Saturday 31st January

We have so much to say...

It's been a busy week for us — well two weeks since our last update — with lots of excitement and aging. It was Hayley's birthday on Saturday, so after the early morning frenzy of present opening we decided to go on a birthday outing. After some discussion we settled on the Natural History Museum as possessing the right balance of thrills and education.

The building itself is rather spectacular and we spent quite a long time outside taking photos and looking at all the different gargoyles depicting members of the collection inside.

Our prime motivation for going was fulfilled almost immediately as the entrance hall is home to a rather large and imposing member of the Diplodocus family. Even though we've both seen many television programs, movies and books on the subject, we really were surprised by how big the fossilised skeleton actually was. Even if you discount the giant dinosaur, the entrance hall is an awe inspiring structure filled with church–like annexes and stained glass windows.

We started out touring the dinosaur exhibit which was just like an episode of Walking With Dinosaurs, only these dinosaurs were quieter and had less skin. Next we took a walk through Human Biology and learned all about where babies come from — yes, we had a fair idea already — this area had sections on learning, memory and perception with lots of interactive tests and puzzles — no, not in the reproduction section. After a break for lunch, we headed in to the Creepy Crawlies area. The highlight of this exhibit would have to be the leaf cutter ants. These little fellas are so exciting they even have their own website.

Before finishing our visit we stopped off at the main gift shop to see what goodies and postcards were available for our collection. We ended up buying a couple of postcards, a birthday lollipop for Hayley and a bar of Hans Sloane's original recipe drinking chocolate. I can attest that this is indeed a superior hot chocolate, yum.

Sunday we decided to take another trip into town, this time to visit Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge is the bridge everyone thinks of when you say London Bridge, when in fact London Bridge is rather dull and lacking in the pageantry present in its neighbour. There is a walkway above Tower Bridge that gives a wonderful view out accross the city. There are also a couple of short films about the construction of the bridge — complete with dodgy re-enactments — and a raft of billboards with photos, facts and trivia.

The London skyline is quite a diverse creature. As this picture shows, part of the skyline is dominated by a structure affectionately known by locals as the Gherkin. (Nick does seem to like this building a lot and we now have a store of photos of it should you ever need one). We spent a considerable amount of time looking at the view as it was the first time we had had time to study London from 'on high'.

The tour concludes in the basement — well I'm not sure bridges have basements but you know what I mean. This covers the steam powered engines that raised and lowered the bascules until 1976. The display includes a old grumpy talking mannequin with a pet cat. There were also several interactive displays — one of which involved one person winding a handle fast to lift the other person off the ground — Nick of course was the winder and Hayley the windee!

We concluded the day with a walk along the bank of the Thames past delicious looking restaurants and funky apartments and thought about living in the central city again. We came to the Design Museum and looked in the shop there and decided that it may well be worth a visit in the future.

Oh and did we mention — it snowed this week. There was enough snow for Hayley and I to have a snow ball fight on our way home together. In celebration of the snow I even gave one to Duncan as he opened the front door of our house to let us in. Sometimes I'm just so generous. It was very icy the next day and we very quickly learned the snow shuffle required for walking safely. Sadly the snow melted within a couple of days but walking through the falling snow was strangely magical even at the very busy railway station.

Posted by Nick & Hayley

Tuesday 13th January

Twas the week before Christmas...

I have been in bed for the last four days with what we shall euphemistically refer to as a stomach 'upset'. Consequently I have not been a lot of fun for anyone! However it does mean that I am well rested. I haven't had the chance to tell you about my pre–Christmas activities so I thought I would today since I am beginning to feel better and need something to entertain myself with.

On the Saturday after I finished work for Christmas I went on a trip to Tiverton in Devon to see Aunty Louise (who isn't a real Aunty in the familial sense of the word but Mum's best friend from her youth), her daughters Liz and Jenny and cat Ami. It was actually good timing as Jenny was home from university for her Christmas break. I hadn't seen Liz or Jenny since their last family holiday to New Zealand, quite some time ago — I think I was 9 or 10 and Jenny was just a toddler. Everyone has got taller since then! It was fantastic to see them again. Helpfully Ami didn't make me sneeze or my eyes water even when she hopped on my lap and made herself comfortable. She didn't bite or scratch like some people (read cats) we know and had long conversations with me in the mornings.

The trip did not start well — with District Line deciding that this was one of the days it would give up running altogether. Hence, I had to figure out a new and interesting way to Paddington — fortunately one of my colleagues had jokingly suggested an alternate route the day before and so I chose to take this as good advice.

The train trip itself was relatively uneventful — if a little long due to every station stop resulting in more delays. I was in the family carriage so got to see all the mummies and daddies and babies and toddlers going to grannies and grandpas for Christmas — which was fun as all the children were very excited. I got to go through Bath again and marvel at how beautiful it is and then discover that Bristol REALLY is very close to Bath like everyone told me!!

Aunty Louise managed to snaffle me a taxi driver who was just on his way from Tiverton Parkway and who could turn around and be back quickly, which was great. He was a very friendly taxi driver and the ride was fascinating because you go through all these cute little country lanes and past fields — not an experience you get very often in London! I also got called 'my love' a whole lot more in Devon than I do in London. Although people do seem to tack endearments on to sentences in a way completely foreign to most New Zealanders (except possibly little old ladies who probably hear 'dear' more than they would like).

Devon is very beautiful and like the rest of Britain very old. Aunty Louise works in a fifteenth (I think, I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) century building that is next to a tiny old church that is currently undergoing restoration. It will service the sheltered accommodation for the elderly that has been built behind it in old almshouses. The chapel has an intriguing feature — a leper's window that is covered in glass — so that sufferers could watch the service without infecting the other parishioners.

Aunty Louise and I went for a walk into Tiverton on Saturday afternoon and called at her gorgeous dairy (as in cheese not as in corner shop) where I salivated but did not eat and her independent health/organic store where I could buy things to eat! It is a very dinky little town — in a good way — like what you imagine small towns looking like. It has a population of around 17,500 and is a cool mix of old and new.

On Sunday, following a lie in, Aunty Louise and I went for a walk at Knightshayes, a Victorian mansion that overlooks the town and is now owned by the National Trust. The views are really impressive and you can imagine being a Victorian magnate and surveying your domain. The house itself is not open at this time of year but the stables have been converted into a plant centre, gift shop and restaurant. It was the last weekend they are open prior to closing until February for winter. It is set in amongst beautiful gardens/bush. The most recent addition is the re–creation of the walled kitchen garden along organic/traditional Victorian lines. The produce is used in the restaurant and is available to purchase from the plant centre. We had a cup of tea in the restaurant and then went for a wander in the garden behind the stables. We walked back down to Aunty Louise's and not five minutes after we walked in the door the heavens opened and the most torrential rain poured down. We had had beautiful sunshine for the entire time of our walk!

We had roast turkey for dinner — starting my Christmas turkey feasting early! And after dinner I got to see the photos of the latest New Zealand trip. It was good to see so many familiar faces. And I am jealous that Aunty Louise, Aunty Susie (a real familial aunty) and Grandma got to climb Kapiti — I would have loved to come too!

On Monday I went for a wander around Tiverton shops. They have many of the big chain stores but also some smaller local ones. Including one where I gave in to temptation and bought Nick a girl and boy gingerbread people Christmas decorations for the tree. (They are plastic not gluten–free gingerbread sadly). I met Aunty Louise for lunch and we went to a tea shop where they served Devonshire Teas with jam and clotted cream. It was exactly how you think an Olde English Tea Shoppe should look — roaring fire, genteel customers (and me) and pots of tea. I of course could not indulge in the house specialty and so instead had a divine baked potato — not at all like those you buy at the baked potato shops in the mall's food court. It was then unfortunately time to depart. It was lovely to have someone to give me mum–like hugs. The same driver who had picked me up from the Parkway drove my return cab. He asked me if I had had a nice weekend. 'It was fantastic' I replied and meant it.

Posted by Hayley

Thursday 8th January

Happy Birthday Graham

Our first week of work for the year has almost come to a close. I think I can claim without contradiction that we are very happy about this fact, but decidedly unhappy about the shortness of the coming weekend. Trains have been disrupted this week due to a crane falling over at clapham junction and squashing several of the tracks. In response to this situation rail services were reduced to a 50% service. This 50% involves half the trains stopping at half the stations, which really sounds more like a 25% service, but hey, I'm no mathematician. The reason I'm telling you all this is that it has meant Hayley's morning and evening commute have been taking considerably longer. Like an hour and a half in each direction. For those unfamiliar with the sensation, that's a whole lot of boredom.

Our big exciting news is that we are going to Barcelona early next month for Hayley's birthday. And because we can. We were horrified and amused to discover that it will cost us more to get to the airport than our airfares*. We will be there for four days and plan to visit the Picasso Museum and drink Sangria.

Happy Birthday Graham, we hope you got lots more nice toys. We also hope Toffee is getting used to the Dalek : )

* This isn't strictly true, but it almost is.

Posted by Nick