England Diary

The glorious sunny weather of the weekend continued into the Monday, even though it was a Bank (Public) Holiday. After a leisurely breakfast with Felicity and Reg and posting the blog, Nicky and I got our things together and headed up to London for lunch with David, Zoé, Amelia and Cas in West Norwood. It was quite a drive for us, and I wouldn't have made it (especially through the Wandsworth one-way system) without Nicky's navigational assistance. The traffic was quite heavy, the roads narrow, and the route relatively complex. Every moaning Aucklander should be made to drive it every 5 years to make them realise just how lucky they are, and how bad the traffic in Auckland isn't. 

Lunch of pork with onions and salad prepared by David was excellent, and Amelia was a real sweetie. It was good to be able to chat with David and Zoé, something I don't think we have had the chance to do for years. When Cas woke up his energy added to the mix, as we sat in the sun replete. 

We eventually said our goodbyes and retraced our route to Kingston and then on to Teddington to see Brenda, Piet, and their two by grown up girls, Pip and Anabel. B&P were as entertaining and amusing as ever. We were very pleased to see their new home that they moved into about 5 or 6 years ago, and very impressed with the way the girls helped Brenda produce the pasta for dinner. It was really good to see them all again, and we returned to Farnborough feeling we had had a very enjoyable day.

On Tuesday morning we packed the car, said our goodbyes to F&R, and headed North. We had pre-booked tickets for 11.00 at the Warner Brothers Studio to tour the Harry Potter film sets. We arrived a few minutes early so took some pictures outside with some of the chess pieces from film 1 and had a bit of a wonder round the gift shop. They had some fantastic things - wands for around a dozen of the characters, school and quidditch uniforms for every house (and in adult sizes) and loads of other neat stuff. It was all good quality stuff but quite expensive. I was suffering with the jet lag so went and had a sit in the cafe with a cup of tea, which Nicky finished off when she joined me. 

We picked up our audio guides and joined the queue to start the tour, passing by the cupboard under the stairs. We had a short briefing on what we were going to see, and then took our seats in a cinema to see an introduction by Daniel, Emma and Rupert. After the film the screen withdrew, the curtains were drawn, and we were facing the massive doors of the Great Hall. After a few more words from the guide, the doors were opened and we entered into the Great Hall. There was no ceiling but other than that it was the hall, as seen in the film, with tables laid, and costumes on display. We then moved onto the main exhibition of room sets and props, which were very well presented. Unfortunately our jet lag meant that we didn't have the energy to see everything properly.  

We moved onto the back lot and Nicky bought us Butterbeer to drink while we queued to buy some sandwiches for lunch. We felt much better after eating and really enjoyed the Butterbeer, and so were ready for exploring 4 Privet Drive, the Knight Bus, the Hogwarts Bridge and Potter Cottage in the warm spring sunshine. Moving back inside the next set of displays were of the prosthetics and then the white models of the sets, before moving into Diagonal Alley. The detail in the shops was amazing, but the breathtaking finale was waiting for us round the corner - the 1/10th scale model of Hogwarts Castle. It is enormous and beautiful. Every few minutes the lights in the room go down, and the lights in the model come on. Finally, we moved into another version of Olivanders which has a named wand box for everybody who worked on the films, and then back into the gift shop.

It was a fantastic experience because it is the real sets, not replicas, and very well presented with information panels, interactive displays, and a very comprehensive audio guide. The effort which went into making the sets is awesome, and the presentation is of a very high quality. We can highly recommend it to any Harry Potter fan.

It was late afternoon before we left and headed up the M1 to my mothers place in South Anston. We stopped at a service station on the way when the traffic got heavy. Gill was with mum when we arrived to tell us about mums's drug regime and shingles. We were quite shocked in different ways, Nicky with mum who wasn't as good as she expected, and me with my sister who was looking tired and strained. We had some sandwiches and got ourselves organised before going off to bed very weary. 

The weather turned on Wesnesday and became much cooler and showery. I headed into Worksop to raid Sainsbury's and visit the Vodafone shop as the Internet was not working on my phone. I also called into the farm to have a chat with Gill and Dave about the situation with mum because both Nicky and I felt the load that Gill is carrying can not continue. Mum has been reluctant to accept help from carrer organisations in the past, but the only other viable option appears to be full time residential care, so Gill started the ball rolling on getting her some regular help. In the afternoon I made a turkey and leek pie and mum ate quite well at dinner. 

Thursday dawned quite bright but with a cold wind. Mum was finding the pain killers inadequate for her shingles, so Gill and I took her to the Doctors. On the way back we visited dad's grave and put some fresh flowers on. We were starting to get some rain so didn't linger. Much of the afternoon was taken up making beef pie, which was fun in a strange kitchen, but it turned out OK. Gill, Dave and John joined us for dinner and we had a good evening.

The weather was again not brilliant on Friday morning. Nicky spent the day caring for mum and doing everything she could with laundry and cleaning round the house. I arranged to have lunch with Amanda, a very good friend of mine, and we had a walk round Woolerton Park afterwards.

On Saturday morning we left South Anston for the weekend and headed south. First stop was Hopewells in Nottingham to discuss the shipping of Ekornes chairs, should we ever be able to replace ours as it may be a cheaper option. We were a little late for lunch with Rachel and John Cox in Keyworth, but they and Louise gave us a smashining welcome all the same. Over a lunch which included pork pie and a great cheese selection we exchanged all our news. Late in the afternoon we had to drag ourselves away to get to Gill and Patrick Youell in Loughborough in time for dinner, but we managed a quick visit to our favourite Sainsbury's on the way to buy some goodies.

Gill and Patrick were on good form as ever, and it was great to see their new home and catch up over an excellent diner and relax. Their bungalow has a "dormer conversion" with a bedroom and bathroom which is great for visitors. 

We slept until around 4am (pretty good for us at the moment) on Sunday morning and had cups of tea. After breakfast some hours later I drove back up to Nottingham to collect Amanda and drive up to the Yorskshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield. Nicky walked round to the Church of the Good Shepherd on Park Road to meet Mary Anderson and quite a few other people. The church was having its 75th anniversary and they had Cooking Made Simple in to provide an excellent lunch. Gill Youell had organised lots of the National Women's Register ladies to come round for the afternoon, so lots of catching up and exchanging of news was done. I got back just as the last of them were leaving, having had an excellent day walking round the sculpture park and seeing the gallery exhibitions. Amanda and Sue were great company and lunch of a large baguette with three Cumberland sausages and a bucket of chips with gravy was most sustaining. After such a stimulating day we had a light tea with Gill and Patrick and a quiet evening before retiring to bed.

Monday was a packed day. We had a couple of meet-ups planned but the rest were very spontaneous. First call was to Hilary and Ged Dyer in Mountsorrel. Hilary is an ex-lecturer of Nicky's and they are both God parents to Claire. They were looking very well which were very pleased about as Hilary has been having a tough time with multiple fractures after falling down stairs. She has grown her hair long and it looks fantastic. 

We drove back to Loughborough and met up with Martin Ashby on campus. Martin and I did the same degree a year or two apart, and we both worked at HUSAT for a period. He also helped out with WKDS from time to time. He took us to meet John Walker (ex-HUSAT) and Bhavna (ex-External Relations) before a quick tour of some of the changes on Campus and lunch in the EHB. Martin had to go back to work so we continued wandering around campus (in the rain, which brought back memories) and found ourselves at the Pilkington Library. Nicky met quite a few old faces and we saw some significant changes in the library, and more are due. Then we walked down to WEDEC to catch up with Mike Smith who seemed to be well despite his leukaemia, and briefly saw Brian Skinner. 

We got caught in a hail shower walking back to the car but dried out when we got to Jean Watson's, our next door neighbour on Park Road. We had a good chat over tea and then played with her lift (yes, an actual lift in her house, not a stair lift!) and had a look at the garden changes which the new owners of our place have made; not many actually. We then paid a quit visit to Neil and Sue on the other side before heading into town for dinner. We met Keith (who bought WKDS from me) and his new partner Jane (who it turned out taught Nicky pilates) in a very nice Italian place on the High Street which hadn't been open when we were there. Nicky started off with a beef and cheese salad and I had Buffalo mozzarella with palmer ham. We then had fresh salmon in a cream tomato sauce and scallops in a right white wine sauce respectively, followed by the usual hot beverages. The food was excellent and just the right amount and very good value for money. The company and conversation was also very good resulting in a very enjoyable end of a very good day. We said our goodbyes to Keith and Jane and drove back up to South Anston.

On Tuesday morning Gill came up to mums to see Lynn from Crossroads, a local charity who provide in-home carers for the elderly. Lynn did an assessment in order to put a care plan together. It is going to start with three one-hour morning visits a week. I popped into the village to buy mince for lasagne and pork pie for lunch and both turned out well. Nicky again spent the day caring for my mother and doing things round the house.

Gill and I took mum to the Doctors again on Wednesday to explore other pain relief options. He explained the the shingles was now probably gone, but the rash leaves behind a very painful neuralger. He explained that pain killers don't do anything for this type of pain but said that Camomile lotion and cream would be the most effective option. However, in order to give her some general relief he prescribed anaesthetic plasters and oral morphine. We later had problems with the plasters but the morphine worked quite well. 

In the afternoon Nicky and I headed south again, this time calling in to see Lesley in East Leak, who Nicky worked with in Sutton Bonnigton. We then continued down to Quorn (just outside Loughborough) for dinner with Kev Porter and his in-laws; both are ex-WKDS customers. It was Jan's 71st birthday so both her daughters were there and we had a great evening with more lovely food. It was very late when we got back to South Anston so we toddled straight off to bed.

I managed to finish sorting out the transparencies from my fathers and my collections by mid afternoon on Thursday. Nicky was again busy with caring and housework, and in the evening we took mum up to the farm for dinner with Gill and Dave. Gill did us proud with a great spicy chicken dish (amongst others) and five desserts!

Moir and Peter Cocker came over on Friday so we had fish, chips, mushy peas and curry sauce for lunch. Peter and I went to a chip shop in Kiverton (The Admiral) which Gill had recommend and they were wonderful, though Moir thought the curry sauce could have done with more curry. They stayed for the afternoon so we were able to have a good chat. 

Saturday was Nicky's last day as carer and housekeeper. She had not got as much done as she wanted to, but she had made a big difference to the house. I went walking with Amanda in Derbyshire. We had lunch at a pub in Hathersage (awesome butties; BLT and sausage and onion) with a swift pint of Burtons Best, then a pint and a half of tea in the Grindleford café before walking back to the car. Late in the afternoon Hilary Cooper called in to see Nicky (another ex-work friend) and they had a very good chatting over some egg butties.  Hilary was just leaving when I arrived home. Other than a quick dash to Sainsbury's in Worksop to get goodies for Farnborough, we had a quiet evening.

We said goodbye to my mum on Sunday morning and headed off on our 3 hour drive to Farnborough. Felicity had organised a family lunch with all her off-spring and grandchildren, along with Phil Collard, Jane Rhapson and Daniel and Chelsea. We had a really great time as the sun came out and the ankle biters were able to play in the garden. It was good to be able to talk to the people that we had not been able to chatch up with at the baptism. Everybody departed late in the afternoon, so we had a light tea and quiet evening with Felicty and Reg.

Felicty wasn't well (nasty cold type virus) when we woke on Monday morning. F&R had already decided not to join us on our trip to Brisol, but Jane had happily accepted so we collected her after a slightly delayed departure and headed west. We parked in Bristol at about 12.45 and met up with Phil who guided us to a deli where we had an excellent lunch of very thick butties (Phil & I) and soup (N&J). Phil had to scoot back off to work but we enjoyed perusing and purchasing in the deli before finding our way through the Bristol one-way system to the ss Great Britain. This is the world's first proper ocean liner, built in steel by Brunel. It was returned to Bistol in 1970 (which I vaguely recall) and has been wonderfully restored to its luxury passenger carrying configuration (it was later used for immigrants going to Australia and as a troop carrier in the Crimean war). We were quite late leaving Bristol so stopped at a service station on the M4 and bought a range of very tasty pre-prepared products from M&S for our dinner, and ate in the car. Nicky showed Jane photos on her iPad on the way back.

We had a quiet day on Tuesday, not just because the weather was dull but we had go to the point in the trip, as everyone does, where some trip administration is required, particularly as our return home was to start soon. We went out for an excellent lunch at The Lobster Pot with F&R. Nicky enjoyed her Stilton and broccoli soup and me my ham, egg and chips, then we shared a tipple dessert and had tea and coiffed to wash them down. Nicky went to see Aunt Veronica again in the afternoon while I did a bit of shopping in Farnham, and got a hair cut. We spent the rest of the day quietly with F&R. 

Wednesday was our last full day in England, and we had a lot of driving planned. We headed off towards Folkstone to see the RAF Battle of Britain memorial. It was quite a long drive but we thought it was worth it to see the simple but moving memorial for the few who gave so much. We then started heading back and zipped down the M23 for our lunch appointment with Alison Clark, the daughter of one of my fathers cousins (Tom). We had a lovely lunch with Alison and Jim, and also saw their boys, James, Christopher and Jack, and their two grandsons. We got stuck in traffic on the way back to Farnborough but managed to make it just in time for dinner. We packed and had an early night in bed ready for our early start on Thursday. 

First breakfast on Thursday was just after 4am, and we said our last goodbye to Felicity just after 5am. We drove to Heathrow, returned the hire car, checked in and were in the departure lounge by 6.25am. This warranted a second breakfast at Giraffe before boarding our 9.45 flight to Frankfurt. It was raining in Frankfurt when we arrived, and was still raining as we took off for Orlando, at about 2.30pm. 

This concludes our 19 days in England.

Thanks for hanging on in there, dear reader.

Rick