22 June - 25 June 2007 Anneke (a dear friend from Cape Town) and I spent the weekend in the rainy, overcast Lake District. This of course didn’t deter in the least from the amazing beauty of the area. A 3 hour train ride from London and we were in Ambleside, our first stop. Here we did a very gentle scenic walk along Windermere Lake before bussing to Grasmere where - nothing small about us - we embarked on a 4 hour walk that resulted in me nursing very sore leg muscles the following day. It didn’t help that the map we were given was on a scale that only a magnifying glass could make any sense of. On our final day in Keswick (where the film Miss Potter was filmed) I resigned to the reading room of our youth hostel to indulge in my book whilst Anneke braved the downpour on a walk to the Stone Circle. She said it was a “reasonable walk” which she’s sure I would have managed but I don’t believe anyone anymore - how 4 hour walk was also supposed to be somewhat reasonable. I would recommend this part of the world to anyone who likes awesome natural beauty, it’s a gem!! 25 May 2007 I joined my friend, Helen at the Chelsea Flower Show for the day. The experience was mind blowing, especially walking into the main marquee and being overpowered by the scent of hundreds of different flowers. Unfortunately we only had half a day to explore (as these were the only tickets us plebs could get), but one definately needs at least 2 days to fully appreciate the beauty of the flower arrangments and gardens. 18 May 2007 We spent the day in Canterbury mixing business with pleasure. A somewhat gothic city obviously steeped in history, unfortunately we only had enough time to explore the Cathedral, home to the Archbishop of Canterbury and seat of the Anglican Communion, it’s a magnificent example of ancient architecture. 29 April 2007 We treated our friends, Richard and Helen to a true South African experience - a potjie! It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and Johann was the true potjie king again. 14 April 2007 Johann and I made the most of the beautiful spring weather and headed off to Kew Gardens for the afternoon. I just love the gardens and the tulip display was particularly spectacular. On the way home we had tea at The Originals Maids of Honour teashop that specialises in Maids of Honor tartlets which are nothing short of decadent. 7 April 2007 We joined hundreds of lily white Brits in the balmy weather to watch the annual Oxford vrs Cambridge Boat Race from Putney to Chiswick Bridge. Oxford have won it for 3 consecutive years so there was great excitement when Cambridge beat them to the finishing post today. These guys train vigourously for 7 months to battle it out in the 17 minute race, the captain (or president) of the winning boat receiving a knighthood. 21 March 2007 Angela’s sister Debs arrived from Cape Town to visit us. It was wonderful having her pottering around our garden and springcleaning the garage - mmm... I think she needs to move here on a permanent basis :-) 9 - 10 March 2007 We caught the train to Plymouth for the weekend to spend time with Kari and Nick. Kari is an old school friend of Johann’s and it’s been over 10 years since they saw each other. Kari and Nick have been living in Taiwan for a number of years teaching English and surfing so they are the most wonderful, laid back
couple.
From the minute we arrived we didn't stop eating and weren't able to sit still long enough to catch our breath as we were whisked off to the Cornwall countryside on Sat morning for a very scenic but energetic walk down the cliff and along the beach passing "matchbox" holiday cottages that are probably worth more than what you would find on Clifton beach in Cape Town. After eventually finding a path that would lead us back UP the cliff we drove to Cawsand, a nearby village for lunch and then back to our B&B for a much needed snooze.
On Sunday we caught the water taxi across to the Mountbatten Hotel on an island off Plymouth where we had lunch before collapsing onto the train in preparation for the 4 hour journey back to London.
Our next visit will hopefully be in summer when we have committed ourselves to surfing lessons courtesy of Kari and Nick.
24 January 2007 It snowed today for the first time since we’ve been living here, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to experience it as I was in SA for 2 weeks. It was also Mithril’s first snow experience and he wasn’t too impressed! 16 February 2007 I went to Tania’s farewell party at the Boathouse in Putney. Tania has been such an inspiration to me since we became friends last year and I’ll be sorry to see her head back to South Africa. 6 January 2007 I joined 4 friends last night to 'paint the town red'. It was Sonja's farewell which started off with drinks in Covent Garden, a quick bite to eat at a Chinese restaurant in Soho (eat as much as you like for £5.00) and then to burn it all off on the dancefloor at a club in Leicester Square, where they still play ABBA and Footloose songs (I thought those days were well and truly over what with this incomprehensible noise they call music nowadays). My feet were aching when at last we hailed a taxi in the early hours of the morning to take us home. Thank you girls, I had an absolute ball. |