One recreation to another

On Sunday it was a day of rest. I did nothing, literally. What bliss. J meanwhile sat on a bus for an hour to wander fruitlessly around Cribb's Causeway mall again, then get wet before returning on another bus.

Today however we did something. First we visited the Commonwealth Museum, with its special exhibit on the legacy of slavery. The building was another of Brunel's constructions, this time a railway station originally. The museum itself had some interesting stuff but was underwhelming. You get a year's free entry but I can't see us visiting again unless something special is shown. The exhibit on slavery was OK, but I felt that while it talked about the demand for slaves, it didn't really go into the supply very much. It's all well and good landing the guilt on the slavers who went from Africa to the Americas (or from Africa to Arabia), but what about those who gathered the slaves in the first place? We needed a little more on what drove that part of the trade.

The rest of the museum seemed small and insubstantial. I kept looking for something on NZ but we got mentioned about twice. There didn't seem much in the way of analysis going on, just description - an achievement level, not merit or excellence as we might say in NZ education circles. I guess they are looking for broad appeal rather than depth.

Outside the museum we were approached by another begger waving "The Issue" at us. As we are now realising is a common ploy he didn't have any spare copies for sale but could we spare some change? He showed us a very nasty festering sore on his leg so I gave him L2 but later on saw him walking with no apparent difficulty so I'm questioning its authenticity... At least they're polite.

Tonight it was the BBQ night run by the management committee. We had to keep running off because something more exciting was happening outside on the street - the blowing up of the bus for Casualty. They pushed us around from one viewing spot to another before the big bang, but it was kind of worth it. I tried to film it on the wee camera but apparently I put it on standby instead of record and so my footage starts when I thought I was stopping. Ejit. Best part were the hundreds of seagulls that suddenly appeared wheeling through the air. They filmed the scene in bits (get it?) with a man getting blown backwards in a harness being filmed first while we were going to the museum, then his side of the bus being blown out after we returned, then the other side and roof being blown out during the BBQ. Once they're all put together you'd never know.

The BBQ was OK, but the chances are we'll never talk to most of them again. One couple were our next door neighbours and I'd only seen them once or twice before in the 3 weeks we've been here. Of course there was another Kiwi there, from Wellington.

I'm reading Nemesis by Bill Napier. It got a rave blurb from Arthur C. Clarke who must have lost his marbles entirely because it's crap. Crap dialogue, contrived storyline: fills the gap left by TV quite nicely. Lucky it was only L1.

Berkeley Castle

We saw Pirates of the Caribbean last night and quite enjoyed it. It was perhaps a little long and I don't think Orlando Bloom can act to save himself, but still entertaining. Several of the audience - and remember Bristol is a student city - came dressed as pirates, so there was a lot of "aargghing" at various times.

The day started sunny but as the forecast promised rain we decided we'd better not hold off on going to the Civil War re-enactment at Berkeley Castle. We still didn't leave until 11am but we got there before the battles started so it worked out well. It was a colourful and noisy affair but I'm not really sure that it gives a great feel for the battles of the period (1644 in this case) because it's all so casual and small scale. We spoke to one chap who had retired 4 years early because he liked it so much, and had clocked up 23,000 miles going to various re-enactments. He now makes replica drums and his wife makes period costumes. J thought it was the kind of thing that Sharon from Kath & Kim would join, and there were certainly some generously proportioned people involved. I would like to be an artilleryman I thought. Apparently they were less likely to be massacred after a lost battle, as they had sought after skills. It might be a little hard on the ears though...

The castle itself was nice, and the hole in the defences had never been fully repaired, so were still quite obvious. Oddly enough the walls were breached by fire from besieging guns mounted on a church that was directly opposite. One would have thought that the defenders could have foreseen this eventuality. The re-enactments took place on a field round the other side of the castle anyway, so precisely which battle was being re-enacted is unclear, except that it wasn't the siege of Berkeley Castle!

I asked whether they had considered paintballs for their battles as it would be a relatively easy task to construct a muzzle loaded, canister fired, single shot 'musket'. It would be as accurate as the original (that is, not very - apparently only 2% of musket balls fired hit someone, and that may not have been who they were aimed at) and enactors would know when and where they were hit. Red paintballs would be quite useful. They said it had been considered. One downside would be the lack of smoke and noise I guess.

It started to rain as we left. We have a quiet weekend planned, perhaps watching any filming that might happen on the Casualty set.

For more pics click here.

SS Great Britain

J went to work while I entertained Dad & M until their train left. We decided to walk down to see Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain, the first iron hulled steam ship. It was quite interesting, as the ship had quite a mixed history, and nearly a very sad ending. They have her sitting in a dry dock which has been sealed below the waterline to prevent further rusting. It's quite a work in itself. The walk to and from showed off a little of Bristol, but it was altogether too short a time for the two visitors. I didn't have my camera so I'll just have to go again with J sometime. On leaving we ran into classes from Priory School that I had babysat, some of whom said hello.

The weather forecast for the weekend - a bank holiday and the first weekend of the school mid-term break - is bleak, so we are a little worried about our plans to visit Berkeley Castle. We would like to take public transport, but there don't seem to have been any special buses put on and we'd need to make two changes to get there on normal buses. Then again, if we drive the traffic and parking are likely to be horrendous...

I met J off the bus and walked home (via H&M for her to shop). We're going to the movies tonight: Pirates of the Caribbean if there're seats left, or 28 Days Later if not. See ya.

Taking a Bath

Yesterday we met Dad and M in Bath. It's a lovely town and the weather was good so we had a nice day strolling around. We began by checking out the famous and eponymous Roman Baths. They were a huge complex by 4 AD but had been covered over the years by new buildings, to the extent that they are currently 16' (5m) below the road surface. I found it quite confusing getting my bearings as you were up and down, twisting and turning to find your way to the various areas. I guess this can't be avoided without pulling down later buildings which of course have their own merits. Most of what you can see in the pictures is Georgian - 18th Century, but there are some pics of the original Roman baths where they had been excavated or incorporated into the later works. There is no bathing allowed in these baths but new ones have been built close by that you can pay through the nose to use.

Bath Abbey is next door but as usual there was a charge to enter so we didn't.

Dad and I went to see Hershell's house/museum. He was the 18th Century astronomer who discovered Uranus. We shelled out for the entry fee, but it was a little underwhelming in the end. OK if you have an interest in astronomy or the history of science, but probably not for most. It was an extra L5 for photos, so we didn't.


Meanwhile M & J had wandered up to the Circus and the Royal Crescent, so Dad and I went up to join them. The areas were quite spectacular, although if you follow the link above you will see they aren't all what they seem...

After a refreshment stop we had a look at Pulteney Bridge which is lined with shops like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It is spectacularly positioned over the Avon River, and the latter has been tamed by weirs just below the bridge. Some nice photo opportunities to be had...

Dad & M had had a long day, so we headed home in time to see 4 hot-air balloons not far away from the flat. There've been quite a few recently as the days have been quite still, and I'd like to give it a go sometime. Apparently Bristol hosts one of the biggest balloon fiestas in the world, and it's on this August. (Click here for details.)

As usual, if you'd like more pics, click here to see the album.

So much for a day off!

I'd been to Churchill for a second day yesterday but had no work jacked up for today - that is until the 7:45am call saying I had work in Wyvern School in Weston-Super-(Night)Mare. Took the A370 as it appeared more direct, but was slower than the M5 option. Where our small talk used to be about the weather in Dunners, it is now about the roads. "Oh, you should have been right on the A370 although there are lots of lights so perhaps you should have taken the A38 to Smellybottom then turned on to the B315667 to avoid Crinklyknees and cut back on to the A370 just after Middle Wicket."

Anyway, Wyvern was OK although you have to watch out for a school that begins its introductory package at the disciplinary stuff. I'd put it between the two I've already been to on first impressions. I finished at 3:00pm so drove along the beachfront before heading of to pick up J. Shouldn't have rushed as she was in a meeting until 5pm, the circumstances of which caused a little bit of a 'discussion' between us.

The petrol tank had been on red light since I left work, and after two of the petrol stations shown on our map proved to have been closed and demolished we were getting a little desperate. Fortunately we found one just in time. It's 96p per litre here - approx NZ$2.60 p/l - and the tank cost L51.00 - NZ$140 odd! We get 360 miles on the tank, so that's 580 odd km. Reasonable mileage but expensive compared to home.

A stroll in the sun

Sunday had nothing major planned, so we mucked about. J went shopping for household stuff then the plumber came and showed me the cut-off switch on the Insinkerator. (Blush.) J and I went for a stroll in the late afternoon along this side of the river and as far as the Matthew, a replica of Cabot's ship that he was in when looking for the northern passage. There was a navy ship in the harbour - HMS Quorn, a Hunt class Mine Counter-measures ship, named after a village in Leicestershire - and many smaller boats puttering about. It was a pleasant way to pass the time.

If you'd like to see more pics of Bristol, click here.

I had another day at Churchill which was pretty good, but J got left on the roadside by her carsharer, who forgot about their arrangement.

As of right now I have no work for tomorrow so will get the car radio fixed and other odd jobs. Dad & M will stay on Thursday night after we've all explored Bath for half a day.

Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury and Bristol again

We didn't get away from Bristol until 11ish as I had to pick up the PIN numbers for our bank cards. It turns out they went to Dunedin! (I thought the banking had gone too smoothly...)

We passed through Bath which we hope to visit with Dad and M, and stopped for lunch at Brassknocker Basin on the Kennet & Avon Canal. It was a lovely place and I'm determined to have a Canal break at some time. It looked so peaceful. The canals were built to transfer coal, and the area used to be a big mining area. Now there is very little to show for it at all. Almost as soon as the canals were built they were obsolete as the coal they were intended to carry fuelled the Industrial Revolution, and the revolution brought steam trains and boats which could carry heavier loads further. Still, they are an elegant reminder of that period, and without the grime that would have been standard.

We finally arrived at Salisbury at around 3 pm and by the time we had looked through the Cathedral and checked out an original copy of the Magna Carta it was closing time for the museums. We ran around the first, or at least J ran around while I dawdled through the pre-history section. We had thought that we might stay the night, but you can't just make this decision in England - places are either booked out weekends in advance or they are too expensive. After trying a few by phone we decided to continue back to Bristol and hope we could see the sights regardless. It was a good decision.

Old Sarum had just closed but we were still able to wander around the outer walls and compound, which were very interesting in their own right. To think that this area had been used for over 6000 years is quite mind-boggling. There were very substantial earthen banks, the remains of a Norman Cathedral (that was relegated to history's trash can only 200 years later by the famous Salisbury Cathedral), and some pretty solid stone walls that were also Norman but that had replaced earlier wooden walls used by the Romans and other groups before them. The views of the countryside around were very nice.

Next stop was Stonehenge. We came over a hill and there it was. Sitting there, one of the most famous monuments in the world. Of course by now access had closed, so we joined many others at the fence taking our pictures through the wire and imagining standing among the stones. Contrary to rumour you can actually go into the circles. It was slightly anti-climactic, but still nice to be there, do that.

We still had the Avebury Stone Circle to see, so with the day drawing to a close we headed north. This area has barrows, lines and circles by the dozen, with several White Horses as well. We took a less used route which turned out to be fortunate because we came upon the cursus (?) that was probably a processional way to the circle itself. Both were rather spectacular given the difficulties in transport and construction that must have been faced. The sun was dropping so there was that lovely warm light that comes in the evening. After traipsing the circle, we had a drink in 'the only pub in the world that was built within a circle'. We watched lambs gambolling and were told that they were "following the lines to build up their strength". I wonder if it improves their flavour too?

On the way home we had to stop at one of the many white horses that dot the area. They're a curiosity but I don't know much about them. Anyway, it had been a long, full day, so we were glad to be home.

If you would like to see more pics of these areas follow this link.

A bit of a catch up

Sorry I've not been posting. Well, the cut-back to the M5 was the way to go. Shaved whole minutes off the drive time...

On Wednesday we went to a French movie - My Best Friend - and enjoyed it very much. It was at the Watershed in a refurbished section of the waterfront quite close to us. There was a moment of disorientation on coming out as the old brain tried to figure out where Moray Place had gone. We had a nice drink - mine's a cider thanks - and a bowl of wedges as we watched the various people drift by. It could actually have been a scene in Paris or Amsterdam with the water and adjacent buildings. I've been neglecting to take the camera out which I'll have to rectify.

The weather hasn't been particularly nice but the sun did come out yesterday. It was my last day (possibly) at Priory, and I had one lovely class twice in the day just to prove they're not all bad 'uns. They role-played a documentary on the closing of the Welsh coal-mines and we filmed it on their cell-phones. (MOBILES, sorry, as they keep reminding me.) To balance it up, I had two hours of little shits.

That night we took advantage of the sunshine and went across the river to a busy pub area opposite our flat. There are about 6 pubs on a closed off street, with tables outside so it was very cosy. I'll take some photos next time to set the scene. One of the pubs is one of the oldest in Bristol and is charmingly skew-whiff, and the street has ye olde cobblestones. Another 2 are on barges. We shared our table with too blokes and got to chatting. One was an Olympic level yachtsman and both worked as IT Consultants for an Austrian software company that provided management software to a company in Bristol. They were being made redundant because the business wasn't doing well here, but were well paid in the meantime. We had a great yak, with rounds going to and from, then one of their Mums joined us and then it was time to go. We were a bit tiddly by the time we went home, but it had been an interesting night.

J was a little less chirpy this morning. I had a day in Churchill Community School in a tiny village (called Churchill). Surprisingly the school itself had a roll of 1800 pupils, so they must ship them in from miles around. The atmosphere there was decidedly better than Priory, and the classes were more relaxed. There was one Religious Education class that was not very cooperative, and dance is not really something I feel able to teach, but the day as a whole was a good one. On the way home the agency rang to say I'd be in there again on Monday.

When I picked up J, the Priory staff football (soccer) team had just arrived to play her school's staff. If I'd had some gear I'd have shown them just how poorly Kiwis can play. By then it was raining so I used that as an excuse. J has been doing really well at her job and I'm certain they're very impressed with her efficiency and competency. She should be getting paid more!

There was a letter from the council saying that an episode of Casualty is to be filmed on our street in late May/early June. How exciting. Sadly we'll be allowed nowhere near the set, except to drive in and out, and we're planning to be away anyway. The episode involves a bus exploding but they found it necessary to tell us real explosives weren't be needed.

On the email front Dad and M are now in England but we may not be able to meet up. They're pretty busy, and in the 'wrong' bits. Worse was the news that the Sarfies had got two teams into the Super 14 finals. Were the semis good games? Anyone care to comment? This weekend is the FA Cup final so we'll sit in a pub somewhere to watch that.

Ciao for now.

The sun is shining...

We've taken about 4 different routes two and from work. Today J used Google Maps to find the best route and it came up with the one we tried this afternoon. It's a narrow road, but it skips all the traffic on the A4 and the various junctions. It's good to see the traffic jams on the other side of the road as we head out of Bristol in the morning and come back in the afternoon. Now I just have to decide whether rejoining that jam for one junction to get on to the M5 will be faster than 10 miles of narrow slow roads and then a smaller jam for the next...

You see how mundane life has become. Two weeks ago the decisions were about where in the UK to live. Now it's what bloody road to take to work! However, J has been looking for our next trip. Next weekend we are thinking of seeing Avebury and Stonehenge, Old Sarum and Salisbury. In two weekends we are going to head up to Berkeley Castle for a day of recreated battle and other pageantry. After that it's the school mid-term break, so we are looking for cheap destinations. So far places like Malta, Cyprus, Rhodes and even Kenya have been bandied about, and tonight Bulgaria was thrown into the possibles pile. We were looking at packages, but while they look inviting on the surface, they ultimately mean having a holiday with 45 million Poms. I think we'll look for more flexible options. (Normandy for June 6th is on the cards for one.)

This school's work runs out on Thursday. All the senior students left today (or tomorrow morning) so there will be teachers to burn. I'll have to get around the office temping agencies again. I had a call today from one, but it didn't really suit.

Anyway, ciao for now.

Another day, another L100 less tax

Just another day at work. I hate it. The kids treat supply teachers like shit, and there's little collegiality - you're just someone passing through. L100 less tax, L100 less tax, L100 less tax...

On the up side, the sun is finally out again.

The bells...the bells...

We were woken by the bells of St Mary's Redcliffe. They went from 9.00 to 9:45, then off and on from 5:00 to 6:00, which occasionally got tiresome. Last Thursday they went for hours and it turns out Thursday is practice night for campanologists from all around. They went on even longer in my head...

J had her eyes tested 'cos she keeps mis-reading stuff. Turns out it's simply that she can't be blowed putting her reading glasses on! Now I can harrass her mercilessly.

I had a go at cutting and polishing the peeling paintwork on the car, but it was rather unsuccessful. Meanwhile J cleaned the oven...

M,C & M came to visit - our first visitors to the flat. It was nice to play hosts and we all agreed that we'd got quite a good set-up. We discovered we had no sugar for M though, so from now on everytime we have a coffee in a cafe we'll take the sugars home. M loved the swans and the fact that her drawing was up on our pin board.

We shared the new Internet connection so we are currently both doing our blogs. Sad really.

Anyway, work tomorrow so we'll see what that's like. Ciao.

Happiness is...

...an Internet connection! Rather than forking out for landline and ISDN or cable, we have kicked that whole scene and gone cellular. Like W back in Amberley we can now roam around the UK (or even Europe, but at roaming rates) to where-ever there is signal strength. Even better, the slowest thing about the whole process was filling out the paperwork. (OK, we did have blue screens of death for a while but J traced that to DVD43. Apparently the modem SIMM card is seen as a CD and when DVD43 goes to poll it... kaboom!)

As part of this new way of life we are going to skip TV completely too. All we have to do is convince the licensing people we've done this!

Today we went through Catbrain to the huge mall at Cribb's Causeway. Don't you love those names? You couldn't make up a name like Catbrain. It happens to be near the Saracens Rugby Club but I don't think there's any connection. The whole exercise was horrible. The mall is pretty much like a Kiwi one, only bigger, but that isn't to say there is any more choice. There are just more of the same things, and/or more space. Prices don't compare favourably either, even in pound terms. And the traffic! There were queues for miles. I can't say I enjoyed myself, and the only things we ended up with were three plants and this connection. Bah.

We went for a short walk down the river, giving a homeless guy a pound since he was incredibly polite, and watching a boat full of young girls in pink. Well I was watching them more closely than J - some lovely legs on show. 8-)

We heard from Dad and M yesterday. They have been waltzing in Vienna and elsewhere, and were in Athens I believe. We may yet catch up with them.

PS. Don't know what happened with the photo, but the quality is not very good.

J is bugging me to log o

Reality bites

Today was our first day at work. Mine was generally OK, except the last class (last period on a Friday) had some little shits in it. Some things are the same - Title of Lesson, Aim of Lesson, Rolls (called registers), no chewing gum, no phones (in theory). Some are different - no notices (they're on a screen at the office as JA would like at OGHS), no Y12/Y13 as they go off to different colleges, only two meetings a week. The timetable is 10 day, but in order to rotate the student lunches (25 mins only) the periods 3-5 can be 1, 1 1/2 or 2 hours long so you might, like today, get a 2 hour, then lunch then finish on a 1 hour. Others will get 1 1/2 L 1 1/2, while the third get 1 L 2. Confused? I was. Students say the two hour blocks get boring. Y11 is leaving next week for their GCSE exams, and as this school doesn't continue they are realising that friendships are about to end. It's a bit like the end of Y13 for us, so during one class there were Year Books going around left, right and centre. The drive via J's school took an hour each way but at least she's en route - next week I'll be checking out a school in Cheltenham, which is 30 miles away in the opposite direction!

It's been really frustrating trying to get to the Internet, and we haven't even started getting it at home. The Library has free access but for only 14 minutes at a time. We've walked through the pouring rain tonight just get get better access, so I hope you all appreciate it. I've also got to check out this other school, try to get the power connected, and various other bits and pieces. Then we'll shout ourselves a wine and a beer...

Home sweet home

Today we woke in what will be our home for six months at least.

Yesterday we went to J's interview for a school Financial Manager's role (they rang this morning and offered her the job), and then on to see where my first supply teaching will be. Both are rather further out than we'd planned, being in Portishead and Weston-super-Mare respectively, but the pay is good and I can drop J on the way to mine. I have 6 days and J isn't sure of how long hers may last, but possibly the term or longer.

Then it was back into town to pick up keys, and pay the large amounts of money required. J has transferred all our savings over and it arrived just in time to pay for the rent. We popped back to M&Cs and loaded up the boxes and bags, then moved into our central city converted warehouse apartment. It was much cleaner than last time we visited and after some reshuffling of furniture it is now looking very cosy. There is a sofa bed for all the visitors we'll be getting (that's a hint for everyone 8-) ), but not enough drawers or other forms of storage for all our clothes. We now have a shopping list for things we require, and it gets longer by the minute...
I tried to steal some bandwidth but everyone's wireless is well secured, unlike back in NZ. One priority will be to get wired up for Internet. The flat has a cable connection, so we might possibly go for a package but then again, that's a luxury...

This morning's wee human drama is playing out outside our window. There is an unofficial carpark (currently one big puddle after last night's rain) and a car is trying to get out. Sadly some selfish git has parked in the exit and gone to work, blocking in 13 other cars! The person trying to leave has given up and presumably caught a bus or taxi, since they would have no right to tow the offender, but has left a note. I don't expect it to be particularly polite... We are now waiting for the git to turn up and were greatly excited when a woman came to the car. She read the note and walked on so she doesn't appear to be the culprit.

J will take some pics of the flat so you'll see what a nice spot we have. They don't show the creaky floorboards though...

OK, it's now 7:pm. We've been out shopping for bits and pieces for the flat. The git's car is still in place and appears now to have a flat tire. Fortunately someone else has moved so most of the cars can get out. We're both exhausted and have to be up early for work, so I'll log off now.

Job stuff

We checked in at the letting agent and they said the credit checks had all gone through so tomorrow afternoon we move in (unless there is any wierdness in the contract). J had an interview with Coca Cola which seemed to go well although the conditions were less than perfect so she may not take it. She has another interview tomorrow at a school which may be better.

I will be available from Thursday on, so I hope some supply teaching work starts coming in from then. It pays well but may send me all over Gloucs. We are struggling to get our heads around the distances sometimes. I may have to commute for an hour each way for some positions!

I also signed up for IT positions and turned down a job today because it was a permanent position (and paid far less than teaching).

Tonight we offered to babysit M and let C&M have a night out. They've gone to the movies and M settled well, so as soon as I finish here J & I can relax. There probably won't be as many photos for a while, except of the new flat and surrounds I guess, and the entries are guaranteed to become more mundane, perhaps even banal. Let me know if that happens and I'll do a ram-raid or something to liven things up again.

Please feel free to comment. It's nice to know who is reading this thing, and to keep connected to home. And if you'd like links to your own pages, or perhaps to any start-up B&B businesses that you know of just let me know.

Bristol again...

No full English brekky this morning, but a good sleep in instead. For a change we had nothing to do. C&M had visitors for lunch, a nice couple and their sons. They had been in England for 4 1/2 years, coming originally from Singapore, and were soon to be transferred to Guangzhou in China. It was a pleasant afternoon.

The evening has been spent writing these blog entries and trying unsuccessfully to get online on Mike's wireless. That is why I haven't uploaded the photos as yet, so please come again to check them out. J has a few interviews over the next two days, and I have to check in with the agents tomorrow. The flat handover has been put off to Wednesday which is annoying, but soon enough.

In the space of 2 weeks we will have travelled half a world, got a flat, a car, insurance, phones, bank account, and possibly jobs. That's quite something I reckon...

Seaton to Land's End

I had stopped to look at a coastal defence construction which a passing local identified as a searchlight position. I had a chat to him and his wife and they told me that a ship (the Napoli) had run aground on a beach around the corner and that containers had washed up all along the coast. We had seen this on TV in NZ. There was a diving ship out in front of Seaton that was salvaging sunken containers, and we saw a barge go by loaded with them. This couple had been part of the community that picked up hypodermics that had washed up on the shore. Next day after another full English breakfast, we drove to Branscombe beach to see the wreck, but I'm afraid something happened to the photos. This is a rocky and dangerous coast and we were to see more evidence of this later.

We continued along the coast, stopping in at a picturesque port village called, of all things, Beer. I could have had a beer in Beer but it would set a bad precedent for Puddlebottom. Plymouth had a memorial to Scott (of the Antarctic) so a nice connection to Port Chalmers and home, but we didn't stay long there. We had lunch at a medieval castle/manor called Cotehele, another National Trust one. I'm sure that we'll soon be saying "Not another bloody picturesque village/manor/castle/church!" so we'd better take the photos now while it's all new.

We saw two accidents en route, both within minutes of our arrival. One involved a car pulling out from a restaurant, and the other at a round-about. Sadly the second seemed to be car on child as there was a small bike wedged under front of the car. Surpisingly neither of them were on the narrow roads.

We spent that night in Penzance, but didn't see a single pirate. (Although we saw the police called to a ferry on which a fight had broken out.) It was surprisingly quiet for a Bank Holiday we thought, but it is a long way from London I guess.

We drove past St Austell where CH lives. I worked and played indoor cricket with him in London all those years ago and then he visited a few years after that and we drove around the South Island. Sadly as close as we were we could not coordinate a catchup.

Sunday morning and I tried to lay off the full Brekky, with only partial success. We can't afford more B&Bs from either a financial or health point of view it seems. Our goal was to get to Land's End, and that's what we did, arriving before almost anyone else and also before the shops were open. Why you would want to go to Land's End to see a Dr Who exhibition I'm not sure but obviously many people do. It was suitably rugged and I guess we may one day get to John o'Groats (to see Land's Start?)

The next stop was Mount St Michael, back near Penzance. This castle and stately home was on an island but connected by a causeway at low tide. It was still covered when we arrived so we went for a ferry. By the time we got into the ferry the causeway was uncovered so we could watch several others apparently walk on water. It was a lovely castle on a site that had been used defensively for a thousand years or more. The family - St Aubyn - was a military one and had members in several wars. One was at Arnhem in the paras, for example.

Lunch was at another NT manor, Godolphin, but this time there was a 'Good Food' festival. It was pretty average but we did get to see some Morris Dancers, although for some reason J wouldn't volunteer when calls were made. And she could have got on TV too!

The rest of the day was a charge for Bristol, stopping only at Newquay, a strange town that was long a surfers' hangout but has morphed to be a Stag & Hen party town, complete with strip bars and nightclubs, etc. The beach was OK but there was no surf to speak of. Apparently the pommy surfing champs had just finished, but fortunately we saw none of the possible traffic. We got into C&Ms at 7-ish, rather tired.

For more shots of Devon and Cornwall, click here.

London to Seaton

We were so excited about having a car that we decided to load it up and use it straight away on a road trip. So on Thursday morning we navigated our way south through the crowded streets of London and burst into the rolling countryside to the south. Well, burst is not quite right - more like squeezed given the extremely narrow roads. There was some beautiful, if stereotypical, English countryside all around. Stone buildings and walls, small meadows surrounded by hedgerows, the odd sheep, cow or bunny. Lovely. The downside of the small country lanes is the stress on the driver of course. There's always the chance that around that next bend is another car or van...

We really had no plans (sound familiar?) so headed for Brighton. The pier was as seen in many movies and TV shows, but most of the rides had not yet opened for the spring. The beach was everything I ever thought a British beach would be like - stony, cold and nearly empty. The famous Pavillion was curious and photographable, but we didn't fork out the L7.70 each to enter.
It turns out that this weekend was a Bank Holiday, as the Poms call them. For us this meant that the roads were full and so was the accommodation. We found a B&B in Bournemouth at about 9:00-ish, run by a biker chick who told us everything including that her husband had committed suicide 28 years earlier, and that she had two guys on the go at the same time. We ended up buying a T-Shirt for her son's Goth band, Texas Drag Queen Massacre, which may become a present for O. (Check their website at http://www.texasdragqueenmassacre.com/ for their hit song 'Dead Girls'.)

Next morning I had a big, greasy English breakfast then we headed off westward. We drove semi-randomly around Poole until we found a chain ferry that took us over the estuary to Studland. Of course, being my home town I knew exactly where we were... Close to Corfe Castle it turns out. This pile of stone is still impressive even as ruins so when complete must have been awesome! It looms over a quaint village with house doors small enough to crack even J on the forehead. Better still, it was National Trust so with our Historic Places Trust membership it cost nothing. Sweet.

Half an hour later we were at Bovington Tank Museum. J showed remarkable loyalty in following me around for about two hours looking at all sorts of tanks. Must be love... Turns out you can have too much of a good thing though, so we headed on. We tried Lyme Regis but it was a tad expensive and very full, so we drove to Seaton which was neither for some reason. Another B&B, this time with a couple who offered to sell us CDs of the bloke doing Lounge songs like Sinatra. We didn't take up their offer.

I've decided not to put all the photos directly on the blog, but rather to post them to an album and link to them.

For photos of Bovington Tank Museum, click here.

For general photos of London to Bournemouth click here.

Bristol and back to London

Where did we leave off? Ah yes, children, we were deep in Dingly Dell when Flopsy Mopsy.... hmmm, perhaps not.

On Tuesday morning we had two viewings, both harbourside (that is, in the centre of the city). The first was in Buchanan's Wharf and was a converted warehouse. The walls were about a metre of brick, and there were cast iron columns supporting 30cm square beams. It was OK, had some sun, a glimpse of the harbour and the great advantage of a carpark. The current tenants had some cleaning to do but we could see past that. It was also reasonably cheap - L595 pcm, + council tax. Yes, that's right folks, a mere NZ$1900pcm for a 1 bedroom apartment!

The second was a purpose built apartment and it was beautiful but we decided a little beyond our budget at L750 + council tax. It had no park either, although for another L20-34 per week, we could have got a space in a neighbouring carparking building.

We put down a deposit on the first and are now waiting for credit checks, etc to be done. The agents couldn't seem to believe that we wanted to move in "tomorrow".

That done we went to the pub for lunch - a British Ale, locally brewed and suitably room-temperature in a pub that was built in 1606. The Maori population at the

time would just about all have fit inside, and not a single European had been seen.

We hadn't heard anything from the bank, so went into the local branch. It seemed that nothing had happened since we went into the Tooting branch, so the friendly bank dude set everything up for us then and there. Bloody marvelous. We could then take that piece of info back to the letting agent to help with the credit check.

Later that day we returned to London. Lovely countryside en-route, when you can see over fences, etc. Fields of yellow rape contrasting with the normal lush greens and brown of fallow land, and the odd 'Ye Olde Englishe Village', but for real.

This morning our mission was to buy a car. We did some internet searching and eventually found a possibility just down the road. We popped down to an insurance broker to arrange (compulsory) insurance and arranged the household insurance while we were there (as it's also compulsory when renting), then headed off to see the car. It is a Nissan Primera 1.6l and is in reasonable nick. It has some rust which may be a problem next MoT (WoF), but otherwise is OK, although we have to take the radio out because it has some loose wires. We paid L500 for it so fingers crossed it lasts. That means that today alone we spent or committed to L1400 and if the flat comes through we'll need another L1400 odd. That's half our money gone already, so it's time to start earning!

Tomorrow we are going to load all our gear into the car and head to Bristol by a rather roundabout route, taking a short trip around the south coast. Tonight we'll watch Milan v Man U as Brian's a keen football (never "soccer") fan.

I finished reading Crosby's book. His basic argument is that had infantry support been planned for the attack on the 19th March 1944, OR if Freyberg had been flexible enough to provide this infantry support once the attack progressed, then the attack could have cut the Germans on Pt 593/Pt 569 off and forced a withdrawal from the town as well. The book is rather repetitive as if stating this argument enough times will make it true. I'm not entirely convinced. Even if support had been given, it would still have been a difficult job to winkle the paratroops out of their positions on the ridges. Jeff tells me that a gunner told him that they struggled to elevate their guns to fire on the ridges at all. Enemy artillery fire would only have intensified, and infantry support or not, the road to the Monastery would have been a choke point. However, an attack from the valley onto the slopes of Pt 593/569, with support from tanks and perhaps from Snakeshead Ridge may have been successful given the extra space to move. A company or two on each side of the valley may have at least cleared these slopes to the point of the bottleneck. From there on they would be under observation from many points so progress may have been more difficult. Given direct fire from tanks (particularly if reinforced), this may still have succeeded, although Crosby may underestimate the effectiveness and numbers of the German personal AT weapons. There are also a few minor errors in detail. A Schu mine is not the same as an S mine; the PIAT differs from bazooka or Panzerschreck in that it is a mortar not a rocket propelled warhead; the number of vehicles is debatable.