The Last Leg is the Longest

I hope you like my alliterative axiom? I have now done four long flights. The first was OK, and I managed to doze for a couple of hours. I watched several movies, one of which was the latest Twilight episode (don't judge me!). I was disproportionately disconcerted by the fact that the 50-something man next to me also watched this. Surely he is the wrong demographic?! The second flight was Turbulence City. The third was utterly unmemorable, except that when I got off the plane, I couldn't find my boarding pass. I had to sit on the Bench of Shame while they took my passport and went off to get me a new boarding pass. Before they returned, I had found the original one myself, so then they had to cancel the replacement one and retrieve my passport.

The last flight was the worst. It always seems on the last leg of a trip that time slows to a crawl, but it was really noticeable on this 11-hour grueling test of endurance. A toddler sat behind me. She cried a fair bit, but not all the time - at other times she played, talked, ate and slept. However, no matter what the child was doing, the mother had her ceiling light on ALL the time. It was like trying to sleep outside under a blazing sun. No sleep for me.

The girl across the aisle from me had three seats to herself, so she promptly lay down and went to sleep (she LAY DOWN! I would have killed to lie down by this point). I could not decide if I hated her or the guy behind her more. He also had 3 seats, but stayed upright for the entire trip. The waste!

Also, it appeared I had been mistakenly seated in the middle of the Olympic Farting Team. Either that, or it was all the work of one very dedicated individual. Periodically, a breeze blew through the plane and I could briefly breathe until the dark miasma descended once more. For a while, I suspected the perp was the guy seated in front of me. However, there was another attack while he was up out of his seat. So unless he was a ventriloquist farter, or he'd detonated a slow-release bomb before he got up, he was in the clear. Unlike me. I arrived at Auckland broken in mind, body and nasal passages.

The flight landed 45 mins early and I breezed through customs to find the family waiting. Now back home, grimly wading through the 2820 photographs. I only hope I can find 10 good ones...

Last day

Farewell London! Spent my last day at the National Gallery and wandering around the city.

Then I came home and tried to fit all my crap into my suitcase. I now have a suitcase, backpack and a spare handbag K lent me. The suitcase weighs in at 20.3kg. I wonder what that costs in excess baggage? Can only hope Heathrow's scales are less sensitive than bathroom scales.....

Harry Potter

Monday - off we went to the new Harry Potter studio tour. Due to this attraction only opening on March 31st, tickets were not easy to come by. We found some tickets through a coach company, so that took care of the travel too!

On the way out, the tour guide chatted about all the sights we were passing. Alas, it was raining and the coach was full so all the windows steamed up. "Off to your right, you will see Buckingham Palace," he raved, and we all stared at the condensation-logged window. "To your left, Hyde Park!" and we all stared at the condensation on the other side.

Anyway, eventually we arrived, because the Easter Monday traffic was light (finally, an upside to the petrol crisis!). We had a civilised lunch, and then went in for our tour. We saw film sets like the Great Hall, and props like the knitting that knits itself. There was lots to see and LOTS of people there to see it! I pretended to be Harry Potter (though I baulked at putting a lightning scar on my face), my brother-in-law R was Ron (he has the right hair colour!), and my sister K was Hermione (me: don't straighten your hair! You need to be wearing bushy hair and a slightly anxious expression. K: one leads to the other...)

We had a nice time, and then came home to Ben&Jerry's icecream. A lovely day!

Arundel

Today, Arundel castle. It is a lovely Disney-fied castle, and I wouldn't put money on how authentic it might be, but it makes for great photos!

The weather remains bright and clear and sunny; not terribly warm, perhaps, but no worse than NZ in the spring.

I braved the 131 steps to the castle keep and took lots of photos.

Then we wandered around the town. I was nervous that shops might be shut as it is Good Friday, but fortunately some were still open, including one fabulous bookshop. Succumbed to a few more books. Suitcase is going to be horribly heavy!

On the way back to the train station, we passed a field in which rabbits were gambolling. They must have been Easter bunnies, out hiding chocolate eggs...

No snow

Thank you, everyone, for your concern (if that is, in fact, what your comments amount to), but let me reassure you that we do NOT have snow here. Not in Brighton, at any rate.

I'm not saying I will be frolicking on the beach in a bikini, but the sun is out and I'll certainly be strolling along the beach, albeit with my jacket on.

In other news, I am reading a hilarious book called How Not To Write A Novel. It tells you all the things aspiring novelists do wrong, and I am greatly enjoying it. I fear my sister is not; I keep laughing madly and then reading bits out to her - which wouldn't be so bad except that I have borrowed the book from my brother-in-law, who has also been reading it, laughing madly, and then reading bits out to my sister. She is looking very long-suffering. I may have to buy a copy.

Easter approaches, and while the Cadbury's here is inferior, Hotel Chocolat more than compensates...

Fun all year on Brighton Pier

Today we went out in the sun and played tourists on Brighton Pier. We ate candyfloss, and ice-cream, and looked at the hardened gamblers already losing money to the pokies at 11am.

But the best bit was that my nephew kindly took me on the carousel. I love carousels, and would have endured the shame of being a middle-aged woman riding on her own, but luckily I didn't have to. We shared a double-seater horse, whose name was Kelly. Postcard-like photos courtesy of my sister.

Finished up the day with another visit to Hotel Chocolat. I wonder if chocolate would survive the plane ride home?

Tea time

Today I got to pretend I was a Lady Traveller from the 19th century, when I took tea with the brother and sister-in-law of my colleague John.

Arriving in a strange city, armed with a letter of introduction, I could have been a character from Jane Austen! (Ok, the letter was figurative - but Email of Introduction sounds wrong)

I put on my Going Out For Tea clothes (including my new skirt, bought under the aegis of my sister Sarah, who claims all my clothes are boring; she made me buy a skirt with an odd pattern on it because it was "interesting"), and had a nice slow wander through the streets of Brighton.

Tea was lovely, with cut sandwiches, and muffins. It was nice to have a grown-up conversation that was not interrupted every two minutes by my nephew wanting me to go and play Cars with him (he is Finn McMissile and I am Lightning McQueen).

I'm sure I stayed longer than politeness demanded, but eventually I tore myself away and strolled home again. In retrospect, I should not have worn my new sandals, as I have ended up with three blisters. But it was worth it to have a nice afternoon out! Besides, my buttoned boots were at the cleaners, along with my bonnet and pelisse.

Homeward bound

On Monday, we loaded up and headed for home. But not without a scenic drive following C's dad - he took us through some picturesque little villages and we did a drive-by of an amazing place called Castle Coombe. The houses! The village! The sheer beauty of it all!

Then he pointed us in the direction of Lacock and off we went. Lacock is famous for being the back-drop to lots of UK films and TV series'. It has no modern anachronisms like telephone poles or high street shops. I hoped to take lots of photos here, but the streets were lined with cars, which rather spoiled the point. I gather that when they are filming, they just paint over the road markings and voila! Instant Olde English Village. It has been the backdrop for Cranford, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Pride and Prejudice, and Harry Potter.

Some of the scenes from Harry Potter were also filmed at Lacock Abbey. C and I abandoned S with both children and had a nice time wandering through the Abbey (S said she had already seen it, and nephew A was more interested in the playground). It was a nice warm day and the interior of the Abbey was FREEZING. We felt for the nuns, praying on the cold stone floors in the 12th century!

Then we went through the nearby Fox Talbot photography museum, where my camera, in a burst of spite and irony, ran itself out of battery. I had charged it before the trip too! Curse you, picturesque Stourhead and beautiful Bath! If I had taken less photos of you, I might have taken more of me at Lacock pretending to be at Hogwarts!

So, photos now finished, we packed up and drove home.

Today we will be recovering from the weekend. Hoping to get to Arundel castle on Friday, and then it is back up to London and Aeroplane Hell next Tuesday!

My Home And Garden

S's inlaws live in Corsham, in a wonderful house. It is big and beautiful and rambles the proper amount. There is a wardrobe which I am sure leads to Narnia, and mysterious cupboards everywhere. Naturally, it is poor form to open one's hosts' cupboards, so I didn't; but I would not be surprised to find they lead to secret passageways and long-forgotten treasure!

My room was reached through a door that looked like a cupboard, but when you opened it, it was a flight of steep stairs. Up the Secret Staircase to the Hidden Room! It was like being in a Famous Five book.

When I grow up, I want a house like this! The garden is also fabulous, with lots of room for the dogs to run around in (not to mention the nephews).

It was all perfect, and I would have taken lots more photos, but my camera battery was running low, so I didn't.

Bath

On Sunday, S and I (and baby D) had a day out in Bath being tourists. We caught the train in, having been advised not to drive in the city (and when I saw the cobbled, narrow, twisty lanes, I was glad we had!).

The day was warm and sunny and the sky was blue and perfect - clearly trying to make it up to me for being so mediocre at Stourhead! We had planned to get on a sightseeing bus, but unfortunately as we exited the train station, we fell into the clutches of a terrible shop called Hotel Chocolat. After a few blissful minutes filling our arms with chocolate, we tacitly agreed to skip the bus, spend our bus money on chocolate, and just walk around Bath instead.

Highlights of Bath included the Roman Baths (unbelievably crowded, though it was pointed out to me later that schools had just broken up here, so it was the first weekend of the holidays; however, I gather that Bath is generally always pretty busy), the lovely Abbey whose organist appeared to be auditioning for the Phantom of the Opera (lots of loud crashy chords), the Royal Crescent (try as I may, my camera could not quite get it all into one shot), and of course, Hotel Chocolat, whose Sticky Toffee Pudding chocolates I highly recommend.

We sat in the park by the Royal Crescent and listened to the Bath Community Big Band for a bit, which was a lovely summery Sunday afternoon thing to do; and I reflected that these weeks in March/April in the UK have been the most summer I have had this year. Which is very sad.

There were a number of buskers out and about, and I discovered that my sister S finds Living Statues creepy and pointless. She was disproportionately pleased when we discovered one, off duty, wandering along the street, who suddenly paused and began rifling through a skip. It must have a been a slow day for tips!

Home we went to S's inlaws, to the most amazing roast meal and fantastic roast potatoes. Coming on top of the Hotel Chocolat blow-out, it's probably just as well we walked everywhere in Bath....

Stourhead

National Trust property Stourhead Gardens was the main place I wanted to visit this trip. I knew I couldn't do it unless we had a car, as it is not easy to get to via public transport. We went on Saturday - the greyest, most overcast and dull day we have had so far! Was sooo annoying as I could envision my photos with a lovely clear blue sky behind them, the kind of sky I have had on EVERY other day in Brighton!

However, even grey skies could not detract from its beauty. Stourhead is a photographer's paradise - it is laid out so that you get Vistas from every vantage point. It has temples, grottos, bridges, cottages, and all manner of wonderful plants and structures. I will only put up a few of the 500+ photos I came away with...

The Stourhead village was a vision of gorgeous stone buildings, and I thought - as I did so often during this part of the trip - I could live here! In fact, I drove through the Wiltshire area with us veering wildly all over the roads while I cooed over thatched roofs, fabulous windows, tudor beams and wonderful churches.

Vrooom

So we hired a car to drive from Brighton to Bath. Once we decided to do this, some stupid politician told people to stockpile petrol in case there was a petrol-tankers' strike, and everyone in the UK panic-bought and ran the petrol stations out of petrol. Every time we passed the nearest petrol station to us, it was jam-packed, with queues stretching out onto the road. Say what you like about the English, at least they queue nicely!

Picked up the car, hoping it would have enough petrol to get us at least one way. It had 1/4 of a tank. Went past petrol station with huge queues. Drove on. Went past petrol station with no queues (or indeed, any cars at all, which should have tipped me off). Pulled in to find No Petrol signs up. Drove resignedly on. Stopped at next petrol station and queued for 10 mins to get to petrol pump. Filled car to overflowing, and got underway.

Driving in the UK was not as awful as i thought it would be (mostly), and we stayed on main roads. There were several bouts of road works that saw us sitting patiently in stalled traffic for ages, so the trip, which I had calculated should take about 2 1/2 hours, took 3 1/2. However, we eventually got to our first destination, Stourhead Gardens, and thence on to Corsham to visit S's inlaws.

Next day was Bath, I was not such a fool as to attempt to drive there, we took the train.

Then it was Monday, and we came home via Lacock. The trip back had its hairy moments, but was generally swifter than the trip up. We were aiming to get the car back to the hire place by 6pm, but despite me flooring it down the motorway, we missed by about 10 mins. You cannot just park on the streets here, some of the roads are Residents Parking Only, so we did a bit of messing about to get everything unloaded and the car parked nearby. Very fortunately, we managed to get to Stourhead, Corsham, Lacock and home on the same tank of petrol, for which I was devoutly thankful!

Three cheers for my navigators - C has never driven, having grown up in the UK with its excellent public transport, and S let her licence lapse since she doesn't drive here either.

Also, en route North, we passed evocative Arundel Castle, which was one of the three castles I had hoped to visit (the others being Lewes (done) and Hever (probably won't make that one as I will run out of time)), and it looked so beautiful and romantic and castle-y perched up on the hill that S&C are now keen to see it too. So hopefully that will be Friday's adventure.

Sightseeing

Today's excursion: Brighton Library! We took the boys up for story-time and admired the Jubilee Library, which is all glassy and modern. That said, I prefer the weathered old architecture of the Hove library (photos to come), which is more in keeping with the sort of weathered old atmosphere I like in my libraries.

Oh, and we strolled around the Brighton Pavillion and shopped at Marks&Spencer. But the library was the best bit.

Sunny Shoreham

Another beautiful day, and we had a day out to nearby Shoreham. We played on the beach and walked past some interesting house-boats (which are stuck in the mud so no longer sail), and played at a playground and went to a bookshop.

I have been rereading my posts and I have to ask: is this the most boring blog you have ever read? I think it is the most boring I have ever read OR written. I'd like to blame it on the sleep deprivation, but I fear it is actually just me.

Never mind, we're off to Bath this weekend, and I'm driving. If that's not a blog-post waiting to happen, I don't know what is!

Bright in Brighton

Well, the weather is utterly gorgeous here. We have been wandering across the road to the beach and sitting (on stones, but still) watching brave kayakers out on the sea.

Last night we actually got the first sleep-through-the-night from nephew A since I arrived. While it is, of course, flattering to be so thrilling that he doesn't want to miss a minute of me through sleeping, I'd settle for being less fascinating and more rested! But we hope we've turned that corner.

My cousin and his wife came down to visit from London over the weekend. It was lovely to see them and hear all about what they've been up to since I last saw them (nearly 6 years ago). Horse-riding, new cars, new bands, live grenades, getting married - the fun never stops!

Off to visit Hove library this afternoon. At least access to a library card has halted my assaults on the local bookshops. My suitcase may be manageable on the way home after all...

Wherever you go, there you are

Off to visit the doctor today with sick nephew. My sister took nephew A in while I wandered around a nearby park with nephew D (so that we didn't go in with one malady and come out with three more, as is often the case in doctors' surgeries).

Then we went off to distribute the recycling in lots of different bins. S and A were gleefully flinging bottles and cans into the correct bins while I was standing out of range with baby D. Looking up, I glimpsed a seagull, and wished I'd brought my cam--

The seagull surprised me with an unexpected present from above. Yes, seagull poo, like a localised shower of rain, fell over me and the buggy.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't on my list of Must Do experiences in the UK!

Brighton day two

A lovely sunny day in Brighton today! Sadly, my 3-year-old nephew has been unwell and vomiting (I'm sure it's just a coincidence and has nothing to do with me), so we will be having a couple of quiet days until he's feeling better.

I'm hoping that we might get to visit another castle next week - yes, i like castles! They are picturesque. And the weekend following that, we are likely to do our Big Trip up to Corsham to see S's inlaws. This is near Bath, where we hope to visit. And I will be driving. Watch out, UK motorists! I'm only shakily familiar with your weird left-turns-first rules, and my navigator has never driven before.....

Brighton

K and R escorted me and my heavy suitcase to Victoria. "Goodbye, and thank you for having me," I said. They looked horrified. "No, no, we'll take you to the platform", they said. So they took me to the platform. And they walked me onto the train. And R calculated which carriage I should sit in so that at the other end I didn't have to carry the suitcase the length of the platform (R had carried it through all the London bits). Then they chose a nice seat for me, settled me into it, patted me on the head, and waved goodbye. They didn't quite pin a note on me saying Please Look After This Bear, but I feel it was definitely implied.

I was met at the station by my sister S and baby D. He looked very sweet in a preposterous hat like an Enid Blyton toadstool. We staggered home with the suitcase, which I dislike more every time I have to lift it!

The next day was the last day of my brother-in-law C's parental leave, so we went to Lewes (pronounced Lewis, not Loos) to see a castle. It was very picturesque and we have lots of photos. After the castle, we made our assault on the bookshops of Lewes, which was great. I was getting quite worried about my return weight limit (my SUITCASE's weight limit, thank you very much), but then relaxed when I remembered that my parents are coming over in June. and I'm sure they'd be happy to carry back a carton of books each...

I gather people are having trouble posting comments on this blog - sorry about that. Consider it my preferred method of communication, ie one way!

London

Aeroplanes. They get you there quickly and make you wish you'd stayed home. But I have survived it and here I am. Staying with my sister K in London. K's husband R runs a tight ship. The flat is incredibly tidy. One gets the feeling that if one dropped a chocolate wrapper, R would leap across the room and catch it before it hit the ground!

We have had nice weather and a good couple of days. The bookshops of Charing Cross Road trembled before me! We went to the V&A - the Art! The culture! The bookshop which I stumbled across within the first five minutes and had a lovely time browsing in!

But there's more to London than bookshops (really?). We have also been on a Thames clipper, to see the musical Wicked, and eaten lots of Ben&Jerry's icecream.

Tomorrow it's off to Hove, to meet my new nephew.....

Preparation

Here I am, trembling on the brink of an Exciting Trip. Venice on the Orient Express, I hear you cry? Cruising in the Greek Islands, perchance? Better, my friends. I am going to Brighton (UK) to be my sister's au pair and dogsbody. Yes, nephew A has been joined by nephew D, and I am abandoning my own children for the dubious pleasures of looking after someone else's.

Perks include a soujourn in London at either end of the trip with my sister K and her husband, my first chance in 15 years to enjoy the divine icecreams of Mssrs Ben and Jerry (when will they come to NZ, when, when?), and tickets to a new Harry Potter exhibition (http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/en/). Also, fingers crossed for a side-trip to Corsham and Bath!

Anti-perks include the travel (me being the sort of person who is motion sick in cars, planes, buses, trains, boats and fast-moving escalators), leaving behind the family (worry number one: they will fall apart without me to organise them; worry number two: they will overthrow my regime and institute their own into which I will be forced to integrate when I return), and the fact that I will be sharing a room with nephew A. I have not yet managed to get a straight answer out of my sister about what time he wakes up in the mornings....

My suitcase is packed. Well, mostly packed, owing to the fact that I packed it three weeks ago and have had to keep unzipping it and ferreting round for things I still needed. Hope I remembered to repack them all! I am taking one camera, one ipod (thanks Dad! Also thanks to Pat who gave me some music for it) and headphones, and about sixteen different cables/chargers.

I have returned all my library books. There really is no further preparation I can make. Except to start this blog, at the pressing insistence of my colleagues, and hope I can work out how to upload photos so you have something beautiful to gaze at while reading my - and I can say this now light-heartedly, knowing that by this time on Friday I will be deep in Aeroplane Hell - tedious accounts of the Joys of Travelling.

Comments welcome, though I will not be reading them until next week when I arrive in Brighton and settle in to my new job. I'm pretty sure my contract allows me free internet access while I'm babysitting....