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Published: February 26th 2006
Spinaker Tower
the latest attraction - great views from the top. Definitely worth a visit.Seem to have caught up on our rest - if that is actually ever possible?
Our first weekend in England our good friend Mark paid us a visit in Portsmouth. We visited the new
Spinnaker Tower - tallest building in the UK outside of London - for a view of the sea. The day was a bit grey and the views are lovely seems to be a big hit with the young children because on one of the viewing platforms there is a glass floor that you can walk over sans shoes so it’s fun! It was a bit busy on this afternoon so we decided to end the visit and head for the coffee bar for a drink and a bite to eat.
The evening we went to a local lecture on
Dickens in London
this was held at the John Pound Memorial Hall. All about Dickens time and observations in London and how it influenced his writings. We arrived on time thinking there would be plenty of seating when we arrived the house was packed with silver haired society and we were fortunate to get a seats as each pew sat seven Sean and I sat in one aisle while
Mark and Liam sat In the one behind us. The speaker was excellent. This is an annual event on Dickens with varied topic of discussion this one just happened to be on London which was a bonus. For those of you who aren’t aware Portsmouth is the birthplace of Dickens even if his time in Portsmouth was very limited. His place of birth is a museum open to the public.
After the lecture we headed to a nearby pub called the Dolphin for a few drinks where we got into a heated debate over politics and national ID cards. We were sitting by the fire place so it was very warm in the small non-smoking area of this pub. Having differing opinions as to whether or not ID cards should be made mandatory or not is a passionate issue in the UK. Being from the United States where everyone is required to carry some form of ID I don’t see what the big deal is? Seems it would help with underage drinking, smoking and plain identification of people where the opposing view is we’ve never had it and don’t need it, basically big brother is infringing on our basic
misty field
Mark was taking photos of a rare bird that is known to hang out on this field - apparently it doesn't make it to England often! human rights as British citizens. I think the plan is too extensive and may benefit from being simplified with the emphasis on not being easily forged. In the end law abiding people will get them, if required, so no simple answer. We left the pub and headed home for the night as we had an early start the next morning our destination being Dorset.
Upon arriving home I realized I left my sweater behind at the bar, uggh. Will need to ring or stop by the next day to get it back, hopefully, someone will have turned in ? Sunday morning we were up by half eight having our cups of tea and looking at google earth prior to setting out. Mark is driving to a place he’s heard, through the grape vine, a rare bird is visiting to take snap shots of it and add to his long list of bird sightings. Mark is a gadgets guy and has a new toy for his auto-mo-bile it’s called TomTom (aka gps system) that works very well. Took a couple of photos on our new camera (thanks to the team) Mark had his almost professional HUGE zoom lens and tri-pod
tower
how cool would it be to live at this place with this huge broken tower in your garden/yard out to take photos of this rare bird. According to Mark it doesn’t normally leave Africa but this year it’s travelled as far North as the South of England. Photos taken we leave to pick Liam up at his home. We drive to Liam’s and he’s out the door before we park so we about face and get going - first to the Bovington Tank Museum (lots of tanks) and then
Tyneham in Dorset.
Tyneham is a village that was taken over by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) during the war years with the promise of property being returned to the families after the conflict... they're still waiting. The site has proven to be a key training area for the military and is currently a shooting range that the public can visit on the weekends.
Tyneham is a great little village surrounded by farmland (circa 1940’s), most of the buildings that remain have fireplaces, sans rooftops except for the church and school house, and Barrow's Bay within walking distance. Must have been a wonderful place to live apparently the families have been compensated monetarily bet they would prefer to have their land/village back. After our quick look through
Sean, Liam and Mark
Outside the TANK museum! We spent a couple of quality hours at this place. Pretty well done up with replica trenches from the first world war. the small village we followed the trail up to the top of the hillside where you get a great view of the valley to the right and to the left below the village and the seaside bay. We reached the vista point when Mark decided he’d jump the fence and get some great photos from the cliff edge. Taking in the view on such a sunny day breathtaking now we had to decide which trail to continue on. Of course we decide to take the one that goes straight down the hill instead of doubling back on ourselves (rarely fun). So over the fence we go on to the trail, at least its downhill! There are ‘steps’ built into the hillside so it almost like a training drill as you catch speed as you descend you certainly wouldn’t want to trip up doing this.
Getting down hill was great fun I felt like a seven year old kid again. At one point as I was walking and talking I turned around to look at something then almost immediately tripped on a rock and fell to the ground hard. We laughed so hard! One second I’m upright the next I’m
Sean
probably the only time you'll see Sean in fatigues on the ground!
We were wondering if it would be possible to ‘roll’ down the hill but figure you’d most likely break a limb or two maybe three! Arriving at the bay, the sound of the sea gently reaching the shore is peaceful mixed with the laughter of families with young children playing on the beach on this spring-like day. Sticking to the grassland I decided I didn’t want sand in my shoes (boring, I know) we have the option to take a low or high trial. Again we decide to take the upper trail which was great because you could see the English coastline for miles on such a clear day.
We drop our monies for the parking fee in a pay box we didn’t see when we arrived earlier in the day. Jumped in the car and headed back towards Pompey. En route we stop at Corfe castle as the sun was setting the light was brilliant and a great opportunity to take photos. Mark and Sean jumped the fence, yet again, to get to best spot for pixs.
Driving back to Liam’s place we decide to stop for dinner at a local Indian place.
It’s new to the area very good service and food was even better. Our tummies full and bodies tired we drop Liam at home and head back to download photos. On the way to the house we make a detour to the pub The Dolphin to see if I can get the sweater back? I go into the back ask the barman if they have it? He says he remembers me from the night before but didn’t pick up a sweater but he’ll check in the back. So I wait, while Mark and Sean wait outside in the car, low and behold he has the sweater! I feel victorious because Sean was certain it got taken by some rowdy student type, hah! Back at the house, Mark decides he should drive back to London now instead of early the next morning.
Monday, Sean and I continue our regiment of running during the week. We head out in semi-darkness and as we jog around the lido the sun filters through the grey clouds of England. I love this time of day everything seems so calm and quite the colours seems vivid and you tend to accomplish more than if you
no roof top
Sean and Liam checking out the old buildings. would’ve slept in. Realizing, a lot of you disagree with this but you shouldn’t knock it till you try it, as they say.
We had our shots in the afternoon; I’m such a wimp when it comes to needles! I was so tense my arm was soar for several days afterwards. Where Sean on the other hand it was no problem, no pain, other than the needle prick. The nurse practitioner is very nice and gave us a lot of information on South America vaccinations. When we complete our vaccinations we will have been protected against, yellow fever, Hep B and typhoid to name a few.
We moved a lot of our belongings into the attic, and received the last of our boxes through the post. Updated our itunes with a few additional cd’s we purchased in the last couple of weeks. Sean has been doing freelance work for ESA and other associates here in England. He seems to have had a rush of work which is good. By Friday afternoon, we decide to visit London Town.
We arrange to meet up with Mark after work, stop at a nice pub near his office for a couple
of drinks then catch the tube to his flat for an evening in watching dvd’s. But before we meet up with Mark we get to visit all the comic shops Sean can’t be without when in London. Sean bought a couple of comics which is very restrained for him. There were so many he could have bought but time is running short and he has a back log of book and comics to read. We also, stop at a couple of record stores but find they don’t sell that much music, they mostly sell dvds and a bit of music. You're hard pressed to find music that isn’t pop chart hit so as it seems most of the time your better off purchasing your music, on the cheap, at amazon.com
We stop at the super market near Marks to get things for dinner. Mark makes a spaghetti arribiata that’s very hot. Emma is home from work and Julian drops by later in the evening to hang out. Good fun. The next morning we head out to a place, Mark highly recommends, called Darmin. It’s Indian vegetarian buffet, all you can eat and inexpensive. All four of us jump into
Marks car and he drives to the place, as parking seems a bit tight, we get off at the place so we don’t lose our reservation for six. Matt Turner and his girlfriend were joining us for lunch.
Unfortunately, Matt and his girlfriend arrived at the end of lunch. We attempted to hold they table for two for as long as possible in the end after an hour we gave up the table as the place was brimming with people waiting to be seated. Very popular place it filled to capacity within half an hour of opening its doors!
After lunch we head to a pub near by for a couple of drinks, both Emma and Sinead (matt’s girlfriend) are detoxing and so not drinking. We chat catching up on the usual things when you haven’t seen friends for awhile. Matt writes movie reviews for Hot Dog magazine at the moment and has an online site where he provides reviews on the latest movies. He knows his stuff when it comes to film. Emma leaves the pub early as she needs to research items at the super market for dinner at Louise’s tonight and do some serious reading
the coast
Sean, Liam and Esther for her drivers exam.
We all set out on foot towards the
Hunterian Museum of 'morbid pathology' on the way, Sinead parts from the group to go else where and then meet up with Matt at a movie house to catch a Buster Keaton flick. We carry on towards the museum following Marks TomTom’s directions which again works with precision. Matt literally runs to catch up with Sinead. He’s afraid he’s cut his time short and may not arrive on time.
We visit the museum; get our visitors pass from the guard at the front desk go for a pit stop before heading up to the first floor entrance. The collection is vast, so many amazing things from wild life, sea life, human remains, skeletons of giants and dwarves, pickled tumours, grim facial war wounds, hardly-feasible surgical procedures. Very organized, well lit, loads of women there too perhaps they are all medical students? We joked it may be a great place to meet women or not depending on your perspective. Full of amazement and a bit oooh, that’s aweful we head towards Julian’s flat in Camden.
We decide to walk as it isn’t that far and it’s a
lovely evening in London. Earlier at lunch Mark was unsuccessful at finding parking near the eatery so he parked his car at Julian underground parking space and walked to the restaurant! Wonderful Camden, so lively and full of colour always; passing a pub round the corner from Julian’s some drunk eating in the doorway of the pub swearing and throwing his chicken at a taxi. Why is anyone’s guess? We walk towards the building where Julian lives. Talk about perfect timing as we approach Julian and his other 'alf are walking towards us! We head to the top floor, all five of us in this tiny elevator hoping it doesn’t get stuck between floors. As we hear it has done in the past, yikes!
Julian’s flat is great minimalist while enjoying a cup o’tea we watch a highlights video of Mark’s karaoke birthday celebration drunken duets and all seems like everyone had a great time this past October. We didn’t get much time as we had a dinner party to attend. Down the stairs to fetch the automobile then go to dinner.
We stop in front of an off-license (liquor store) for a bottle of wine for our
hostess. Lousie has a two-story flat that she shares with Clare. Louise is a video editor for while Clare is a director working on a writing project. As our hostess is vegetarian so is our dinner. As for us carnivores we had veggie overload and suffer for it later in the evening and the whole next day! YOU CAN HAVE TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING. Highly recommend everything in moderation it’s definitely the way to go. But we danced a lot! To be fair to the veggies and healthy eating we did have quite a bit of drink over dinner topped off with lemoncello. Sam went out twice to replenish the drink supply - so we may have been a bit hung over the next morning. Che c’e fa?
Sunday, we hit the comic store in Camden and go to lunch at Hache for burgers and chips, Emma had Tuna steak burger that looked really good and she said it was. Being stuffed we walk over to retrieve the wheels parked outside Louise’s flat. We ring the bell and thankfully Clare is in watching the telly and Sean can get the cardigan he forgot the night previous. We
don’t linger as Clare doesn’t seem to be in a fit state for entertaining... not that we are either! At the intersection we see Louise and her fella walking back to hers - they had planned to visit an art gallery that morning. Parked in front of Mark’s flat we decide to hang out as the weather’s a bit crap and that how we all seem to be feeling.
We watch 40 year old virgin such a funny movie! Go out and see it if you haven’t already, especially, if you want to laugh out loud. Now it time to catch the train home, so Mark kindly gives us a lift to the station we get our tube tickets and catch the train South. Thankfully, Sean’s papa is waiting for us at the station so we get home late evening. It’s time for bed - so I’ll fill you on everything else we’ve been doing this month. May you be well and let us know how life is for you.
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Louise
non-member comment
Food!
Well, chaps you're always welcome to come round and drink vast amounts of alcohol, dance to 'sing-along' music and eat loads of yummy, yummy vegetarian food!!! It was so lovely seeing you and judging from the pictures we certainly had fun! (Obviously, the memory of that night is a little hazy).