Home safe and sound and its good to be back

Well here i am, home safe and sound and back in 'En Zed'. I arrived at the airport and relatively quickly through customs with my reindeer antler bottle opener (!!) and there was Mum, Dad, Becky, good friend Anna and flatmate Sarah to meet me.We had a lovely afternoon tea and i managed to stay up till about 7.30pm. Pretty darned cold though and then as a special welcome home we had the heaviest frost in years...minus 6 this morning!! Yikes, beautiful clear sky though so the beast has already been for a drive in the country!! The mountains are absolutely gorgeous and it was a real treat to fly home over the alps, not a bad view after a marathon 40 hour journey home.
I feel extremely lucky and grateful for such a safe and wonderful journey and its great to be back home and i've very happy to be back in New Zealand and with lots of projects and activities to look forward to. Not least of these is the opportunity to host some friends as visitors and return some of the wonderful hospitality that i have recieved.
Thank you very very much to everyone who has helped me along the way,

Naomi

on my way home

iäm on my way home... at helsinki at moment. Bored, bored, bored and still have a couple of hours to go. Did I mention Iäm bored? I might go buy a reindeer skin...

Koli

Wow, its been a wonderful couple of days up here in Koli. Loads more photos to put up and much more to write but in short iäve been out rowing on the lake, walking in the forest and watching out for Bears, elk, wolves and lynx. If you think iäm exaggerating wait for the photo of the elk foot prints. I went to sleep last night listening to the female elks baying. Today we went up to the top of Koli and looked out on the whole of lake Pielinen. The second largest lake in europe, fantastic view. Iäve taken loads of photos, which unfortunately donät quite convey the sound of mosquitos buzzing in your ear or the horse fly which keeps flying into your hair. I love the country side in Finland, the views are amazing but i am quietly compiling a list of the wee nasties. ( the big nasties being the bears, wolves, lynz and elk) The wee ones are the horse flies, elk flies, mosquitoes, sand flies, ants (but they keep the snakes away apparently) apparently i can also catch mole fever. Great!! I havenät dare ask about the spiders!! Needless to say i can now see the merits of wearing socks wiht sandals!

This country truly is amazing though, land of 60,000 lakes. iäve jsut been down to check on the lake and i can see and hear the fish jumping its so quiet and peaceful. I think i managed to see the sun set/rise last night at about 3.00am. Now that they have had the longest day things are changing quickly though, apparently the nights are lengthening by about 20 mins every couple of days.

Finnish Family Fun

What a fab day, and its not over yet but IÄm taking a bit of time out to do some computer stuff. Fab sleep, wee Emma has lent me her bed and I slept fabulously. breakfast and then outside to play. After putting out the washing and doing some jobs we all got on the bikes and went for a bike ride. We rode first to the village and saw the childrenäs school, we saw the old blacksmiths house, then we had a glass of juice at the cousins house, then across the fields, pooh sticks across the bridge, we saaw the children's friendäs house and raced home. We had a lovely family dinner and relaxed for a bit, late afternoon we went to a lovely local stall in an old school house. some local ladies were wearing traditional dress and playing the traditional instruments,



there was a big bear skiin on the wall. We then set off to 'small koli' where we went for a walk through the forest (and we were on guard for bears - seriously!) at the top of the hill there was a gorgeous forest hut and we cooked sausages and had chocolate. Finnish picnic Ikkonen Circus family style. The views from the forest hill were great and you could almost see Koli. After we got home, we visited the Ikkonnens neighbours, he is a woodscraftsmen and i was given a traditional finnish wooden picnic cup. Its been such a special and lovely relaxed day. Its not over yet either, because its 9.45pm and the day light is about the same as 4.00pm!!

Helsinki to Joensuu

Good morning! And as I write this iäm looking out of the pine trees and silver birch and the piles of firewood ready for winter. Its a glorious day in Joensuu and weäre going to relax and enjoy it. Yay.
I'm loving being back in Suomi Finland again and its so different, its like a new country. Last time I was here it was winter, minus 25 degrees and dark nearly all the time. Now its summer, they celebrated midsummer festival last weekend, and the longest day. At the moment its aabout 9.30am and its 21 degrees. LAst night we wnet to bed at nearly 1.00am and it was still daylight. crazy.

Yesterday i woke after a great sleep and Christoph, Margaret and I had Margaret's home made muesli before heading off to the city centre to put me on the train. Christoph was pretty relaxed as its his first day of his 5 week holiday. we put my dreadful suitcase in the station leave luggage and went and quickly looked at the market and and the city centre. we wandered back past the big church in time for me to get on the train.
The train journey was fab as Iäd imagined it would be, nearly 6 hours to get to Joensuu but this time it wasnät dar and black trees and white snow but green pine treees and fields. As we got further north and more rural, the hosues became more traditional and painted red and with steep rooves for the snow.
At Joensuu the Ikkonen Circus was waiting for me, Annaliisa, Matti, Hannes, Emma and Leo and we picked up Mikael on the way home. Off course I accidentally tried to get in the wrong car door so there were a few giggles over that one. Everything is very green, if I was to try and explain what it looked like i would say Lake Rotoitia and St Arnaud is kind of similar. We had a wee tour of Joensuu and their village before heading home for a barbeque dinner and to meet the puppy and play baseball, we ahd the local poåpulation of mosquitos and fly things to keep us company so we later wenbt inside to watch the pink panther on DVD. So very very lucky to be staying here wiht family and relaxing. It really is an amanzing life style, triple glazing, water pumped up from the well and poptatoes stored aaway for winter. Even though it gets to sometimes minus 40 in winter, the newspaper has only missed delivery twice in the last two yearsa nd thats because the printing press broke down! Iäm never going to complain about the cold again!!

Helsinki

Iäm here and its so lovely. I was met at the airport by cousin Hannalena,her husband Christoph and baby Theo. we then got the tain+bus+tube home and have sat and chatted and had a yummy dinner and are just watching the sun set. Itäs 10.45pm!!

Ireland Day Two and a half

Great sleep, fab breakfast including of course black and white pudding.
off to catch the cork tourist bus, interstingly cork used to be the venice of the UK. You can still see the steps agoing up to the assembly rooms and the where the boats - gondolas were tied.

walked to the opera house and the art gallery beside it, and met Carrie and her husband Owen for a relaxing coffee. Crazy to think Carrie (from Tremough, Cornwall) was in Cork at the same time i was so very cool seeing each other again.
AFter that I mooched aorund some more and headed off to a genuine irish pub for a shandy before catching the airport bus with plenty of time to spare just in case!!
Flight fine,
standsted express fine
tube fine
bus to caths fine
walked to her house fine
arrived about 10.00 ish and was able to meet Nova's folks George and Carol briefly before heading upstairs to repack for Helsinki. Phew!!

Ireland Day Two - Its all about people and thats not jsut a load of 'ol blarney'!!!

Awoke to the cows outside and read Christie's Auction House Princess margaret catalogue in bed
then off to see Huntington castle, Matthew gave me a tour of his family home. Highlight was pronbably the hooves set in stirling silver dated 1625. But it was all fab.



Home for bacon butties then we set off for Cork, Naomi's navigation was less than helpful but we got there in the end.
Valerie dropped me at the airport and I got a bus into cork city.
Fab, instantly loved it. Spacious streets, friendly people and everything was manageable.
went straight to vodafone who as well as helping with a phone told me where the b & b's were
went straight and found a b& b - The blarney stone, FAB.
Went straight to room and chilled and changed shoes etc
went back to centre of town, mooched
went to market got three lovely irish cheeses and more fab brown bread
came back to b& b in time for picnic, news and coro street. NEw British prime minister and Spice girls are returning. Yay, not!
later went for walk through Cork University campus, bugger me just across the road!




Now just a wee something about my microcosmic glimpse of Ireland... I love it!!! And really and truly its not about the buildings (which are cheerful not gloomy), or the landscape, which is green and lucious and reminds me of Taranaki or Southland, and its not about the culture which is about tradition and community...its all about the people.
The Irish people have been amazing and wihtout one single exception they have all been warm and welcoming, polite and courteous and friendly.
From the Dublin customs man who cracked a joke and told me tomorrow was a religious holiday so I wouldn't be able to ahve a drink in ireland,
to the airport info desk man who rang my phone,
to the bus driver who lent me his phone and later while driving took a call from James mum and told me where i was to stop
to the vodafone people who phoned mum in NZ
to Mrs Jobling - Purser who took me under her wing
to her friends who came round for dinner to meet a kiwi
to the people on the bus who were polite to each other and gave up their seats for the elderly
(there was a leprechaun on board by the way, the smallest woman i've ever seen)
to the vodafone lady, and the lady in marks and spencers - great directions
to the person on the intercom in Primark who was courteous in her announcements
to the friendly parking wardens
to the lovely lady at the market who even though she was closing made sure i knew the names of each of the irish cheeses
to the tour bus driver who cam upstairs just to let me know the statue of mary was facing the wrong way
to the customs guy as i was leaving who said he loved 'fat freddy's drop'
and to james who even though he was in cornwall, liaised and made this trip possible.

I walked past this bill board which said 'Without tourism things could be different' it says 'Irish tourism, everyone is part of the team'

I couldn't say it better myself

The day I`d rather have avoided

ok so you're probably up to speed with the littany of horrors that was day one in Ireland but just to recap... had stayed the night with Cath who unfortunately wasn't able to come to Ireland, poor sausage just wasn't well.But made the decision to go ahead anyway, depsite being tired from barcelona. Having got luggage etc made it back to caths and repacked and in bed by about 1.30am so...
up at 5.30
off to train station at 6.30
stanstead express 7.30
airport 8.30
Flight 9.30
Missed it.
paid for new flight
emailed and stuff - bonus
checked in luggage
went through to customs for second time
mooched around shops
went to gate
slept and waited for flight - wasn't gonna miss a second one
flight ok
arrived 10 mins late
ran through aiport
followed bus signs ran to bus par
arrived in time to wave to bus driver who wouldn't stop
spoke to other bus drivers
ran to shuttle bus to train station to catch 6.25 train
got on board, seat up stairs - bonus tour of dublin
went to text mum to check americas cup
no phone
ARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!
ran downstairs to bus driver
15 mins to retrace steps
ran to bus park again
ran back
ran to info desk
ran to airport police
ran back to shuttle bus
left airport
got about ten mins down road'
checked with driver would I make the 6.25 train
"Not a chance"
bus driver let me out at traffic lights
ran back to airport
ran to bus park
bus driver said ten mins to check with airport police again
no luck, bus driver let me ring James Mum who was meeting me
sat in bus and composed myself
sitting at front of bus - bonus still get tour of dublin and countryside
sat next to interesting lady and we both got view of bunch of french backpackers peeing by side of road
countryside fab - bonus daylight saving
9.00 arrive Carlow and James Mum there to see me
went to her home, gosh, and instantly relaxed. Gin and tonic and quick phone call to carolyn who was phoned by Vodafone dublin airport with missing phone
Valerie's two guests David and MAtthew arrived for supper
lovely meal, wine, great conversation
Sleep, delicious sleep in white damask and james grandads bed.

Catch up - news in brief!! Sorry no photos!!

HI, well here is everything in brief...
I'm typing this while at the airport having missed my flight to Dublin. Boy oh boy oh boy...
Cath is great, I stayed wiht her last night but unfortunately the poor thing has a leg infection and is unable to come to Ireland with me, at this rate I might not get there either!!
I'm absolutely buggered and gutted of course , I dhouldn't have missed this flight as I was all checked in byt juyst not through to the gate in time. basically i've been running since 4.30 yesterday afternoon when I battled to get to the bristol train station in amongst the glastonbury crowd...then I rushed to see cath and simone at russell square then in RAN to pick mu luggage up by 11.00pm and then I ran this morning again to catch trains etc. Anyway enought of that, it has all meant I have time to sit and catch up wiht computer stuff. So below is the Barcelona chapter in bullet points....

Barcelona Turistica

Up early - again!
Sue drove us to Bristol airport
Chilled out, had breakfast
Flight was just like easy jet on TV - loads of stag groups and hen groups. Sue embarrased to be english.
Arrived in Barcelona - hot, got airport bus to city centre.
CULTURE SHOCK
Never really had culture shock like this before but spent the first couple of hours struggling to enjoy and see the delights of this spanish city.
Was a bit overwhelmed with the dirty ness - dog poo and the stinky drains and the a wee bit irritated by heat and crowds PMT didn't help.
We were staying in the Gothic quarter - which is medieveal alley ways etc and when we first arrived it was siesta time and shops all bordered up and graphiti etc so I struggled with that too.
Had a lie down and food and then changed and went out and the city felt much better. Cnaadles were lit, People were eating outside, music, people out walking, shoppping. Very cool.



anyway to keep things short...
Sat - did local shops, tourist bus, drove past big gaudi landmarks, went to suburb near top of hill, bit like merivale. then back on bus and off at La Ramble - the main shopping street. Great buskers!! went to fab market and bought olives and bread etc.
wlaked towards water and had picnic under the palms
back on bus turistica and wnet round the olympic area and teh new stadium for Fotbal Barcelona. Up to top of hil and looked across at hazy skies over meditaranean somewhere out there is emirates team nz
got off again at marina and walked back home via gothic quater.
Home to apartmetn to relax and later in evening walk arou8nd shops. Had delicious chocolate with basil and tomato, and of course had to ahve gellata.



sunday.
Having done shops, day was cdevoted to Gaudi.
First Sograda de Familia. THe big gaudi cathedral.
Amanzing to think this is a big cathedral still under contstruction just as exeter and salisbury have once been too. 20 years to go, Its crazy and like the other gaudi buildings, unbelievealbe to think gaudi was an architect who began in victorian times and his designs are totally organic and crazy even now. People must have thought he was mad and yet somehow there is something about this city that encourages crazy art forms and creativity and modernistic design. Picasso was from here too and even now the conntemporary architects and designers have a unique freshness that seems unique to this city.

Next stop Park guiello - sorry I'm not able to check the spelling at them moemnt.
we walked slowly to the top, stopping off to see Gaudi's home. then we had awonderful picnic half way down and listenjed to a guy playing the Hang - looks a bit like a wok or a ufo and sounds like a harp. Wonderful sounds.

Back on bus - sitting upstairs in full sun, walked to Pedera. Big apartment block designed by gaudi. Amanzingly light and airy and very contemporary even now. Would move in, in a nano second and take up residence! Crazy audio though, had sue and i in fits of giggles.
Then onto the 'blue house' as we called it.
(I'll try and put the proper details in later))




Quite a lot of art deco and arts and crafts movement influence here. Loved the coloured glass, shaped wood doors and tiles. the natural light was just lovely, and so cool and spacious.

finally wandered back through the city to our medieval corner and changed befre watching dancers and having tapas dinner. wandered through the botanical gardens and listened to music ,
one more gellato before home to repack again!!

Back to Exeter

Today has been absolutely lovely despite the horrendous weather - it hasn't stopped raining at all! I got up early and wheeled my belongings to Penryn train station and changed at truro for exeter. Sue met me at Exeter and we went up to the office to say hi to folk, we also had a quick look around the campus and then lunch in the newly updated refectory in Devonshire House with Nat H and Vik. Sue and i| then headed off to Honiton. We had a look around the shops first, junk shops followed by teh antique shops , where each little nook and cranny is chocker full of gorgeous things. If i didn't have to fly home i would have bought about three silver tea pots, who knows how many blue and white plates, lovely prints and a bowler hat. Sue then drove me to the cemetery and I said hi to grandad wilde on behalf of everbody in NZ.
Afterwards \i met Gill at the imperial which although brief was cool to catch up and then on the way home Sue and i went and picked some raspberries from her new allotment. Very cool! PAsta for dinner and BArcelona tomorrow!!! And a big whateva to whoveva has my glastonbury ticket. I probably saw you on the train today with your back pack and it hasn't stopped raining so i hope you're really wet and cold while i'm in sunny spain. HA!!

Heligan - Cornwall

I wasn't sure if it was a classic case of getting my ambitions mixed up with my capabilities but.. I managed to get to Heligan Gardens in Cornwall. I was sort of going on behalf of Mum and Dad but i confess i was pretty keen to see the melon houses and the vege gardens as much for them as for me.
Flatmate Sophie kindly gave me a ride to Heligan, because its pretty much out in the middle of the wop wops. I sat and checked emails etc first while she did some work stuff at the brewery and then we headed off. We travelled down some pretty crazy cornish country lanes that although rather pretty are very deep. the walls are about 8 feet tall and they are pretty narrow lanes and with tight corners- but experienced cornish driver sophie was at the wheel so i sat back and relaxed. It has been pouring with rain in cornwall but it held off while i went round the gardens. The mud sculptures were cool but the fruit and vege gardens were truly amazing. a real study in symetry and repetition.



Needless to say the camera went a bit mad. I saw pretty much all that i wanted to see in about two hours and tehn got various buses all the way back to st austell, truro and then falmouth where i raced to see the maritime museum and had a quick squiz at the shops. Back home in the rain, went to the local dairy and got stuff for tea and had a bath and re[acked. Sophie was away workign in Exeter so i chilled out and collected my thoughts. Missed a perfect opportunity however to watch an episode of coro and get six months ahead of everyone else. I guess you'll jsut have to visti the website to find out what happens!

Tremough

Today has been fab, a leisurely start, pouring rain (who cares when you're on holiday) and then the bus ride up to the Tremough campus. I went first down to the walled garden to take photos and its much tidier and quite green and lucious. I then surprised James in his office and then went to meet Carrie for lunch, later I caught up wiht Robin too. It was so fabulous to see old friends and to learn all about the continuing development and progress. Mining Engineering and Renewable Energy - the most at risk programmes- are now flagship courses and have the highest recruitment. The building looks more established wiht trees and grass and offices and the noteiceboards are all now covered in chaos - people have colonised the space and it lives and breathes by itself. The buses to tremough are now 2/3 full of studnets too rather than empty with the odd poor solitary student wondering what on earth is happening, I bought the local paper today and there are no less than 6 stories about either the art school or the tremough buildings so it has definintely become a huge part of the local community landscape. Its great to be back and visiting but its also great to know that i'm on holiday and will soon go home to my own exciting job and great lifestyle which wihtout a doubt is a bit easier than getting around in cornwall - no matter how goreous or quaint the villages are!

Cornwall -

I love this ere place, its right luvly it is! All pathetic attempts at quaint cornish accents aside, it really is fab. From the FRIENDLY people in the truro post office to the gorgeous oldies on the bus to the fab people who work at Tremough it is just wonderful. I got here at midday and Sophie darling picked me up from the train station and we went and had lunch, The sun was out and Truro was fab. I went to the post office and sent a couple of parcels home. Super service in sharp contrast to london - and then mooched around the shops which was lovely before getting a ride home with Soph. My former flatmate is now unfortunately working for Cornish Ale company and so i was duty bound to taste some of her product. After getting home we went for a walk down to Falmouth and had a drink at a local pub overlooking the harbour, i watched the gigs (rowing boats) out practicing. Curry for dinner accompanied by Cornish Ale and TomCruise and 'Cocktail' - what a fab night back in cornwall and in my old room too.

Sunday 18th and lovely Exeter

Exeter really does feel like my city and Exeter cathedral is my cathedral. It smells the same, sounds the same and feels wonderfully familiar and comfortable.
Anyway, NAt and I headed into Exeter to meet Jane and Sue at 10.30am. First stop, Princess HAy and the new shops. I bought an English sheep tea cosy - don't ask me why but its cool believe me. SEcond stop food and something to drink, then PriMark the new great TK MAx and home of CHEAP clothes - £1.50 for tee shirts. Suitably grossed out and repulsed (but tyring hard to stem the retail madness) we then went to Laura Ashley and then had a picnic on Cathedral Green. Fab butternut squash, feta and sundried tomato salad and french bread. NAt B, her husban MArk and baby daughter Sophie met with us and then the girls headed off the Quay to look around. It was a wee bit of a weird experience then walking back past the old flat but it was a super day and after a quick coffee NAt and I headed back to Exmouth and popped in to see Nat's mum. Tomorrow is Cornwall and a bit more of a relaxing time. IT really has been totally cool and super to see darling friends and to laugh and giggle.

Sat 16th Elizabeth and Exeter

Phew, well a mega week but now the holiday was to begin proper.
I was up early again and finished the last of the packing and headed off to breakfast. I was pretty jaded and stiff I must admit but got underway and met Cath at Paddington at 9.00. Her partner Stuart is Station Manager or something and so he kindly looked after the mammoth suitcase while we headed off to see a steam engine that was about to depart. We then had something to eat and headed of to see TRooping of the Colour! Whaoo, I've only wnated to see this since I was a little girl. Anywya there were quite a few people but it wasn't crazy, no one was pushing or shoving and we made it to the MAll in time to see the procession. Then we learnt they would be coming back so we stayed and got front line seats and set up the camera. Pierz, the darling, had made a mad dash to catch up and stood with Cath and I and we watched the guards with their big fur hat things. Then the horses thundered past and then Beatrice, Eugenie, William, Anne and the Queen - resplendent in Green. We were standing next to a lady who had camped out for three days to watch Charles and Diana's wedding. ANy way, no time to wait for the flyover it was a absolute run for the tube and then Paddington, made it wiht one minute to spare but no time for collecting luggage and getting fast tickets - so STuart sorted us out and we had lunch instead.
I then set off abourd the next train and although I had a little snooze, mostly I watched the green hills, the canal boats, the garden fetes, the thatched cottages, hedgerows and skies by constable.
Exeter - and there was sue and jane - rushing from a foot massage. So wonderful to see them, and Jane all the way down from Manchester. ANyway we went to Exmouth to NAt's and had a quick catch up and a chat and all of a sudden it was eight o'clock and time for dinner!! We had dinner in a lovely little cafe, had a drink at a bar at the marina then home and I was virtualy asleep before I'd turned off the light.

Friday 15th

Update - Here is what happened on Friday...consider it at high speed and fast forward ...
Up early about 6.00am to pack the work suitcase,
Went to breakfast at 7.00,
Finished the packing,
Wrote thank you notes and postcards,
Went to post office to post everything including suitcase,
Was served by the most unhelpful post office lady in the history of post office ladies - Mary from the South Kensington Branch, consider yourself named and shamed!
Almost lost my temper in public place, but managed to only shout "You have got to be joking!" when I was asked to lift the 22 kg suitcase onto the scales for the third time as she couldn't see how much it weighed from her seat behind the safety glass without standing up, and "No thank you, I do not want to buy a roll of sellotape!" after I was concerned about the post office labels adhering to the suitcase. I turned to go and said " THank you so much for your help" in my best sarcastic voice and saw a queue of sympathetic faces and one lady turned and said "did she really tell you to buy sellotape!"
After that I headed to Holland Park to meet the photographer and pick up the photos, zoomed to Notting Hill and bought my red toile - perfect instructions Anna - ran to Portobello and managed to buy a snuff box and some silver trinkets.




Stopped for something to eat and then raced to the Royal Mews - only to find they were shut again but this time because of Trooping of the Colour on Saturday - WHat!!! I was here and going to miss it, I decided to change my train tickets.
Dashed back to the hotel (this is all by stinky tube) and reckoned I had 20 mins to see the V& A Museum . Did a quick reckie, and then headed to knightsbridge mainly to get foot balm (!!) then sat at the hotel computer and uploaded all the photos onto the website, then flagged the nana nap and headed off to Collier Wood to see Richard and Sue. Although I was absolutely buggered it was a lovely relaxing evening, I bumped into Nigel Burdon on the tube so managed to catch up with him and then shared Pizza and red wine with Richard and Sue and relaxed.
Home by 12.00ish and sat up and repacked my suitcase and sorted the damage following some mysterious mini tornado that had demolished my hotel room. Phew!!!

Work -

I can't believe it, we've done it. We've held our first London reunion and it went very very well. Yesterday was crazy, I was up about 6.00am and checking emails and RSVP's then frantically packing so I could leave the house at the same time as Moose and Michael. I got a taxi to the hotel and virtually got changed in the luggage room before high tailing it to Covent Garden for our luncheon. I had 15 mins in which to dash around Covent Garden market but I managed to buy some Snuff - specially mixed for this particular London tobacco specialist - and hear some Opera being performed to the shoppers. Lunch went very well and so at 3.00 I headed back to the hotel, checked in and threw work stuff in a bag and dashed off to NZ House. I got there in time to meet the caterers, put photos on the wall and change in the ladies room minutes before the first guests arrived. It was a fabulous evening, it was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces and afterwards we all headed off to a sports bar to mix and mingle some more. It really was a fab night.

Oxford and Cambridge

I arrived at Oxford at 9.00am (having got up at 5.00 and at the bus stop by 6.15) and was met by Syliva, an economics lecturer. I stepped off the bus and found myself in the middle of a group of third year students all dressed up in their formal matriculation garb. Sylvia explained that it was exam week and that these were third year students sitting their final exams. They all walked together to the exam hall and wore a carnation button hole. A white carnation signified it was their first exam, pink meant they were in the middle and red was for the final exam. those leaving with a red carnation after their last exam were then covered in egg, flour and glitter by their friends!



My meetings went very well and later in the afternoon I had time for a quick look in a couple of shops and time to write postcards too at the wee leather top desk in the guest apartment. Andrew then met me and I was given a full tour of Brasenose including the 'new quad' built in the 1800's (!) I then dressed for dinner and was very fortunate to be seated at High table. The students wore casual clothes with their 'common gown' over top. The meal was beautiful, pork and pistachio terrine for entree, steak and summer salad for main and tiamisu for pudding. The wine was beautiful and very nice to try at least one of the 15,000 bottles in the College cellar.




AFter pudding, high table left the Dining Hall and moved into the Senior Common Room for desert. The table was laid out with candelabra, cheeses, fruit, turkish delight, wine, and port. Afterwards the youngest Fellow passed around the snuff. I've always wanted to try it and it was refreshing and had a menthol perfume. Its possibly the new latest and greatest thing given that England goes smoke free on the 1st July.
Anwyay after such a wonderful evening I retired to my guest accommodation and sat and wrote at my little leather topped desk and sipped tea from my wedgewood cup. And I sat and drank in the wonder of sharing my lounge with an incredible collection of books all carefully stored in little grey boxes. I opened one up, and it was a recent edition - 1829. An older publication was from 1647!!!
I don't think it was my imagination but as I gently turned the pages I'm sure I caught a faint smell of a cigar or pipe tobacco. Maybe it was snuff.



Cambridge



Trinity College above



The Cambridge May Bumps

Day Two

Well Day Two and all is well. I had a great sleep after a beautiful BBQ meal with Amelia, Michael and friends and woke early. Got busy with texts and ready and out the door and at London Bridge by 8.30. Chilled out walking around Trafalgar Square and then headed to the venue. Meetings all went well and the views are amazing. Half a memory card later... Did I mention the views are amazing?
Then off to the sports bar and caught up with Cameron. Great to see him and we decided to head off to Camden - well he was dragged truth be known but it was fun. The Royal Mews was shut by the time I got back but the shop wasn't alas, alack. So then clever clogs thought she'd make her way back home a different way by bus...she figured her feet were sore and she'd see more of the city that way. All very true however it ended up taking 2 hours rather than 30 mins. This corner of London is really interesting though, there is a really strong Caribbean community and yesterday when the ladies came out of church with their head scarves on , the colours were amazing.

Hi, Well I'm all showered and watered and feeling normal and enjoying the wonderful hospitality of Moose and Michael. And as I write this I'm undergoing this weird out of body mind thing because the world is topsy turvey. Its summer, I'm in shorts, the birds are chirping we're having a BBQ and everything is green and lush.
Also... I've been for a bus ride already and have my first green receipt from Marks and Spencers. It's the small things in life...

Travel

Well departure was fun, a special thanks goes to the farewell committee and once I passed through into the secret part of the terminal I really felt like i was off on an adventure.




Sydney was grey and shrouded in mist and rain, a few bumps and then due to 'engineering difficuties' departure was delayed for three hours. Me and 150 others spent quite a bit of time wearing out the carpet in the departure lounge and admiring the aussie crap in the souvenier shops. Funny the snippets of conversation you hear, like the lady who was looking forward to getting her luggage off the 'caserole'.





Watched heaps of movies - Miss Potter, Kenny, Music and Lyrics and read. Very cool watching the flight thingee, bit hard to comprehend that the land mass and settlement you can vaguely see below you is Kabul, or Hamberg or Berlin.

The whole long haul flight thing is a bit strange. It's like you step into this alternative dimension and all that exists are the people on either side of you, the mum with the seven week old baby and the guy with the hairy ears.

But soon enough just as you get really sick of it, you realise the plane is in the holding pattern for Heathrow going round and round and then there is the leafy green of London and then all of a sudden you're through customs and sitting on the tube and its a very random weird feeling - all of a sudden I'm on the other side of the world and everything smells and sounds the same and I'm just another zombie on the tube.

Piccadilly line from Heathrow was fab actually, oh england. Terraced red brick houses, chimney stacks, back yards, allottments, old mans beard and foxgloves, litter, and then fresh air for the fist time in 35 hours, and then Victoria Station, a double decker bus and Amelia standing ready to meet me.

Another test...

Ok, so I'm still working a few things out... Eeek Two more sleeps to go. So little time, so many lists and so much technology....

Welcome to my blog...

Welcome to my blog...

Okay folks, I did it. I battled the technology and set up one of these icky blog thingees.

I thought about it and figured that it might be the easiest way to tell you about my trip and allow family and friends to track my progress and view any pickies I've taken along the way.

I don't want to be a slave to technology and stuck in email cafes for the whole of my trip but I would like to be able to share my adventure a wee bit and take you all along with me.

So here goes...