) who can blame the players for feeling a bit sluggish.  We would have felt the same (our training in the afternoon involved doing some Christmas shopping and eating - exhausting!!).  Still, Dan Carter kicked the penalty that made him record holder for most points scored in an international and Harry even managed to get it on camera.  One of the most special moments was the 1 minutes silence in memory of the Pike River Miners.  It was a poignant reminder of the close ties NZ has with Wales.  And the other was of a good proportion of the crowd singing our national anthem.

God of nations! at Thy feet

In the bonds of love we meet,

Hear our voices, we entreat,

God defend our Free Land.

Guard Pacific's triple star,

From the shafts of strife and war,

Make her praises heard afar,

God defend New Zealand

E Ihowā Atua,

 ngā iwi mātou rā

Āta whakarangona;

Me aroha noa

Kia hua ko te pai;

Kia tau tō atawhai;

Manaakitia mai

Aotearoa

If you want to read what Mike has been doing in Sydney check his link out.

http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/my-business-success/kiwi-entrepreneurs-blitz-graduate-market-20101126-18a95.html

Sharon and Us in London

We caught the bus to London on Monday morning and spent four fun days looking around the city that so many people visit every year. We were one of just a few (4.5 million visits to 34 London tourist attractions in August). Imagine what it will be like in 2012 with the Olympics.  The undergrounds would be crowded (although there is significant upgrading of them going on at the mo), no place to get a photo without someone in the way and no where with a table free to buy a coffee or a meal - yes winter is definitely the time to go to London.  We caught some shows:

• Blood Brothers (on the Top 3 list for me with Wicked and Billy Elliot). The sad story of twin brothers who were separated at birth but end up meeting as children and then falling in love with the same girl. Fairly familiar theme but the lyrics, acting and music make it very memorable and sad.  
• Chicago (a bit dark for me - not quite enough colour and vibrancy). Some songs were quite familiar cos it has been around since 1975.  
• Wicked - just a fun show with lots of colour, great singing and acting. It is about the story of the two witches in the Wizard of Oz . It's our second time and we still thought it was great.
• Legally Blonde (Sharons favourite) based on a blonde who gave the impression of being a bimbo but given an opportunity became a competent lawyer.  Sharon bought the cd and we listened to the music from the show for a couple of days before she took it back home. One of the songs I particularly liked was the conversation between Emmet and Elle - about being given a chance and grabbing it with both hands.

I've been smiling and sweet and thoroughly beaten,

Blowing my chance.

Let's not chase him away,

Let's face him and say,

Hey punk, let's dance!

This chip on my shoulder,

Makes me smarter and bolder.

No more whining or blaming, 

I am reclaiming my pride.

Grab that book and let's do this,

Instead of doodling hearts all through this.

Now, there's a chip on my shoulder!

Let's see him knock it aside.

That reminds me of another song we read about during the week.  The track is a digital download, of 'Two Minutes Silence' and was made to raise money for the Royal British Legion. It went to about 19 in the charts during the week of Remembrance Sunday.  It contains no music or speaking at all, it has lots of celebrities making noiseless contributions eg David Cameron, Andy Murray, Martin Johnson etc.  Sharon thought this was a great song especially for Harry and me when we started singing she would suggest we learnt the lyrics of this new song!!  Besides looking at historical sites and shows we did do a little bit of shopping.  I have come to realise after being with Mum, my Sister and Sharon that somehow I missed out on the 'shopping gene' much to both my Sister and Sharon's dismay.  

We didn't plan it, but we found the Supreme Court just across the road from Westminster Abbey. Having not been in it before and having had discussions about the history of the Supreme and High Court in England and New Zealand we wandered through security and into the courts. There was an exhibition about the history and NZ's move away from the Privy Council (including the new building in Wellington which I have not yet been into).  In one of the cabinets there was a glass waka given to the Privy Council in 2004 to signify the day New Zealand left the jurisdiction of the Jucidicial committee of the Privy Council.  I think as a kind of thank you.  We sat for a while and watched a case about deportation on the video - but by the time we got to the actual court it was lunch time and so we could have a nosy at the room without disturbing the judge, lawyers and defendant.  One of the courts had a stain glass window of flowers - which was rather pretty in its simplicity. It describes the 4 jurisdictions of the UK: the English rose (apparently a symbol of the Tudor dynasty), the Welsh leek leaves (there is a legend that St David ordered his  soldiers to wear leeks on their helmets during a battle against the Saxons), the Scottish purple thistle (another legend suggests that a Scottish army was saved when barefooted Viking invaders stepped on prickly thistles in the dark, crying out in pain and waking the defenders) and the blue flax flower of Northern Island (representing the linen-weaving industry which was one of the main industry groups in the 19th nineteenth century).

 We also visited the Tower of London (poor Harry misses out again cos he didn't join us until Wednesday). The guide was informative and pointed to the area where the crown jewels are housed and said we should go and see some 'serious bling', Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (on the night the engagement was announced to the world), London Eye, the Art Gallery in Travalgar Square, Downing Street, Westminster Abbey (sobering with all the crosses and poppies from Remembrance Day).

Then it was back to Bristol to do a bit more shopping and packing before travelling back along the M4 to Heathrow.  We had a brief stop at Windsor, viewed the castle, railway station and crooked tearoom, but didn't have time to hang around for the 'switching on of christmas lights'.  We had a wonderful time with Sharon - hopefully we can repeat it soon.