30 November 2011 - Somerset with Pat

The next morning I had a chance to say my farewells for the time being to Rosie before she headed off with a group from the "University of the Third Age" - abbreviated to "U3A" - who would then be travelling to Bath that day to spend time there - both social and a little discovering of some aspects I think.

It was time for Pat to then pick me up and we went to a willow weaving place where I saw some of the productions of the weavers, as well as getting a little of an understanding of what it was all about. Really all an interesting and different experience for me!

Then we headed for Cerne Abbas. This is made famous for the massive chalk (rock?) outline of a naked man. Herewith a pic of said giant man.

I think you get something of an indication of the size of this if you look towards the top right near his arm you can see a person looking very diminutive.

There are a variety of theories as to the reason for his being or how he came about in terms of the actual "construction" (as with the crop circles and other such things that are all inexplicable), and I have brought back a book with at least one of the theories that is explored, which Mum will certainly read, and I will make an effort on that count, and if I get there I will try and share this with you all. In the mean time the pic from a site, and if you would like to find out a little more in terms of this, try this link: http://www.listzblog.com/top_ten_bizarre_landmarks_list.html

It was actually interesting. We had travelled to the giant. Pat pointed him out and we were running a little late in terms of lunch, and so she initially suggested that maybe it would be an idea for me to take my pic when we came back - just as well we did not await this, as we returned in comparative darkness as a result of the very short days and the overcast nature of the whole day in any event.

We then proceeded to the actual village, where we found a lovely pub and had a chance to have a lunch before the kitchen closed for the afternoon and we were left a little stranded. Once again, I think as a result of it being "that" time of the year, much of what was in Cerne Abbas was closed and much being renovated for the usual tourist season, I would imagine.

We found a lovely pub - "The Royal Oak" (http://www.royaloakcerneabbas.co.uk/) which was founded in 1540! With the weather being a little miz, we sat inside and enjoyed a pleasant meal in warm surroundings. The rooms (as with so many of the UK pubs) were decked out with various thematic aspects to them. The one in which we had lunch was all cups which were hanging from the wooden beams that ran along the ceiling. (If I recall correctly!)

Here is a somewhat more atmospheric pic taken when we returned to the car after visiting the one church and then taking a bit of a walk around Cerne Abbas.

I found the Cerne Abbas Church we visited lovely in the sense that it was a plain and simple church. Don't get me wrong - as you will know the other churches that I visited, as well as those of you who know me, will know that I LOVE the majesty of stained glass windows and the beauty of those magnificent vaulted ceilings and such like. But, for once, while it does look a somewhat imposing church from the outside, as you can see in the pic below; the inside was far simpler. The ceilings are high and travel to the tops of what you can see in the stonework. The beams that stabilise (I gather) the structure are all simply of stone, and the inside lacks all the pomp and ceremony that is so common in so many of the churches. (I think I have the correct link now: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/cerne-abbas-church.htm).

This intrigued me, outside the Church, as you can see below and mid-bottom-centre of the pic above, a set of stocks. I think the concept of something so holy, associated with something so cruel as stocks, was something that I had not really considered - not that I for one moment do think that the Church (no matter which one turns to in terms of faith systems) cannot and has not been cruel either at some stage of its existence - it was just that juxtaposition there so literally for me to see I think.

I have just "Wikipediaed" "Cerne Abbas" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerne_Abbas) and discover that this village was built around the Cerne Abbas Abbey - founded in 984 or thereabouts, and then destroyed to a large extent following Henry the Eighth's torrid relationship with the Catholic Church. Pat and I walked up the road that the church fronted onto, and having now looked at the notes in Wikipedia I discover that the road that we walked up and the house that I took the second pic below of is in actual fact what was rebuilt of the Abbey in later years in an effort to retain something of what the Abbey was all about.

It was then back to the car to begin the journey home, but I could not resist this pic of a part of Cerne Abbas - which is a real "mood" pic of the village. The houses of the village in the centre of it all front onto the roads, so this was nothing unusual in terms of the way in which things "work" in so many of the villages that I visited. I just love the way in which nightfall is encroaching and lights are being switched on bringing some small warmth to the otherwise cold, wet and grey landscape.

That evening I was kindly hosted by Pat, and so we travelled all the way to her home, where she is trying desperately to sort out the various pieces that she has inherited from her mother, Aunt Nanceye, who passed away during the course of the year having made it past her 100th birthday! Pat is also trying to sort out quite a bit of the paperwork that was associated with things, as she had inherited that side of things mainly by default, over the years, and it just continued that way.

We took a walk down the road from Pat's home to her local pub where we enjoyed a wonderful evening near a roaring fire nattering about all sorts of things. I was amused when Pat suddenly broke into rather Anglicised Afrikaans when the proprietor appeared to stoke the fire and add more wood, asking after his health. I then discovered that he hailed from the Cape and had been living in the UK a good number of years - and it was now both his home and place where he made his livelihood.

That evening, it was off to bed, when I spotted the "Visitor's Book" that was originally from Cutsey House - where my maternal grandmother grew up. The book dated back to when Aunt Nanceye and Uncle Bill must have married - as it went back to 1939! I knew that Dad had gone there on a visit when he was training on the first ever computers for NCR over the period that I was born (and so, during that time Mum stayed in Zimbabwe with her parents and gave birth to me in Bulawayo then - quite convinced that there were quite a number of nursing, etc staff who believed that she had had this child out of wedlock!).

Needless to say, it was something I could not resist - looking for Dad's entry - and there it was! It raised all sorts of emotions in me - part because here was physical evidence of my Dad again, but also because in a day or so, I too would be going to visit Cutsey and walk the corridors and spaces walked by both Dad and my Gran!

All rather surreal - as so many things on this trip were!

It was then the end of yet another interesting, educational and all round weird day. The next would see Pat and I travelling to meet with Cousin John Clatworthy and his lovely wife, Shirley, where I would spend time until Saturday of that week when we would all meet at a local pub that Rosie loved and the Johnsons would collect me and all my baggage before we all then headed off for what was to be a surprise visit for Uncle Dave to Cutsey House. Not feeling my brightest, this part of the journey may get a little muddled, but I just hope that with the assistance of the photos taken at the time I might be able to piece together some of the family bits that made this part of this trip so relevant and special!

All for the time being. Mum has decided to have a snooze, and while I am feeling like I could well do so as well, I also am agitating to try and finish my one cross stitch where I have all the final finishing touches that always seem to take an age - I think because I have spent so long getting to this point, I kind of feel as though the piece should be finished "NOW", and it is not. Patience - something time is sure teaching me that I need to develop!!!

Well peeps, all for the time being. All my love - and hope that you are enjoying the ramblings.

21 December 2011

And there you have it - a whole year of thinking about being on my long leave, nine weeks in situ in the UK, and now here I am at home, settling back into the routines that make everything run as they are supposed to.

And, although I have come back from the trip VERY much poorer financially, partly as a result of an incident at the airport when I flew back home, and the rest as a result of my misguided calculations in terms of conversion rates, I have returned so much richer for the experience, which narration I will try and complete with "due diligence" (I would have put in one of my emoticons that I loved using and Brenda hated here, but they won't work on my Google Chrome!). It is weird when we have got used to the fact that 1 and 2 cent coins are now scrapped, and over in the UK they still use a 1p coin! And the 1p counts for something. I also had something of a tough time getting used to the fact that if something was marked at a couple of pounds - that did not necessarily mean "cheap" - mainly because over here in SA, when one sees something under R10-00, that tends to suggest that it is cheap (and often nasty - not always, but you get the idea!)

So, general catch up before I try and go back in time and recall and record my continued experiences of my trip. I arrived safe and sound last Tuesday - and so have been home for a week and a day now - weird sudden feeling of whiplash for me! :-)

I came back with the lurgy that I had managed to clear from my ear while still under Aunty Pam's care, thank heavens, or I think flying would have been a MAJOR problem, and then saw my wonderful doc on Tuesday afternoon, who took one look at my throat and was horrified. Throat was all a mess, sinuses all a mess, but at that stage no indication of the ear infection. So, then it was onto the meds, which finished on Sunday. However, starting Saturday afternoon, the ear started with an ache which meant that I then was back at the doc - not with my fabulous Greek doc who is taking a well earned holiday - but instead with one of her colleagues - and now am on penicillin and something to clear the sinus infection. What a way to come home - and not aided by the fact that I am feeling washed out all the time!!! Oh well, am sure all will get there eventually, just a pain when I would like to have a sharper brain and a little more energy - although I have to confess that the heat of this summer to which I have returned after such wonderful mild weather in the UK, is probably contributing to that as well.

On the plus side, it is wonderful to be home with Mum again! I was a delight to see the pups (well, that's what I call them in any event) happy to see me back and then to be snubbed by Ming (my older white kitty who is a real "mummy's girl") for the first two days, after which she decided that I could be forgiven (in a typical cat manner!), but have my one other kitty (Teddy) very happy to have his mummy home as I got the royal treatment of purrs and much affection - although he will not come into the lounge because "those dogs" are there!

So, all in all, things, as I say, are basically clocking themselves back into shape and the routines are slowly being established once more.

I think that the best way to do this in terms of my trip is that I will head all the entries as one would a diary - so when you see a November date - please do not be too confused! :-)

7 December 2011 - Somerset on a Tuesday

The morning dawned and I was not really there to see it happen (curtains drawn and me asleep, despite the fact that the sun rises later with winter approaching). In the mean time, while I was lazily approaching the waking part of the day, Rosie had already been out for a good long walk with Jasper and Kizzie - she walks the dogs twice a day, and tries to ensure that each walk is about an hour long.

I have to say that while I have resolved to get Cleo and Jess back into the habit of walks, I can say one thing for sure - they will in all likelihood NEVER get two walks in a day and pushing it to the two hour daily is probably about as close as the pups will ever get as they do in their dreams when they are "chasing rabbits"!

I'll explain the context of this photo in a little while - but at least you get a chance to see what all three look like. In the mean time, a little diversion as I tell a story about Jasper and Kizzie.

Jasper, the gorgeous golden labbie is a handsome 11-year old. Kizzie's mother (a collie, as I recall), was a rather "scarlet lady" during the latter period of the British summer of 2010, and came knocking on Jasper's door, awakened his carnal instincts and a little while later, Rosie was visited by Jasper's love's owners to be told that Jasper was about to become father to pups to be produced by their collie. Rosie naturally stated that there really was not all that much that she could do about the matter, and when the owners finally realised that this was indeed the truth of the matter, they all then set about finding homes for all off-spring that were to be born. Kizzie was one of the children, and so when she was old enough to be taken from her mother, she joined Rosie and Jasper, and has a wonderful time meeting all sorts of people as she travels all over the place with Rosie and Jasper - or when she is being looked after by anyone who comes to house sit for Rosie when she goes away.

So, back to Tuesday. The timetable held in it a lunch with some friends of Rosie's at a local pub - on the way to which we would travel through what is called Cheddar Gorge. A rather grand gorge that is apparently well known - but not by me!!!

The road cuts all the way through the gorge and it gives one a chance to appreciate the majesty of the area. Here are two pics - the first to try and give an indication of the general sense of the area, and then the second, zooms in and ought to give a chance for you to see two men in blue outfits who are climbing the area - and if you go back to the other pic, you will get some sense of the size of things, as the men are kind of top right of the first pic.

We travelled through this, stopping in various places for photos to be taken - the one above of Rosie, Kizzie and Jasper being taken there as well - before we headed for a pub where we had a lovely lunch with a whole lot of friends who had been at nursing college with Rosie and Pat's sister, Marianne, and with whom Rosie has now become very friendly.

I think, if I recall correctly, that I have mentioned the "hobbit houses" that Andrea's Vaughn referred to in Farnham? Well, there have been a couple of incidents where I have seen these kinds of small doors leading from homes onto the roads - and in the pub, there was also a suit of armour, which I have shown here, but you don't really get a sense of the size of the armour - it is tiny. I think it is something that would have fitted my grandmother and her family quite well, and she was always quite insistent about adding the "half inch" to her (I think) 5 foot 1 inch height. Her one sister was under five foot, and I know that the rest of her siblings were also in the same kind of region in terms of height. But, for what it is worth - a pic of the armour for interest sake:

And after the lovely lunch, full of fun and laughter, we had the only "spell of miserable weather" as such when we left the pub and it was raining.

At that stage I think Rosie thought that she would only be able to drive me through me the city of Wells (well, I assume that it is a city as it has more than one cathedral in it!), but the rain basically ceased, and we were able to travel into Wells and I had a chance to visit the Wells Cathedral at the same time that there was a group choir of what looked like a number of groups of children from various schools (they wore different uniforms - hence my assumption) while they were practising for what was obviously some Christmas related musical event. It was rather lovely.

I watched the choir rehearsing for a little while, wondered about a little in the environs, and then came out (during which time Rosie had taken Jasper and Kizzie back to her car, before coming back to meet me)  and had a chance to explore a little and take one or two pics of various aspects of Wells, before we headed home and a lovely evening spent chatting.

The alley between the Cathedral and "the high street"

This sign is under the arch in the pic above, and says something both about the history and the social period of the time.

The entrance to another part of the Cathedral - something to do with the Bishops - and which, I am afraid, I cannot really recall correctly just now! :-(

The ruins of part of the Bishop's part of the Cathedral

A rather atmospheric pic of part of the "high street" with Rosie in it (and the pups, before she took them back to the car)

And with that, I think it is time I call it a night.

7 December 2011 - A trip to Somerset begins (sounds so dramatic!)

And so the time finally came that I was able to visit the land and country in which my maternal grand mother was born and raised, and conclude the week by spending a night in the home in which she spent a good deal of her time growing up in. At the same time, I was treated to the wonderful hospitality of three of my mother's cousins, and so had a wonderful chance to get to know them a little and learn a little more about my family!

It all started with Aunt Pam dropping me off at Thatcham train station to catch a train bound for Taunton, Somerset, where I would jump off at Castle Cary Station and be met by Mum's one cousin, Rosie. I certainly did not time things well in terms of the traditional "holiday ailments", as I left here feeling a little as though I had something of Luke's cold, and it certainly did the full eruption during the course of the week, and has continued into this week - so, that could have been timed better!

I was sitting in a carriage on the train that was meant to be the "quiet" coach. Aunt Pam had nipped into the shop and bought me lunch which she thrust into my hands before I left to catch the train (thanks again Aunt Pam!), and so I was a little cautious about unwrapping the feast aboard the carriage - what for?

No worries that each window had on it a sign stating that this was the "quiet carriage", there was a woman aboard, in the company of two men, who spent my entire trip regaling tales of her office party - and I have to confess I was not too sure that the effects of the night before's drinks had not still lingered with her and so she carried on regardless of the "shhhs" that were spat in her direction.

I tried to get my head around the fact that I would indeed be spending time in my grandmother's area with cousins of my mother. I am not quite sure what I expected of the trip down, but there was definitely a feeling in me that I ought to be kind of absorbing the atmosphere of the environment and in some way or another become enveloped in the spirit of my grandmother. Nothing quite as mystical happened, and so it meant that I finally arrived at the station, alighted and cast around for another person looking for someone whom they were not sure of.

Rosie and I "recognised" one another quickly, and it was then a case of carrying the bags over the railway bridge and to her car, where I was greeted by her two pups (one 11 years of age and one just on a year). Then into the car, and chatting away we made our way into what for me was uncharted territory and all a surprise.

As we travelled over a particular area, Rosie informed me that we were now travelling over what is called "The Levels" - areas of land that at one stage (and I could not work out how far back this went, but suspect that it was something like people often say about the Karoo in South Africa) that was once all sea, but now with time land had emerged - and despite it basically being peat and wet, it was land. There were odd abodes built on these levels, but Rosie did assure me that they were built above a certain flood line, as the water table could rise and the area could become quite water-filled. Next thing I knew, Rosie announced that there was Glastonbury - and suddenly there was another aspect of my interest peaked.

This was the land of the Arthurian legend, something I have always been rather fascinated by, and so, in many ways, this was a rather surprising turn of events for me - but also a wonderful surprise!

The first stop was a tithing barn.

Okay, so I know and knew what "tithing" was all about, and I know (quite obviously) what a barn is - but the two together - that was a new one on me. Rosie then explained that in days of yore, this was something that was used for people in order to carry out their tithing to the church - one tenth of their produce (people being agriculturally-minded) would be placed in the barn and thus the tithe would be contributed to the church. Well, new one on me - and there you have it. Rather gorgeous old place, next to which is a museum of a time a little lost in terms of our modern lifestyle - the only hassle - it is that time of the year when people do not normally come to the UK, and so, like a number of other places of interest, it was closed!

Right there though, was another piece of natural history about which I knew nothing - and that was the whole concept of willow-weaving. Later in the week Pat took me to a place where that showed me more of this craft, but here I now had the chance to see something that I had seen just the week before on a TV show that Kirstie Ally is doing, and that is willow weaving.

The whole structure that you see below the tithing barn is made by weaving willow branches - here is it used to create both a fence of sorts and, as you can see in the next pic, the curved section jutting out to the left here actually has a seat in it.

See Mum - there is a pic of me!!!

I believe that Glastonbury is also a place where there is quite a music festival held each year - another thing of which I was blissfully unaware - and from what I can gather it is a festival that at times can be regarded as somewhat bohemian. Well, there you have it - another thing learnt and to carry away with me from this trip.

It is also starting to get a little nippy here - although, I HAVE to confess I have been loving the weather here as it has been pretty mild in the main - and then I heard a radio announcement last week that this had been the second mildest autumn recorded in southern UK! So, I guess that would explain it - so much for Mum's panic about whether I would be warm enough! I am seriously doubting that I will even see snow in the UK!

Okay, that brief stop, and we then wove our way back to Rosie's lovely home, where once more I was treated to wonderfully warm hospitality. I discovered that the cousins had decided to "parcel me" as follows: Monday and Tuesday evening - Rosie; Wednesday evening - Pat; and Thursday and Friday evening - John and Shirley.

Rosie, like both Pat and John and Shirley, has a home that is upstairs/downstairs. My bedroom was upstairs in all three homes, and the view from my room at Rosie's was as you see in the pic below! Quite picturesque.

You can see a little of Rosie's front garden here and then in the background the house over the way. All very beautiful and very countrified! Those of you who are "gardening gurus" will notice that there are things flowering and doing things that they oughtn't be doing in autumn in the garden - and in fact there were a number of lovely fuchsias that Rosie had in pots and in her garden, still in beautiful and full bloom!

I was due to meet Pat that evening (Rosie I had met some time in the seventies - although both she and I have changed a little since then!) as she came and joined us for a lovely dinner.

And thus concluded the day - and as I have said, I am guessing that this will become a serialised version of my trip, although I know me, and know that I will need to try and ensure that I do this in something of a hurry, or the muse will leave - doesn't that sound all pretentious - think it must be time for me to return to "deepest, darkest Africa" so that I can become as normal as I ever will be!

Love to all!

7 December 2011 - A start!

I believe that poor Mum has been fielding questions from a host of people complaining about the fact that I have not updated my blog - well,get ready for what will hopefully (worst case scenario) become a serialised "trip journey" of the trip to Somerset, and a little of this week!

First off, I have to say that I CANNOT believe how quickly this time has come. I know that I have been writing odd comments about my return, but it still seemed SO long away, and now it is just around the corner, and while there is a part of me so excited about going back home, there is an equally large part of me that will leave here with a VERY heavy heart!

This trip has been so very special in so many ways, not the least of which the fact that I have had the chance to get to spend time with, and thus get to know, my uncle and aunt and my cousins and their respective partners/families - and what a treat that has been.

My aunt has been so very, very generous with her love, time and just everything! It was her birthday this past Monday (5 December), and I recalled my "lead up" to my time here and how anxious I had been about the whole situation with regards coming over here and "imposing" myself on my family and how generous my aunt had been in terms of her reassurances and telling me that I was to try and put all of that aside and regard this as my "second home". She was not exaggerating or telling me things to allay fears that were not meant most sincerely. I have been welcomed and made to feel a part of the family with such warmth and love, it has been incredible. Thanks so much Aunt Pam and all the family here!

Okay, where to start? I am caught in a quandary as to whether I should serialise things or whether I should simply write and then go from there - but as I write, I realise that it is necessary to do the latter as this will help make things a little more clear for all who do read this!

So, I will "publish this post", with a pic of the gorgeous ornament about which I wrote in my last entry that Dee gave as a memento of our trip to Bath, and then start on the serialisation of my trip - you do realise that this is most taxing when I am meant to be "on holiday"!

Much love, none the less.

27 November 2011

So, what happens when you have two "girls" visiting Bath, UK - a day of wonderful memories, happy laughs and interesting and different sights!

Dee and I travelled to Bath yesterday. I had basically had the option of London or Bath, and based on comments by a couple of people (including both Dee and Andrea) I knew that if I didn't visit Bath I would regret it. In addition there is a literary link there too - Jane Austen.

What a beautiful city and what tales could be told by the cobblestones and many of the walls of the city.

One of the first sights that we had was of two women exiting a place wearing fuchsia pink jackets. The one woman had a part of her fringe of her hair black, a dash and flash of fuchsia pink and then the rest was grey - and the best thing about it was that she just looked stunning with the whole look. As Dee commented, whether it was the fact that the jacket complemented it or whether it was that it just worked for this animated woman we will never know, but there you are.

We "shuffled" through the traffic in comfort in Dee and Dan's car, and eventually settled on the "long-term" parking, which suggested a "park and ride". Well, we parked, and then walked. The plan of attack was that we were going to go and find one of the tourist open-top buses, climb aboard and see what there was to see from the bus, the jump off and go to places we identified.

So, we worked our way back, and eventually I think Dee thought she had a mad person with her as I was crossing streets in a relatively unsystematic manner as I hoped I was going towards what was signposted as the "Information Centre". In retrospect, I think that was actually the map of Bath that stood on a post outside the loos just off the parking, but, we thought it was an actual place - and it may well have been - but we never found it.

Then I spotted a stationer, and reckoned they MUST have maps - yip. Map purchased, handed over to Dee and she was back in the "driving seat" - I think much to her relief. In the mean time the camera was whipped out, and I became a "tourist" with Dee saying - "Yay, I love being a tourist" as she headed our foray into Bath centre. At the stationers she had found out that if we just went here, there and there, we would arrive at a bus stop and could catch the open-topped bus.

So off we headed, and on the way passed this shop!

I could not believe it - and there is poor Dee far right hand side looking around for her errant cousin - yet again!!! We actually went in to the shop after the bus journey and Dee bought me the most gorgeous Christmas decoration as a reminder of our time together in this beautiful city - two snowmen, arms around each other and "Bath" splashed across their bellies. As I said to Dee, I intend keeping it in my office as a forever memory of a wonderful day that has formed part of a wonderful holiday!

Well, we made it down to the Abby and as we arrived the bus pulled up, there was a chaos of people being ordered about in a very "jolly" manner by the bus conductor, the tour guide and various other official looking people. In fact, I have just realised who our tour guide reminds me of - and I really hope that neither are following this, as I am sure they will not like that one little bit - but he reminds me of Bruce Fordythe (sp? - the Saturday evening presenter on "Strictly Come Dancing"). a little "doddery", but ever so enthusiastic about things.

Dee and I occupied the seats at the back of the top of the bus, plugged in the ear phones and had a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable tour of the city. The guide describes himself as one passionate about history (and he certainly was on Bath's history), but also an English teacher - so much to entertain me with - and a whole load to inform me about!

Before I forget! As we started off on the journey, we came round the corner and went to turn at another corner and Dee tapped me on my shoulder and pointed out the "Father Christmas" sitting atop one of the buildings waving to anyone who was there to see him - mechanised, but a fun touch by someone with a sense of humour no doubt!

One of the main things that I recall of the tour was all the crescent shaped buildings. Evidently, some influential man in Bath (and I am afraid that my attention slipped here and so I cannot even begin to tell you the link - and am too lazy to look it up just now on the internet!) allowed people permission to build homes and such like in Bath, but they had to come to him in order to have the facade designed by him. Hence the fact that most of the facades in Bath look similar - with odd variations that were "permitted" by this chappie. Once one had done the facade, the rest was entirely up to the builder and owner - he couldn't care less.

We travelled past the back of his palace, and what a higgildy-piggildy mess. He was obviously one who reckoned that if one had a strength, you played to that and forget the rest!!! Quite sensible I think - but then I wonder whether he oughtn't have allowed his ego to shift aside and call in someone to assist him with the rest of his home so that it did not look like one of my early lego attempts - as opposed to my brother's (he always insisted that houses had to be built with the white and red blocks, and in a particular manner - and heaven help us if any of us took one of the white or red blocks we needed! Dave, you were born at the wrong time my wonderful brother - but I am so pleased you were ! :-)).

Bath was just beautiful. We spent some time at some of the various markets, we bought fudge at the fudge shop that sells the most divine (and surprisingly un-rich) fudge, we took a tour of what Jane Austen's house would have possibly looked like (the house they currently occupy was not lived in by her or her family, as the one that they did occupy is now a dentist's practice - which I am sure some students I have taught over the years would suggest that that is preferable to reading her books, but, having walked the streets of Bath, felt the atmosphere and seen the various sights and places mentioned in her books, I think it is time for me to revisit those and get an insight into the various elements of her satire and voice.

As you may have gathered, I am feeling a tad tired, and frankly am ready for bed.

Tomorrow it is off to Somerset to meet Mum's cousins who have kindly agreed to put me up (and put up with me) for the next week - and to show me about some of the parts of England that my maternal grandmother used to live in! Gonna be interesting!

And a special message to Mum - thinking of you and my bruvver and sisters tomorrow and sending loads of love as we remember a special person!

25 November 2011

What a wonderful evening! Taken out to dinner by my aunt and uncle and joined for company by Dee and Dan - and an evening that was spent full of good laughs and thoroughly pleasant family time. I will miss times such as this evening when I return.

I cannot believe how soon my time in the UK is drawing to an end. Just a couple of weeks and a bit and then I jet off back to SA and Uncle Dave and Aunt Pam leave the following day bound for the US to spend time with Alistair and Justine and their two children, Brianna and Josh. It was wonderful going around to Dee and Dan's home the other evening and having a chance to at least "meet" Justine via Skype. I now have a much better idea of who she is - and love the way in which she is so special to this family!

I must say, one of the things that I was really looking forward to was the chance to get to know my aunt and uncle and cousins and their families - some of whom I have either never met or met once or twice only. It has exceeded everything I had hoped for and I have really had such a very special time here. I have loved spending time with the various family members, and I will carry back very special memories from my time spent with each and every one of them!

It has also been wonderful to see Andrea and Vaughn, and to be "treated" by Trish as my personal chauffeur and guide for the week that I was in Farnham and surrounds. To see Andrea so very very happy, and taking on the responsibilities that she has taken on so capably (as I have always believed she could and would!) was such a treat.

Next week it is off to Somerset - the county in which my maternal grandmother grew up, and a chance to meet with three of Mum's cousins who all have different things to share and have all opened their homes in terms of having me spend time with each. I really am blessed - as Rev Dan would say! I look forward to that time - both because it will be a chance to see people I have met once (and with at least two of the people, I do not really recall the meeting as such), and also because it offers me a chance to spend some time "walking in the footsteps" in a very general sense of Granny Johnson. All rather warming in terms of my "bucket list" things! So, so lucky!!!

Well, nothing much else - and it is now just past the "witching hour" in White Chapel, Berkshire, so I think it is time to call it a night and try and ensure that I awake at a reasonable enough time to ensure that I am in time for a walk in the morning with Aunt Pam and the "pups".

My love to all!