Blogs from Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, Europe

We got talking with two Austrian girls in a restaurant in Lisbon (we were the only diners and yes, people think they are Australian and ask them if they have kangaroos in their garden). They made an interesting comment about their country’s approach to the recession – that Austrians more-or-less expect bad things to happen and had accepted life would be grim for a while. (They also said people still celebrate Hitler’s birthday, which was more disconcerting than any recession stats.) In Lisbon the recession is clearly visible. The city is undoubtedly beautiful – set on the broad Tagus river estuary, full of lush green parks and impressive columnar statues glorifying kings and statesmen like the Marquis of Pombal who oversaw the reconstruction of the city after the devastating earthquake in 1755. The central city was ... read more

I did say "probably" the last blog in the previous entry........................this one definitely is. Back home again,feeling pretty shattered - might fall asleep while writing this! Spent a few hours in San Fran yesterday morning going round Bloomingdales and Macy's - the retail therapy being punctuated with a walk down to the old ferry terminal via the financial district and back via Chinatown. Rae did mange to restrict her purchases to a couple of birthday cards,though. (She did look for ideas for "Mother of the Bride" suits/dresses as well.) Got the hotel shuttle to the airport (met a couple from Bearsden who were about to go to New Zealand). Flight wasn't busy and after take off we were able to move seats so that Rae had a bank of 4 and me a bank of 3 ... read more

Waiting for taxi...............20 mins to go. Not really looking forward to this bit! Still it'll be worth it in the end! Am attaching a photo of something that I'm not expecting to do in NZ (was with my first blog entry which I somehow failed to publish!). Happy reading.... read more

As we had been told that our nephew, Bryn, had started walking and running, and making voices, we really looked forward to seeing him. All of the ornaments on the mantelpiece and lower shelves and my grandfather’s carvings had been put away. There were some changes of locations of coffee table and other furniture. Bryn and his parents arrived at Lark Rise late evening on 4th November. It was dull and wet in the morning on 5th November. John looked at the weather forecast, and we heard that the rain would be cleared away by midday around East Anglia. We decided to go to Ickworth Park from the midday. Bryn was wearing an orange jacket to match with autumn coloured leaves. He was walking independently and comfortably in Lark Rise and Ickworth Park. Many trees and ... read more