Places I have been recently part I: ENGLAND

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Hello readers (Mum and Amber, maybe Julio?),

It has been pointed out that I have been really slack with the blog entries. I will sum up the last month in a few short installments and then try to return to relatively frequent entries.

- LONDON - I was less than impressed by the capital city. This was not helped by 1. Staying in a dirty scumhole that I was scared to shower in because of the risk of TB (probably made worse due to contrast with clean, shiny Japan) and 2. Visiting with two people who had seen the sights enough that they were thouroughly unimpressed by them and thus uninterested in doing 'touristy' things.

Despite this, Liam and I joined forces with the lovely Sonya and had a few adventures, including seeing the crown jewels (ooh lala) and spending a lot of time in museums and galleries. Still felt like we spent half our time (and money) on the underground.

- STRATFORD UPON AVON - was nice, I suppose. We stayed in a campsite run by a lovely Welsh company who gushed about the friendly people they had met in New Zealand and were emphatic about how we were unlikely to receive the same hospitality in England (while, ironically, being friendly themselves and loaning us their year pass to the Shakespeare attractions). Said attractions were lame and tacky. We saw a book that was MAYBE like one that Shakespeare himself COULD HAVE learned to read from, in the house that they THINK could have been where he was born, IF (as they SUSPECT) his family did indeed live there at some point. Camping was cold, we went to 3 plays on the cheap (no seats) and one was good, one was alright (but with less laughs), and the last was a bit tiring (though I was sick so not really enjoying myself in general).

- SHRIVENHAM (Just out of Swindon, but technically in Oxfordshire)- was our home base for a wee bit. Liam's brother's girlfriend's parents Barbi and Phil accomodated us in star style and made us feel right at home. We spent some days zipping out on day trips around the Cotswolds, enjoying tiny adorable villages and nice food, and to Oxford, where we went to what was probably my favourite museum so far (Pitt Rivers) and tried our hand at punting (with limited success). We stayed a night in a B&B in TETBURY, whence we walked 13 miles, stopping at a pub or two and getting slightly rained on. We also potentially contributed to the breakdown of the marriage of the couple running the place by turning up early.

I made it to - PLYMOUTH - on my own relatively cheaply thanks to the kindness of Hannah and her partner who happened to be heading in that general direction. Here I stayed with a vague relative (Fourth cousins? Cousins four times removed??) Dot and her husband Chris. Plymouth is a (kind of) interesting place, but I pretty much saw all the main sights (where the mayflower left, the citadel, etc.) on the first day. We had a nice trip out to Cornwall and managed to find some sun, and headed out over the moors and saw the Dartmoor prison museum. Again I was accomodated wonderfully and had time to relax and drink (maybe too much) and eat good food before reuniting with Liam to head over to France on the (delayed) ferry.

But more about FRANCE next time, I'm off to see some art!

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