the girls will soon be leaving jane’s parent’s house to begin their journey back home.
you can follow their progress here:
http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANZ1
Their flight is the one which leaves Heathrow on the 9th January and gets in on the morning of 11th January (NZ time).
this is the furthest i’ve been away from jane and the girls. but they’ll be getting on their plane soon and the distance will gradually reduce to zero by wednesday morning when i pick them up from the airport!
today i’ve been mostly pootling about the house. a bit of packing away, a bit of domestic stuff and i’ve started working through the 2,000 photos we took whilst in the britain.
i went out with Warren this afternoon for a walk so i got some fresh air. it’s quite warm, but very drizzly at the moment, but we were lucky and stayed dry so we had an ice cream when we’d finished.
it’s 8.15pm and i’m feeling really tired. so i think i’ll grab some toast then head bedward.
I made it home. Second half of the journey wasn’t as nice as the first half of course (as I wasnt in luxury seating) but all went well and I got a bit of sleep.
Malcolm kindly picked me up from the airport and I’m now a bit confused about what country and what day I’m in. But it’s great to be back!
Now to deodorize !
Hello from the Los Angeles transit cupboard. First flight went well, in fact excellently thanks to being upgraded to premier economy. But I’m back to economy for the second leg. I had hoped to do it the other way round, but the la to auckland flight is quite full so I might have ended up with neither.
At one point the captain announced we could see the northern lights through the windows on the right side of the plane, but despite everyone running over to that side (and no doubt altering our course slightly) no one I spoke to saw anything dramatic!
I spent most of the first flight reading a paperback Christmas book which was so good the hours flew by which was very good. But means I’m a bit sleep deprived. Hopefully I’ll get a bit of shut eye down in the cheap seats!
That’s all the news I’ve got I’m afraid.
if you are interested in tracking my progress, you can follow it here:
http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANZ1
My flight is the one which leaves Heathrow on the 7th January and gets in on the 9th January.
we spent today with jane’s parents, as although we’ve been staying in their house for the last couple of days and a few minutes drive away for the rest of the time, we haven’t actually spent much time with them!
so today we got up, did lots of packing of suitcases (so i take the right things with me and use up all my luggage allowance).
the girls played various board games with each other and anyone else who would play with them.
this afternoon we went for a nice walk. Jane’s dad and the girls came back to play more games whilst jane, jane’s mum and I carried on round California Country Park.
we also managed to say a quick final goodbye to Kim and family who gave the girls some lovely jumpers
then this evening we went to our favourite old pub in Hurst for our last supper which was jolly nice.
i took loads of photos today but i’ve packed much of my computer stuff so i’ll add them later.
we’ll not be updating the blog over the next few days as i’ll be in the air until Monday morning NZ time (late Sunday evening UK time by the time i get home i suspect).
me again as jane was too tired to write today’s blog post
i went to london today and ended up walking for over 6 hours solid (in two chunks) as well as climbing up Monument’s 311 steps up and down. in the middle i had lunch with my old colleague Toby in Spitalfield Market.
Meanwhile Kezia went to school and spent the day with her old class.
i think she had a good time but i haven’t seen her long enough to get the full details.
(the photo above is for kiwi viewers who will enjoy this UK version of a foursquare)
jane has been doing loads of stuff (with esther). they started off at school where they spoke to other mums and teachers who remember them. then they popped by to see our old behind-the-house neighbours who are coming to visit NZ in a couple of months. Then they went to Mary-Ann’s house, then Carol’s, then Ruth’s then Hannah’s. i think they also saw tanya too.
(i think that’s right. i’m trying to remember what Jane said)
we all gathered together back at the Ports house for tea. They are now back in the house they kindly leant us whilst they were in NZ, so it was great to catch up and hear how they got on with their tour and see how enthusiastic they were about NZ. That’s made us look forward to going back home.
sorry for the lack of pictures today. a combination of computer trouble and volume of pictures taken on my walking tour i’m afraid. Hopefully i’ll get it sorted for tomorrow else you’ll have to wait until Monday when i’m back on a proper computer. [update – i’ve worked out a quick and dirty way of doing the pictures which means they don’t look as good, but at least you get something!]
and here’s jane and her friend Kim as seen in the local paper (doing their race earlier this week).
Well, we had a brilliant day in London today. We left really early in the dark. Here is Kezzie on the train.
We did an open top-bus tour, which was great to revise London and all the sights, although it was a bit chilly. We also revised eateries dave has eaten in!
We picked up a travel bug to take back with us
Then we met up with our lovely friends Richard and Julia, who had caught the train down from Hull. We had lunch with them and a walk and then looked at some photos in the National Portrait Gallery. Here is a picture they took of us but we were so excited about everything that we forgot to take a photo of them. Whoops.
Then back home to Pooch and Party’s house.
another day of everyone being in different places.
jane spent most of the day tidying the house, but had time for lunch with two of her really good friends Jan and Lin from the village in our favourite local pub.
esther spent the day with Ruth which including going to a pantomine with Ruth’s grandchildren.
Kim went to her friends’s hannah’s then joined esther for the pantomime which was enjoyed by all
but the day started with us all driving in to Reading to pick up our hire car (we had to give the old one back to the Ports who want both their house and car back this evening).
i then drove the car through howling winds and rain to Bath to meet my cousin Chris. or ‘cousin Chris’ as he’s known. to me at least.
we had a really great time with lunch in a 300 year old cafe and a tour round the pump room before going our separate ways after a very speedy 3 hours. the drive home was less dangerous as the wind had calmed down. the pump room are some Roman Baths built around a hot pool. a bit like what we have a few minutes drive from our home. but a bit more old and solid. and less like a 1960s holiday camp.
i collected jane (via a computer shop for another card for my camera) and we picked up the girls and said goodbye to Ruth who we may not see for the rest of the week.
we spent a lovely evening with the Shiptons who are always great company.
and then finally we came back to jane’s parents who are providing us with lodging for the rest of the week.
(by the way, i’m about to add a couple of pictures to yesterday’s post of jane’s race and esther’s climb)
a couple of today’s photos are from Cousin Chris.
jane was picked up at 8.30am this morning to do a ‘tough 10km running course’ at Cliveden. she was worried she’d not manage the hills and come last, but in the end did very well and wasn’t last so was rightly very pleased with herself.
we didn’t get to see her as we were busy having our own fun.
i dropped kezia off at ruth’s house and they spent the day revisiting old haunts (walking in dinton pastures, coffeeing in the local garden centre, playing with Ruth’s grandkids etc)
meanwhile esther and i drove over to her friend’s siobhan’s house. i spent 3 hours chatting with her parents whilst esther and siobhan caught up. i even got to measure up our old guinea pig run which lives at their house – that’ll be handy as i have to soon make a replica when we’re back home for some new arrivals …
after that we came back to the house to meet up with Jane. she took esther to her afternoon wall climbing lesson with another friend. jane then went to see siobhan’s mum (having missed out on the morning conversations) and then caught up with a school colleague which was jolly good too.
i packed my suitcase ready for moving out of our borrowed house tomorrow (and with a forward view to flying home on saturday), then met Big Eye Tony (above) in Waitrose cafe at 3 for a couple of hours of chatting and shopping (every thing i bought was in the same aisle. pleasingly.)
jane then went to ruth’s for more chat, and to pick up kezia, then picked up esther and finally came home.
esther and i popped out to our old fish and chips place for evening dinner (so jane can fulfil her wish of not cooking at all this trip).
then this evening they all did tidying and packing whilst i went out to see my excellent old chum Rudolf Leider Paul. i inspected his amazing new house then we went to a pub.
i then drove back via some dark country lanes. and now it’s late.
(middle two pictures from Kim)