Heading north

The day of our long awaited trip to Derbyshire had arrived and it was an early start with the alarm disturbing our slumber at 6 a.m! A bit of a shock as we have finally happily become accustomed to sleeping till 8 or 9 a.m! The train from Kings Cross St Pancras departed at 9.55 and after what seemed like a very quick trip to Matlock we arrived at about 12 noon to be greeted by our friend Richard Bunting. It was great catching up with Penny and the girls, Izzy and Millie after four years. The girls have grown up such a lot. Their home is in an elevated position overlooking the valley in the distance and on the opposite side of the valley, little villages which at night are lit up like fairyland.

Izzy in Whitworth Park on the way to the river. Millie enjoying the climbing frame at Whitworth Park.

Rich and Penny at Ashover

There is a pattern emerging with our arrival in a place and the weather in Matlock was no different to our previous arrivals at a new destination. It was freezing cold and incredibly windy. So windy, one of Penny and Rich's doors nearly blew in. The next day saw us tripping off to one of our favourite places, the Chatsworth House farm shop. We've been to Chatsworth before so enjoyed the drive through the beautiful park-like property - no fences of course - where you slow to allow the sheep to cross the road and their leisure! The farm shop is full of produce sourced from the property. Home made preserves, bread, meat grown on the property etc.

We also took a lovely walk through some little rural lanes and down to the Derwent River. It's quite a large river (which was running quite fast,) with a very deep river bed, that is quite a drop to the water from the river bank. The sheep grazing in this area seemed totally at ease with people wandering through their paddock. We also found the steam train line which we thought might be a good idea for a ride on another day.

The lovely view across the valley from the family's cottage before and after rain during the night

The second night the wind flared again and the rain set in. Next morning Laurie led me blind folded to the huge glass window in the lounge room. I opened my eyes to see the river we had walked along the day before in total flood. It hasn't happened for many years so eastern Australia isn't the only place to endure flooding. We were to take the steam train but thought the line was probably flooded and may not be able to. However as the line is raised up so much from the farm land it was just out of the water so off we went. Penny, Rich and the girls came part of the way too which was a delight. The river was really flying particularly at Matlock at Riverside Station where the river bed narrows a lot between banks.

The historic Darley Dale Railway Station where enthusiastic volunteers keep the train working

Laurie, Louise, Izzy and Millie ready to roll on a chilly day

After our train ride Laurie and I decided to walk back to our weekend home from Matlock which is only a few kilometres but up a very long hill. You can't have views like they have without going up first. We were very pleased to see the cottage as we rounded the final corner. Next morning 'moi' had a case of shin splints!

The quaint little village of Ashover

Our final day dawned quite fine and it was time we headed off to Chesterfield via Rich's home town of Ashover which is nearby. It's a lovely old village with beautiful buildings, a very old church with graveyard next to it and the Crispin Inn. After this quick visit we continued on to Chesterfield and reluctantly farewelled Penny and Rich then caught the train back to London which again went very quickly . We had a ripper time with the Buntings. Returning to Kensington is like coming home really. It's so lovely here.

On the train to Oxford

We couldn't believe how reasonably priced the train tickets to Oxford were. We booked them on line for eight pounds each return. The trip took about two hours on a very comfortable train through some boring country and closer to Oxford some really pretty farmland where the Thames wanders through. The farmland seemed really fertile with a lot of new crops planted which is surprising as it has been such a wet winter it's a wonder the tractors didn't get bogged.

Being long term fans of Morse, the BBC crime series starring John Thaw and set in Oxford, it was amazing stepping into the town where the movies were filmed. The university town abounds with historic stone buildings, colleges and churches.

St Aldates, Oxford

It was absolutely freezing in Oxford. The wind was chilling. Straight off the Arctic for sure. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, but freezing - as cold as a blizzard on Mt Buller in winter. Because we had limited time to explore, we took one of the open topped double-decker bus tours which have a recorded commentary full of historical information including an outline of the very complicated relationships between the colleges and the university. We sat inside!

With two rivers and a canal running through Oxford there are lots of beautiful scenery

Wandering round the streets we came across an indoor market which was amazing. It was so cold the butcher had all the meat on display on tables in the walkways! We estimated it was way colder outside than in any fridge.

Who needs a fridge in Oxford?

The first observation we made was the incredible number of double decker buses in Oxford - hundreds of them. Plus hundreds, probably thousands of bicycles. They're everywhere. If not parked, piled up or stacked they are being ridden by students racing to get from one place to another. Oxford is a vibrant, lively city full of young people and loads of character.

Bikes, bikes everywhere

Beautiful historic buildings everywhere

An interesting selection of decorated cakes!

Some side planning complete!

During our time in London we had planned to visit friends in this part of the world - some of them we have known since our first excursion here in 1975! So we started our plans which include a weekend with Penny and Rich in Matlock in Derbyshire. As we happily decided not to have a car in London we purchased train tickets on line which in some cases were really well priced. For instance a day trip to Oxford last Friday cost each of us eight pounds return. That’s about $A12.80, a bargain as a short trip - say one or two stations - on the London underground without an Oyster card could cost two pounds 20 pence.

Anyway we’re off to Chesterfield by train to visit Penny, Rich, Izzy and Milly this Friday.
Then to Gothenburg in Sweden to visit a family friend. During the next few weeks we’ll also be visiting another friend, a former Timbertop teacher in Munich, where we hope to sneak in a day’s skiing. Woohoo! Another little trip will be to Andover to visit Ken and Wendy and down to New Milton to visit a family friend of my Dad’s.

These trips are now all organised which took some effort but well worth it. We’ll be hiring a car to head south as the train fares are way too expensive.

Australia Day in London!

Bit of a fluke really to find that Barb and Craig Jones from Piries would be in London for a few days overlapping with us. They arrived on the Tuesday (25th) so we arranged to meet for breakfast next day which happened to be Australia Day! They were staying near Notting Hill Gate so caught the tube to Kensington High Street (one stop) where we’d previously found a really nice French Cafe Restaurant called AuBain. What we hadn’t checked out were the prices. Hmmm. Anyway we did enjoy the beautiful (if small in quantity) equivalent to Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise (on the side of course) and smoked salmon. Four of those, three lattes, a Darjheeling pot of tea and a small quantity of bread - wait for it - 70 pounds. That’s $111. Ouch! Ah well it was very nice.

It was great to catch up with Barb and Craig - we hardly ever see them at home so it was really funny to see them in London but excellent to swap family news. They were at the start of their four week European trip.

There didn’t seem to be any celebrations of Australia Day that we could find. However one party hire shop in Kensington High Street had a full-sized Australian Flag in the window!

For some time now I had been eyeing off a red coat at Mark and Spencers. It’s the colour over here. Anyway I finally plucked up enough courage to try one one but it was too short in style. Anyway I’ve got that out of my system. Laurie’s probably happy about that!!

With the weather a bit dodgy we thought we would go to the movies. We’d spied the Odeon Cinema on our Earls Court ramblings. We hadn’t seen the King’s Speech with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush so thought a matinee might be good. What a movie. I could have turned around and walked back in for a second screening, it was so good. If you get a chance you just have to see it! The story keeps coming back to mind. Very thought provoking. What a King he was - conquering his affliction.

Off to See the Queen

We’d had several attempts to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace but for various reasons had not succeeded, however we persevered and found ourselves at last in the right place at the right time. I would hate to be there in the height of summer. The Queen Victoria memorial in front of the Palace was crawling with people. That is the place to be - but you’d have to arrive early enough to grab a spot. We were happy with our perches at the front gates but still didn’t see a lot until we crossed the road next to Green Park and watched the guards on horse back continue on to their home at the Horse Guards nearby.

It’s one of those events that you have to do, but once achieved that’s good and on to the next thing. The day we were there it certainly wasn’t as sensational as the promotions imply. Liz really needs to do something about her front garden. It’s just red scoria!

Titanic and the 02 Bubble

In our wanderings we found that the Titanic Exhibition was on in London and thought it a great opportunity to learn about some recent maritime history. We were puzzled at what the 02 Bubble could possibly be and were soon to find out it was that UFO type thing with “feelers” sitting out of it that sits by the Thames near Greenwich. It was formerly known as the Millennium Dome. In fact this structure was used in the filming of the James Bond movie, The World is Not Enough.

We took the tube to get there - fantastic system - it was a long trip on the Jubilee line to North Greenwich but a reasonable walk to the dome, although in a freezing cold wind. The exhibition was awesome with more than 300 exhibits which had been recovered, stabilised and restored to a condition where they could be displayed in specially controlled conditions. The quirky aspect to the exhibition was that our entry tickets were replicas of the Titanic boarding passes. On the reverse side of each was a name and family history of a real passenger who set sail on the ship’s first and final voyage. We didn’t find out until the end if ‘our’ character survived or not.

The other sad but also interesting statistic was the proportion of first class passengers who survived which way out numbered the proportion of second class and steerage passengers who survived. Each and every name of the passengers were listed at the end of the exhibition - two separate lists - the survivors and those who were lost. Both our passengers survived.

Of the 2200 passengers and crew on the ship, 1500 people lost their lives and 700 survived. Th exhibition was presented in a way that was interesting, factual and respectful of those involved.

When we collected our coats and bags from the cloak room the attendant suggested we return to London on the Thames Clipper. What a great idea. We used our Oyster cards again, easy as pie and thoroughly enjoyed the ride zigzagging from bank to bank as we collected more passengers on the way back to Embankment. It was sunset and the city looked lovely as the lights were coming on. All in all we had a very satisfying day.

Off to the Lord's Ground

The majestic pavillion at Lord's Cricket Ground

One of the highlights so far has been our trip to St John’s Wood to visit the Lords Ground.

Laurie’s family has a significant history with Australian and English cricket. His great grand father on his mum’s side was George Henry Stevens (Harry) Trott and Harry’s brother, Laurie’s great uncle, was Albert Trott. Harry and Albert were great cricketers. In fact both played first class cricket for Australia, Harry being captain of the Australian side in the late 1890s to early in the turn of the century. Albert was not selected for the Australian side to tour England so sailed under his own steam on the same boat to play for Middlesex and the English first class side which would be playing against Australia in that season.

Albert was a sensational cricketer, a great all rounder who ended up with a batting average of 102, better than that of Sir Donald Bradman.

One of Albert’s great achievements, apart from his batting average and sensational bowling figures, was that he slogged a ball over the top of the Lords Pavillion into Grove End Rd next door. This has never been repeated despite many incentives being offered to players during first class matches played at Lords. The latest reportedly offered to English cricketer, Trescothic, to achieve the same feat - one million pounds!

Albert Trott

With this history we trekked to Lords looking forward to one of their guided tours, which are available year round. We were not disappointed being taken through the magnificent pavillion, the Long Room, the Writing Room, the Committee Room and the players’ change rooms. The pavillion is steeped in history with magnificent portraits of famous cricketers from many nations. It is all very upper class English with beautiful timber walls and fantastic wooden furniture. Walking through the place there is an atmosphere of almost reverence. Our tour leader told us that none of us would be allowed in on a match day because we would have to be (the boys that is) wearing shirt and tie, dress trousers and shoes, no jeans, trainers or walking boots! Dipped out on all counts!

Laurie at the Lord's Ground with the new media centre behind.

After the tour ended a staff member approached us and said he was a great fan of Albert Trott’s and felt his contribution to English and Australian cricket had been unrecognised. He escorted us to the nursery pavillion which is where the MCC trains its young cricketers. They have an extensive schools’ training program too. While we were there several indoor cricket matches were being played by young cricketers from a girls’ school. He showed us a large display board of photos of past cricketers, including Albert.

Paul Winters and Laurie in the Nursery Pavillion

This was a real treat and we thank Paul Winters sincerely for his help in appreciating the significance of Laurie’s cricketing family.

A quirky aspect to Lords is the recent inclusion of overhead lighting. There were so many objections from the neighbours that there are heavy restrictions on when they can be used. In fact when not in use they have to be lowered. They seem to operate on a telescopic system and actually fold under as well. Quite bizarre for such huge infrastructure and an incredible feat.

One of the lighting towers lowered and turned over out of the way!

After leaving the ground in drizzling rain we headed for the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing. And guess what, Laurie took the compulsory photo of me striding across the road. This activity is quite an issue for drivers as SO many people do it that it becomes difficult to continue along the road. I can’t imagine what it would be like in the middle of the summer tourist season.

THE Abbey Road crossing!

That is a fantastic benefit of travelling in winter. There are no queues, no timed entry into attractions and very relaxed staff because they are not under any pressure. The only problem occurs if you are silly enough to travel the tube in peak hour. This has happened to us a couple of times, once in particular the train was SO crowded we couldn’t even hang on to the grab rails. But we didn’t have to because the sheer volume of humanity held us vertical! There had been a signal failure on another line so those passengers had diverted their journey to avoid the delay!! God bless their cotton socks!

Out and About in London

Exploring London is wonderful. Mastering the tube map a breeze although the bus routes a little more challenging. But the Oyster card system is fantastic. You charge it up and tap it on a little scanner as you enter the tube station or bus and tap out at the end of your train journey. You don’t have to tap out of the bus. Of course the city is divided into zones and the system works out the cheapest fare for the journey you have made then debits the amount from your card balance.

In the first few days we just explored: Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, The London Eye (closed for maintenance), Trafalgar Square, St James Park. We just wandered by enjoying the fact that we could.

Kensington Palace Ready, settie, go!

The beautiful Lady Diana Memorial Fountain and Laurie on the edge!

On each day we would walk. One of our early walks was in Kensington Gardens. What an oasis. And so many people using them. Kensington Palace is certainly not at its best as it is in the middle of a major refurbishment. These gardens meld into Hyde Park and it was a wonderful surprise to stumble on the Lady Diana Memorial Fountain. This is more an ingenious waterfall thana fountain. The water appears to flow in opposite directions in a circle tumbling over various textures of marble. It is beautiful.

The water birds on the lake are incredible. On the way back we admired the magnificent Albert Memorial which is opposite the the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington High Street.

On another day an attempted walk to Holland Park didn’t quite work as it should have and we ended up totally in the wrong place and miles from home! We caught a bus home. Back home I realised just how dumb this was as Holland Park is effectively at the end of Earls Court Rd!!

After joining the National Trust in Australia which would give us free entry to Nat. Trust properties in UK I thought it would be good to visit one in London only to discover there is not a lot of choice - and certainly none of the iconic places we had hoped for. Never though, we decided lunch at the historic George Inn at Southark not far from London Bridge would be a good idea. What a place. It has been a working Inn for more than 300 years. The food was excellent and it was obvious THE place to go as it was full of locals. An excursion to Tower Bridge after lunch ended us - quite by accident - at a discreetly located marina next to the Thames where multi-million pound cruisers were moored.

The historic George Inn City Quay

Tower Bridge, the Tower of London & the River Thames

Our next stop - London

Hmm, 4 am wake up and into the taxi by 5 am! After a very wild drive around the back streets of New York, picking up many hapless early risers, we arrived at JFK at 7 am in time to check in for our flight which departed at 8.55 am! Again the security staff were thorough but friendly - an unusual combination at international airports. We were one of 16 jets queued for take off so despite taxiing out 10 minutes early we lost the advantage by having to queue! BA not as good as Cathay but the food was fine. Had all sorts of plans to watch lots of movies but slept for three hours instead! Arrived a little early with the help of a 220km/hr tail wind towards the end of the journey! On approach to London Heathrow we had to circle waiting for a spot to land.

Safely survived the taxi ride to Kensington, much calmer than the ride to JFK thank goodness. Our home for the next 10 weeks is awesome. Just as we'd hoped. Such a great location to London and with every convenience including a dishwasher. With four levels we discovered early to remember what needed to be downstairs and what needed to be upstairs! The bus stop is right outside and two tube stations a short walk on either side.

Sunday we thought a trip to Notting Hill for the market might be a good idea. We weren't sorry.

An interesting clothing shop with an amazing collection of hundreds of treadle sewing machines

After a heavy session of retail therapy at Tescos to stock up the pantry, we were amazed at the reasonable prices of goods. Two stand outs were bananas and tomatoes. 99p and one pound 40p respectively. As for meat, Tescos had a deal 'buy any three for 10 pounds'. We selected bacon, pork fillets and chicken fillets. For the equivalent of $A16 we took home eight pieces of pork fillets, four chicken fillets and at least 16 slices of bacon. The meat was beautiful.

The next thing to organise was communications! With my iPhone and MacBookPro bereft of internet access and Laurie's iPad in the same boat we felt rather isolated! O2 seemed to offer the best deals with 100 minutes of international calls and 500 mb of internet access for 15 pounds keeping me quiet. The little USB modem we borrowed was another win with 2gb of download for 15 pounds also. A five pound micro sim giving 1 gb of access for Laurie's iPad meant we were set to go with keeping in touch with everyone far, near and dear.