On the bus

I have not yet written of the joys of travelling endless hours with a group of strangers, so now that I have at last got a passingly familiar keyboard to work with here goes. We are a party of 47 mainly Yanks, some Canadians, a few Kiwis and a few Aussies. Some of the issues present as early onset dementia (not knowing what day it is ... snoring during the day on the bus. As there is a strict rotation of seats every day, the nearer you get to the snorer or the demented one [evenly spread throughout the bus] you know the quality of your day.... one recent conversation: What day is it? Tuesday You?re kidding? Tuesday? I was supposed to take a pill on Monday!
The light here is amazing... as we left Bordeaux for St Emilion the sky was a soft apricot washed with silver and a pale pale blue. We passed endless kms of vineyards which in this area are very disciplined ... all the bunches of grapes are hanging neatly below. Handpicking is the norm here they tell us though we have seen mechanical pickers at work. The early autumn colours are gorgeous.The wines (some of them) are

How the rich and others live

Today we start the journey in Carcassone and head to Biarritz. As you could see from a map we are covering many kms in a day. The country has been spectacular.the views from the bus of the Provencal, Luberon, Basque and Atlantic coasts are stunning.The lunchstop of the day which started in Carcassonne ended in Biarritz and in between was Lourdes. The journey on the way was through fields of dried sunflowers, ploughed fields which may have had rapeseed or maize and past vineyards which were turning gold or burgundy according to their type.Then to Lourde where the young girl Bernadette,from a poor family, was visited 18 times by the Virgin Mary. Lourdes, as you come into it, gives no hint of what is to come - three basilicas - one underground holding 25000 poeple and looking just like a car park.The streets of identical souvenirs which trap the faithful - the most desirable being containers of all sizes for the healing water. The place is quite disturbingly Disneyesque from the coloured statue of Mary circled by the flozer of the faithful, Diana -style, to the huge gilt crown on top of the middle basilica.However what brings you up cold are the faces of the hopeful and faithful - they are real. Biarritz - another playground of the wealthy and falous is a bit like Blackpool crossed with Monte Carlo and Manley Beach.We had a driunk on the promenade and then trawled the street markets where Dior Lacoste and the like were getting rid of their summer lines:strange contrasts!

Hola, bonjour and how are you all?

This morning we are under the shadow of a cite (fort) which dates from, the time of the Gauls, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Franks and which also provided an unsuccessful refuge in its earlier iteration for the Cathars - we are in Carcassone on the edge of the Mediterraenean.This is a real fairytale castle - with turrets, a basilica (cathedral-ish)and lots of tourist shopping which seems to be very popular with some people(!). It has been a bit tricky finding an internet connection which worked in the hotels we stayed in in Lyon and in Nice.The keyboards here have some letters in a different place which results in some interesting words!
Going backwards, we spent two nights in Nice in a traditional provencal style hotel - shutters on the windows and a view towards the sea. The market we found was the sort of dream market every cook wants - fruits and vegetables of all kinds and beautiful flowers! We walked along the Promenade des Anglais which we had seen on the Tour de France. The previous night we spent in Lyon but John was not well so I saw the view out the window that night and a rather pretty sunset! At Monte Carlo we had a quick visit - the place in summer would be horrid - there was hardly any standing room. This place is a boys' dream - luxury cars everywhere - we saw a beautiful tall brunette and her bloke being handed the keys of their black Rolls Royce Corniche softtop by the valet outside the Monte Carlo casino - they drove away all eyes were on them. Then they stopped, pushed a button and the softtop rolled back. As they drove away I swear you could hear a sigh of envy from the crowd!

Barcelona is magic and Bienvenu a Paris

We had the most amazing day,it was truly magic.The focus of the day was the architecture of Antoni Gaudi.It took in the last commissioned work of Gaudi - La Perdrera - an apartment building that the client never lived in: a park the city has because that client did not like the project and a cathedral which is still being finished ! All are amazing beautiful spiritual buildings and are celebrated by Barcelona.Ar night we went to the Leonard Cohen concert held in the Olympic arena where the gymnastics were competed for. It was one of the best concerts - right up there with the Stones.
Today we are in Paris - more magic. Just out the door of our hotel the Tour Eiffel is lit up like a Christmas tree.This is very short because we did not get ho,e from the concert untill 2 and Lambie is tired and this keyboard is a mAC

buenas dias from Barcelona

Hi to you all from the most amazing downpour.It is fairly roaring down the gutters here.This blog will be short and minus pics because the keyboard and setup has to be told to be English ... ingles as they say here..and also because we have had a few glasses of vino. We are in a really great little hotel in las Ramblaa, the cafe district.Think Victoria St with cafes and a pedestrian way down the middle and trees either side...it´s really stylish here - the buildings all reference the Spanish ideals with lots of shutters and balconies opening out from the many inner city apartments.From about 4 o´clock people started appearing on the street in their finery ....families and couples and friends meeting up for a glass of wine or a coffee or a meal.It was very civilised...and all kinds and types of pèople from skaters to cyclists to Buddhist monks and very stylish women with scarcely a hair out of place. We went to two tapas bars and had wine and some food ... very good and quick. The first was literally outside our hotel door and had a menu in Spanish, French and English.We were making our way along to a Gaudi building ...la Perdrera an apartment building by the look of it...we got there just as the rain started.We are going back to check it and other Gaudi buildings out tomorrow before our time here comes to an end.

For Queen and country

Friday was the day we set aside to visit Buckingham Palace - she wasn't home but we went anyway! On the way we also caught a glimpse of the Changing of the Guard - and when I say "glimpse" it was just that....there were thousands of people lining the streets to see those men wearing bearskins! The tour through BP was quite an amazing experience. Some impressions; net curtains on all the outward facing windows; some stunning portraits - the Rubens of Charles I and the one of Queen Mary; the White Stateroom - gorgeous, ditto the Green one; the nifty mirror/sideboard combination which hid a secret door so that QEII can enter the White room from her own rooms directly; the kitsch thrones in the Throne Room of pink velvet and ER on one and P on the other. The tour showed r0oms which were a mixture of the truly hideous or kitsch and the very beautiful. The views out across the lawns and the Nash ceilings were stunning. The Music Room and the plastic covers over the bits that might get rubbed by the commoners were tatty.The shop which you had to exit through was a rip off - £5 (NZ 12.50) for a pen!! Lambie enjoyed sliding down the railing outside - inside was a bit too much for him I think!
After leaving BP we went on a ramble around Belgravia and Knightsbridge finding a pub (The Wilton Arms - one of our placemat ones) which was founded in 1820 - imagine that! Then we pottered through Harrods. For some reason they did not explain, the Security guys who were everywhere kept on insisting that John carry his backpack in his hand - not wear it on his back! Harrods is amazing - especially the Egyptian escalators. I bet they charge to deliver though!!
Back at the flat we packed a small bag each to go out to visit Angus, Alex and Lisa in their Weston, Herts. house an stay the night. Alex will be two years old in two weeks and he is a real cutie. Though he took a while to thaw, within a couple of hours he was talking and singing - the Twinkle Star song.
On Saturday morning we heard him singing again before his delighted shouts when his Daddy came to get him out of his cot. We ate our breakfast watching the successful first half of the successful All Blacks VS Australia game and then Lisa, John and I went for a walk around the village of Weston - 1000 people, a village green with duck pond, two pubs, a village shop/post office, cricket oval; tennis courts; a school which has a good Ofsted report I am told; a church which was founded in 1290 and has Norman, Elizabethan and Victorian additions. It also has a little lake complete with hopeful fishermen and a pretty wood. We learned that it had a local hero Jack O'Legs who robbed the rich to give bread to the poor. He was rounded up and put to death by the villagers but is buried (in a big grave) in the churchyard and they still keep a chest for bread for the poor inside the church door.Back at home Alex was entertained with a round of bubble-blowing before he had his lunch.
We were taken to the neighbouring village of Willian for lunch at a pub called The Fox. The produce was mostly all local and the food was delicious! Back home we showed Lisa photos of the family - and the Daniel video - she was really pleased to see all of you and very impressed by our Daniel.
At the flat we are spending Saturday night washing and packing while the young ones are out partying. We were invited - but tomorrow is Barcelona!

A bit of how the other half lives and learns

Today was a day of glimpses into the schooling of the upper classes. We jumped on a bus over the Battersea Bridge to Kensington High street - or nearly - as there were many road works in the way. There, on a corner in a playground about as big as our lounge, were about 50 very small girls screaming excitedly and playing in the breeze. Dressed in mauve gingham and white blouses, they were students (aged 4 - 11 years) at what I later learned was Glendower Preparatory School for Girls. Just up Queen's Gate was the school I was to visit - 340 girls - no surnames, please, we are too famous - the former school of HRH the Duchess of Cornwall - Camilla to you! After lunch with the staff, I spent a couple of hours with Linda and some of her colleagues and had a fascinating encounter with the English education system as it is for the wealthy. There was a lot of crossover in ideas and systems which was very interesting.
Afterwards I walked down to Hyde Park and met John who was waiting on the steps of the newly-revealed, restored Albert memorial - think white marble, black marble and lots of gold all over Albert - facing the Albert Hall. We walked through Hyde Park down Rotten Row around the Serpentine and down to the NZ Memorial. The power of this deceptively simple piece by sculptor Paul Dibble (his huia feather is outside the Academy at Waikato U) is very moving when you are amongst it. The Australian memorial had the water - an integral part of the design switched off Hmmmm!!
After a brief pause at the flat we set off to a pub called the Orange Project on St John's Hill where we had arranged to meet Jaime and Reena. Jared and Jo joined as after work. An evening of hilarity and story-telling ensued. We drank a toast to absent friends who were present. It was a very Vanessa sort of place - wooden floors, open fireplace, drawings and messages all over the walls. After an hours or so we walked some distance to a Thai place J&R recommended. It was also great and we finally walked home around 10.30pm

The dreaming spires of Oxford

Jared John and I set off at 8.30am for a day's outing. We met London Walks guide Richard at Paddington and along with 20 others set off for Oxford via Reading on the train. The coach which met us took us down the Woodstock Road to the Cotswolds. Did you know that Oxford is so named because the fords on the rivers (Isis and Cherwell) needed oxen to help the wagons across, hence the name. You can take the English teacher out of the classroom.... Anyway our first stop was in the beautiful village (pub, no shops) of Minster Lovell. This was a real time-freeze because,if you took away the cars, it was easy to imagine the row of the manor workers' stone cottages (oolytic limestone) as they might have been. This one pictured - humble little 3bed cottage went for £700 000 recently! The village of Burford was the next stop where we managed to find a bite to eat n the local pub The Cotswold Arms - and lambie was so excited he tried to pull a pint - I got him to sit down again and behave himself! We also went to the local church - where there was an effigy (plural - man and wife) complete with skeleton visible underneath. Both villages were really beautiful - and it is amazing that people do manage to live there with all the adjustments needed around living in such ancient piles - wobbly floors and wrinkly ceilings and rising damp.

From there we went back to Oxford and on a walking tour of the university buildings from the 14th century to the present day - Sheldonian Theatre; School of Divinity; Ashmolean theatre - all just from the outside - very firm they are about keeping out those who don't need to be there. However when we reached New College we scored a real visit - through the little door in the big doors and into the yard; visiting the cloisters where they filmed the scene where Harry has to decide who to take to the ball; and the Hall where the tables were all set up for a grand dinner with silver. After a brief time in Oxford - another pub for John and Jared which just happened to be next to Blackwells Bookshop(heaven) we came back on the train to London - or town as they call it here. Lambie just loved the train - as you can see.

Back in town we went to meet Marlene and Monique at The Prince Regent (yes another pub) in Marylebone High Street. Upstairs in the Ladies Opium Lounge (think purple plush with dark red curtains, black walls and a touch of stripes and zebra skin) we spent several very happy hours with Aussie pinot noir, a vegetable platter, gossip and catching up of various kinds. Home on the tube about 9.00pm.

Walking in Westminster

The sleep in a bed at a TraveLodge was a good start to the day, and we walked around to Jared's flat for breakfast. Today was the first day of our real touristing in London. Needless to say, Lambie was very excited! It rained very heavily but was not too cool, so we took ourselves to Westminster Station. It seemed to be raining even harder in the city and we emerged to find St Stephens Tavern, a beautiful Victorian building (great loo!) the spot for lunch. Our guide, Karen from London Walks, was outside Westminster Station for our tour. Although it was (still) raining we walked around to St Margaret's Church (where Winston Churchill was married) just across from Parliament. This was a unsual sight, but seeing the statue of Oliver Cromwell under the roof where his head was pilloried after his death had a certain symbolism. We saw some amazing streetscapes and buildings on this walk - Georgian houses in rows; the Westminster School (fees at £16 000 per term - but you should see the inside of their classrooms!); the Jewel Tower - a medieval building with wonderful stone carvings; Dean's Yard and Westminster Abbey (£15 entry fee) and the War Cabinet Rooms where Winston did his thing.

We walked back up the hill with Big Ben in front of us and the statue of Winston Churchill glowering impressively on the edge of Parliament Square. Walking down Parliament Street (not much happening in Downing Street) after we left the tour, we came to the Life Guards being changed at Whitehall, so we crossed the road to see - it was free after all! JOhn was rather taken with the fornt of the Department of Health building, a rather striking interpretation of gothic architecture. We walked through the Horse Guards to come back down the Mall to Trafalgar Square and a coffee.

Perhaps it was the weather, but today I was more conscious than I have ever been on previous visits of the sheer weight of numbers in London: the mass of people rushing around the place at all hours - they seem to move faster now; the Keep to the Left or Stand on the Right signs on the underground;the machine guns on police manning security stops around mysterious unnamed but obviously important places; the police helicopter overhead most days; sirens screaming and lights flashing on Police or ambulances. It made me very aware of the 7 and a half million people that make up this city. But from another perspective - the population is much more diverse than I have noticed before - just as NZ hears more languages and sees more differences in people, the colour and sounds of people create a vibe that adds energy here. As the man said: The man who is tired of London is tired of life!

London - it's a gas, gas, gas!

From last time...the night had barely slid into sleep when there was a huge banging on the door. Long story short....there was a leaking gas main (gas at 50%) near the building,we had to get dressed, get out and NOT put a light on. So there we were in the car park at nearly midnight - Police,Fire Service and all. We spent the night in a nearby community centre(which also had a library attached) and in the morning were reduced to wander the streets. This meant the day was not a touristy thing at all but comprised breakfast early at Brew(Kiwi-run, think good flat white!) Jo in her pink pj's and peep-toe high heels,a visit to Debenhams for more underwear, return visits to the flat to see what was going on, movies(Inglorius Basterds, a meal at The Slug and Lettuce and then finally making a booking at a local TraveLodge where we dissolved into sleep about 7.30pm. Jake,(the flatmate) Jo and Jared joined the other residents to meet with the operations manager for the gas company at 11.00 pm and then after much deliberation, were admitted back to their flat (gas at 5% now) The problem appears to have been a gas line (which is not now used by this 50's style block of flats) and which is obviously unstable. The solution seems to be a future shifting of the line. When you think about it we were really lucky. The other alternative - an explosion would have not have been a great look. We are still a bit discombobulated but Lambie and we all are well. Today we do the London thing.

Lambie goes to The Green Man and finds a sign

Last night we went into Clapham to have an Indian Moment (also the name of the restaurant. I yawned my way through dinner, falling asleep at various times. Dinner was delicious as we managed to stay awake ( well for me it was a real struggle) and fight through the jet lag. We slept like logs from about 10.30pm on. (Tonight I can hear John yawning his way to sleep as I write this!)
This morning was a Sunday Times time as John went out and foraged. After a long morning catchup we went on tube to Putney and The Green Man - a rather traditional pub where we had lunch in the garden where the feature was large-size games. Perry and Heath, there was a full-size edition of Connect4 and also dominoes ,chess and draughts of similar size. Later, inside we caught with Linda (Drama HOD at a private school in South Ken) and Eamon (lawyer in Trobridge) inside when they arrived. We had a fine time gossiping and chatting. Jake from HHS and the flatmate showed us his great new Ipod game his firm made for Barclays bank (waterslide extreme an IPod application) so we managed to while Sunday afternoon away. On the way back we found a sign that Lambie particularly liked, so it is added here. He is currently having a bit of a lie-down as he is not used to afternoons at the pub and Monday will, as they say, be another day.

London - it feels like home already

We have now been one entire day in London and Jared and Jo have made us very welcome...even giving up their bed for us... and London is great - very full of people (and it's only Sunday) but great!
We left Singapore for Heathrow at 9.05am with another breakfast airplane-food style - our second in about four hours. However travel in daylight hours meant that, combined with a brilliantly clear weather pattern, we had a clear view of vast tracts of the earth's surface in various countries. From the green lushness of India to the browning out of the land in Pakistan, where small patches of intensely farmed land petered out when the water did; to the sandy beige mountains of Afghanistan with long rift valleys and wind-eroded hillsides. Over the Ukraine we saw a very closely settled and farmed countryside with many shaes of green. Coming down over Holland to start the descent to UK/Heathrow we could see that shiops lined up like dozens of matchsticks to come into a harbour ...Rotterdam?... and those ships which were leaving trailing small feathers of white behind them.
At Heathrow we had the usual queue to get through immigration (but NO customs) and then a "Love Actually" moment when Jared and Jo were there to meet us. They were very complimentary about our light luggage situation ..which they could have been because they knew we had Marmite, milo, pineapple lumps and gingernuts (as requested) in there! We went by tube to their place in Clapham which is just across the road from the station (tho interestingly you can't hear the trains at all). They have a flat in a 60's, styled-up (magnolia/pearl lustre), privately-owned, ex-council block which is gated and well maintained - think lawns, roses, dappled trees - and they have a real fox! Waking in the night I heard a rook - London!

Farewell to (some) sheep

Leaving Auckland we had the obligatory photo with Lambie in front of a wall of sheep (large photo thingy) so he won't get too homesick for his own kind while we are away.(That's so we don't get accused of animal neglect or anything!
We are here in Changi airport in Singapore where they say it's 6.44am but to us it's really 10.45am ...and so it begins! The first thing you notice about the morning here is that it's really dark...the second is how clean this airport is. Wow!! we wouldn't have to do litter duty here -0they've obviously got it sorted.May be we should have a whole-school field-trip here to learn about how to get better at litter....I wonder what MA would think of that!! The orchids are really beautiful and the other passengers are looking a bit needy of internet (free) so will away and get on another plan for another leg - this time 13 hours long, not a mere 10!!
Have a restful weekend while we are enlarging our carbon footprint...LOL

Two sleeps to go!

Hi everyone
This is the first edition of the blog for Justine and John - and Lambie? Who is Lambie I hear you say? He is a new special friend who will accompany us on our amazing six week adventure.
If you haven' t heard about it - where have you been?? There is an entire HGHS staff who is ready to see me go - anywhere !- as they are so over my (number inserted) sleeps! routine.

Introducing Lambie...no pun intended Derek and Bex (and Isobel, Josh and Jessica!)
Naamah (HGHS) gave her to me and she is just such a perfect house guest....though she isn't (yet) much on cleaning up after herself. In this photo you can see her catching up on her reading - some light reading we picked up at the book launch this week.