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Wonderful fields of rape
Would you believe that they actually call a plant 'rape'? We think it's called Canola in Australia though, which is significantly less offensive. Pretty though After 3 rather quick days in NY, we got onto a plane (yet another 7am flight, which meant getting to the airport at 5 aargh) and headed off to UK. We were quite excited about UK. The objectives here were very different to the other countries so far - we were mainly going to be seeing relatives, and doing minimal sightseeing! So no mad trekking around from sight to sight, lonely planets clutched in hand, while trying to speak some foreign language!
And of course, staying with relatives means no need to worry about organising food, accomodation, etc - whoohoo!!
Arrived at crowded Heathrow airport. I must say, the western world has severely disappointed us with its rather poor airports. I mean, so far, Peru has had the bestest airport yet!! Which is rather ironic if you consider the economy and general state of the rest of the country!!
Anyway, Heathrow was brutally efficient, crowded, and relatively unpleasant - but we didn't care 'coz we got to get picked up by relatives!! Another first for us. So nice not to have to arrive in a country and
a. find an ATM so we can get cash
b. find
a way to get to your accomodation
c. all while stressing about the language and the fact it's 4am in the morning.
Started off at Epsom, which is relatively near london, staying at Catherine's grandmother's place. Of course she spoiled us quite nicely, and we started to put on the weight that we'd lost over the last month of traveling!
Went into London a few times - London is a nice city, very much what I'd expect. Wasn't madly enthused about it - well not as much as NY - but definitely can see why Australians would be very comfortable living here!! Very very cosmopolitan, lots of traffic, horribly expensive, and an incredibly efficient subway. Why do English people complain about the tube anyway? We had absolutely no problems, and never more than one minute wait for a train - and reasonably cheap if you're on a day pass. I guess they need something to whinge about *grin*
Which brings me on to another point: the weather. Everyone keeps complaining about how rotten weather is here. Well, I can definitely agree it's not wonderful, but almost every single pic I have taken has got blue skies in
it, so I really can't complain!! Guess it helps that we're on holiday and don't have to go to work in the middle of gloomy rain etc etc...
Anyway, back to London. Catherine was very excited to show me the sights, and we did a marathon trek through the city looking at the standard things - Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminister Abbey, St Paul's, etc etc... which were all very cool. Went to Soho for dinner, loved the crowds, and the fact that pubs were so full that people were standing outside the pubs and drinking their beers!! But I think we'll need to go back to London again to do it properly because there's so much more to see - and hey, who knows, I may like it even more next time!!
We also got to go to Hillsong London! Brian had heard that we were going to be in town, so he flew out to preach there just for us. Ok, maybe not, but it was nice to hear him! (Brian is the senior pastor of our church in Sydney). They have a very cool service, with lots more young people than in Sydney. Great
atmosphere and pretty friendly. And a truly amazing set of screens that they use incredibly well for all their media. We should steal that idea 😊 Was nice to have a touch of home because we had been missing that!!
Went out to Salisbury next. We were going to catch a train, but discovered that basically it was cheaper to rent a car for a week than it was to catch a couple of trains. What's with that?? The English train system seriously is expensive - Catherine's Aunt, who lives about 2 hours out from London, was paying 650 pounds per month to get into work - that's like $1800AU!! Per month!
Driving in England was great though. As we drove into Salisbury, I was quite excited, because Catherine said I'd get to pass Stonehenge. We did - and my first comment was "Is that like the scale model or something??" It is WAY smaller than what I thought it was going to be. Still very impressive up close. But overall, as far as engineering feats go, I think the Incas and the Toltecs completely whip the druids 😊 In the druid's defence, it must be harder to
Dave doing the astronaut thing
Catherine's uncle is strange and keeps bees. OK maybe eccentric. But very nice nonetheless :) Anywy, got to get dressed up and see what the bees get up to in their hives. Nothing like being rushed by a swarm of mad bees to get the adrenaline pumping!! work while wearing dresses.
Salisbury was lovely. We stayed at Catherine's aunt's place, which is basically this huge huge house in a really really small village. The plan was to kick back, do pretty much nothing, 'coz after all, we are in the country, right??
Wrong. Got there and discovered that they needed a wireless network set up in their house, so yours truly decided to pick up a holiday hobby and learn how to do it. I was given an unlimited budget as well, which was really exciting!! So I went into tech-nerd mode and pretty much worked for three days. I know most of you will think this sounds sad, but I actually enjoyed that very much!!
But it wasn't all networks and computers - we went for walks out into the countryside, drank lots of tea (which by the way is still awful even in England), and sat by the Aga. What's an Aga you ask? Well, seems like a lot of older homes have this huge oven in the kitchen, it's powered by heated oil, and is ALWAYS on. So it's a constant heat source. It's got a hotplate on top, so if
Stonehenge
Not the normal angle from which people normally photograph stonehenge. You'll note this is one of my few pics where we didn't get blue skies, but hey, can't have everything!! you want to boil water, you just stick your kettle on top, and wait for the water to boil. I can't believe it's always on. But it does make the kitchen nice and toasty... 😊
Overll, we achieved our objective, which was to meet relatives, and see the odd sight or two. Obviously this means we will have to come back again sometime to actually see the place. But it was absolutely fabulous to have a whole 10 days of not waking up early, not having to rush around to see stuff, and speak English!! Traveling is hard work - in fact, very different to being on holiday!! But absolutely a blast.
This (30th of April) also marks a whole month since we've been away. Feels like we've been away forever though. We are missing you all, so do keep those emails coming, we love to hear what's going on in your worlds too!!
Off to Greece next, and then Turkey...
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anonymous
non-member comment
Hi guys, just realised I was in NY same time as you but could not access email. Visited Holly and Phil's church in LA the weekend before and yes - HEAPS of young people. Was great. Glad you discovered the wonderful Aga. - Srimi