Sun, 23 Nov 2003

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 19:06 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Milton Keynes ( all photos )

Last Full Day on This Side of the World ( No photos )
Perhaps our longest sleep-in this entire trip came today, finally dragging ourselves out of bed about 1pm. Meaghan seemed to be doing the worst of all from the excesses of the previous night, but a big fry-up breakfast soon put everything right.
Besides convincing them all to pose for a photo, not really much was done today. A few trips out here and there for supplies, Dave had to work, some TV got watched, and Liz and I caught up with journal.
Now we just have to finish packing our suitcases and hope and pray that they aren't overweight (or at least Singapore Airlines choose not to bother us about it if they are), and order in a pizza for the night.

It's funny that the whole trip is finally coming to an end - the emotions are a mix of sadness, disbelief and nervous excitement that we will return to the 'real world' for quite a while at least. Can't complain for a second - we've had a fantastic trip that we look forward to telling you all about (if you want to hear it, that is!). And of course there is plenty more of the world to see yet.
If there is as I seem to remember wireless net access in Singapore I'll put an update online from there, otherwise see you all in Sydney!

Flight Details: Tomorrow we leave here about 5:30am to get to Heathrow for the 11am SQ317 flight to Singapore, arriving 07:40 local time 25/11. After a two hour stop-over, we actually make it to Sydney on SQ219 at 8:15pm on Tuesday the 25th. Feel free to drop down to Kingsford Smith and say hello! We'd love to see as many faces as possible, of course!

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 18:54 GMT 23/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Milton Keynes ( all photos )

Australia Falls to the Poms ( No photos )
We were all up early, Liz, Meaghan and I keen to show Dave (who is English) that the Aussies were going to clobber those pesky Poms in the Rugby World Cup Final. We donned jerseys, hoisted flags and headed into the big Weatherspoon's pub in central Milton Keynes in Meaghan's new car.
Shunning all reasoning, we got a few pints and sat down to watch the 9am kick off. Myself and the two girls were pretty much the only Aussie supporters there, against a crowd of the 'barmy army' in red and white. This didn't stop us from cheering loudly, but everyone was good sports about it.
As Jonny put that final kick over, we knew our vocals would come back to haunt us, but we just had friendly handshakes with the supporters, conceding that England had been the better team on the day, it was a fantastic game, and that the poms deserved to win. Oh well, we only have to be in the country for a couple more days to deal with the constant phone calls and text messages from English friends keen to rub it in!
The next thing after all that early-morning drinking and some post-match chatter was some food, and Meaghan and Dave led us to one of the pubs near the Snow Dome (one of the stranger things to find in a place such as Milton Keynes). We ate a great hearty meal before heading back to their place.
It wasn't too suprising that we ended up sleeping for most of the afternoon, which worked out well actually as we were heading back into town for a big bender for the night. A taxi drove us in, and after being sniffed by a sniffer dog and given the seal of approval, we were let into the noisy Lloyds bar. Plenty of Meaghan and Dave's friends were on hand to chat to, but overall the place was too packed and over-noisy to get much chatting done with heads more than one foot apart.
We set off about 1am to find a cab back to their place and crash for the evening.

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 18:34 GMT 23/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Milton Keynes ( all photos )

Milton Keynes Again ( No photos )
(Continued from London 4)
We eventually found our way into Milton Keynes, through most of the 138 roundabouts, on the phone to Meaghan as she gave us directions to their incredibly hard to locate new house. The directions I had printed out from Multimap were basically useless, but eventually we were there.
Their place is a nice little open-plan two-story house, plenty big enough for the two of them and in a nice quiet street.
After dragging our bags inside, and of course a cup of tea, Peter went off with Dave in search of accommodation for the night. Dinner came in the form of a great pasta and salad, after which we spent the night chatting on various topics from travel and sport through to politics, and of course language differences between English and Australian.

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 18:04 GMT 23/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Final Farnborough Frolic ( No photos )
It was time to battle the London traffic for the final time, Peter expertly piloted his new Peugeot 307, which he calls "Son of Percy". He purchased it from the same place we obtained Percy from after being impressed with the original Percy. This one is of course newer and better, with enough buttons to keep the driver occupied for years to come.
Our first stop was Farnborough, where Peter and Liz's mother Margaret were brought up. We drove up Starts Hill Avenue to look at the house and around the area in general. There is far more traffic and traffic lights of course, but not a lot has changed with the house itself.
Next it was on to the cemetery where Peter's parents (and hence Liz's grandparents) are buried. There are plans afoot for a new memorial plaque, but that won't be organised for quite a while, so we braved the rain to have a look around before deciding to move on.
It was of course Peter's birthday! So, a celebration was called for, and the venue was to be none other than the Change of Horses, our favourite Farnborough-ish pub. We had lunch there, our shout for Peter, and I just had to order one final serving of spotted dick (photographed here with Liz and Peter) before we left the country. Liz and I gave him a Swiss Card for his birthday, purchased of course on our way through Switzerland.
Back on the road, we battled south London traffic to get across to Pearly, where Margaret Knight lives, a friend of Peter and Margaret from way back. We had visited her with Margaret quite a while ago, but arrived a little too early this time. We went for a walk up on "the common", meaning a grassy reserve. In this case it was up on the hill, and a wonderful reminder of how beautiful London can be on the outskirts, complete with fog and drizzle. Wonderful.
After a bit of a walk through this area, excellently preserved from development by the Corporation of London, we went back to Margaret's house to find she was now there. We didn't have a long time to stay around, but a cup of tea and a chat, getting her up to date with at least some of our travels since we last met worked out well.
We wanted to get moving, as we had to get through rush our traffic up to Milton Keynes to stay with Meaghan and for the night. As it turned out, the traffic on the M25 and then the A1 was horrific, the journey taking several hours. We sat and listened to the radio to all sorts of characters ringing in with their opinions about the two news headlines - George Bush's visit to Tony Blair's local pub where he ate Fish, Chips and Mushy peas. The town had its usual population of 1500 swelled to 3000 just with security staff and media for this event. The locals were amazed as they told tales of how Bush had said the place was nice and other assorted small-talk.
The next story of course was the impending Rugby World Cup final, where the excitement was reaching fever pitch. The next morning we would see how it all played out.
During this, we drove onwards to Milton Keynes.

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 17:42 GMT 23/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Meeting Peter, Les Misérables ( No photos )
Midway through the day, after Liz and I had done some serious packing and organising of our luggage (so much to sort through!), a knock on the door heraled the arrival of Peter, Liz's uncle who we stayed with so much up in Carlisle.
He was down to say a last goodbye for a couple of nights before Liz and I head off, and also to see some sights with us around London.
After Les and Pearl provided plenty of cups of tea, we borrowed Peter and his new car for a drive into Hornchurch to post lots of things back to Oz. A little while later, we had 20kg of books and things packed into two boxes on their way back to Oz. One is going airmail so it may actually beat us home!
Peter found us a nice pub in the main road for lunch, where we ate a hearty lunch with a couple of ales before heading back to Les and Pearl's for the afternoon.
A little later, Peter mentioned that he would like to treat Liz and I to a night in a West End theatre! Not ones to complain at such ideas, we grabbed the papers and set out to find something we all wanted to see.
It didn't prove too difficult for Liz and I to come to the conclusion that the one thing we really wanted to see that we hadn't was Les Misérables, showing at the Palace Theatre. Peter approved of the idea (he'd seen it before, but mentioned quite rightly that it has probably changed quite a bit in the ten years or since he saw it, and even more so in the eighteen(!) years it has been running).
So, we got our walking shoes on (Liz's blister had healed quite a bit), and walked up to Romford station. It is quite a marked change from a year ago now when we were spending time up with Peter in Carlisle just how keener Liz and I now are to get on our feet and walk! Second nature now, and it was good to have this in common with Peter, a long-time walker.
Changing at Stratford onto the Central Line (and crossing our fingers as we passed along it through Chancery Lane, site of the derailment that stopped the line for three months earlier this year), we got off at Tottenham Court Road and walked down Shaftesbury Avenue to the Palace Theatre. We couldn't have missed it if we tried with the huge sign out the front, the crowds of people and touts standing at the door, un-ashamed of their trade.
Despite an annoying start with ushers checking tickets right in front of us due to some mix-up or other, the musical was highly enjoyable. Liz's smile didn't fade the whole time, and we were all bopping along to the music, Liz and I having played the pieces in Georges River Concert Band when it existed and Peter having sung many of them in his various choirs. Liz and I didn't know much of the plot line, which was interesting to discover, but the highlight had to be the very clever props (with a big rotating stage), and the shere professionalism of it all. That they can do it night after night is amazing.
Les and Pearl had kindly offered Peter a bed for the night (saving the hassle of finding a B&B and of course the cost), so we all went back there and got some sleep for the coming day.

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 17:15 GMT 23/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Lost in London ( No photos )
Another slow morning before we got motivated to get into the city and do a few last things which needed doing.
First was a trip to Harrods to answer Meaghan's request for one of the famous Harrods bags. My sanity left me and I let Liz lead us to where she thought it was, but we were quite mistaken! To be fair, I had no better idea than she, and we enjoyed our walk to the correct area (Knightsbridge), after lunch at Spittalfiends market, our last red bus ride (a Routemaster on route 8 from Liverpool Street to Oxford Street), a walk down Oxford Street then across Hyde Park.
The security all across the city was truly amazing, all for 'president' Bush's visit. In the middle of the park there were hundereds of police on horses, in four wheel drives and vans. Most had fully-automatic weapons, and almost all were sitting around reading the paper, happy to be paid for doing not much except for the fact that all their leave had been cancelled.
If we were still taxpayers here we would have been pretty angry at the fact that £5 million or so has been spent for a three day handshake visit so Bush can put a photo with the Queen in his re-election portfolio.
So, that behind us, we wandered further through the park we had been to a few times before, seeing it this time in a different season, and rather pretty light.
The main aim for the night was one last catch-up with my old work mates at (suprise, suprise) The Gun, the 'local' near my old work.
Plenty of people turned up, it was good to chat to people we hadn't seen for a long while, and also for the people to chat to others they hadn't seen since we left London. We're gonna miss those guys, and, dare we say it, that pub.
After closing time, we somehow found our way back to Les and Pearl's place for the night.

author Tim	location Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, England
posted 17:11 GMT 23/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Sore Feet ( No photos )
It's quite funny really - Liz and I have walked around most of the cities of Western Europe and Scandinavia, all with no blisters at all on our feet. After wandering around London on Monday night, however, Liz had a massive blister on one of her heels. That's what happens when you wear silly fashionable boots!
As such, we didn't get up to much at all, just a wander up the road to find out postal rates back to Sydney for our excess stuff. Much more expensive that they were in The Netherlands, but not much else we could do.
We were tempted to get around London to see a few more things, but decided to wait until the next day, due to the rather high cost of transport from out here in zone 6.

author Tim	location Hornchurch, Essex, England
posted 11:39 GMT 18/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Meeting up with Mates ( No photos )
We spent the morning doing some organising of things we need to get sorted before we leave for home. Things like Liz's tax, travel insurance and claims for the problems with Rosie.
At about 12:45, we headed out in the teeming rain to get into London. This involved first getting some pounds from an ATM (when will they give up and adopt the Euro!!) as the bus/train ticket seller at the newsagents didn't take cards. Completely covered in rain on the outside, it failed to get through our nice thick coats - a big change from when we didn't have them.
The bus took us to Romford station, then we jumped on the First Great Eastern service into Liverpool Street. Seeing all these places again was quite strange - on one hand it feels like home as I walked around this area every day for six months, but on the other hand it's just like we are tourists now, seeing the sights rather than just walking past them to get somewhere else.
We did eventually get somewhere else - my work's Local pub The Gun, where we met with Trevor my old boss. It was good to catch up, and we traded silly stories and generally boasted about how each other's respective countries stand no chance in the forth-coming Rugby World Cup Final.
Some pool playing and several British beers later, Liz and I set out for a walk to see a place we hadn't quite made it to last time - All Hallows by the Tower Church. The tower in the name is the Tower of London, and as such we needed to walk south from The Gun along Bishopsgate towards the Thames, then turn left at Monument Tube and walk for a little while.
The reason we wanted to see this church is that one of Liz's uncles was lost at sea in 1979, and his name is entered into a big book there which is reserved for people who have been lost at sea. The book itself was in a locked case, but one of the church attendants was happy to let us have a closer look.
The church itself was interesting - smaller than many and not exactly quiet due to its location and the number of vehicles driving by. Still, it is a fitting place for a book which contains such memories.
That done, we walked back the way we had come, and stumbled across a STA Travel office with a sign for cheap travel insurance on the door. We hadn't been successful earlier in the day organising this, and luckily so. We ended up getting a special youth insurance which covers us just for the flights (which is exactly what we want) for about 20% of the price we were trying to pay earlier in the day!
After spending a couple more hours at The Gun where we were joined by Alwin (a Kiwi) who was of course hassled for the way his rugby team lost to the Aussies last weekend, Liz and I were eventually the only ones left.
We had been shunning Indian food for the previous few weeks as we knew we would get back to London and wanted to go to the famous-for-good-curries Brick Lane. So that's exactly what we did. The hawker out the front of Dawaat Bangla Cuisine was the most convincing, so we sat down to a meal of way too much excellent food. Hey, that picture looks a lot like one from back in Singapore!.
No problems getting home with the tube from Aldgate East to Liverpool Street, then the train and bus back to Les and Pearl's.

author Tim	location Hornchurch, Essex, England
posted 12:09 GMT 18/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Feet Firmly Up ( No photos )
After such a busy day, and as it was a Sunday, we had no grand plands for this day. We got up nice and early to watch England beat France in the Rugby World Cup semi-final. Nice that they beat someone finally, especially after loosing the League Ashes series yet again. Liz and I are actually starting to hope that England win the final next weekend just so they feel a bit better. The tabloid papers never stop having a go at their sporting 'heroes' at every opportunity.
Several nice conversations with Les and Pearl on various matters took up quite a bit of the day, along with using their fast internet connection to find out what was happening in the world.
Pearl's sister came over and the five of us ate a magnificent roast dinner, Liz and my first for a long long time. Somehow we fit in servings of a wonderful dessert also.
We unpacked all of our things we had carried, plus the suitcases we left here while we travelled around and put it all in different piles. By the time we had done that, we were in no mood to do any more, and it all just sat there on the bed in different piles until we wanted to go to sleep!
We also dosed up on English TV, glad to see that not much had changed at all. So many lifestyle shows, text-in-now-to-vote shows and celebrity gossip garbage!

author Tim	location Hornchurch, Essex, England
posted 12:21 GMT 18/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 4 ( all photos )

Back off the Continent ( No photos )
(Continued from The Netherlands 4)
Back into British airspace, we encountered something that on previous flights in and out of the place we hadn't - the weather actually looked better than it had in The Netherlands!
The ridiculously short flight was at an end with a safe touchdown at London Luton, and we all filed off the plane, once again thinking that EasyJet might be a cut-price airline, but they do everything very well. Not one whinge out of us.
After a quick look back at the plane, we filed into the terminal building. Immigration gave me no problems, and once we had passed through customs it dawned on us that that meant we had everything back into the country!
Once again a luggage trolley assisted us carrying our way-too-much luggage, and we purchased train tickets through to Romford. There was lots of track work going on, which wasn't that much of a suprise, but perhaps our journey would work out ok. The shuttle bus took us to the station, past places we remembered from when we last used this airport on our way to Amsterdam back in April.
Despite having to use three different trains and hence lug our bags on and off them, the trip went ok. People stared at us funny as we had so many things to lug around, but it didn't bother us - this will probably have been the last time we need to move things like this!
From Romford we took a cab to Les and Pearl's place, bringing our total number of means of transport for the day to nine - a Walk to Utrecht Centraal, train to Duivendrecht, train to Schiphol Airport, plane to London Luton, bus to Luton Airport Parkway, train to West Hampstead, train to Stratford, train to Romford, then cab to Les and Pearl's!!
We arrived there about 4pm, and not too suprisingly all we wanted was to dump our things and have a shower. Pearl cooked us a great English meal of fish and chips, and we watched a bit of TV and chatted before it was time to collapse exhausted into bed.

author Tim	location Wassenaar, Netherlands
posted 22:48 CEST 11/07/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Across England ( all photos )

Drive to Harwich ( No photos )
Awaking feeling much better than the night before at the ungodly hour of 4:15 am (body clock going very strange), we tried as best we could to be quiet as we packed our things.
After all their help I hope we didn't wake them up, but the throaty gutsy roar of Rosie in the morning probably didn't help matters much.
On to the totally empty roads, we again tackled the problem of getting in/out of Romford, failed, tried again, got fuel, and were on the way to Harwich.
This rather pleasant drive took about an hour and a half, leaving us plenty of time to enjoy a cup of tea and a thrown together breakfast in the car park of the ferry terminal.
As the gate eventually opened we drove through only to be pulled aside by an elderly lady. On reflection this wasn't too suprising since we were by far the cheapest looking vehicle beside all the monolithic motorhomes with screaming kids. Worried at first, we ended up having a great old chat with the woman who was quite impressed that we had thrown all our jobs away and were seeing the world. Not sure what she was intending to do (full search of the van? of us?), but as we drove away she said to her friend "Not even going to bother with that one". Strange. Maybe we're just nice people. And nice people don't smuggle drugs or weapons of mass destruction.
We drove onto the ferry, which was rather huge, locked up the van, and wandered upstairs to enjoy the eight-hour journey to Hoek van Holland, The Netherlands.

author Tim	location Wassenaar, Netherlands
posted 22:36 CEST 11/07/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Across England ( all photos )

Tidying Up in London ( 2 photos )
We hadn't planned on getting back into London, but that is just what we did on this day.
After a hearty breakfast, we got packed some more things into our suitcases we have left at Les and Pearl's, noting that we pretty much have a full suitcase ready to send home to Oz. Deciding to leave it for the moment, we walked down to get a bus to Romford mainline station.
From there, we got straight onto a train to Liverpool Street. Odd, as I'd spent a reflective fifteen minutes just staring around the place last time I was there, thinking it would be my last for quite some time.
Finding the well-hidden post office there, we put a few things into the post to various parts of the world, before Liz wandered over to NatWest, her bank, to attempt to close her account. By the time that the first queue had put us into a different queue only to have her name taken for an interview (remember we just wanted to close a bank account), I decided that I would head off to complete one of our other tasks.
The main one was a trip to Russell Square to visit Carlo, who lives in our old place at Cricklewood to collect our mail. This task completed, I said a goodbye to Carlo, hoping to meet up with him somewhere around Europe when the get into travels sometime around September.
Back on the train, it was a last stop at The Gun, the local hangout for the Capita (my London work) people, to say a farewell final to Trevor and Danny.
Several hours later, we found our way back to Romford, located the correct bus and were completely suprised to find another fantastic meal awaiting us. Our original plan was to drive there and then up to Harwich for the next morning's ferry, but I had a sudden migrane and a need to be confined to bed.
As I did this, Liz went online and chatted to Sebastian in Germany, trying to work out plans for the weekend. Partly due to what he and Jessi wanted to do, we chose not to go to the Berlin Love Parade as origninally intended, and instead spend a few days looking around The Netherlands.

author Tim	location Wassenaar, Netherlands
posted 21:13 CEST 11/07/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Across England ( all photos )

Kindly Les and Pearl ( No photos )
(Continued from Ireland 2)
Back into the strangely sunny England, Liz had a sleep in the van and I was considering the same, but remembered not to as I was driving. The strange hours have wreaked havoc with our body clock. It's these late night ferries we get to save money. All part of the fun.
After a coffee stop somewhere along the M4, we got stuck in really heavy traffic around the M25, then getting lost with the hopeless signposting that exists around Romford and Hornchurch making us a few hours later than intially guessed to arrive at Les and Pearl's place in Essex.
How fantastic these people are. There's not much we wanted more than a huge baked dinner, and there it was. Wonderful stuff, followed with a great dessert as well. Thanks in public for a job well done!
A bit of chat then bed for us, tired once again.

author Tim	location Wassenaar, Netherlands
posted 20:53 CEST 11/07/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Wales/South Wales ( all photos )

It's still foggy and empty ( No photos )
On our previous journeys through Wales, you may remember that we were not too kind to the place, owing to the horrible weather and seeming lack of anything vaguely interesting to do.
This time we were not disappointed - Wales put on a great show, more than enough to convince us that our initial impressions were correct.
To be fair, it started back at the ferry port in Ireland - there was heavy fog all over the place, but this was just an omen - Wales was only a three hour ferry ride away after all. When we arrived, more and more fog had been assembled to greet us.
We drove on through the pea soup, headlights on during the day to see where we were going and warn oncoming traffic on the far-better-than-Irish roads that a large red box-like object was coming their way.
Deciding against stopping in many places on our way back to Les and Pearl's in England, we had morning tea for two in St Clears, and Liz failed to find anything resembling a bakery anywhere in the town for something to eat. Very strange, so we pushed on, stomachs rumbling.
This was eventually rectified at a motorway services near Swansea, where a Little Chef provided us with a couple of hours reading the paper, eating pizza and cheap desserts before we were back on the road again.
Crossing the M4 toll bridge without paying this time, we waved Wales goodbye until such time as we can return to give it justice, and we drove drove out of the fog (no seriously) into England.

author Tim	location Wassenaar, Netherlands
posted 20:47 CEST 11/07/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Wales/South Wales ( all photos )

Crashing back in Wales ( No photos )
The remainder of the ferry ride went quite well - nothing much to report as I went to sleep fairly rapidly.
Upon waking, I somehow managed to convince Rosie to shuttle forward from her precariously parked position (on an angle right at the back of the boat - we were well and truly last off), back to the same carpark where we spent the night before we came over. Plenty of other people had the same idea, we all slept rather rapidly.

author Tim	location Slane, Meath, Ireland
posted 18:14 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Northern Ireland ( all photos )

Towards the South ( 1 photo )
This morning was an un-surprisingly slow affair, with some reading, a bit of breakfast organised, and much apathy. We kicked the soccer ball around for a while, tiring ourselves out before loading up Rosie for another day.
There was not too much pointed out to us of interest in the area between Belfast and the border with the Republic, and we were running low on fuel, so we drove on south through Newry, before seeking out much cheaper fuel back in the Republic of Ireland.

author Tim	location Slane, Meath, Ireland
posted 18:14 BST 02/07/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Northern Ireland ( all photos )

Belfast and Castlewellan ( 27 photos )
Eventually we got on the road, heading more-or-less straight south to see what Belfast had to offer. In a nutshell, not a lot.
Cleaner and more lively that the few other big cities we have been into recently, there were certainly places of interest. We managed to park somewhat in the city centre almost by accident, and unloaded to take a wander around. This took in the dominant City Hall, the leaning Albert Memorial Clocktower, un-impressive St Anne's Cathedral (not being religious people, we look at the architecture of them and this was rather bland), and famous Crown Liquor Saloon, where we lunched in the extravagant surroundings, enjoying a birthday pint, great food and very rude service. Can't have everything, I guess.
The first we noticed of the city's scarred past was reading about the Grand Opera House, across the road from our lunch location. In 1991 an IRA bomb caused massive damage to it, millions were spent doing it up again before "another well loaded ruck was parked outside in May 1993". You wouldn't know now, but this was just one sign of the way the Troubles have affected the city.
It does become a lot more obvious when you drive a little out into suburbia, as we did next, to where there is the massive ugly "peace fence", separating the Catholic areas from the Protestant. Towering at least ten metres high, there are security camera monitored gates which only open during daylight hours (which, as an aside, we are still having until at least 10pm here). We got some stares as we tried to look closer, mothers clutching their children and the like, so we decided not to push our luck, taking a few snaps from afar with zoom lenses.
Next stop was whowhatwherewhenwhy, a similar place to Questacon in Canberra for those who have been there. In the "we're too cool to have decent signage" way of many places, however, we couldn't even find the way in! This hurdle easily overcome by walking in the exit, we were almost instantly transfixed by the strange and amazing sights - massive marble balls on water you could spin around, musical stairs with a different note on each step (Liz's favourite), a fire tornado, and lots of interesting hands-on experiments. Worst criticism of the place was that a lot of the stuff was geared a little too much for the younger ones. No problem, as we had a great time in the "adults must be accompanied by a child under eight" section playing shop, firing balls around the place and playing with water toys.
We could have spent a lot more time there, but the place hadn't quite removed our bad taste of the city in general, so we wandered out (when we could work out what floor that was on - the organisation of the place was rediculous).
Having had enough of the city and its very strange, tense feeling, we headed out in a southerly direction. It wasn't long until we hit a massive traffic jam. Not sure for what the problem was as we crawled in the direction of our next caravan park, we soon found out - at least fifty army jeeps, police, etc., all weilding automatic weapons were surrounding a park, directing traffic in a different direction. We have no idea what the problem was, as there were still children playing in the park as best we could see, but when we asked later that night if anyone knew about it, suggestions ranged from pipe-bombs to bomb hoaxes. Like water off a duck's back, nobody seemed phased - it was just a normal occurrence in the city.
Very glad to be out of the city, we headed south looking for somewhere to go. This lead us more or less directly to Castlewellan, where there was a local Forest Park complete with camping facilities. Plenty of other people, a good atmosphere and proximity to the town made it a sure-fire winner for us, as we unpacked, relaxed, and headed straight into town to unwind and celebrate my birthday as best as we could.
The basic plan was sound - wander around the village's eight or so pubs, sample the delights of each, find some food somewhere and then stagger back home. First pub there was only two really old guys in there and the bartender, who turned down the volume of Wimbledon on the TV as we entered, as if to listen to our conversation.
We had decided that we would proceed around the town in a circular manner, not allowed to jump pubs to get to the food, and as luck would have it, the food place next door was closed, so we had to get to another pub instead. This one was in a B&B place, where we watched the next set of tennis and then some cooking show, chatting with two old biddies about such and such. Despite claims on the signs outside to the contrary, this place wasn't serving food.
No matter, as we only had a couple of pubs between us and the food, the first being a tiny, old, horrible little place run by a crazy paranoid old woman named Mary (the one on the left, smartypants) who was nevertheless quite accomodating (she practically had to open up to serve us, as nobody else was in there or appeared to have been for half a century). She said that Ireland was a nice place to travel around (we agree), but everywhere bigger than this eight-pub, one-horse, two-food-outlet town was evil, and you would get stabbed, everything stolen, and generally have a really bad time there. She'd never travel to London since it was to big and dangerous. We pretended to heed her advice, but still intend to see places a little more adventureous than Castlewellan on our travels. Oh, and her Guiness was terrible.
Taking the by now obligatory photo outside the pub, we wandered past one pub that was closed (what's with that!), the next one was the last on one side of the street - half way there! We had a chat with the very friendly owner, who's son had recently returned from Australia, he astounded us by shouting us a round of drinks! I suppose the old adage is true - "the first one's free", and combined with free Jukebox and cheap pool table, our Castlewellan pub crawl had run off the rails. We played for a while, had another round of drinks (had to pay for something there - we felt bad).
By this time the rest of the pubs were closed, but luckily one of the town's "food" outlets was still open. Not at all fussy what we ate, it seemed ok at the time and has caused no ill effects, so it must have been alright.
Somehow managing to navigate back through the Forest Park to the caravan park (we had cleverly parked near both the entrance and the toilet block), we set up the bed then crashed heavily.

author Tim	location Cushendall, Antrim, Northern Ireland
posted 10:54 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Northern Ireland ( all photos )

Happy Birthday to Me! ( 27 photos )
Yes, that time again - one year older. We are spending it doing very little at a caravan park where we are parked about a metre from the ocean. We have been listening all night to the waves breaking right near us. It is of course very relaxing, and we are taking our time getting on the road today.
Liz has been harbouring some presents from far away, thanks to Mum and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and all those who sent birthday wishes - it's good to hear from everyone.

And now I'm off to ring the folks back home, who have been trying to get through to me this morning without much luck thanks to the international phone systems.

author Tim	location Cushendall, Antrim, Northern Ireland
posted 10:54 BST 01/07/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Northern Ireland ( all photos )

Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede ( 47 photos )
Getting on the road on Monday, we spent most of the day driving around the very scenic North-East coast of Northern Ireland, taking in the towns of Portstewart, Portrush and Portballintraie, a quick stop to have a look in the gift shop at the Old Bushmills Distillery, before tackling the two big tourist attractions in this area.
First was the Giant's Causeway, famous world-wide, although I have to admit to not having heard of it. It consists of 38,000 (or so, we didn't count) strange pentagonal and hexagonal stones, all stacked in columns by the sea. We didn't expect much (that's the best way with these attractions), and after a quick look at the Bushmills to Giant's Causeway Narrow Guage Railway, we then parked down the road from the Causeway Visitor's centre (which we ignored) to avoid paying the hefty parking fee, we wandered across the top of the cliffs for a good view from above.
It wasn't until we got nice and close (after a walking down the cliffs admiring the huge "The Organ" built of similar stones nearby) that we truly appreciated just how strange this place is. There's a pretty complicated geological explanation, of course, but we just thought it was cool, and happily walked all over the place, glad that nobody has been silly enough to fall off and turn the place into a "view from a distance" tourist attraction like so many others.
Walking back to the top, and hence shunning the expensive mini-bus that so many others took (if you are disabled, then sure, but lazy is not good enough - it was a lovely day!), we decided that rather than take in the "twelve minute audio-visual Causeway experience" we were glad we had seen the real thing the way it is meant to be seen, and headed back to the van.
Onwards not far around the coast to the stunning scenery of the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We had expected this to be a big, expensive attraction that you do just because everyone else does, but were pleasantly suprised to find a small, National Trust-run area where the bridge took second place by far to the stunning scenery. The clear blue waters far below, nesting birds all up the cliff faces and the ones diving for fish a hundered metres or so below, all while you walked along almost totally un-spoilt coast-line and tiny islands once you had made it across the bridge. The bridge itself was rather non-scary, only 20m or so above the sea below.
Back in the van, we drove around probably the most picturesque drive of the trip so far - the coast road between Ballyvoy and Cushendun. This two-tonne-or-less hilly, windy road ducked and turned all along the coast line, until we had to wait ten minutes or so for some cows to wander along the road! The farming family were all out in force making sure the cows made it along safely.
From Cushendun, we looked in the Glenariff Forest at the caravan park there but were quite un-impressed. We attempted to have a "Tim's Birthday Barbequeue" yesterday by purchasing some meat to this site as it was listed as having a BBQ, but upon arrival we found it almost totally devoid of life, nothing to do, in the middle of a forest and certainly no BBQ.
Back to Cushendun, we spent the night in the caravan park where we still sit. We didn't quite have a BBQ, but Liz did a great job of dinner last night (kind of like a BBQ, but inside), and some bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning.

author Tim	location Ballymoney, Northern Ireland
posted 19:57 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Northern Ireland ( all photos )

Northern Ireland - Derry ( 15 photos )
(Continued from the Ireland 1 section)
Driving across the border was a strange affair. At first, we didn't even notice. No signs, no nothing. But all of a sudden, little things are different - the road markings switch back to UK-style, road distances are back to miles, petrol soars in price, and the roads are far far better. Also, the money is Northern Ireland pounds which are worth the same as UK pounds but have different notes. No Euros here. Confusing!
We drove in to Derry/Londonderry for a look around. This place was the centre of some of the worst "Troubles" which I won't attempt to provide history for here. Suffice to say, there was some concern that we were travelling there, even though nothing has been a problem since 1997. Parking on the outskirts, we wandered towards the centre for a look around.
A few more changes became apparent the more we looked - the big chain stores such as Sainsburys appear again, signs no longer had the gaelic equivalent displayed as prominently, and everywhere you looked, if a sign originally was printed with Londonderry, you could be sure that someone had scribbled out the London part in grafitti.
We tried un-successfully to connect the laptop at an internet cafe on The Diamond, which is the central square of the walled part of town. Derry is one of the only cities around which still has a complete wall, having never been penetrated. If only this had helped those who were slaughtered at the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1972, the memorial to which we took in soberly, hidden away in suburbia.
Considering wandering further around town, we instead decided that some lunch was in order to rest our weary bodies - Liz's back is particularly bad. We were directed to one of the only places to eat - a great little pub where we ate a huge three-course meal for a rather reasonable price, before setting off on a wander around town.
It was about here that I remembered that now we were back in the UK, I could use my dial-up access on the phone once again, so we didn't need to look any further for an Internet cafe.
Having had enough of a look at specific sites, we walked down a different way back to the van. Finding a Levi's shop, and noting that I desperately needed some new pants, I tried on a pair of jeans, liked them straight away and grabbed them. Trying not to convert the price back to Aussie dollars (thought I was over that!), we bought a soccer/foot ball on the cheap as well - good to kick around caravan parks for some exercise.
After a quick dash back across the border to stock up on some much cheaper fuel, we drove on to tonight's port of call, Drumaheglis Marina & Caravan Park, not far from the little town of Ballymoney. This is a pleasant place, on a lake, which we have had a walk around. Don't think we will need to cook dinner tonight after our lunch!

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

Rosie Runs, across Wales ( 6 photos )
This morning, the helpful and apologetic mechanic had another look, declaring the problem to now be the clutch slave cylinder. Sounds interesting, just get us a new one please! Once again, nobody in town had the part, so it had to be shipped in from London on the parts round. That eventually arrived around 1pm, by which time we were even more sick of Yeovil and just wanted it all to work. The mechanic took it for a decent length drive before declaring it ok. That remains to be seen, but no problems thus far.
We took a different road today, avoiding the jinxed A37 and instead driving down to the M5, then taking the bridge across to Wales (the nice lady at the toll gate noticed that even though our vehicle was technically a van, we were using it as a car and charged us only £4.50 - otherwise it would have been £9!).
Funny thing happened. Last time we were in Wales, the weather was horrible even though the surrounding days were fine. The same happened again today. Constant, dreary drizzle of the type we haven't seen for quite some time.
Anyway, we saw less of what we intended, but are now at the ferry port in Fishguard, camped in the parking-lot, where we cooked dinner before getting up to date with our journals and trying to get a few hours sleep before the 3:15am ferry.
All being well, we should touch down in Ireland tomorrow. Where we expect the weather to pick up, having left Wales.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

More Yeovil ( 1 photo )
Having Tuesday morning to kill, we walked back in to Yeovil to see if it was any more exciting in daylight. There were markets, and the beautiful church and gardens in the middle made a great place to sun-bake (we almost have tans again!), but in truth we ran out of things to do fairly rapidly. Or, more truthfully, Yeovil ran out.
Struggling by now, we found an Internet cafe where I attempted to explain to a local how I wanted to plug my laptop in to his network. Three "experts" later and I just took the cable and did it myself. That's where the last update came from.
Down the hill to Weatherspoons (one of the big chain pubs here, but they're actually very good), we sat and did some puzzles and read for a while until we got a phone call that Rosie was ready! How over-joyed we were!
It was further walk back to the mechanic that we had thought, but we arrived, sweating yet looking forward to getting back on the road.
We did so, but luck was not on our side. Sure, the clutch was fantastic (from how well it works now, it must have been half way gone when we bought it), but by about twenty miles out of town, I was having a lot of trouble getting it in to gear - at one traffic lights I had to start in third as nothing else would go in!
Clearly this could not go on, so we once again pulled off the road (we had abandoned the prospect of the Eden Project and Cornwall by this time and were heading straight North) into another, smaller than Yeovil town called Midsomer Norton. I just managed to get into a side road, but it wouldn't go into reverse, so Liz had to push!
"At least we will be able to see a town that isn't Yeovil", I spoke way too soon. It was agreed with the insurance people that going back to the mechanic who already knew what had been done was probably the best bet, but there was little chance of me driving it this time. So, we waited around for a (different) mechaninc, who took a quick look before loading Rosie onto a flat-bed tow-truck, bound for none other than our favourite town Yeovil. Joy was us.
Through the twenty miles of winding (beautiful, it must be said) countryside, holding our breath as we just made it under a low bridge, we sat in the back of the tow truck looking behind us at Rosie's big VW badge. "At least we will save on fuel".
Opting to camp in the grounds of the mechanic (we weren't desperate enough to go back to the Preston Hotel, even if we didn't have to pay for it), we cooked our first meal in the van and had a great night reading and relaxing - what we had long-imagined our trip had been like. Except it was in an industrial estate carpark outside a mechanics in the back-streets of possibly the most boring town in England.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

Stonehenge, Rosie throws a Clutch ( 28 photos )
By all rights, our body clocks told us that Monday morning was time for work. Not so, we had something else in mind - a trip to Stonehenge! To be honest, we had expectations held reasonably low on this one. Plenty of guidebooks have commented about how you are so far from the stones themselves that you might as well be somewhere else. Well, we were pleasantly suprised by it all.
Sure, there were way too many tourists there (it has to be said - the Americans certainly don't do much to fight-off their stereotypes when they travel in large groups, talk loudly, and generally complain about anything they can find), and it wasn't as good we felt as many of the sites we had seen up in Orkney, but we can now say we have done it.
In stark contrast, nearby and relatively unknown Woodhenge we visited earlier had nobody there but us, and we could walk all over it. This was not as visually impressive, however, the visible posts being concrete replicas of where the wooden ones were found to have stood.
It wasn't too far out from Stonehenge, in the rough direction of Cornwall, that I started to notice something was not all right with the Big Red Bus. We lost a lot of power climbing hills, and it seemed to get worse and worse. By the time we had jumped off the main road looking for the nearest town and landed in Yeovil, I had surmised the problem was with the clutch.
We limped in to the centre of town, and both agreed we had made a good decision in taking out Motoring and Travel insurance with the Caravan Club. We rang them up, they found us a local garage and directed us through.
Cutting out a lot of boring detail, we eventually found a garage not far out of the town centre who had the replacement clutch on overnight order. That sorted out, we only had to work out what to do with ourselves! First job was finding somewhere to stay. We stumbled on the less-than-impressive Preston Hotel, which provided average rooms, average food, and above average bills (Well, we have just started getting used to £8 per night caravan sites, so £55 is a big jump). Luckily, this was all paid for under the insurance, but we didn't like the look of the food on offer, so took a bus (number 001 - there's not many bus routes in Yeovil) into town to see what Yeovil was all about.
Honestly, not much. They have a pub called the Alice Springs, complete with over-the-top Steve Erwin-style Aussie-isms, but it was closed. As were plenty of others around town, and we had just missed the coffee shops. Later, as we wandered back to our hotel, we noted that the most lively place in town was the Yeovil Conservative Club. No joke.
In the mean-time, however, we made ourselves the first customers (and, actually, second-to-last) at what must be the biggest hotel in town. Ordering a drink, we grabbed the local paper for a read, and a "what's on" guide. Is it just me, or is it a bad omen when an already-thin guide to a city's night-life is half-filled with jokes? Not even funny ones, just ones obviously picked to fill the space so that perhaps visitors would not notice that there was nothing to do in such a place.
Eventually deciding that since our dinners were being paid for by the insurance, we would order as extravagantly as the town could provide, we went through to the lushly-appointed yet still somewhat lacking Dining Room, where the lights were turned on for us, and the CD player fired up with what we later found was Yeovil's only CD - a dreadful muzak compilation of concert-band mutilations of perfectly good pop music.
We ordered a food, then noticed with amusement that we were the only ones there. Not even a bartender was at the bar, just us and the muzak. We chatted about our poor luck with the van, and hoped that this was to be the worst of it.
The food arrived just as the Only CD finished, so the waited went over to change the CD. Only he didn't - he just pressed Play again. Wonderful. The food made up for the disappointment however, and the thought that we didn't have to pay the bill made it even better.
Somewhere during dinner, The CD finished, and a different bar-person decided that Play should once again be pressed. How we managed to sit there any longer I don't know, but by the time the CD finished again, we left. As we were waiting for the bill, I reached over the bar and pressed Play - somehow, this was what Yeovil wanted.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Back on the Road ( 2 photos )
Tracing back to our departure from London:
Many people had commended on the stupidity of getting up early on Sunday after the big night before to drive half-way across the country. As it happens, we weathered it suprisingly well.
First we needed to pack Rosie, who we parked right outside the front door to throw things in. Mark helped, as he was getting a free ride half-way home, so he didn't have much choice!
That was less painful than expected, as we opted to simply throw things where they fit, rather than attempting to organising anything. There was plenty of time for that later.
Next task was far harder - waking up our housemates to say goodbye. In the end, Carlo and Nicole were roused, followed by the sleepy Maddie, Panella and Liz. We will miss them of course, but that's what this travelling stuff is all about.
Bus loaded, we proceeded to enter McDonalds across the road for only the second or maybe third time since we have lived there, and grab some breakfast. As an excuse, we had packed up all our kitchen stuff so had to eat something!
We jumped in and drove around the North Circular, first stop was Romford station to pour Mark on to the train (he lives further out in Essex but on the same line), then on to Les and Pearl's.
Big thanks to them for helping us out at late notice with a place to store our suitcases, a big help as other friends are unsure as to what their futures hold. We had a cup of tea, then Les helped me out with a bit of DIY on the van (we are going to have to get good at that), before he jumped in the pilot seat. Liz later commented that it looked like he could happily have driven around Europe sitting there!
We said our goodbyes, then found our way back to the motorway, heading away from London to commence the second South England leg of our trip.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 22:23 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 2 ( all photos )

Hillside ( 9 photos )
(Continued from Working in London 2)
We said our goodbyes, then found our way back to the motorway. General aim for that day was pretty basic - get to Hillside Caravan Club site in one piece, relax, and organise the van a bit.
This all worked just fine, as we enjoyed our first relax in the sun with our outdoor chairs, a walk around the beautiful site, and a dinner at a great little nearby country pub with a fantastic and large outdoor section. Weather has been great!

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 21:41 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Huge Capita Farewell ( 6 photos )
It would have been nice to sleep in Saturday morning, but that was not to be, as we had things to do - bags to pack, odds-and-ends to buy, and Liz had generously organised a relaxing facial for me as an anniversary present! Who was I to complain, soaking up the good vibes while struggling to stay awake.
The main aim of the day, however, was the big farewell party at our favourite London pub, the oft-visited Bull and Bush, North End. We arrived at 3pm, and it wasn't long until we were joined by my work-mate Ian, his wife and toddler. By 6pm plenty were sharing the fun, and by 10pm or so, only the battlers remained, with plenty of work mates offsetting the slight disappointment that not many of our other mates were able to attend. Can't have everything.
The fun lasted until 11pm closing time (won't miss that when we leave), when we staggered back down the considerable hill to Golders Green station, Mark from work in tow, and grabbed a bus back to Cricklewood. He stayed over the night, proudly being the only pom in a house of Aussies.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 21:41 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Goodbye to House-mates ( No photos )
Friday afternoon, people from both our jobs suddenly became nice to us and seemed to genuinely regret that we were leaving. At least the several job offers Liz recieved means that if we need to head back here at any stage, that could happen.
That evening, we had organised a night out with the people from our house - those that could make it were Carlo, Nicole and the other Liz. This was again down at the Brondes Age (spelt it right this time) restaurant, which apparently is a bit of a house tradition. We capped off a good night by wandering down to one of the Aussie Pubs in Kilburn, where my plan of not coming to the other side of the world to pretend you are back home seemed to have been a good one. Plenty of Aussies do, however, and we chatted awhile before wandering back to the house.

author Tim	location Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales
posted 21:41 BST 18/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Whitehall Walk ( 43 photos )
Going back what seems like a long long time to Thursday 12th, I took my camera into work to capture a few last snaps of the area. This rapidly paid off, as they were filming a period commercial using some of the old Victorian buildings near work, as well as there being a life-size human table football game. This consisted of people paying money to be strapped to large metal bars, and work as a team to chase a ball left and right across the table. Very strange to watch.
The real reason I had taken the camera was to do the last of the Eccentric London walks we intended to - around Whitehall. Friend from work Mark accompanied us around the area.
My work at Spitalfields was smack-bang in the middle of it, and I was glad that we hadn't chosen to this walk earlier, because right at the exit of my work was one of Jack the Ripper's murder sites! We tramped around quite a few other interesting places including the Blind Beggar pub (still containing crimson carpet incase anyone wants to commit a third murder there), the house of the freak-of-nature Elephant Man, a closer look at Christ Church, and the Dickensian Artillery Passage, all riddled with plenty of gory history. Liz was dying for a Brick Lane curry (that's the place to go if you want a curry in London), so we partook in one of the random places which seemed to have a suitable menu. It was great.

author Tim	location Australia House, London, England
posted 10:07 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Only Four Sleeps to Go! ( No photos )
Wow - that's not long until we jump in the combi and get on the road. It has gone so fast, but looking back on what we have done, we have managed to squeeze quite a bit in to our time here.
I am writing this from Australia House, Aldwych, awaiting my turn to get my Australian Driving Licence renewal form witnessed. Not a bad excuse to get into work late anyway, and see a bit of London in the process.

[ Tim's update has been broken out into separate entries ]

That may be the last update for a while, as after Friday we will be back on to mobile-phone net access for the most of our travels. Photos will be thin on the ground as they take a long time to send through the expensive phone, and can't be sent if we do updates from an Internet cafe.
Rest assured, we will do our best, and hope that people continue to email us as we travel around Europe like we originally set out to do!

author Tim	location Australia House, London, England
posted 10:07 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Shakespeare's Globe ( 22 photos )
Sunday morning, we had a bit of a sleep in before awaking the sleepy-heads Meaghan and Dave, who had spent the night uncomfortably on the couch. It could have been worse, since there were also two extra people there staying (for a total of twelve) - Ben and Liz who used to live here, have been travelling and have come back to look for work. Luckily they had squeezed themselves into somebody else's room for the night.
Staggering slowly on the walk down to the cleverly-named Bronds Age restaurant/pub (it's at Brondesbury station, just past Kilburn), Meaghan noted that she had been there before visiting Clinton, who lived here during his Big Europe Adventure a year or so ago. It was not a night she wished to recall, apparently.
This places serves the best full vegetarian breakfasts - we ordered one each and relaxed in the funky, nothing-matches-at-all atmosphere of the pub, complete with "hand" chairs, Julius-Caesar style lounge-chairs, and so many other things that if you don't like what you are sitting on, just pick something else from close at hand.
Jumping on the tube at Kilburn, we waved farewell to Meaghan and Dave for the next month or so (we should be able to visit them on our way across England from Ireland to Holland) at Finchley Road, the target for Liz and I was the replica Shakespeare's Globe theatre at Southwark.
Not being the hugest fans of the master's work, we had none-the-less had this listed as a "must-do" before leaving London. We had put it off all winter as they only run plays during the summer months.
It was so worth the wait.
The building itself is very impressive - reminding me constantly of my English classes at Sydney Tech where we studied the original and how the audience were participants. Picture a shrunken football stadium, round, with vertically-stacked stands around the outside, a stage at one end of the middle and the "plebians" watching the show from the ground. That was us, and at £5 a ticket it is one of the best investments so far.
The show itself we went to see was an all-female production of Richard III. This I found interesting, as back in Shakespeare's time even the female parts were played by males, so this was quite uncommon. Richard II is also on there at various times, so I was a little wary about booking tickets to the "sequel" without seeing the original (or, for that matter, Richard I!), but my worries were un-founded.
Standing for three hours (with interval) passed quickly, and the cast dealt amazingly well with the weather (there's no roof for us in standing-room), which they weaved into the plot to great effect when the rain started pooring down. The rain dried up, but we both freely admin to a few tears at the end, such was the quality of the performance.
Best thing in London so far. Although there has been plenty of contenders to that title!
We then wandered next door to the Tate Modern. Even Liz who freely admits she's not a big fan of weird modern art was impressed by the strange array of things on display. Of most note were the strange massive inflatable sculptures out the front, visible from miles away that you can actually walk inside, and an exploded shed, captured with suspended bits of abandoned junk as it would have been micro-seconds after the explosion, with a light bulb in the middle that casts amazing shadows all over the room the display has to itself.
Would have liked to have spent more time there, but I guess we can't have everything.
We found ourselves at the dingy little Black Friar pub at, funnily enough, Blackfriars a little later on. We had wandered up here on our Eccentric London Blackfriars and Fleet Street walk a few months ago, but the pub was closed at the time. It turned out to be an amazing little place, complete with mosaics on the roof, very dingy little corners which the two of us just squeezed into, squinting to read the menu in the gloom. Great stuff. It was a bit of a toss-up between travelling into Chinatown near Leicester Square for some Chinese food or staying in the pub.
Eventually, the ability to get a train straight back from Blackfriars to Cricklewood won us over, and we did so, retiring for the night after a weekend well-spent around London.

author Tim	location Australia House, London, England
posted 10:07 BST 11/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Anniversary Proper ( No photos )
Saturday, in contrast to Friday, was a day of doing things with the van (how romantic!). I went down to gather it early in the morning from Hanwell, returning awaiting my cooked breakfast I had been promised for the two-hour trip, only to find Liz just struggling out of bed! No matter, we ate and then jumped in the van for a morning of collecting various bits and pieces - an electrical hook-up cable, gas bottle, stereo, cigarette lighter (for connecting all sorts of goodies), 240v inverter (ditto), etc.
Returning to rest our not-too-well bodies, we eventually got in touch with Meaghan who was coming to meet us for the last time. It was decided that we head to the eye-opening Camden for a look at the markets, aiming to see the night's show at the Jazz Cafe, but they only had one table left with no view of the band, so we wandered around grasping for alternate plans.
Meaghan and Liz dragged Dave (Meaghan's boyfriend) and I around the markets for quite some time, while miraculously only managing to purchase one T-Shirt between them (one for Liz which says "Feed me Chocolate!").
Wandering up to Chalk Farm station, we caught the tube to Golders Green, then the bus up the hill to probably our favourite London pub, the Bull and Bush on North End Road. This little place suits us so well that we are having our leaving do there this Saturday afternoon once again!
There, we relaxed outside before retiring inside for some great food and a good cold chin-wag. Eventually, we wandered slowly down the hill to get the night-bus from Golders Green to outside our house - there's a lot to be said for living in the thick of things, great transport is the one perk we will miss.

author Tim	location Australia House, London, England
posted 10:07 BST 11/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Boring ( No photos )
Friday we again continued our tradition of not too much besides work.

author Tim	location Australia House, London, England
posted 10:07 BST 11/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Anniversary Celebration ( No photos )
Saturday the 7th was Liz and my six-year anniversary. Celebrating in typical low-key fashion, we started out on Thursday by dropping in at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Hampstead - a nice little place with great food for not large amounts of money. We've both been quite sick with colds and the like recently, so we didn't actually stay too long.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 21:50 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Looking Around London a few Last Times ( No photos )
It's getting to the point where we have precious little time remaining in London, so we are attempting to make the most of it. This is one of the reasons why the journal is falling by the wayside.
We have just made a rough plan for what is going to happen once we do leave London on Sunday the 15th June (less than two weeks away!). We are taking a very round-about way first to Stonehenge and then The Eden Project way down in Cornwall. From there we drive through South Wales, having a very quick look around before piling onto a ferry bound for Ireland from Fishguard.
Ireland for two and a half weeks (including my birthday spent with Gail, who used to work with me in Sydney, and also has the same birthday!), then ferry back to Fishguard, drive across England stopping off possibly in Oxford and Cambridge, before getting a ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland.
Or maybe we'll do something completely different!

author Tim	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 21:50 BST 03/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Bits for Rosie ( No photos )
Sunday was less painful than I expected, so Liz and I took a walk up the road to Halfords, looking for bits for Rosie. We have a reasonable list of outstanding equipment, including a stereo - quite important we have discovered on our last few trips without one. We picked one out and put a deposit on it.
Liz noticed that across the road from there was a Sainsburys store (big supermarket). Sure, there are supermarkets closer than that to us, but she knows from a mile away that she can get her favourite Raspberry and Custard Danishes there, and there's no stopping her!
We got the bus back home and spent the rest of the afternoon doing some planning for our forth-coming trips.
House-mates Maddy and Panella managed to convince us to go out for the night to the Walkabout at Shepherd's Bush. We hadn't been to that one, but it is the most popular one around, so we thought we'd give it a go. After a journey with a fun mini-cab driver, the pub turned out to be very packed, hot and dirty, not really our scene at all, so we had a couple of Snakebites and left, back home on the bus.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 21:50 BST 03/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Go-Karting! ( No photos )
The week was spent as most are of late - we both work forty-hour weeks, go home and make dinner (yes, I cook now and then!), before some more planning kicks in for the coming weeks, followed by maybe some reading (we bought Bill Bryson's amusing Down Under) before sleeping, preparing to do it all again the next day.

Which brings me to Saturday. My boss Trevor had approached me the previous day asking what I was doing on the Saturday. "Not much at this stage", I replied. "Well, why don't you come to Danny's Stag Day go-karting and then drinking-fest?" What was I supposed to say to that?
It was actually the first day Liz and I had been apart for quite some time, she was hoping to get a shift but there wasn't any, so she relaxed with the other housemates while I proudly came second out of fifty or so go-karters racing around a track way out somewhere. Great fun, my arms and back are still a bit sore from it all (three hours of racing!), but the little trophy coupled with the thrill of beating the poms at yet-another-sport made it all worth it.
From there we drove with some of the ten people who had come (half from work, half were Danny's mates) back to Danny's local pub at Stansted Mount Fitchet. This little town reminded me constantly of those little towns up in the Blue Mountains - one railway station, plenty of trees, a few pubs and everyone knows each other. Very nice indeed.
Everyone threw some money into a pot behind the bar, and many hours later, after making some great new friends, I managed to navigate my way back home (no mean feat after a night like that, involving the last train to Liverpool Street, the second-last tube to Farringdon, working out that my next train didn't stop at Farringdon, dashing to get the last tube to Kings Cross, then making the last Thameslink North to Cricklewood!).

author Tim	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 21:50 BST 03/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Tower of London ( 46 photos )
Enjoying our long weekend, Monday we again headed back into town to take a walk up the Thames from Blackfriars towards the Tower of London. This was something we had thought about doing way back when we first arrived in London, but balked at the cost. It's strange how it doesn't seem so bad anymore, but if anything the prices are actually higher.
We had a great Yeoman Warder tour guide (who actually lives in the Tower) showing us around who genuinely seemed interested in what he had to say, coping well with the huge public-holiday crowds.
Things in there we saw included Traitor's Gate (where water access allowed people-smuggling for many a year), the Ravens, the White Tower (the dominant part of the Tower which houses lots of armour and the like), lots of ghastly torture and execution gear, and of course the Crown Jewels. The latter we viewed from the comfort of a travellator thing which meant you had to read very fast and attempt to appreciate it all. I guess it keeps the crowds down at least.
Wandering out the exit feeling rather hungry, we found a satisfactory cheap-ish lunch at a restaurant by the Thames before wandering home to while away the afternoon and evening.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 21:50 BST 03/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Farnborough Again ( No photos )
A very lazy Sunday morning saw us watching Matrix on DVD, in preparation to go and see Matrix Reloaded (which we still haven't done).
Dragging ourselves out of bed, we took a trip way across London to Farnborough, where we have been a few times before. We rushed and rushed (well, as fast as four or five different modes of public transport could take us) down there to try to get there before 2pm to have pub lunch at the great Change of Horses pub there, got there about 1:58 only to find out they served lunch until 3! Very rare around here. In the end the weather turned foul fairly quickly, so we took a trip down to the church where Liz's grandparents are buried with some flowers we picked up in Beckenham on the way through.
Electing to return a slightly different way, we made our way back to Beckenham then took the tram to Croydon. This is a nice little place we have looked around before, we were aiming for the markets (a little late unfortunately) and then the Walkabout. This is the main chain of Aussie pubs around the place, there's quite a few in London but the Croydon is by far the nicest (in our opinion anyway).
We retuned by the more direct method of the Thameslink straight back to Cricklewood from East Croydon.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, London, England
posted 21:50 BST 03/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Goodbye Percy, Abbey Road ( 15 photos )
First thing on Saturday, a lovely young man named Adam came and gave us a large sum of cash in exchange for Percy! It was sad to see the back of him (Percy, not Adam) in a way, since we saw so much of the country driving around in him, but we have the big red bus now so it wasn't so hard.
Next we walked down to Kilburn to check out a caravan and camping shop there - quite useful things which we need were mostly there, which we aim to pick up this coming Saturday. Liz also picked up some thong-type-shoes.
Just up the road back towards Cricklewood is Brondesbury station, right next to which there is a great little pub almost entirely out of character for such an over-populated, pound-saver, traffic-jam area of London. Here we had some brunch which filled the spot quite nicely. We didn't feel so bad eating out with all that cash back at home!
In our typical lack-of-planning fashion, we took the shoes and our other goodies back to Cricklewood to look at what we intened to do for the rest of the day. One of those things is visiting Abbey Road (of Beatles Fame), which, it turned out, was about ten minutes walk from the caravan shop where we had just been!
So, we gave our travelcards a workout, taking the bus to Abbey road to see what it was all about. Having no idea where along Abbey Road the famous crossing was, we just got off at the first stop and walked down it until we arrived at the un-mistakable place. Not only the original album cover, but the thousands of imitations somehow made me know we were there even before we found the other tourists, Abbey Road Studios and the wall where Beatles fans have written all sorts of messages to their heroes (and anyone else who cares to read).
We dodged in and out of traffic for a while trying to get a decent picture of us crossing the road - in the end we got one of Liz on my camera and one of me on hers. At least we weren't as bad as the oriental guy who was there with his handy-cam filming himself walk across the crossing!
Continuing into town with the rough aim of visiting Westminster Abbey, we jumped off the bus to have a bit of a look around Selfridges (another big Harrods-like shop which turned out to be just that) and their much-more-impressive food hall. We held each other back from the acres of interesting food, using our current standard excuse "it will taste much better if we can afford to eat when we get to the country it comes from".
Jumping on the Jubilee line tube down to Westminster, we arrived only to find that Westminster Abbey itself was closed as of 2pm on a Saturday afternoon. Oh well, we can try again some other time. We relaxed in the grounds awaiting inspiration for our next move.
This came in the form of some vouchers we have had for months which are used at the Elusive Camel, a chain of Aussie pubs in central London. The nearest wasn't far away just across Westminster Bridge in Waterloo, so we took a walk there. The place didn't turn out to be that crash hot, but the fact we weren't paying made that seem less of a problem.
Even though Liz has been before, I still hadn't seen any West-End theatre, which seemed like a bit of a crime after living in London for so long. So, we trundled back to Trafalgar Square to the half-price ticket place, and grabbed two tickets to see FAME the Musical. This was quite enjoyable, very colourful, although we got the impression that the actors had definitely settled into "mid-season" mode - two performances per day appeared to be taking its toll.
We wandered back to Trafalgar Square and grabbed a bus home.

author Tim	location Saltney, Chester, Cheshire, England
posted 08:02 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

More Family Members Met ( 22 photos )
We have just awoken on Sunday, to face the reason that so many of the Holladay family have gathered here - the Chester Half-Marathon. Liz and I aren't personally running, and even the Holladay contingent seems depleted this year, but we will be there giving some moral support at the finish line.

(Continued 08:45 BST 19/05/2003, from Spitalfields, London, England)
Carol prepared us a great breakfast, giving us just enough energy to wander up and watch the runners about one mile from the finish line. Andrew set the fastest time, just under 1:29, while the two brothers Norman and Dave stepped over the line together at just over two hours.
Being right on the outskirts of Chester, there is lots of parkland, and even horses around the place. We wandered back through all of this, just dodging the rain.
A little while after we had arrived back at the house, the runners stumbled in and collapsed on the floor. Carol had prepared a great meal for all of us which dissapeared rather quickly, topped off with some home-made apple pie.
More chatting with these extended family followed, reminding Liz and I often of our missed family and friends back home.
At around three o'clock, James led the way as we drove South to London. He managed to hold his speed back to that of the bus until we made it to the motorway, but then with a wave, he was gone.
Rosie trundled home with only a quick stop for fuel (she uses quite a bit more than Percy...), where we had only a snacky dinner before bed.

author Tim	location Saltney, Chester, Cheshire, England
posted 08:02 BST 18/05/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Retrieving Rosie, up to Chester ( No photos )
We had originally planned for Alwin from my work to drop Rosie off on Saturday morning at our house (he was working night-shift), but some thoughtful souls had left about an inch on each end for maneuvering space. In a big bus, that's a problem. So, Alwin left a couple of notes which seemed to have done the trick, since he rang me at 6:30am on Saturday as I was on my way to pick her up, saying it was all ok.
That journey involves the 266 bus from just around the corner to Acton Mainline Station, then a small two-car train which sounds more like a truck along to Ealing Broadway station (only one station), where I went and got a coffee and croussant while waiting for another train which actually stopped at Hanwell. A suprisingly nice journey at that time of morning, topped off with a five minute walk to Alwin's place.
There appear to be no major problems with leaving her there, except for occasionally being parked in. When I arrived, I noticed that the cars on either side had left around half a car-length for me to get out!
Thanking Alwin for his attempts to get Rosie to us (which had made him late for work), I drove off along back past Ealing Broadway to hit the North Circular for the drive back to Cricklewood.
Liz had managed to drag herself out of bed by this stage, so we finished our packing in reasonable time, jumped in the van and headed north.
Not much to report from the journey, except that it took us about four hours of driving and another hour of being stuck in traffic once off the M6 pointing at Chester.
After a short detour into North Wales (it's about a mile down the road from where we are), we arrived at the target for our travels - Gladys and Reg's place. These lovely people are related to me by my Nan on my father's side being Gladys' cousin. That part seems simple, it gets much more confusing though!
Also there were David (one of Gladys and Reg's sons) and his wife Sue, and we were later joined by Norman (the other son) and two of his sons Andrew and James, who we have met before.
We had some lunch and chatted the afternoon away, even looking at a very old photo of when Mum and Dad came and visited them on their big Europe tour.
After a while, it was time to head off to a dinner booking just inside Wales. This seems to be quite a popular option as it is apparently a little cheaper and there were plenty of other people doing the same. The place was a thirteenth century pub in the middle of nowhere, accessed only by single-track road. Quite a change from Cricklewood high street!
However, Sue noticed that some of the overhead beams had been made to look old by chiseling bits out of them - cheating in any language. Still, it was a nice enough place, the food was fine even if the complex ordering system meant that the service was pretty average.
Sue and David were then brave enough to take a trip in Rosie as we headed back to Norman and Carol's place for the night. We sat around talking before everyone looked over-tired and it was time for bed.

author Tim	location Spitalfields, London, England
posted 08:45 BST 19/05/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Greenwich Again ( 12 photos )
We took a trip to Greenwich once again (we did a walk around there a while ago), this time with the main aim of attending the highly-recommended National Maritime Museum. This was a great day wandering around the exhibits, including an impressive model of the Endeavour and all of the crew, which we just managed to fit in before closing time. We had a quiet drink at one of the great pubs on the Thames down there before heading back to Joel's sister Eve's place at Camden.
This was a house-warming party for a new housemate where we met lots of new people, ate a great BBQ (a strange event over here!), and had quite a wild night.

author Tim	location the 17:02 Thameslink to St. Albans, London, England
posted 17:06 BST 06/05/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Rosie goes to Milton Keynes ( No photos )
Monday morning we arose after a reasonably comfortable night's sleep in the van, flushed out the water system (which works really well), Liz had a bit of a drive (she's getting better!), then we set off for Milton Keynes.
A fairly un-eventful drive later, we pulled the van into Meaghan's grandma's place, quite a bit more imposing than last time we were here with Percy. Meaghan's first sarcastic words were "It's not quite big enough, is it?" It's just right, thank you very much!
We had a cuppa and a chat before her boyfriend Dave turned up and we all headed off to a pub somewhere in the Milton Keynes Lakes for lunch and a getting-to-know-you session with Dave. The food was great, and I think Dave was only a little bewildered by a side of Meaghan he had never seen before when she and Liz get chatting :)
Driving straight home, we off-loaded some gear before returning Rosie to Alwin's place then navigating the buses home again. A nice little weekend.

As for slightly longer-term plans, it appears that we have people to move into our room on the 21st of June, when we plan to head first to Ireland for a week or two (perhaps in the van, depends on cost of ferries versus cost of flights plus accommodation). Then the big Europe trip begins - not far away now.

author Tim	location the 17:02 Thameslink to St. Albans, London, England
posted 17:06 BST 06/05/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Welwyn Garden City ( No photos )
It was strange to wake on Sunday and still have two days of the weekend left - these past few weeks have been so hectic between Norwich, Amsterdam and Turkey that we have all but forgotten what free time felt like.
After ringing and waking up Meaghan, much to her disgust, we eventually decided that a short trip in Rosie would be a good way to fill in a couple of days. A bit of consultation with the bus maps later, and we found that a bus right near us takes us to Acton Main Line station, from where we can get a train to Hanwell, which is where Rosie is parked near Alwin from work's house.
However, this train doesn't run on Sundays, so it took a bit of wandering around with the A-Z (that's British for street-map) before we caught a bus instead. Eventually locating the right street, we were over-joyed to see our expensive future home once again, all in good order. We grabbed the keys and drove back to Cricklewood, a much faster journey than the one there had been.
Loading up with a doona, pillows, and many other "essential" items, we then drove off to a site of the Caravan Club, up in Welwyn Garden City.
They journey went suprisingly well, I hesitate to say it lest something go wrong, but I am getting used to this sitting-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-car thing quite well. Judging by the smaller number of panic attacks Liz is having, I am even staying in the lanes a lot better now :)
We arrived at the caravan park around 4:30, where the kindly old couple running the place happily signed us up as members of the club (it looks quite good, they have all sorts of tips and tricks, as well as lots of advice for "first-timers" like us), and showed us to our little lot.
We still need to gather a few bits and pieces for the van, one of which is an electrical hook-up cable. No problem for the night, as the helpful owners lent us one of these too! Trundling around to our campsite, we set up for the night and plugged Rosie in. After fiddling for a while, it turns out that everything inside works just fine with the exception of the fridge, which doesn't seem to get cold. Will have to get that looked at soon.
The evening passed with us wandering down to the rather sparse local shops for some Chinese and a good chat at the pub.
We returned to the van, where Liz tackled some of her journal while I read some Australian newspapers that Alan Heighway has unbeknownst to us been sending over for a while! Good to read that not much has changed back at home in the nine or so months(!) since we left.

author Tim	location the 17:02 Thameslink to St. Albans, London, England
posted 17:06 BST 06/05/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Cabinet War Rooms ( 13 photos )
Awaking on Saturday morning, we took stock of what we wanted to do with our long weekend (Monday was a bank holiday). After having a look over what we want to see in the few remaining weeks we have in London, we decided to head into the centre of town to have a look at the much-recommended Cabinet War Rooms, right next to Number 10 Downing Street.
This is where Churchill and his off-siders effectively ran the British side of World War II from, in secrecy under several metres of bomb-proof concrete. Many of the rooms have been kept exactly as the were left as the various "enemies" surrendered, making the place a fascinating insight into how it must have been during those years.
After are audioguide tour was over (an increasingly-popular way of running a guided tour of these touristy sites - like an over-grown mobile phone which rabbits on at you as you wander around the place), we walked across the road for a bite to eat at the pub - quite different food to what we were eating only a week ago in Turkey.
Next on our wanderings was a bit of shopping - some books about caravan parks around Europe, then trip to the Australia Shop for some much-needed supplies of real food, badges and Aussie-flag stickers for the combi, before we wandered back to City Thameslink for the journey back to Cricklewood.

author Tim	location the 17:02 Thameslink to St. Albans, London, England
posted 17:06 BST 06/05/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

Back to London ( No photos )
After we returned home still sick from food poisoning in Turkey, we had a slow couple of days at work on Thursday and Friday. Friday night was a party of sorts to celebrate the "going-live" of the Congestion Charge way back in February, but the party failed to be anything very interesting. We went back home and flaked into bed.

author Tim	location Spitalfields, London, England
posted 14:41 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 2 ( all photos )

We are back! ( No photos )
(Continued from Turkey)
All safe and sound back in London, although we haven't had time to get the journal up to date. This will be a task for the coming long weekend.
We made it with no real problems. In a nutshell we had a great time, the only problem being two nasty bouts of food poisoning which almost everyone else there also had. Could have been much worse.
We are now planning our next trip...

author Tim	location Somewhere over Europe
posted 17:11 EEST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Off to Heathrow ( 6 photos )
The train to Heathrow was reasonable, if slow, and upon arrival we faced no huge queues to check in. Worked out quite well, actually.
We had a bit of a look around the shops before deciding that there wasn't really anything of great use there, but we are probably going to get some extremely cheap booze on the plane which will be a bonus - Turkey is cheap, so we need to take advantage of that after England!
Soon enough it was time to board our flight to Turkey!

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 12:37 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Back in the Big Smoke ( No photos )
Now that we are settled a little back into work in London, it's almost to time up-root and travel to Turkey.
We are flying Turkish Airlines on-stop from London Heathrow. Our flight leaves at 11:45am tomorrow (18/04/03), and should take four hours or so.
From the 22nd April, we are on an organised tour with On the Go Tours, the local contact for which is Andrew Bailey, Fez Tours, +90 212 516 9024. We have also registered with the Australian Consulate just in case.
Here's a few more interesting Turkey-related links: Turkish Travel Planner, Australian Embassy, Turkey, and The Visit Gallipoli Page, which has information on the Dawn Service we will be attending.
Pretty exciting time for us to get to get going once again! After this trip we will have a month and a half or so in which to work hard before throwing it all in and travelling.

In other news, Percy had a nice visit from someone with a white vehicle, the result of which was some rather unpleasant scratches down his side. The evening we discovered that (Tuesday), we drove him out to Les and Pearl's, where he is now resting in the driveway. I just received an email from them saying that they have been kind enough to polish the majority of the scratches off! Thank You Both!
So he will stay there, while Rosie is living with friend from work Alwin, who drove her home from work the other morning (after I had driven her in through the rush-hour London traffic!), and almost kept going to Dover! He was pretty nostalgic, since he has done the combi tour thing before and wanted to keep going! He resisted, however, and that brings to two the number of vehicles now parked relatively safely at friend's places, on opposite sides of London for the duration of our Turkey trip.
The weather in London is stupid at the moment, I think today is the first day since we arrived back in August where the London temperature, at 22 degrees, is higher than the temperature reported in Sydney (18 last I checked)!! I actually didn't wear my coat to work for the first time!
I have re-signed my contract here through until the middle of June now, and there are people confirmed to take our room at Cricklewood, so that means the only outstanding issue is to find a buyer for Percy when we return from Turkey. Liz aims to just get as much work as she can handle from the Nurse Bank at her current hospital, since now that she has "proven" herself there seems to be plenty on offer.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 19:26 BST 16/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Back in England ( 1 photo )
(Continued from Netherlands 1)
I had expected to see more signs reminding you which side of the road to drive on once back in Dover, but you just sort of had to work it out. We managed ok, my brain more than a little confused, but no major problems as we now had to check competely different blind spots for passing cars.
Only one stop on the way back to Cricklewood, before we arrived home fairly early, got all of our gear out of Rosie, locked her up good and tight, demolished some food and retired to bed.

What an adventure. We are both very keen for more travel, both to Turkey on Friday an dour big Europe trip, starting mid-June. We'll keep you posted.

author Tim	location Nieuwe Brugsteeg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
posted 16:30 CEST 12/04/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Departing England ( 3 photos )
A busy last few days have seen us work work work until Thursday, by which time we were both very keen to get on the road.
No problems at all on the flight over here, starting on Friday with a Thameslink train up to London Luton airport (London has four or five airports all around it), which was a pleasant way to spend the morning. It's always strange to go the other way on the train line you use every day.
After a few phone calls from my work asking questions I didn't really want to answer (I'm trying to be on holidays here guys!!), we arrived at Luton Airport Parkway station. From there, we got on to a shuttle bus to the airport itself.
By this stage, we realised just how useful the backpack/rucksack we bought the other week is. We fitted everything into it (it has a main pack and a zip-on "daypack" which is a smaller pack which can be separated), and strapped me into it, and that's all we have! A great change from the lugging-around of suitcases we started out with. The only thing we have forgotten to bring was a comb/brush, but that has now been replaced.
So, this big pack of ours is much easier to take on and off trains, buses, etc. At the airport we purchased a Europe road atlas so that we could find our way back to Calais with the van (more later!), and Liz found a replacement for her broken hand-bag she liked, but decided against it.
We had to pay attention to the screens in the terminals as there was no obvious way of knowing where to go, but we managed it the end.
The flight on EasyJet airlines was just fine, with very tight security. As evident by the police with assault rifles wandering around the airport which Liz found in her face as she turned around! OK, not quite in her face but scary enough. We half-expected to find TV cameras there, since that is one of the airports where they film that TV documentary/soap/reality show Airline, but no such luck.
Eventaully we were off to The Netherlands!

author Tim	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 08:06 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Travel Plans Update ( No photos )

Well, I tried to get Liz to do the weekend away updates, but she had a headache last night and I am taking the morning off work, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me again!
Some general news:

• Some nice person decided that Percy only really needs two hubcaps, so decided to relieve him of the other two. How considerate! The ad to sell him goes in to Loot today, so fingers crossed.
• We are on-track to pick up his replacement this coming weekend in Amsterdam, which should be great fun. Driving a Left-Hand drive vehicle for the first time ever on the right side of the road, then coming across the channel and putting it back on the left side of the road should do wonders for our poor little brains.
• Liz has been quite sick on and off but is generally on the mend now. Neither of us are 100%, but it was amazing to go away from the London smog for a weekend and see how much better it felt. We look forward to moving on permanently.
• The weather here is strange now - some days it makes it to eighteen degrees(!), but then a biting wind comes along to remind you of where you are. Still wearing our coats most places, along with beanies, scarves and gloves. I am still constantly amazed at how little rain we have seen - quite contrary to the stereo-type.
• The sun rises before seven and doesn't set until nearly eight - it will be interesting to experience how that plays out during summer. It is strange now working twelve hour days and experiencing daylight at both ends!
• I am about to re-sign a contract which will end on the 13th June 2003, so that is when we can up-root and drive back across the channel! Nice to finally have a date to put in our itinerary.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 08:22 BST 08/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Essex and East Anglia ( all photos )

A Day at the Races ( 42 photos )
The breakfast was good, as we discovered upon waking on Sunday. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, but eating in the conservatory at the back of the house was still very pleasant, munching on home-made bread covered in peach jam. The franting ringing of the massive church tower just across the road somehow seemed to make it a great Sunday.
Again we loaded Percy, and were waved of by the land-lady with words of "make sure you tell your friends about us" and a genuine smile. So, we travelled onwards, destination this time Norwich.

Since I keep getting it confused, let me explan that Norwich is the main city in the county of Norfolk. The city itself seemed that it could be explored in one of two ways - either (as we did) rather quickly, taking in the two main tourist sites - the Castle and the imposing Anglican Cathedral, or very slowly over two days or so. This latter approach would leave you time to see through the many interesting several hundered year old buildings which are dotted around.
But were were in a hurry, so we noted that the castle was closed until 1pm, and used it instead as a vantage point over the city, allowing us to spot and then walk to the cathedral. Arriving there, we noted that a service was underway (it being a Sunday and all), so had a look around the grounds before returning to the car, locked deep in an under-ground parking vault.

Next stop was the aim of the weekend's travels - Snetterton circuit, twenty miles south-west of Norwich.
Neither Liz or I were prepared for just how much fun we were going to have here - I'm a self-confessed "it's just a bunch of cars driving around in a circle" kind of person, but this was something different entirely.
As we arrived, some mini-formula 1 cars (presumably formula 3 or 4 or something) were screaming around the track, and we were able to wander across the pit lane to see them driving down the back straight at 100mph about two metres away from us. The signs "hearing protection must be worn" seemed like good advice, but nobody was following them.
After these cars came a Ferrari race - plenty of horsepower, not much grace, as was evident by the which caught on fire driving down the back straight (that's going to be expensive), and the one which failed to make it out of a turn properly, plummeting straight through a tire barrier and causing the race to be cancelled.
Friend Greg from work was busy tinkering with his car while these other races were going on, but eventually it was his turn (note the Aussie flag proudly displayed next to his surname Clough!). His car had three drivers who did fourty-minute stints throughout the four hour race.
The length of time went amazingly quickly, as Liz and wandered around the inside of the track, trying to find the vantage which offered a good view combined with protection from the biting wind. Plenty could offer the former, but none the latter.
At one stage, Greg offered me the keys to his newly-purchased motor scooter, which I happily accepted. Never having ridden anything more powerful than an eighteen-speed mountain bike, this was an interesting challenge to me. I was just coming back from a few loops around the carpark to pick up Liz when it stalled. Out of fuel apparently. Either that or someone up in the sky was warning me that motorised two-wheeled transport is not for me. So, we handed the keys back, but Liz has already decided that she wants one.
Despite starting in third-last place (the positions were drawn out of a hat), by the end of Greg's fourty minutes he was in first position, even after taking a knock from another driver and finding himself spinning in the rough. The other driver was out for half an hour or so as they bolted bits of his car back on.
At the end of the race, Greg's team was almost a whole lap clear of second place, Greg had set the lap record, and the team quite rightfully held their trophies proudly (Greg on right).
Liz and I are now both keen to get to Bathurst when we next make it home, in keeping with the tradition we have never quite managed to take part in.
Liz decided that the cold was too much, so we piled back in the car as I drove us home. I was secretly glad that she wasn't driving, after being just a little too excited about the fast cars all day!

We headed back to London.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 08:22 BST 08/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Back to London ( No photos )
(Continued from Essex and East Anglia)
Straight back to London (well, with a few nice detours off some side-roads through forests and the like - motorways are quite boring ways to travel), we dropped in to our old house to check for mail (none), and then came back to our little room in Cricklewood.
Liz had missed a call from Meaghan, so she rang her back and they chatted as we went up the road for some take-away Chinese for dinner. We eventually crashed in bed, somehow exhausted after all the excitement.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 08:22 BST 08/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Essex and East Anglia ( all photos )

Out to Norfolk ( 16 photos )
Awaking Saturday morning, we had a great breakfast and chatted about all sorts of things, including how they thought that I look like Dad (no way!), and of course how they remember when I was born. It's always great to visit distant family friends and somehow feel like you are home.
We took some photos around the place, Les commandered me to fix a couple of things on his computer, before we said our goodbyes, loaded up Percy and traveled ever onwards.
Opting to really just drive straight up the coast towards our destination, we looked around a few small villages and enjoyed driving on the back roads of England once again. Stopped for lunch at a great sea-side pub where we had one of the best pub meals yet, and finally made it to our B&B at Winterton-on-Sea.

This great little place came complete with house-cat, home-made preserves and very friendly land-lady, making it a very relaxing weekend away from the hussle and bussle of London.
We walked down to the sea, where we struggled down the steep sand banks to the beach, before performing the now obligatory stick-your-hand-in-the-sea-to-find-out-how-much-colder-than-Cronulla-it-is trick. It was plenty colder.
Walking back through the one-shop, one-pub village, we noticed a road called "The Lane", which sounds even smaller than the signs we had noticed in two other villages for "The Street". Small-town England at it's best.
That night, we walked up to The Pub and found that everyone from 50 miles around must have decided this was a good pub. No seats, and a couple of old ladies also looking for tables that we would have had to push out of the way to get one when one became available. This, coupled with the fact this was 7:30 and The Pub was only going to be open until 11pm anyway, meant that we decided to just get a couple of bottles of wine at The Shop and head back to the B&B.
Our stomachs were saved by the Les-and-Pearl provided care package, comprising sausage rolls and apples, which proved to be more than enough after our massive lunch. Besides, we had a full English Breakfast awaiting us in the morning.

author Tim	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 08:22 BST 08/04/03	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Essex and East Anglia ( all photos )

Hi Les and Pearl ( No photos )
(Continued from Working in London 1)
Friday night Liz succeeded in driving in to pick me up from work - much better than last time! We drove onwards, juggling between maps to work out how to get to Les and Pearl's place. A few wrong turns later, we arrived at 24 Hayburn Way, at the end of a dead-end in Hornchurch.
By the time we arrived, Pearl buried us in food, and that was about all our bodies could take, crashing to bed relatively early. It was strange to think that this was probably the same bed that Mum and Dad slept in way back when they were over here.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 12:35 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

April Fools ( No photos )
Haven't found any really silly jokes yet, bit of a let-down really. They don't seem to get on board with the jokes as much as they do back home.
So, where are we? I have just sent off the email to The Netherlands picking a Volkswagen Bus for us to drive at long last! I'll post details later once they are confirmed, but it should be quite a nice little machine.
Liz seems better this week and now as a "line" of work in an Endoscopy ward which she seems to being enjoying. She was working with four other Aussie girls in the ward yesterday, so seemed to fit in well.

As plans form for this weekend, we are aiming to drive out to Les and Pearls at Hornchurch late on Friday night, then head up to stay at the Tower Cottage Bed and Breakfast in the little coastal village of Winterton, on the coast in Norwich on Saturday night after having a decent look around, before heading back inland to see Sunday's racing action at Snetterton.
I am on nights next week, which should do my body clock lots of damage.
[We journeyed to Essex and East Anglia that weekend.]

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 12:35 GMT 01/04/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Hyde Park and Kensington ( 38 photos )
Sunday we awoke and decided that our faithful tome Eccentric London was again the thing to read, aiming for a walk around Kensington via Hyde Park.
We got the 16 bus in to Marble Arch from just across the road from our front door(!), before walking through Hyde Park towards Kensington. This nice wander took in Speaker's Corner (complete with a pro-war Aussie rambling away much more as a tourist attraction than being taken seriously), a nice cafeteria by the Serpentine River and the Serpentine Gallery, which was displaying a modern-art exhibiton. Next was the completely over-the-top Albert Memorial, which really defies description, sticking out amid a sea of trees in a city of grey.
What amazed me was the sheer size of the park - it took a good half hour of admittedly random wandering to get across it, and there are so many different areas to see - the river, wide walks, trees, planted areas, and even keen sun-starved British on deck-chairs!
So we had a great walk around the park and Kensington in general, taking in various streets with massive four-story mansions and price-tags well into the tens of millions of pounds, some nice parklands, and of course the occasional cosy little pub.
But far and away the highlight was a place we would never have found with out the book - the extraordinary Leighton House Museum. Lord Leighton was an artist of great talent and eccentric taste, and both are displayed well in his old home. The central focus is the amazing dome room (see photo on linked page), complete with fountain.
Suprisingly for London, entry was totally free, but unfortunately no photography was permitted.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 12:35 GMT 01/04/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

House Party ( No photos )
We decided to take it easy on the weekend, involving a very slow Saturday, terminated with an impromptu house party with all residents present! Was a great time as we cranked up the music and got to know our house-mates quite a bit better.

Liz has been quite sick this past week, meaning that she stayed at home, missing out on most of her shifts. SO annoying that she has had no work for so long and now that she has some, she gets sick!

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 18:51 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Plans ( No photos )
Upon waking up this morning, Liz decided that her sore throat and the lack of sleep that had caused was too much to make it to work.

Plans are shaping up for the future - we are organising a trip up to the one remaining part of England we haven't seen - East Anglia. This has worked out well as Greg from work is racing cars up there that weekend just outside of Norwich at Snetterton. We aim to stop at long-time family friends Les and Pearl's place for the night on Friday night before having a decent look around the area.
For the weekend after that, our flights to Amsterdam are booked (the beauty of the Thameslink train near us is that it goes straight to Luton airport in about 30 mins!), and we are still trying to finalise the purchase of a kombi and how we are to get back (probably on a ferry).
Then the weekend after that, we are off Turkey for two weeks, US bombing patterns and international relations permitting.
I hope to have another couple of months work after we return, and that leaves us just in the middle of June, when we want to hit the road for Europe!

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 18:51 GMT 25/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Hard Work for One of Us ( No photos )
Monday saw us both working twelve hour days, Liz much harder as I am not doing much at work at the moment, so she is feeling pretty wrecked.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 18:51 GMT 25/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Work on a Sunday ( No photos )
Sunday morning was a little slow as the true scale of the previous night dawned on us, but no rest for the wicked as we were awoken to the sound of my mobile ringing - being called into work! Aaaaargh! So we piled into Percy (yes, Liz came too, complete with dark glasses), and drove into work. I was only there for three hours, during which Liz had a good look around the very busy Spittalfields markets, coming away with some great olives, cheese, a chicken, general lunch stuffs and a plant for our room.
My laptop power-supply has been playing up recently, and the sparks it was emitting, although colourful, were enough to convince me that one of the cables needed replacing. The computer market near work came to the rescue as Liz physically restrained me from buying more goodies. Damage - £4.
Most of the afternoon was spent basting and preparing our huge chicken for roast dinner (yum!), relaxing on the lounge, chatting to house mates and then finally watching a video. All that excitement was enough as we headed to bed very early in preparation for our big week.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 18:51 GMT 25/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Camden, Mill Hill East, The Crown ( 29 photos )
After first heading down to the parking shop to get some more "visitors passes" which let Percy have a place to sleep (we have decided to just keep getting these as it is much less hassle than trying to get a proper resident's permit and will probably work out the same cost), we then drove him back and parked him, noting where the previous body damage had been fixed during the week.
Down to the local hairdressers for a much needed pair of haircuts, where the rude woman promptly ignored pretty much everything I had asked for and cut lots more off than I wanted before I realised what she was doing. Oh well, it will grow back.
On the Thameslink to Camden Town (changing at Kentish Town), we spent the morning avoiding the advances of body piercers, chinese food sellers and other more questionable things as we took in the over-dose of culture that is Camden Markets.
We had been aiming to attend a beer festival that day, but the organisers organised a beer festival to finish during the day on Friday. Is it just me or is there something fundamentally wrong with that? So instead, we continued our wanderings before heading home.
For a couple of pretty weak reasons, we decided to head up to the sort-of-end-of-the-line tube station at Mill Hill East. Firstly, it was just something we wanted to be able to say that we had, but secondly, we wanted to pass over the highest viaduct in the tube system, which was actually fairly un-impressive.
Ten minutes sitting at the end of the tube line (note new haircut) later, we rattled back south, changed at Kentish Town en-route to Cricklewood.
Deciding to make up for the lack of the beer festival, we organised for Joel to come to The Crown (pub across the road) for a few drinks, arriving just in time to watch Liz and I eat our dinner after watching Die Another Day on the laptop.
This was the first time we actually had a look around the place properly, and we hadn't realised how big it was. There were two different private parties upstairs (we accidentally wandered into one and would have stayed but it was too crowded). We eventually got comfortable in some huge chairs in the back room where a band was setting up.
To summarise, we had a great night dancing to well-played pub-rock/pop music played by two guitarist/vocalists (with Joel and myself both doing cameo performances on tamborine!), and made some new friends including one Scotsman from Falkirk (we have been there - that's where that silly wheel thing is) who would have been hard to understand even if he had he had not been drinking since 7am, but considering that he had...
Strangely enough, they didn't close until 1am or so which was not at all what we were expecting - and very strange considering we have been tucked into bed early for many months now.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 18:51 GMT 25/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Proof that Liz is Working! ( No photos )
WOW - Isn't she gorgeous?! ;) She actually commented that that uniform would actually have no pants back home - their dresses are as long as that blue top is!
So despite the fact that she had all the good intentions in the world, she didn't make it today and has called in sick for tomorrow due to a sore-throat and generally not feeling well. Seems to be a strange bug going around once again.
Most of the week progressed quickly, just lots of work until the weekend. Friday night we pretty much stayed in and relaxed, which left us in a strangely happy and ready-to-do-something mood on Saturday morning.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 16:26 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Work for Liz! ( 1 photo )
The good news for the moment is that Liz has found some work! They have contacted her from the Royal Free Hospital, and she is working twelve hours today and eight hours a day for the rest of the week! Congratulations to her, this has been a long time coming. They claim to be able to give her a few month's guaranteed work starting real soon, but for now she's out doing what she intended to be doing many months ago, and that's a great thing.
As you will be able to see on the Itinerary page, plans for our Amsterdam trip are all but finalised. Should be a great weekend away.
My desire to travel has been renewed thanks to Greg from work bringing in his Europe Road Atlas where he plotted his trip all around Europe via Kombi a couple of years back. Plenty of advice, which is exactly what we need.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 16:26 GMT 18/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

St Patrick's Day ( No photos )
Monday was St Patrick's day, where my Irish boss insisted that I go down to the pub for a pint or two of Guiness. Who was I to say no? There was plenty going on at the local pubs as well that evening, but tiredness overcame us as we ate dinner and chatted to Sarah, one of our housemates.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 16:26 GMT 18/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Hampstead Gardens ( 28 photos )
On Sunday, all this running-around was beginning to take its toll on my 60-hour-a-week worked body, so it was decided that a nice leisurely stroll around the nearby Hampstead Gardens, which are a part of the massive Hampstead Heath was in order. Spring has come on amazingly fast here, with lots of pretty colours peeping through.
Of course, while we were there we had a fantastic lunch at the Bull and Bush pub, before feeling like little kids as we lined up for the Ice-Cream van. No, they aren't called Mr Whippy vans here.
Liz went for a walk again that afternoon, as I processed some photos, before we enjoyed dinner in.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

A Move and Lots More ( 28 photos )
Ok, so seeing this hasn't been updated for quite a while, this is going to be a nice long section. Have you got a cup of tea next to you? (This is what happens when you are in England too long...you become addicted to tea, and you can't function without it.)

[ Liz's Mega-update has been split into the individual days ]

Our travel plans are currently moving along quite nicely. Our trip to Turkey is all booked and payed for, and we head off there in about a month. We are also in the middle of planning a trip to Amsterdam to meet up with Tim's friend Sebastian (he came out from Germany as an exchange student and went to Sydney Tech) and his girlfriend Jessi. As well as lots of getting to know each other, and seeing the sites of Amsterdam, Tim and I are trying to purchase a Kombi from a company near Amsterdam, and then drive it back to London. All of this stuff has to happen within a few days due to Tim's work, and we can't wait to get there and explore the place. At the moment, we are probably going to Amsterdam about the 11th, 12th and 13th of April, and coming home for a few days before heading off to Turkey.
So, how was all that? I have probably even left stuff out, and if so I'll add a bit more later on. Congratulations if you made it all the way to the end :)

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 16:26 GMT 18/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Greenwich ( 37 photos )
Now that Liz has easily taken the cake for the longest website update in history, I'm back to tell you about our weekend and how this week is shaping up - rather well! Saturday we awoke and were once again living the care-free life, wondering just what to do with ourselves. So many options! After the success of last time, we once again took a walk as recommended in our Eccentric London book (thanks Peter Bowyer for this - we're getting lots of use out of it!).
This time we went down to Greenwich. Famous as the Greenwich in "Greenwich Mean Time", Liz dutifully stood with a foot in either hemisphere (that's east and west, not north and south!) as part of our view around the place.
Since there's quite a lot to do, we decided that since it was such a nice day, we would do all the outside things, and leave the interesting things for the far more common days when it is raining cats and dogs.
We walked from our new home down to the nearest tube station at Kilburn, where we jumped on the Jubilee line. This is a line which has only recently been extended, and now offers a great fast trip across London.
We got off at the huge and truly impressive Canary Wharf station, which has won lots of design awards, before going on the Docklands Light Railway. This was Liz's first trip on this tram-like thing which operates without a driver, and sitting right at the front as we plunge at 60mph into a black tunnel (no headlights needed, of course), it's great fun. The DLR took us down to Greenwich station where we aimed to start our walk, but promptly got lost straight from the station!
Improvising our way around, our walk eventually took in plenty of sites around Greenwich, including the impressive and history-rich St Alfege Church, the family-run for many years Goddard's Pie House (where we grabbed some great hot fruit pies), the Cutty Sark, and quite a few different market areas.
We walked through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel across to the Isle of Dogs, which our guidebook pointed out has a heavily-reinforced section at the North end where a German bomb struck it in World-War II. The dripping part in the middle didn't inspire a lot of confidence either. But there is a lift at each end which is still operated by a man who presses the buttons for you! Don't see that very often.
The view South from the Isle of Dogs towards Greenwich is really breath-taking, especially on a great day like we had. See the view of the Royal Naval College, for example.
We went quickly back through the tunnel before heading along the waterfront looking at the great little pubs and old almshouses. Great views back towards the Millennuim Dome as well, even though it's not used for anything.
Wandering then South-ward, we entered Greenwich park where there was a great big sundial smack-bang on the meridian which was actually fairly accurate.
Ambling through the chilly breeze up on top of the hill, we battled the crowds near the Old Royal Observatory to see the "offical" place where time and location start on the planet, as well as the "offical" set of imperial measures, should you ever want to use such a thing. The huge numbers of people there discouraged us from entering, and we still had a bit of wandering around to do anyway!
Passing back through the pack, we turned down the offers of the London Fan Museum (that's fans as in hand-held, wave back-and-forth to cool yourself fans) on our way to grab those fruit pies and check out some last bits of markets before returning to the station, stopping to check some notably strange architecture along the way.
There are a few strange shops down there, including the "Junk Shop", which is very accurately named, and a couple of places specialising in strange, best-forgotten 50s-80s memorabilia that I had to literally drag Liz out of. "No Liz, we don't need those pink flamingo lights, and perhaps we can wait until after we buy a kombi to get the fluffy dice!"
Back in Cricklewood, we were walking home and walked past a video shop we had not previously noted. Choosing a DVD for the night, we were then amazed as the young French lad showed us how we can hire a movie twenty-four hours a day by using an atm-style machine out the front, which takes credit off our card and spits out the DVD! Returns can similarly be done any time, meaning we only pay for six hours' hire - 99p a movie. That's very cheap for anything over here.
So, we settled down with Nicole and Carlo to watch 40 Days and 40 Nights, which was a nice relaxing evening.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Hi Joel ( No photos )
On Friday I dropped Meaghan off at her work before heading home. Later that night I spent 35 minutes standing in the freezing cold waiting for the train before heading into town to meet up with Tim, have dinner and then meet up with Joel who arrived out here just over a week ago.
We went and found a nice little pub near Charing Cross, and spent the evening catching up and voicing various travel plans.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Meaghan's Again ( No photos )
On Thursday, I jumped in the car and headed up to Meaghan's Grandma's house in Milton Keynes. I had a much better trip up there this time, and got there in under an hour, without getting lost or stuck in traffic. Meaghan and I spent the morning doing a bit of shopping and then we went for lunch before heading back to her Grandma's for a bit. That night we went out with some of Meaghan's friends to one of the local pubs.
I also received a phone call in the afternoon from the Royal Free Hospital offering me a job in their endoscopy unit (using special cameras to look inside various body orifices) for a few months. I used to do this at my old work, so it wouldn't be an entirely new thing, but it would be very good experience. It is not definite yet, so I will keep you posted. Hopefully it will all work out, because it sounds perfect.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Scratched Car! ( No photos )
On Wednesday I went to pick the car up from its service. I payed up the £250 and went out to the car - to discover a scratch in the drivers door, and chunks missing out of the plastic trim. After paying that much money, I wasn't terribly impressed, so I went back inside to complain. Someone came out and looked at the damage, and tried to tell me it looked like the scratch had been there for quite a while. I was furious, because I guess he thought I might back down and not make them repair it. Anyway, he said he would call me to arrange a bodywork appointment, which he never did. I got Tim to call the garage yesterday to find out what was going on, and they tried to suggest we had to pay to have it fixed! So now, I am taking the car back up there tomorrow to have it fixed, and probably to argue with them that I will not be paying for the repair.
Anyway, the rest of my day was spent looking for more work, and being a bit lazy and reading on the lounge for a few hours :)

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Some Work for Liz ( No photos )
On Tuesday I had a shift (!) at the Harley Medical Group - a private clinic near Oxford Street. They have one operating theatre, and seemed to specialse in plastic surgery. The staff were really nice, and despite being nervous, I had a great day. And as a bonus I got to see liposuction for the first time! Sorry, you probably arn't quite as excited about that as I am, so I won't go into details. They also payed for my lunch - simply because they had more than two patients that morning. Sweet! I am really hoping that I get a few more shifts there.
After work I headed off to the Royal Free Hospital At Hampstead because I have been declared disease free (see previous entry), and I am now officially on their nurse bank. This is like a casual pool, where they just send me anywhere in the hospital that requires a nurse, so I am hoping to get work from that (again, more about that in a bit!). I was supposed to pick up my uniform and id card, but there were no id cards left, which meant I couldn't get a uniform either, so I went home.
Once I got to our front door, I found I couldn't get in. There are three locks on the door, and the deadlock isn't working (if you shoulder barge the door, it will open), so at the moment we are also locking the bottom lock. For some reason my key wasn't working and I couldn't get the door open. No-one was home, so I did what any sensible aussie would do, and headed across the road to the pub, to wait for someone to arrive home. I had a glass of wine, read the paper and chatted to some old Irish guy at the bar, before heading home to find that now the front door miraculously opened (?).

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Percy Gets a Service ( No photos )
On Monday, Tim headed off for another week of twelve hour days, and I took Percy up the road for a well deserved service. The car has done about twelve thousand miles since we bought it last September. Not bad considering the total milage is less than thirty-five thousand and the car is about eight years old.
The rest of my day was spent doing bits and pieces like looking for work and changing our address with various people.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

London Transport Museum Depot ( 31 photos )
On Sunday, we caught the ThamesLink (an overland train), from just near our house, into the city, and we went to The London Transport Museum Depot. This is a huge warehouse where they put all the old tube trains and double decker buses and various bits of transport memorabilia that doesn't fit in the actual museum itself. The Depot is only open to the public a few times a year, so we were lucky that we were around on one of the days it was open.
We spent a couple of hours wandering around old tube carriages (build in the 1930's, or even older), old buses that had to be hand cranked, models of what the tube system looks like underground, and hundreds of old signs from all the tube stations.

Next we headed to Earl's Court for some lunch at the Earl's Court Tavern, and then we met up with Marty who works in nearby Trekmate (similar to Kathmandu). We then became the proud new owners of a rucksack, complete with daypack and also a moneybelt. We came out here with two large suitcases and one medium sized backpack, but have decided that we need a larger pack for our trip to Turkey and Amsterdam (more about that in a bit), and so we finally got around to making a purchase.
We headed home and spent the evening making Nachos and watching TV.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Moving Day! ( 2 photos )
Saturday was Moving Day, and we were both so happy to be going to our new home. It took us about an hour to pack up all our possessions and we even managed to cram it all into Percy in one load. And then before we knew it we were on our way to our new place.
Our new home is only about five minutes drive from our old one, but due to major road works and a big construction site across the road from our front door, it took us about half an hour to get there, but you still couldn't have wiped the grins off our faces.
Parking is a problem. You have to have a permit, or you have to park an hours walk away. So we did what any sane person would do and triple parked illegally in the carpark behind our house. Due to the big menacing signs all around saying any cars discovered illegally parked would be clamped, one of us stayed with the car, while the other rushed around the corner to the front door with an armload of stuff.
Having emptied the car, we went and parked it slightly more legally (but still not quite legally), and went inside to meet and greet the rest of the household. Its turns out, that even though there are meant to be about nine people living here, a couple are off traveling, and everyone else is hardly ever here.
And now, about the house:
We live on a very busy and very noisy main road. There is a huge construction site across the street, and the traffic is constantly heavy due to major roadworks going on. Luckily, our bedroom is at the very back of the house, so we don't hear any noise when we are in there. And it's quite pleasant to fall asleep feeling the house rock as the buses roar by!
We are surrounded by shops and fast food and pubs. McDonalds is across the street, Burger King is two doors up, there is a Kebab shop either side of us, and KFC just up a few doors on the other side of the road. As for pubs, there are about five or six within two minutes walk. We have only been to one of the pubs...it is called The Crown, and is just across the road, and its really nice. Big comfy lounges, a roaring fireplace and lots of charm.
We also have a supermarket across the road next to the pub,. and another one just around the corner. There are about five butchers, and loads of stalls selling fresh fruit and veg, so with all that, I don't think we are ever likely to go hungry.
We have mostly resisted all the fast food...one kebab on our first night here (they are made differently over here - not all rolled up, but in an open piece of bread, out of which the contents always fall onto your nice clean clothes), and I had some greasy chicken the other night.
Our bedroom is a bit smaller than our last one, and there is a lot less storage space, so I went out this week and found a bookcase kit Ikea-type thing (only not from Ikea). Tim and I put it together when he got home from work that night, and I am still suprised that it lasted 24 hours, let alone nearly a week. It has a very dangerous lean on it, but I can't work out if thats more because the bedroom floor is a bit uneven or if the bookcase is really that dodgy. But it should last us a few months until we head off again.
This house is quite a bit bigger than the old one (we now have two bathrooms instead of just the one - will come in handy if all nine of us are actually ever home at the same time, and everyone here is really friendly. One of the girls (and also her friend that is currently dossing here) are both nurses, and they have been really helpful suggesting a couple of things I can do to get some more work. Everyone seems much more relaxed here, and we are both very happy to have moved to such a nice household.
Right, so we had made it to our new home, and we had now met a most people in the house - a mix of Aussies and Kiwis, (Carlo and Nicole, who are married, Maddy, who we saw for about five seconds before she ran out the door to go travelling, John, Sarah, and Lucinda, who is dossing), so our next mission was to get our car legally parked. We spent a while locating Carlo (this house really is quite big), and then went with him for a short drive to The Parking Shop, where we payed for a booklet of visitor parking permits. We can't apply for a permanent parking permit until we have signed the lease, and we are still waiting for the landlord to turn up so we can do that.
We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking most of our stuff, realising that our new bed is bigger than the old one, going out and buying a new bottom sheet, and then cooking dinner a bit later on.
After dinner we decided to go and visit the pub across the road (with the comfy lounges), and whiled the evening away chatting and enjoying a couple of drinks.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, London, England
posted 09:43 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Tim: Left to fend for myself ( No photos )
Liz is up in Milton Keynes visiting Meaghan. She drove up yesterday morning, got stuck in traffic on the M1 for three hours (ouch), and spent the night there last night.
I don't know exactly what she has been doing, but I got a call late last night where it sounded like the two of them had been having a celebratory night our together. And that was only 9pm! It must be that silly 11pm closing time that is the law here.
She should be back down here today some time, and is planning to come in and meet me after work, when I intend to have a relaxing time after eighty-plus hours work in the last nine days.
We are aiming to move to our new place tomorrow, which should keep us busy. We don't actually have a parking permit yet so not sure how we will handle that one.
This morning I noticed that Blackalicious are doing their thing at the Jazz Cafe in Camden tomorrow evening. We haven't been out to anything like this for a while so I'll see if I can convince Liz to come along. That is assuming, of course, that the move goes well.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Liz: Having a Ball! ( No photos )
On Friday, Meaghan and I awoke feeling slightly worse for wear, before we headed back up to Meaghan's work for her next shift, and then I headed back down to London.
The drive home was almost as bad as the trip up there. The weather was shocking (I know, I should expect that in England), and most of the way home the rain was so heavy that it was virtually impossible to see the car just in front of me. I made it safely home with all my limbs intact, and not a scratch on the car (more to come about that in a bit...), and spent the rest of the day being lazy and watching TV, only moving when food supplies were desperately needed.
Tim arrived home from work late that night, and we went up to the local chain pub for dinner and to try and remember what each other looked like because we had hardly seen each other all week.

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

A Move and Lots More ( No photos )
I am going right back to Thursday 6th March, which was when I was up in Milton Keynes with Meaghan. My trip up there took 3 hours longer than it should have due to a couple of accidents, and also because I got lost in Milton Keynes :) Anyway, I eventually arrived at Meaghan's place of work (a coffee shop in a building where you can do indoor skiing!), and spent my afternoon writing in my journal, reading the paper, writing a letter, and of course, drinking copious amounts of tea.
After Meaghan finished work, we went shopping, and then for a few drinks. Dinner was next, followed by a few more drinks and then I was very excited to have my first ride home in a black taxi (I love those things and if I could I would buy one and ship it home, but a certain someone says I'm not allowed to...meanie).

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 12:18 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Feeling a Little Off ( No photos )
Not quite sure what the actual problem is, but both Liz and I have stomach bugs at the moment, hers seemingly worse than mine. A few others at work report similar symptoms so it seems like it is just something going around.
Thought I'd get the bad news out of the way first - most everything else is going quite well. Liz has been offered a shift here and there, and is currently getting some blood tests done. Apparently they think the Australian nurses are going to bring all sorts of horrible diseases over here. And here was me thinking they just wanted to bring their skills over...
I am now doing twelve hour days, still working in the same place. That's a lot of work, and it's making me fairly tired of course. Liz is trotting around the place tidying up various loose ends.
After not having any bank account at all for a long time, we now have two - one each. Wonderful.
Other than that, there's not a great deal of news. We are planning on moving to our new house on this coming weekend, which will be interesting due to the fact that it is right on a high street, and hence parking is at a premium. We have to apply for a parking permit for Percy.
Looking slightly longer-term, I am contracted here at work until the 18th of April, just in time for our ANZAC trip. After we return from that, we will probably be looking for a Kombi van (if not earlier), in which we plan to drive across to France and continue our exploration of this side of the planet in April-May.
Speaking of the ANZAC trip, Liz has been reading up on Turkish food in the book she got for her birthday, and as such is really keen to get moving. We will be able to come back and talk to the lads at Brothers Kebabs in their own language too - her research is coming along well!
Oh, and apologies to those who couldn't get the email link to work to wish Liz well for her birthday - I forgot to mention that it probably wouldn't work for those who use Hotmail or similar to access their email.
We could have predicted it. Just when we want to send money home to pay off rising credit card bills and HECS, the exchange rate goes completely in the wrong direction and we stand to loose hundereds. Annoying Australian economy!

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 12:18 GMT 04/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Hi Again Meags ( 10 photos )
We drove up to Milton Keynes to visit Meaghan, who is once again living with her Grandma. We went down to a great little pub on the river-side for some lunch, and also had a couple of great walks around the area.
We then went back to the massive Milton Keynes shopping centre for a relaxing coffee and a flip through our Scotland photos, which I have recently been scanning in on Ryan's scanner. Will aim to put some up here soon, especially ones from Orkney.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:49 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Some Great News! ( No photos )
Hearty congratulations to my brother Peter and his girlfriend Inshirah who have announced that they are engaged to be married! The news came through whilst on night-shift this week, and it has taken a little while to sink in. Tentative plans put the date somewhere in November, so perhaps we now have a definite end-date for our Europe trip.

The work-all night thing finally caught up to me, and much of the weekend was spent asleep. I'm back on day shifts now which aren't so bad.
It has been back to the drudgery this week a little, although things are looking up for Liz as she now has two shifts this week, the first of which is tomorrow. They are once again at the Charing Cross hospital (nowhere near Charing Cross), and are great to get her out and doing things. She has also applied with a few other agencies, and has two interviews this week. Now she's a busy girl!
We are probably planning on moving either this weekend or next week, since we have agreed to start paying rent at the new place. The person we are taking the room off has been quite kind in holding it for us for this long, plus we are pretty keen to get out of the current place.
Our interest in getting up and travelling again has been renewed, and tentative plans for selling Percy and obtaining a Kombi called "Ethel" (can't quite remember how we made up that name - it's not like we have picked one out yet!) are taking shape. We think we will try and buy one here (as in London somewhere), load it up with gear and drive over to the continent. Seems easier than attempting to ship everything over there, the trade-off being that they are quite a bit cheaper to buy over there.
We made one un-successful excursion to The Van Market on Caledonian Road, not far away from here. While it was a nice drive, and the greasy spoon breakfast was better than expected, we couldn't find the market. It was just for research anyway.
Today Liz met me in town and we caught an old Routemaster bus (my first!) down to the Strand where we trundled off to Australia House (no Kombis for sale outside there, although we hear they usually are). This journey was to find out what we have to do to vote in the up-coming state election. However, the answer we got from the officially-dressed but Aussie-speaking desk clerk was "don't need to". A little suspicious, we probed him further - "It's not like they are going be able to find you in the middle of a Brazilian forest, is it?". Well, no, but we think we might vote anyway. Turns out we can get the postal vote form online and do it that way.
After that we wandered back down the Strand, intending to work our way to the TNT (Aussie magazine over here) offices to pick up a T-shirt I ordered. Ducking into a tiny little pub squeezed between two enormous buildings that has been there for several hundered years (love this part of London), we ordered a pint while I attempted to work out where we were going. Turns out I didn't have any details with me, but Liz didn't want to budge, so we spent a little while there before jumping back on the Tube home.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:49 GMT 25/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Blackfriars Wander ( 22 photos )
I managed to surface to travel into Blackfriars for a walk around Fleet Street and surrounds, as recommended in our Eccentric London book. This gave us great views of St. Paul's Cathederal, the Old Bailey, the amazing St. Bartholemew the Great church (where Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shakespeare in Love were set), Smithfield Markets, St. Bride's (which is the model for the world's wedding cakes), and St. Clement Danes. Also, it pointed out all sorts of interesting little niches we never would have found on our own.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:49 GMT 25/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Happy Birthday Liz! ( 7 photos )
Liz's birthday was a success for the part I was awake, as she somehow managed to accrue the world's supply of chocolate, along with several other goodies. Hearty thanks to those who sent wishes, I know she appreciates hearing from you all.
In the evening, we met up with Meaghan again (hooray!), and went out for a few of those evil two-for-one cocktails at brb in Chinatown, where we were joined by Marty who is back in London for while. He has recently travelled to Spain to learn how to teach English to Spanish people, and will return there in a couple of months to continue more of the same.
He guided us to one of the cheap but decent places to eat nearby, where we had quite a good meal, all told, before he headed home, while Liz and Meaghan went back to sleep at Golders Green and I trundled off to work.

author Liz and Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:47 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Doctor Registration ( No photos )
Today we finalised the doctor situation by being signed up at a local clinic, as well as Liz making two trips across London to get our bank account finalised. We finally have a bank account to call our own (well, Liz's anyway), so if anyone wants to send us some pocket money, feel free! (You might consider a donation, or at least an email for Liz's birthday tomorrow).
We even got the website up to date as a group effort!

We have to recommend 1st Contact if you need a bank account in London. It took all of half an hour, no sending photocopies of things from home, no need to find proof of current address. Wish we had of known that when we first arrived here.
Now that Meaghan is back here (she's living again with her grandmother in Milton Keynes), we are planning on meeting up with her for Liz's birthday (hint, hint!) tomorrow in town somewhere, and then probably being joined by Marty for dinner.

author Liz and Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:47 GMT 19/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

We'll be Moving House ( No photos )
Tim's body clock was trying to get back on track, and we looked at a new place to live. This is quite a long story which we won't bore people with here, but basically we will most probably be moving out of this house quite soon and into a place in nearby Cricklewood. More details to come.
We also started knocking off our long list of things which needed to be done, including registering with a local doctor (what a stupid concept - Australia is much better in this respect), travel insurance, and a bank account (since the one Tim was trying to organise through work is taking way too long). Tim off to work again in the evening.

author Liz and Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:47 GMT 19/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Night Shift means a Day Off! ( No photos )
On Monday, Tim changed over to night shift, which meant that we had the day together - not at all what we expected on the first day of the Congestion Charge. We caught the bus in the morning to the Royal Free Hospital at Belsize Park (three tube stops back towards London), which is one of the places Liz is trying to find work. After picking up some paperwork, we stopped in a nearby swish-looking pub for a great lunch, before returning home and doing some food shopping. In the evening, Tim went off to work.

author Liz and Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:47 GMT 19/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Work / Pub ( No photos )
After not seeing him much really (we knew that would happen, but it was good to catch up when we could), Peter left early on Sunday, and Tim had to work again, leaving Liz to go into a pub near Covent Garden with some housemates to watch a few bands play (and have a few drinks!)

author Liz and Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:47 GMT 19/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Work / Zoo / March ( No photos )
On Saturday, Tim went off to work and Peter to the anti-war march through central London, so Liz decided to take herself to the London Zoo. Due to the freezing temperatures, most of the animals thought better of it and were hidden away in their enclosures. The zoo itself was quite a lot smaller than she expected, but she still spent most of the day there wandering around.

author Liz and Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:47 GMT 19/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Valentine's Day ( No photos )
We had a table booked at Mythos in Edgware, and started the evening a nearby cheap pub. Here we had a great time singing along to Stevie Wonder and other fun times together. The dinner itself was fantastic, and Liz is currently dribbling as she thinks about how good the food was.
Among other things, Liz gave Tim a Bill Bryson travel book for Europe, and Tim gave Liz a bracelet with little roses on it. It was a nice, simple, great night out together.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, Greater London, England
posted 13:31 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

An Imbalance of Work ( No photos )
Needless to say, I have been giving the guys at work plenty about England's soccer/football loss, and there's some great headlines here as the tabloids pull no punches against their national team.
Back in the real world, Liz is still having a lot of trouble finding work, her latest contact sounding not quite as good as she was hoping. It's so much hassle signing up with other agencies, so she is trying to avoid that if possible.
I have been lucky enough to be working plenty (yay overtime!), including one night where I was here till just after midnight, then had to be back at work at 8:30. As the deadline approaches, there's lots to do. And with the major disaster which were actually in fixing that night (no details can be published!), it drove home just how big a project this one is. The press are keeping an eye on it, with huge countdown reminders, just in case we forget.
The rest of the week has been just mostly work for me, while Liz has been out and about at the movies (she saw Chicago), attempting to volunteer some of her time at the Battersea Dogs Home (they merely regurgitated what it says on the website - that she has to fill in a form and wait), and generally exploring areas of London.
I'd really love to spend more time looking around with her, but this week work is ruling. Bad timing, what with Valentines Day tomorrow (we have a table booked at a Mediterranean restaurant in Edgware), Peter Bowyer arriving tonight to stay for three nights (he's going along to the anti-war protest in London on Saturday), and Liz's birthday on the 20th (send her birthday wishes!), this is not going to be a good time to have a go-live date.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, Greater London, England
posted 13:31 GMT 13/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Take That! ( No photos )
What a game !!! Liz and I went up to the local pub, which is adopted home to plenty of the local Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans. Cheering very loudly as we watched England loose yet another sport to the Aussies. This one is a big one though - there was no way we were expected to win.
The few English who wandered around the pub looked a little scared at what would happen surrounded by so many non-England supporters, but it was all good sport in the end.

author Tim	location Spittalfields, Greater London, England
posted 13:31 GMT 13/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Camden ( 3 photos )
We set off early to have a look around Camden Markets. We weren't quite prepared for just how big this place is - stalls take over everything, and seem to be selling almost anything. Although there was an abundance of women's clothing, it was actually I who bought a T-shirt (and some cheap CDs and DVDs), with Liz showing a lot of self-control. We also puchased a light-shade, banishing the bare bulb until such time as we move on.

author Tim	location South Quay, Docklands, Greater London, England
posted 12:28 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Weekend at Work ( No photos )
So here I am, sitting at work on a Saturday, doing absolutely nothing. I'm over at our "contingency site" (which is an entire separate building, complete with duplicate computers and everything, incase the other one gets bombed. Gulp.), where I am on hand to assist with any problems which may occur as they test things.
None so far.
The (I think) final word on my contract at work is that I am staying in this job until mid-April, working almost all day shifts (due to the other UNIX guy Emmanuel wanting to work all the night shifts), with a small increase in pay. Things do tend to work themselves out in the end.

Liz has had a bad headache for most of the week, and her not being able to register with a local doctor (long story) here isn't helping that. It seems to be better today, after our big night our last night. Perhaps it was something in the Indian...
She has been chasing work a bit more, but it seems that her agency is going down the drain and hence doesn't have much work to give her. Since there is clearly lots of work out there somewhere, she has been looking into other avenues, including registering with another agency who she hopes can place her in a "line" of work. This means she works in the one place for a month or longer, but under agency conditions. Or perhaps she can get placed in a full-time position. It's all very draining on her, she's wishing she had never bothered registering in the first place.
There's a few more friends heading over here in the near future, including Joel Sarakula and Stuart Heldon, so it will be good to see some more familiar faces.

Later that day...
We are spending a night in today, getting some home-delivery with Taija and her friend Kirsty, which should prove nice and relaxing after my boss forced me to spend most of the afternoon at the nearby pub in a "team building" exercise. Who am I to resist?

author Tim	location South Quay, Docklands, Greater London, England
posted 12:28 GMT 08/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Brick Lane Curry ( 1 photo )
After work went out for a few drinks with some friends from work at the local pub "The Gun". Was a good night, and it ended up being just Liz, myself and a great guy called Mark. We had some Indian in nearby Brick Lane, where we were approcated by many hawkers trying to get us into their respective establishments by offering 25, 30 or even 40 percent off cards! What a deal!
The place we picked had none of these, but instead had good food. Not quite sure what we ate, but we are both ok today so can't have been too bad.

I was overjoyed to receive a package in the mail from my grandfather which was a "Learn to Play Harmonica" book - the perfect partner for the harminica he sent over with Margaret a while back which I have been struggling to make decent sounds out of! Not sure what the flat-mates will think of my practising, but I will attempt it all nonetheless.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 17:27 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Another week comes to a close ( 12 photos )

Most of yesterday was spent in rest after the excesses of Friday night!
Today we decided to head into London to tick off a few of the more touristy sites. First on the list was The London Dungeon, which Lonely Planet summarises as "long on gore, short on substance". We tend to agree, although the ticket price was just right as we had a two-for-one voucher. Not worth full price.
Next stop was the Shipwright's Arms pub just up the road (we were near Tower Bridge and London Bridge for most of the day) for a great cheap lunch before heading to Winston Churchill's Britain At War Experience.
This, similarly to the London Dungeon, seemed to cater more to the child's attention span than a proper museum would, as there was a lot less in it than we expected to find. However, what was there was quite engrosing - this one was worth the trip.
A walk around the area took us to a bookshop where we purchased the Lonely Planet Turkey guidebook. We have been most impressed with the Europe and Britain guides we have so far, and Liz as I write is eagerly reading all about the place.

Weather is still what they call "mild" here, which means good. In Australia that means bad. Anyway, it's better than the frozen days earlier this week - almost everything has thawed now. There is just a sad-looking pile of white debris where once the snowman stood.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 17:27 GMT 02/02/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Liz Enjoys Work, Meeting some Holladays ( 14 photos )
A mixed bag would be a good description for this week. It has been one where overall good things have happened, which is what we want, this being a holiday and all!
Liz's first shift as a qualified nurse went just fine, and she is looking forward to more. The people turned out to be quite nice and helpful, which she was dreading wouldn't be the case for an agency nurse. However, it seems that her agency is not going to be getting her a lot of work.
Possible ways forward include her adding a few more agencies to her list, or going and looking for a full-time job. It will remain to be seen what she ends up doing - she's just playing it by ear for the moment.
My previous delight at being able to work until the end of March has been turned on its head. It seems that at the end of my current contract (end Feb.), there will be a new contract to sign up. They have offered me the job, however there are a couple of little details - the pay stays the same (it wasn't fantastic to begin with, but I could have lived with just that), and the hours would change to 7pm - 3am!!
I wouldn't mind it too much (it's only for six weeks) if they were willing to give more pay, but having to get in there during the evening peak and find my way home at 3am will mean either driving in (which Percy is not insured for - back to the insurance saga again...), or getting a night bus every night.
So, I'm going to approcach my boss (who isn't the one making the offer, it's his boss) and let him know that I don't plan to accept unless the deal is sweetened at least a bit.
So this means things look a little different with regards to travelling, and we will have to be a bit more careful with what we do. However, it will all still work out in the end, as things always do!

Friday night (after I was just a little too close to a bar brawl involving my boss at the local near work), we met up with James and Andrew Holladay, and James' girlfriend Jenny. The way we know these people I think is that James and Andrew's grandmother Gladys was my Nan on my father's side's cousin. Got that? A while back they got in contact and suggested that we meet up for a meal, which we did at Ruby in the Dust, a great little restaurant in Camden.
The inevitable strangeness of dining with complete strangers was soon alleviated with the help of them being very friendly people, and the three bottles of wine before we went to the pub after didn't hurt much either. We went home at the ridiculous closing time of 11pm.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:49 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

London Grinds to a Halt ( 5 photos )
Walking back from our National Insurance interview this morning (in an original condition 50s government building, complete with loads of graffiti from those who obviously didn't get their government benefits), it started to snow. Just a little bit, but snow nonetheless. However, as I went in to work, it had stopped.
This afternoon, upon leaving work in town, I had had a look at this page, which shows in real time which tube lines have problems. Right now, it looks very bad. Every line where it goes above line in the North of London is closed.
It took me almost three hours to get home from work - a trip which took in the usual fifteen minute walk to Moorgate, then crammed onto a tube to Camden Town, change there to get crammed onto another tube to Golders Green, where the tube line comes out of the tunnel. That's as far as tubes are now going.
In good conditions, it's about a fifteen minute walk from there to home. Today it took me fourty-five minutes, slipping and sliding on the ice that covers everywhere. Not usually too much of a problem, however I injured my knee again on the weekend and it is not fully recovered.
Enough whinging from me, Ryan still isn't home and he has to drive on the icy roads, so hopefully he'll be ok.
As I mentioned, London really has ground to a halt - cars are going nowhere, motorways are closed, trains and tubes are wrecked and buses are being cancelled. As people have mentioned, all this because of two inches of snow!
The Central line is still closed and will remain that way for at least another two weeks, just about the same time that the Congestion Charge is due to start, so anyone who has to drive because they can't get a tube will have to pay for the privilege!
Sydney isn't looking so bad after all...


Now for the good news - Liz does her first shift as a fully-qualified nurse tomorrow! It's doing ward work at the Charing Cross hospital (which is nowhere near Charing Cross - it's actually near Hammersmith). However, if there's no tubes running, that will be a difficult journey to make half way across London for a few hours work. Still, it would be difficult to pull out of her first shift there, but since everyone else in London may be having the same problem.
Everyone in the house is secretly hoping that the tubes won't run tomorrow, so we can claim an extra day off!

And some more good news - we have our trip booked to Turkey! We fly Turkish Airlines (the only other option was British Airways, and they wouldn't accept non-British credit cards!) to Istanbul for six nights on the 18th of April, travel around to see lots of things (more details to come), and get back to London on the 29th of April.
We are of course looking forward to the trip, and the possibility of others coming and joining will only add to the excitement!

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 23:09 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Liz is a Nurse (again)! ( No photos )
No, this time for real!!! She actually has various fairly un-impressive pieces of paper to prove it!! She gave up waiting for the courier, went in and vented at the agency and recieved said documents in exchange.
We have an appointment later this week to get a National Insurance number (somewhere between a Tax File Number and a Medicare Number), and need to get letters from our relevant agencies saying that we are who we say we are. Of course, that was too hard for Liz's agency to have organised (they didn't even know they could until today), and offered to send it out to her.
Fat chance.
So, Liz is planning on heading back in later this week to pick it up, hopefully just in time.
I have found out that my place of work will employ me at least until the end of March, which will be just in time for a couple of weeks off before Gallipoli. That's another load off my mind.
Now, if we could just open a bank account...
Worked back a couple of hours tonight to fix a major configuration problem they didn't even know they had. They have agreed to pay whatever overtime is needed, since the deadline for the project is splashed across all forms of media here, and people are starting to worry it isn't going to work out well. Which sounds just like every other project anyone ever does!
There has been a Tube derailment here, we were nowhere near it and are not affected by it. However, it is the busiest line in the network (depending on how you measure it), and still closed. This, combined with tomorrow's fourty-eight hour fire strike is causing no end of fun to keep us interested.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 18:49 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Liz is a Nurse! ( 64 photos )
Well almost. She rang up on Friday to see what was happening, and they actually had her registration sitting there on someone's desk since the day before! Imagine that. So, she quite rightly insists that it be couriered out to her as soon as possible. No problems, they said, it will definitely be delivered before twelve noon Saturday.
This was to be a minor inconvenience to us, as we had plans for Saturday, but were prepared to wait since it has now been almost ten months since she first started applying, and she (and I aswell) need some form of closure on this.
We woke early, Liz not daring to go for a walk (for it was fantastic weather and we were both home) or take a shower incase they came to the door (she has to sign for it).
Twelve O'clock came. Then one, and before you know it it was five, our day had disappeared and there was no sign of any couriers. Ho-hum.
So we spent the day together, not even stepping a foot out of the house, but enjoying putting our feet up none the less.

Liz spent the week pottering around and looking through museums - the Science Museum and the Museum of London.

Today, we decided to squish Saturday's plans in aswell. This involved driving out to High Wycombe, the place of Mum and Dad's residence here in the mid-70s, and about 25 miles from our place in Golders Green.
I had a short chat to the guy who lives there now, who was quite rude and not really interested in being helpful. However, as we wandered back later, I noticed that there is a sign outside the house saying that they sell honey! What better way to meet and greet, telling the story. The mother proved to be more chatty, but alas had no honey to sell me - it was awaiting bottling later this week. So if we make it back at a later stage, there is the possibility that she will let me in to have a look around, which would be great!
After a walk around the nearby park with associated Sunday rugby kids, we headed into town to have a look at the high street. A few more photos of the place where Dad used to work, before we headed back to Golders Green.

Of course, today is Australia Day. Not ones to let such an event slip by un-noticed, we decided that a good old Aussie-style BBQ was required. Crowded House blaring out on the radio, Ryan and I created the heat and flipped the meat which Liz and Chantelle had done a great job of preparing.
The strange thing was that we hear that due to total fire bans, even if we were back in Sydney, we couldn't have had a barbie at all! So our wet, slippery-grounded, smoky-coal-powered-fire meal was about the best Australia Day meal we could have managed anywhere.
That's not to say that we don't miss standing up for 12 hours parking cars with SES like must have happened today, but we hear even the fireworks were cancelled - what happened there?
Curiously for London, the weather held out and the sunset was fantastic.

We have decided to go on the tour to Gallipoli for ANZAC day (roughly April 18th-30th). The particular one we think we are going to do is this one. It is eight days, and takes in all major places we are interested in seeing in Turkey, including of course the dawn service.
We plan to fly in with British Airways (the cheapie airlines don't fly that far!), and get there a few days early and have a look around Istanbul on our own. Hopefully we can book it all tomorrow.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:32 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Another Week ( No photos )
Yes, due to working they are starting to really fly by now. The only consoloation is that we can start to look forward to travel again. Oh, and of course Liz finally being able to work - she's still awaiting her registration. At this rate it will come in just before we leave!
Going out on a limb once again and talking about plans we are bound to change, we have one major thing on our horizon - a trip to Gallipoli for ANZAC Day. Since we have for many years got up hideously early to do dawn service marches around Sydney, and we are going to miss it this year, we thought we'd go one better.
This was all ok when we first thought of it, but now apparently John Howard has come out and listed it as a possible terrorist target at that time. While making us a little nervous, we still think we will get over there, stay out of the cities and packed-areas, surfacing only for the all-important dawn service.
Far from having a set plan as yet, Liz is researching some of the organised trips to see what the deal is. We may end up renting a car for a week or so, and having a look around Istanbul, making a little "holiday within a holiday" out of it.

Since the last update, we have of course done a few things:

• Liz did some wandering around local shops in the first half of the week, generally biding her time awaiting her registration to come through.
• I was at work, doing more of the same, except for Friday when I went to our Disaster Recovery (aka. standby or contingency) site down at Docklands. Interesting place, it is served by the Docklands Light Railway, or DLR to its friends. This was a strange experience - basically a tram, but with no driver! You can sit right at the front and watch the track come right at you. Technology these days...
• On Thursday, Liz came in to meet me at work for lunch at the nearby Old Spitalfields Market, before she headed off to the nearby Body Worlds Exhibition. Her review could be summarised as "confronting, strange, yet somehow interesting".
• Friday night was a big night up at the Local with Ryan, Chantelle and a few other friends. My first Karaoke experience is still haunting me. Let's just say I'll never listen to Bohemian Rhapsody in quite the same light. Saturday was a write-off, watching four movies and generally being lazy.
• Today we finally went and saw The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, at the Muswell Hill Odeon. Of course, a fantastic movie, but the combination of a completely packed cinema with way too many kids all talking for three hours made the overall experience somewhat lack-lustre.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:05 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Goodbye Margaret! West Finchley ( 29 photos )
Well, Margaret should have touched down in Sydney an hour ago - we haven't heard from her since she left here last night, but I'm sure it was all ok. It's been good having her here for a while, and now of course she is going to be missed. Not the least by Liz!
In the past few days it has been finishing off the week of work, and spending a bit of time relaxing.
In the great tradition of breaking our plans totally, we have now decided to keep Percy a little longer. Basically we are back to paying a huge amount for the insurance, but since it is being spread out monthly and I'm working now it's not so terrible.

So, we set off today to have a look at the place where my mum and her friends stayed when they were living here many many years ago - up at 7 Western Court, West Finchley. By a large fluke, that's only about ten minutes drive from where we are living. Strange how things play out. Hopefully this will help revive some long lost memories!
After we wandered around for a while, we drove over to Cherry Tree Wood in East Finchley - a very pretty little woodland tucked away in suburbia.

Liz has just found a message left on our home MessageBank thingo (like an answering machine that lives in phone-company land) from her nursing agency. Apparently, her registration has come through, but she needs to now pay another hundred pounds for the registration itself, and then wait at least ten days after that before she can work.
A mixed blessing, because she now is not sure what to do for that period of time, while I'm at work. We'll keep you posted.
The weather has been much warmer - about two or three degrees each day now. It took about four days after the heavy snow for the ice to melt - until then the hospitals were full of people who had fallen over. It was all we could do to not join them!

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:05 GMT 12/01/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Nice Weather ( 3 photos )
Since the weather was nicer for a change this morning, I took some photos of our house and street.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 21:05 GMT 12/01/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Dinner with Housemates ( 1 photo )
Thursday night we went out for dinner with everyone else from the house to one of the Italian restaurants up at Golders Green. A good night out, it was nice to chat to people in a sit-down way, rather than waiting for them to wander past during the week.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 17:50 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Let it Snow! ( 7 photos )
It has arrived a little late, but our "White Christmas" has finally arrived! There's a few new stories at places like this, which will tell you that we have had two inches of snow in Central London - the highest in nine years!
I went out for a walk at lunch time and it was amazingly beautiful. Had a snowfight in the courtyard outside work, and then trudged slowly and carefully off to get some food from the local Spittalfields Market.
There's a huge amount of black ice around, so you have to be very careful - my hiking boots are proving not to be too useful with their large amounts of flat sole, and as such my knees are taking a battering. Still, no complaints here! Bring on the snow!
In other news, we have all but decided to sell Percy now - he's proving too expensive to keep. The only problem now is how to sell him when we can't let people out for a test drive while he is not insured. I'm sure we will work something out.
Liz and Margaret went to the Savoy Theatre this afternoon to watch HMS Pinnafore, but it was part of Margaret's Chirstmas present from us. I am going to try to convince her to write a bit about it later on.
No other real news, except make sure you keep an eye on the photos page for lots of snow pictures.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 17:50 GMT 08/01/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Snow and Ice ( 4 photos )
Took some very dark pictures this morning before going to work of the snow all over our street!

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Happy Birthday Peter! ( 15 photos )
I think I've used that title before, however this time it's for a different Peter - my brother, who is celebrating his 21st today. I hear it all went well, and a good time was had by all. Congrats mate for making it through!
The main news of late people have been asking about is my job. As I mentioned the other day, it is for a company who have the contract for the imaging component of the Central London Congestion Charging. What this actually means is that as you drive into London on several key roads, your number plate is photographed, sent to the data centre where I work, and processed to extract the numbers from it, and packaged up for forwarding on to other people who then check whether you owe money.
What the main part of my job is is running a couple of servers who are responsible for storing these little packages of pictures and information permanently on what is effectively a bunch of over-grown CD burners. This is for reference in case anyone ever wants to dispute the fact that they were driving along that road at that time.
I am also there to help out the other fifteen members of the team who are effectively "Windows guys" with any questions on the running of the UNIX servers. I'm producing some documentation on the systems, since, as I arrived, there was precisely zero. Nobody knew how they had been set up. This makes for a challenge when at least three different companies and their staff have had access to the machines in the last few months and could conceivably have put anything at all on there.
That said, I actually have someone else to help do all this, who started the same day I did, with basically the same job description. The strange thing is, we actually solved a Windows problem for them as the first thing we did - that's supposed to be what they are the experts at!
What makes this job really challenging are couple of little details:

• They don't have any computers for us to work on. This means that any work we want to do, we can turn up and hope to find a spare computer (difficult because they are all earmarked for other duties), or we can work standing up in the server room all day, via a convoluted chain of technology.
• "Fine", you might say - "you have a laptop over there - use that". I'd love to, but that is against company policy. Only company-owned computers can be connected to the company-owned network. Except they don't have any company-owned computers to give us!!

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:29 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Last Night of Freedom ( 1 photo )
This morning we awoke late-ish, spoke on the phone to a few people and wrote some letters. We plan to have a big-night-in tonight, celebrating my last night of freedom before hitting the 9am start tomorrow morning.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:29 GMT 01/01/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Happy New Year! And a Job! ( 38 photos )
New Year's Eve was another interesting day. Early on, I was quite suprised to answer the mobile to a job offer! They didn't even want an interview - just turn up on Thursday ready to go! Who was I to say no - the money is good enough, and it's only a two-month contract, so it fits in nicely with us saving hard and running off to travel around the rest of Europe, and still maybe making our August return tickets.
I don't know a huge deal about the job yet, except it is quite near Liverpool Street station (about 30-40 mins travel time), and working for an outsourcing company who have the government contract for the Transport for London Congestion Charging project. They seem to want me for a UNIX Support/Admin role, which sounds interesting, if a little different to what I was aiming for.

So, after the excitement of that had worn down, we sat down to work out what we were going to do for the evening to celebrate the New Year. We had had a few offers, but nothing really ticked our fancy, so we decided just to jump on a tube and let the rest work itself out.
First stop was Leicester Square, where we eventually found some truly terrible food and service at one of the many Aberdeen Angus steak houses (read someone else's opinion of them here, which is not to dissimilar to ours). I refused to pay the "compulsory" service charge (the service was non-existant and the food terrible), so we left quickly, looking for somewhere better to spend the rest of the evening.
Eventually we located one of the only places you could get a drink without a twenty-five pound ticket, which was a great little bar just off Leicester Square. After a while though, we were treated to some more great British hospitality, and rudely told that we had to move our table, because they needed the room. So we did, but found the new location was right between four smokers. Left there pretty quick.
Here started our big wander around Central London - taking in Oxford Circus, Whitehall, Westminster, Southwark (where they had some pretty blue lights near the London Eye) and a couple of bridges along the way. We decided that we would spend the new year watching Big Ben chime away, along with several thousand other revellers packed outside Westminster. It was a nice relaxing way to do it, until the huge crush of people madly deciding they wanted to get out caused several sore bones. No lasting damage was done, and we eventually made our way back to the only open tube at Charing Cross, then came straight home.
So it wasn't the most outrageous, crazy New Years we have ever had, but it was certainly quite memorable. We were on the whole un-impressed with London's efforts compared with Sydney - no fireworks, Trafalgar Square was closed (complete with huge signs saying "Nothing to see here, move along", or something to that effect) - we had chosen the most interesting place, apparently. There was something going on at the Millenium Dome, but we only found that out the day after.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:34 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Back at Golders Green ( No photos )
(Continued from Carlisle for Christmas).
We have received email, phone call and letter from a previously-unknown part of my family here. Apparently Mum and Dad put the address of this website in a letter to them with their Christmas card, and the rest is history. We now have an invite up North to stay for a weekend (some live in Cambridge and some in Chester), and an offer of a "few beers" with plenty of people I've never met. Sounds great!
The never-ending insurance saga still doesn't end. We are very close to selling the car, now that we have done the vast majority of our travel we have planned in the UK. The quantity of money they are now asking (very different to last time we talked, of course) just isn't going to be worth it.
We have bought some speakers for our room now, which make it quite a bit more like home. Will have to watch the volume - have already been asked to turn it down at bedtime by Vicky!
Margaret is now in Dublin. She is spending a week over visiting her friend Anne. Departing on Sunday from Stansted airport North of London, Liz took the train ride out there with her. Whilst this was occuring, I acquainted myself with the local Brent Cross Shopping Centre, which is quite big, but almost 100% women's clothes and shoes. Ho hum. And the sales are just to get you in the door to by the decent things, still expensively priced. No real surprises there.
Where there was a surprise however, was walking around the local Golders Green high street. The place is really amazing for a set of local shops. To give you an idea of the expanse of the place, there is a Starbucks next to a Costa next to a Coffee Republic (for non-UK people, that's three big coffee shops in a row), and they were all full! There's plenty of great places to eat - we intend trying some of the Kosher food (this being a big Jewish area) to see what all the fuss is about.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:34 GMT 30/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Driving "Home" ( No photos )

Some time while in Carlisle, we also went ten-pin bowling to kill an evening, where Liz will proudly tell you that she beat me. Actually, I'm surprised it slipped her mind in the her updates!
The driving day from Carlisle went fairly as un-eventfully as the one there, but as always it seemed to drag on.
We arrived back at our new house, ready to Work in London.

author Liz	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:34 GMT 30/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Dalston ( 1 photo )
On Friday, Tim and I went up to the local computer mega-store to look at getting a set of speakers for our room. They don't seem to be nearly as crazy about the sales over here as people are in Oz. A lot of the stores don't open until after Boxing Day.
Not finding quite what we wanted, we went back to Peter's and then decided to go to the pub. We have been to a nice little pub in Thursby a few times (just outside Carlisle), but when we got there it was closed. Tim jumped in the drivers seat and took us for a high-speed spin around the country back lanes (don't read that bit if you are a mum/dad/protective relative!), before we came across another pub on the outskirts of Dalston. We had a great afternoon enjoying a few drinks, some games of 8-ball and me learning all about how a gear box and clutch work (at my insistence).

author Liz	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:34 GMT 30/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Boxing Day with Graham and Rosie ( 22 photos )

Boxing day was wet, cold and foggy, but still no snow :( We jumped in the car and went and visited my Mum's 2nd cousin Graham, his wife Rosie and son Ivan at their beautiful big house in the middle of nowhere (otherwise known as just North of Newcastle). They even have their own woods! After the obligatory cup of tea, we all went out for a walk in the woods and down to the river. I can't describe how difficult it is to walk around when you are wearing nine layers of clothing that make you look like the Michelin Man. Try it sometime.
After our walk, we had a huge big lunch, and sat by the log fire for the afternoon. Tim and I rugged up again and went outside with Graham to show him how to use his new chainsaw to chop up the trees in the woods. We haven't touched a chainsaw in months, so it was great to start one up, and I was surprised to discover I still remembered how to use the thing after so long.
After more cups of tea, we left and drove back to Peter's.

(A bit more by Tim)
While at Graham and Rosie's place, I managed to catch a native red squirrel with my camera. These are quite rare now, all but displaced by the evil and much more common grey variety. There were plenty of birds there, right outside their window. Very close to nature indeed.

author Liz	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 14:34 GMT 30/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Christmas Continues ( 21 photos )
The rest of Christmas day was spent eating chrissie dinner, chrissie nibbles, drinking chrissie drinks and looking at chrissie presents. We all stuffed ourselves too much, and we were still left with loads of food at the end of the day.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 13:56 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Merry Christmas! ( 21 photos )
I know it's now a little late, but then most people aren't going to be reading this over Christmas anyway!
We have had a nice slow morning, doing not much until present-opening-time somehow arrived. Thanks to friends and family who have sent us wishes, cards and presents. We got a few text messages from people we haven't seen in a long time, which was great.
Liz was kind enough to give me a webcam (the one I am using at the moment is on loan), so we can engage in more of the video chatting we did with family back home. It was great seeing them all together, people we haven't seen for over four months now. From what I've heard, they liked seeing us too, even commenting on my haircut which Liz gave me yesterday. No, it's not too bad.
I gave her the book of "Jamie's Kitchen", which is a cooking show on TV here staring Jamie Oliver, aka. The Naked Chef, who is extremely popular over here. I'm not sure if she has managed to integrate any of the recipies into the Christmas dinner, which I can smell roasting away in the oven. It's nice to actually walk into the kitchen and enjoy the heat of Christmas dinner cooking - something which was always a pain back home. That's Australia home, if you are getting confused. Not London.
Other presents included a few books, more warm clothes, and some coasters from Mum and Dad saying "Tim's Bar". Not sure if they are trying to tell me something... Also a boomerang from Celia and Peter in Oz ("make sure you come back", says the card), and Liz of course accrued enough girly things to open her own shop.
We aren't even close to a White Christmas here. We awoke to sun streaming in our window, and the ever-present wet everything (although curiously it doesn't rain much). The temerature is even bearable. It was a cold snap a few weeks ago which has now gone, leaving us with 12 degree days. Not what were expecting (or hoping for, even) at all.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 13:56 GMT 25/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Not Much ( 2 photos )
Lazing around the house today, waiting for Christmas to arrive.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 13:56 GMT 25/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Across to Newcastle ( 4 photos )
We took a drive across to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to watch (and join in with) Peter sing Christmas carols with the Newcastle Symphonia Choris in the Newcastle Catholic Cathedral. Stirring stuff, and just topped-off our carols for the year nicely.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 11:01 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

Relaxing around Peter's Again ( No photos )
There are some very rough plans taking shape for us to go across to Newcastle tomorrow to watch Peter sing carols at lunchtime, then have a look around what he describes as "England's answer to Sydney Harbour".
We shall wait and see...
I have borrowed a webcam to attempt some Christmas video-chatting, so if you have one too, or even if you just want to watch us be silly in front of a camera, get in touch and we can sort something out.

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 11:01 GMT 22/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

House Photos before Driving North ( 4 photos )
The weather was finally good enough this morning for me to grab shots of the front of what I guess we should call our "home", just before we set off for the long drive north to Carlisle.
We did this via Peter's "secret" route, which is the M1, then A50, then M6. He had heard that yesterday was supposed to be the worst possible day for travelling in the Christmas build-up period.
But, we are not sure whether it was the route that was right or the news that was wrong, as we had a fantastic drive, easily the best so far. Fairly close to a five hour drive, with two half-hour breaks, before we arrived in Carlisle for Christmas.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 11:01 GMT 22/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle for Christmas ( all photos )

A Great Suprise ( 5 photos )
(Continued from London 3).
As we walked in to Peter's place (he was out and had left a spare key hidden), we saw that he had put up a fairly comprehensive array of Christmas decorations! Everything from a real tree right through to the little Frosty and Santa heads sticking out of our beds! Perhaps this was to make up for the news that there is little chance of a White Christmas, although almost 100% certainty of a wet drizzly one.
The night was spent relaxing and cooking nachos for dinner after a walk to the local supermarket (Liz on leaving the house: "It's not that cold"; Liz on arriving back at the house: "It's bloody freezing out there!!!").

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 19:12 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

News on the Work Front ( No photos )
The last few days have been pretty hectic - getting more things organised for our room, having Margaret over for dinner, and of course Liz and Margaret going for a two-hour shopping trip through Tesco, dragging me along.
What has been interesting, however, is that I went for a job interview today. Even more interesting is that I got the job.
However, I turned it down. Basically, they wanted me to be on call for the Christmas period, at a fairly low rate of pay. This would have meant that I would have been sitting around down in London, and missed out on the White Christmas up in Carlisle at Peter's place.
So, I got my first contracting role here and said "no" on the same day. I intend to look at the supposed rush of New-Year contracts as they occur.
In other news, it must be getting pretty cold here, since there is a pretty thick layer of ice covering Percy every morning, and piles of the stuff on the paths and stations. Have to be pretty careful. We haven't seen actual snow yet, but are hoping that the reported -4 temperatures up in Carlisle pay off when we arrive there on Saturday.
Liz is once again doing an all-night shift at the same place, and this may be her last one. She has heard un-officially that her nursing registration has finally come through, however the idiots have sent it Second-Class post.
For the non-British audience, over here you can either get guaranteed next-day or the day after delivery, known as First Class, or you can save about two pence and get Second Class, which might get there someday. Maybe. But perhaps not over Christmas.
So, despite having spent several hundered pounds on her application and waited nine months to get thus far, when it finally comes through they are too cheap to spend up for First Class post to let her Agency know about it. Grrr.
Only Vicky will be at our place over Xmas - Liz and I are of course going North, Ryan and Chantelle are heading to Austria, and Taija is off to San Francisco. So many places to go, so much time...

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 00:27 GMT 17/10/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

A Change of Scenery ( 6 photos )
I have again moved a little further on the job front, and again have nothing concrete. It's quite possible that I will have to wait until the new year for work to eventuate - most hirings are understandably on hold. At least a number of places have said that I have a strong CV, but how many candidates do they say that to? If IT work falls through, I have an interesting plan or two for non-IT work to bring some money in...
We of course ate out at several places around Beckenham and in at Leicester Square over the time we spent down there, some good and some not so good. The Ye George Inn, Pizza Hut and the Local Kebab Shop (complete with kebabs which are supplied as what can only be described as a pile of ingredients) come readily to memory.
We are going back up to Carlisle on Saturday to meet with Peter for Christmas, and plan to stay around a week. If anyone in London has any suggestions for New Years, we are all ears!

author Tim	location Golders Green, Greater London, England
posted 00:27 GMT 17/10/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Move Complete! Jade's Birthday ( 8 photos )
So we've moved in to our new home! The move went fine - we were most suprised at how little time it took us to get here (granted it was on a Sunday), and how little went wrong.
We are really enjoying it here - the single room in the B&B was getting a little claustrophobic. There's lots of new things to learn about - which cupboards are ours in the kitchen, which part of the fridge, which jobs you have to do in your section of the housework. At least it makes it nice and simple for everyone here with a few reasonable ground-rules.
One of the most useful things about the place is that it has 24hr fast internet access, meaning you can feel free to email, ICQ or just generally contact us as you wish!
Even though it's been a little while since our last update, not a huge deal has been accomplished besides the move. Liz has done a couple more nursing shifts, still in the same place she was before. She is not over-enthusiastic about the work, but it is money coming in which is greatly needed. She is actually working a night shift at the moment.

While Liz was on night shift, the timing worked out for me to go into the infamous brb Bar in London (we have been there a couple of times before), where I met with friend from Sydney Jade to celebrate her birthday. I met a huge number of new people, mostly also in IT, and with the exception of one, all from Oz or NZ. Strange how that happens on the other side of the world. We wandered randomly around Chinatown afterwards and eventually ate at a Chinese Restaurant of some description.
My journey home involved becoming acquainted with the night-bus system, which is considerably more confusing than the one in Sydney. Also, nobody at the station had the vaguest idea how it worked, and sent me on a wild goose chase attempting to work out how I would get home.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 21:45 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

-7 celsius! ( 19 photos )
Well, that's the temperature when you include the wind chill factor. It's around 2-4 if you don't - the winds are truly cutting. And it's only just started being winter!
The last few days have seen a few things get better. Liz has done one shift at work, doing what they call "Escorting". Basically, she helped a well-to-do old resident of a well-to-do nursing home place into and out of a taxi, pushing the wheelchair around, etc. while he had to go to a hospital for a test.
She must have impressed, she's got three more shifts out of them already - Friday, Monday and Thursday nights! Remember, she hasn't got her actual Nursing Registration through yet (come on, it's only been nine months), so this is slightly more menial tasks. However, the money coming in (well, when it does) is a lot better than none at all. Especially in pricy London.
Oh, and when she was in the taxi, the driver noted that it was snowing! Sure, you wouldn't know unless someone told you, but it's still snow!!
I've made some progress, actually getting to have a decent conversation with a few of the phone-drone recruiting people, and one actually understood what it is that I do! There's one job in my "strong lead" pile at the moment, and a few more on the way.
In case you're interested in the ever-exciting insurance saga, it's now all sorted out. Maybe. Since our second cover note had expired this morning, I decided that waiting two months for the two return phone calls I had been promised was getting a bit much, and rang them back. At the end of it all, we've settled on a reasonable (but not amazing) price, whereby they ignore any past no-claim bonus. It was just all too hard for them, despite all the paperwork we had organised. We were quite close to selling the car and giving it all up this afternoon, but that was averted.
As a celebration, we took Percy for a drive for the first time in two weeks, albeit only to the other end of Beckenham in search for something new to eat. We settled on a Spanish Tapas Bar, where the food was great and suprisingly cheap.
Other things we have done recently include me today finishing up my look around the Museum of London, another trip to Bromley, a visit to Covent Garden and the Covent Garden Walkabout pub (an Aussie pub chain, complete with Aussie beer and plenty of Aussies - nice to see now and then).
We're relaxing watching TV tonight, and soon "Extreme Ironing" is coming on TV. Yes, it really is what it sounds like. Truly Bizarre.
We are of course looking forward to moving into our new place on Sunday.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 21:45 GMT 10/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Wander through London ( 2 photos )
A general wander through London late at night.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 21:45 GMT 10/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Baritone Band and Knightsbridge ( 13 photos )
Margaret led us into town today - first to the Royal Festival Hall to see a great free lunchtime jazz conert by the Baritone Band. While watching this concert by four barintone saxophones, I got talking to a couple of old blokes there who invited us to the 100 club at 100 Oxford Street where they have Jazz every Friday lunchtime. One said that he'd buy us a drink if we ever turned up! Can't argue with hospitality like that. We intend to take him up on that offer sometime soon.
Next it was into Knightsbridge to see Harrods and Harvey Nichols. These were of course just huge expensive shops, where I have to say you could easily get very lost for a day and enjoy it, but I think they were quite over-hyped. The alley out the back where the Bentleys sat waiting complete with chauffers summed it all up for me.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 21:45 GMT 10/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Trafalgar Square Xmas Tree Lighting ( 21 photos )
On Friday we all went into Trafalgar Square with another from the endless supply of Margaret's friends, Debbie. This was for the lighting of the Christmas Lights on the big tree. This is donated each year from Norway, as part of a long-running tradition. Like so many other things here! Afterward we tottled off to Porters, the English food restaurant nearby.

author Liz	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 11:18 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

It's getting chilly ( 4 photos )
Well, the last few days have been quiet. Tim has a bad cold and so we have not been very active.
We went and met our prospective housemates (oohh...just like Big Brother!) on Monday night and they are all really friendly. There will be six of us in the house, with just one bathroom, but they assured us it usually works out just fine. An hour after we left their house, we received a phone call saying they'd love us to move in.
We are both very excited, and can't wait to move into our new home. Roll on Saturday week!
Apart from that, we have found a replacement for Tim's glasses which he lost on Sunday. They are the really cool flexible ones that bend into bizarre shapes without breaking. As an added bonus they really suit Tim. Now that he can see again I think I'm going to drag him to the latest Harry Potter movie later today.
Up until the last day or so, the weather has been cool, but not too bad, but now there are freezing winds blowing in from Russia (-10 degrees C or so), which are starting to make things very cold. We aren't too bothered at this stage though, as it simply means there will probably be more snow, which means we get to build a bigger snowman at Christmas :)

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 11:18 GMT 04/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Dog Walking Again ( 1 photo )
Another walk with the dogs today!

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 08:19 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

A place to live? ( 7 photos )
Well, we have been galavanting all around London these past few days looking at places to live. There's so many to choose from, and a lot (though not all) of them are pretty good, with very nice people.
We have chosen a place up in North London in a place called Golders Green. It is two minutes drive from the M1 (major motorway into London), two minutes walk from the tube (which goes straight to Kings Cross and Leicester Square), and has a large amount of other things going for it.
We are heading up there tonight for a meet and greet with all the other household members (like everything else we can actually afford, it is a share house with four others - three Aussies and a Kiwi). The ones moving out however aren't planning on doing so for almost three weeks. Although the manager of the B&B (view out our window) is being great in letting us have this room for as long as we want at the current cheap price, it's quite cramped, and a reasonable distance from the Centre of London. We'll keep you posted with the progress, of course.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 08:19 GMT 02/12/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

St. Paul's Cathedral Advent Carols ( 7 photos )
Last night the three of us went in to St. Paul's Cathedral for the Advent Carol Service. It was quite unlike any other any of us had been to before, and great so be able to say we have been to.
After wandering around Soho for a little while, dinner was then in Leicester Square, at one of the many chain Italian restaurants (we ate at another the other night), where the food was great, and not too badly priced, all things considered. Our brains are slowly coping with the cost of living over here.
On the job front, Liz's nursing registration is now looking a little better. We made the trek into the actual office that does them the other day, where they were quite rude, which was no real suprise. Her agency is jumping up and down on her behalf, which makes a difference.
With all the effort to get a house organised, I haven't spent a huge amount of time looking for work. I am sending off some more resumes now, and hopefully these will receive some response. There are some great jobs available, and eventually someone will have to crack and give me a chance.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 10:48 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Research, Planning ( No photos )
At the moment, we're about to go to the Internet Cafe to do some research on share housing, and jobs for me. We took the dogs for a very muddy walk in the local woods this morning, and have been trying to get them to play nice with each other back here. They are fine while walking but very territorial in the B&B.
We are planning a possible trip to Dublin between Christmas and New Years - Margaret has another friend over there, and Liz and I would love to meet up with crazy Gail I used to work with.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 10:38 GMT 28/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 3 ( all photos )

Nothing goes according to plan ( No photos )
(Continued from Lincolnshire)
You didn't really expect us to stick to all that planning, did you?
We set out with good intentions yesterday, motorway-ing our way around to London - note to self - make sure we do it in the middle of the day all the time. There was almost nobody on the M11 and M25, making it very smooth going all the way into Beckenham.
As Margaret said, we didn't expect to arrive back in London to sunshine - the weather is great again today, a pretty normal top of twelve or so degrees.
So Liz and wandered down to the local Internet Cafe to check out places to stay in Reading. We found the one recommended to us by Liz's friends there, got the details, lots of maps on how to get there, and came back to the B&B (the Goodwood, where we have stayed twice before) to ring them up.
After the phone had eaten plenty of our money, it finally relented and allowed us to talk to the recommended Inn in Reading. "Sorry, no rooms available tonight, and when there are, they cost £89 per room". Wow. That's a lot of money. So, we thought about it for a while, involving a trip down to the pub to think a little more over a pint or two. The outcome of that was that last night we stayed in the Goodwood, in their only spare room - a single room with a fold-out bed. The cost was somewhat more reasonable, at £25 for the room (not each) - that's the price of a hostel! So, we're going to stay here again tonight. When you are on a good thing, ...
So it looks like we may not end up in Reading after all. We wanted to be a little out of London, but in the end it may work out for the better:

• There's plenty more to do in London - the Lonely Planet doesn't even mention Reading
• Save £18 pounds or so train fare each day if I had to travel to London for work (which it seems is going to be the case)
• Wider variety of work choices for both of us
• Liz's nursing was proving quite difficult to organise in Reading - here she can go and yell directly at the Nursing Registration people and ask why a completely qualified nurse can't work anywhere when they are crying out for more nurses.

author Tim	location Metheringham, Lincolnshire, England
posted 19:49 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Lincolnshire ( all photos )

Lincoln ( 41 photos )
After a late and lethargic morning, we set off for a walk through the foggy fields towards a nearby village. A wonderful sight, but getting mighty cold in the exposed parts.
Eventually wandering back to Jill's place, we lunched before heading into Lincoln proper. Lonely Planet summarises it thusly: "a compact medieval centre with some wonderful Tudor architecture and one of the steepest urban climbs this side of San Francisco." We parked at the top, opting for a walk down first, then up later.
The city is completely dominated by the cathedral. We were in awe of it's size, but unfortunately the friezes on the outside were undergoing restoration, spoiling the effect somewhat. We decided that the entry fee (most cathedrals and the like ask for a donation - quite different) of £3.50 each was a bit steep, considering there was five of us. So we took some photos from the doorway and headed across the road to the other major structure - the castle.
We spent a great hour or two wandering around, taking in the castle's varied contents: a prison (complete with a chapel kitted out in a way only one other in the world survives - in Port Arthur, Tasmania. We've seen that one too, which made for interesting comparison), Lincoln's copy of the Magna Carta (which was shipped out to Brisbane for Expo '88, but we didn't see), and the very high Observatory Tower (which we climbed up). A nice walk around the walls completed our tour.
Next was to take in the famous Steep Hill on our way down to Just Another Overgrown High Street. In truth, there are some surviving historical buildings, such as Britain's only cafe built on a bridge, where we had afternoon tea, the 12th century Jew's House and of course the lolly shop Goodies, where Liz and Margaret stocked up on nourishing health snacks.
Eventually hungry, we headed a little out of town for a great dinner at a strange British institution, the Fish & Chips Restaurant. Imagine a greasy fish and chip take-away shop on one side, tacked on to a sit-down, licensed, table-service, and very clean restaurant. It still serves the same food, albeit packaged a little more pleasingly. Quite a strange creation indeed.
We piled back into Jill's little car (five of us in a two-door Barina/Corsa!), and headed back to relax at home.

Tomorrow, Liz and I are going to London to drop Margaret at Beckenham for a week, and then head out to Reading to stay in a hotel near our friends there while we work out how our life is going to play out.

author Tim	location Metheringham, Lincolnshire, England
posted 21:18 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Lincolnshire ( all photos )

Motorway Madness ( 3 photos )
(Continued from Carlisle 3)
A huge motorway driving session today, which looked easy on paper. The slight technicality of two hours worth of delay due to not quite sure what lengthened the journey somewhat.
Once finally off the motorways, next challenge was the complete lack of light you get here at 4pm. Yes, it is totally dark very early. Combined with very heavy fog and small back streets, Liz did wonderfully well to keep us on track.
We're now in a small town a few miles south of Lincoln. Tomorrow we might head into town - not sure yet. Plans are still something we don't need!

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 16:04 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle 3 ( all photos )

A Few Days In and Around Carlisle ( 15 photos )
Peter's party went off without a hitch, although I was not well enough to pop out more than a few times. Everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves, and Peter now has a great collection of strange alcoholic beverages people have given him. Liz and I provided a crockery set, which came in handy with all the people, and Margaret a book of David Attenborough's new series The Life of Mammals, which has just started.
I'm now feeling much better - it was an annoying little bug that stuck around for a few more days than it was welcome, but good to have it gone.
Other things we have done included Liz and I going out last night to see Die Another Day (the new James Bond flick). They are plugging it so hard here - there's two or three things about it on TV/radio/magazines every day. All in all, it was quite good, although our particular screening of it was a little spoiled by the fire alarm going off right at a crucial moment, taking the movie with it.
Since we are in the middle of an eight-day fire-fighter's strike at the moment, this was a cause for a little concern. Proved to be a false alarm however, and a few moments later we were back into the crazy action.

Today we all went for a drive to a truly country village called Mungrisdale, where we took part in the now traditional Sunday lunch. My appetite is still not fully returned (probably a good thing), so I had a jacket potato instead.
A quick walk around the area before we headed back to Peter's place, stopping off at an over-grown tourist information place along the way.

Where we will be in the next week or so is completely up in the air at this stage. Liz is trying a new tact with her nursing, meeting with a different agent and her friend on Thursday to discuss some plans. I've applied for more jobs, and need to make some gentle prodding enquiries tomorrow as to exactly what they are doing about them all.
Tomorrow we drive to Lincolnshire.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 10:03 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle 3 ( all photos )

Happy Birthday Peter! ( 10 photos )
Despite earlier theories that he was going to cancel it, today is Peter's birthday. There's a party of sorts tonight where several friends are coming over here to celebrate the occasion.
On a different note, I have unfortunately been quite sick these last few days. I'm not sure whether it is food poisoning or a virus, but I haven't kept any food down for a day and a half. The only good side is that I feel much better today, out of bed and wandering around. Still quite a way from 100% unfortunately.
No major plans for anything in the next few days, except are planning to spend a couple of nights with another friend of Margaret's Jill on the way down to London.
A few leads, but nothing concrete on the job front. Everyone says that the market is down, so I may end up pulling beers in a bar after all.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 22:26 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle 3 ( all photos )

Barrow, Carlisle ( 6 photos )
(Continued from South England 1)
A reasonably un-eventful day saw us visit Barrow-in-Furness on the way to Carlisle.
Reason for this visit was to say hi to Margaret's friends from days gone by Rem and Fred. Proving quite an interesting couple to converse with, our day was a good way to relax with some home-cooked soup and news of old friends.
Back on the motorway, we are now at Peter's, relaxing before the big party day on Thursday.
I have just applied for some more jobs, and plan to follow Jade's suggestion of ringing to hassle them shortly after, so here's hoping I at least have some leads to chase when we head South again next week.
Still no more news on Liz's nursing registration, so it's pretty hard to say what will happen there.

author Tim	location Elswick, Lancashire, England
posted 21:18 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

A few more familiar faces ( 25 photos )
Awaking in the Cotswolds once again, we breakfasted, then headed off to nearby Broadway, where we had dinner last time we were in the area. This time, we took in some touristy shops which were even more outrageously priced than the rest of England.
Most of the day was spent covering lots of miles on the motorways. Lunch was at a services at Stafford. This wasn't far from Stoke-on-trent, where apparently my Grandmother's father was born and raised before coming out to Australia. I wanted to go in and take a photo or three of the house, so needed to find my way around. How else would a poor Aussie do this? Why, by taking a photo of the map in a newsagent for later reference, of course!
Unfortunately, my plan fell apart when the street name I had actually occured three times, with no further information. Perhaps we can find out a bit more and try it again later.
Going once again with what we knew, we are staying at Thornton House, where we have been before. We remembered it as expensive, but were quite happy to find our memory had failed us.
We passed the afternoon wandering around Blackpool. Happily, now out of the tourist season, it wasn't all that bad. The "illuminations" (lots of flashy light things all along the promenade) are now finished, and most of the endless amusement arcades are closed for the winter.
What we did do was spend a few pounds playing various strange amusement games - shooting, driving, playing air hockey and of course in the end loosing lots of our hard-earned.
Weather has been fantastic today - we took some pictures of one of the most amazing sunsets we have seen for a long time, bought some "rock" candy and then drove back to the B&B.
A little later we attempted to find some dinner. First pub (the one just across the road) said "we have just taken over and will serve food in December". OK, back in the car and on to the next - "we have just taken over and will serve food soon". Third time lucky, we ate at a suprisingly reasonable chain pub where we ate more than we really should have, given the huge breakfast we have ordered in the morning.

Tomorrow we head to visit another friend of Margaret's in Barrow-in-Furness, before arriving late in the day back at Carlisle at Peter's place. That's almost our "South England" leg of the trip over.

author Tim	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 17:35 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

The Manor Farm, take 2 ( 27 photos )
Today we drove quite a distance - much more than we expected to, at any rate.
Leaving last night's accommodation, we drove not far at all to the totally unique sea-side town of Clovelly. The entire town is built on an extremely steep piece of the land, winding itself down to the harbour. The cobble-stones are regularly serviced by donkeys in summer - the only vehicles which could make it would be four-wheel drives, and the laneways aren't wide enough! We managed to get in just before the visitor centre opened - lucky, because the £3.50 charge just to wander around the village (ok, you get to watch annoying historical videos as well) is pretty steep.
We ventured next straight through the middle of Exmoor Forest. Another picturesque place, yet different to Cornwall and Devon.
A quick leg-stretch stop at Dunster before we found a pub doing Sunday lunch off the beaten track at Bradley Green. Since Margaret is now addicted to the concept of Sunday lunch, there was no way we would be allowed to miss out. Luckily, it was a fantastic meal, no dinner needed tonight!
We next headed up to the one place we had any real desire to visit - Portishead. Why? Because there is a band named that, of course! On the coast next to Bristol, there is nothing of real interest there, but we had a good time feeding the ducks at a lake by the sea.
Jumping back on the Motorway, we thought we may have some luck finding a B&B near the town of Stroud - possibly in the area around Leonard Stanley. No luck, however, and as we evaluated our options parked in a bus stop near the closed "i" in Stroud, a thought struck Liz. "What about the Manor Farm - are we close to that?"
The Manor Farm is the one B&B that we call a "lucky find" constantly. Horses, dogs, cats, and of course great hosts, we last visited here on the 21st of September. Half an hour later, we arrived and found accommodation was actually available. A long day's drive finally at an end, we are now not doing too much at all.

author Liz	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 18:11 GMT 17/11/02	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Watergate, Boscastle ( 14 photos )
Today has been a beautiful day weather-wise. The sun has shone nearly the whole day, and it has been very pleasant driving along.
We started out driving through a nearby village called Cadgwith, which is an old un-changed fishing village, and also happened to have some of the narrowest streets we have driven through.
Heading North, we went through Helson, Redruth and Newquay, and then stopped for a while a Watergate Bay, where Mum used to come for holidays with her parents. The beach there was a "surf beach", and although it had some medium-sized waves, it wasn't a patch on Cronulla. The towering cliffs either side of the beach were awesome to look at as we walked along the sand.
A little further North, we came to Wadebridge where we had lunch in a village cafe, before driving on again and stopping in a village called Boscastle. This was a beautiful place with a steep winding road going down to the shops and the tiny harbour. We spent a while looking around the shops, walking by the river down to the harbour and watching the ducks.
The rest of the afternoon was spent driving further north through farmland, and a short while looking for a B&B. We are staying in a really nice farm B&B (the farmer was in the middle of milking the cows when we arrived!) in Horn's Cross near Bideford.

author Tim	location Cury, Helston, Cornwall, England
posted 18:09 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Down at the other end ( 11 photos )
It doesn't seem like long at all since we were up at John O'Groats - the far North-East corner of the British mainland. Today, we're near Land's End.
This morning saw us drive down to Land's End, which is the most South-West point of the mainland, and famous for the fact that people attempt the Land's End to John O'Groats journey in the silliest ways possible. Walking backwards, riding unicycles, in old cars, etc.
A quick stop on the way was in Penzance, which suprised us in not really being all that interesting. We stocked up on some medicine, junk food and the Lord of the Rings DVDs.
Land's End has been turned into a tourist Mecca (hardly suprising, since the same company owns both this and the similar bunch of self-appointed "attractions" at John O'Groats). A significant place, but otherwise just another piece of land that we had to pay £2 just to park at.
We spent the afternoon at another old friend of Margaret's, Lindsay, who lives in a tiny village called Mawnan. They bought an old sheep barn from a farmer and proceeded to turn it into a fantastic house, something we all admired quite a lot. Could happily settle down in a place like that somewhere in the far future.

Tomorrow we start the scenic route North to Carlisle. There's quite a few plans in place for possible places to stop at.

author Tim	location Cury, Helston, Cornwall, England
posted 18:09 GMT 15/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Fowey, Helston, Lizard Point ( 11 photos )
We left out from Kingsbridge, heading again generally West. First stop was at the picturesque harbour town of Fowey. Built on a very steep cliff-side, we parked right at the top then walked down and had a good look around the town itself, along with a morning-tea snack. Just made it puffing up the hill back to Percy before it started hailing so hard we worried about dents! No damage however.
Next down the road was the larger town of Helston. Following the trend, it too had a steep overall design, however this was a steep narrow main street, not near the water. Lunch here.
Quickly back to the car before our parking time ran out, we drove onwards to the Southern-most point of the mainland, Lizard Point. Nobody else braved this one for some reason, so I wandered around in the rain for a little before seeing their point.
After trying a few small towns for B&Bs (including Helford, a extremely compact village built around a river with the narrowest roads yet), we eventually settled at Tregaddra Farmhouse, a wonderful B&B run by a fifth-generation farming family and an armada of kittens. A little on the expensive side, but wonderfully appointed with four-poster beds and all the country-house works. So we decided to stay here again tonight!
Dinner was down the road at The Old Inn in Mullion. Unfortunately Margaret has a bad cold (and no drugs to help at the time), so the slow service there didn't help matters much.

author Tim	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:35 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Lyme Regis, Exeter, Kingsbridge ( 19 photos )
Sorry for the slackness of the updates here - we ate up all the phone credit doing the photo uploads, and had to find a convenient place to recharge it. Thanks Liz for the update - I know people get sick of hearing from me all the time. Sights on Margaret next.
Today we awoke to find it had been raining all night, but the weather was now ok. The sun behind the chapel on the hill next to the blue sea was a great sight to see (and of course photograph).
We headed towards Lyme Regis, a place Liz remembered from a previous trip. An hour's wander around the town produced some interesting finds, and was worth the effort.
Heading Westward through Devon, we next went to Exeter - one of the biggest cities for miles. We took advantage of a "Park and Ride", and had a good look around the very impressive cathederal there, as well as taking in a lunch.
Heading then South, avoiding Torquay, we are now staying in Kingsbridge, not too far from Dartmouth. The town is quaint, but we are totally blown away by the friendliness of the hosts. After ringing, we got directions and arrived to find the guy standing outside with an umbrella in the pooring rain, waiting to guide us in! Tea was forthcoming, along with many chats about relatives and in Australia, before a recommendation for a great pub in town.
Due to the weather, I dropped the ladies off at the pub before spinning around the one-way system (another very common arrangement) many times looking for a place to park. Despite protestations, I braved the rain to pick them up as well. Would have sounded much more sincere if Liz had have typed this bit :)
Still no major plans for tomorrow - who needs plans?!?

author Tim	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:35 GMT 13/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Wareham, Portland, Abbotsbury ( 16 photos )
We were quite suprised to notice as we were leaving the B&B that one of the New Forest ponies was quite happily munching away on the proprietor's front garden and lawn! Everywhere has cattle grids to stop them getting in, but they happily eat anything they can find.
Travelling onwards, we drove through floods to a town Liz had heard had a HSBC bank (she has been trying unsuccessfully to get an account opened to start nursing), while I organised a replacement tail light for the car - necessary in the torrential rain that is all too common.
Next stop was the town of Wareham, where we lunched, rested by the river (which is one of the town's "walls"), and walked a little around the three other actual walls enclosing the town.
Driving South to the Portland (a now-joined Isle off the South coast), we took advantage of the fantastic weather to see for hundereds of miles in each direction from the lookout.
B&B searching time again, and before a successful find, we had to wait for a horse and cart driving down one of the myriad of one-track lanes at one stage. The obligatory friendly wave that you get for waiting in a passing place felt quite genuine - they were very slow.
The final port of call was the small craft village of Abbotsbury. Before the rain made us turn back, we took a walk around the shops - the best of which was a wood-work shop with some truly amazing things in it. Such a shame that we have heard of customs taking wood off people attempting to get back into Sydney. At the prices here, not worth the risk.
Dinner was at the very under-patronised local pub, and from the dinner we could see why. Dessert and coffee instead were nine miles away in the larger town of Bridport.

author Liz	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:18 13/11/02 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Liz speaks more!!! ( 41 photos )
Today, we were surprised to wake up to rays of sunshine streaming in through the curtains, and the it stayed sunny for most of the day.
We drove for most of the morning, mostly along motorways, but also taking a short detour through a few English villages that are apparently unchanged by time.
After a stop for a cup of tea, we headed into the New Forest. This place is gorgeous. All the trees are golden brown, and there are wild ponies all over the place - even on the road. We are staying in a farmhouse B&B, which has some very friendly horses just across the road.
We spent the afternoon at Beaulieu. We saw the National Motor Museum, where we saw heaps of cool cars (I liked the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost the best) and learnt how they were designed, manufactured and driven. The museum had so many different cars - from the first ones ever made in Britain, to the fastest land speed record wheeled car. They even had a 'Ladies' car, just for me. Unfortunately, it has no reverse gear, so you have to get out, lift the back up by the handle, and spin it around in the direction you want to go!
After a short break for afternoon tea, we had a ride on an old restored red double-decker bus (very bumpy!) and then we went into the James Bond Car and Boat Exhibition. I, being a James Bond nut, had a ball. They have the Lotus from 'For Your Eyes Only', Little Nellie from 'The Spy Who Loved Me', The white shirt Jaws wears, and so much other James Bond memorabilia. Fantastic!
Next, we spent a few hilarious minutes playing with remote control cars on their own miniature dodgem track, until the rain started pouring down, forcing us to run for cover. We had a quick ride around the park on the monorail, and then headed back to our B&B.
Dinner was at a pub just up the road (all-you-can-eat-indian!) and then we spent the evening relaxing back in our room.

author Liz	location Kingsbridge, Devon, England
posted 18:18 13/11/02 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Liz speaks!!! ( 15 photos )
On Sunday, we left the B&B and drove to Battle, which is just North of Hastings. This is the site where William the Conqueror defeated King Harold for the crown in 1066.
We did a self-guided tour, where we were given hand held radios which talked us through the battle between the two armies. Tim and I walked right around the battle-field site, and it was rainy, so we both got covered in mud. It was quite amazing to imagine what might have happened there so many years ago, and as there aren't many records of what actually did happen, imagination has played a key part in the story.
After all that, we decided to enjoy a Sunday roast lunch at the 1066 Hotel (yum!) and then we drove South. We stopped at Pevensey Bay, which is where my Mum used to go for holidays when she was a child. We went up to the 'beach' which consisted of pebbles, but for a change, there were a few good waves :) The pebbles must be a killer on bare feet though!
The rest of the day was spent driving around, finding a place to stay for the night, and that was about it due to the rainy weather. We ended up staying up in Offham, just North of Lewes.

author Tim	location Alkham, Kent, England
posted 20:58 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/South England/South England 1 ( all photos )

Country Kent, Dover ( 21 photos )
(Continued from London 2)

Finally leaving the noisy shackles of the B&B at Beckenham, we headed in a general South-East direction.
First stop was the little village of Plaxtol, buried in the middle of semi-rural Kent. This was where Margaret's mother was brought up. We saw the chapel where she got married (now a house), as well as where the farm used to be that she lived on. Quite a nice little town, and good to wander around on the narrow country roads.
Slightly hungry by this time, we headed over to Sandwich for a sandwich. We fed the ducks, and were perplexed when we couldn't actually find a sandwich shop.
Heading further down the coast, we spent an hour or two at various stops near Dover - famous for it's white, chalky cliffs. The weather was once again in our favor today, and we had a great time wandering around what was a suprisingly well-organised area. We had a great view down to the huge international ferry terminal, the main one to France.
Speaking of France, as we drove towards the coast, or phones beeped at us, saying "Welcome to Vodafone France!" Suprised to say the least, we could actually see France across the water, and found that we could tune into their radio stations too!
After a little driving around some random back areas looking for B&Bs to stay in for the night, we have ended up at the "Owler Lodge" guest house, in a little village called Alkham, three miles North-West of Dover.
Dinner was at a fish and chip shop in Dover (Liz gets things in her head and there's no changing her mind), before returning for a drink and dessert at the local pub in Alkham.
We're watching the Rememberance Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall on TV. Since the Queen is there, Margaret discovered yesterday when she wanted to go in for a look around that the security has been pretty tight.
People singing in memory of those injured or lost at war seems quite surreal given how strongly the government here seems to be wanting to go to war with Iraq.
I've nearly convinced Liz and Margaret to do some website updates, so stay tuned!

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 22:06 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 2 ( all photos )

Science Museum ( 12 photos )
Today we visited another of Margaret's old friends - Dorothy in Chiswick. Yet more great hospitality and another nice place to relax in.
Some time was spent today wandering around the Science Museum. All of us were blown away with what was on offer - in the four hours we only just covered the first floor out of seven, and even that felt like we were skipping things. Displays included Space, Making the Modern World, Power, and Liz looked at what was apparently a fantastic "Glimpses of Medical History". The number of original items there was staggering - the first X-ray machine, Stephenson's Rocket (the first train, of sorts), the first Cray Supercomputer, etc. Now we need to spend more time there looking at the remaining floors!
Dinner tonight was at the local Indian restaurant, which we didn't think much of given the price.
Tomorrow we head off South from London, probably heading towards Dover for a look around the South-East, before we head West along the South coast. After that it's North towards Carlisle for Peter's birthday party!

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 22:06 GMT 08/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 2 ( all photos )

Wandering around London ( 12 photos )

Well, we have done quite a bit in the last few days. To summarise:

• We have visited one of Margaret's old friends - another Margaret in Purley. Treated of course to the typical wonderful English hospitality, we saw her nice place and surroundings.
• I spent a few hours wandering around the Museum of London. This gives a great account of the history of London itself, right back to 450,000 years ago. Suffice to say there was too much to look at in one day, so we'll have to head back there at a later date.
• Liz has had a mild degree of success with her nursing registration and work. She went in to see them and had a good chat, and as a preliminary measure saying that she/we might like to work in Reading, with her friend Siobhan from Uni.
• I have applied for a couple of jobs, but heard nothing back. Talking to Jade (from uni, working over here) last night, she suggested a few tricks which may help out my cause. Intend to follow this up more soon.
• We ended up back at brb bar in Chinatown with Jade, taking in some more of those evil two-for-one cocktails. This was made yet more evil when Jade discovered that she knew some of the people behind the bar. It then became three-for-zero cocktails. We also met some interesting people who we had never found before, and ended up giving us a name and address in case we ever want to crash somewhere in London, along with some tips and help on finding jobs! See, drinking isn't all bad...
• Dinner has been at the local Indian restaurant, and Poons Chinese restauraunt just off Leicester Square.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 19:16 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 2 ( all photos )

The Real Guy Fawkes Night ( No photos )
Just a quick update. Liz and Margaret spent the day wandering around Bromley shopping for various things, while I opted out. Liz bought a replacement pair of shoes for the ones which have fallen apart she brought over with her.
Instead, I went to the nearby internet cafe and spent a couple of hours online chatting to people and looking for work. I'm about to send off a couple of applications, so who knows what will end up happening.
We did some washing at the local laundrette (as they are called over here), which ended up being quite expensive, but it was almost all our clothes we have with us, and hasn't been done since we were on Orkney!
We went up to one of the local pubs for dinner again tonight, where we all had the same - Steak and Ale pie.
Tomorrow will probably bring a trip around the county of Kent if the weather is reasonable. Lots more fireworks tonight for the real Guy Fawkes night - the other night was just an excuse to blow things up.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 23:16 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 2 ( all photos )

London Eye ( 28 photos )
Slowly awakening this morning, we breakfasted before taking a trip into Charring Cross (near Trafalgar Square) for a guided tour from Margaret. This took in the Royal Festival Hall (lunch there), National Museum, several bridges across the Themes, and then the two most important things:

1. The London Eye: obviously very touristy, it was however a great thing to do - the weather was strangely clear and sunny, we could see for miles. Just like a huge ferris wheel with enclosed cabins.
2. The Australia Shop! We stocked up on the most important things we can't get anywhere else here - Vegemite, Cherry Ripes, Caramello Koalas, a real vegetable peeler (British ones are very silly), Twisties, etc. The prices were obscene, so we took it fairly easy.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 23:16 GMT 04/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 2 ( all photos )

Farnborough Again ( 48 photos )
Yesterday was spent driving (via an alternative route) to Farnborough. This is the village (now a suburb) where Margaret grew up.
We visited where her parents are buried, and took a nice walk around through some parkland which was beautiful to Liz and I, but "not quite like it used to be" to Margaret. It was still quite a change from elsewhere in London, and even from last time we were here - huge quantities of Autumn leaves are everywhere.
Next was Sunday lunch at the Change of Horses pub, where Liz and I visited last we were here. A huge roast meant that dinner was not a hugely important proposition.
We visited a few more of Margaret's old haunts, before going our separate ways for the night - Liz and Margaret took a walk around the Beckenham area before relaxing at the B&B. I was off to a party in West Kensington for friend from uni Marty, who's share house is breaking up. Suffice to say, a good time was had by all, and I made it back to Beckenham on the last train around 1:30am (after waiting at the station for an hour, though). I met a few good contacts for possible jobs, so here's hoping.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 21:15 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 2 ( all photos )

Back to London, Hello Margaret! ( 6 photos )
(Continued from The Cotswolds)
Well, Margaret is here, safe and sound. Apparently her flight was not bad, but she's pretty tired. I'm going to try and get her to write a bit for the journal, as well as reminding Liz that people like to hear from her as well!
The drive into London was not to bad - the motorways are very good, and signposting makes everything very obvious. We arrived at Heathrow terminal three, parked and headed off to the Arrivals area.
As we waited for the plane to land, we were both quite excited. Since Meaghan has left, it's good on our own, but always a little bit more fun with others around to talk to. Eventually, Margaret arrived!
The drive from the airport to Beckenham was one of the most challenging so far. The fog, heavy rain, and confusing motorways combined to keep me constantly on highest alert. Heavy traffic meant we made the last ten five in about an hour. Not good at all.
Arriving at the Goodwood B&B where we were last time, we were all very happy to get out of Percy, unpack our things and then head off to one of the pubs for dinner. The rain has been quite heavy all around the area, so the walk was brisk back to the B&B where Margaret is tacking the jet lag, Liz is watching TV and I'm typing away madly.
The batty old women who run this place are fun to be back with - their dogs can get more walks from us tomorrow, and in turn we listen to the same stories over and over again about the dogs' operations, and how they don't serve sausages any more since the mad cow crisis.
It is Guy Fawkes night here tonight, or just plain cracker night, so not sure how much sleep we will end up getting.

author Tim	location Beckenham, Kent, London, England
posted 21:15 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Cotswolds ( all photos )

Towards London ( No photos )
We left Stow this morning in heavy fog, and attempted to go to the Motoring Museum in Burton-on-the-Water, another Cotswolds town. However, it was a total tourist town. We pulled into what we thought was the parking for the museum, only to be told that it was residents only. After a quick look up and down the street (no parking for miles), we decided to head towards Oxford and have a look around.
Once again, however, we were foiled by the weather. Traffic was also heavy, and we decided to have a quick run around the Ring Road (a fantastic British thing - a motorway all the way around the big cities, with exits a key points heading into town - highly recommended). Liz spotted in the road atlas that Legoland was not far away on the outskirts of London, on the way to the airport.
It was a reasonable drive into Legoland, however after a bit of reading we found that the entry price was about £18 ($55)!! Not quite worth it for an hour or two. Even the Lonely Planet guide took a dig at the prices.
So, we sat in the free parking (there was a Park-and-Ride - another great British thing where you park your car on the outskirts of a city and get a bus in) at Windsor reading our books from Hay-on-Wye until it was time to head into the airport in London.

author Tim	location Stow-on-the-Wold, The Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England
posted 14:54 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Cotswolds ( all photos )

Wildlife Park ( 30 photos )

This morning we rose to take in a few of the attractions, but the weather has limited us to only one - The Cotswold Wildlife Park. We spent the morning there looking a just the right sized collection of animals, before the rain forced us to return to the car. We still got a good look around, only missing a few enclosures.
We are going to stay here again tonight, as it is only a couple of hours drive (touch wood) to the airport to pick up Margaret tomorrow. The hostel itself is quite nice - we're sitting in the kitchen at the moment because the rest of it is locked up during the day, but we are glad just to be out of the rain.

author Tim	location Stow-on-the-Wold, The Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England
posted 14:54 GMT 01/11/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Cotswolds ( all photos )

The Cotswolds ( 9 photos )
(Continued from North Wales)
Back into England, the remainder of the day was spent driving towards Stow-on-the-Wold, where we are now. As usual, we were attracted by the presence of an open Youth Hostel, but soon found it is quite a nice little town in its own right. The drive took in The Golden Valley, which looked decidedly less golden since we last drove through it (very foggy now), Ross-on-Wye, and many other great little English towns.
We are now in the middle of The Cotswolds, a famous picturesque area we have looked around a little, but many things we wanted to do are now closed for the winter.
We had a good chat in the pub last night, before cooking a great pasta dish.

author Tim	location Stow-on-the-Wold, The Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England
posted 14:54 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Wales/North Wales ( all photos )

Books, books, books! ( 7 photos )

Awaking in our B&B, we wandered downstairs for a great breakfast where we could watch the ducks out the window. I was of course painted the bad guy by saying that no, we couldn't take a pair of ducks away with us, despite the lady being quite happy for that to happen, and Liz, of course, also being quite for the idea.
So we fed them for a little while, before being told that we could and should leave the car parked at the B&B and walk into town - Thursday is the day that the parking inspector is active, and market day as well. Love that local knowledge.
So we waddled into town, and spent a few hours wandering around the town that has more books in it than all the universities and libraries in Wales put together. We purchased a few good reading books (Liz is reading one to my right now), but I couldn't find a couple of specific ones I was after, even though I checked most of the fifty bookstores!
After having our fill, we left Wales behind for now and drove across the border towards the Cotswolds.

author Tim	location Hay-on-Wye, Wales
posted 19:04 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Wales/North Wales ( all photos )

Empty, Foggy, Empty Wales ( 16 photos )
Wales, for the moment at least, is on hold. We're still in it, but only by a mile or so.
This morning we left the hostel after a great Continental breakfast - a very welcome change from the "full cooked" we get almost everywhere. Heading straight down the road to the slate mine nearby.
Due to recent storm activity, there's lots of debris on the road. Following behind a semi-trailer which had to swerve to avoid it, we came across a large branch blocking half the road. Our SES training came back as Liz pulled the car up, and I did my best to clear it out in the 60mph zone. Just as I was tidying it up, my horrible knee reminded me that it had been a long time since it last played up badly, and promptly collapsed. Agony ensued. Suffice to say, it's nice and swollen, and Liz has been driving all day (quite well, I might add!).
Arriving at the slate mine, we went on an underground train tour, where we were shown how the mining was done 150 years ago - truly horrible conditions. These days, it's all done from the top, much faster, and with a little more regard for the humans doing the work. Not a bad way to spend the morning.
Driving South, we headed past several touristy places, and then into the big town of Aberystwyth. A few spins around the block found us the "i", where we learnt that the only thing interesting in the area that we had wanted to do - a thirteen mile narrow-guage train ride through the mountains - stopped last week. If we were going to be around, would we be interested in a ride next Easter?
By this stage getting a little late, we turned our thoughts to accommodoation. Possibilities included hostels (almost all closed), expensive hotels, or of course B&Bs. The "i" had told us that central Wales is almost as interesting as Northen Wales (not very).
So we drove directly East, heading for England, land of the non-Welsh speaking, and interesting things to see and do.
We are now in the town of Hay-on-Wye, famous for its bookshops which we intend to spend the best part of tomorrow exploring. The B&B is expensive, but very new, clean, and welcome after a fairly stressful day. This involved hilly drives through one-track roads at night in fog! One of the trips was to a YHA hostel about twenty miles from nowhere, which ended up being closed!
We're hoping to find a hostel for a couple of nights tomorrow and then drive to the airport to pick Margaret up! Wow, that's gone fast...

author Tim	location Capel Curig, Betws-y-Coed, Wales
posted 19:29 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Wales/North Wales ( all photos )

In and Around Snowdonia ( 26 photos )
New Photos Online!
Our muzak-free breakfast was better than we expected from a pub, and the landlord proved herself the friendly type, having friends in Marylands, Sydney.
Liz took Percy's reins, and we headed off towards the Isle of Anglesey - the bit of Wales at the North-West corner. Two bridges link it to the mainland, and we had to cross them before we found a town with a functional "i".
This ended up being the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Those fifty-eight letters give it the longest place name in Britain, and that is the sole reason for its existance. Dreamt up purely to get the tourists in, it certainly managed to do so. We declined the offer to learn how to pronounce it.
Otherwise, only one place of interest was really found on the Isle - Beaumaris Castle. Built in 1295, the £3 we spent here was easily better than the cost for the castle the other day. It is mostly intact, and has a moat surrounding walls surrounding towers surrounding walls and towers. We took a walk around and through the walls, seeing all sorts of arrow slits and dark spaces. Well worthwhile.
After a nice lunch at a nearby tea room, we set off towards the Llyn Peninsula, just south of the Isle. Billed as the "most staunchly Welsh part of the country", we gathered that from just how little there was to do. In the vast quantity of literature we have accrued on Wales, nobody has anything interesting to say about the place.
We cut South missing most of the area, and headed inland North through Snowdonia National Park. Truly a beautiful area, the heavy fog combined with light rain is the most vivid image of Wales I have so far. A great deal of nice driving, and, perhaps next time, lots of nice walking.
There is a railway that goes up Snowdonia (highest mountain in England and Wales) to the summit, but the weather isn't making the £15 fare look worthwhile.
As it gets dark very early now (around 5pm), we are tending to look for accommodation earlier. Tonight we have ended up in the Capel Curig Youth Hostel, in our own room. Cooked a vegetable and rice dinner, and are now relaxing in the lounge, working out the plan for tomorrow.

author Tim	location Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales
posted 08:13 GMT 29/10/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Wales/North Wales ( all photos )

Into Northern Wales ( 1 photo )
(Continued from Carlisle 2).
It does all get quite different fairly suddenly as you go over the border, in terms of signs being in Welsh and also more subtley in terms of the general "feel" of the place. Hard to describe.
We came into Wales along the North coast, with no particular target other than a Tourist Information place. Which was closed for the season. So, next thought was to get some accommodation. After driving around with no idea where we were (back roads are quite messy here), looking for a B&B or similar, we stumbled upon a large town.
Still not knowing what town it was, we found a pub with accommodation which looked reasonable, and went inside. Speaking to the owner, we organised a room, negotiated rates, and had a pint while we awaited our room to be cleaned.
We eventually found out what the town was called by reading the notices on the corkboard! We had dinner here, and promptly crashed into bed.
Nearly breakfast time, we're going down hoping that the horrible Elton John muzak which seemed to be on infinite loop yesterday is at least called off for breakfast.
First stop is an "i", to work out what exactly is worth seeing in Wales in general.

author Tim	location Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales
posted 08:13 GMT 29/10/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle 2 ( all photos )

Who needs plans? ( 11 photos )
The morning was spent organising all of our things, vacuuming Percy and attempting to plan where we were going.
We have until Saturday to kill, and a convenient way to do that is to drive South through Wales. Which is where we ended up.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 23:19 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Isle of Skye ( all photos )

A long day's drive ( 11 photos )
Heading straight South today, it has to be said that we didn't see anything of major interest.
Of course, the scenery we drove through continued to be fantastic, especially around Loch Lomond.
We stopped for a lunch break at a motorway "services", where lunch cost £8 for two sandwiches, a donut and a piece of cake. Sure, that's expensive, but it's just silly when you hear that Liz bought a warm jacket similar to mine just outside the door for £10!
Shortly after that, we crossed back into England.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 23:19 GMT	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/Carlisle/Carlisle 2 ( all photos )

Back into England ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Isle of Skye)
Arriving back in England and then Carlisle, I have to admit that I've spent most of the afternoon playing with my new old toy - the camera. You're all bored of hearing about it by now, but suffice to say that it is great to have it back and the added features of this model are very nifty.
We will spend tomorrow cleaning Percy out, finalising(!) the insurance, and then starting our drive London-ward.

author Tim	location Onich, Invernesshire, Scotland
posted 20:19 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Isle of Skye ( all photos )

Around the Isle of Skye ( 7 photos )
Today we made ourselves breakfast at the hostel (where we slept soundly), and did some reading upon just what is worth looking at on the Isle. A book that Peter lent us recommended the drive across from Brogaig to Idrigill was worth it. Very true - the mountain pass looked fantastic in the clear sunny weather.
Next stop along the road was the Dunvegan castle, home of the MacLeod clan and its generations and generations of people called Norman. They used to be feuding with several other clans, and past leaders were plundering villains, even in the eyes of their own clan.
I believe the present leader is the biggest villain of them all however, charging £6 each for entry, and £3 for a guide book! The castle itself was interesting, but certainly they were quite full of themselves. Lots of long lost artifacts, clan pendants, historical swords, etc. The walk around its gardens was probably the highlight.
What was of interest was the dungeon. About ten metres from the main dining room, it is a hole in the ground ten feet deep, with no other way out. The only way in besides that hole was an arrowslit through which smells of the kitchen wafted to the prisoners slowly going mad and dying of hunger.
The cafe on the way out was (suprise, suprise) expensive, and the second gift shop selling clan gadgets was wearing thin. Still, worth a look, if only the price was more reasonable.
Further down that road, we went to an iron-age house called a broch. It used to be a fort, and was most interesting because there was no admission charge! The story about the Scotts being tight on the dollars certainly rears its head everywhere.
We paid our dues once again to get off the island (!), before driving South along roads we've covered two or three times before. Eventual place of rest for the night is a little town called Onich, right on Loch Linnhe, a little way South of Fort William. We're in a very homely B&B looking straight out our window at the snow-capped peaks across the Loch. Wonderful vista indeed.
Dinner was in nearby "big" town Ballachulish, at a pub recommended by the proprietor. And what a recommendation - one of the best meals we've had so far this trip, and of course a dessert had to follow.
Daylight saving finishes here tonight. I believe it starts in Oz tonight - anyone care to confirm for us? By my rough calculations, that makes the difference eleven hours now.
We're aiming to stay at Peter's back in Carlisle tomorrow night.

author Tim	location Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland
posted 22:31 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Isle of Skye ( all photos )

Yet Another Isle ( 7 photos )
This isle isn't so bad however - we can drive back to the mainland whenever we want, as long as we can locate the £4.70 toll!
The Isle of Skye hangs off the Western side of the mainland of Scotland, and in the last few years, much to the disquiet of the locals, a bridge has been built joining it to the mainland.
After leaving our B&B this morning (fantastic breakfast, didn't need to eat anything else until 3pm), we headed further South along the East coast, in search of affordable fuel. Eventually topping up at a Q8 (that's just like a BP or Shell - not sure if the reference to Kuwait is intentional), we then headed across one of the few mountain roads through to the West coast.
Plenty of snow was to be found, though it only reached the road at one point. So we just had to stop and have a snowfight! Liz will tell you that she won when I stepped into a hidden puddle, six inches deep with both feet, however I think I covered her with more snow. And that's what snowfights are really about!
The highlands through here were beautiful the first time we came through, but seeing the snow on the peaks, then all around us really makes them special.
Eventually arriving on Skye, we called in for a bit of a brochure collection run, to find out just what there is to do here. All this preparation was wasted when we decided to "just drive to the end of the thing". Travelling through towns such as Uig, Flodigarry and Broadford, the road signs in both Gaelic and English reminded us that this at least used to be quite a far away place. The ever-present thousand B&Bs told us that the locals being worried about loosing their independence was perhaps not groundless after all.
For such a small Isle, it has a huge number of very high peaks. In the hostel here, there's lots of walkers staying. Speaking of which, we're staying in the "Portree Independent Hostel", in Portree, which serves as the largest town on the isle. An old post office, it is very warm and friendly, and we have a room which would sleep four in bunks, however we are the only two in it.
We cooked dinner in, had a good chat before retiring to our respective reading materials. Tomorrow we are aiming to take in all the Isle has to offer, before heading back across to the mainland and South a bit further.
Oh, and Peter has actually received my replacement camera!

author Tim	location Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland
posted 22:31 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 3 ( all photos )

Towards Skye ( 7 photos )
After leaving our B&B this morning (fantastic breakfast, didn't need to eat anything else until 3pm), we headed further South along the East coast, in search of affordable fuel. Eventually topping up at a Q8 (that's just like a BP or Shell - not sure if the reference to Kuwait is intentional), we then headed across one of the few mountain roads through to the West coast.
Plenty of snow was to be found, though it only reached the road at one point. So we just had to stop and have a snowfight! Liz will tell you that she won when I stepped into a hidden puddle, six inches deep with both feet, however I think I covered her with more snow. And that's what snowfights are really about!
The highlands through here were beautiful the first time we came through, but seeing the snow on the peaks, then all around us really makes them special.
Eventually we arrived on Skye.

author Tim	location Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland
posted 22:31 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Isle of Skye ( all photos )

Yet Another Isle ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Scotland 3)
This isle isn't so bad however - we can drive back to the mainland whenever we want, as long as we can locate the £4.70 toll!
The Isle of Skye hangs off the Western side of the mainland of Scotland, and in the last few years, much to the disquiet of the locals, a bridge has been built joining it to the mainland.
We called in for a bit of a brochure collection run, to find out just what there is to do here. All this preparation was wasted when we decided to "just drive to the end of the thing". Travelling through towns such as Uig, Flodigarry and Broadford, the road signs in both Gaelic and English reminded us that this at least used to be quite a far away place. The ever-present thousand B&Bs told us that the locals being worried about loosing their independence was perhaps not groundless after all.
For such a small Isle, it has a huge number of very high peaks. In the hostel here, there's lots of walkers staying. Speaking of which, we're staying in the "Portree Independent Hostel", in Portree, which serves as the largest town on the isle. An old post office, it is very warm and friendly, and we have a room which would sleep four in bunks, however we are the only two in it.
We cooked dinner in, had a good chat before retiring to our respective reading materials. Tomorrow we are aiming to take in all the Isle has to offer, before heading back across to the mainland and South a bit further.
Oh, and Peter has actually received my replacement camera!

author Tim	location Navidale, Helmsdale, Sutherland, Scotland
posted 22:46 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 3 ( all photos )

We made it! ( 7 photos )
(Continued from the Ornkey Islands)
Back on the "real" part of Scotland. The ferry wasn't too bad once it got going, although it was pretty rough out on the open sea.
We made a quick stop in John o' Groats before heading South down the East coast - a way we haven't been before. Travelling up and down the mountains, we caught our first glimpse of snow on the far peaks! Imagine our suprise when we eventually drove past some on the side of the road! We didn't get a chance to stop there anywhere, but it was quite exciting all the same.
We are staying at a B&B in Navidale, run (as most are) by a charming old woman who just can't help enough. The water is brown from all the rain (but safe, we're told), and more snow is due overnight.
We wandered down to the town of Helmsdale for dinner, eating at a completely strange restauruant thingo. The menu had about a hundered different items, ranging from seafood (although none was available due to the weather stopping the boats from sailing), lots of fish, etc., all the way through to crocodile, emu, and kangaroo. Not what we expected to find here at all. It also had no space on the walls, what with the movie limited edition paraphenalia (original negatives, signed posters, etc.) and printouts of emails from paranormal mailing lists. A very strange place indeed.
Best news of the day, however, is that Olympus have actually boxed up and sent me a brand new camera, the model ahead of what I originally had, and it is arriving at Peter's place tomorrow. Definately a case of "I'll believe it when I see it."

author Tim	location St. Margaret's Hope, South Ronaldsay, Orkney, Scotland
posted 11:42 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Ferry Delayed ( 7 photos )
We're sitting here in a pub, awaiting our ferry to Scotland which has been delayed. The weather was horrible this morning - very low visibility, with lots of hail covering everything, including Percy.
However, it's much better now and the ferry should sail around 2pm, two hours late.
A quick "have a good trip" to Meaghan, who is on her way back to Oz tonight. Give her a call in the next few days to see how she's doing - she wasn't feeling well here, and will enjoy having someone to talk to back "home", I'm sure!
We did some washing in the main street this morning, as well as grabbing a few bargain CDs from the back of the jazz section (itself at the back of the store). Amazing what you can find. We also bought American Pie cheap on DVD the other day, and got a few laughs last night watching it.
Rough plan for the next few days is to drive this afternoon until we find some where to stay, then drive to the Isle of Skye for a look around. Head back to Peter's, hopefully collecting a camera and finalising insurance problems.
Yeah right! It's never that easy...
[The ferry eventually took us back to mainland Scotland.]

author Tim	location Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland
posted 15:53 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Still Alive... ( 7 photos )
We're back in Kirkwall, on the Orkney mainland. No major problems on the ferry back here - a little rough but no real complaints.
We're staying in the same hostel we had before, albeit in a different room this time. We went straight for a supplier of decent lunch when we arrived, ending up in a pub where Liz had the first steak since we left Oz - meat is so expensive over here!
This afternoon's ferry to the mainland was cancelled, so there was not much chance of us getting back down there. Instead we are booked on the midday ferry tomorrow, but the weather outlook isn't looking much better. Should be calm after that, at least.
Even when we do get back down, the roads South from the top of the mainland are very flooded, so we will have to plan our route carefully. Glad we have left lots of time to do it in.

author Tim	location Lyness, Hoy, Orkney, Scotland
posted 18:51 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Flooding ( 7 photos )
Well, we knew we were having lots of rain around the place, but have just heard that there has been huge flooding across Southern Scotland, and we're in for severe gale force winds up here tomorrow.
There's no ATM on this island, and we only have enough cash for tonight's accommodation, so here's hoping that we can get across!
Once we get back to the Orkney mainland, next task will be to get to Scotland proper - we heard that the ferry that does that had to be dirverted for the first time ever! What fun this journey could be!
Today we took in everything that Hoy could offer us, in the horrible weather it insisted on showing us. This included several memorials, a war museum, some defence towers and the town Rackwick. This is the start of the walk to the Old Man of Hoy. However, between the extreme winds, us not knowing where we were going, and the sign "There is no mountain rescue available here", we thought better of it.
We did wander in to The Dwarfie Stone, a 5000 year old tomb carved into a piece of solid rock. We climbed inside it, took some photos, and dribbled back into the car.
Just for the record, we are wearing on average a shirt, then windstopper vest, then a fleece (or two jumpers in Liz's case), followed by a huge waterproof warm coat (me) or a rain jacket (Liz). It is not warm, calm or dry here.
An interesting little island, this Hoy. Everything seems like decay has set in - lots of people have gone away for indeterminate periods of time, plenty of ruins all over the place, and there's almost nobody visible anywhere. It's certainly very different than what either of us thought it would be. It's supposed to be seal season, but even they seem to have deserted the place - we haven't seen any.
So we're aiming to get the ferry to the mainland proper tomorrow, weather permitting. As nice as this B&B is, spending half the day here has been long enough!

author Tim	location Lyness, Hoy, Orkney, Scotland
posted 08:58 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Hoy Ahoy! ( 7 photos )
Well, that's a pretty sad joke, but we're now on the island of Hoy. This is the second largest in Orkney, and lies to the south of the Orkney mainland.
We had our first taste of island life last night, when looking for dinner at 6pm, we drove all the way to the other end of the island, only to find that pub was "closed until further notice". Heading back towards the shop we had seen earlier, we found another Inn. No food there. Then to the shop across the road (the only one on the island). It was closed!
So dinner last night was improvised from rice crackers, cheese and chips (which are called crisps here). At least we had enough to improvise with. Lesson two - find food early.
Lesson one was find accommodation early. Out of the first four places we tried, two no longer offered accommodation, and two could not be found. We ended up at the St. John's Manse B&B, where the owner was shocked that we'd come to an island with no accommodation organised! That's how we've done our whole trip so far!!
On our way back from a failed attempt at one of the places, a lighthouse, we ran into some traffic on the road in the form of two cows. They had wandered out of their gate and up the road. Obviously, traffic here is very light. We managed to herd one of them into the gate, after they had waddled up the road as fast as they could away from Percy. The second missed its exit, and we had to drive along behind it until we got to a passing place, where the turbo pulled us past the poor thing as fast as it could!
Working further backwards in time, we got the ferry down here from Houton to Lyness, Hoy yesterday afternoon after being queue-jumped for the lunchtime ferry. A reasonably smooth ride, everyone stayed in the cars, which was a new experience. We were going to have a round-trip via the tiny island of Flotta, but the ferry terminal guy told us not to bother - it's just an oil refinery. Even the much bigger Hoy only has one road on it.
Before the ferry trip, we followed the advice of the Lonely Planet and went into a garage supposedly selling some funky hats, but it seemed that information was out of date :( We grabbed some non-perishable food supplies instead.
First off on Monday, we visited the Highland Park distillery, where the tour was the best so-far. The trip around the malting floor was great fun, we saw the barley actually sprouting. Our guide was great, and like so many people up here, really seemed to enjoy life.

Sunday we went around trying to find a few more places of interest - first stop was Mine Howe. This strange discovery is twenty-nine steps descending into the ground, with a few chambers scattered around for good measure. Theories on what it was range from a drowning place to a ceremonial ground-god contact point and lots of ideas in between. Unfortunately closed for the winter, we looked around the grounds instead, where various excavations had taken place.
We then stopped at Dingieshowe, a sandy isthmus built to join the mainland to Deerness. It has a great beach on one side, where we skimmed some rocks (Liz is getting better!) and walked amongst the weed.
Next we drove around the North-East part of the mainland. This area is all single-track road, and has a few interesting war memorials, burial sites, sheep and cows scattered around. We took a walk down to "The Gloup" - a blow-hole style thing created by the ocean eroding away a cave under the land, and some of the land eventually collapsing. We were quite high up as we walked around it, the constant wind reminding us to stay alert and away from the edge.
A drive around the point of Tankerness failed to find anything particularly interesting, so we headed back to Kirkwall. The relaxing afternoon was spent watching our black-and-white TV with dial-tuning (very retro), and making the decision that we aren't going to Shetland after all. Deciding factors included:

• Quite high cost of the ferry, which is an eight hour overnight ride
• We can get there from Norway enroute to Iceland, so we could conceivably get there next year
• It would be a rush to get down to London in time to meet Margaret
• Lots of people said that there wasn't a lot to do there. Then again, the Orcadians would say that...

author Tim	location Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland
posted 10:21 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Around the Tourist Trail ( 7 photos )
Setting out yesterday morning, we had the intention of taking in as many of the famous Orcadian tourist sites as we could stand.
First stop was the amazing Skara Brae, a 5000 year old well-preserved village, complete with dressers, boxes and beds. It is quite mind-numbing trying to take in the age of it, especially with the freezing wind, rain and hail assaulting us - it's right on the western coast. We actually thought the visitor centre there was almost as good as the real thing - some great interactive displays, and a re-construction of one of the houses.
Next we stumbled across was the Ring of Brogar - thirty-six of the original sixty stones from a huge stone circle. Fairly close to Skara Brae, it is quite possible that these things were all used by the same people.
Aiming for Maes Howe, we actually first found the Standing Stones of Stenness - sheep standing around four of the original twelve 4500 year-old standing stones was quite an interesting sight!
Eventually making it to Maes Howe, which is "the finest chambered tomb in Western Europe". Think of a small chamber with storage areas on three sides, and a ten metre long, one metre high access path on the other, and you'd be pretty close. Also about 5000 years old, this one was plundered in 1200 A.D by the Vikings, who left some very interesting runic graffiti.
Heading up to the North coast, we came to Birsay which has the ruins of a 16th century palace, just there in the middle of the town. A bit further along the road is the Brough of Gurness, a Iron-Age (100 A.D.) settlement. We had a quick look at this before deciding not to pay and enter - so much history in so little space.
Returing to the town (Kirkwall), we went for a walk, grabbing some dinner supplies and a few odds and ends around the town. This included brochures on the ferries both around Orkney and Shetland.
Next on our agenda is to decide what we are going to do for the next few days. Being a Sunday today, nothing much happens, as most here respect the Sabbath quite seriously. So we'll stay here another night, but tomorrow we will probably get a ferry down to Hoy, the second-biggest Orkney island, and it's smaller sister Flotta. We're still not sure whether the expensive overnight ferry up to the Shetland Islands is the way to go. They are also accessable from Norway, then on to Iceland, so that is another option we could take up next year some time.

author Tim	location Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland
posted 19:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 2 ( all photos )

Planning to go across the High Seas... ( 7 photos )
A strange feeling this morning as we were the first to be awake and down to breakfast. Typically, we have scraped in by about ten minutes before they stop serving! Driving straight to the ferry, Liz didn't want to get out and see the ferry dock, to give you an indication of the wind strength.
Was quite a bit of fun driving the car onto a ship, and the journey itself was rough at times, but generally bearable. Memories of my trip on the Fairstar ten years or so ago came flooding back, while the Maxalon kept breakfast from doing the same.
This ferry powered us towards the Orkney Islands.

author Tim	location Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland
posted 19:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Across the High Seas... ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Scotland 2)
Driving Percy off the ferry at St. Margaret's Hope, on the southern-most island of Orkney, South Ronaldsay, we headed around a little to get our bearings. The first thing that struck me was that it is all quite a lot bigger than the maps would have you think.
Consulting the stack of tourist paraphenalia, we noticed that on this island there is also the Tomb of the Eagles. Discovered in 1958 when a farmer ploughing his field struck something not meant to be there, it actually consists of two sites. The main one is the Tomb itself, which is a hut around 10 metres square, stoneage (3000 B.C. or so), which you have to get on a skateboard-type-thing and slide into. Inside there were initially lots of skulls, bones, etc. Quite interesting, and a little scary.
The other is the Bronze-age (500 B.C.) hut. This could be a sauna, cooking-house or basic dwelling, depending on who you ask. It boasts a fire, cooking area, and enclosures for bedding or seating, along with a nearby used-stone disposal area. This was great to look at!
By this time very hungry, we gravitated north to the capital (of sorts) Kirkwall, on the main island. This saw us crossing over three other islands to get there, between which they have built roads, the main purpose of which were to keep the German U-boats from sinking their fleet anchored nearby.
Here we eventually found somewhere to eat (a cafe not all that good), somewhere better to eat (a bakery serving yummy things), and the i. We call it the i, because that's what their sign says. Same as anywhere else, it is the source of all knowledge, the Tourist Information Centre. We added to our brochure collection, and gained directions to the independent Peedie Hostel in Ayre Road, where we are now staying. Quite small and quaint, it is still a nice little place, with a great view across the bay to the Northern Orkney Islands.
We took a walk around the lakes across the road (big circular thing on a Kirkwall map) down to Safeway to grab some dinner ingredients. Cooking in the tiny kitchen, we made a nice meal of chicken fajitias.
No firm plans for tomorrow, but we intend to explore "The Mainland" (here, that doesn't mean the bit of Scotland with Loch Ness, etc., it means the main island of Orkney) for a few days before considering our options for ferries north to other Orkney islands, or the eight (!) hour journey up to Shetland.

author Tim	location Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland
posted 19:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Orkney Islands ( all photos )

Across the High Seas... ( 7 photos )
A strange feeling this morning as we were the first to be awake and down to breakfast. Typically, we have scraped in by about ten minutes before they stop serving! Driving straight to the ferry, Liz didn't want to get out and see the ferry dock, to give you an indication of the wind strength.
Was quite a bit of fun driving the car onto a ship, and the journey itself was rough at times, but generally bearable. Memories of my trip on the Fairstar ten years or so ago came flooding back, while the Maxalon kept breakfast from doing the same.
This ferry actually saw us arrive at St. Margaret's Hope, on the southern-most island of Orkney, South Ronaldsay. Driving Percy off, we headed around a little to get our bearings. The first thing that struck me was that it is all quite a lot bigger than the maps would have you think.
Consulting the stack of tourist paraphenalia, we noticed that on this island there is also the Tomb of the Eagles. Discovered in 1958 when a farmer ploughing his field struck something not meant to be there, it actually consists of two sites. The main one is the Tomb itself, which is a hut around 10 metres square, stoneage (3000 B.C. or so), which you have to get on a skateboard-type-thing and slide into. Inside there were initially lots of skulls, bones, etc. Quite interesting, and a little scary.
The other is the Bronze-age (500 B.C.) hut. This could be a sauna, cooking-house or basic dwelling, depending on who you ask. It boasts a fire, cooking area, and enclosures for bedding or seating, along with a nearby used-stone disposal area. This was great to look at!
By this time very hungry, we gravitated north to the capital (of sorts) Kirkwall, on the main island. This saw us crossing over three other islands to get there, between which they have built roads, the main purpose of which were to keep the German U-boats from sinking their fleet anchored nearby.
Here we eventually found somewhere to eat (a cafe not all that good), somewhere better to eat (a bakery serving yummy things), and the i. We call it the i, because that's what their sign says. Same as anywhere else, it is the source of all knowledge, the Tourist Information Centre. We added to our brochure collection, and gained directions to the independent Peedie Hostel in Ayre Road, where we are now staying. Quite small and quaint, it is still a nice little place, with a great view across the bay to the Northern Orkney Islands.
We took a walk around the lakes across the road (big circular thing on a Kirkwall map) down to Safeway to grab some dinner ingredients. Cooking in the tiny kitchen, we made a nice meal of chicken fajitias.
No firm plans for tomorrow, but we intend to explore "The Mainland" (here, that doesn't mean the bit of Scotland with Loch Ness, etc., it means the main island of Orkney) for a few days before considering our options for ferries north to other Orkney islands, or the eight (!) hour journey up to Shetland.

author Tim	location John O'Groats, Caithness, Scotland
posted 18:38 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 2 ( all photos )

Top o' the Mainland 2 ( 7 photos )
Right, now we're up to today.
Before setting out from Durness, we had a bit of a look around the town itself. A "Wax and Wine" museum failed to be all that interesting, which was certainly not the case for our walk on the beach. You see, up here, it is extremely windy. The rain comes along when it feels like it. Both were present as we walked around this sandy beach with great rock formations, enclosed in as many layers of clothing and waterproofing as we could locate.
After leaving there, we noted the people we had seen set up camp beside the sea were still walking around. Not sure how they felt after a night of hard rain and strong winds, but they seemed ok.
Next stop was "Smoo Cave". Initially we had decided to go there just because of its exceedingly strange name, but we were soon very glad that we had. Used years ago for smugglers and the like to hide out in, it is the result of a river running to the sea eventually breaking through into a cave underneath it, creating a sink-hole with a huge waterfall. The walk down to it and then standing about 10m away was very scary - the forces of nature are not to be tampered with. The power of this waterfall was amazing, and in the small little cave even more so.
The drive from there across the top of Scotland was one of the most memorable we have ever done. The landscape is almost all rock, wind-swept reeds and grasses, sheep and the windy, hilly single-track road which we clung to in the wind. Running out of supurlatives here. It was great.
A windy pit stop was at the end of the road in Bettyhill - very quick as we decided that Percy was a great place to be after all. Heater on quick smart.
The rest of the day was driving around looking at B&Bs, and walking in the wind (bent into it trying to walk) in the areas between Thurso and John O'Groats. This took in John O'Groats itself (for some reason thought of as the most North-Westerly town on the mainland. It's not - instead just find touristy shops and our first pay-to-pee toilet for a while here), Duncansby Head (actually the most North-Westerly town on the mainland, where it was so windy that plastic bins in the car park similar to what you put out your garbage out in each week had the lid constantly being blown open, and that was the sheltered area), and Dunnet Head (the Northern-most point of mainland Britain). Whew!
A little apprehensive after reading Lonely Planet describe the ferry to Orkney as "two of the most stomach-churning hours spent", we were quite happy to discover another ferry operator working a different route that takes only one hour! We are booked on the 9:45 ferry tomorrow morning from Dunnet Bay. That's about fifteen minutes drive from where we are staying, the Seaview Hotel in John O' Groats.
Here, we got what we paid for (not much), with moldy ceilings, broken TV, and noisy pipes. Admittedly it has character, but I hope the food is good...

author Tim	location John O'Groats, Caithness, Scotland
posted 18:38 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 2 ( all photos )

Top o' the Mainland 2 ( 7 photos )
Right, now we're up to today.
Before setting out from Durness, we had a bit of a look around the town itself. A "Wax and Wine" museum failed to be all that interesting, which was certainly not the case for our walk on the beach. You see, up here, it is extremely windy. The rain comes along when it feels like it. Both were present as we walked around this sandy beach with great rock formations, enclosed in as many layers of clothing and waterproofing as we could locate.
After leaving there, we noted the people we had seen set up camp beside the sea were still walking around. Not sure how they felt after a night of hard rain and strong winds, but they seemed ok.
Next stop was "Smoo Cave". Initially we had decided to go there just because of its exceedingly strange name, but we were soon very glad that we had. Used years ago for smugglers and the like to hide out in, it is the result of a river running to the sea eventually breaking through into a cave underneath it, creating a sink-hole with a huge waterfall. The walk down to it and then standing about 10m away was very scary - the forces of nature are not to be tampered with. The power of this waterfall was amazing, and in the small little cave even more so.
The drive from there across the top of Scotland was one of the most memorable we have ever done. The landscape is almost all rock, wind-swept reeds and grasses, sheep and the windy, hilly single-track road which we clung to in the wind. Running out of supurlatives here. It was great.
A windy pit stop was at the end of the road in Bettyhill - very quick as we decided that Percy was a great place to be after all. Heater on quick smart.
The rest of the day was driving around looking at B&Bs, and walking in the wind (bent into it trying to walk) in the areas between Thurso and John O'Groats. This took in John O'Groats itself (for some reason thought of as the most North-Westerly town on the mainland. It's not - instead just find touristy shops and our first pay-to-pee toilet for a while here), Duncansby Head (actually the most North-Westerly town on the mainland, where it was so windy that plastic bins in the car park similar to what you put out your garbage out in each week had the lid constantly being blown open, and that was the sheltered area), and Dunnet Head (the Northern-most point of mainland Britain). Whew!
A little apprehensive after reading Lonely Planet describe the ferry to Orkney as "two of the most stomach-churning hours spent", we were quite happy to discover another ferry operator working a different route that takes only one hour! We are booked on the 9:45 ferry tomorrow morning from Dunnet Bay. That's about fifteen minutes drive from where we are staying, the Seaview Hotel in John O' Groats.
Here, we got what we paid for (not much), with moldy ceilings, broken TV, and noisy pipes. Admittedly it has character, but I hope the food is good...

author Tim	location John O'Groats, Caithness, Scotland
posted 18:08 BST 17/10/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 2 ( all photos )

Top o' the Mainland ( 7 photos )
Time to update the journal again - skipping days is generally bad news. First yesterday, then a separate entry for today.
Driving north from Braemar yesterday, we went through some amazingly foggy ski areas, including Lecht. They're not in use yet (still no snow sighted), but it's clear from how many there are that they do get used a lot fairly shortly.
Stopping and grabbing a pizza at a newly-opened Safeway for lunch in Inverness, we had a bit of a look around the town that gave its name to the street where we used to live. A fairly un-notable place, it sits beautifully on some great pieces of water - obviously Loch Ness on one side and Moray Firth on the other. Very scenic when the weather is willing, as it was. Then it wasn't. Then it was. etc.
We followed a similar route north that we did last time we came through here, but this time heading towards the North-West corner of the Scottish mainland.
A drive out on a tiny little road to the coastal town of Sheigra on the Eastern coast was supposed to locate us a place to stay for the night. Great scenery all around the Lochs, but nothing besides a B&B closed for the night and a hotel wanting to charge us £45 per person, or roughly $270 for the night. Back in the car quick smart.
The next possibility was Durness, up on the North coast. Despite only discovering half the town (very hilly here making it quite confusing), we still were quite happy with our accommodation and meal. The meal was at the local "Lounge Bar" - a dimly-lit table overlooking the sea. Lovely. Accommodation was provided at the Parkhill Hotel, recently renovated.
We made a mad dash back to watch The Bill (it's become compulsory viewing over here) at our hotel, where the friendly girl running the place told us that they were prediciting possible snow over-night. That's the first thing that Liz looked for in the morning, but none was sighted. Won't be long...

author Tim	location Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
posted 22:31 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 2 ( all photos )

Back into the Highlands ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Carlisle 1)
Setting out around eleven this morning, we headed straight up the motorways in a rather un-eventful way. Several times this trip Liz has commented that she'd like to take Percy back to Oz with us. The costs wouldn't out too well, though I'm forced to admit I would love to as well.
Not too far north of Glasgow, I took over the driving and managed to "accidentally" find another distillery - The Famous Grouse, near Creiff in Perthshire. This time, we both had a great time - Liz bought a couple of posters of their amusing advertising, and posed next to "The Big Grouse".
As a side note, the whole "Big-Thing" concept (eg. Big Banana, Big Marino, etc.) is quite rare here. This was the first we'd spotted, and quite a good replica of the ones which still decide it's a great idea to chase Percy doing 60mph when we drive by. Overtly inquisitive animals. Or just really stupid.
Lunch was generic food at a generic "Services" - all the motorways here have them about twenty miles apart. Fuel, food, toilets, etc. Weather not boring at all, changing from sunny blue skies to torrential rain in a matter of minutes. Most of the time it's somewhere in between.
Liz is filling the role of the "Transitions" glasses for me - constantly swapping between my normal and sun glasses, as the day goes on. Much easier if it just stayed drizzly and grey like it's supposed to!
We're back in Braemar now, the two of us alone in a room normally for six. CDs were retreived intact (stupid me left them here last visit), and we cooked a great pasta before retiring to reading about the Orkeneys. We're excited!

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 08:57 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Carlisle 1 ( all photos )

On the road, finally?? ( 7 photos )
We hit the road again this morning, with a few things still not quite how we'd like them.
I'm getting sick of writing about them, but basically we still have no camera, and the insurance is sorted but not finalised, at a higher figure than earlier projected. The joys of life.
We've of course heard quite a bit about the Bali crisis over here. Yesterday there was even a talkback radio linkup between one of the radio stations here and a Perth station. Very strange to hear Aussie accents again! Wonder how they'll sound when we get back home...
The little things on Percy are attended to - good to have a car 100% (except for pretty dirty) before we head out on the road, or run out of warranty.
Was up very early this morning online, searching for ferry information to Orkney (in short: prices reasonable, should be ok), and fired up ICQ. Who should be there but lots of work people from the RTA! Had a great chat with them, glad to hear Craig is taking over where I left off by randomly un-plugging servers then enquiring which servers they are.
Read an entire novel yesterday - The Bourne Identity. Quite good, but not as good as the feat may suggest. I just wanted to do it. Also we have been brushing up on our German. Silly to waste all those years of education.
[Later that day we headed off north into Scotland again.]

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 22:42 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Carlisle 1 ( all photos )

Photos up! ( 7 photos )
Find them on the Photos page - there's new ones in both Scotland and North/Central England sections.
Looking forward to getting my digital camera back...

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 15:12 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Carlisle 1 ( all photos )

Sunday Lunch ( 7 photos )
A lot more reading has been undertaken, as well as organising all of our things. We have clothes everywhere, and need to get them organised this afternoon before we get back on the road.
Today we went in to Carlisle to pick up the photos from development - the best of which are now online!
After that we went to Thursby to grab a bite to eat at the Ship Inn, where we have had a drink before. Being a Sunday, sunday lunch was the order of the day - a great meal including Yorkshire Pudding, which we still can't quite used to.
Forgot to mention a couple of things - when we were in Lanark the other day we went for a walk up to the Falls of Clyde where I had been before - still nice and scenic, of course. Also, when in Scotland, do as the Romans do - I tried haggis, which was interesting but not quite to my tastes. My stomach also had a bit to say on the matter, but all settled down now!
Percy needs a wash and a vacuum - we'll get around to it at some stage.
While in the pub today we discussed the plans for the coming weeks. The general idea is to travel first to Braemar (to pick up what I left there last time), then around the north coast for a day or two. Jumping then on a ferry across to Orkney Islands, stay a few days then up to the Shetlands. Once complete, we basically make our longest run yet back down the country, possibly detouring into Wales, before eventually intending to pick up Margaret in London on the 2/11, where we stay for a week in the Goodwood B&B as before.
The Itinerary page has been updated to show this as best as possible.

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 19:56 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Carlisle 1 ( all photos )

Relaxation ( 7 photos )
Enjoying doing not much. Today was spent in pajamas until about 3pm, reading various books.
The concert last night at the Tythe Barn was great! Peter sings in several choirs, and this one, The Abbey Singers, is celebrating its 40th anniversary year - playing a selection of the choir's favourite songs, which actually managed to fit quite nicely with the crowd's favourites (Liz and I included). We've been humming and singing the tunes all day since. Thanks to Peter for the invite.
Peter was out for most of the day, so Liz and I decided to organise some dinner. However, at 5:30pm on a Saturday, the only place selling meat would have been the supermarket. Which was unfortunately "under new management" and not able to sell us meat. Sure, we could have had vegetarian, but we're a little worn-out from that from travelling around with Meaghan for a few weeks!
Dis-heartened, we grabbed some essentials instead, and returned home to discuss the possibilities with Peter. Since he had been singing all day, he wasn't in a mood to cook either, so we decided to grab some Chinese take-away.
We're now dividing our time between watching England's first European Cup football (you know, soccer) qualifier and the snooker.
We are intending to stay here tomorrow night, get the car fixed up on monday morning (only niggly things - a door handle stuck, a fog-light out, and a wiper sprayer that doesn't spray), then head back up into Scotland.
More details as we completely change our minds!

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 21:05 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Carlisle 1 ( all photos )

The good and the bad ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Scotland 1)
The bad:

• We of course had to say goodbye to Meaghan today. It's been really great to travel around with her, and was both good and bad to wave her off. Good because she's going home, which is what she wants, but bad because we're going to miss her.
• Nothing else bad really. Can't complain too much.

• Percy is insured! The story is that we tried un-successfully with the AA (ie. NRMA) to get our current insurance sorted out, but they just didn't want to be helpful in any way. I then jumped online and eventually found a place specialising in insurance for young drivers, got a quote and decided to finalise it tomorrow. However, a guy from the company actually rang me!!! I couldn't believe it either. His quote actually bettered any others we had found, and we are now insured for two hundered pounds less than we were paying before!
• Peter has generously "lost" two tickets in our direction to a concert of his tomorrow night, so Liz and I will stay here for a little longer yet.
• I rang Olympus about the complete lack of reply on the camera. The guy disappeared for five minutes, came back and said "It's been too long - that's not acceptable." "Couldn't agree more", I replied. "I'll get you a new one by the middle of next week", came yet another totally un-expected development for the day.
• We have a place to relax for a day or a few. Makes a nice change.

author Tim	location New Lanark, Scotland
posted 22:53 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Glasgow ( No photos )
We're back at New Lanark youth hostel tonight - we knew it was good, and it was quite close to where we spent the day today - Glasgow.
A strange city, we wandered around a little and saw the Cathederal (dated 1277 or so), town square and some other interesting places. Not quite as interesting as Edinburgh, we easily decided to leave once we had seen most of the major tourist places.
Having lunch was one of the enlightening things - the waitress was very rude - a typical Glaswegian? Most of the rest of them were reasonable however.
The breakfast at the B&B was great this morning - a very nice lady running it all. We then drove to a retail complex on the shores of Loch Lomond. Not quite what we expected to find, the scenery was of course fantastic as we had a nice walk along the shores, skimmed some rocks, and did the general touristy thing.
It was only a small drive from there to Glasgow. A supermarket run produced lots of vegetables for a curry tonight, along with some ice cream which we had to then find a place to store. The friendly girl running the hostel (which Liz and Meaghan are convinced has the hots for me) happily found a place for in her private freezer. Not comment from me.
Being Meaghan's last night with us, we had a great excuse to consume cider, beer and lots of wine while trying to make ourselves feel better. We'll miss her of course, but are happy that she is returning home.
Liz and I will be driving back to Carlisle after dropping Meaghan at the station tomorrow morning (with the obligatory teary goodbye, of course) to stay the night with Peter and attempt to sort this insurance garbage out.

author Tim	location Arden, Luss, Alexandria, Scotland
posted 18:25 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Back on the road ( No photos )
We took off this morning after spending two nights in Oban. It's quite a nice place there, and we may end up there again due to it being a fairly major ferry port for the Hebrides, Mull and Skye, etc.
We headed down the Cowan Penninsula in search of a place to stay for the night. This nice trip through the great mountaenous regions took in Inveraray (a wonderful pub lunch stop in a place staffed by Aussies), Strachur, and then the loch-side town of Tighrabruaich. A few little B&Bs around the place were either unstaffed or full, so we decided to head back to the Youth Hostel at Loch Lomond.
This meant driving basically back where we'd come from, then along to the town of Luss. However, contrary to what we have found so far, the guy running the hostel was quite rude, and there was no way to get a room with the three of us together. This is due, and I quote, to "putting boys and girls together is just asking for trouble". That's quite strange, considering that the place offers family rooms, according to the youth hostel book. Oh well.
Not much further down the road, we came upon the Polnaberoch B&B. This nice little house has four dogs and a proprietor who seems to live only to garden. It's quite spectacular actually. Since we got here we have just had some tea before relaxing for the afternoon. Dinner is coming soon.
The not-so-good news today has come from two fronts:

• The AA are not accepting our insurance no-claim-bonus, which means a huge increase in the premiums. We're going to have to head back to Carlisle on Thursday to make some phone calls and get it sorted. Again. We're currently insured until Friday.
• Apparently there are bad fires all around Sydney again. Best of luck to the SES and other personnel involved - we're thinking of you all. Meaghan is eager to get back and re-join the Rural Fire Service. She was hoping for a gentle ease back into it but that may not happen. If you have any news on this let us know via email - Aussie news is hard to come by over here.

author Tim	location Oban, Argyllshire, Scotland
posted 14:47 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

A Blinding Flash of Inspiration... ( No photos )
... has seen me realise that I have been carrying around enough tech-gear to get online anywhere with our mobile phone and a bit of initiative. The cost is high, but if we keep it quick...
Just some light wandering around the town today, which is good, since Meaghan decided that we needed to hit the town last night. We're staying here again - it's very nice, and after all our wandering it's good to not have to pack everything up. We can actually relax.
We're toying with the idea of wandering over to the Isle of Mull, but at the cost of £61 for the ferry ride (taking Percy), we're not quite sure just how to approach it. That's pretty steep for an island we can see about a mile away.
We found a great little pancake shop while wandering around yesterday, so guess where we had a massive breakfast this morning. None of us made it through, but it was a good change from toast, jam and coffee.
The girls and I went our separate ways this morning around town - I found a great little War and Peace museum, and a quick stop into the tiny Oban distillery, while they stocked up on gossip and retail therapy.
The rest of the day will be more of a rest before we head out for dinner somewhere.

author Tim	location Oban, Argyllshire, Scotland
posted 17:51 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Loch Ness ( No photos )
Well, I got in some better sleep, but the girls still managed to find a good snorer. Meaghan was planning on throwing pillows and apples, and Liz's evil plans were not printable here!
Since the rest of my room was up at about 6:30am, I got up nice and early and tidied up the car while Meaghan eventually dragged herself out of bed.
We took a slow drive north around Loch Ness, up the quiet side before coming back down the busy side. Wow! The scenes were all of course fantastic, and the return of fantastic weather meant blue skies with some nice low-lying cloud in the middle of the Loch. There's nothing much to say about it that you haven't already heard, only that it's much larger than I ever thought. We managed to avoid the tourist areas this time, so no cheap Nessy garbage. I'm sure we'll manage to find them again...
We then drove back south past where we stayed last night, and down to the sea-side town of Oban. The biggest thing for miles, the Lonely Planet book still describes it as "there isn't much to see or do", but we still think it quite nice. The Youth Hostel here is four stars - very nice, and we have a view over the bay. Not bad for only £2 (we filled up a youth hostel reward card, and get a free night. Paying a little extra got us our own room).
Not really an overly adventurous day, we're planning a trip off to the Isle of Mull tomorrow - we can see it across the bay. Cooking some veges and potato bake for dinner, and will have a nice relaxing night in with hopefully some decent sleep for all. Now they only have to poke me if I snore and I usually shut up!

author Tim	location Loch Lochy, South Laggan, Spean Bridge, Scotland
posted 19:32 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

A day of Lochs and Locks ( No photos )
Yesterday we eventually got checked in, and found ourselves not in our own room for the first time. This weekend they are runing a promotion for the Year of The Mountains, so the hostels are packed out. This was most evident in that none of us got any sleep (snoring, creaky bunks, lots of people slamming doors, talking, etc.), and are ready to retire early tonight (again in shared dorms).
After checking in, we went for a walk back to the aforementioned one store in the village - the girls' excuse was to get a drink. The twenty minute round-trip saw us get sopping wet - little wonder these mountain youth hostels have drying rooms!
The night was tied up with a puzzle, writing postcards, cooking dinner and then attempting sleep. Which didn't happen.
So today, we woke (not that we were really asleep) to the sound of a large group of boy scouts or similar running a breakfast. Joy was us as we dragged ourselves through beds, showers, etc., and then to leave the rooms by a ridiculous 9:30am. Such is the pain of cheap rooms in the mountains.
We then drove about 150 miles directly to our next location - Loch Lochy. This took us through some more amazing scenery - Ben Nevis (not that we could see the top, of course), the "Five Sisters", and of course endless sheep, waterfalls, rivers and rolling hills.
A trip this afternoon while awaiting check-in took us to Fort William - the nearest "big" town for miles. It actually has a pedestrian-only area in it!! Here we found me a nice warm jacket which has been long needed to replace my aging one, the girls of course found lolly/chocolate/nibbly shops, and Percy found some cheap fuel.
We came back, checked-in, and checked out the kitchen (necessary because some of them don't have working ovens, etc.). We took a walk down to Loch Lochy itself, and observed a lock lift the boat of some touristy types' boat up into a higher section of the river. Interesting, but not as fan-dangled as the Falkirk Wheel of a few days ago.
Next we decided to drive to nearby town Spean Bridge to procure necessary dinner ingredients. However, the entire town seemed to have lost electricity supply, so it was another trip back to Fort William to find a supermarket.
Dinner consumed, we are now occupying ourselves with journals and books, and it will probably be quite an early night to make up for lack of sleep.

author Tim	location Torrindon, Ross-shire, Scotland
posted 14:52 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Some "proper" weather at last ( No photos )
Wouldn't you know it, after earlier today saying how we were having fantastic weather, of course we then see just how bad it can get. It's drizzling non-stop, coupled with occasional heavy rain, strong winds, and mist reducing visibility in all directions. Liz is doing well driving through all this on more single track roads.
We made our way fairly directly here, but even though Ullapool and Torrindon are on the same page on the map, this most direct route still took half the day. This is probably due to the huge (1000m, cloud-obscured peaks) mountains we're surrounded by. The one(!) shop here has an entire rack of mountain-climbing books and not too much else. There's not even a pub!
The coast road on the way in was once again spectacular - lots of climbing and falling, and no-where dry to stop for lunch.
We have to wait until 5pm when the counter is open again for us to check in - there is a nice, warm-looking section downstairs, but we need a PIN code to get in. So, the girls are reading and I'm doing web updates. Luckily we bought our own food to cook tonight - there's nowhere to buy/eat nearby.

author Tim	location Ullapool, Ross-shire, Scotland
posted 08:22 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Driving through The Highlands ( No photos )
Before leaving the castle yesterday, we took in the neighboring forest with an hour or so's walk. It's rather different up here to anywhere else we've been - the trees all go directly up, pencil thin, fighting for some sunlight. Also, the current Autumn colours make for a nice spectacle.
It wouldn't have been too long a drive from the castle over to Ullapool, but Liz quite rightly chose to direct us on several scenic routes. There seems to be a Loch by every road up here, and the view across some of these to little islands with ruined castles on them is definately unforgettable. Also adding to the experience is that we are somehow managing to once again have fantastic weather. It was actually described by us as hot at midday yesterday, although the wind is admittedly trying.
After visiting a few towns including Dornoch, Rosehall, and Lochinver (situated on Loch Inver), I was directed to drive us a little way North of Ullapool, and onto a nice little windy road. About twenty miles long, almost completely single-track-with-passing-places, it took us by the coast and through the mountains in some amazing scenery. Lots of rocks-through-the-grass sea-side land, plenty of stupid sheep on the road, and the ever-present even stupider drivers doing 40mph coming the other way around blind corners. Lots of fun!
Back on the main road, we made our way back to Ullapool. This drive was directly up and over a mountain range, so it was great to see some more little lochs up in the high parts of this - not at all what we expected to find.
Ullapool itself is quite interesting - we quickly spotted a seal or two in the bay directly out our hostel window. They haven't re-appeared, but we have been keeping a lookout just in case. We wandered the shops for a while before looking for a place for dinner. At one restaurant, we enquired what the "vegetarian meal of the day" was. The reply came that it wasn't very good, and we should try a restaurant up the road. So we did!
In the end, we passed on that other restaurant (with the over-Aussie waiter), and ended up in a little bar/pub/hotel. Here, the Russian waitress served us various types of lasagne, followed by a trip to the sweet menu.
Stumbling home, we watched some TV before calling it a night. I'm not sure what time we need to be out of here this morning, but nobody looks like they're in a rush.

author Tim	location Carbisdale Castle, Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland
posted 08:26 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

A Night in a Haunted Castle ( No photos )
We took advantage of the SYHA (Scottish Youth Hostel Assn)'s ability to book and pay for places ahead yesterday, and organised both last nights accommodation (at the SYHA's pride-and-joy Carbisdale Castle) and Friday night's - they have a £5 deal which we had to book early for. Quite handy, it meant we could arrive later and know we had a room organised. Quite a change!
Before leaving Aviemore, we fuelled up Percy and did a few dabbly things in town - trying to hook up to the net (no luck), make a few phone calls (Happy Birthday Mrs Meaghan's Nanna!), and stock up on some more junk food.
I managed to convince the girls that we needed to visit a few last distilleries, and they kindly obliged. No more tours, we just had a quick look around and then visited the shop.
At one point on this little tour, we drove past a man pushing his hand down in the universal "slow down" sign. I obliged, although we didn't know what to expect. A little further, a woman was walking along the road, around a corner. This time her hand signals were not as clear, so we slowed down even further. Imagine our suprise when about fifty cows come walking, ever so slowly, around the corner. Liz just had to take a photo, so while we waited by the side of the road for them all to pass, she proceeded to snap away. However, a passing bull decided that he needed a closer look. The power window was deployed upwards with full force, just in time to get a great "clack" from the bull-ring against the glass. He snuffed and snorted a few times at Liz's red shirt, before deciding that opening this can was going to be a little difficult to open, and continuing his wander onwards. Eventually the road cleared, and the woman following the herd came over and laughed with us all.
After finally leaving the Whisky trail, we ventured North around Inverness, and through some great scenery. This took in the coast drive to Comarty (where we almost caught the ferry across to Balnapaling), then north through Dingwall and plenty of other little towns. Our destination was Carbisdale Castle. After a quick stop at Tain for supplies, we finally made it.
The place is amazing. It was bequeathed to the SYHA completely intact, and now functions just like any other Youth Hostel. With the exception that it is a massive castle, sleeping two hundered people or so. All sorts of paintings, statues, and plenty of strange little rooms made for a memorable experience.
We cooked ourselves dinner (sweet-and-sour veges) and enjoyed it in one of the dining rooms, before retiring to a little alcove by a window on one of the massive landings with a drink or two.
While getting up during the night, both girls reported sightings of the resident ghost. I'm not so sure...

author Tim	location Aviemore, Inverness-shire, Scotland
posted 21:36 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

A Hard Day on the Whisky Trail ( No photos )
Let's hear it for Meaghan after her first update! And I only had to correct about fifty spelling and grammatical errors before it was suitable for public consumption! Not that my spelling or grammar is all that good...
This morning saw another massive B&B breakfast - a nice change after all the Youth Hostels. I even tried some porridge. Still don't like it, however. Liz struggled to get through a massive serving of scrambled eggs.
Up here we are on the so-called "Whisky Trail", in the heart of Scotch Whisky country. So, when in Rome, try their porridge. And whisky.
First stop was the Strathisla distillery, famous for its Chivas Regal. We toured the sites, tried the "nosing", then the tasting (which the girls didn't appreciate much!), then on to the shop. I've started a collection of miniature bottles - the big ones are too expensive and need to be carried home somehow.
Then, we moved on to the Glenfiddich distillery. This was much more popular (probably something to do with the entry/tour being free, and you still got a free sample at the end), different, yet still mostly the same. A nice late picnic lunch was had there, as we decided our fate for the evening.
This ended up with us deciding on another youth hostel in Aviemore. It's another nice place, yet is run by the first non-nice person we've found so far. Guess it had to happen.
We did some shopping and cooked our own dinners, before retiring to a quite evening in with website updates and reading.

author Meaghan	location Aviemore, Inverness-shire, Scotland
posted 21:09 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Meaghan speaks! ( No photos )
Ok, so yesterday we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast in the town of Braemar after looking through all the crappy touristy shops much to Tim's delight! we then headed north or east depending on whether you ask Liz or Tim we found this small stone circle which was kinda cool and then continued our journey and found this quaint seaside village with a great beach that even had sand as opposed to the standard pebble beach I have encountered since being over here.
We decided to go for a nice stroll along this beach and were having a pleasant time when this massive golden retriever decided it wanted to play with us and came bounding down the beach headed straight for us and rather than stopping or slowing down like we thought he would he knocked Liz's legs straight out from underneath, which was absolutely hilarious, although I don't know if Liz would agree.
So after our beach shenanegans we headed off again on a quest for a B&B and found this fantastic farm that was harvesting tatties (potatoes) and was run by this lovely lady who was probably the fist really Scottish person we have met. She use lots of Scottish words like "aye", and "its wee bonnie", it was really hard to keep a straight face! They had two really cute dogs except one of their names was Meaghan which was a bit off putting.
Finally we hopped in the car again to find some dinner and drove through this great coastal village with load of really steep winding streets and Liz got plenty of driving practice i think she could be a rally driver now! I would have just stalled a million times. We finally got dinner in The Highland Haven, in Macduff before retireing back to our farm B&B.

author Liz	location The Palace Farm, Gamrie, Banff, Scotland
posted 10:01 BST 1/10/02	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Into the Highlands ( No photos )
From the hostel in Falkland yesterday, we drove East through Fife to Crail which is a busy little village on the coast, and here we began to get into golf course territory, much to Tim's delight.
We drove on to St Andrew's, the home of golf, and spent an hour or so looking around the St Andrew's Cathedral ruins and its graveyard. We came across some (empty) old stone coffins that had been uncovered, and Meaghan and I were horrified when Tim suggested we 'get in and lie down for a photo'! Suprisingly we refused, and went and had a look around the famous golf course which apparently costs £90 a round.
It was a very popular place, with cars everywhere, so Tim was dragged away, and we drove north over the Firth of Tay Bridge, which seemingly went on forever over the river, through Dundee and then headed inland looking for a B&B, and before we knew it we were in the Scottish Highlands. The scenery was indescribable, so you'll just have to come over here and see it for yourselves. There were huge mountains either side over us, and Tim had lots of fun driving over the rolling valley roads.
We ended up skipping the B&B, and instead went to the hostel in Braemar, which was set amongst the woodland. The area around us was a very popular hiking spot, and there were also a lot of ski lifts that, whilst not in use at the moment, probably don't stop in the winter. I am hoping to come back here to ski early next year. I'll have to see if I can get Tim on a pair of ski's :)

author Tim	location Falkland, Fife, Scotland
posted 11:14 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Off again ( No photos )
Once again heading away from the internet access, here's a goodbye for another week (at this rate, anyway).
We tried to find a dinner last night but left it too late - all the pubs/restaurants were too expensive or full. So instead we made our own dinner, from whatever we could buy at the little supermarket thingo. Quite good!
Spoke to mum and dad, as did Liz and Meaghan, so we've had a good rest and a catch up here.
Off for some more adventure!

author Tim	location Falkland, Fife, Scotland
posted 19:12 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Some of Fife ( No photos )
Sorry - the updates are going to come thick and fast while we have the ability to do so!
After Liz woke up at 1:30pm (not feeling well), we finally got moving for the day. We covered more or less the central section of Fife, including the coast line from Elie back to the bridges over the Firth of Forth. We then came back via our first proper Loch!
We're in a slow, do not very much mood, so tonight will probably just be a dinner then bed. There are a few nice little pubs and cheapish restaurants around here, so we'll see what we can find.
The people running the B&Bs and the hostel staff have on the whole been very friendly, advising on various pubs to check out and of course which to avoid.
Not sure if the girls will be able to sleep tonight after doing so for most of the day :)
Tomorrow we will probably head out north via St. Andrews, and the eastern end of Fife.
A few more random observations on British Life:

• Radio here is terrible, unless Classical is your thing. The three most common songs we hear on the radio (no matter what station) have been called Songs 1, 2 and 3. They appear almost non-stop.
• There are still plenty of bad drivers on the roads.
• It's very hard to get lost anywhere - all the signs are very good.
• The media here is so much worse than Australia. There seems to be nothing that is sacred, and large-scale death and destruction is routinely relegated after news of celebrity boob-jobs.

author Tim	location Falkland, Scotland
posted 10:50 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

An update at last ( No photos )
The last day or two has in general see us move Northish from Edinburgh towards Fife, which is the region we are in now.
Yesterday we had a look at the Falkirk Wheel - a strange boat lift thing the likes of which I can't really describe. Just have a look at the website!
Next we came north, stopping at the Wallace Monument - a tribute to the Scottish hero William Wallace, of Braveheart fame. Quite interesting, but the prospect of another 270 steps after all our previous walking meant we didn't actually climb up it.
We've also taken in Arthur's Seat - a 250 metre or so mountain in the middle of Edinburgh - a pain to climb with my horrible knees, but a great view (and photos of course) from the top.
Last night we went to a local around the corner for a few drinkies and a bit of food. It was good all round, and these Youth Hostels we have stayed in the last few days mean that we are saving money in general. More to spend later!
Today (when the girls eventually wake up, that is), we're probably going to take in the surrounding areas in Fife - that includes St. Andrews with it's famous golf course, and quite a lot of the costal surrounding areas. We will probably stay another night here - the price is good, and it's only been open for the last few months after a major re-furbishment.

author Tim	location Falkland, Scotland
posted 19:06 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Woohoo! ( No photos )
It's been a week since we left Peter's house, and I've finally found a net connection where we can plug the laptop in. How annoying it's been. The girl running the Youth Hostel was quite happy for me to tinker around for a while - many thanks to her!
I'll write a more detailed update later. Cheers!

author Tim	location New Lanark, Scotland
posted 11:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Edinburgh ( No photos )
I'm writing a quick update in the hope that I can find a decent Internet cafe somewhere today - all found so far have no laptop facilities.
Yesterday we had the most amazing breakfast so far - porridge, yoghurt, chopped fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, etc. Didn't need to eat for hours. That B&B had the hugest bathroom any of us had seen - I had a bath - great way to unwind after the day.
We then drove into Edinburgh. After parking in the street to find a tourist information place, we moved the car to a car park nearby where we drove him into a "bay", locked him up, then the door closed. What happened next, we don't know. He must have been taken on a conveyor belt somewhere - it took a little while to get him out later.
We started out on a walk that Liz had found in a little Edinburgh By Foot book that she found, but rapidly got side-tracked at tourist shops, Whisky centres, and fudge-land. Of course, we ended up buying five huge slices of fudge, along with numerous touristy things.
We spent a little time looking at some hostels to stay at, but they were quite expensive and had nowhere safe to park Percy.
The main thing we did was a trip through Edinburgh castle. It's so high up, and you wind around and around towards the top. We saw the crown jewels, the place where the piper stands at the tattoo, the war memorial, etc. The weather turned nasty just to remind us of where we were, and we spent a fair bit of time looking around in general. The girls liked some mead that we tried, so we may have to purchase some of that.
We decided to stay out of Edinburgh, and found a youth hostel at New Lanark - a tiny little village tucked between a river and a cliff-face. We couldn't even find the road in at first. The hostel itself is great - we're going to spend tonight here as well - it's cheap, clean, quiet, and almost smack-bang in the middle of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Dinner was take-away Chinese and a bottle of red, at the hostel.
This morning the girls slept in until 10am when I returned from a three mile walk. This was along side the river, up to The Clyde Falls - Britain's highest. However, it pales in comparison to the falls we have in Australia at only 27 metres high.
We're going to head back into Edinburgh now, taking in Arthur's Seat and looking a little more seriously for a decent Internet cafe.

author Tim	location Preston, Scotland
posted 18:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Border Country ( No photos )
After rising to a great breakfast this morning (though Meaghan was a little slow after last night), we set off to finally make it over the elusive Scottish border.
We took the path through the Northumberland National Park, which meant that the actual border crossing was upon the top of the hill with great views for miles across Scotland. Here, there were huge stones with "England" and "Scotland" on the appropriate sides, and a bag-piper busking infront of the sign. Not touristy at all! Much to the girls disgust, I organised someone to take a photo of the three of us.
We took some nice little back-road trips around the place, including a snacky lunch at Etal, sea-side stops at St. Abbs (looking to stay at a Youth Hostel there, but the owners appeared to have been taken away for Police questioning) and a wonderful drive along the Eastern Scottish coast (we're still below Edinburgh - plan to get there tomorrow).
All in all, not much has changed coming across the border. I've been told "you're not allowed here with an accent like that!" (jokingly) by a local, the shops sell Haggis now, and a "Full Scottish Breakfast" now appears amongst our breakfast options, along with porridge and haddock.
This afternoon we went for a quiet stroll around the village, where Liz made friends with a bull (whilst both her and I were wearing red tops - I kept away!).
There some updates on the Itinerary page - Meaghan is now getting a train back to Bletchley on the 10th of October, whilst Liz and I travel to the more remote areas of Scotland. Up until then, we'll see the standard tourist places. This probably means Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, etc. That's more than enough planning for now!

author Tim	location Preston, Scotland
posted 18:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

Border Country ( No photos )
(Continued from North and Central England)
After rising to a great breakfast this morning (though Meaghan was a little slow after last night), we set off to finally make it over the elusive Scottish border.
We took the path through the Northumberland National Park, which meant that the actual border crossing was upon the top of the hill with great views for miles across Scotland. Here, there were huge stones with "England" and "Scotland" on the appropriate sides, and a bag-piper busking infront of the sign. Not touristy at all! Much to the girls disgust, I organised someone to take a photo of the three of us.
We took some nice little back-road trips around the place, including a snacky lunch at Etal, sea-side stops at St. Abbs (looking to stay at a Youth Hostel there, but the owners appeared to have been taken away for Police questioning) and a wonderful drive along the Eastern Scottish coast (we're still below Edinburgh - plan to get there tomorrow).
All in all, not much has changed coming across the border. I've been told "you're not allowed here with an accent like that!" (jokingly) by a local, the shops sell Haggis now, and a "Full Scottish Breakfast" now appears amongst our breakfast options, along with porridge and haddock.
This afternoon we went for a quiet stroll around the village, where Liz made friends with a bull (whilst both her and I were wearing red tops - I kept away!).
There some updates on the Itinerary page - Meaghan is now getting a train back to Bletchley on the 10th of October, whilst Liz and I travel to the more remote areas of Scotland. Up until then, we'll see the standard tourist places. This probably means Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, etc. That's more than enough planning for now!

author Liz	location Thropton, Northumberland, England
posted 08:16 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A long drive north ( No photos )
After finally managing to check our emails yesterday (and paying credit card bills - grr), we caught the bus back to Bletchley, had some lunch and then headed North on the M1/A1/A1(M). We left at about 1:30pm, so we spent the rest of the day driving. There was a nine mile traffic jam along the way, where it looked like police and forensics had found a body or something.
We arrived at our B&B - The Chirnells - at 7:30pm. It is just out of a small village called Thropton, and is right in the middle of farms - cows were mooing in the middle of the night.
Dinner was at a nice (but expensive) pub/restaurant up the road, accompanied by a few drinks. Even though it was pricey, the food was a bit fancier than we would normally eat, and quite nice!

author Liz	location Thropton, Northumberland, England
posted 08:16 BST 24/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A long drive north ( No photos )
After finally managing to check our emails (and paying credit card bills - grr), we caught the bus back to Bletchley, had some lunch and then headed North on the M1/A1/A1(M). We left at about 1:30pm, so we spent the rest of the day driving. There was a nine mile traffic jam along the way, where it looked like police and forensics had found a body or something.
We arrived at our B&B - The Chirnells - at 7:30pm. It is just out of a small village called Thropton, and is right in the middle of farms - cows were mooing in the middle of the night.
Dinner was at a nice (but expensive) pub/restaurant up the road, accompanied by a few drinks. Even though it was pricey, the food was a bit fancier than we would normally eat, and quite nice!
[Next morning, it was on to Scotland]

author Tim	location Bletchley, England
posted 21:11 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Re-united ( No photos )
Leaving the great B&B, with it's strange toilet (3/4 full with water most of the time!), yet fantastic surroundings, we drove almost directly east towards Milton Keynes.
Today's interesting diversions included a stop at a little steam railway called the Glocestershire-Wawrick Railway. We were considering going for a ride until we found a sign saying "This is a high-theft area, leave nothing un-attended." Since our entire lives at this stage are in Percy, we thought better of leaving for a half-day steam excursion.
Since today was a Liz driving day, that left me navigating. All was going well, yet I had failed to notice that the green roads on one map page which looked like they joined up with the one on the next actually didn't. So, we took half an hour's back-street bonanza to get through to where we needed to be.
Upon approaching Bletchley, we rang Meaghan for directions to her Grandma's House. She gave them. They were terribly wrong. We should have remembered - this was Meaghan we were dealing with. A call back saw us arrive close - just on the wrong side of the road, a little way down - she had given us the wrong street number. Hooray for Meags!
After settling in for a little while (we are staying here tonight), Meaghan's Grandma mentioned that the reason that the Spitfires were flying over head was that Bletchley was of course the home of Bletchley Park. Wandering down there, we went on a two-hour wandering of the estate, where we saw how the British war effort had cracked the German Enigma machines, and saved the world. All played up a bit, I had to prod the girls awake a few times, but it was worth a visit.
Tomorrow we intend on heading into Milton Keynes proper to get connected and get updated. Then, we'll probably have a nice long drive up into Scotland to enable us to start looking around as soon as possible.

author Tim	location Wormington, Worcestershire, England
posted 21:13 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A Good Fun Day ( No photos )
Last night we ended up having some dinner at a great little pub in Pembridge, which is one of the famous "Black and White" towns. Basically, these are villages consisting mainly of the Tudor(?) style of construction - exposed woodwork on the outside, painted black, contrasting against otherwise white walls. Surely you've seen a picture somewhere. Most were built before the invention of the spirit level it seems, with beams going off at all angles, and many buildings looking like they're about to fall over.
The meal was pretty good, and of course we had to try the local brew - in this case the area is strong on Ciders. A Dunkertons Black Fox Dry was followed by a Stowford Press - both unique and tasty.
After the most amazing breakfast, we said goodbye to the proprietors (including the dog Pippa), congratulating them on having the best B&B we'd found so far. We then wound our way towards London, taking in Hereford, Gloucester, Cheltenham and of course lots of other little towns before ending up at Wormington.
On our journey, we managed to find the Dunkertons cider mill. Very interesting, we saw how it all worked before the obligatory taste testing. A huge range of flavours, ranging from the extremely sweet to the extremely dry - both well out of the range of what we'd ever tasted before.
Back on the road, I pulled in at a golf driving range where I showed just how much I had forgotten about how to hit a ball, and Liz did very well for her first real attempt at swinging a club. She was hitting some great shots, and had a good time - we should do it again.
Again, it's a Saturday night so we spent quite a long time looking for a B&B - it would be nice if they took their signs off the road when they're full! We finally drove about two miles off an already not-very-main road, and found this place called the Manor House. It's a working farm, complete with three dogs, two cats, a few horses, quad-bikes and a good dose of country hospitality.
We took a little walk about half a mile down the road towards an abandoned mill - great countryside, and the weather is fantastic at the moment, if a little cold at night.
For dinner, we headed as recommended into Broadway - the nearest "big" town, although it still has the smallest font possible on the map! We found a little pub called The Crown and Trumpet, and used one of their this-pub-only Ales to wash down a Chicken Pie (with apples - weird) and a Lasagne.

author Tim	location Lyonshall, Herefordshire, England
posted 17:06 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

First bit of Wales! ( No photos )
We drove almost directly south today, taking in Whitchurch, Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, Ludlow and finally settling in a great little B&B at Lyonshall called The Woodlands.
Even though we've had it all along, this is the first B&B we've thought to look up in "The Green Book" - a listing of the private B&Bs personally recommeded by a particular team. From the looks of this one, I'd agree so far.
It lists 75 B&Bs around Scotland, the majority of which seem to close around November. So we're just going to slip in on that one, and we should have enough to choose from.
Before landing here, we stopped at Beeston Castle, not far from where we started out in Cheshire. Built in 1225 (but the site was used back to 2000 BC for similar purposes), it stands right onto of a huge hill surrounded by a moat. Fantastic views from the top, in all directions. Will have to get the photos up here soon.
Also, we took in "The Golden Valley" and surroundings (including a few one-lane 25% gradient runs over the hills), to get to which we actually had to drive into Wales and back out again. We were very suprised at just how different everything gets, even in the two miles or so that we actually saw.
Obviously, the countryside doesn't dramatically change, but all of a sudden the signs all take on two languages (if you are lucky), and the radio seems to have three Greek stations on (which of course they aren't, it just sounds that way to my untrained ears).
Our Welsh so far extends to knowing that for "slow" you use a four-letter word starting with A which we have forgetten already. Haven't attempted pronounciation yet, we have a guide in the back of our Lonely Planet book so I'm sure we can suitably embarrass ourselves given time.
So now we're about three miles back into England. The B&B is a private house, nice gardens, friendly dog, and run by an old couple, obviously set up when their children left home.
A few more quick reflections on England to cap off our one-month travelling Anniversary, focusing on the driving experience:

• Drivers here seem to be quite a bit better (a generalisation, of course). We must drive through an average of thirty round-abouts similar to the Miranda one (ie. three lanes, seven exits, traffic everywhere - is the Miranda one gone yet?) each day, and everyone can deal with it.
• Drivers are much more considerate - if you are turning across another lane, and drivers are banking up behind you, rest assured someone coming the other way will slow down from 50mph, flash their lights and let you go. Very strange the first time we saw that. In Sydney you'd probably just sit there and rot. Similarly for turning out of a side street. Nobody behind will honk either.
• Due to everything being closer together and there being many more people, the roads here are fantastic. Apparently it's roadwork season, which means lots of slow-down-to-30 or even wait-at-the-lights-and-then-use-the-other-side-of-the-road passages. The trade-off, of course, is fantastic roads everywhere, even if they only have one town on them and lead nowhere.
• Our car is a large car by UK standards. Most are 1-1.6 litre jobbies, similar in size to our Corollas, etc, which over here are billed as family cars (serious!). There's certainly no "I'm going to grow up and get a V6 (let alone V8) Commodore" mentality over here. Fuel would be way to expensive, and there's no room on most of the roads.

author Tim	location Helsby, Cheshire, England
posted 08:29 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

One Month On ( No photos )
It dawned on us this morning that we've been gone from Sydney a month. My my. How time flies and all that.
We feel that we've seen most of North/Central England quite well, which is of course what we actually set out to do. Hopefully we can carry this on for the remainder of the trip.
Of course, we miss you all, and getting the occasional email, silly forwarded garbage and SMSs are a great way to remind us that there is still a world back home somewhere. As always, keep them coming!
Last night we spent in Helsby, a little village on the road to Chester. We stayed at The Robin Hood Inn, where dinner, breakfast and the room were all "good" but not "great".
Peter recommended that we see Chester, which we did yesterday. Quite an interesting place full of old Abbey/Cathederals dating back (possibly) to the 8th Century, and surrounded by a huge wall. Living "in" or "out" of the wall must make it a strange city to live in. We walked around for quite a while, taking in the sights.
We got suckered in by a machine claiming to dispense maps of the area. "What a great idea!" we thought - us being total tourists and knowing nothing about the place. The machine happily ate our pound (which we're trying really hard to not remember is almost three dollars), and smiled contemptuously. No map was forthcoming.
A saviour arrived as a freecall number next to the map-machine claiming to offer assistance. "Nobody can take your call, please try again later" came the curt automated reply upon our SOS. I'll try again later today, just for the principal.
Today we'll most probably head closer to London - we're about two hundred miles away now, and we don't actually have to get that far.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 21:04 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Never an un-eventful day ( No photos )
First and foremost, two site-news items:

• We have some new photos online! Have a look!
• The link just above here saying where we posted this from is now click-able. It will point to where this was posted from so you can see a map of it.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:36 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Washing day ( No photos )
Yesterday was spent doing not much - I've been keeping my mind on programming by writing a little program which calculates mileage figures (5.57 l/100km or 50.7mpg last tank!), and Liz went into town with Peter to get some more films developed.
Today is going to be equally exciting - we're going to do a whole load of washing at a laundromat. Thus far we have been handwashing at Peters, but the backlog is too great, and the weather isn't nice.
Thanks to Dad for pointing out uk.multimap.com. This is a good site where you can punch in any of the little towns we are going on about, and get a scroll-able, zoom-able map of the area. You can even put postcodes in - try CA26TT which is Peter's house where we are staying at the moment. I'll try to incorporate this into the link we put up top there saying where we currently are.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 16:10 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A familiar bed ( No photos )
We're back in Carlisle now, after another great day on the road.
Setting out from Fridaythorpe, we looked a little more around Yorkshire, before heading on our chosen back-road path "home" to Carlisle. This took in the wonders of the North York Moors National Park (nice farmland), and Bishop Auckland, before crossing our previous foggy-path near the back road B6277 through Middleton-in-Teesdale.
Fate landed us in a town called Alston, which seems to have an obsession with railways and memorabilia. This was evident in their weekends-only narrow-guage railway, Hazel's cafe (situated on the platform), and a great old cars/motorbikes/anything museum staffed by old locals.
Liz had to drag me away from a model railway exhibition and shop hidden away down there - staffed by an old local couple. Reminded me of our old train set we used to have in our old house.
The road out of Alston was the A686, voted as one of the top ten scenic drives in the world. It certainly was great to wind up the pass, see fantastic countryside over one way, then cross the peak and see miles and miles of different farmland the otherway.
Both we and our wallets were weary from our travels, and so decided to head straight back to Peters via the nice fast motorway.
There are lots of fighter planes flying overhead - they do training nearby in the Lake District (as we found out the other day when they flew almost lower than us as we were up on the peaks). I wonder if their increased activity has anything to do with Tony Blair's stand on Iraq - a constant news item over here.
Liz has had some photos developed, so we'll see what we can organise to get them on here - Peter has a scanner. I should make some noise about my camera as well.
Well, time to upload all this and read some mail.

author Tim	location Fridaythorpe, England
posted 21:43 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

The Wash ( No photos )
Leaving Wisbech this morning, we headed first around the south side of The Wash - a bay of sorts in the east coast of England.
We made it along to Hunstanton, before turning and heading back around The Wash in the direction of the famous Carlisle. Once again, all the good vantage points were tourist havens, including the cities of Skegness (very similar to Blackpool in its lights and "amusement" parlours.
We took in lots of gorgeous countryside before heading back through the city of Hull which we visited the other day. We accessed this via the Humber Bridge, at the rather extortinate toll price of £2.50.
North through Hull, we eventually ended up at Fridaythorpe, another great little one pub town in the middle of nowhere (a little to the right of York on your handy UK map). We had a walk around the village, but you can only walk for about three minutes in any given direction before you hit open farmland.
Another long-ish driving day, we filled Percy up once again, noticing that we've done about 1500 miles in the short time he's been with us. We had a great lunch at yet another small pub-town somewhere, partaking in what seems to be a huge institution over here - Sunday Roast Lunch. Yum!
A few small observations on English life that don't quite fit in anywhere else:

• Warm beer isn't that bad
• You will get a maximum of five minutes driving between all country towns. This place is dense.
• Forget translating into Australian Dollars. It's too scary.
• People here know how to use roundabouts but have no idea about speedlimits. Even when doing 80mph on the motorways, expect to be overtaken by people doing more like 110mph. The police don't seem to care.
• Even though the Premier League Football (aka Soccer) is world-famous, it's not on TV here. Pay only. God love media monopolies.
• The English are scared of Australian sporting prowess. Barely a moment went by in the recent England vs. India cricket test without a mention of how they would have to shape up before meeting the Aussies down under.
• People don't even understand the term "Gday" here. I've got some strange looks. I mean, I understand when they greet me with "Wot u wont?", but they don't even understand our one unique greeting!
• Everyone here watches either Neighbours or Home and Away. Everyone.
• They don't have your good old-fashoned two-tap showers like we do back home - everything is high-tech, push-button, select temperature and flow-speed. We haven't found the same type twice and are yearning for the tried-and-true Aussie-style taps.
• The weather isn't as bad as everyone says. Yet.

author Tim	location Wisbech, England
posted 07:57 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A few days on the road ( No photos )
Since we left Elswick, I've been quite slack updating this, but luckily Liz has been doing her "real" journal fairly dilligently, so I can read about what we have done!
The night of Friday the 13th saw us staying at a B&B in Thornhill, nestled in the Peak District National Park. Our way there saw us typically following some main roads, missing a turn-off, and then following lots of back roads to attempt to get back. It's a wonderful way to see around the place - try it sometime.
We have been through some great landscapes - plenty of villages in hills, pine forests, around Ladybower and Derwent dams (where the noisiest things were the sheep), and some great straight fast driving along canals.
Yesterday morning we took a trip to one of the many caverns near Castleton, which was named "Divilarse" in Old English. No prizes for guessing what it translates as. Quite similar in concept to Janolean Caves (except without the horrible entry road), we went on a tour of the caves which had around eight hundred years of documented history. Very interesting.
We are currently in a town called Wisbech, which is not many miles north of London - so we've come a long way. The place we're staying in is the most expensive so far, and the least nice. The B&Bs seem to be much more sparse over this part of the place, so we're on top of a pub called The Angel, which it definately isn't.
Food has generally been very good at the small B&Bs - great breakfasts, and easily reached good lunches and dinners. We're getting reasonably good at eating fairly cheaply for the day. However, we were tired last night after looking for so long for somewhere to stay, and ended up with a couple of bags of grease labelled fast food. Not good.
Today we head back to Carlisle up the East Coast - not sure how long we are going to take, but we have the motorways if need be. These can get us all the way back in a day basically, which is great for when we've had enough. But we haven't yet!

author Tim	location Elswick, Lancashire, England
posted 19:56 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Blackpool, Elswick ( No photos )
A reasonable distance was covered down the motorway this morning, before turning off to have a look at the seaside town Knott End, on the west coast. A great lunch was followed with a walk along the very strange "beaches".
It looks like you could walk out for about a kilometre - the water is so shallow, hundreds of birds use the beach for a resting place.
We then headed south around the point, which basically consists entirely of the city Blackpool. A very strange place, the entire point is basically hotels on one side, a strange bus-train hybrid on the other, and "illuminations" over the roadway. These strange creations are light-up representations of everything from Disney characters and Postman Pat to "Kodax" film - a rip off of Kodak and obviously the sponsor of the whole thing.
We decided that it was way too touristy for our taste, and headed inland to find that elusive great B&B. We succeeded. It's called Thornton House, and is a recently-redone rustic place, run by a nice couple, in a little one-pub town called Elswick (the pub is fine - we checked).
Breakfast is yet to be rated, but the sound of what it is was enough to make us think we could manage without a dinner. Also, the ever-present cost of everything helped our decision!
Tomorrow, we will probably head further south to take in more of this fantastic country side while the weather holds - clear blue skies, temperatures around the low 20s.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Heading South for the Winter ( No photos )
The updated, and suitably un-detailed plan for the next few days consists of "head south along the motorway and get off somewhere". That should do us! Everything else will just sort itself out.
Not sure whether we are going to be able to get internet access anywhere, so we may not get a chance to update this for a while.
Also, we have just sent out an email to lots of people - feel free to forward it to anyone who may be interested if you received one.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 22:34 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Another Lakes Walk ( No photos )
Today we set ourselves a simple task - a nice, low impact walk through the Lakes District.
Peter once again was our helpful guide as we took an easy two-hour stroll around Lake Buttermere. As expected for the area, the scenery was great - I'm really missing my camera so I can show you how all it looks. I guess you'll just have to take a trip over here yourselves.
Tonight Liz and I drove into Carlisle and had a coffee at one of the cafes - let's just say that the nightlife is calm. :)
We then headed out to a little back-road country pub where we enjoyed a quiet ale (ok, Liz had a scotch and coke) before coming home to relax and log on.
We think we might head off for a few days trip around central England starting tomorrow. The fuel is too expensive to keep coming back to Carlisle all the time.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 20:40 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A trip back home ( No photos )
Well, we're back at Peters from the one-night trip over to the East Coast.
We left in the morning, after having a great little snack at the Bakery right next door - fantastic food, and much cheaper than the B&B's breakfast! Liz tried a Cornish Pastie and was suitably impressed. We looked a little more around the town before heading off.
We headed out to the coast, through much more fantastic farm scenery. Eventually we made it to Scarborough on the coast. We found what we assumed was Scarborough Fair, took some photos, and got away - very touristy there. Also, their "beaches" are very sad compared to Aussie ones - we spent just enough time there to appreciate Cronulla then left.
We then drove down the coast, through such little towns as Hornsea and Withernsea. Lunch was at a "chipper" right on the sea - a non-healthy lunch of chips and chilli, and a great fish and chips.
Refreshed, we set off to explore the penninsula south towards spurn head. After a reasonable amount of driving, it wasn't really all that interesting. In the end, it was a private road which we decided against driving along. There were lots of people which we assumed were doing bird watching - lots of camera gear with huge zooms, tripods, etc. Very strange indeed.
Once again tackling some great back roads, we wound our way west through Hull (where that boat which has recently been in the news with a fire onboard set out from) and the hopping on the motorways for a trip back to Carlisle.
Almost back at Carlisle, we decided to hop off the motorway and take some new and interesting B roads to avoid the traffic in the middle of Carlisle.
Today was a huge amount of driving, so the things that we saw all kind of melded together. We think we'll have a rest day tomorrow - perhaps some walking in the Lake District - not as strenuous as last time however - and generally relaxing before another trip in a few days.
We finally filled Percy up, after doing 530 miles on 58 litres of diesel. Not bad at all. By my maths, that's about 6.8 litres/100km.

author Tim	location Kirkbymoorside, England
posted 08:49 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A drive East ( No photos )
Percy took a trip to the Auto Electricians yesterday morning, but they were unable to get the light to come on - grrr. Of course, as soon as I drove it away, the light came on good and strong. We will have to leave it for them to test drive it later in the week. At least we got the tyre sorted out.
Starting from Carlisle, we headed East in search of adventure. We had a vague destination of "the east coast", and everything else just sort of happened.
Plenty of main roads were interspersed with a fair splattering of B roads, driving around through fog, pheasants, sheep plagues, and the ever-present rain.
We are in the area that has been in the news for flooding recently, and the roads certainly reflected that. We didn't actually find any flooded areas, but parts of the road had puddles which required major swerving.
Along the A170, we kept looking for a place to stop for the night. The criteria were simple - it needed to be a B&B, and have food available nearby. We ended up at an Inn called The Black Swan in a town called Kirkbymoorside.
Conveniently, a few real ales and selection of reds were available at the bar to wash our meals down - Liz a rump steak and myself burger-type-thing with a great salad.
We got the room for £15 each, skipping breakfast (we got snacks instead) - cheap because the room was over the common room and had a squeaky floor! Let's just say that after our long day, we crashed straight to sleep, regardless of the supposed room quibbles.
The remainder of today will get us to the coast, look around, and head back to Carlisle most probably. The weather seems to be improving, so anything could happen.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 15:19 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Oh no Percy! ( No photos )
Just been out to do a little shopping in Carlisle central - we were looking at sleeping bags, camp gear, etc., as well as a little food for tonight's dinner (pizza).
Upon returning to Percy, we noticed a very flat rear right tire. It most probably was caused by a slow leak from yesterday. So here are Liz and I, changing a tyre in the middle of one of the main streets (with cars driving by at reasonable pace less than a metre away). The work completed, I then attempted go get us out of the very tight parking space we were in.
Immediately, we heard a horrible scraping sound. Surely there was nothing more to changing a tyre on a Peugeot than any other car. So, after a little initial investigation, we decided to get off the main road, bear the screeching noise, and look closer in a side street.
Upon driving around the corner to the most horrible clatter you have ever heard from a car, Liz came running up laughing. The way these cars work, the spare tyre is on the outside, with a bracket holding it up under the car. We had failed to put the bracket back on. How silly we (mostly I) felt.
This fixed, we returned triumphant to Peter's place and brought our washing in before the rain comes again.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:07 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Today's plans ( No photos )

Today will probably be a relaxation day, with a bit of shopping and a lot of nursing Liz's feet back into good health for the travels to come.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 08:57 BST 08/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

A drive through the Lake District ( No photos )
Another late start on a trip out around the Lake District. If you were to look at a map of the west coast of Britian, there is a big "gap" right in the middle. Inside that, there is a part that sticks out, sort of opposite Isle of Man. That basically contains the lake district, with Carlisle at the top and Barrow-in-Furness at the bottom.
So, we set out on a driving trip with Liz at the wheel nursing some very badly blistered feet. She got us as far as Silloth, where we had a nice snack at a place called George and Liz's cafe - not flashy but edible. She had been doing very well, but eventually listened to her feet and forced me drive the rest of the way.
We started heading south along the coast road, which took in Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven and Gosforth. Our initial plan was to head as far south as Barrow, but the seemingly ever-present roadwork told us that if we ever wanted to get home before dark, we should head inland sooner rather than later.
And we are so glad that we did! Turning in on a tiny back road at Gosforth, we headed in through such one-horse villiages as Santon Bridge, Eskdale, and Boot before finally arriving at something we had been warned about via signs much earlier. Hardknott Pass.
Basically a Roman road passing through the mountains, it was only one lane, winding up the mountain and down again, at around 35% gradient. It had signs at the start saying "don't do this in winter, no matter what your vehicle". Of course, we just had to do it! Peter later told us that he once took a school mini-bus over there loaded with kids, only to be later pulled into the Principal's office and advised of the school's no-Hardknott-Pass policy.
The rain only added to the effect as Percy proved his ability to flawlessly climb wet mountains, using mainly 1st gear. We stopped half-way up, one wheel off the road to allow passing traffic, on a very hard slope, to take a photo. We had a little stress restarting in such a difficult place, but I can thank my SES 4wd training for this stretch of road.
The road was basically one-lane for much longer, where we took in Wrynose Pass (similar to but far less taxing than Hardknott). Eventually we re-joined civilisation, taking in Ambleside before heading back to Carlisle via Keswick, Penrith and the very fast M6 motorway.
The scenery was awesome for all of this day-trip - so many beautiful little houses, churches, etc. nestled into the rolling hills, the windy little roads, the ever-present mist, cloud and rain. Britain has A roads (big, fast, maintained and used a lot), B roads (catalogued and numbered, but less-well travelled), and all the rest. The most interesting things we have seen so far by far have been driving on these smaller back roads. This certainly the best way to see the place - a coach or train would have had a little trouble with Hardknott Pass, methinks.
Liz and I cooked dinner (a Tikka Marsala) before retiring to the "goggle-box" (Peter's term) for some hard-earned rest.
Today will probably be a relaxation day, with a bit of shopping and a lot of nursing Liz's feet back into good health for the travels to come.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 10:15 BST 07/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Hadrian's Wall ( No photos )
On this morning we took the car back to have its one remaining niggle looked at - it has a "water in fuel filter" light which intermittently comes on to say hello.
The kindly garage guy put a new filter in after making it quite clear that there actually wasn't any water in there. It seemed ok for a while, but came back again. I'm just back from the garage again today where he said that an auto electrician would have to look at it. Sound expensive? Perhaps, but that three month warranty is real nice here. Booked in for monday morning.
The remainder of the day we spent driving in a general easterly direction under the guidance of Peter, crossing over the Scottish border (yay!) and having a pub lunch. The curious thing is that "pubs" dont really exist in Scotland - they disappear at the border to be replaced by drinking houses almost always connected to a hotel. Quite strange.
Refreshed, we journeyed through Kielder forest - a man-made forest surrounding the largest man-made lake (via a dam) in Europe. Very nice surroundings, and lovely to drive through. The dam itself is quite unlike all the Australian ones I have seen - the back wall is actually grassed over and sheep graze over it!
The return journey was along Hadrian's Wall - the roman wall built to keep the "barbaric" northeners out of the roman-conquered south. It runs almost the width of England, and parts of it even run through modern-day cellars of houses. The part we saw was partially excavated, and we also took in Housesteads fort - one of sixteen "big" forts along the length of the wall. Here, we saw the remains of a hospital, wheel ruts from carts, and probably the earliest central heating system anywhere - dated 124 A.D. or so. As Peter pointed out, it would have been over a thousand years before anything as clever was re-developed elsewhere. Similar for their nifty latrine system!
Percy willingly brought us home, un-daunted by the prospect of water in his fuel filter. The roads are all so empty and great to drive on. He has also done almost two hundred miles (320km) on about about twenty litres of diesel. Very thrifty, which will be handy given the fuel prices over here.

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 09:04 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

Will they fit? ( No photos )

Today we are going to attempt to work out in slightly more detail what we're going to do for the next few days - some day trips and perhaps a few overnight ones.
Oh, and we have to see if our suitcases fit in our new car :)

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 08:54 BST 06/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North and Central England ( all photos )

It's a new car!!!!! ( No photos )
(Continued from North England)
The first half of this day was spent fighting with insurance agencies over here attempting to organise insurance for Percy. Not as simple as it might sound, we ended up with the AA (equivalent of NRMA) finding us one for a reasonable sum. This is interesting, as when we talked to them earlier that day, they estimated almost three times as much.
In the afternoon we headed back into Carlisle, and went into Ottakars. This is basically a big chain bookshop with a coffee shop inside - very similar to Dymocks. I believe Meaghan was working in one in Milton Keynes. Being the cheap Aussie that I am, I spotted a book on a special for 99p - over here books are more like £9, so I was quite happy with that. The other day I also picked up a "How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords" book - an art I've never quite had time to understand.
The big news comes in the form of the National Australia Bank actually getting something reasonably organised for a change - the money for the car found its way across into Peter's UK bank account, allowing us to write a cheque for Percy!
The result of this is that he's now all ours, parked out the side of Peter's place. We spent the rest of the day playing with all the high-tech buttons, discovering no end of creature comforts. The only problem is that it will be hard to let go of him and purchase a thirty year old combi instead when we go to Europe!
Of course, we just had to test him out a little (you should have seen the smile on Liz's face when she was driving and the turbo kicked in for the first time!), so we went for a spin across to Silloth - a town on the estuary which eventually becomes the sea. We drove down the coast a little, where we could easily see across to Scotland before it got quite dark.
Some random back streets made for quite entertaining driving, especially in a new car at 60mph when the roads aren't quite wide enough for two cars!

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 17:58 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North England ( all photos )

Mountain Climbing ( No photos )
We now have a few extra blisters and aching limbs courtesy of Peter and couple of his friends taking us for a walk up a 2000ft mountain (damn these Imperial measurements!) and back down again. This was about half an hour south of Carlisle, into the Lake District. The valleys were beautiful, and the lakes viewed from the top were icing on the cake.
A very nice way to blow a few hours, the view was fantastic in what continues to be extremely good weather. I'm beginning to suspect the story of bad pommy weather is all a myth. I'm sure I'll eat those words later.
One of Peter's friends David brought his two dogs Badger and Rocky, the latter being the only member of the expedition to rival me for unfitness, although at fifteen years old that isn't saying much for me.
We had a late lunch at a pub at one end of the lake, where Liz had chicken something, and I had a beef steak, mushroom pot-pie and veges. A great cheap pub meal.
[The next day, we started exploring North and Central England]

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 17:48 BST 04/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North England ( all photos )

Around Carlisle, and a Pug ( No photos )
Peter showed us a little of Carlisle city itself, including Tulley House, a museum of Carlisle's long and sordid history, and many other historical places. It's very strange seeing buildings advertising dates that show they were built before the First Fleet arrived in Australia. Of course, many are quite a bit older than that.
The other piece of news is that we have put a deposit on a car. It's a grey 1995 Peugeot 306, and if you're not interested in the details tune out now. It's an XRDT, with a turbo diesel 1.9, 5 speed, electric sunroof, power windows, power steering, nice stereo, alarm, immobiliser, 5 door hatch, only 23,000 miles (grr), and very nice to drive. I believe it is going to be named Percy. Percy the Pug. Sorry Mighty Mouse, we would have brought you if we could.
Now we're just waiting on the bank to get their act together (sound familiar?) before we can actually pay for it. Hopefully this will happen before the weekend, which would be roughly inline with our schedule - something I've just tided up and hopefully you have had a look at!

author Tim	location Carlisle, England
posted 16:34 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/North England ( all photos )

Into phase three! ( No photos )
(Continued from London 1)
I'm writing this from Peter's place - we've arrived safely, and, according to him, amazingly on-time. Apparently Virgin, although omni-present, are almost omni-inefficient.
On the train I updated the Itinerary page with our future plans - please peruse it at your leisure, and then be completely un-suprised when we do something completely different!

author Tim	location London, England
posted 10:36 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 1 ( all photos )

Virgin Trains ? ( No photos )
It's been a little while since an update since we have been fairly quiet, enjoying our last days in London for a while a least.
We're on our way on a Virgin Train to Carlisle - I didn't know just how much of an empire Virgin had over here. The morning has been hectic - what a suprise. Getting on and off the tube, up and down stairs, escalators (did you know that even though people drive on the left here, everyone walks on the right?). Liz and I managed to get separated at Victoria station - those tube doors wait for no-one.
We had our last breakfast and said goodbye to Betty and Betty the proprietors of our B&B. I guess that's B&B's B&B. We're booked again for later in the year when we come back to London to wave Meaghan off and pick up Margaret. Infact, we have a full shell of a plan done - I'll put it up here soon.
I think I'll break the entry up into separate days. Hope to get connectivity soon at Peter's in Carlisle.

author Tim	location London, England
posted 10:42 BST 02/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 1 ( all photos )

Walking the Dogs, Farnborough, Bromley, Beer, Wine ( No photos )
Writing this from on the train, I'm splitting it up because otherwise it will get too cluttered.
Yesterday we started the day with another great walk with Tiggy and Molly, who were getting kinda used to us before we left. As was Lucky, who Zadro assures us is doing just fine. Sniff. This walk took us again up to the woods, but this time we were a little more adventurous, finding our way through a golf course where the dogs being walked seemed to outnumber those walking them by about two to one. Everyone in this area seems to have three dogs. Except us. Sniff.
Then, we jumped on the 358 bus to Farnborough, where Liz tidied up her grandparent's graves, and we again payed our respects. We walked a little more around Farnborough, including their old church (which was deserted by this time - about 3pm).
The local pub again called us, where we had shared a roast turkey dinner and a Ploughman's Lunch (which I had to inquire the contents of). Liz embarrased us both by asking what "that thing with the roast was". It was, of course, a Yorkshire Pudding. Locals laughed at us. It was great!
We then jumped back on the 358 to head back to Bromley. Unfortunately, being a Sunday, Liz's favourite dispensers of strange sausage roll substances were closed, much to her dismay. Her temporary sadness was quicky alleviated with a trip to the nearby Squirrel Gardens.
Thanks to Roy and HG, the only phrase I could remember whenever I saw a squirrel was "squirrel-gripper". Thanks guys. They were kinda cute, but didn't want to come over for Liz to pat them. Similarly for the geese and ducks.
Leaving Bromley on the now-famous 358, we headed back to Beckenham. The call of the local pub there was too much to resist one last time, so we had a quick pint there in the sunshine (which there has been an abundance of over here - very strange), before heading back to B&B's B&B.
We just had to finish off our bottle of wine, since carrying it was going to be a royal pain. So we did. This helped ease the pain of sleeping in the lumpy bed, with the dogs shaking the house to be let out, and doors slamming all night. Strangely, I'm still going to miss that place.

author Tim	location North of London, England
posted 11:00 BST 02/09/2002	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/London 1 ( all photos )

Elephant & Castle ( 3 photos )
We've now been to Elephant & Castle. Jade is living in a share house with four others. We weren't expecting much from inner-city London living, and we were pleasantly suprised.
Her place is very new, well-appointed, and she's living with great people. A far cry from the dirty, drunken image we had. That's not to say that that sort of thing doesn't happen. It's just that you can get something better if you look hard enough.
She's actually just got a "real" job, so this was half a new-job celebration party. Any excuse! She cooked us a great meal, followed up with some yummy expensive ice-cream. Liz watched The Matrix while Jade and I worked on reducing her China / Zurich photos to web-site size with my trusty laptop. She assures me they'll be online soon.
E&C itself is a big mess - subway walks all over the place serve to completely confuse the traveller. I'm forced to admit that they attempt to make it easier by the placement of maps telling you which places are in which directions. This would be great if these maps actually had a "You are Here" arrow on them. The end result is a lot of random wandering looking for streets and bus stops. This is common London-wide.
Home early, Liz proceded to watch her favourite TV show over here, "I'm a celebrity - get me out of here!". This survivor-style show, set somewhere in the Australian Outback (!) consists of sixteen or so of the whinyest poms you'll ever meet, stuck together for weeks to whine at each other. Complete with the "dial 123456 to vote off Tara now!!!", I'm tempted to ask for a "vote all off now" number to ease the pain.