LAST NIGHT IN ENGLAND

Where's the time gone??? This is my last night in England. Tomorrow I start my long journey home.

The last few weeks have been fantastic, but I'm ready to get home to family, friends and Buddy of course. I've packed most of my luggage and am now worried how much excess baggage charges I'm going to have to pay. I'll face that problem tomorrow. Barry is driving me up to Newcastle along with Pat and young Bronte.

I know that I'll be saving so I can return here as soon as I can. I love this country. There's a line in a song or poem about Englánd - 'This green and pleasant land.' Before coming here I used to think - you must be joking. Now I know how true it really is. There's trees, plants and flowers everywhere they can be put - shop fronts, roundabouts, street verges, not just in city centres, but throughout the suburbs.

These photos are of York, one of the main roads in and one of the tourist streets - The Shambles. It's a beautiful city.

Pat and I had a great day shopping at the Metro - I spent too much money of course. These figures are in areas by the Hartlepool Railway station. This is just one of five different settings.

We've since scattered Dave's ashes at three sites - The sea wall, the family garden at the cemetary, and some with Jean's at her daughters home. She was known by them as 'Nana Duck' so they've developed an area for her in the back yard.

I'm glad he's finally home and I now also have another excuse to return to Hartlepool to visit his resting site.

Well, that's all for England. My next blog will be from home.

DOESN'T TIME FLY

Just another quick post today - no photos.
The weather has had an effect on our plans over the past few days. Pat and I went down to the seafront on Thursday evening to leave some of Dave's ashes there. On the way down we stopped at Asda for some flowers as well. I was really gobsmacked to find some yellow roses there, the same as those on Dave's coffin. We left some in the surf for him leaving the rest for his final resting place.
Friday morning came - it was wet and cold. We decided to leave scattering the rest of his ashes until Sunday so took Pat's grandchildren to an indoor playcentre for a while instead. I later started checking out the available mobile phones to upgrade mine.

Today we've been to the Metro Shopping Centre at Gateshead. I LOVE SHOPPING!!!! We're now relaxing waiting for our Chinese food to arrive.

Tomorrow and Monday will be devoted to Dave - tomorrow scattering his ashes and putting down a memorial plaque for him on Monday.

I'll update further with photos then. Love to all.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE???

Well it’s Wednesday. I really don’t know where the last few days have gone. Pat & I have been out and about every day - mostly around the tall ships. My plan to be able to blog daily has fallen to pieces I’m afraid.

The same has been with plans for my travelling companion Dougal (one of Sandra C’s large bear family.) Firstly, he ended up having to travel with Dave in my suitcase because of the USA strict regulations. Then we were constantly stressed about his safety in the crowds at the tall ships venues when he was taken out of my carrier bag so he's spent most of his time at home with Dave (and Bronte & Rimini). His photo highlight here so far has been when he joined Rimini for a cuppa at the Museum Mad Hatter’s Tea shop. He’s happy enough to stay indoors now though - he’s got a new girl bear friend to bring home to Mum.
The Tall Ships entertainment has been on-going and varied. There’ve been displays, side shows, music and parades. We’ve walked miles every day.




















We’ve even been on an evening boat trip up the coast and back, enjoying the changing look of the coastline as darkness descends– arriving just in time to watch an impressive 9 minute fireworks display. (I know how long it was because I filmed it while trying to stand still on a docking boat after having a few beers. I thought it would never end!!).




The sun came out nice and bright on the last day. Pat, Bronte and I spent some time at the Hartlepool Maritime Museum until it was time to watch the ships leave.

Sadly the final parade of ships along the shore we were all looking forward to had to be stopped because a massive downpour made it almost impossible to see anything either on shore or at sea.

I’ve also been able to catch up with some of Dave’s family which has been really great. We had a get-together on Saturday but stupidly didn’t get any photos.

In between spending time here, we’ve been to both Durham and York. They're very old with areas of narrow streets, beautiful old buildings and incredible cathedrals. There’s just nothing like these at home. When I read the list of bishops at Durham starting from 998AD the ‘newness’ of New Zealand’s history really stood out.














Tomorrow, as well as joining Eddie for lunch and a medical check-up for Pat, we’re going to do some shopping, sort out a memorial plaque for Dave and scatter some of his ashes on the sea front. On Friday, we’ll be scattering the rest with his family. Saturday we plan to spend at the massive shopping centre – the Metro near Newcastle. Yeah shopping !!!!!

Well, that’s all for now. I hope I’ve not bored you senseless. Love to all. Until my next report………..

GETTING UNDER WAY.

Today is the official start of the Tall Ships event and the weather hasn’t really come to the party. Showers are forecast to dampen the fun – but hopefully just a little. It's warm though - about 19C so the showers aren't any bother.

The past few days have gone fast. Pat & I visited the cemetery on Tuesday. The plot where Dave’s family ashes have been spread is in relatively good condition considering it was completely flooded over the winter months. We’ll be sorting out things from him next week. The walk there was lovely. We always get the impression that all of Englad is terraced houses, no parks, no gardens, but it's not like that at all. The photos below were taken on the way to the cemetary - we walked through this park. It's one of many here. The street photo is just to show what the newer (developed after the fifties) are like.

Wednesday was a busy day. It’s summer school holidays here. After dropping off Pat’s 7 year old granddaughter Bronte at Gym club, we took the bus over to a nearby town - Stockton. They have a market along the main street and we spent a couple of hours looking for bargains. New Zealand markets don’t compare. The photo I showed yesterday also didn’t do justice to the flower displays so this is just one box –

Large displays like this aren’t only in Stockton. There are similar boxes on some of the large roundabouts and streets of Hartlepool as well. It will be interesting to see if they’re also in other towns. It’s strange calling these areas ‘towns’. Both actually have a larger population than Palmerston North. The only difference between a town and a city here is that a city has a cathedral.

We returned to Hartlepool to pick up Bronte and then attended an 80th birthday party celebration for Jean’s (Dave’s recently deceased sister) husband Eddie. From there we all headed down to Seaton Carew village where we watched the opening of the Tall Ships celebration – the lighting of a beacon for the incoming ships. This took place at 9pm (just as it was getting dark) and they filled in the time with singers and Morris Dancers with incendiary torches. There was a really strong smell of petrol in the air making the actual lighting of the flame more exciting.

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. There were freight ships going in and out in the background to add to the entertainment. Young Bronte was engrossed with what was going on around her. She even handled the fact that we were to walk back along the sea wall to Hartlepool – some 6 miles – to avoid waiting approx. 1 hour for a bus. It was a really lovely evening with the view of the lights along the coast making it even better.

On Thursday, as well as getting Bronte to & from gym, Pat was looking after her other granddaughter, Rimini for the day. She’s a lively 4 year old who spent the day keeping us both on our toes. We walked over to the Marina area to check out the preparations for the ship arrivals. The race has been affected by low winds delaying most arrivals. One of the large ships was in and a couple smaller ones. The only problem was they were still getting things ready for the start of the festivities today, so we couldn’t get near the large one. Plenty of time though, most of these are due in later today, so we’re heading over to see the fun from here.

Well, that’s all for this edition folks - no more for a few days as the library isn’t open on the weekend. I hope everyone is keeping healthy, warm and dry. Take care……

JUST A QUICK COMMENT TODAY.

Well, it's Thursday. I don't know where the times gone.

I'm just leaving a quick message today. I'll do a full one tomorrow. Pat and I had great plans for the day, but time's disappeared and we have to collect her granddaughter from Gym.

So two guick photos only today. One of Hartelpools own 'tall ship'to give a quick idea just how large a few of them actually are and one of the floral arrangements in the centre of a nearby town of Stockton.

More tomorrow. Bye bye.

HARTLEPOOL !!!

It’s Tuesday – and the first day I’ve been able to access internet since being in LA. I had a good flight from there to London, but definitely suffered from lack of sleep – I got only about 2 hours’ worth the whole trip. I’d thought I would sleep easily on the last leg but got none whatsoever. Most of this flight was through stormy weather so if wasn’t the turbulence keeping me awake, it was seatbelt on/off warning signals. When we arrived in London our flight path took us right over the central area with Buckingham Palace, Big Ben etc. The view was fantastic – as clear as a bell, but I wasn’t allowed to take any photos because the plane was ‘landing’. Just my luck eh!

Plans of heading into London rather than hanging around Heathrow disappeared due to tiredness. I spent most of my free time making sure I stayed awake instead. Mind you, by the time I’d gone through customs, collected my bag and taken the express train from Terminal One to Terminal Five to catch my next flight I had only a couple of hours to fill in. I realised how tired I was when I saw the sign ’Harrods’ and couldn’t even be bothered to check it out. I found a coffee, a comfortable chair and filled in the time on my laptop. No internet though – my PC security system didn’t like the wireless network there and kept shutting my laptop down.

I was able to take a couple of photos of the crowds though.

This is just one area of one terminal (of five). I’ll leave it to you to consider how big the airport is.

Pat & Barry met me at Newcastle and by the time we got to Hartlepool I’d got my second wind, so enjoyed an evening of yakking with Pat. She’s taken a couple of weeks off work, so we spent yesterday just checking things out and relaxing.
Today would have been Dave’s Mam’s birthday so we’re off to the cemetery with flowers in her memory and I can start sorting things out for plaques etc for him. The Tall Ships event starts on Saturday and things are gearing up for it in the town. So far the most evident sign has been this -

-double yellow lines!!!
There will be no parking hardly anywhere in the shopping area and lots of roads will even be closed to everything except emergency vehicles. People who normally park on the road outside their homes have been told they have to park elsewhere – and pay for the privilege.

Apparently some of the stores, including their largest supermarket Asda (which is near the marina) will be shutting their doors for the duration because they think there will be hardly any customers able to get to them easily. Weird eh – they anticipate at least 200,000 visitors every day and they’re closing shops!!!

Well, that’s all for the day. Take care. More when I can get to the library next.

ON THE WAY NOW

Well, here I am in the transit lounge of LA airport. It's yesterday!!! LOL

I had a good flight from Auckland. We are well looked after. I hadn't even sat down and I was offered a bubbly. Good start eh.

I've had two meals so far. The food has been superb. Our evening meal was 4 courses. Wine was served with each course - luxury. We even finished off with NZ cheese and grapes served with port. Every thing was served using the 'real thing'as well - proper plates, wine in glass - not plastic, silver service cutlery etc etc.
Breakfast started out with a selection of fruit juices, followed by muesli and yoghurt, then a hot course and finishing with a hot croissant or muffin with tea or coffee (and a chocolate). I decided not stop at the muesli course. If I didn't I could see myself regaining all the weight I've just lost before I even got to Hartlepool.

They've just announced the are going to start reboardind in 15 minutes so I'll finish here. Hope everyone is well and that Buddy's not drivoing Mum up the wall already.

Take care everyone. I'll try to get photosloaded after the next leg.