19 Days in England

In addition to the post of events on a day-by-day basis, I thought I would do something with a more narrative tone about the experience as a whole. 

The visit had a number of elements, expectations and implications. We wanted to see family and friends again, we wanted to see England again (especially Loughborough), and we wanted to do some thing's which can only be done in England. There were also some unexpected treats and we take away with us some very good memories.

We began our visit in the south of England with Nicky's family, making an entrance in the baptism service of Mary Hanlon in Andover. Nearly everybody was there so it was great to see so many people all at once as soon as we arrived. Over he next couple of days we got to spend more concentrated time with family members and friends. Our visit ended in the south too, with a party hosted by Felicity in Farnborough and again attended by all the direct family. This too was a very happy event and we got to spend some more time with some of those who we hadn't had a good long chat with at the beginning of the visit.

The middle section of the trip was spent at my mother's in South Anston, near Sheffield. This was the most difficult part as her health is not good and we saw her at a very low ebb. Nicky worked very hard to provide care for my mother, to do lots of laundry and housework, and to give Gill a bit of a break from being mum's prime carer. I was able to achieve my aim of sorting through my Father's slide collection and extracting the "missing" photos of our childhood. I am taking those back to NZ with me so that I can scan them and get them into a more accessible form. The other positive outcome (we hope) of our time in Yorkshire, is that our presence seems to have finally persuaded mum that it is not fair to continue relying on Gill and that she needs external carers coming into her home regularly if she is to stay there. This will start at the end of the month and fingers crossed, will be a good experience for her. 

Interspersed with these two main aspects of our visit, we have had time in Loughborough to catch up with friend's which was great, and have a bit of a look at the place again to see how it has changed (not that much). Nicky always said that I probably wouldn't feel completely settled in NZ until we had been back to the UK, and I think she is probably right. It was good to see the country again, but I didn't feel any desire to return. I don't miss the narrow roads and iffy weather, but I did enjoy driving on the motorways and some of the more open and interesting roads. I really enjoyed eating cheeses the like of which we can't get in NZ, particularly as this had not been something we had intentionally planned to do. We found England to be pleasantly green and curvy, but also looking old and tired. I will be interested to see how I feel about NZ when I get back, which I am looking forward to. I have been interested to note my surprise at the sheer number of people we have seen who are travelling. I have grown very used to seeing far fewer people around the place while living in NZ. 

We have also done some touristy things during our visit. We really enjoyed visiting the Harry Potter studios in Leavesden and can highly recommend it. The ss Great Britain in Bristol was very good and also well presented, and the RAF memorial near Folkstone was simple and moving. 

The weather. Well of course we had some cold days, some wet days, and some cold and wet days, but we also had a few sunny days too. We had some excellent fish and chips, wonderful Wensleydale, but only two proper English breakfasts; one provided by Ben on our first morning, and the other which we bought at the airport as we waited to leave the country. I had a very tasty pint in a country pub, and we had a couple of great meals out. 

We are very pleased that we made the effort to visit (it is a very long way), but if everybody we love and care for would move to NZ, we would have no reason to return.

Take care,

Rick