Palmerston North and Back to the UK

I recently spent 3 weeks back in New Zealand, most of the time based in Palmerston North where I spent most of my time with Mum. It was hard visiting Mum each day, seeing her gradual decline, but every time she managed to say a word, smile, take a sip of tea was reward enough for myself, Cheryl and all those that came to see her.  On the occasions when she was asleep I would take myself for a walk into the square, for a coffee, a few hours in the internet cafe, to buy another book or just to walk around the city in an area I hadn't been before.  I have always thought there isn't much in Palmerston North - the uni, some pretty good clothes shops, and lots of motels.  But on this visit I discovered there are more things - like some lovely art deco buildings and homes which looked even better in the warm spring air, rhododendrons and wisteria- so out came the camera so that the art deco enthusiasts in England can see what a fast growing NZ city in the 1920's and 30's was made of.  And I was again reminded of the value of family and friends who were always there when I needed them.  I hope I can help them in the future as much as they helped me.  We said our goodbyes on the Friday and Mum was left to the tender care of the wonderful staff at Palmerston North Star Ward 2 (who went beyond their call of duty to support us and care for Mum), Cheryl and all our friends and family.  I flew back to England on Saturday and Sharon also flew out but the other way around the world.  We were met at different times by Harry at Heathrow airport who had bought Sharon a towel for a shower and some lunch for us to have on the way back.  It was good to see him again.

So, to try and get our tired bodies back into Northern hemisphere time zones (daylight saving had just finished and along came the dark afternoons) we stopped first of all to show Sharon Stonehenge (where we ate our lunch in marginally warmer conditions than when Mike and Becks had been over) and to Lacock Abbey where we walked around the cloisters talking about Harry Potter and the life of the nuns.  We had been there before but this time took the opportunity to see the first floor of the abbey which had been renovated in the 1800's.

Eastbourne

This weekend had nothing planned so I got hold of Rebecca and organised to spend the day with her and Nylan. They wanted to to go and play Pooh sticks at the bridge that the 'Winnie the Pooh' stories made famous. I had never played Pooh sticks as I wasn't into 'Winnie the Pooh', It was Denise who came up with the plan as she wanted to show me how to do it since I hadn't played it before.
The kids had decided this was what they wanted to do as it wasn't easy for them to get there without a car, I will have to do it again as Denise still wants to visit the bridge.

We took our own supply of sticks as any information that I read about said that the area is very popular and  you will struggle to find many sticks in the area of the bridge to play Pooh sticks.
After numerous games of Pooh sticks we headed off to Eastbourne for a picnic lunch, enjoyed a walk along the Eastbourne promenade and then headed back to London for tea and then back to Bristol.

Lake District again

Another visit to the Lake District, but this time without Denise as she is still in NZ. I went up on the Friday night and it took 4.5 hours as I hit the peak traffic at both Birmingham and Manchester and this certainly slows things down a bit.
On the Saturday I went up to Lake Windemere and stopped and found lunch, there was a nice sandwich shop which freshly made the sandwich while you waited. After a wander around the Lake edge I then headed for Lake Grasmere as I had read that there was a famous Ginger Bread shop in the village.

Sarah Kemp was born in Bowness-on-Windermere in 1815. She had a hard life, as a child she knew poverty, and her widowed mother was only too thankful to get her daughter into service with the local gentry. But Sarah was a diligent young woman and she soon reached the height of her profession as a cook.
In 1844 she married Wilfred Nelson. Wilfred worked as a farm labourer and part-time grave digger, but he was unable to earn enough to support his wife and two children. Sarah worked hard taking in washing and making cakes and pastries for Lady Farquhar, in her home at Dale Lodge in Grasmere.Around 1850 a small cottage known as ‘Gate Cottage’ then became available for rent. Gate Cottage had been built in 1630 by public subscription as the village school. Education was not compulsory at this time, and it was only the village folk who could afford the penny a day to send their boys to school. Once education became compulsory a new school was built nearby to accommodate all the village children, leaving the Nelson’s to take over the tenancy of the property. At her new home, Sarah was encouraged by Lady Farquhar’s French chef to make Gingerbread. As the Victorian tourists passed by, they would see Sarah donned in her white apron and shawl sitting out in her cobbled yard selling her wares of Helvellyn cakes, aerated water and most importantly her Gingerbread. Sarah’s Grasmere Gingerbread became renowned, and soon she was wrapping it in pure vegetable parchment printed ‘None Genuine Without Trade Mark’. The recipe was locked away in the local bank vault. Sarah abandoned her parlour, and hung a curtain across her kitchen to form a passageway from the door through to the diminutive shop. Sarah had now established herself as ‘Baker and Confectioner of Church Cottage, Grasmere’.

I visited the shop and purchased a 12 pack of Gingerbread, it was delicious and once home I realised that  I should have purchased more.
Then it was a tour over to the coast and down to Barrow-in-Furness where I stopped for dinner at a nice pub. This was an eventful trip as the car broke on the way. I had to put a new clutch in the car about a month previous and 2 shift rod bushes fell apart and I had held them in place with cable ties and one broke and the linkage fell off and left me with only 3rd & 4th gear. It took me 30 minutes to fix and I was lucky I had some spare cable ties to fix it.

On the Sunday I headed home early as I was concerned about the gear linkage coming off again.

Bournemouth

While Denise is away in New Zealand, I am left to gallivant around the country on my own. We had booked this trip earlier and it was unfortunate that Denise wasn't here to enjoy it as well, but since the hotel was booked and we can't cancel the bookings I went anyway.
I arrived on the Friday night and enjoyed a walk around the area where the hotel is and just about every other hotel in Bournemouth. The next morning I went promenading on the Bournemouth beach front, went up to Poole and down to Boscombe Pier, I was walking for 4 hours, then had lunch.
Spent the rest of the day wondering round the gardens of the town before settling for a nice meal.
The beach huts at Bournemouth have an illustrious history, the first purpose built beach huts appeared on either side of Bournemouth Pier in 1906.

The next day as I headed home I visited the Bovington Tank Museum. This museum is dedicated to the history of the tank which was invented in Britain during the first twentieth century world conflict of WW1, it was conceived to be able to advance to the enemy lines and cross them while protecting the soldiers from being mowed down by machine gun fire.The original project name was 'landship' and was being controlled by the Navy under Winston Churchill who was First Lord of the Admiralty. It was his idea to change the name of the project for security reasons so the enemy wouldn't get an inkling of what it was about to 'Tank' and this name stuck.

Oklahoma and Berlin

During the week we went to see Oklahoma - Haz was keen to see the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical - but it was really quite disappointing - the casting, choreography and singing didn't quite do the musicians justice. Then in the weekend we flew out to Berlin. We haven't done much travel to Europe for a number of reasons and this was our first trip in more than 2 months. Last time we went to Berlin we exhausted ourselves by staying at a hotel out of town, walking 2.5 kms to the railway station, biking all day on one of those Fat Tire bike trips - every day - we have never been so tired. This weekend would be different - we hired a car and stayed at the same hotel - but didn't intend to go into the city. Saturday was spent at the Spreewald Forest, south of Berlin. It is group of small settlements amongst trees all connected by an old canal system (200 or so).  We did the real touristy thing and went for a 4 hour punt ride along some of the canals and got the impression that the locals enjoyed life and had a sense of fun. There is about 50,000 people living in the area, but the area is big and quite honestly we saw only a few. This is also home to the Sorbs who have managed to keep their traditional culture, language, customs and clothing despite the inundation of tourists.The museum which at first glance looked like an outdoor farm with old equipment soon proved to be so much more interesting telling us the story of the Sorbs and life in Lehde. For many years the area has been known for its horseradish and gherkins and if our bags had been bigger a few of the jars would have flown back to Bristol with us. 



And on Sunday there was another treat in store - we went to Europe’s largest tropical holiday world. It felt a bit bizarre walking into an old airship hanger (built originally for the German company CargoLifter AG in 2000 - giant airships which would be able to transport large items of freight to inaccessible destinations around the world). However, the company responsible for the project didn't manage to get it off the ground (in fact the company went into the ground before the first prototype could be built). So, instead of aircraft we came across palm trees growing in tropical conditions, people wandering, swimming or soaking with or without clothes on and children playing in sandy beaches while parents lounge, sip cocktails, sleep or eat.