We're off on the last leg of our epic world trip and I am so thoroughly fortunate to be holidaying with my Mum and Keith too. It is such a wonderful opportunity for me to have buckets of quality time with my Mum and for us to soak up each other's company.
Of course, I realise the irony that my boys are without their mum, whilst I'm with my mum, but they will have me back in 2 months time on a very permanent basis.
UK, here we come!
Monday 30 April 2012
Thursday 26 April 2012
25 April 2012 ANZAC DAY Wednesday
Lest we forget....
ANZAC Day was celebrated with friends at Fagan Park with the not-quite quintessential British boerewors barbeque - talk about oxymorons!
We enjoyed ourselves tremendously with much laughter and relaxation in the lush surroundings, "one" of us even showing his loyalty in "WallaBok" support gear!
ANZAC Day was celebrated with friends at Fagan Park with the not-quite quintessential British boerewors barbeque - talk about oxymorons!
We enjoyed ourselves tremendously with much laughter and relaxation in the lush surroundings, "one" of us even showing his loyalty in "WallaBok" support gear!
Wednesday 18 April 2012
19 April 2012 TIME TRAVEL Thursday
It has taken me 25 years of marriage to realise that the acronym for my (married) initials is "Change and Grow Stronger" - how awesome is that!
What brought me to this realisation was the blog 1000awesomethings, via Gretchen Ruben's Happiness Project blog. Although this entry is not part of our 'world trip', today's entry on 1000awesomethings is pertinent to each of us. It is a little long but really worth taking 5 or so minutes to read, so get a cup of tea and get comfy - enjoy!
Over dinner one night my dad started telling me about his first day in Canada.
It was 1968 and he was twenty-three, arriving on a plane with eight dollars in his pocket to start a new life by himself in a country he had never visited.
“A community group had a welcome dinner for new immigrants,” he started excitedly “And they had a big table of food!”
I was unimpressed.
“A table of food,” I agreed flatly while staring straight ahead and flipping past baseball highlights on TV.
“A table of food,” he continued. “Basically Neil, all the presentation of the picnic food on the table, I didn’t recognize. There were two or three kinds of salad. Potato salad, macaroni salad, maybe coleslaw. Probably four different kinds of sandwiches, ham sandwich, turkey sandwich, chicken sandwich, roast beef sandwich. Then there were the main courses they called it, you know, tuna casserole? Then the desserts was pies. Which I never seen pies before.”
I put down the remote and glanced at him cock-eyed. Behind the thick, boxy glasses, I could see his eyes darting wildly.
“How did you know what everything was?”
“My brother was there, so I will ask him and he told me whatever it is. The trays of cold cuts was different, instead of regular chicken they have sliced them, sometimes they have them rolled with the toothpick in them. I had never seen cold cuts before, I seen chicken in chicken form, but not rolled up. Same for cheese… some were in slices, some of them in squares.”
“What did you eat?” I asked.
“I ate everything, that’s the only way to get to know! That’s how you get exposed when you don’t know, just try different things. I can’t believe how many things you can get here!”
My dad would take me to the grocery store and marvel at the signs beside every fruit. He was fascinated that pineapples came from Costa Rica and kiwis were shipped from New Zealand. Sometimes he came home and opened an atlas to find out where the countries were. “Somebody brought dates from Morocco and dropped them five minutes from the home.”
He’d just smile and shake his head.
But if I really stop to think about it, a lot had to happen before we could be here right now. A lot had to happen before we could buy bananas from Ecuador and eat turkey cold cuts, before we could scroll through blogs about warm underwear and cool pillows, before we learned to read anything at all, before we grew tall, before we could talk, before we could walk, before we were even born…
So let’s stop for a second and pull back. Let’s pull way, way, way, way back.
Okay.
You used to be a sperm.
Now don’t get self conscious. We all used to be sperm. Check out the period at the end of this sentence. That tiny little dot is around 600 microns wide. When you were a sperm you were about 40 microns wide. And you were so cute back then too with your little tail wagging all over the place and your love of swimming. Boy could you swim. In fact if you hadn’t outswum your siblings, you might be a slightly different version of yourself right now. Maybe you’d have a higher-pitched laugh, hairier arms, or stand two inches shorter.
You had a great life as a sperm but always felt incomplete. The truth is you weren’t whole until you met an egg. And then you two began a nine month project to make a cool new version of you. It took a while but you grew arms and legs and eyeballs and lungs. You grew nerves and nails and eardrums and tongues.
For a sperm to meet an egg it means your mom met your dad. But it’s not just them. Think about how many people had to meet, fall in love, and make love for you to be here. Here’s the answer: A lot. Like a lot a lot.
Before they had you, none of your ancestors drowned in a pond, got strangled by a python, or skied into a tree. None of your ancestors choked on a peach pit, were trampled by buffalo, or got their tie stuck in an assembly line.
None of your ancestors was a virgin.
You are the most modern, brightest spark of years and years and years of survivors who all had to meet each other in order to eventually make you.
Your nineteenth century Grandma met your nineteenth century Grandpa down at the candle-making shoppe. She liked his muttonchops and he thought she looked cute churning butter.
Your Middle Ages Grandpa met your Middle Ages Grandma while they both poured hot oil from the castle turrets on pillaging vikings. She liked his grunts and he thought the flowers in her hair made her heaving bosoms jump out.
Your Ice Age Grandpa crossing the Bering Bridge in a woolly mammoth fur met your Ice Age Grandma dragging a club in the opposite direction. He liked her saber-tooth necklace and she dug his unibrow.
Your ancient rainforest Grandpa was picking berries naked in the bush while your ancient rainforest Grandma was spearing dodos for dinner. She liked his jungle funk and he liked her cave drawings. If it wasn’t for the picnic they had afterwards, maybe you wouldn’t be here.
You’re pretty lucky all those people met, fell in love, made love, had babies, and raised them into other people who did it all over again. This happened over and over and over again for you to be here. Look around the plane, coffee shop, or park right now. Look at your husband snoring in bed, your girlfriend watching TV, or your sister playing in the backyard. You are surrounded by lucky people. They are all the result of long lines of survivors.
So you’re a survivor, too. You’re the latest and greatest. You’re the top of the line. You’re the very best nature has to offer.
But a lot had to happen before all your strong, fiery ancestors met each other and fell in love over and over again for hundreds of thousands of years …
So let’s stop for a second and pull back again. Let’s pull way, way, way, way back.
Okay.
Let’s go on a field trip. Put your shoes on because we’re heading outside.
Take a bowling ball and drop it on the edge of your driveway. That’s our Sun. Yeah, the ball is only eight inches across and the actual Sun is eight hundred thousand miles across but that’s our scale for this little brainwave. Okay, now walk down your street ten big paces and drop a grain of salt on your neighbor’s lawn. That’s Mercury. Take nine more paces down the street and drop a peppercorn for Venus. And then take another seven paces, so you’re now two or three houses down the block, and toss down another peppercorn.
You got it.
That peppercorn is Earth.
Here we are, basking in the blazing sun, twenty-six big steps away from the bowling ball. Our giant planet is just a tiny speck in the middle of nowhere but here’s the crazy part: It gets a whole lot bigger.
If you keep walking, Mars is only couple more houses away, but Jupiter ends up ninety-five big paces down the street, out of the neighborhood, and halfway to the corner store. By now a dog is probably slobbering in the bowling ball finger holes and kids are flying by you on their bikes, slurping drippy popsicles, and wondering what’s up with this nut tossing crumbs on the sidewalk, acting out some demented suburban version of Hansel and Gretel.
If you want to finish up our solar system, you’re going to have to start taking two- and three-hundred paces for the remaining planets, eventually dropping a grain of salt for Pluto half a mile away from the bowling ball. You can’t see the bowling ball with binoculars and it’s getting cold out for your long walk home.
But here’s the crazier part: That’s just our solar system. That’s just our bunch of rocks flying around our big bright bowling ball star.
Turns out our big bright star and all its salt and peppercorns are racing around a cosmic race track with two hundred billion other big bright bowling ball stars. You’d have to cover the entire Earth with bowling balls eight thousand times to represent the number of stars in our race track. Did we mention this race track has a name? Yup, it’s called the Milky Way galaxy, presumably because the scientists who first noticed it were all eating delicious Milky Way candy bars late that Friday night down at the telescopes.
So basically our bowling ball, salt, and peppercorns are flying in the fast lane around a ridiculously giant race track galaxy called the Milky Way with billions and billions of other bowling balls, salt grains, and peppercorns, too.
But are you ready for the craziest part: That’s just our galaxy. Guess how many giant racetrack galaxies are in all of outer space? Oh, not many. Just more than we can possibly count. Honestly, nobody knows how many galaxies are out there in the big blackness. All we know is that every few years somebody stares out a little further and finds millions more of them just shining way out in the void. We don’t know how deep it goes because our rocketships don’t blast off that far and our thickest, fattest telescopes can’t see that far.
Now, all this space talk might make us feel small and insignificant, but here’s the thing, here’s the big thing, here’s the biggest thing of all: Of the millions of places we’ve ever seen it appears as though Earth is the only place that can support life. The only place! Oh sure, there could be other life-giving planets we haven’t seen yet, but the point is that Earth could easily have been a clump of sulphur gas, be lying in darkness forever, or have a winter that dips a couple hundred degrees and lasts twenty years like Uranus.
On this planet Earth, the only one in the giant dark blackness where anything can live, we ended up being humans.
Congratulations, us!
We are the only species on the only life-giving rock capable of love and magic, architecture and agriculture, jewelry and democracy, airplanes and highway lanes. We’re the only ones with interior design and horoscope signs, fashion magazines and house party scenes, horror flicks with monsters, guitar jams at concerts. We got books, buffets and radio waves, wedding brides and roller coaster rides, clean sheets and good movie seats, bakery air and rain hair, bubble wrap and illegal naps.
We got all that. But people, listen up.
We only get a hundred years to enjoy it.
I’m sorry but it’s true.
Every single person you know will be dead in a hundred years — the foreman at your plant, the cashiers at your grocery store, every teacher you’ve ever had, anyone you’ve ever woken up beside, all the kids on your street, every baby you’ve ever held, every bride who’s walked down the aisle, every telemarketer who’s called you at dinner, every politician in every country, every actor in every movie, everyone who’s cut you off on the highway, everyone in the room you’re sitting in right now, everyone you love, and you.
Life is so great that we only get a tiny moment to enjoy everything we see. And that moment is right now. And that moment is counting down. And that moment is always, always fleeting.
You will never be as young as you are right now.
So whether you’re enjoying your first toothpicked turkey cold cuts and marveling at apples from South Africa, dreaming of strange and distant relatives from thousands of years ago, or staring into the blackness of deep, deep space, just remember how lucky we all are to be here right now.
If you feel that sense of wonder and beauty in all the tiny joys in life then you’re part of an international band of old souls and optimists, smiling on sidewalks, dancing at weddings, and flipping to the other side of the pillow. Let’s all high five and keep thinking wild thoughts, dreaming big dreams, and laughing loud laughs.
Thank you so much for reading this blog.
And thank you for being
AWESOME!
Live in Toronto? Join me tonight for A Celebration of Awesome! We have lots of surprises planned…
What brought me to this realisation was the blog 1000awesomethings, via Gretchen Ruben's Happiness Project blog. Although this entry is not part of our 'world trip', today's entry on 1000awesomethings is pertinent to each of us. It is a little long but really worth taking 5 or so minutes to read, so get a cup of tea and get comfy - enjoy!
#2 Remembering how lucky we are to be here right now
Over dinner one night my dad started telling me about his first day in Canada.It was 1968 and he was twenty-three, arriving on a plane with eight dollars in his pocket to start a new life by himself in a country he had never visited.
“A community group had a welcome dinner for new immigrants,” he started excitedly “And they had a big table of food!”
I was unimpressed.
“A table of food,” I agreed flatly while staring straight ahead and flipping past baseball highlights on TV.
“A table of food,” he continued. “Basically Neil, all the presentation of the picnic food on the table, I didn’t recognize. There were two or three kinds of salad. Potato salad, macaroni salad, maybe coleslaw. Probably four different kinds of sandwiches, ham sandwich, turkey sandwich, chicken sandwich, roast beef sandwich. Then there were the main courses they called it, you know, tuna casserole? Then the desserts was pies. Which I never seen pies before.”
I put down the remote and glanced at him cock-eyed. Behind the thick, boxy glasses, I could see his eyes darting wildly.“How did you know what everything was?”
“My brother was there, so I will ask him and he told me whatever it is. The trays of cold cuts was different, instead of regular chicken they have sliced them, sometimes they have them rolled with the toothpick in them. I had never seen cold cuts before, I seen chicken in chicken form, but not rolled up. Same for cheese… some were in slices, some of them in squares.”
“What did you eat?” I asked.
“I ate everything, that’s the only way to get to know! That’s how you get exposed when you don’t know, just try different things. I can’t believe how many things you can get here!”
My dad would take me to the grocery store and marvel at the signs beside every fruit. He was fascinated that pineapples came from Costa Rica and kiwis were shipped from New Zealand. Sometimes he came home and opened an atlas to find out where the countries were. “Somebody brought dates from Morocco and dropped them five minutes from the home.”He’d just smile and shake his head.
But if I really stop to think about it, a lot had to happen before we could be here right now. A lot had to happen before we could buy bananas from Ecuador and eat turkey cold cuts, before we could scroll through blogs about warm underwear and cool pillows, before we learned to read anything at all, before we grew tall, before we could talk, before we could walk, before we were even born…
So let’s stop for a second and pull back. Let’s pull way, way, way, way back.
Okay.You used to be a sperm.
Now don’t get self conscious. We all used to be sperm. Check out the period at the end of this sentence. That tiny little dot is around 600 microns wide. When you were a sperm you were about 40 microns wide. And you were so cute back then too with your little tail wagging all over the place and your love of swimming. Boy could you swim. In fact if you hadn’t outswum your siblings, you might be a slightly different version of yourself right now. Maybe you’d have a higher-pitched laugh, hairier arms, or stand two inches shorter.
You had a great life as a sperm but always felt incomplete. The truth is you weren’t whole until you met an egg. And then you two began a nine month project to make a cool new version of you. It took a while but you grew arms and legs and eyeballs and lungs. You grew nerves and nails and eardrums and tongues.
For a sperm to meet an egg it means your mom met your dad. But it’s not just them. Think about how many people had to meet, fall in love, and make love for you to be here. Here’s the answer: A lot. Like a lot a lot.Before they had you, none of your ancestors drowned in a pond, got strangled by a python, or skied into a tree. None of your ancestors choked on a peach pit, were trampled by buffalo, or got their tie stuck in an assembly line.
None of your ancestors was a virgin.
You are the most modern, brightest spark of years and years and years of survivors who all had to meet each other in order to eventually make you.
Your nineteenth century Grandma met your nineteenth century Grandpa down at the candle-making shoppe. She liked his muttonchops and he thought she looked cute churning butter.
Your Middle Ages Grandpa met your Middle Ages Grandma while they both poured hot oil from the castle turrets on pillaging vikings. She liked his grunts and he thought the flowers in her hair made her heaving bosoms jump out.
Your Ice Age Grandpa crossing the Bering Bridge in a woolly mammoth fur met your Ice Age Grandma dragging a club in the opposite direction. He liked her saber-tooth necklace and she dug his unibrow.Your ancient rainforest Grandpa was picking berries naked in the bush while your ancient rainforest Grandma was spearing dodos for dinner. She liked his jungle funk and he liked her cave drawings. If it wasn’t for the picnic they had afterwards, maybe you wouldn’t be here.
You’re pretty lucky all those people met, fell in love, made love, had babies, and raised them into other people who did it all over again. This happened over and over and over again for you to be here. Look around the plane, coffee shop, or park right now. Look at your husband snoring in bed, your girlfriend watching TV, or your sister playing in the backyard. You are surrounded by lucky people. They are all the result of long lines of survivors.
So you’re a survivor, too. You’re the latest and greatest. You’re the top of the line. You’re the very best nature has to offer.
But a lot had to happen before all your strong, fiery ancestors met each other and fell in love over and over again for hundreds of thousands of years …
So let’s stop for a second and pull back again. Let’s pull way, way, way, way back. Okay.
Let’s go on a field trip. Put your shoes on because we’re heading outside.
Take a bowling ball and drop it on the edge of your driveway. That’s our Sun. Yeah, the ball is only eight inches across and the actual Sun is eight hundred thousand miles across but that’s our scale for this little brainwave. Okay, now walk down your street ten big paces and drop a grain of salt on your neighbor’s lawn. That’s Mercury. Take nine more paces down the street and drop a peppercorn for Venus. And then take another seven paces, so you’re now two or three houses down the block, and toss down another peppercorn.
You got it.
That peppercorn is Earth.
Here we are, basking in the blazing sun, twenty-six big steps away from the bowling ball. Our giant planet is just a tiny speck in the middle of nowhere but here’s the crazy part: It gets a whole lot bigger.
If you keep walking, Mars is only couple more houses away, but Jupiter ends up ninety-five big paces down the street, out of the neighborhood, and halfway to the corner store. By now a dog is probably slobbering in the bowling ball finger holes and kids are flying by you on their bikes, slurping drippy popsicles, and wondering what’s up with this nut tossing crumbs on the sidewalk, acting out some demented suburban version of Hansel and Gretel.If you want to finish up our solar system, you’re going to have to start taking two- and three-hundred paces for the remaining planets, eventually dropping a grain of salt for Pluto half a mile away from the bowling ball. You can’t see the bowling ball with binoculars and it’s getting cold out for your long walk home.
But here’s the crazier part: That’s just our solar system. That’s just our bunch of rocks flying around our big bright bowling ball star.
Turns out our big bright star and all its salt and peppercorns are racing around a cosmic race track with two hundred billion other big bright bowling ball stars. You’d have to cover the entire Earth with bowling balls eight thousand times to represent the number of stars in our race track. Did we mention this race track has a name? Yup, it’s called the Milky Way galaxy, presumably because the scientists who first noticed it were all eating delicious Milky Way candy bars late that Friday night down at the telescopes.
So basically our bowling ball, salt, and peppercorns are flying in the fast lane around a ridiculously giant race track galaxy called the Milky Way with billions and billions of other bowling balls, salt grains, and peppercorns, too.
But are you ready for the craziest part: That’s just our galaxy. Guess how many giant racetrack galaxies are in all of outer space? Oh, not many. Just more than we can possibly count. Honestly, nobody knows how many galaxies are out there in the big blackness. All we know is that every few years somebody stares out a little further and finds millions more of them just shining way out in the void. We don’t know how deep it goes because our rocketships don’t blast off that far and our thickest, fattest telescopes can’t see that far.Now, all this space talk might make us feel small and insignificant, but here’s the thing, here’s the big thing, here’s the biggest thing of all: Of the millions of places we’ve ever seen it appears as though Earth is the only place that can support life. The only place! Oh sure, there could be other life-giving planets we haven’t seen yet, but the point is that Earth could easily have been a clump of sulphur gas, be lying in darkness forever, or have a winter that dips a couple hundred degrees and lasts twenty years like Uranus.
On this planet Earth, the only one in the giant dark blackness where anything can live, we ended up being humans.
Congratulations, us!
We are the only species on the only life-giving rock capable of love and magic, architecture and agriculture, jewelry and democracy, airplanes and highway lanes. We’re the only ones with interior design and horoscope signs, fashion magazines and house party scenes, horror flicks with monsters, guitar jams at concerts. We got books, buffets and radio waves, wedding brides and roller coaster rides, clean sheets and good movie seats, bakery air and rain hair, bubble wrap and illegal naps.We got all that. But people, listen up.
We only get a hundred years to enjoy it.
I’m sorry but it’s true.
Every single person you know will be dead in a hundred years — the foreman at your plant, the cashiers at your grocery store, every teacher you’ve ever had, anyone you’ve ever woken up beside, all the kids on your street, every baby you’ve ever held, every bride who’s walked down the aisle, every telemarketer who’s called you at dinner, every politician in every country, every actor in every movie, everyone who’s cut you off on the highway, everyone in the room you’re sitting in right now, everyone you love, and you.Life is so great that we only get a tiny moment to enjoy everything we see. And that moment is right now. And that moment is counting down. And that moment is always, always fleeting.
You will never be as young as you are right now.
So whether you’re enjoying your first toothpicked turkey cold cuts and marveling at apples from South Africa, dreaming of strange and distant relatives from thousands of years ago, or staring into the blackness of deep, deep space, just remember how lucky we all are to be here right now.
If you feel that sense of wonder and beauty in all the tiny joys in life then you’re part of an international band of old souls and optimists, smiling on sidewalks, dancing at weddings, and flipping to the other side of the pillow. Let’s all high five and keep thinking wild thoughts, dreaming big dreams, and laughing loud laughs.
Thank you so much for reading this blog.
And thank you for being
AWESOME!
Live in Toronto? Join me tonight for A Celebration of Awesome! We have lots of surprises planned…
Sunday 15 April 2012
15 April 2012 ROYAL EASTER SHOW Sunday
Full of the joys of Sydney's wonderfully warm weather, a friend and I braved the rail network for the Sydney Olympic Park where the Easter Show is held. After almost sending me off on the wrong train while she calmly got off just as the conductor blew is whistle vociferously in my ear, my friend unfroze my panicked state by suggesting I get off the train quickly!
Finally, we arrived suitably calmed after the melodic click click of the "train on the tracks".....
We saw many amazing sights and walked 5 500 steps!! Somehow I ended up taking only agricultural photo's, but there really was some incredible cake decorating to be seen and a haunted castle with scary monsters included, plus of course, the inevitable showbags to be bought.
The little piglets are only 6 days old and have already made front page headlines for being born at the Easter Show - please excuse the blurry photo, but I had to post it as it is just too cute.
Finally, we arrived suitably calmed after the melodic click click of the "train on the tracks".....
We saw many amazing sights and walked 5 500 steps!! Somehow I ended up taking only agricultural photo's, but there really was some incredible cake decorating to be seen and a haunted castle with scary monsters included, plus of course, the inevitable showbags to be bought.
The little piglets are only 6 days old and have already made front page headlines for being born at the Easter Show - please excuse the blurry photo, but I had to post it as it is just too cute.
The three little pigs were even protected from the big bad wolf...
Watch out little pigs, here he comes...
....on a vintage ute from yesteryear!
Saturday 14 April 2012
14 April 2012 LATEST PHOTO'S Saturday
Some extra photo's that I'm now able to upload.....
Kir's 21st Birthday
Al's cousins Deon and Liesl with Deon's son Theo
A ladybird in Wales
Red fox right in Deon and Magda's back garden in Gipsy Hill
Kir's 21st Birthday
Al's cousins Deon and Liesl with Deon's son Theo
A ladybird in Wales
Red fox right in Deon and Magda's back garden in Gipsy Hill
Monday 9 April 2012
10 April 2012 GREG'S GRADUATION Tuesday
It is not everyday you get to see your child receive a degree and become a Graduate, so we were very proud on this auspicious occasion held at MacQuarie University.
Saturday 7 April 2012
7 April 2012 SYDNEY Saturday
We could not have arrived to a better welcome with a giant golden moon setting while pink candyfloss clouds drifted across magenta skies. On the M2 we were the only vehicle and could still smell the early morning eucalyptous trees, heavy with raucous cockatoos greeting us gamely.
And home - where nothing has changed, yet everything is different.
A jetlag afternoon snooze, from which I woke fully disorientated for a good few minutes until I sat up, forced my head to turn and look around until familiarity set in - wow - that was weird.
No rest for the weary though - off to our godchild's 21st birthday party and what a good time we had. It is now officially past Saturday, 7 April, so I will sign off and attempt to sleep through the night.
And home - where nothing has changed, yet everything is different.
A jetlag afternoon snooze, from which I woke fully disorientated for a good few minutes until I sat up, forced my head to turn and look around until familiarity set in - wow - that was weird.
No rest for the weary though - off to our godchild's 21st birthday party and what a good time we had. It is now officially past Saturday, 7 April, so I will sign off and attempt to sleep through the night.
6 April GOOD FRIDAY Friday
Happy Easter everyone.
In Singapore for 2 hours and who would have thought that in an Asian country, for only 2 hours I would get my name called, exactly right, for the first time ever and still ignore it anyway. I mean what are the odds of being called under those circumstances.
However, it was Al's insulin they had found on the aeroplane and had, indeed, called me as they thought it was mine. All good and back on board for home.
In Singapore for 2 hours and who would have thought that in an Asian country, for only 2 hours I would get my name called, exactly right, for the first time ever and still ignore it anyway. I mean what are the odds of being called under those circumstances.
However, it was Al's insulin they had found on the aeroplane and had, indeed, called me as they thought it was mine. All good and back on board for home.
5 April 2012 COLNBROOK AND HEATHROW Thursday
Our flight is only later tonight so we took a walk around the local area and were thrilled to find this 1886 pub, now closed down, but still uniquely decorated.
Hooray, homeward bound via Singapore to see our boys again.
4 April 2012 PORTSMOUTH TO HEATHROW Wednesday
I am so excited to be meeting up with a friend from my boys' childhood days. She got the train from Brighton to us in Portsmouth, we chatted the whole time in the car while poor Al was trying to find his way, unbeknown to us, to the perfect cafe we went to on our first day there.
Coffee and choc cake all set out in front of us, we got back to the narrowing of the years, until we were all up-to-date with all the necessary details.
Coffee and choc cake all set out in front of us, we got back to the narrowing of the years, until we were all up-to-date with all the necessary details.
Courtney looks exactly like her mum did all those years ago.
We took time to admire the view as well, especially the hovercraft belting from sea to land like a beached whale.
Righto, off to Heathrow for our overnight stay and a last dinner with Kit and Dal before we leave tomorrow.
3 April 2012 ISLE OF WIGHT Tuesday
Our ferry ride alone from Portsmouth to Isle of Wight would have been enough excitement for the day, with us only just arriving in time to drive onto the ferry, resulting in our car being the second-last car aboard and barely felt like we were on at all, before the ferry started pulling away!
Driving around the Isle of Wight really is like stepping back in time, not that it is behind the times in any way, but that life is so simple, relaxed and peaceful.
We stopped in Bembrook where Al found is dream house by the sea and I found some poky little shops, then we stopped up on the hill overlooking the entire ocean, for lunch down the steep steps onto the beachfront at the Quays Hotel in Shanklin.
Of course, we had to drive past the Lilliput look-a-like cottages in High Street which still look exactly as they did since the beginning of time.
Afternoon tea was an unexpected treat with us finding ourselves at Carisbrooke Castle for a little walkabout.
Back to Fishbourne to make sure we were early for the ferry, which actually meant that we were loaded up onto the second level and had the entire floor lifted and leveled out after all those heavy cars were parked, while we all had to remain in our cars!
Back to mainland Portsmouth for yummy curry dinner at Brewers Fayre.
Driving around the Isle of Wight really is like stepping back in time, not that it is behind the times in any way, but that life is so simple, relaxed and peaceful.
We stopped in Bembrook where Al found is dream house by the sea and I found some poky little shops, then we stopped up on the hill overlooking the entire ocean, for lunch down the steep steps onto the beachfront at the Quays Hotel in Shanklin.
Of course, we had to drive past the Lilliput look-a-like cottages in High Street which still look exactly as they did since the beginning of time.
Afternoon tea was an unexpected treat with us finding ourselves at Carisbrooke Castle for a little walkabout.
Back to Fishbourne to make sure we were early for the ferry, which actually meant that we were loaded up onto the second level and had the entire floor lifted and leveled out after all those heavy cars were parked, while we all had to remain in our cars!
Back to mainland Portsmouth for yummy curry dinner at Brewers Fayre.
Thursday 5 April 2012
5 April - PHOTO'S FOR 1 APRIL - DULWICH NEIGHBOURHOOD WALK
The original toll gate - read the charges and try to imagine the crossings that occurred.
View of majestic St Paul's Cathedral
5 April - PHOTO'S FOR 31 MARCH - GIPSY HILL (DULWICH PARK)
Dulwich Park from the boardwalk
Dulwich Art Gallery
ZEBRA'S ROCK! (They really do)
5 April - PHOTO'S FOR 29 MARCH - NORWICH
The great heights of Norwich Cathedral
Cobbled streets of Elm Hill where horses used to trundle with there carts full of market goods.
Cobbled streets of Elm Hill where horses used to trundle with there carts full of market goods.
Al and Ross enjoying the feel of the good old days at the SA shop in Norwich
5 April - PHOTO'S FOR 28 MARCH - GREAT YARMOUTH
When in Great Yarmouth, do as the Great Yarmouthians: see them all down the way.
Caister Castle - remember, don't go there!
Show Girls on the Pier!
Caister Castle - remember, don't go there!
5 April PHOTO'S FOR 27 MARCH - THE BROADS
St Benet Abbey
Giant Toadstool and Shoehouse
An ancient engraving/carving which has withstood the passage of eons.
Tuesday 3 April 2012
2 April 2012 GIPSY HILL TO PORTSMOUTH Monday
Yikes, we left good and early to avoid the London traffic, but no such luck. Add to that the mangled mess of motorways which we were rather glad to leave behind.
We arrived nice and early in Portsmouth and drove around to get a feel for the layout of the town. It's a good holiday destination right on a long sandy beach with plenty pubs to keep one going.
After checking in and a long walk on the Esplanade, we settled into a cosy spot for dinner, watching the golden sunset turn into a ruby red orb behind the large expanse of ocean.
We arrived nice and early in Portsmouth and drove around to get a feel for the layout of the town. It's a good holiday destination right on a long sandy beach with plenty pubs to keep one going.
After checking in and a long walk on the Esplanade, we settled into a cosy spot for dinner, watching the golden sunset turn into a ruby red orb behind the large expanse of ocean.
1 April 2012 GIPSY HILL AND ALLEYN PARK Sunday
Woke to poignant dreams of Dad as the first year has gone by xx
We have been so spoilt with unusually warm weather and so it was agreed by all to take advantage and go for a lengthy walk around the neighbourhood. Little Theo who is not yet 4 years old did exceptionally well on his zooty scooter and we eventually ended up at Alleyn Pub for lunch.
Home for the arvo to sit back and relax in the still glorious sunshine, a bit of cricket and coffee till the weather cooled and we went indoors, just to be replaced by a fox in the garden!
The evening temperature turned out to be very mild, so we set off again for another walk, but around Crystal Palace this time. At the top of the hill we were met with incredible views of London skyline and had actually had views of St Pauls Cathedral on our afternoon walk. Gipsy Hill was said to originate from E"gyptians" when they travelled through.
Home for our last night in Gipsy Hill.
We have been so spoilt with unusually warm weather and so it was agreed by all to take advantage and go for a lengthy walk around the neighbourhood. Little Theo who is not yet 4 years old did exceptionally well on his zooty scooter and we eventually ended up at Alleyn Pub for lunch.
Home for the arvo to sit back and relax in the still glorious sunshine, a bit of cricket and coffee till the weather cooled and we went indoors, just to be replaced by a fox in the garden!
The evening temperature turned out to be very mild, so we set off again for another walk, but around Crystal Palace this time. At the top of the hill we were met with incredible views of London skyline and had actually had views of St Pauls Cathedral on our afternoon walk. Gipsy Hill was said to originate from E"gyptians" when they travelled through.
Home for our last night in Gipsy Hill.
31 March 2012 WINTERTON TO GIPSY HILL, SOUTHWARK Saturday
Off to old London town today to stay with Al's cousin, Deon and his lovely wife and son, Magda and Theo. Fortunately we were able to bypass the big traffic chaos on the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and head for the pretty green leafy suburb of Gipsy Hill. After all the meeting, greeting and tea drinking, Deon took us on a drive and walk tour of the local area along with his sister, Liesl - double bonus for us to catch up with her as well.
We stopped at the Dulwich Park for a splendiferous walk along the boardwalk amongst the chatter and laughter of children and families all around. After a lovely lengthy stay and play we stopped in at the Dulwich Art Gallery where Prince Charles, Camilla and gorgeous Kate had just been visiting the weekend before.
Home for a "lekker" bobotie and more catch up after too many long lost years.
We stopped at the Dulwich Park for a splendiferous walk along the boardwalk amongst the chatter and laughter of children and families all around. After a lovely lengthy stay and play we stopped in at the Dulwich Art Gallery where Prince Charles, Camilla and gorgeous Kate had just been visiting the weekend before.
Home for a "lekker" bobotie and more catch up after too many long lost years.
30 March 2012 GREAT YARMOUTH Friday
Our last day in Winterton/Norfolk, so we spent some time in Great Yarmouth for a big wifi catch up and then went back to our little village for a spectacular walk on the beach and a couple photo opportunities in the village.
Monday 2 April 2012
29 March 2012. NORWICH. Thursday
Before Kit and Dal headed home, we visited a friend of Al's, Ross who took the men to lunch, while Dal and I browsed the market. It is supposedly the oldest and biggest market in England, but quite possibly that was mistaken somewhere along the line, as we finished fairly quickly and moved on to the Royal Arcade mall instead.
It was a wonderful leisurely event with a good deal of bounty acquired.
Later, Ross took Al and I around Norwich to view the Cathedral with it's second highest spire in England; Elm Hills with it's ancient cobbled lanes and Adam and Eve pub, the oldest pub in Norwich. (Lovely pics to follow). Drinks with Ross and his wife, Julie and back to cute Winterton.
It was a wonderful leisurely event with a good deal of bounty acquired.
Later, Ross took Al and I around Norwich to view the Cathedral with it's second highest spire in England; Elm Hills with it's ancient cobbled lanes and Adam and Eve pub, the oldest pub in Norwich. (Lovely pics to follow). Drinks with Ross and his wife, Julie and back to cute Winterton.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)