Nothing in Particular......

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It's just me again, filling in the gaps of our everyday lives by bringing you.....more everyday life stuff. Well, now that I am almost heading for home via the USA (with Vaughan through the USA but minus Vaughan on the way home), I do feel a bit like cursing the authorities who only allow a 2 year stay here, despite the crap weather & generally all-around unfriendly people. Actually, it's not that bad when you get over the fact that most of the people you'll end up friends with are from back home! But I digress (I've just packed up all my freight to send home & I'm a bit dizzy with the realisation that I now have to spend £250 - NZ$750 - on getting it there. I'd hate to think of all the stuff I would have accumulated if I was a true shopaholic!) - my real intention for this new entry is to show you some of the stuff we have been up to lately. I have been madly racing around the place trying to see so many of the things I seem to have forgotten about visiting the entire rest of the time I have been here.


St Paul's Cathedral:
I went here a month or so ago, just for something to do. This place is HUGE! It's got a giant dome on the top. What more can I say - that's about all there is to it from the outside. Inside however, it's pretty spectacular. Helpfully, you're not allowed cameras inside so none of you will be able to see what it was like anyway. HA! But really, it was a good visit - I went by myself & didn't feel too much like a loser. The interior is massive, with all kinds of frescos on the ceiling (for you untravelled types, fresco basically means paintings - now you know a posh word for it) of angels & well, anything really. The artwork was quite colourful, & even the inside of the massive dome was covered in it. At the front of the cathedral there was a lot of....baroque-style ornamentation (ie: mainly gold & black - see learning new words is easy), & the floor was marble. There were grates in the ground every so often & you could see down to a lower level (the vault), which you could also visit. The vault was pretty interesting, with important people such as the Duke of Wellington, & Admiral Nelson buried there - there were hundreds of ornate graves in this underground section. The plus side is that you can climb right up the top of the dome for free, which of course I didn't do because I'm too lazy (actually, I had a cold & just didn't feel like it). Overall, I gave it a B.

Westminster Abbey:
I went here a few weeks ago with my friend Sueanne. She 'forced' me to get a guided tour with her, so perhaps learning more about the Abbey made it a bit more interesting. The Abbey was certainly much larger inside than I had expected from the outside, although of course, we couldn't take photos in there either (boo!). It was divided into several different sections, rather than being one giant area (like St Paul's), & several parts had large tombs & monuments for past Kings & Queens (including Elizabeth I). Half of it used to be a monastery as well. We got to see the Coronation Chair (still used today when a new King/Queen is crowned), which has my last name carved into it in massive letters, by someone who obviously had too much time on their hands back in the day (no, I'm not talking about myself) - kind of funny! We also got to see some other areas that people weren't allowed to visit without being on a tour. It was clear that Westminster Abbey had been built in a different era from St Paul's, & it seemed to involved far more stonework, whereas St Paul's was more about elaborate decoration & painting. The tour guide was fairly interesting, although I did wonder from time to time whether he had recently died of old age & been embalmed. The waxy complexion did cause some controversy. The Abbey also had one section that was devoted to the arts - there was all kinds of stonework (statues, plaques, etc) dedicated to poets, writers, painters, musicians, etc, & we saw many names that we knew. In general it was quite interesting, & I did enjoy the history there. Also, the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (more like a stone in the ground) had some quite moving comments on it. Overall, I gave it a well-deserved A.

Kew Gardens Gardens:
I dragged Vaughan along to see the flowers at Kew Gardens a few Sundays ago when the weather was forecast to be a nice sunny day. I'm not sure that looking at flowers was Vaughan's kind of thing, but it worked out quite well for both of us, nevertheless. It also would have been my green-fingered Gran's birthday if she was still alive (she died since I have been over here), so it was kind of fitting that we were visiting Kew Gardens. Vaughan perked up a bit when I managed to get a 2 for 1 deal on the entrance fee, as it was quite expensive to get in. Kew Gardens is absolutely massive - it is completely surrounded by brick walls & takes 40 minutes to walk from one end to the other. A lot of botany-type research also takes place there, & there are many buildings & things to see - the Palm House (tropical rainforest), Kew Palace, the Pagoda, the Alpine House, about 4 cafes, rock gardens, orchid conservatory, various children's play areas - all kinds of stuff. It was much more involved than I thought it would be, & the flowers were magnificent. There were many sculptured bushes, trees & grass areas, as well as other sections that were wildly overgrown, & a forest area too - they had really tried to cover it all. We enjoyed just walking around & seeing all the different areas really. It was quite a hot day though, so I wouldn't like to imagine actually going in summer. It was too hot for us in the tropical greenhouses, so we spent some of the time sitting in the shade on the lush grass (like everyone else). It was much easier to make a day of it than I had imagined. Vaughan & I bought along a bottle of wine plus some cheese & crackers (oh, & Vaughan's mandatory bacon sandwiches), so when we were almost through looking at all the things, we sat down on the grass near the pagoda & got to look posh for a few minutes. All in all, it was more interesting than I had anticipated, & seeing all the bright flowers was fantastic. With glorious weather, I gave it an A-.

Dover Castle:
Last weekend we decided to go on a day trip to Dover, to see the White Cliffs & Dover Castle castle there, which we had heard was excellent. The castle has underground tunnels which had been restored recently, & finally they were open to the public, so we jumped in the car & headed to the coast. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there, & when we arrived there was so much haze (that's a nice way of saying 'pollution coming from the direction of London') that the White Cliffs (although spectacular) were quite difficult to see, & it seemed a bit dreary. There was a huge breakwater & most of the shore was taken up with various ferry terminals, as Dover is the main vehicle ferry port used to get to Calais (France) - it was quite a massive set-up really. Dover Castle looked impressive up on the top of the cliffs, & many of it's buildings date back to Medieval times, so it has seen many battles over the years, & also been an important defence against French invasions. On our arrival we discovered that there had been an earthquake overnight, so the tunnels we had travelled all that way to see were actually closed for safety reasons - our typical luck. But not to worry, we decided to have a look around anyway, & we were both glad we did. Instead of the usual single restored building with little to see, Dover Castle was the complete opposite - the grounds are fairly large, with many tunnels, buildings, look-outs, weapons, museums, etc. It was easy to make a day of it, & we started off by taking a guided tour down into the Medieval tunnels, which were still open - a bit spooky but really interesting, & we learned a lot about late Medieval & the early 'Napoleonic' era, when the French almost invaded the castle by managing to get into one small area after undermining one of the outer towers. It was interesting to see all the strongholds & ways that any invader's progress was blocked off, so the invasion itself was not actually successful in the end. There was a large 'Keep' (central building of importance), with other buildings surrounding it (barracks, mess halls, etc), & also further outside the main area there was also a 1st century lighthouse, an old church (also 1st century but it has been restored), & a large Officer's mess from WWII. We had a wander around everything & looked at all the displays, then spent some time walking around the outside edge, where all the cannons & anti-aircraft guns were set up facing the air, water, & the surroudning valleys. It was far more interesting than I had anticipated, so it kind of made up for being disappointed about not being able to see the tunnels. Getting out of London for the day was worth it as well, so we both had quite a good time. Overall (even exculding seeing the WWII tunnels), I give it an A! Nice!

Miscellaneous:
We have managed to catch up with our friends Lee, & also Pete & Sueanne a few times recently, which has been great. It's good to see everybody so much before I leave, & my workmates have also invited us out a lot as well. It seems like such a short time until I go now, & I still have so much to do - my Race for Life, a weekend trip to Liverpool, Santorini on Thursday, another visit to Camden markets, a wedding (with Thames River cruise included - not sure if that's a good thing but we haven't done that before at least), the Chemical Brothers concert (yay!). Wow - I'm not even sure that's everything! At least we have seen Lee most weekends for a relaxing sit in the sun at one of the local parks (Ealing has so many to choose from), & our second BBQ of the summer at Pete & Sueanne's yesterday was also fantastic - not to mention the X Box afterwards, or Bridget the dog (thanks for the hospitality guys, by the way)! These pictures are a testers for our new digital camera - yes, finally! Bring on summer & all the busy madness that goes with it (& a tan please, if possible, for my pasty white English skin)!

So you can see, we are run off our feet but loving it. Vaughan is working like a maniac, so sometimes I leave him to do that (or have a sleep) while I make the most of my time here. Really, we may have turned into whinging Poms but it's actually not bad at all. And I only have 4 weeks of work left now - times flies so fast! And has anyone been watching the cricket? We managed to catch it a few times while hanging out with my friend Sara at her local pub in Southall - Vaughan is addicted to the (Indian) mixed grill there so it's not hard to get him to even go & watch the football (ahem, soccer) on the big screens there either. Hope you guys are all keeping well, & for those of you heading into winter, I won't brag, as I will be joining you there soon. Don't forget to keep up the contact with Vaughan, as he gets a bit glum about being left here by himself once he returns from our trip to the USA.

Please take care - we look forward to hearing from you soon xxxxx

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