"Go North Young Man"Northumberland Weekend 27/01/07

Well we may not be that young anymore, but the call to "go north" at any age should not be ignored.
Judith & Brian were renting a cottage for a week in Warkworth & invited us there for as long as we could go. All we could manage unfortunately was one night, but what a great time we had.
For several days beforehand we talked about where we would eat & what we would eat. Brian is not often "allowed"to have fish n chips, so it was decided that would be at least one treat & the other was to be crab sandwiches. This is an area renowned for it's kippers & crabs & did not disappoint. We had lunch at Croster overlooking amazing seas in the local pub, and had fish from the smokehouse across the road. John & I have been feeling starved of the sea (not least because John can't find which way he is going without the sea on either side)
We walked afterwards on an amazing piece of coastline, not unlike the far north, with sand dunes, & long long beaches with no-one on them, but unlike NZ you look to the left & there is a fantastic castle in this case Dunstandburgh (which is in ruins) but was another fortification built to remind everyone of where the power lay.
Afterwards we looked at Alnwick & spotted the castle where Harry Potter was filmed, the castle is owned by the Dukes of Northumberland. Judith has a friend who lives close by who attended a function for the great & the good. It was said that the Bishop of Northumberland said "Hello I am the Bishop of Northumberlandbut please call me Michael. The Duchess replied "I am the Duchess of Northumberland, you may call me "Your Grace". Those of us who thought the class system was on the way out have had a stark reminder.

Unfortunately John was "proper poorly"& we had to come home instead of staying another night.
On the way home I could hardly stay on the road (be quiet all of you who know my driving) because the sky was so incredible. Around 4pm & the sky full of reds, oranges, purples & not just on the horizon but all around us. MAGIC!!!!!

London

It was a perfect weekend in London. Mostly good weather, walks around Hyde Park, a good hotel 1 block back from the park for 50 pounds a night, a good show and a new job for Gina. We forgot our camera so no pix, but we'll be back.
The main reason for the trip was so that Gina could attend an interview. She was offered a position which will entail her providing nursing care to people in their own homes. She is delighted as this is the position she had wanted. The pay is excellent although the hours are long (10 hours per day) and living in is required. She will ideally work 2 weeks on and 2weeks off. I will continue my teaching and will join her for long weekends etc. When we return to NZ she intends to return to Britain to work for this agency for 12 weeks per year. I will join her at the end of the period and we will travel over here. That's the plan folks!!

London seemed to have a lot less traffic so perhaps the new charges are working. We took a bus tour from which we are able to get on and off so we saw enough of the major sights to work out which we want to return to. My favourite was Trafalgar Square on a fine clear evening. It is easy to imagine it as it was 200 years ago. We saw Claire Bloom at the Theatre Royal after a good value dinner in a Tapas restaurant around the corner. BTW on the bus tour we had a wonderful guide who told us many interesting things. Such as the origin of the word "hangover", which derives from the fact that after watching the hangings at Tyburn (now Marble Arch) the crowds would get hopelessly drunk and feel terrible the following day. Similarly "on the wagon" comes from the need of the driver of the wagon transporting the prisoners to remain sober so that he could be sure that all arrived securely. Apparently everyone else was under the influence. Hopefully that included the prisoners.
I was really impressed by the relatively quiet wide streets lined with Georgian buildings that characterised the part of London we got about in.
And thank god for the underground and the intercity trains. That's what 60,000,000 people do for you. And the money around! Black 2 door Bentleys gliding past, huge mansions etc etc etc!
I prefer NZ anyday!

The Merry Wives of Windsor - The Musical.

We can now say that we have been to the RSC theatre in Stratford upon Avon, but did we see a Shakespearean work? Well, in part. It was a fabulous night in a grand theatre with the bard hanging about in the gods with a grin on his face. Jundi Dench and Simon Callow (4 Weddings and A Funeral) in the leads where tough boys on motor bikes consorted with Elizabethan types. Dench and Callow were superb and the whole experience can be summed up by collecting a trad panto without the cross-dressing and adding a smidgen of The Rocky Horror Show with a bit of hard rock Sound of Music. It worked well! And the Audience loved it.

Our weekend was another wonderful time with Peter & Sue, Auntie Marie, Richard and Kate.
Their hospitality knows no ends and we wined and dined in the best of fashion! We set off for home this afternoon with a roast of topside in our bellies, which had been washed down with a very nice Villa Maria red.
Thanks Guys.

It's back to reality tomorrow. Still, we are set on booking our April flights to Greece this week.