Traveller

DINNER AT LANGKAWI

2010-09-12T04:21:00.001-07:00

We decided to have room service food for our last dinner. I had Nasi Goreng and Rose had French Onion Soup.

EVEN MORE PICS FROM LANGKAWI

2010-09-11T01:43:00.001-07:00

MORE PICS FROM LANGKAWI

2010-09-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! Isn't life tough? I guess someone has to do it.

LANGKAWI

2010-09-09T07:07:00.001-07:00

This is paradise, I reckon. Rose and I are enjoying our honeymoon here.

KUALA LUMPUR

2010-09-07T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is the view from out of our hotel window. Kuala Lumpur is fascinating. Loads of wide roads but too many cars so congestion (traffic jams). Wonderful monorail system above the road but maybe not enough. Seems to be loads of money around and loads of tourists.

CATHERINE'S PERFORMANCE

2010-08-29T14:14:00.001-07:00

We went to Swindon to see Catherine take part in The Wizard of Oz in the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon. It was an interesting production. All the parts were played by young people. The major parts like Dorothy were older teenagers but a lot of the people in the chorus were Catherine's age. There were loads of kids involved. It was very professional and a wonderful opportunity for kids to get involved with acting and performing on stage. Catherine was fantastic.

CASTLEDOWN SCHOOL

2010-08-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

I taught at Castledown School when we first came to England. The buildings are being replaced to the tune of 20 million pounds because they have decided to become an Academy.

TOYS'R'US

2010-08-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Aah, Toys'R'Us and the railway line at night from our apartment. What more could you want? I even got a train in this picture which turned out a blurry bunch of lights. (Please note that the R should be back to front)

The weather in this part of the country has turned to shit. I think the English are now quite happy because they can complain about the weather. It is a bit like when the football team fails to perform to expectations.

BARCELONA

2010-08-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

We went to Barcelona this weekend for three nights. Rose and I both thought it a wonderful city. We stayed at a hotel called Torre Catalunya which was right next to the main railway station which took us from the airport to the hotel. The different architectural splendours around the city amazed me. Antonio Gaudi produced two incredible buildings - La Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera - which I guess precipitated more architectural wonders since then. If you wish to see any more of our trip to Barcelona go to http://picasaweb.google.com/anyonandwalters/Barcelona#.

TAUPO

2010-08-16T00:41:00.001-07:00

This is not exactly what I am going back to but I used to live there and it reminds me of all that is wonderful about NZ.

TOTTENHAM

2010-08-14T12:16:00.001-07:00

On our way to see Tottenham Hotspurs play Manchester City in the first premiership game of the season.

Shaun wanted to get a Tottenham top of some description. Do we see him changing his allegiance?

This is a view of the corner of the South Side of the stadium. Three sides are fairly new and inside three of the stands (sides) look to have been improved at some stage.

We had tickets for the east stand which stated 'restricted view'. The outside view was older than the other three sides. The entrances were very narrow. We decided that larger punters would have trouble getting through. The restricted view was caused by a post supporting the roof. The other stands had no such posts.

Shaun at the hallowed ground.

The game was reasonably exciting even though it ended in a nil all draw. The best thing about the whole occasion though was the atmosphere. Shaun and I both enjoyed the chanting and the singing.

Final score.

The punters on their way home.

DERIVATION OF THE NAME WOKING

2010-08-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

Apparently, at least this is the best guess, Woking is named after the people of Wocc or Wocca. This Wocc/Wocca character is believed to be a chieftain or warlord in Saxon times (500/600 AD) and the people of Wocc/Wocca give rise to the name Wocchingas which developed to become Woking. Fascinating, eh.

THE CENTRIUM AND IT'S ENVIRONS

2010-08-05T03:32:00.000-07:00

The Centrium Building we live in is quite an imposing structure. I am attempting here to show what it is like around The Centrium. This picture shows the 'front door' which takes you into a foyer with a concierge who looks after the place.

This is our 'side door'.

This building is the Courthouse. We are well served with houses of law close by!

The following two pictures show the views/building across the road directly from our apartment and outside the middle door. This one is the view looking up Station Approach towards the police station.

This picture shows the vet clinic seen from our lounge window.

A view from outside of our flat. The flat is on the third floor and the end balcony can be seen in this shot with another one above it. Zucchinis Restaurant is directly below. As you can see we do not suffer from any lack of nearby restaurants.

A view from our end of the building showing also The Lotus Lounge and Charlie Choys. Check out the artwork.

Faith Recruitment and Evans Cycles buildings.

The railway lines from the balcony looking towards Guildford and the top of the Evans Cycles building.

The railway lines from the kitchen window.

THE SANDPITS

2010-08-02T07:25:00.001-07:00

I thought I had provided some information about H G Wells' use of the Woking landscape in his great SF novel 'The War of the Worlds'. I looked back through all the blogging I have produced so far and I found pictures of the structures installed in central Woking commemorating TWOTW and a brief caption but nothing else about TWOTW. If I have repeated myself I am sorry but I am sure I have not.

I decided to have a walk through Horsell Common and have a look again at 'The Sandpits'. I was out for an hour and three quarters and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to confess though to being a bit sore in the legs. I find the sandpits fascinating given that they/it are/is a long way from any sea. I thought the action of the sea turned stones into sand and that sea would be necessary to produce sand. I did live next to Lake Taupo and there is sand around the lake which is probably caused by the movement of the water (not tidal though). Maybe there was a lake in Horsell Common at some stage, but how come the sand has stayed? It is just one of the things in life I will have to accept.

Woking has some outdoor 'pleasures'. The Horsell Common, which is full of mostly some sort of pine trees I think. I always thought a common was supposed to be a grassy space in the middle of a village or town where cricket was played but it seems I was wrong! Also, the canal with the towpath which is quite extensive. There are also a number of outlying villages and countryside which are great to explore. So anyone who wishes to bag Woking needs to speak to me first!

NEW ZEALAND HOUSE

2010-07-30T00:20:00.001-07:00

We found out about a function held at NZ house and we bought tickets. The building is on Haymarket which is very near Piccadilly Circus. The function was held on the 18th floor which is at the very top of the building and has the most fabulous views of central London.

POLESDON LACEY

2010-07-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

We went to Polesdon Lacey on the weekend. Like Clandon House, a similar place in Surrey which we went to several months ago, this is a magnificent landscape with amazing gardens and a large house. The house is huge and a bit imposing from the outside. Inside, the house is beautifully decorated in the 1920's/1930's style. The owner (Mrs Grenville) at the time had loads of money which came mostly from her father who was a rich brewer and her husband had come from aristocracy and had been an MP.

MIKE AND ME JAMMING

2010-07-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

My friend from Wainui, now from Qatar although his job has finished there, came to stay for the weekend. He brought his mandolin with him and we made the opportunity to play some songs together. It was fantastic.

ANOTHER AMAZING VILLAGE IN ENGLAND

2010-07-10T08:53:00.001-07:00

We stopped at Shere and walked around the village after lunch at The Queen's Head in East Clandon.

BRITISH CULTURE?

2010-07-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

I just loved this bit of information I discovered in the newspaper. Unfortunately it was in the Daily Mail which might not be quite so reliable. I read it because it is easy to read and I like to get through the whole paper sometimes. I usually read The Times but I often do not finish it.

The article was about Clegg's plan to get the public to tell him which laws to repeal. Apparently the government website crashed soon after the Deputy Prime Minister made the announcement. Large amounts of suggestions (many outlandish) were posted.

The best of them, I thought was desire for the ban on marrying horses to be lifted. The writer said: 'I have been going out with a horse for seven - very happy - years now. Why oh why can we not marry - or at least civilly partner like the gays can?' The mind boggles.

BACK TO NZ

2010-07-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

We are going home! It feels good. We are keen to leave because it is time to. We have certainly enjoyed our stay here. We would not have been here for so long if we had not been happy to be in this country.

POOR OLD ENGLAND

2010-06-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

I am afraid the German team were better. The disallowed goal at 2-1 might have made a difference.

WOKING CYCLE RACE

2010-06-24T10:48:00.001-07:00

The Woking Cycle Race is taking place for the second year. There is a kettle drum band playing outside our window and lots of people lining the road below and lots of noise coming from the start line which is about 50 - 100 metres from us. We absolutely loved it last year and we are going to enjoy it again. I have finished watching NZ draw (once again) with Paraguay. How awesome are they?

NZ V ITALY

2010-06-21T04:15:00.000-07:00

NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALL

2010-06-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Smeltz feeling 'brilliant' after goal
Go NZ!

POOR OLD ENGLAND

2010-06-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

What can they do? I am very sorry because I support England if NZ is not involved. Lets hope they can win against Slovenia on Wednesday.

WORLD CUP VICTORY

2010-06-18T02:28:00.000-07:00

We won against Slovakia 1-1. We are due to play Italy on Sunday. Now that Germany has just lost as well as France and Spain, we are on track for at least the second round.

NZ IN THE WORLD CUP

2010-06-18T02:18:00.000-07:00

PATRIOTISM/JINGOISM

2010-06-01T11:06:00.001-07:00

We have seen cars with England flags attached all over the place in Woking and we assume it is happening all over the country. The Football World Cup has precipitated this occurrence. We decided we would get some flags and put them up in the apartment to celebrate NZ's involvement in the World Cup.

ENGLAND FLAG WIG

2010-05-26T11:10:00.001-07:00

I came second in our school in the fantasy football competition and won this wig.

PARTY AT PENNY'S

2010-05-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

We went to Andover on Saturday to attend Penny's fiftieth party. It was fun. The pictures show Penny's political leaning. She is fanatically Conservative. She had pictures of John Major and Maggie Thatcher with which I am photographed. The guests were an eclectic bunch and were interesting to talk to.

ASHES TO ASHES

2010-05-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

Gene Hunt said to a Dutchman, 'I'm arresting you for killing my Quattro, you dyke-digging tosspot'.

WOKING WEATHER

2010-05-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

I do not know that I should be blogging about the weather but it has been an incredible spring day today. The temperature has reached 27 degrees Centigrade according to the thermometer. It is supposed to be like this tomorrow as well. Fantastic.

WOKING SUNSET

2010-05-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is the view at about 8pm on a spring evening from our deck (although we do not how to pronounce deck apparently). Shame about the roof.

CRICKET IN CLAPHAM

2010-05-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

I went to Clapham Common to watch Shaun and his team play cricket. It is fairly social stuff. They drink from cans of beer when fielding. The teams are 8-a-side and they play for twenty overs each innings. It is clearly a lot of fun.

When we arrived, there was a team of Aussies playing the game before. Shaun and his mate Alban knew these guys because they had played against them before. Interestingly enough, Shaun played a team of South Africans. So it was an Antipodean gathering. Unfortunately for Shaun and his team, the South African team they played were far superior. They scored 213 and Shaun's team scored 99.

It was difficult conditions to play in. The ground was wet and players, who mostly had sneakers not cricket boots with sprigs, slipped over from time to time. It was also showery (fortunately not all the time) and it got quite cold so it was a little unpleasant to stand and watch for several hours. I did enjoy it though. The banter was great. We went for a beer to a pub called The Alexandra and watched NZ play Pakistan at Twenty20 cricket.

YATELY MAY FAYRE

2010-05-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

I said at work that I would like to see Morris Dancing. It actually has been an interest of mine since I have been here. I do not quite know why. I guess because it is weird English culture. One of my colleagues told me I should join him at the Yately Fair (actually it is spelt F-A-Y-R-E) on Bank Holiday Monday.

The fair was amazing because it had lots of stalls with all sorts of organisations represented. There was also a fascinating event entitled Cyril the Squirrel Terrier Racing. It was actually terriers racing and chasing a 'mechanical' squirrel. I do not know what Cyril referred to. It was quite amusing. We saw two British champion racing terriers which amazed us.

The Morris Dancing was 'different'. The dancers take it quite seriously which I guess you would have to. It is a bit like the folk dancing I did when I was at school. The costumes they wear you have to say is rather poncy. We spoke to a guy from the group about it who gave us the group's programme for the next eight months or so. It was a full list of events for the Yately Morris Dancers. We were very pleased to see it happen and they were very successful as far as the crowd was concerned.

BROOKLANDS MUSEUM

2010-04-25T12:15:00.001-07:00

Shaun and I went to visit Brooklands Museum and Rose shopped at the big Marks and Spencers nearby. I have driven past the sign to the museum many times and it is reasonably close to home. It is a very important place in terms of British motor vehicle and aviation history. The original owner built an amazing race track there in 1906. Aeroplanes were built there including the Concord and warplanes. The dambusters bomb was developed at Brooklands. The land speed record cars such as the Bluebirds were built there.

ENGLISH SPRING AGAIN

2010-04-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

The above picture is rape. I reckon it is a great name for a plant. Spring has come to UK again. We have had a week of sunshine and warmth. Who says the climate here is crap?

PARLIAMENT

2010-04-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

I watched the BBC news tonight and a reporter talked about something the government did while standing in front of the British Parliament Buildings. The image behind is amazing. It is actually a palace - Westminster Palace. Where in the world would a reporter stand in front of a building like that to report on politics? I did not bother much with what he said about the ministers of the realm, I tended to focus on the building.

The image above is looking across The Thames. The reporter was on Parliament Square, in front of a different view of the building. This is what makes UK great for us - the architecture. There are great buildings to see all over the country and particularly in London. We have such great access to London from Woking. NZ does not have any buildings like this.

A COUPLE OF VERY GOOD QUOTES

2010-04-02T15:24:00.001-07:00

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

WORK EFFICIENTLY DURING OFFICE HOURS AND LEAVE ON TIME. GIVE THE REQUIRED TIME TO FAMILY, FRIENDS & HAVE PROPER REST.”

Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)

"If you come in here dressed like a Maths teacher," he tells another cop, "I will paint your balls the colour of hazelnuts and inform a bag of squirrels that winter is coming."

Gene Hunt (‘Ashes to Ashes’)

ROYAL MAIL

2010-04-01T02:54:00.000-07:00

First day of the Easter holiday break and I left the Centrium to get a haircut and some breakfast. The sun is shining which is welcome relief from the lousy weather we have had for the last week or two. It is bitterly cold though. Much snow up north and in Wales and Northern Ireland but not Southern England.

Enough of the weather! I was moved to type this today because I saw a gang of Royal Mail posties on pushbikes going off to deliver the mail. It was not really a gang just three of them but my twisted sense of humour caused me to see a potential gang. It was an occasion where I wished I had the camera with me because a picture would have made better copy than text. But never mind, I am going to post this anyway!

LONDON ZOO

2010-03-13T14:22:00.001-08:00

We went to London Zoo. We saw porcupines (including an albino one), pygmy hippopotomuses, meerkats, kune kune pigs, pink pelicans, gorillas, camels, butterflies, giant anteaters, a skunk, penguins and a whole heap of other animals. We saw a monkey female picking nits off her bloke while the kids played around them which was amusing.

LAST HOLIDAY BLOG

2010-02-19T10:33:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday, we went out and about in Newquay. The weather was glorious in the morning and we discovered how beautiful the town is. I went for a walk and checked out the area and went back and told Rose. We went together and checked out the port and visited the shopping centre. We were able to walk back to the hotel by way of the port. A very nice stroll. During the afternoon we walked around the headland which was quite impressive with views across the Atlantic Ocean.

On Thursday, we decided to travel via the M5 and the M4. It took us seven hours and we had to travel through blizzard conditions around Bristol.

FURTHER HOLIDAY NEWS

2010-02-19T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Headland Hotel was next to a great beach which was obviously a popular surfing spot. Even in winter, there were people surfing. I would imagine, in summer, it would be heaving.

On Tuesday, we drove north along the coast. We passed through some great coastal villages on a road which was hilly and windy. Reminded us of some NZ roads. The villages had names like Trenance, Treburrick, Trevorrick, Trevose and Trevone. There are places all around this area with names starting with 'Tre'. We ended up, fortuitously, at a fishing village called Padstowe, which was quite popular with tourists. We could tell, because there was a whole lot there with us looking around.

Padstowe had a busy working port and a shop on the wharf called Rick Stein's Deli. There were lots of quirky, little, boutique shops (probably two of those words are redundant because boutique may mean quirky and little). The carpark was weird because the bays were too small and the lanes were small so that it was too difficult to manoeuvre into the parks. I found one which was in such a position that it was possible to get into it but the neighbouring cars were so close it was difficult to get out of the car. Anyway, a great day out which we finished when the rain got too heavy.

NEWQUAY

2010-02-18T12:27:00.001-08:00

Rose and I traveled to Newquay in Cornwall on Monday. The best way to go is along the A303. Unfortunately the A303 was closed towards the eastern end. We got a fair way along before we had to divert and we changed to the A30 which seemed the perfect option because it is the road we had to take across Cornwall at the end of the the journey. I think we found out the reason people take the A303. We turned off the A303 at a place called West Knoyle. That turns out to be about half of the road left to travel unless you go back onto it, of course, which we decided not to do. The problem is, the road is narrow in many places, and passes through some towns or villages which have traffic lights and cars parked along the roadsides. Stour (West and East) and Henstridge were notable problem areas which made our journey much longer. To cut a long story short, it took us between seven and eight hours to reach Newquay. The only real highlight was a stop for dinner at a wonderful pub (The Eliot Arms) in a little village near Launceston called Tregadillet. At around 8pm we arrived at The Headland Hotel, pictured above, in Newquay.

INKPEN

2010-02-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

What a great name for a village. Inkpen! We went to Swindon to see Wendy, Faz and Catherine and decided to drive back through Wiltshire countryside on the way home rather than the M4. We drove through Inkpen and encountered a pub called The Swan Inn. We decided we needed a drink and a pee. Well what a surreal experience!

We walked in the door and a country gentleman who appeared to be a real yokel stood by the fire and said that they were closed. He quickly changed his mind and said we can get a drink. There was one other couple there with a toddler and the woman who was clearly not on the staff served us. The older guy carried on a conversation with us and the younger couple which was great but (as I said before) surreal.

Another two families turned up and got drinks. They appeared to be local people.

Rose and I wanted to stay there and listen to the conversations but it was 4 o'clock and we were still an hour or so from home. It was a great experience. Just what living in this country is all about.

ANOTHER LOT OF SNOW

2010-01-13T03:47:00.000-08:00

For two weeks in a row, the snow has come down the night before Wednesday and caused schools to be closed. The first picture is the Centrium building with trees and shrubs covered with snow. The second shot is the view down Station Approach which has the railway station at the top.

SNOW CONTINUES

2010-01-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

We have another day off school tomorrow. It has been snowing all day and I think it will all be ice tomorrow.

SNOW AGAIN

2010-01-06T02:31:00.001-08:00

This time it has snowed in January. Last year it did not happen until February. I think it has snowed all night and it is currently snowing during the day. School is closed. We will get out later and take some more photos.

SUNDAY DRIVING ON BOXING DAY

2009-12-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

We went southeast. We got on the A25 which took us past Dorking and we ended up in Newdigate, a typical English village. We passed a road called Hogspudding Lane which tickled our fancy. We found a pub, called the Surrey Oak. It was a great example of an English pub - exposed beams which you can bash your heads against because they are so low. It had a great atmosphere - very friendly. I think all the locals had turned up there on Boxing Day.

From there, we went on to Pease Pottage. Now I have no idea why I know the poem '' Pease pottage hot, Pease pottage cold, Pease pottage in the pot, Nine days old'', but I do and the connection with the village ..... who knows.

CINDERELLA THE PANTOMIME

2009-12-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

Catherine came for the day to Woking and we both went to see a pantomime version of Cinderella at the New Victoria Theatre. The main actors were Michael Aspel, a woman who has performed in Gavin and Stacey as Cinderella and Prince Charming a guy from S Club 7 and Les Miserable.

It was great fun, very interactive with lots of random well-known songs like Ghost Busters and lots of refences to Woking and its environs. I am sure Catherine enjoyed it also.

CHRISTMAS AT TOMLINSCOTE

2009-12-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

I went to a carol service at Tomlinscote School last night. There were seven carols sung by all the audience and a number of songs sung by, and played by, students from the school. There were also readings by three students and four teachers, including me, who performed one reading. Mine was a poem called 'Old Sam's Christmas Pudding' which used to be read by an actor called Stanley Holloway. Never mind the poem or the actor, the experience was great. I guess it was all to do with why I am living here - to experience the culture. It is very much English/British culture. I am sure though that it is NZ culture also but it is different over here. Why/how I do not know. Maybe because it is winter and it has just snowed.

AUTUMNAL WEATHER

2009-11-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that England has some beautiful scenes during autumn. All the deciduous trees have leaves which turn brown, yellow or red during autumn. NZ has mostly deciduous trees so you do not get the amazing colours. I was on the fourth floor of the C block at school the other afternoon and I discovered I could look over the top of all the trees in Frimley. I did not realise how many there were. On a clear night it is a fantastic view.

NZ SPORT

2009-11-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

What about NZ sport at present! My country is awesome! We continually punch above our weight.

NZ v France at rugby league - a record score - NZ won 62-12.

Wellington Lions v Southland Stags - Wellington in the finals of the Air NZ Cup provincial rugby competition.

All Blacks v Wallabies - the first clean sweep of the Aussie rugby team since 1972. To be fair, the Australian rugby team has been decimated by injuries. The ABs were awesome - lets not ignore that fact. The lineouts worked - still a lot of errors.

NZ v Bahrain at soccer - we only need to beat Bahrain 14 November (Saturday week) - go the kiwis.

I love NZ. I must go back soon.

FANTASTIC MR FOX

2009-10-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I just went to see this movie. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The theatre was not full by any any means and there seemed to be a lot of grandparents with their grandchildren. I am not sure the kids would have got it and the grandparents were very quiet throughout. Shaun and I laughed a lot at the many verbal gags and loved the bright visual nature of the film. Overall I would give it a Very Good.

HALLOWEEN

2009-10-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

I have bought into halloween this year. No, I do not have any time for trick or treat.
I decided to carve my own jack o' lantern. I did a bit of research through Google and Wikipedia which are the modern day version of encyclopedia. It was not difficult to find a carving pumpkin because there are plenty in the shops around here. The picture below, taken in the dark, shows the result of my efforts. I spent a bit of time making templates for the mouth and eyes and nose and I believe it paid off. I think it is pretty amazing.
You probably think I have too much time on my hands and you would be sort of correct. I have just got to the end of the half-term.

ICC CRICKET FINAL

2009-10-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the Australians beat us. We had to do without Vettori who got a hamstring injury in the semi-final. We have had to do without Jessie Ryder, Jacob Oram and Darryl Tuffey as well. Am I bitter? Hell yes. The commentators raved on about how good the Australians were and then they raved on about how hard done the English team was without Kevin Peterson.

CRICKET

2009-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have just watched NZ play Pakistan in the ICC (cricket) competion (in South Africa) final. NZ won pitting them against Australia in the final.

EMAIL WORRIES

2009-09-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

We have major eamil worries! Our email account has been stolen from us. I know it sounds crazy but we cannot log in to our email account any more. I guess we have not handled it very well but I did not know what to do. We have been getting a lot of scam emails which have offered us untold wealth in return for giving them all our details. I did not respond to any of them but I read them from time to time because they were quite funny, actually.

On Saturday I discovered someone was using the email account to send out scam emails like the ones we were receiving. On Sunday our password had been changed and we could not access our account. I tried to get in touch with Yahoo thinking that they would be keen to help and do something about it. I could not get a phone number to ring and the website did not provide any email addresses. By Monday we had found a phone number for a London address. I was told they could not deal with it. Instead I was told to ring 'Customer Care Services'. They seemed to 'care' very little.

Eventually (after about a week) I rang the only number which responded with a human voice and I achieved success. The number was in the USA! I got my email back!

SPOTTED DICK

2009-09-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Don't you love the English. I do not believe it is a British thing although I do not live in Wales, Scotland or Ireland so maybe I should not comment. What have they done (the English), you probably are asking. A council in Flintshire County, which I believe to be just a little south of Liverpool, have banned Spotted Dick from the canteen in the council building. Apparently you can ask for Spotted Richard and still get the dessert. How wonderful is that! From the country that has given us Morris Dancing and Chase the Rolling Cheese Down the Hill Competition, I think Spotted Dick just adds to the simplistic charm of the English culture. I am sure the other British people would gladly distance themselves from the gaeties mentioned above.

WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!

2009-08-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Rose and I are off to NZ on Friday. The trip takes three days to get there and one day to get back. How weird (i before e except after c???) is that. The trip actually takes, in real time, about 25 hours. We are getting married on 22 August.

I HAVE HAD A BREAK FROM BLOGGING

2009-07-26T09:04:00.001-07:00

Blow me down, it has been more than a month. We have been without our laptop for about three weeks which has affected my output somewhat. But never mind, I have plenty to write about.

We have had some bad luck. The computer, just mentioned, lost it picture on the screen. The screen just went blank and was apparently the problem. It needed replacing. The company which did the repair work took ages to get it back to us. Our car failed it's MOT and the MOT and DVLA tax certificate had both expired (some time ago I am embarassed to say) so we cannot get them replaced until the repair work is done. Unfortunately the cost is not cheap. We are not finding it easy financially to live in this country.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) there is a lot to do at the moment and we are busy with wedding preparations. Rose is having to do a lot of extra stuff dealing with swine flu. I am a lad of leisure currently because the summer school holidays have started. Talking about the wedding we are off on Aug 7 to fly to NZ and we get married Aug 22 at the Duxton.

We had a great night out last Friday. Rose's work arranged a surprise party to celebrate our impending nuptials. She was told one of the doctor's and the doctor's husband were to pick us up to go out for a drink. I had been rung and told we were going to a restaurant but neither of us were prepared to see twenty plus of her workmates seated waiting for us. They had planned this for weeks it seems. There was a flashing tiara and a flashing sash for Rose to wear but sadly neither for me. It was a great night of fun and frivolity and you can see the pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/anyonandwalters/.

SWINDON

2009-06-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Shaun and Dave and I went to Swindon last weekend. Faz plays in a Led Zeppelin tribute band called Unzepped. We went to the pub they were playing at to see them. It was within walking distance from Wendy's house. Faz's band played two songs (that we heard -we were a bit late) and they were the support act and they were very good. After that was a Jimi Hendrix Experience tribute band. They were so good I stood there with my mouth wide open during the first song. I could not believe how good they were. Actually the Jimi Hendrix impersonator was superb on his own. He could play amazing guitar and he sounded like Hendrix and he looked like him also. Apparently he talked with a Brummie accent.

WOKING SUNSET

2009-05-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

I have just recently been hearing about Waterloo Sunset reputed to be the best British pop song ever. Ray Davies was on The One Show last night and Adrian Chiles was going on about the beauty of one of The Kinks most well known songs. It is well known to me and well loved by me. I have seen better tonight - a Woking Sunset. I walked out to get a take-away just before and walked along marvelling at the sky. I wanted to take a picture and realised Shaun had taken my camera to Twickenham. I reckon a picture should be here but unfortunately it does not seem possible. Who would have thought it could be so beautiful here. Many Brits do not think this country is any good.

PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR

2009-05-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

Portsmouth Harbour is fantastic. Everybody in this country, and all the people who visit this country, need to see the naval history which is presented at Portsmouth Harbour. HMS Victory, the ship which Lord Nelson sailed to defeat Napoleon's navy at the battle of Trafalgar, is quite the most wonderful historic presentation I have seen so far. On the waterfront there are two other historic boats to see and then a trip around the harbour shows 'some of the might of the current British navy'. I guess the rest must be out to sea. It is fascinating to discover the heart of the Royal Navy.

MUSEUMS

2009-05-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

During the half-term on Thursday, I went with Shaun and Dave to the two museums next door to each other - The Science Museum and The Natural History Museum. We ended up with very sore legs and were very tired at the end of the day but what an experience. The Science Museum had a Mathematics History section which I simply adored and we spent most of the time at The Natural History Museum going through the Dinosaur section.

TWICKENHAM SEVENS

2009-05-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Rose and I and Chris went with Shaun and Dave and a whole lot of their mates to the Sevens at Twickenham in London. As you can see from the picture, Rose and I were serious about the rugby but Shaun was there to enjoy himself. We just went on the Sunday for the semis and the finals. It was a great day. Just a shame NZ lost to England in the final but what a great game.

ROSE'S BIRTHDAY

2009-05-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

For Rose's fiftieth birthday, we had a party at The Inn at Maybury and back at The Centrium afterwards. It was a great hooley! we had a lot of fun.

SATURDAY IN DOHA

2009-02-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

Out of Doha, there is a camel racing track. Apparently, gambling is illegal but they have some sort of prizes available for the punters. We drove out to the camel track. It was amazing. We were lucky to see the riders/trainers with the camels out on the track. We got to see the robots they are using to replace the children who they have used in the past as camel jockeys. Rose had an absolute ball. She was so excited to see these camels.

The shopping complexes are similar to those in the UK and NZ - there is just a grander scale to them. We visited one in the city centre which impressed us with the magnitude. Included amongst the shops is a hypermarket (the next level up from a supermarket) which sells groceries and electrical equipment and other things also.

The desert sand dunes were a draw for us. Mike and Lois have been out there before. We took a picnic with us and drove to some dunes which turned out to be a rather popular place. There were loads of tents and four-wheel drive vehicles. We drove through a town called El Wakrah to a place called Messaieed, at which, it turned out, were several (LPG) gas fields. It was an interesting place and we had a lot of fun picnicking and frolicking on the dunes.

We finished an amazing, busy day with a visit to the Diplomatic Club before we went to the airport to fly back to England.

DIPLOMATIC CLUB IN DOHA

2009-02-27T12:59:00.001-08:00

This is the club that Mike and Lois go to. We spent three or four hours on Friday there. It was great. We sat by the pool and soaked up the sun and we had the occasional dip.

In the evening, we went to the Ritz-Carlton for afternoon tea. It is one of the swanky hotels they have built recently in Doha.

Dinner was at Sara's Restaurant which is Pakistani.

QATAR ONCE AGAIN

2009-02-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we went to see The Pearl. They have reclaimed land in the shape shown. We drove there and parked and a golf cart transported us to the shops. The picture is of a billboard showing the island and advertising a European-style environment.

It is very expensive and clearly geared towards the rich. There are shops in the shopping centre like Giorgio Amani.

MORE QATAR

2009-02-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, Rose and I went for a walk around the area surrounding the apartment. It was an interesting part of the city. The roads were not very well sealed. There were no footpaths. There was a mixture of apartments (some nice, most not) and small rough looking shops. In the street which had the most shops there were many Asian men just hanging around.

Midday or thereabouts, I went to Mike's school and Rose went to Lois's school. A picture of the school Mike works at is attached. The place was fascinating. The whole community looked a bit like a battle field. There was rubble and dirt and stones all over the place. Houses (in various stages of completion) were dotted around the place but it was clearly intended to be a wealthy area when completed. The school was brand new and had all the mod cons. Department workrooms were a suitable size for the number of people. The buildings were fantasic but when you look deeper you discover they just do not have the resources to make it work successfully.

A Morroccan resaurant at The Grand Regency Hotel provided our dinner and entertainment for the evening. The food was great but I had a dip with some bread provided as the starter which had so much chili that I almost died. The entertainment consisted of an ouzi player (I am not sure if that is the spelling) and a drummer. Great entertainment!

QATAR

2009-02-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Mike and Lois said we should visit them in Doha, Qatar. We decided to take the plunge and visit a Middle Eastern country. The culture is well worth experiencing. The flight there left at 7.55am which was a bit awkward because the Heathrow bus does not leave early enough so we got a taxi. We arrived in Doha at 5.35pm Qatar time which is 3 hours ahead of UK time.

A visit to a souq (market) was the first thing we encountered after being picked up from the airport. We had a crepe which was cooked in front of us and ate at a nice restaurant after that. We went back to Mike and Lois' apartment which was great.

ENGLAND RULES, OK!

2009-01-27T14:41:00.000-08:00

This article, from Yahoo News, just highlights one of the wonderful things about this country. The chavs are an actual social class, it would seem. Check it out:

Directors of a travel company that sent customers an email promising chav-free holidays have defended the move.

The email, sent out by Activities Abroad, included a list of names travellers were likely to encounter on one of their holidays and another list they would be less likely to meet.
Among the unlikely names were Britney, Kylie-Lianne, Dazza and Shannon. The likely names included John, Sarah, James and Alice.
The email, headed "Chav Free Activity Holidays", was signed off "Nuff said, innit? The Activities Abroad Team".
Company director Barry Nolan said: "It was a tongue-in-cheek email sent out to just over 24,000 people and less than 0.1%, 18 people, have replied via email saying they were disappointed with it."
Mr Nolan, who said many of his friends called him Bazza, said the email should be put into perspective.
He added: "At least one name was made up. If you find a Kylie-Lianne living in the UK, good luck."
One blogger, writing at adifferentvoice.wordpress.com, said they would not use the company again after receiving the email.
They wrote: "If I ever had any doubts (which I haven't) about banning the C-- word in our house, I need look no further. Don't ever let anybody tell you that class is not a live issue in Britain."
Writing in the blog's comments sections, Activities Abroad director Alistair McLean apologised for any offence caused by the email.

WALL HANGING

2009-01-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

Our great friend , Wendy Mohan, made us a wall hanging. It has NZ flowers on it - kowhai, clematis, pohutakawa. It is fantastic and Rose and I love it. In fact Rose is rather overcome by it really.

LUNCH DRIVE ON SATURDAY

2009-01-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

Today, we got up early rather than sleeping the morning away. We had completed many of our days requirements so I said we should go out for lunch. I was heading South and Rose suggested we go the other way. So we headed North in a bit of a round about way.

Spotted a restaurant in Chertsey called The Boathouse. It was not a pub but a modern restaurant attached to a hotel. It turned out to be on The Thames. We had no idea The Thames went through

Chertsey. The food was good, not fantastic, but perfectly acceptable. We particularly enjoyed the view from the window table we sat at. We will go back there for a Saturday or Sunday lunch.

Drove away from the restaurant alongside The Thames which was a delightful road and ended up in Laleham which looked to be a very nice area to live in.

All in all, a good day out.

TRAVEL IN RURAL SURREY

2009-01-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

Surrey does not do a lot of rural. We can find lots of what the Brits probably call villages and towns but they can be close together. Admittedly there is a fair amount of farm land and woodland. It is just that is not like Hampshire and Wiltshire which we were used to.

We found a lot of lovely residential areas with tree lined streets and big houses. We travelled through Ash, Tongham, The Bourne and ended up in Churt. We stopped for a drink at a little pub of which I did not catch the name. It was fairly small and Rose and I had difficulty conversing because we were fascinated by the conversation of the family sitting next to us. We did not want to look as though we were observing them but it was a problem not to.

On the way home, we went through Aldershot. At other times we have got caught in English towns and have struggled to get out. I usually now try to avoid large towns but I failed to avoid this one. Towns and cities in England, unfortunately, do not seem to have any pattern to their streets. I find it is generally impossible to work out how to get out of the place if that is what I want to do when I do not know the town or city. The roads are all over the place and the signs are often crap. We ended up in Aldershot where I have never been before (I do not think a second visit will help) and got to a stage where we started looking for Other Routes signs. After a while we lost those too. It was very frustrating!

We have done this often on the weekend. Just got in the car and driven in a direction of mine or Rose's choosing without any arranged destination. We have seen a lot of great sights this way. Tiny villages which we love. Thatched cottages. Pubs, pubs, pubs. Lovely communities. Oh, by the way, today we ran across The Hog Back Brewery.

PRIVATIONS

2009-01-14T11:55:00.000-08:00

Don't you love that word? What do we miss living in England?

We finally found some (of what we thought was) proper corned beef. Whenever I ask people about corned beef here they have no idea what we are on about. Corned beef in England is mushy stuff they have in tins which is a bit like spam - another product unknown to us. You do find canned corned beef in cans in NZ and it was a product often used in Samoa when I lived there as a kid. Anyway, we found a piece of corned beef at Morrisons which we were very surprised to discover. We quickly purchased it and brought it home rather excitedly. We cooked it in the slow cooker which does a good job with the likes of lamb shanks. The corned beef ended up a brown chunk of meat which would not cut cleanly. We were not impressed. We are used to red meat which has a silver tinge and stays fairly solid after cooking. In NZ, it cuts cleanly in thick or thin strips. The piece we just had was rubbish quite frankly. Rose had made a lovely mustard sauce which was the only thing which provided some taste we could enjoy. Even the carrots and potatoes cooked with the meat were crap.

Other things we miss? NZ marmite. Actually we have some that Rachel got for us. It is better than the England version. Jandals. The English call them flip flops - what a silly name (the Aussies call them thongs which is even sillier because thongs are underwear). Chippies. They have the same product but they call them crisps. A sensible network of roads which are wide enough for two cars. More rugby on tv than football. Soccer rather than football. Flat land. There are no hills in Southern England. I am not sure how much I liked the fact that NZ is so hilly. I am just sure that I do. Why? I say why not, because I love the country.

To be fair though there are a lot of things we like about England/UK. I like the football and so does Rose. We have both taken on our favourite teams which you have to do here. I am a little bit concerned about admitting to our preferences in print though. I am getting used to the Rugby Premier League and the Heineken Cup and the Six Nations but it has taken some time. English Villages. The English countryside. We travel a lot particularly in the weekends because it is easy to find delightful parts of the country and there are so many different places to see. London. A fabulous place. So many interesting nooks and crannies.

Like all countries there are many contrasting things about England which makes it interesting. We continue to live here which says something.

BELGIUM

2009-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

We travelled to Brussels on Monday 29th December. We had to get up at 4am so we could catch the bus to Heathrow which was supposed to leave at 5.20am. The trouble is it did not turn up! Someone else was waiting for the bus also so we shared a taxi to the airport. The flight left at 8.30am on time! We got to Brussels about midday and we were able to check into the hotel straight away. The hotel was great. It was right next to the European parliament.

We went for a walk from the hotel after we first arrived there. We went through the African section. It was full of grafitti, untidy and decaying not just in the African section but in the surrounding areas also. The area just appeared to be let go and needed some money spent on it. We discovered as our stay continued that Brussels was a city of contrasts. There are pretty rough-looking areas and some very beautiful-looking areas. It is also meant to be bilingual. Street signs were all written in French and Dutch. For example, Rue de Trone was also called Troon Straat. Parts of the place are untidy and buildings are covered with grafitti.

During our stay in Brussels, we sampled much of the food. We ate in some great restaurants. The Belgium specialty apparently is mussels. They are nice and they cook them in many different ways but the mussels are small compared to the one we get in NZ. They give you big bowls of mussels for a meal! The other dish which is we got often were common and garden cooked chips and they were not particularly special. They give you chips with everything. Like you get a bowl of chips with the mussels. Overall the food in Belgium was lovely and it was helped considerable by fantastic Belgian beers.

Two other cities are fairly near to Brussels and we visited them both. Rose and I went to Bruges on the train. You pass Gent on the way and it is about two hours from Brussels. We went to Gent with Ursula and Harald who took us there one evening. Ursula (who is German) is Peter Mohan's cousin and lives in Brussels with her husband Harald (who is Austrian). Both cities are very pretty. They are more compact than Brussels and have cobbled streets and lots of historical and well-looked after buildings. We loved both cities.

Buildings in the city centres included what was called City Halls. I guess they are what we call the Town Halls in NZ and I think Guild Halls in UK. We saw them in the three cities and they are very ornate and beautiful buildings. They include statues built into the exterior walls, very prominent and ornate spires and incredible gothic (I think) decoration. In the three cities we saw, the City Halls were in a square with other very ornate buildings also.

RETURN TO BLOGGING

2009-01-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have not been online since 23 November. Christmas and New Year have happened since then.

We had a wonderful time over Christmas. Wendy's place Christmas Eve. We stayed the night and got up and opened presents with Wendy, Faz and Catherine. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. It is great to spend Christmas with family!

Late morning Christmas Day we drove back to Woking so we could go to Barbara and Chris's place in the afternoon/evening. Peter and Marina were there as well as Elsie (Barbara's mother) and Paul. We had a fantastic time. Lovely food, great company, a spa and a small amount of alcohol. Fantastic traditional English celebration of Christmas.

SHAKESPEARES BIRTHPLACE

2008-11-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING

2008-11-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since my last blog. The trips to NZ sort of foreshadowed anything that has happened since. We have stayed in London at Covent Garden once again. Rose and I are both busy with our respective workplaces. That is the problem we have. We came here to travel but we need money to travel and we need to work to get money.

The biggest/best thing we have done since NZ is a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. What a fabulous place. It is often difficult to come up with different or suitable superlatives for places and occasions like these. The town is very pretty. The Avon flows through and provides a wonderful river cruise which we made the most of. The weather was glorious. I must say we have been pretty fortunate with the pleasant weather we have experienced when we have travelled. The houses were amazing with the usual array of 16th and 17th century buildings you can find in the best towns and villages. On top of that was the Shakespeare history thrown into the mix! Anne Hathaway's family home was the best of the lot. I have to provide a picture.

THE SHAH'S WEDDING

2008-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

We were invited to a wedding of a Pakistani man to a Canadian woman. The mother and father of the Pakistani man have both worked with Rose. We were chuffed to be invited to a Pakistani wedding. We felt very privileged. It was interesting, though, to discover that the whole wedding process takes a week or so. We went to the Mendhi which was a celebration for the families and friends of the couple to be married. It was a musical/dance fiesta. Rose and I had a ball.

When we arrived there was a dance going on around the couple. The dancers were all women. They were quite exotic looking, well I suppose Pakistani-looking. The next event involved henna, which was placed on their hands. They had a leaf on their hands so the henna did not stain. The people who went up to the couple put henna on the leaf on their palm and fed them each a small sweet. Fascinating. The next activity was a dance competition. The first group of females were 'the enemy' according to Tanya. The dance was supposed to be some sort of challenge. Another group of females went up and took up the challenge with a different dance. In between these so-called formal dances was very informal dancing with the men involved a lot more. It was all wonderful to watch. Then the Shah family (the bridegroom's family) sang some songs which lambasted the fiance's family. To follow that the fiance's family sang a song to lambast the Shah family. Almost tribal like the Maori. We enjoyed the whole night. It was a feast of Pakistani culture for us, which is so precious.

Thanks so much to Aftab and Tanya.

SOME PICTURES FROM THE FUNERAL

2008-10-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

NEW ZEALAND

2008-10-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged for nearly a month now. The reason is that we have been to NZ for six weeks out of the last eight or nine. We went there for a 'holiday' during the (UK) summer holidays for three weeks from 7 Aug to 31 Aug. I put holiday in quotation marks because it was a busy and at times difficult time for Rose and I rather than a fun holiday as such. We did have some fun holiday times. We visited my dad in Levin a few times and found ourselves drawn back there because Dad was not well.

We returned to Woking on the 31st so Rose could go back to work the day after which was a big mistake! She ended up all the next day in bed. I think jet lag and the sadness of leaving her family probably contributed to the problem she had. A week after we were back we got a call that Dad had died. So on the plane again and back to NZ. The funeral went without a hitch except for my brother not turning up. We needed to dispose of Dad's possessions and fortunately the Public Trust were able to do that for us.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE AND THE GORING

2008-09-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

Rose booked a visit to Buckingham Palace before we left for NZ. She has been mad keen to go there for a long time. It is only open for tours during August and September. We travelled into London Waterloo with our friend, Penny, from Andover, and by tube to St James tube station. We got to see the Queen's Gallery which is an art gallery with many paintings. The portrait-type and landscape-type paintings were fantastic but there was another section with drawings of animals and plants which was not nearly as interesting. The highlight though was The State Rooms. Such opulence! We spent so much time there we ran out of time to see The Royal Mews so we filled out the forms needed to allow us to return again within a year without paying any more.

After the palace, Penny took us to The Goring (pictured above). It is a hotel in a very nice part of London not far from the palace. What a wonderful treat. Lovely period furnishings. It was rather expensive but nice to pamper ourselves. The service was great and we were able to stay there for a long time without any pressure to hurry our food or drinks. The Goring Hotel was built by a descendant of Lord Goring who first built the house that eventually became Buckingham Palace.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS IN WOKING

2008-08-07T05:34:00.001-07:00

Models of a 'cylinder' and the 'tripod' (both mentioned in the book) have been made and are installed in the town centre. When I first saw them I had no idea what they were and I thought the town council must have a bizarre idea of creativity.

RUGBY WEEKENDS AND OTHER STUFF

2008-08-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to a Walkabout pub, with Peter (Dale's son-in-law) and Shane (the Aussie), to watch New Zealand play Australia in rugby (Tri-nations and Bledisloe Cup - probably the most important sporting contests each year). I decided it would be good to see the game in a pub with Aussies and NZers. I was surprised that there were far more Kiwis than Aussies in the pub. The atmosphere was brilliant. It was a great choice. We enjoyed the experience a huge amount. Just a shame that Australia won. After the game, Peter went off to meet with someone else and Shane and I met with Rose and we enjoyed some hostelries that Shane knew of, including one with sand on the floor.

I have been on holiday (it is my summer holidays) and I have been finding things to do. A lot of chores at home. A trip to London to see the subway with all the graffiti art. I discovered, in the Woking Library, a booklet about places to visit which are mentioned in H G Wells classic science fiction novel 'The War of the Worlds'. Wells lived in Woking when he wrote the book (in the 1890's) and the Martian invasion in the story happened in Woking. In the story, the Martian craft landed in Woking and the creatures from outer space killed Woking people and destroyed central Woking. I walked around the H G Wells circuit (actually it is one of three circuits) and it was fascinating. There are two pieces of art work (maybe you could call them sculptures) in the town centre. One is the cylinder which the Martians arrived in, which is made of brick and metal, and the other is a huge metal creature which is called The Tripod, for obvious reasons.

Rose and I met up with Pat Mohan and Fiona on Friday. We went to Ping Pong which is becoming a bit of a regular haunt for us. Then we went to a pub called The Hole in the Wall. Rose thinks it is a bit rough but I reckon it is perfect. It is planned decadence, I believe. Then we walked along the south bank of the Thames then caught the train home.

The All Blacks made up for their poor showing last weekend by demolishing Australia this weekend. The world is at rights again. The All Blacks are back on track to win the Tri-nations and the Bledisloe Cup. Sure there are two more games to play in the Bledisloe Cup and NZ have two more games in the Tri-nations but I am pleased with the current situation. Go the mighty ABs!

PHOTOS OF NZ VISITORS

2008-07-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

What a lovely couple (both pictures)!

VISITORS FROM NZ

2008-07-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

Ian and Dale came and stayed with us during the weekend. They arrived on Friday and left on Sunday. They are staying in England and travelling around Europe for twelve weeks apparently.
I got home on the train and arrived about twenty to five. As I was walking to the Centrium building, I got a text from them saying they were at the station but did not know where to go from there. I hunted around the station and found them on the other side. We went to our apartment and then went down to the Lotus Lounge for a drink. Rose cooked tea later and we sat up late and talked and drank.

On Saturday, we went to Windsor Castle. Ian and Dale were amazed and fascinating and we all enjoyed the day's outing. We went to Charlie Choy's for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Then we went to Wetherspoon's and Enzo's Wine Bar which Rose calls a pub crawl. On Sunday, we went to the Anchor for lunch. We are rather taken by the Anchor because of it's beautiful setting. We then walked along the canal. To finish the afternoon, we went to Wisley Gardens which Rose and I have not been to before. They were the best gardens we have seen so far!

YOU LEARN SOMETING NEW EVERY DAY

2008-07-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have two bits of information I need to record.

Peter Jackson has the same first name as me. I am sorry to state an obvious bit of truth but you need to bear with me. He also has parents named Bill and Joan which are the same names as my parents. Fascinating don't you think.

But there the similarity ends. He is younger than me, he has no brothers and sisters, I have a brother and a sister, he is a famous film director, I am a teacher, he is a multi-millionaire, I will not say how much money I have, but suffice it to say, not enough, and there are probably many more differences. I was quite excited when I discovered his parent's names all the same. Sadly his parents died apparently during the making of The Lord of the Rings.

The second factoid (a Radio 2 term) I heard on Radio 2 this afternoon, while driving home from work, concerns the pursuit of happiness. The announcer was interviewing a writer who was researching happiness and how people find it. He has travelled the world in pursuit of the meaning or cause of happiness. The part of this interview which I was particularly taken by was about thinking.

In Thailand and in Iceland they believe that thinking too much actually contributes to unhappiness or stress and should be avoided at all costs. In Iceland apparently they take this idea further by believing that problems should not be thought out or considered too deeply because it just adds to stress. Problems should be just left to sort themselves out (or do they just disappear?). I like the idea of less thinking taking place but I do have trouble with how this idea came to be thought of. Surely some people would have to think about it and talking about it implies some thinking. Jeez, the mind boggles. I am getting stressed thinking about the possibilities.

AN INTERESTING WEEKEND

2008-07-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Rose had her friends from the PCT (Surrey health authority where she worked for a while) come to our apartment. They came here and had a few drinks and then went to Charlie Choys downstairs. That is one of the really cool things about living in this complex - we have a fantastic restaurant and bar on the ground floor and we are on the third floor. I went off and did my own thing - Nigel No-mates eating alone and sitting in the wine bar on his own. Actually, Rose had thought she had organised a dinner with friends for me but it turned out that it was on Saturday they had expected me to come for dinner. Anyway, back to Rose's night out. One of the workmates is getting married and they were having a hen's night for her. Rose came home eventually about 11pm and was really excited about the night.

The next day we went to Swindon and Andover. We drove to Swindon to see Wendy, Faz and Catherine at the local school fete. There was a series of amazing signs along the M4 which stated ... wait for it ... Sign Not In Use. I could not believe it. I looked up above and there was an overhanging electronic sign which was not saying anything which explained the need for the sign (not really). I thought it was really bizarre because you just needed to look up to see that the sign was not in use. The Lethbridge School fete was great. It had some problems with the weather. There were several squalls/downpours which went across and caused people to run inside. Despite the weather, the fete seemed to us to be successful. It started with a fun run with Faz and Catherine taking part. Then we watched the girls looking after the stall and we met the parents of Catherine's stall partner. We also helped out with the stall which was not an especially onerous task.

We left Swindon and travelled to Andover. We had arranged to meet with Shane and Jackie at the Weyhill Fair beer festival. Instead we went to Andover to stay at Church Mews. We caught the bus to Weyhill and got there about 5.30pm. The beer was very interesting and Shane and I drank a whole lot. I made the mistake of buying a cider. I liked the look of it because it was 7.5%ABV but I did not realise it was cider. It was actually crap. Shane and I were determined to drink it which we did. At about 9.15pm Rose and I decided to catch the 9.37 bus which we did and we got back to the B&B and into bed by 10.30pm so we had a good sleep.

The next day we went to Shane's place to return a jacket Rose had borrowed from Jackie. We found Shane looking a bit worse for wear. They got home about 2.30am or something like that. Jackie was quite happy with no apparent hangover. From there we drove towards Winchester. Shane had suggested we drive through the South Downs. It was a nice trip. We travelled on some very narrow, one-way roads. We decided to check out a village called Privet. There was not much there apart from some lovely houses, a building called The Privet Centre and a very charming church. It had fallen into disuse and had been taken over by an organisation called The Churches Trust or something like that. It was open and left looking like a working church but the dust and cobwebs showed the disuse. We then visited a village called Selbourne which was very pretty. Finally we were close to home near Aldershot and we travelled into a town called Badshot Lea. We called into a pub called either The Cricketers or The Cricketers Arms. The people there quickly sussed we were NZers and they told someone who had a brother living in NZ and he came and spoke with us for ages. Turned out he stayed in Te Kauwhata. We were sort of feted by a number of the punters. The landlady/barmaid gave us a whole bunch of pub glasses. A rather weird or amazing experience!

NO INFORMATION FOR A WHILE

2008-06-29T13:26:00.001-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to Thorpe Park which is an adventure park with lots of rides designed to get the adrenalin pumping. Young Charlotte at school decided to have her birthday party there and she had some half price vouchers from the internet. Rob, also from school, and his wife went as well. I was a little bit dubious about going because it is not, and has never been, my scene. I decided that we were invited and should participate and Rose agreed so we went. There was one other major impediment which was the All Black - England rugby test at 8.30am. I said to Charlotte that we would be unable to miss that. The others all gathered to go to the park at 9.30am. We arranged to meet them at 11am which was much better because we could not have done it for that long.

The day was more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I had a go at the roller coaster which went up to a sheer vertical drop of about 80 feet. It was terrifying. At least it was over with very quickly - a matter of seconds. Rose did not do many of the rides. She mainly just watched. The last ride we went on was a boat thing which went up high also and went down very quickly into a pool of water which flew up into the air and landed on all the people in the boat thing. I knew I would get wet. I just did not realise how wet. We finished the day at a pub near Charlotte's place, I think at Teddington.

The next day we went to join an audience for a reality show called Who Dares Wins. It was due to be an ITV karaoke talent show. The ITV building was near the South Bank of the Thames. We lined up with about an hour or something to spare and ended up missing out on getting in. They cut off the line about a half of a dozen in front of us. I saw the show this weekend and all the audience get microphones and sing karaoke. Some selected people get to compete for the television home audience.

This weekend just finished included a visit to Windsor Castle with Rachel's friends. You can check out the pics on http://picasaweb.google.com/anyonandwalters/. I will include one picture here as a taster.

SOUTHEND

2008-05-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

Rose is standing on the Southend Pier and the view behind her is of Southend.

The Southend Pier apparently is the longest pier in the world at two miles long.

We were concerned that there were no fairground attractions or something of the like available. There had been two major fires and a major ship crashing into the pier in the past.

We travelled to Southend from Woking relatively easily. A train trip to Waterloo, the tube to West Ham is interesting but the train from there to Southend is great. Southend is fairly quiet although we stayed in Westcliff. We went into Southend central and there were a lot of people there. We absolutely enjoyed our day.

THE THEATRE

2008-05-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have two theatrical experiences to report on. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Buddy the Musical. Joseph at the Ambassadors in Woking and Buddy at the Duchess in Covent Garden London.

We saw Joseph at the theatre in Woking on a Tuesday night with Penny. I take my hat off to Andrew Lloyd-Weber. It is a fantastic piece of musical theatre. We were also amazed at the size of the Woking theatre. We enjoyed the performance and were all pleased we went. The production was quite sumptuous but Penny said the coloured cape put around Joseph at the end of the performance was overdone. I last saw it in Taupo in nineteen ninety something or other. My mate Clint played the part of Joseph. I cannot remember it well enough to say which was best.

We saw Buddy the Musical (28 May) after visiting Southend. I will have to provide information about Southend after this. What can I say about Buddy? Donna and I saw it the same show in Wellington 8 to 10 years ago. At that time, I thought it was the greatest show I had ever seen but my knowledge of the details from that show was fairly limited. We stayed in London overnight so we could relax after the show without having to get back to Woking. The performance we saw in London was wonderful. I believe it is/was the best theatrical production I have ever seen and this time I have seen more than I had when I saw the same show in Wellington. The performers had me believing I was part of the performance. Certainly at the last concert section of the show, it seemed to be a real concert. I was up and dancing in the aisle. Rose was too embarrassed to do the same. A great show!

VISIT TO THE BLIND AUNTS

2008-05-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Sylv and Meg, I hope you do not mind the title we have used for you.

We went to Tonbridge today. The trip is relatively easy from Woking to Tonbridge. The easiness really relies on the M25 not becoming clogged up. When we went to Hastings on a Friday evening it took us ages to get around from Junction 11 to 5. Today it was busy (I do not believe it is ever not busy - I have not travelled there at 2 in the morning though so I cannot be completely sure) but there were no stoppages or serious slowdowns. I had to slow down to 60mph a couple of times but most of it was pedal to the metal. It took us about an hour and fifteen. I think I have finally worked out how to get through Tonbridge High St to Sylv and Meg's place.

After meeting them, we drove into High St and parked in a council car park then went to visit a local pub for lunch. The pub was great - it was apparently 600 years old. The food was lovely but the service was not brilliant. The woman at the bar seemed to think the best way of dealing with customers was to organise part of your order then go off and serve someone else (strange!). After lunch we drove south into the country. Lovely places like Bidborough. We called in at a pub in Fordcombe, I think, to have tea and cakes. Lovely. Overall an enjoyable day.

On the way home we decided to eat at East Clandon. Rose has not been to the pub there that I have had the pleasure of eating at previously. I have often told her of my fantastic eating experience and said we will go there tonight thinking that because it was Saturday .... hey. No success. At 10 past 5 the pub was well and truly locked up. I remember the name now without looking back - it is The Queen's Head. So we travelled onwards to Ripley and went to The Anchor. This is an interesting place. The pub seems quite old and traditional but it has a restaurant in the place which is Thai with lovely food. The pub has like all sorts of little rooms. It is quite unusual. A different place to eat and drink. We enjoyed our meal and went home.

WE FOUND ANOTHER GREAT PUB

2008-05-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is a photo taken from The Quays in Mytchett. We absolutely loved the environment.

THE ANCHOR AT WISLEY

2008-05-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

We went back to the Anchor so we could get a photo. We had also been last weekend for a meal.

A LOVELY PUB IN SURREY

2008-04-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

We have been concerned that we have not found it easy to find charming pubs in Surrey like the ones we seem to easily find in Hampshire and Wiltshire. I am sure I have expounded at length about The Mayfly, The Barge Inn and the pub at St Mary Bourne (I cannot remember the name).

Rose got taken to The Anchor by a workmate and just loved it. She decided (cleverly, because she knows me well now) that I would love the place also. I have to state here and now she is right. Rose got it perfectly right. The place is wonderful. The Barge Inn at Seend Cleve is similar in it's situation and it's popularity.

Last Sunday we decided to go there. Rose was reasonably sure she could get us there successfully. We booked for 12noon because Rose was told that was what we had to do when she tried to book for 1pm. We gave ourselves 45 minutes which was spot on because Rose's recollection was not perfect. I was not surprised! It was way out in the sticks. It is strange really because nowhere in Surrey should be like that really. But the roads were difficult to negotiate and she went the first time with someone who knew precisely where to go. We found the place at 12noon exactly.

I was glad we came in from the direction we did because we found out there was another way to get there. There is a lock with a bridge which is narrow/wide enough for one car only. There are metal poles on either side of the bridge which cause you to slow the car down to real slow. It is fabulous when you cross the bridge. The view to the pub is amazing. The car park was filling up as we arrived and a half an hour later it was completely full. They go there is droves. The staff told me you need to book a week ahead in the summer.

The ambience in the pub and the food was lovely and we enjoyed our meal immensely. We will be recommending it to people around here and we would like to take friends and family there.

This is what living in England is all about.

CAR PARK AND CAR RADIO

2008-04-17T16:32:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I did not fight the car park ticket to the bitter end even though I was pretty pissed off. Some outside company called Central Ticketing, which I think is a national company which looks after carparks all over the country, was responsible for the ticket. My only recourse was to contact the manager of the building. Unfortunately he was not interested. I thought I would get through to him with my superior intellect but it was nowhere near sufficient. So I ended up paying £85 instead of £60 because I was late with my payment.

The car radio was one thing I sorted out. I paid £14.10 to get a 4-digit code from the Renault dealers in Woking. How amazing is that! I gave them my keepership certificate from the DVLA and my licence to photocopy. They also wanted my home phone number and my cell phone number. I hope it chokes them. They asked me to wait while they get a technician to help me. It was not a 'technician' , it was another bloke at the reception counter who sorted it out for me. After waiting an hour, it took less than 5 minutes to put the code into the radio. Guess what, it worked fine after that. Don't you love this country!

TRIP TO EAST SUSSEX

2008-04-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Fairlight last weekend. Fairlight is not very far away from Hastings. When we drove towards Hastings we encountered several signs with 1066 on them. We both suddenly had a brainwave when we realised what happened in 1066 (The Battle of Hastings). But what we did not realise is that the area seems to have a fair bit of historical importance. There is a town called Battle where the actual battle took place and it was named after the Battle of Hastings. This battle was over two cousins who believed they had the right to be the King of England. A shitload of soldiers got killed over a family disagreement. It apparently had huge historical significance for England and the UK when William the Conquerer won the fight.

We stayed in a B&B which was a farm cottage which had been converted. It was very peaceful and very friendly. We made a great choice for three nights. Fairlight was not particularly exciting but there were two villages (Winchelsea and Icklesham) close by, which were charming, and Icklesham had a fantastic pub which we ate at one night. The greatest thing about staying in East Sussex is the access to many fabulous tourist opportunities.

Eastbourne attracted our attention the first day. Interestingly enough, some people we met at the B&B at breakfast were rather underwhelmed about my suggestion that we go to Eastbourne. They said it was just a haven for retired people and had nothing of interest to see. Fortunately we went anyway and found it to be lovely. Very similar to Brighton but quieter really. It had a pier and pebbles on the beach. We were lucky to get some sun although it was a bit windy. From there we went to Battle. The main attraction at Battle was the abbey which was great to see and there was lots of information about the Battle of Hastings. We went to Winchelsea for dinner. It was a fairly ordinary meal and pub but nice enough.

On the second day, we visited 4 different places - Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Bodiam Castle, Cranbrook and Tenterden. Sissinghurst Castle was the home of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson. She was a novelist and poet and he was a politician turned author. There was a television programme about her/them several years ago. The garden was lovely. Bodiam Castle was not occupied but was mostly intact. The interior rooms did not exist any more but the exterior structure was as it was originally. It had a great moat and was clearly a pretty good stronghold. Cranbrook and Tenterden were charming villages/towns with great architecture. We went to The Queen's Head in Icklesham for dinner and it was a wonderful pub and the food was great.