Nov '08-Feb '09 - Winter

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It’s hard to believe that it’s now been almost 6 months since we arrived in England, but the time has come for us to be moving on. They say they have had the coldest winter in years and although it was definitely colder than home, it didn’t seem too bad. But the days have got longer and the sun has got warmer again, so we are off back to the continent for the last leg of our holiday. (before they kick me out!) Life over the winter months has been pretty uneventful with Jac working full-time and me doing my best to keep busy. I did a fair bit of walking around the local area and know my way around Maidenhead better than Alli. It’s quite an upmarket area next to the river with lots of flash houses and Aston Martins, but move a little way back and they quickly turn into regular little ‘attached’ brick boxes on small sections which are very dreary, especially in winter. Lee managed to get hold of a couple of tickets for us to see the All Blacks play England at Twickenham last November so that was a highlight. It was a great place with a great atmosphere and of course our boys didn’t let us down. It was a capacity crowd and the train going in was absolutely jam packed but there was no agro (unlike the football crowds you hear about!). Christmas was spent at Alli’s place and of course Zane had the biggest stack of presents. Jac and Alli cooked us a great lunch with gammon and turkey and all the trimmings and of course we all ate far too much. New Year was spent with friends and we all saw the New Year in party style and crashed on the couches at around 2am. Jac may not have got the white Christmas she was hoping for but there was plenty of snow at the beginning of February. We had about 6 inches and London ground to a halt as you all would have seen on the news. We had fun in the snow throwing snowballs, making a snowman and Alli and Jac made snow angels. We had a bit more the next day but after that it quickly melted away and disappeared. We took the train into London one weekend in February to take a look around and do the usual sights; the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster and Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, etc. We stayed overnight at Earl’s Court in a little hotel full of foreigners, in fact it seemed like all of London was full of foreign speaking people in the weekend. It was a fairly gray weekend weatherwise but the rain held off for the most part so that was about as good as we could expect for winter. Interesting place London, such an eclectic mix of new and old architecture squashed into a couple of square miles with history around every corner. (along with a CCTV camera!)
So that was our winter, we left London on March 2nd and headed north to catch up with the relatives at Lytham and Chipping and to take a look at York before catching the ferry to the Netherlands. A big thanks to Alli and Lee for putting up with us for such a long time, it was most appreciated.

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Photos

London
Thames River and Tower Bridge

Thames River
from Tower Bridge looking west with HMS Belfast

London
from Tower Bridge with the Tower of London in the foreground

Buckingham Palace
The marching band leading in the changing of the guard - pomp and ceremony.

London Eye
over the Thames River

London
Westminster and Big Ben

London
fron the London Eye looking west with Westminster in the foreground

London
Westminster and Big Ben with the London Eye in the background

Comments

[Sue Rich]

Chipping???
Hey u 2 - how come no pics of beautiful Chipping then? Hope u had a nice York trip. c ya next time. Love and best wishes from Sue n Mick Rich. xx

[Bruce and Jac]

Pics
Thanks guys, Chipping pics were included when we were there first time. Couldn't leave them out! Scroll back to the earlier date. Ciao