Up North

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Well it's been a while since I updated this. When I arrived in England I caught the underground express from Heathrow to Ealing/Broadway and there transferred to a train to Holland Park. From there I had to walk up this long path or walkway to Holland Park Youth Hostel. One of the wings of the youth hostel is the remaining wing of Holland House, which was a very famous stately home. It was bombed in the war and this is the only part remaining. The rest of the hostel has been built since.

I found myself in a room with 10 bunks in it. I thought my bunking days were over, but managed to survive. There was another woman in there who spoke to someone that only she could see and was very upset with them, as they seemed to be abusing a blind, deaf woman who was in absolute agony. She would have these conversations at any time of the day or night and I thought of our schizophrenic patients who stop taking their medication and end up murdering someone.

On 28 December I did the Big Bus Company tour of London. I got off at Westminster and took the river cruise up to the Tower of London. There I saw the artificial skating rink that they created with all the holiday makers skating. From there I rejoined the tour and went on past Hyde Park, where I had to change buses to get back on the route that took me back to Kensington and Holland Park. The bus I changed to also went past Hyde Park so I got several different views of the new memorial to dead soldiers who had served Britain in various wars. It looks terrific.

The next day I caught the train into London and changed to a train to Whitstable. There I stayed with a friend and her fiance, Erina and Paul. They had just gotten engaged on Christmas Day. We had a walk around Whitstable which was an old seaport village with little shops and lots of black wooden beams and narrow crooked cobbled streets. It was wonderful. I managed to buy two pairs of shoes there. The next day we went to Canterbury with the idea of going to the Cathedral but it was not open so we had a look around the town instead. Paul showed us Kennedy's shoe shop which used to be owned by his family. There I managed to find a pair of shoes for £9.50 and another three pairs for £1.00 each. Not bad, six pairs of shoes for under $200.00 and all good quality too. We then went down the road and had a drink in a little olde Englishe pub. We then went home and got ready to go out to dinner. Paul's step-brother had invited them over for dinner and they very kindly invited me to join them. Paul's sister drove us over so we could have a drink or two and we got a taxi back. All in all a very enjoyable time.

The next day we went to Tankston (I think that's correct) and saw wind turbines out in the sea off the coast. Save a lot of argument if they did that in New Zealand. There was this little wind farm out in the water. No noise, no blight on the landscape and no bother to anyone. We then had a look around the village and came home. That night we went down the local pub for dinner.

The next day my cousin Geoff Cooke and his wife Jean came over and picked me up to take me to their place in Gravesend. On the way home we stopped in Cobham for a drink at The Leather Bottle, which was a pub where Charles Dickens used to drink and often stayed the night when he'd had one too many. It was amazing to be in the middle of that sort of history. At Geoff's place I finally met my Aunt Ella for the first time and later in the day Jean's son Chris and his wife Vanda came over. That night some friends of theirs from Rhodesia (Zimbabwa) came over for new years drinks and stayed the night. A very enjoyable evening and saw the New Year in on the other side of the world.

The next day Geoff took me to Leeds Castle which was terrific. We parked in the car park and then followed the road around the lake, past the summer house and up the rise to the mill house and barbicon. We went through the entrance and came out on the lawn and path in front of the castle. We then followed the path around the side of the house and in the castle. We then walked through the castle which took about an hour and a half to two hours. After the castle we went further up the road to the coach house and stables and outdoor servants accommodation. It was all very fascinating and quite amazing to see the architecture and what they could accomplish in those days with basic tools etc.

The next day we went to Canterbury cathedral, which was now open. What an amazing place. There was a church on that site in 562 and the present cathedral was built in 1000 and something. How do they build something of that magnitude in that day and age. I am sure we would struggle to achieve anything half as good with all our technology and expertise today. We really do build some ugly buildings in this day and age compared to what they accomplished 700 years ago.

On the way home we stopped and had a look at Chillingham which was an old village which had been used in one of the period dramas made not too long ago. Unfortunately I can't remeber which one, but you could just picture the village with all the cars gone and all the moder signs etc looking exactly as it did 700 years ago.

The next day Geoff ran me over to Rochester, which was about 10 minutes up the road, to meet a childhood friend of mum's, Peg Wady. They had been friends since mum was 11 and Peg was 10. Peg is now 87 and mum has been gone two years so they were friends for 75 years and never lost touch. Mum even went to Perth to surprise Dick and Peg on their 50th wedding anniversary and mum and dad would always visit them when they went to England. I new Peg's sister Glad and her husband who lived in NZ and met Peg's mum when she used to come and visit Glad and Bob so it was lovely to meet Peg. We had spoken on the phone a few times over the years, the last time before I arranged this trip was when mum died. It was lovely to sit and reminisce and hear stories of what they used to get up to when they were young. All in all a lovely day. Geoff came over and picked me up in the afternoon and that evening we went out to a real olde country pub in Shorne called the Rose & Arms where Aunt Ella shouted us all to dinner. It was terrific.

The next day Geoff took me to the station and I caught the train into King's Cross and then got on the train to Darlington, North Yorkshire to visit my cousin Pat, her husband Ken and their children, Kendra, Claire and Michael. Well you've probably had enough by now so will tell you about that visit next time. We're off to a freemason's dinner tonight. More details next time. Hope everyone is well and enjoying their holdiays.

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