Blog

Well, where to start? It’s been a very long time since I could sit down and update the site. We have done a lot in the six months since then. First we went to Wales in March. I won’t go into detail here but it involved hiring a car and driving around pretty much all of Wales. We had a great time and saw lots of castles.

OK. I will go into detail then.

Day 1

It was great having a car and well worth the (considerable) expense, but it proved to be a little stressful driving through London. I took a wrong turn once and ended up on the M40, miles from where I wanted to be.

First stop after a couple of hours driving was Chepstow. We arrived at the castle at 10am but it wasn’t open. We took a quick walk around the otside. It certainly was big but the litter didn’t impress us much so we drove on to Tintern Abbey. This was much nicer and well worth the entrance fee.

We then headed for Raglan Castle, stopping for lunch in a pleasant town called Monmouth. Raglan proved to be a good ruined castle with a nice moat filled with goldfish. It is big and has lots of tunnels and plenty of those mysterious pits you find in so many castles.

On the way to Llanthony Priory we stopped at the Skirrid Mountain Inn for a drink at Wales’s supposed oldest pub. The sun was shining, a horse was grazing over the road and birds were building nests in the tree above. It was lovely. An idyllic scene if you will.

The road to Hay-On-Way was the narrowest road I have driven on. For most of its length it was just wide enough for one car, which meant slow going and frequent reversing. The ruins of Llanthony Priory would have been impressive if we hadn’t just come from Tintern Abbey. It is conncected to an expensive hotel and I thought the people drinking beer on the lawns detracted from its loveliness.

The tiny road wound up into the Black Mountains. It reminded me of Postman Pat; how his van takes up the whole of the country road and drives over those arched stone bridges. It really was like that.

We arrived in Hay-on-Wye at about 4pm. We went for a short walk around the town. The place is quite pleasing but there’s not much to see on a Sunday afternoon. It is actually a little surreal with most of the shops being 2nd hand bookstores and the half-ruined castle itself a bookshop. Our lodgings were basic but comfortable although our money-saving plan to eat instant noodles was almost thwarted when we discovered there was no kettle. We were forced to use hot tap water. Which isn’t as hot as you think it is… But hey, it was cheap, and full of noodly goodness.

to be continued…

Day 2

Our first stop today was Elan Valley Reservoirs (Lakes). This turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Next to one of the huge man-made lakes was a beautiful little church. It was called Nantgwgllt Church and was a chapel of ease for the Parish of Cwndauddwr. It was a little way up a hill surrounded by trees and I expected it to be locked but to my delight I found it open. Inside was a beautifully simple church. No stained glass, no impressive (read: gaudy) statues, just a plain altar and pews. It had a lovely beamed roof. I signed the visitors book (check it out next time you’re in the Parish of Cwndauddwr) and we headed north to the English border town of Clun.

Clun has a (very) ruined little castle with nice views over the town. It wasn’t that impressive having seen such places as Raglan and Tantalon but it was free which made it almost unique.

We spent the afternoon looking for a couple of farms that my grandfather worked at. We drove around the tiny village of Pitchford but couldn’t find the ‘Pitchford Farm’ we were looking for. We had better luck in the lovely village of Condover. We stopped at the general store to buy a drink and ask if they knew of Norton Farm. She did. While we were talking another lady came in and joined the conversation. It was eventually decided that we should go and ask Bill who had been in the village longer than anyone. We met Bill Smith (real name) and had a very interesting chat about his relatives in Australia among other things such as how 400 acres in Condover would be two farms as opposed to a paddock in Australia. He told us where to find the farm and we drove out to take some photos.

We headed into Shrewsbury to discover the ‘Quest’ had been shut down. We stayed in a lovely B & B in the Abbey Foregate called Glyndene. If you are ever in Shrewsbury, stay there. They made us feel like guests in their home (which we were) and, strangely, the decor was nice too.

Day 3

It felt like we spent more time in the car than out of it today. After a morning in Shrewsbury we headed for Lake Vyrnwy which didn’t detain us for long before we drove through a spectacular mountain road to Bala.

Next we came to Betws-y-coed. This is a lovely little village surrounded by mountains of Snowdonia National Park. We didn’t stop for long but this is a place I would like to come back to for a few days. Very pretty.

We finally arrived in Conwy at 4pm only to discover that was when the castle shuts. We took rooms for the night at The Town House. In the fading light we walked around the town walls which give a good view of the little town and big castle.

Day 4

This morning we went to Conwy Castle. We were there when it opened so we had the whole massive castle to ourselves for a while.

Then we drove to Bangor to see Penrhyn Castle. As we got there an hour before opening time we drove across the Menai Bridge to see Beaumaris Castle. This was a great castle with lots of dank tunnels and a lovely little chapel with a stunning accoustic.

Penryn Castle is amazing. It is not a real castle but a fake one built in the 19th century. It is simply incredible. It is HUGE and filled with beautiful carving and letters from royalty. Go there.

We then drove to the lakeside village of Llanberis at the foot of Mt Snowdon. From here we caught the little Snowden Mountain Railway up the mountain. Unfortunately it doesn’t run all the way to the summit until May but we got most of the way up. We were s-l-o-w-l-y pushed up the hill by a little steam train. Although the weather wasn’t that clear the views were still spectacular. And it was COLD! By the time we got back to the bottom it was 4pm which meant that almost everything in Wales was shut. So we decided to stay in Caernarfon and see its castle in the morning.

Day 5

The B&B we stayed at was really weird. The owner never asked our names or told us hers. When we asked if we could have another towel as there was only one large towel in our room, she said she didn’t give out large towels. She asked for payment in advance and the breakfast was bad; microwaved bacon and cold tomatoes!?!? The town of Caernarfon was rather bleak and unfriendly as well. It was very Welsh and we rarely heard English spoken. For a town with one of the biggest and most important castles in Wales it looked rather depressed, poor and unfriendly. My advice is: see the castle but don’t stay there whatever you do.

We headed for St Davids. On the way we stopped at the bizarre town of Portmeirion. It was built by Clough Williams-Ellis, apparently “to demonstrate how a naturally beautiful place could be developed without defiling it.” Whether he succeeded is debateable but it was quite surreal. All the buildings were Italianate and I think I spent most of the time walking around with a puzzled look on my face. It is basically a hotel now. I’m not sure if it was worth the high admission fee but I imagine it would be quite nice if it wasn’t raining.

Our next stop was around the bay at Harlech to see the castle. It was raining quite steadily now but it added to the atmosphere and I liked Harlech very much. We spent the rest of the day driving to St Davids. We passed the nice little town of Machynlleth and stopped briefly in Aberystwyth. We booked our B&B for St Davids in the pretty fishing town of Fishguard. It was then that the sun came out and the drive along the A487 from Fishguard to St Davids was very relaxing. After several attempts we found our B&B.

Day 6

We spent the morning in St Davids. It is Britains smallest ‘city’ on account of it being a village with a cathedral. The cathedral is lovely. Hidden in a valley it is quite large but simple in its design without any huge stained glass. Its Lady Chapel would be very nice for concerts, although I don’t know what kind of audience you would get.

Day 7

Today was the long drive back to London. We had intended to stop in Swansea but after driving confusedly around the city we couldn’t find anywhere to leave the car so we drove on towards Cardiff. North of Cardiff is the town of Caerphilly with its sprawling castle. Like most, the castle is a ruin but it has an interesting leaning tower, possibly due to it being built on marshland.

Castell Coch is a strange fairy-tale castle. A fortification was built following the Norman Conquest and a castle stood on the site until about 1316. In the 19th century John Patrick Crichton Stuart, third marquis of Bute engaged the eccentric genius, William Burges, to create a castle from the ruins.

Then we went to Cardiff. It was late afternoon so we only had time to see the keep of Cardiff Castle. Not much to see really.

That is a VERY brief account of our week in Wales. I think it would be useful to go everywhere twice so you know which bits you have to see and which bits you can safely miss. Still we had a good time and saw lots of castles. Which is the main thing.

Stay tuned for Italy…

Last Friday Kathryn and I caught the train to Edinburgh. It left Kings Cross station at 8 am so we had to get up very very early. As it turned out we got up a little too early so we had time to enjoy a cup of coffee at the station. Mmmmmm. Can’t you just taste it? Of course you would expect a cafe to start the day’s trading with no notes in the till, so I didn’t mind when the little Indian man behind the counter gave me 17 pound coins change. With my pocket jangling pleasingly we boarded the intercity train for a pleasant ride up the East coast of England. Painted on the side of the carriages was a little emblem that said “Route of the Flying Scotsman”.
The sun gradually rose higher in the sky the further North we went. Take this moment to picture the scene in your mind (if your imagination has been destroyed by television go and get one of those glossy picture books of Britain): Green fields, the sun just rising casting a golden glow over the land and giving it that peculiar texture of long shadows and bright highlights, us sitting in a rail car speeding and gently rocking our way northwards. Ah.

Edinburgh

Carl met us at Edinburgh station and after a sandwich at Food Plantation on the Royal Mile we visited St Giles’ Cathedral, a lovely church with very different architecture to Curch of England cathedrals. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Edinburgh Castle. It is an imposing structure and dominates the landscape around it. It really looks solid, impregnable.
It has a lovely little medieval church inside; tiny and beautiful in it’s simplicity. It has a few little stained glass windows and a little plain altar. Definitely one of my favourite churches.
The castle also houses the Scottish National War Memorial, a very fine monument with a portion of wall devoted to ANZAC.

After checking into our B&B we caught a bus into town to look for a meal. We ended up at a curry house that had an intriguing menu on the door. The food was very nice and the band was good too.

Castle #2

The next day, after our bacon and eggs at the Kenvie Guest House, we went to Tantallon Castle. It is a ruin that sits on the coast. When I say on the coast, I mean right on the coast. It is surrounded by swirling water on 3 sides; a very dramatic position which no doubt saved in the building costs as they only had to build one defensive wall or ‘curtain’ as it is called. It faces open fields and lush grass. It was the first time in weeks I had been in a wide open space and it felt good. As I walked along the old tower it was easy to imagine myself a noble surveying my land.
After the castle we drove to St Abbs, intending to go to St Abbs Head. After discovering that would entail an hours walk in each direction in cold windy weather we settled for the tiny village of St Abbs. It was an impressive view nonetheless. As Carl said, it felt like the edge of the world.

We had dinner at the ubiquitous Pizza Express (new store opening near you soon!!) and over did it by having coffee and cake at the very good Elephant House on King George IV Bridge Rd.

Castle #3
Sunday was again cold and wet. We headed North, stopping first at the Bannockburn visitors centre where we learned all about Robert Bruce’s glorious victory over the English dogs. Then we headed to Stirling Castle. Whereas Edinburgh was a fort, Stirling seemed more of a home, as indeed it was. It is in the process of being restored to it’s 16th century glory. It is very impressive what they are doing and the castle should look magnificent when finished.

Braveheart

After a picnic in the car at the castle car park we went to the William Wallace Monument. This is an amazing building. Built in the 19th century it is a huge gothic tower. It is on the top of a mountain and can been seen for miles around. It really is stunning. I could live there.
We climbed to the top. Twice. It is a very interesting monument (it beats The Monument in London hands down) with 3 rooms to look in (and catch your breath) on the way to the top. The top was VERY WINDY and quite damp. The view was stunning but as I was filming I kept thinking of the money I could make by selling my amateur video footage of the six year old girl being blown off the top to her spectacular death 200 ft below.

Dinner (sorry, supper)

We decided to just keep driving north until it got dark, maybe stopping for dinner at a pub. On the way we stopped at the beautiful Loch Lubnaig. Just wait until you see your first real life loch. Your heart will stop and your lower jaw will land in the mud with a wet slapping sound. There is no point trying to describe it. Go and get the picture book again. It was only 5pm but already it was nearly too dark to see.
We kept driving until we reached Strathyre. We ended up at a little pub called the Ben Sheann. If you are in Scotland, go there. I think it could be the nicest pub in the world. The proprietor was very friendly and treated us like old friends. We had a tasty and filling meal in the (non-smoking!) dining room as the rain fell gently against the big bay window. It doesn’t get much better. We were the only people in the dining room that Halloween night; the few other patrons wee watching the soccer at the bar. Whenever a goal was scored one enthusiastic supporter would break into a little song. The pub was also home to Ben, the 9 month old giant dog. It was a lovely end to a lovely day.

I wish I was there right now.

I have just finished watching “Walking
With Dinosaurs“. An excellent show from the BBC. I don’t know if it is on in Australia yet, but I’m sure you will get it soon. While watching, I enjoyed a Violet Crumble (thanks Robin:).

Shakespeare in HMV

London, being the centre of the world, tends to attract celebrities. And celebrities like to liusten to CDs too. So where else would a movie star go for his Bach, Beethoven and Penderecki than the world’s most famous record store? Last week Geoffrey (sp?) Rush popped into HMV Oxford Street to pick up a copy of Shakespeare in Love (actually, I don’t know what he bought, maybe the Rachmaninov 3?). He seemed taller than I remembered him looking on screen. Apparently we get quite a few stars at 363 Oxford St. Ian Bostridge (a singer) was there recently and the other day I could have sworn I saw Jackie Chan…

Ely

Yesterday we went to Cambridge with Carl; eventually. We had intended to catch a bus to Waterloo Station for a train to Esher to meet Carl at 9:00 and we had got up at 6:30am for this purpose. Our troubles began when we discovered the buus to St Paul’s doesn’t run on Sundays. So we walked to New Cross Gate train station. We arrived at London Bridge to find that engineering work had closed the track to Caring Cross and therefore to Waterloo. Following the broadcast instructions we changed platforms for a train that we thought would take us to Waterloo East. When we ended up at Cannon Street we knew something was wrong. By this time we had rung Carl and told him we were going to miss our planned train and we would get the next one.
After some confusion at Cannon Street (which involved getting a train back to London Bridge and back again) we learned we had to catch a tube to Embankment (those of you with tube maps can follow our journey) change lines and catch another tube to Waterloo. Eventually we made it in time for the 9:33, an hour later than planned, and had to call Carl from our mobile to his mobile (which, through the wonder of modern technology, involved a call to Australia which was diverted to his mobile in England.)
Anyway, the train ride was pleasant and we met Carl at Esher, a very agreeable little town with many trees.

We drove to Ely, stopping for refreshments along the way (via the M25, Dartford tunnel and M11 again for those of you with maps). A light rain was falling as we got out of the Ford Fiesta. It was cold, windy and wet and the Cathedral sat there solidly, waiting for us. It is the only Cathedral I have seen where you go in the front door, so to speak. As we approached, there was no-one about and the huge wooden doors were shut so we had to open the little door set into them. I liked it already. It made it seem more like a medieval cathedral and less like a modern attraction. As I stepped inside my jaw hit the cold marble floor.

Wow.

Ely Cathedral is right up there with the best of them. As you step inside the nave marches away in front of you. The long, beautifully painted ceiling leads toward the magnificent lantern at the crossing. There is a feeling of spaciousness that other cathedrals lack.
On the northern side is the Lady Chapel (accessed by opening another door.) This is a magical place. It is suddenly cold after the warmth of the main church. Yes, huge burners heat the cathedral; what a novel idea. There is almost no coloured glass in the Lady Chapel and the difference between it and the dark nave is blinding. The Chapel has the widest medieval vault in England.
After visiting the shop we had a simple lunch in the refectory before heading into Cambridge.

Cambridge

The rain grew steadily heavier as we entered the town. We soon found ourselves at King’s College and sneaked into the chapel during evensong. There is no better way to experience King’s; the beautifuul choir singing in the beautifuul chapel. It seems funny to call it a chapel, it is so magnificent. The chapel at my school certainly didn’t have a fan vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows down the sides. It is simply awe inspiring.
After the service we walked around the town, getting wetter with each step. I like Cambridge. It has the feel of a village or little town like Winchester, only it’s bigger.
We found a nice restaurant to eat in called Brown’s before driving back to Waller Rd (get out those A-Zs.)

Next Weekend

We have decided to go to Edinburgh for next weekend. We are catching a train at 8am on Friday morning and will be back Monday night. Carl has already started to head north on his own and we will meet him in Edinburgh.

Photographs

Photos are coming RSN. I haven’t had access to a scanner but I have just finished another roll which I will have put onto CD at Boots so I can put some photos on the website.

London

London is a very class based society. Nothing is so important as a postcode in London. People would give their right arm to have their letterhead finish with W1. The Thames is like some kind of mythical barrier. Anything south of the river is slums and poverty in the minds of some Londoners.
You are put in your socio-economic place by the blood-sucking banks as well. In Australia there is a wonderful system called EFTPOS. Everybody uses it, and everybody’s ATM cards have the little EFTPOS label on the back. Over here there are different systems, depending on what kind of fruit your bank classifies you as: Plum, Orange or Lemon, from best to worst. Some people have credit cards; Platinum, Gold or plain. Then others can only use debit cards. These don’t all use the same system; Visa Delta and Switch are the main ones, but for poor people they only get a Solo card. I have a Solo card. I haven’t figured out what the difference actually is except to let other people know how rich/poor you are. Solo isn’t accepted at all the places the others are. Then there are cheques. I was granted a cheque book by my bank although I can rarely use it as my card is not a Cheque Guarantee Card. These Cheque Guarantee Cards come in different limits too, usually with flashy holograms to impress the lowly sales assistant. They range from £50 to the highest I’ve seen £250.
Still, at least I have a bank account. Some people can’t even manage that here.

I was going to save this for last but you may as well know right away. Kathryn and I have both found employment – with Foster and Partners and HMV, respectively. This is a good thing as the credit card was maxxed out we were down to our last $50 – which will almost buy you lunch in this town. Kathryn has been doing temp work this week at the UKCC. They wanted her to come back next week but since she has permanent employment they are going to have to find someone else.

Rewind to Monday

After my first interview with HMV I strolled down Bond St looking in stupidly expensive shops and wondering what to do with my day. I decided to take in a concert at St James’s – supposedly Christopher Wren’s favourite church – which was quite good. Well, for a £2 donation anyway.

Paintings

As I have mentioned, I had previously been to the National Gallery to see the Rembrandt exhibition. I decided to see the rest of it now. It was free after all. What an amazing place! I spent two hours in the Sainsbury Wing (1260-1510) alone. I had never seen so many beautiful paintings before. I saw the Leonardo Cartoon (I can’t see what’s so funny) and Boticelli’s Venus and Mars. The portable CD guide is very good and was well worth the donation (I have found that all these ‘free’ attractions manage to swindle me out of as much money as the fee-charging ones). After the Sainsbury Wing there were a couple of other paintings I wanted to see before leaving: Pope Julius II by Raphael, Constable’s painting of Salisbury Cathedral from the meadow (not as good as the real thing) and Bronzino’s An Allegory with Venus and Cupid. This is my favourite painting. No print can do it justice. The colours are so bright and vivid. Closing my mouth with my hand I walked with sore feet to meet Kathryn.

It’s BooKAY

After a $45 pizza (NEVER convert to AUD) we walked to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket to see the Importance of Being Earnest. It was a brilliant production and Patricia Routledge was perfect.

Autumn

After days of hot weather and stinky tube rides, the weather suddenly turned cold and wet. Much better.

In search of coffee

There is a dearth of good coffee shops in London. In fact of all the cities I’ve been to (admittedly none in France or Italy) Adelaide is by far the best for coffee. I found a decent place in Soho one morning called Patisserie Valerie where I spent a pleasant half hour reading the Guardian and having a coffee and danish. Of course this cost me £5. Trust me, you’ve got it good in Rundle Street. PS. never go to Starbucks. They suck.

Waterstones

The biggest bookstore in Europe has just opened on Piccadilly. It is six stories high and has a lot of books duh). You could conceivable spend a whole day there. In fact if they didn’t shut you wouldn’t have to leave. You could have breakfast on the third floor, check your e-mail on the second floor, have lunch and dinner in the restaurant on floor 5, check your stocks via the internet (2nd floor) have a cocktail on the sixth floor at the bar before retiring to one of the many couches with a good book. It’s big.

Toys

Hamley’s is the biggest toy store in the world and is a place I could spend lots of money in on such things as radio controlled, petrol driven Subaru WRXs, model trains and Darth Maul costumes. It’s like Santa’s workshop, only warmer and without all the crappy wooden toys.

St James’s Park

Past St James’s Palace is his park. It is quite lovely. I imagine the Queen likes the view. On this day a light rain was falling and there weren’t many people about (can’t stand ’em). I don’t think I shall ever get bored of squirrels. They are so cute, the way they bound along, bushy tail twitching, then stop and sit up to have a look. As I was standing outside the cafe wondering if I wanted a coffe (no doubt bad) a squirrel scurried up to me and sat on my shoe. For a moment I thought he was going to climb up my inside leg, but then he scurried off again. So cute.

Papa bear this is Goldie Locks, come in please…

The Cabinet War Rooms are and amazing place. They are preserved the way they were left in 1945 and it is very atmospheric. I walked around with my mouth open as I saw the very maps Churchill used and such signatures in the guest book as Elizabeth R and George RI. There was the hotline to America that had encoding equipment so large and complex it had to be housed in Selfridges basement. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours. I was surprised and impressed to note the airconditioning puffing out cool air.

Nice hats

I made my way back to Oxford Circus by way of the Horse Guards Parade. The Queens Life Guard were always my favourite as a boy and I was pleased to see them patrolling with tall helmets and drawn swords gleaming. I tried not to look suspicious as I walked quickly by.

Old stagers confound stately home researchers

There was an article in the Guardian this week about Wilton House, a nice place I went to near Salisbury. Only in England could you have a bit of a spring clean and find a play by Ben Johnson and Inigo Jones written 370 years ago!

The Wallace Collection

I spent a couple of hours at the Wallace Collection, another ‘free’ attraction. Mr Wallace was certainly very fond of clocks and barometers, not to mention the paintings that covered every spare inch, although they were a bit romantic for my liking. The most interesting rooms were the arms and armoury collection. There is an astounding number and variety of deadly weapons and armour from around the world. Most impressive is the armoured knight on his fully armoured war horse. With his sword raised above his head he towers over you and is quite terrifying.

I decided to take a shortcut from the Wallace Collection and I ended up on Queen Anne St walking past the house Hector Berlioz stayed in in 1851, and JMW Turner’s old house. There were a number of other little blue plaques on houses and I suppose if I had the money I’d live on Queen St too.

Setbacks

Ok. I have got a job at HMV on Oxford Street selling CDs in the classical dept. Now to get paid I need two things: a National Insurance number and a bank account. Kathryn has both of these. She is lucky.

1) The DSS at Tavistock Square in the West End is a much friendlier place than the one at WHitechapel we went to for Kathryn, although the entrance still smelt like urine. Once there I discovered I needed an appointment and I was very lucky to get one for three days hence.

2,3,4,…)The rest of the day was one rejection after another. I tried every high street bank and none would give me an account. Citibank wouldn’t speak to me unless I earned over £20,000, Abbey National wouldn’t give me an account unless I had lived in the UK for 3 years, but most just wanted a utility bill in my name for my address – something I will never have. I think the motto of the London banks is “Trust no-one”.

More film work

While on my quest to find someone to take my money I was accosted in the street bny a man in a pin-stripe suit and a camera crew. He thrust a little award into my hand and told me to say thankyou. I mumbled thanks, at which he stopped the camera and told me to be more excited. Being the fool I am, I obliged. He then took the award away and went in search of new idiots to harrass. I have no idea what it was about.

What about Kathryn?

Ok. Kathryn has a job at Foster and Partners working as the Project Secretary for the McLaren Team. Yup F1. I’m hoping for some tickets to Silverstone. Foster and Partners is a major architectural firm. Headed by Sir Norman Foster they designed the new Hong Kong airport. Impressive, hey? She works in a huge modern building right on the river and right next to lovely Battersea Park. We are hoping to get a flat in the Battersea area.

Nutbags

On our way to Waterloo station to go to Salisbury we were entertained on the tube by a busker and a religious fanatic. They both got on at the same station and for a while I thought they might be a team, although I couldn’t see the funny side. It was only after the religious nut got off at the next stop that I realized he was for real. It was actually a little scary. He got on (the nutbag) and proceeded to shout at the top of his voice passages from the bible which he read from notes. He was of middle-eastern descent and had a crazed look in his bloodshot eyes. He looked like one of those men you see on CNN, riding a tank and firing an AK-47 in the air. The busker was quite good (once I could hear him) so I gave him some money. When they both got on and Saddam started his ranting, the busker shouted something like “Shut the F*** up, I’m trying to work here”.

Life is never dull in London.

Fast-forward

Ok. I am about a month behind schedule here, so there is a bit of catching up to do.

We arrived at Heathrow ahead of schedule at about 5:45am. After the stress of the custom officials questions, waiting for our baggage to arrive and fresh in the knowledge that $100 buys about £30 we were ready to experience the wonder of London’s public transport.

It was hard enough for me to drag Kathryn’s suitcase from the house to the car, but after much effort, a change of tube and many steps and escalators later, we stepped out of the black cab at Mark and Nicole’s front gate.

TV Stars

We stayed with Mark and Nicole for a few days during which time we did a TV commercial for The Sun newspaper. Our day consisted of sitting in a bus for 8 hours (being fed copious ammounts of very good, very free food) wondering when someone would shout “action!”, then a couple of hours of actual TV work. It turned out to be a lot of fun. I saw the commercial on TV the other night and I think I caught a glimpse of my left hand, but it happened so fast I can’t be sure.

A week(end) in the country

We spent the next week (or was it two?) at Lodge Farm, Downton. It is a beautiful old farmhouse just outside a lovely little village, just down the road from a city with the most beautiful cathedral in England. Sigh…

We were joined at Lodge Farm by: Kathryn’s Uncle John and Aunt Fay, Kathryn’s cousin Jonathon and his little daughter with the big accent Catherine.

A country wedding

Mark and Nicole got married the following Saturday at a tiny little church nearby. Afterwards the guests returned to Lodge Farm where Kathryn and I played our violins while they nibbled and drank before the reception in the granary. It was a most enjoyable occasion and to top it off there were fireworks at the end of the night. Not sparklers, mind you, the real thing. Rockets that looked like the Death Star exploding above our heads (well before the Special Editions anyway).

Stonehenge and Old Sarum

Old Sarum is quite impressive and I urge you all to go there but I feel it would be a lot better from about 600ft up. Others must have thought so too as we were constantly getting buzzed by low flying aircraft. The thing about Old Sarum is that there isn’t much there. Just a hill with some very old foundations. Now, I like that stuff as much (probably more) than the next guy but it cost something like £6 to get in.

We were intending to catch just a normal red bus up to Stonehenge. After waiting at the bus stop for a while past its due time we thought we had missed it. It was then that the guide bus that leaves every couple of hours from Salisbury arrived. Some fast talking from the bus driver convinced us we had missed the bus and we would be better off with him. While we were standing in the bus discussing fares the bus we had been waiting for arrived, noticed there were no passengers waiting for it and proceeded merrily on to Stonehenge without us. So we had no choice.

We paid our fares and went upstairs where the guide and the other tourist was. Yes, that’s right, there were three of us on this tour. This made it much more personal and I felt compelled to nod acknowledgement of every second historical point the guide made. It was interesting though. Especially when we were standing in front of the huge stones and she proceeded to demonstrate the “lines of energy” running beneath the monument with a pair of metal rods. Ooooookay.

There are plans to remove the ‘A’ road running past the circle just about knocking over the stones in its path. This is an excellent idea which could be improved further by demolishing the terrible souvineer shack filled with a huge assortment of tourist tack.

We experienced many more delights of Wiltshire during our stay at Lodge Farm: Wilton House, WInchester Cathedral, Romsey Abbey, Yvonne’s cooking but a place I must tell you about was quite a distance from Salisbury.

Give me the Sally Lunn

One day we went to Bath. It rained. This hardly dampened our enthusiasm for this city though. Bath is famous for its Roman baths but, for me, this was my least favourite part. The central pool was very impressive, its opaque greenness giving off steam as a light rain fell. I desperately wanted to take a dip. But the rest of the site was hot, filled with tourists (can’t stand the devils) and not that exciting really.

What I was really taken with was the Abbey. It has some beautiful carvings on the west front of angels climbing a ladder to heaven. Go inside and there is a man sitting there who very politely asks for any donation you might like to give, if you can afford it. This immediately made me want to give him some money. So I did. The interior is beautiful. It is not ostentatious or showy and there is a lot of glass to let in the light. It is my second favourite church after Salisbury Cathedral.

We had morning tea / lunch at a place called Sally Lunn’s. Apparently Sally invented these buns in the very same house a few hundred years ago, and they have been served ever since. It is the only place you can get them and they are worth the trip. Go there now.