8 Jan Today we were off in the pouring rain to the Building Centre and it's show Rethinking the Urban Landscape. Rethinking the Urban Landscape argues the case to commit investment to 'green infrastructure' in the early stages of city and regeneration planning. Curated by The Building Centre and the Landscape Institute, the exhibition sets out to show that with long-term landscape planning cities can become healthier, safer and happier places to be - from reduced risk of flooding, to countering the ‘invisible killer’ of bad air quality, to weaving more enjoyable and inspiring environments throughout the urban fabric. After a quick look around at the brilliant show Ju and Madge went one way to catch-up with a friend of Ju's from uni. I went to my meditative spot in London, St Paul's Cathedral, where I ... read more

Ju and Madge went shopping today, which gave me leave to roam London and explore at my typically fastforward style.... I started at Wren's memorable St. Martins in the Field. With the temperature so low outside the church had a small host of less fortunate individuals taking quiet refuge in the pews for a bit of sleep. The church was looking more impressive than the last time I was here, due to extensive cleaning and remodelling programme that improved the gift shop/café in the catacombs below the church. Next was the National Gallery. As I'd previously been here 10 years ago I elected to avoid the rush of looking at the famous masters, rather I went room to room and would select one painting per room (after a cursory scan of the room), not necessarily the ... read more

3 Jan Back at Roos we set out on another long day trip - this time to Lincolnshire. Our journey took us across the Humber bridge, the world's second longest suspension bridge, that is built near the site Romans would ford the river as they travelled north/south between Lincoln and York. Our first stop was at Fran and Mr. A's lovely historic cottage. The exterior walls were built with the lovely local sandstone, which Fran pointed out had a number of great fossils visible to the naked eye. Inside was like walking into the past. The ceiling head hight was incredibly low, but still very comfortable and the rough hewn timber beams showed the history of hundreds of years of age. Fran explained that when age they had found that the floor above was made up ... read more

23 December This was another early start road trip that saw us on the road for nearly 12 hours - we're on our way to Ripon Cathedral, Fountains Abbey / Studley Royal and finally Rievaulx Abbey. First stop was Ripon Cathedral, and its 1300 years of continuous use and history. Highlights included: 1. a stop down in Wilfrid's whitwashed crypt from the original stone church on the site (672 AD). 2. The 15th C. timber carved choir - one of England's oldest and best preserved. These choir stalls were ornately carved (especially the misericord) depicting highly imaginative story lines from biblical and popular folklore. the highlight is the stall said to have been Lewis Carroll's inspiration for the white rabbit of Alice in Wonderland (his father was dean at Ripon). 3. This is one of the ... read more

After six months of anticipation 19 December and our flight to the UK finally came around . The flight was an uneventful 27 hours to Manchester with a stop in Hong Kong(3hr). After such a long, nearly sleepless flight I was hoping to get through immigration quickly, but found myself in the slow line that took over an hour before I got to the counter. There was an uncomfortable two or three minutes where I was worried I would become one of those people you see on Border Control who is pulled up for questions about my intentions for coming to the UK and my plans to leave. As the immigration official started to probe more and more about my plans and my girlfriend and her family I had a brief sinking feeling that that would ... read more