Alice's Graduation December 2007

Just want to do our proud parent bit. Photos of Alice at her graduation (from Intermediate!) ball taken on Monday (with Richard Robyn's daughter Katherine). Alice had a great year with a glowing school report and 4 trips up of stage yesterday. Cups for top Music and English student and for greatest contribution to school life (which for me is the most important one) and a certificate for being in the top three students for social sciences.

Although this is Alice's big week Harriette also had a good year with her usual standard of school report and the Yr 10 trophy for top ("brilliance in") Science at last weeks prize giving.

Thai meal

I HAVE to tell you about last night! There is a new Thai restaurant in Matamata. We are coming up in the world you know, there is also a sushi bar opening soon!! We had heard a few good reports so decided to give it a go. Well!! We arrived to find the entrance cluttered with people waiting for take ways so had a bit of a fight to get in. We were then seated by European waitresses, which I have never experienced before in a Thai restaurant. Still I guess there aren’t that many Thai’s living in Matamata! The lighting was too bright and the lovely mural on the wall was very kiwi (a beach scene) and didn’t quite ‘go’. The menus were dumped in a pile on the table. I would like to have been handed mine! Am I setting the scene? Anyway it continued like this. It took about 30 minutes before they took our order and we were STARVING by the time the food arrived. When it finally came the young waitress, whom I feel has never eaten anywhere more refined than McDonalds, plonked a dish on the table saying “F7 not sure what it is I can’t pronounce it”, followed by “C5”. After staring incredulously until she left we burst out laughing not quite believing what had just happened. The meal ended with me dropping my jaw (to the girls amusement) when, on asking for coffee I was asked how I took it “ We only have instant at the moment you see”!!! And the chocolate ice cream was a cheap chemically variety. However the Thai food was divine, and huge portions. Even we couldn’t finish the set menu for 4 and had to ask for doggy bags. Now we know why the entrance was cluttered with people waiting for takeaways. We will be one of them next time!!

UK Holiday - continuation Pt. 4

I failed! I didn’t finish. And now I know I am 5 weeks behind on NZ blog as well. I am sitting in a spare bed at Ann and Mikes house (Juliet’s parents). Unusually for NZ it is a 2 plus storeyed house and on an elevated section (that’s code for a seriously steep drive!). As I look out the huge picture window about half my view is sky, a third sea (the Firth of Thames) and the rest Te Puru below us. We are here for our annual “get together with J+K at Ann and Mike’s while they are out the country” weekend. I can smell Eric’s sausages cooking but have declined breakfast in favour of typing. For several reasons: a) a tad too much gin last night means I am not feeling up to it (nothing to compare with the state Eric was in last Sunday!!!), b) it’s Sunday and I don’t want to be rushed out of bed (even if it is 10am), especially after staying up until 1.30am to watch the AB’s massacre Italy in their first World Cup match, and c) I really want to get his holiday blog finished and have a busy 2 weeks ahead of me so know that if it doesn't get done now it'll be weeks away.

So, back to the UK! I really enjoyed the family reunion but the girls were bored silly. When I was their age I used to enjoy these affairs but then I had lots of cousins my age that I really enjoyed catching up with. The girls had one or 2 distant cousins under 30 there but hardly any other teenagers there. I took lots of photos of various generations of the family, which I will post as this is MY blog, even if they will not interest anyone else! Sharron, Ryan, Devon and Emma arrived looking very smart but they had just come, or were going to, a wedding. The ‘children’ all looked very grown up!

Auntie's and Uncle's (my Daddy's siblings):




Cousins: Michelle, Tricia, Pauline, Sharron, and Mary

We had our final evening at Helen and Paul’s then the very sad goodbyes. It was really hard to leave them and some tears were shed. They had been such wonderful hosts and completely unfazed by our invasion of their home over the previous month.

Up to Ava’s the next morning. Mia and Maddie were now recovered from illnesses and Harriette and Alice loved being with them. Eric’s nephew Todd met up with us all in a typical London pub. We stopped there after we had all been for a walk through the park and Mia and Maddie had shown us their schools. And Yes, Todd, like all the others, has grown up! No longer the undergraduate teenager who visited us in NZ, but a confident young man working in London and recently returned from a holiday in Mexico. Todd spent the afternoon with us and came when we went to the pub in Hammersmith for our grown up night out. Well this didn’t go quite to plan and I’ll tell you why. I could not transfer our Outlook mailing list into webmail or hotmail. I had therefore, printed it out with the intention of sending an email to everyone to let them know where we would be meeting that night in a quiet moment (!) when we were on our travels. Unfortunately, I left the printout in London at Ava’s and, as we only arrived there mid-day, I did not have time to get the info out. So. We met up with Helen, Stan, Carol and Milky only. A cosy affair. None the less, still a good evening. Stan has finally moved out of the squat (not really a squat!!) into a house. A sensible move. He has made a lot of money on his Woking flat but really needed to move into more ‘grown up’ accommodation. Well at his age!!

And so, the next day - our last in the UK. I took the girls to Primark for a final clothes shop, then packed for our departure – a mammoth task. Why did we bring so many clothes???? Again we are grateful to Ava and Henry for putting us up, and allowing us to leave bags and other stuff clogging up one of their bedrooms while we travelled. We got to Heathrow, deposited the hire car, checked in our bags (phew – no excess to pay) and went to go through the departure gates, only to find we could only take one piece of hand luggage each. On the way to the UK (prior to Glasgow) we were allowed 1 piece + laptop + handbag. Now we had to wedge it all into one. Thank heavens Eric had bought a trampers day pack which had almost nothing in it. So, under instruction from a rather stroppy security woman, we moved to one side, put the laptop and some stuff from H, A’s and my hand luggage into it so we could fit our handbags into our cabin bags and went through. We THEN find out that the laptops have to be removed (from its case in the bottom of this day pack) and be put through the screening machines in a tray on their own!!!!!!!! In the departure lounge we finished writing, and posted, the heaps of Thank you cards we had been carrying round with us. And then we left, aboard another jam packed plane heading for Singapore.

We cannot thank enough everyone who contributed to making our holiday the wonderful, memorable trip that it was. We are blessed with great friends. As I have probably said earlier in this missive, our biggest regret was not having more time to spend with people. So, once again, and for a final time, a huge Thank You to you all.

UK Holiday continuation - Pt. 3

(It’s now Sunday 2nd September and I will do my best to complete this epic entry before going to collect Alice from the boyfriends in Hamilton this morning!)

That evening we went into Canterbury to queue for the midnight release of the final Harry potter book. I was quite disappointed as Waterstones had advertised a street party and it was just a very long queue with an entertainer (fire eater/juggler) and one coffee shop open. To make it worse at about 00.45 people were walking along saying there were no queues in WHSmith’s!! Anyway 2 books were purchased and we headed home.

The next day we had really looked forward to. Helen and Chris have visited us in NZ (you may remember an account of spending a day on a yacht with them off Coromandel). They are avid sailors and have a lovely 40’ (I think) yacht which they charter out. A and H had noses fixed permanently to their books but looked up when Helen, seeing the books, mentioned that Timothy Spall (Scabbers/Peter Petigrew in the films) had his barge moored adjacent to them. (In fact on looking at the days photo’s later we realised we had earlier caught him in the background of a shot). She talked about how nice he was for a few minutes. As we left Alice got all excited when she saw him and, as they had the books in their hands already, I gave them a pen and they asked him to sign them – which he did, then asked if he was in the final instalment!! Great excitement and I guess they had the only HP books signed but a film cast member when they arrived back here! This excitement was tempered by disappointment. Chris had booked a days annual leave weeks in advance of our trip but got a call in the morning to say he needed to bring a ship in, his leave had not been processed and there was no one else to do it!!! He phoned as things developed and it looked for a while like he would get back in time to see us. Then the ship broke down!!!!! He was stuck on the Thames somewhere for the duration. Such a big disappointment for us all. The only consolation being, that we know we will see them in NZ before long and have been invited to spend some time sailing with them when they come – which will be great fun. They have a lovely life and much of it is based around the sea. In fact Helen gave up a high flying career in a law office in London to take some time out and ended up working in a chandlers (I just asked Eric how to describe that and he says “a boats bit shop”. He has a wicked hangover – more on that later!!). She has done lots of nautical courses and now has her ocean yachtmasters for which she deserves many congratulations. Well done Helen.



Leaving the yacht (And Mr Spall) we headed up to the yacht club to meet some of their friends and have lunch. The sun shone and we actually got a tad red! It was with sadness that we left Ramsgate but it was nice to get some insight into Helen and Chris’s lives as I have only really become acquainted with them since they visited us here. They are such a nice couple.
We had to head off mid afternoon for Blean where Pauline had arranged a family reunion. It was so strange that Mom and Daddy were not there!! It was the biggest Smith reunion for very many years, probably since my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary in 1989, (they celebrated their 72nd before my grandmother died!!). All my aunts and uncles are over 70 but there were 8 of them there, and with cousins who are great grandmothers there were generations galore!
Ryan, Devon, Eric, Emma, Harriette, Michelle, Alice and Sharron:

UK Holiday - continuation Pt. 2

…………Costa Coffee. I’m sorry that wasn’t meant to be left as a cliff hanger. It was purely chance. And now you’ll be so disappointed! Costa coffee do amazing fruit frappes and iced chocolate/coffees. Thank heavens I was on holiday and not sticking to WW’s. I’m afraid we indulged in them at every opportunity thereafter (probably accounts for most of my holiday weight gain!).

Back to Kent. We called in to IKEA at Thurrock on the way back. I have to say it was such a disappointment. Not IKEA itself but the fact that I could not buy anything :-(

We left with 3 CD cases and me planning my next trip and how much of a container I would need to purchase to return my goods to NZ. I drooled all the way round. With a big sigh we (I) left, moving on then to Canterbury where the girls shopped with Eric while I went to elderly relative (Auntie Mary) and met up with cousins Pauline and Mary (coincidentally Mary was over from Canada with her husband Bud). Another auntie, Bernie, was there as she had come down from Coventry for a family reunion organised by Pauline on behalf of Mary and I.

When we got to Mark and Caths we found Lucy with a full length leg plaster on.

Poor girl broke her leg at school when she slipped playing tennis. This is someone who played football for Charlton Athletic until they were relegated, lost a portion of their funding and ditched their girls football. Mark and Cathy had toyed with the idea of emigrating to NZ and visited us a year or so after we moved out here. Cathy got home in the early evening and we had a relaxing evening catching up. Discussing people we used to know I asked about Debbie, a staff nurse from HDU who had lived round the corner. Apparently she was still there so the next morning I popped round with a note to put through her door asking if they wanted to join us for a BBQ that evening. While there, talking to her Mom, Debbie actually dropped in between stops at work. Debbie has done well and is now a nurse consultant for ICU in South East Kent covering several hospitals. Quick chat and we planned to catch up later.

It’s now Thursday 12 July and we went to see my elderly and recently poorly uncle Bertie (whom I am very fond of) and his wife Jean in Seasalter. I was surprised to see how like my grandmother Uncle Bertie looked now he was so thin. Although quite frail he was much better than I expected after months of illness.

From here it was off to Ramsgate to meet up with my only sister Sharron and 2 of her 3 children. Emma was sleeping from her night shift. Devon is plodding through college trying to get into nursing. She has to take a long route and I admire her for her determination and perseverance. Ryan was looking very tanned having just got back from Morocco with his Dad, Alan, and partner, Debbie. He is all set to join the air-force and very focused on his long term plans. He may yet end up in NZ as Alan and Debbie, we are told, are considering moving out here in a few years time. We were very late getting back to Mark and Cath’s and I felt guilty that we were not there to help more with the BBQ they had organised. Gavin and Liz joined us. They are long time friends of M+C and we know them also as Eric and Gavin were in the police together. Neither of them have changed, Gavin is one of life’s great characters and again it was so good to catch up, and sad that it was for such a brief time. Sadly we departed the next day (Lucy’s birthday). The 3 girls are such a credit to Mark and Cathy and we really enjoyed seeing them all.

Next stop was Claire’s. We popped in to the church where Eric and I were married and the girls were christened before leaving Whitstable,



...and then deciding to take a short cut across country I managed to get us lost. The result was we arrived an hour late!!! Claire took me to a gorgeous pub in the middle of nowhere (I always wonder how these places survive) where we had a great lunch (with a huge dog lying on the floor under the table next to us) and some precious ‘girlie’ time.

Whilst Claire was spoiling me, Eric and the girls went to Folkestone so Eric could have his whelks by the harbour. Just to make him feel at home a seagull s**t on him!! A sort of ‘welcome home’ I feel. In case you don’t know seagulls plague the residents of Folkestone and Dover where we used to live! Back to Helen and Paul’s where Helen did some lamb kebab-y things for supper. Paul, who plays tenor sax, was out at his first ‘paid’ gig – and little apprehensive about it. He later said that it went well.

Saturday we dropped a pressie in for Claire (her birthday) then went over to Vanessa and her new man Mike, (well new since we left the UK) for a pub lunch. A wonderfully British affair, little Kentish village and a cosy country pub where everyone knows everyone. It turned out to be all very unreal. Vanessa used to be married to Mark (pay attention this is confusing). Also, when I was working my other HV assistant, Sharon, (Vanessa also being one) loathed her first husband and referred to him only as ‘ the a**ehole’. Well Mark was there with new girlfriend (previous girlfriend of Mike!!) and Sharon was there with her ex whom she has since re-married!!!! It was quite a strange day. We felt like we were stepping into peoples lives whom we hardly recognised, the relationships and dynamics were all so different. For the evening we went to Ann and Bob, whom we met through Mark and Vanessa but they all estranged from each other now. Ann and Bob must be the most travelled people we know heading off for foreign parts 4 – 6 times a year. They have a trip to NZ planned for a few years time. We BBQ’d but moved indoors for dessert as it was a tad cool. We had noticed lots of scaffolding as we drove around Folkestone and guessed it was the earthquake that we had heard reported in NZ even. It was apparent that Ann and Bob lived in one of the worse affected areas as it was up around every few houses, including there’s. If I remember correctly (I really should have written this much sooner!) they were in San Fransisco when they it happened, which is a bit ironic don’t you think?

The following day we headed up to Shropshire popping in on Elly on the way for breakfast. Elly is one of my oldest friends and looked absolutely gorgeous.

She has always taken pride I her appearance, so unlike me, and is about 3 stone lighter since I last saw her on account of becoming a fitness fanatic. Well maybe fanatic is not the right word but she takes it very seriously. As I have mentioned in the past, it started off getting fit to walk some of the Great Wall of China for the MacMillan Trust and has just continued. I am obviously doing something wrong as where other people run 10 miles I am thrilled when I can manage 1km! Anyway, Elly did a wonderful breakfast and we tried to cram 5 years into 2 and a half hours. One of my big regrets of the holiday is that I didn’t manage some girlie time with Elly. Next time! We then travelled to Shrewsbury where we saw the 9pm showing of the Harry Potter movie then went to Trish and Simons. They were in Italy with Alex and Dave so we had the house to ourselves, or so we thought. Now this place is a barn conversion in a tiny settlement on the edge of a village a mile down a single track lane with a few similar houses around. A little remote. We thought that maybe Sarah was home from the backpack on the kitchen floor. Alice went upstairs and frightened the living daylights out of Sarah as she emerged from her bedroom, half asleep, to investigate the noises. She did not know we had arranged to stay that night!! Once recovered, Sarah saw us settled and we all went to bed. Up early the next morning to get to Weaverham to spend as long with Eric’s parents as we could. We had a lovely day with them. Eric got some, much needed, casting (trout) lessons from his Dad in the garden and we went for a lovely canal walk. Dinner was followed by copious amounts of whiskey for Eric and John and I had great difficulty prising Eric away. I was in a real dilemma, torn between the needs of 2 exhausted children for sleep and not wanting to deprive Eric and his parents of precious time together.

The next morning we tried to book Eurostar tickets for the following day, but on finding out it was going to cost GBP530 we decided not to go. That’s about NZ$1,300 and 2 of us can go to Auz for that. Instead we booked theatre tickets for Fame in London after getting hold of Katie and arranging for her to come with us. We then hit the road once again for Kent. We got an Indian takeaway that evening for us, Helen, Paul, Adam and Katie. We were a bit disappointed with it but it was still better than any we have had in NZ. Another pleasant evening with the Major’s.

After breakfast the next day we headed for London and went to the Natural History Museum. I have to confess to being a bit disappointed. Although smaller I think I prefer Te Papa in Wellington. One cannot, however, fail to be impressed by the building itself which is nothing short of magnificent.

Of course because the Glasgow airport bombing had occurred security was very tight and we were searched before entering public buildings quite often.

We then met up with Katie and her man Woody for pizzas. In the restaurant I noticed Alice disappear to the loo a few times. She then said she had bad abdominal pain before heading off again. She was in agony shortly afterwards with pain quite high up so not appendicitis. She was pale sweaty and nauseous. With only 15 minutes from curtain up I prized myself away from her to hand tickets over to the others and explain what was going on. Woody was to stay with us (we had not got him a ticket as he was meant to be in Birmingham). The waitress offered to call an ambulance. Alice’s pain, though severe was intermittent. After a while I managed to persuade her to walk up to the theatre with a promise that if she got the pain back again I would call a cab and take her to ED. Woody walked with us and she was fine! We went in about 10 minutes late and she stayed fine thereafter. The only explanation I can come up with is that she took Brufen on an empty stomach about an hour earlier (unbeknown to me). Anyway we watched the show, which we thoroughly enjoyed (well apart from Eric who predictably, could say nothing more than it was “OK”). Not the best West End production I have ever seen but a thoroughly enjoyable way to pass an evening. My only criticism is that the vocal skills of the lead male were disappointing. Sounded good but you could not decipher the words, rather important in a musical I think. The dancing was, of course, fabulous.

We got the tube to St Pauls and then walked over the Millenium bridge (one of the things I wanted to do during our trip)

Another later night. Next day was my HDU reunion. Jan whom I worked with for many year had been busy tracking people down and even put an ad in the local paper. She had suggested Cullins Yard by Dover harbour, which was perfect. There were about 12 of us in all, including the, afore mentioned, Debbie, and people I had not seen for nearly 10 years. This included Linda who came home early from France where she lives part of the year and co-incidentally, knows my cousin (also Linda) whom I have never met but now lives in Australia. Both Lindas husbands were in the dental corp of the army together. Anyway we had a great time with teenage children joining us after school and ‘lunch’ finished around 6pm! Thank you Jan, and all the girls that came. I had a lovely time. It was such a shock when a few said they had to go back to work for the afternoon. Work had become a very remote concept at this stage pf our trip!!

Into our final week and it was Alice’s birthday, now Friday. We picked up Lucy from Claire’s and took them into Ashford shopping. Had Chinese for lunch then I popped back to collect Chloe and Kayleigh. Kayleighs family where moving that day so all was a bit hectic there. We then went 10 pin bowling and they had a good time I think.


Back to Claire’s for a cup of tea and then home to Helen and Paul’s to catch up with Katie-Ann and for pizza’s.

In the evening Alice went to school disco with Chloe but I don’t think she particularly enjoyed that feeling a bit fish out of water-ish.

UK Holiday - continuation Pt. 1

After a fantastic trip we are home! Relishing a Sunday morning in bed after a good nights sleep, but missing chocolate hobnobs! 8.45am. Alice is still asleep, Harriette is on the computer (where else, she seems determined to make up for a month of deprivation) and Eric is next to me reading Harry Potter. No church bells here alas.

We have had a brilliant holiday. Arrived home exhausted though. I will try and fill in from Shrewsbury. I would have liked to have blog more often while away but quite honestly I didn’t have the time!

On the Sunday in Shrewsbury we spent the day at Alex and Dave’s in their new conservatory with Tricia and Simon, Eric’s parents and Lily. Woody and Katie arrived later bringing Sarah home from a family gathering with their dad, Nigel’s, family. Alex served joints of beef and pork with salads. She managed to cut her finger significantly in her new food processor (it wasn’t on). The worst of it was she did the same thing recently when unpacking it!!
Nieces and Aunties:

Uncles:

The next day we hit the road again heading for Mark, Cheryl, Myles and Laura in Derbyshire. We know them from our days in Whitstable through Mandy and David. Cheryl and Mandy worked together long ago. Cheryl was always a ‘totally scatty at home but thoroughly organised at work’ person who is a PA to some big wig in investment banking. She is based in London (hours away) and works incredibly hard. Mark works more locally, for Rolls Royce, doing quite what I am not sure, but he seems to be good at it. They are doing major extension work on their house – again. The first time they did this was when we last visited! Now they have built an extension with a kitchen to die for on the ground floor, bedroom and bathroom above and a massive playroom/office in the attic. They had both taken the day off work and we settled on spending the afternoon at Chatsworth House. It is absolutely amazing and I would recommend a visit there if ever you find yourself on that part of England. The kitchen garden was inspirational, the grounds stunning and the detail and architecture of the house breathtaking.



We had a great time. The evening was spent at The Coopers, a very old pub in a nearby village for a carvery. Again, Mark and Cheryl were fantastic hosts and spoilt us terribly. Thank you.

Sadly we departed the next morning. Saying Goodbye to the Cooper-Clarks is not quite so hard as we know we will see them soon. They have visited NZ twice since we emigrated and are due out again in 2008. Next to Leicestershire, to see Mark and Donna. (Eric was at school with Mark), Angus and to meet their daughter Jonty who was born a few days after we arrived in NZ. They have moved since we last saw them. Donna’s dad Dave was also staying at the time. Once again we were well fed and spoilt. Donna and I headed off for IKEA only to find the motorway virtually blocked so headed to Fosse Park in the opposite direction! More clothes shopping on the girl’s part and a coffee before heading home. It was here that we discovered

July 8th – Day 8

Sitting in bed, at Alex and Dave’s in Shrewesbury. Another gorgeous house, a huge, old town house where we are in one of the attic rooms aka Todd’s old bedroom. The bell from the church out the back is calling worshipers in. (“Quiet neighbours” Dave said on seeing the graveyard when they first looked round the place!).

After collecting Harriette we went to the MacArthur factory outlet centre (I’m guessing maybe 80 shops) near Ashford. Harriette’s clothes all had security tags on so we needed to get those removed, and I was heading for the Clarkes shoe shop to buy size 9 (UK) shoes. I was very disappointed when told that they had none. I had so be pinning my hopes on this place. The girls found ‘Accessorize’ and ‘Claire’s’ and bought a tonne of cheap jewellery and we all found the Revlon factory outlet shop with mega cheap make-up.

Headed West. Found the village where Eric’s family came from (Echinswell) and had lunch and our first beer in the pub there before a wander round the churchyard. Didn’t find any Tanner graves though. Battery deqad in camera at this point! I must get a second spare one.

Next we went to meet with my elderly aunt. Bit of a mix up there. She told Eric she would meet us at some tea rooms so we ordered tea when we arrived but she met she would meet us there and show us the way to her place (she had given me direction the previous day!). The tearooms where also convenient for us as they were quite close to Marshfield, where Eric’s brother Graham and his family live. Anyway, tea with Auntie Cathe then off to Grahams where we met Edward, our nephew (the only one of 11 Tanner grandchildren to carry on the family name). Headed off to Debbie and Martin’s at Brean near Weston-Super-Mare. They live in an ex-bed and breakfast right on the beach. Debbie and Martin are wonderful hosts. I was not allowed to lift a finger. Actually I must say I am so enjoying being spoilt! For so many years we have been the ones to host visitors, and I really enjoy showing off the way we live, feeding people well and trying to make peoples stay with us as relaxing as possible for them but it is soooo nice to have the boot on the other foot and be on the receiving end for a change.
Debbie and Michelle:


The weather in Brean was shocking, incredibly windy. I left the bathroom window open and the bathroom was covered in sand (not even a sea facing window). The car was covered with a layer of sand mixed with saltwater spray. Very messy. It was raining on our first morning there, so combined with the wind I decided against a run. We drove to a village called Langsford on the Parrett river and had a long leisurely lunch there with Nicky,

a friend from college, and her partner Brian. We then went up to a monument just outside the village, which gave (or rather would have given, had the weather not been so foul), a panoramic view of the Somerset levels (a plain, previous flood lands).
The Tanner's on their 'summer' holiday:

Back to Martin and Debbie’s for a gorgeous meal very professionally prepared by Martin. Christopher, their 12 year old son, is an incredibly talented piano player and I was absolutely stunned at his playing. Quite wonderful. I am sure he could make a career of his music but he is aiming at engineering, in the aeronautical area.

The next morning took us the Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham to see Louise. Louise and I trained together. Lu then took a break in her training to have Suzannah. After completing her training she met Tim whom she married taking the family to 5 as Tim had 2 young children (his wife Janet died tragically young of cancer). They then had Sophie and Alice (my god-daughter), and a much later addition, Toby. Tim is retired and they live in wonderful old house, originally a stone masons cottage which was then extended and a large Edwardian façade added - I think that is right. The property is tucked up a tiny lane and has stunning panoramic views.
(View from the conservatory):


There were so many rooms and I loved the way Louise described them, this is the girls living room, this is my living room, this is the boys (ie Tim and Toby’s) living room. Another friend Helen came up to see us, Helen. Helen is one of life’s characters! She is married to Dave, a mathematician who has done very well in a career teaching in public (ie private) schools in Scotland and England. They have 2 sons whom they must be so proud of, both head boys in their years. Andrew, the younger, drove his mom up (much wine would obviously be consumed). Somewhat outnumbered by our 4 girls, he was a delight, charming and very good looking! Helen, Louise and I have a lot of history and I think H and A were quite bemused by the whole afternoon. They thought they were going to be bored and certainly were not! We had a great time. Lots of photos, including one of all our offspring, excluding Mark, Helens other son.

I was so pleased to see that Louise is finally showing a few signs of age! Louise, slightly older than me, looked like a child bride when she married and is always being mistaken for the girl’s sister. It was great to see she colours her hair to cover the grey (and could not believe that my brown hair with the merest hint of grey, and only if you look hard, was natural) and she has at long last put on some weight!! Thanks Lu!!

Louise cooked a lovely lasagne and I was disappointed, and tearful, when we finally had to leave.

We moved on to Shrewesbury where we are now staying with Alex (Eric’s eldest sister) and Dave. Tricia (another sister) and Simon were here and we all went for a Chinese. We walked to the restaurant (a bit of a struggle for Eric who was by now suffering with a bout of gout, luckily not as bad as on previous occasions, but going on a bit longer than usual). Lily and Sarah (more nieces) joined us and are great with the girls.


Yesterday we, as usual, woke very early. I was lucky enough to get back to sleep but Eric didn’t. Actually we woke early again this morning which was not much fun after a 2am bedtime. We are gradually becoming more sleep deprived each day!! Another day to shop! I took H,A and Lily in to town and we met Sarah there. They took the girls off and I met up with them for lunch. Actually I think I was the worst. I bought 4 pairs of shoes and stocked up on M+S bra’s. I was however restrained in Long Tall Sally and only bought one skirt! Harriette bought books!!! And this despite being told “baggage allowance” repeatedly. Her theory is she’ll ditch some clothes!! We went to Tricia and Simon’s yesterday evening for dinner and to meet up with Eric’s parents, both of whom look incredibly well and not a day older than when I last saw them 5 years ago.

4th July - Day 4

5.40am. Sitting in bed at Helen and Paul’s place, with tea – naturally! In fact the mug is so big Eric just said it is a bit like drinking out a flowerpot!!
Helen and Paul live in a gorgeous farmhouse dating back to the 1780’s.

All low ceilings (only one bruise on my head), flagstone floors, rooms everywhere and the loudest creaking stairs you ever heard. No chance of Adam and Kate creeping to bed late at night without the parents hearing in a few years time! Kate and Alice are the same age and Adam is a year older than Harriette. We met them in 1995, shortly after both families moved to Hawkinge, in the local GP’s waiting room. In fact H+P had looked at Port Fleur (our last UK home) and only turned it down as it had 2 bedrooms (they have a boy and girl). And we would definitely have bought their previous home had we seen it first. They moved here (to the farmhouse) shortly after we emigrated (a place we would have loved but never been able to afford!). Paul has his own business and works very hard. They have Chester (a red setter) who I am sure remembered us, and since we left have acquired and Irish wolfhound, Ollie. Now I know these dogs are big but you need to be up close to see just I how big. He is the most gentle, docile and intelligent (I’m taking Helen’s word on the latter) creature.

So what have we been up to? Monday we discovered Primark, a seriously low cost clothes shop perfect for H and A. Only had 20 minutes there so need to find another one on our travels. Eric got a SIM card for the phone and we went to pick up the hire car. Driving out of London was as stressful as you could imagine. We left quickly as Ava and the girls were standing on the doorstep waiting to wave us off and it was raining, and had not planed a route out. In honestly I thought Eric knew the way. He then started saying get me out onto the M4 (or A4) and I couldn’t understand why he wanted to go west when we were heading south east. So I tried to take us south even though I was looking at a less than detailed map, which I was struggling to see. Then realised our route took us down by Wimbledon Common (during the tennis), well I’m sure you get the picture. Luckily Eric and I both, unspokenly, realise that this is no-ones fault and we only yell because we are stressed/tired and all is soon forgotten (well once we’re on open, and the correct, road)! Actually the girls were very good and sat quietly rather than telling us not to yell! Finally got to Kent and was struck by the Englishness of everything. Tried to have a conversation about how we felt and the best Harriette could come up with was ‘It’s weird but not weird’. Which we all despaired at considering her true gift is meant to be language! She however thought it was better than my recurrent “It’s so English” every 2 minutes. Got to Staplehurst and met up with my Uncle Tony and Auntie June whom I am very fond of. They are great grandparents now and lots of the family, including my cousin Pauline were there to meet us. From there we popped up to see my cousin Tony and his family. It is their son who had the accident in the Caribbean last December and broke his back. Alex is finally home and they are still in the process to adjusting to their new lives. Alex is amazingly positive and in good humour. He has live in carers and is using some very high tech stuff to try and move things on but it is going to take many years before his final outcome will be known.

From there we, or rather Eric, drove to Selsted (this is still the day I woke at 2am). I was amazed at how quickly we seemed to be getting from A to B. I think our road map must be a different scale to those we use in NZ. We were greeted so warmly with Helen hugging me repeatedly for the first hour saying “I can’t believe you’re finally here”. Katie had been unbearable for weeks apparently but concerned, as the girls were, that they may have all changed and would not get on. Well, no chance. Alice and Katie have been inseparable and talking 10 to the dozen (excitedly) ever since. Helen (this is Helen who can’t cook) seemed determined to prove she had made progress in this department and amazed me with cookbooks (not many but they were obviously used!) and a cupboard of baking ingredients. She was busy mixing and cooking but produced a cobbler with a rock hard crust so did not disappoint us too much!!!! She had also made a pudding without any packet mixes and served this with redcurrants and raspberries from the garden.

Day 3 – Tuesday. Started the day off with my first effort to run/walk for 3 weeks. I have been having physio for my hip but it is two steps forward and one back. I was only able to run for 300m but did a total of about 3.5km walking. I arrived back to find Eric, Paul and Katie in the kitchen eating breakfast. “You look like you’ve been running,” said Paul. ”I have”. His jaw dropped and he exchanged shocked looks with Katie. No one does things like that around here apparently. That may account for the shocked look on the old couples faces that I passed pleasantries with on my way round!

I think I have discovered the art, and joy, of shopping. It was Harriette’s birthday. Not much pressie unwrapping as everyone had given her money. She wanted to go to go to Howletts but the weather looked threatening so we decided on shopping in Canterbury and lunch out. We took 2 cars as Katie had persuaded Helen to let them have the day off school. Adam amazingly wanted to come with us and has been very chatty, not the sulky teenage boy I was expecting. In fact I think Helen has been pleasantly surprised. Seems he has also been looking forward to seeing the girls but then he and Harriette were quite close before we moved. Canterbury was great and I would have loved more time. Eric, H and I were going to do the cathedral while Kate and Alice wanted to hit the shops and marched off arm in arm to do so. Helen declined the cathedral but Adam wanted to come with us. Kings School choir was practicing while we were there and the acoustics were amazing. Standing staring at brilliant 30 ft high stained glass windows (and at this point the sun was even shining which adds to their brilliance) with Handels Messiah and the Halleluiah Chorus booming around you I have to say choked me up and bought tears to my eyes. I think Harriette was similarly struck.


They so should have filmed Parry Potter here:

(When we lived in Whitstable Harriette always asked to go "and see the Black Prince" whenever we were heading off for Canterbury. Here they are together):




The shop on the right is where Eric and I bought our wedding rings:

An hour there and then we hit the shops. Robyn you are to be blamed for the millions of photos we are taking because we are doing our best to show you what we can of this country. Robyn so wants to come to the UK but the trip is a few years off yet.

Next we ambled down to the West Gate to go to Café des Amis for lunch then shopping again, the July sales are everywhere with up to 70% off!! Finally we split up and I took Alice (with Kate of course) to pick Lucy up from school (in Canterbury). I had arranged with Claire that Alice could stay overnight but Alice seemed a bit reluctant. She and Lucy were rather shy with each other and I think need a bit of time to settle in together. Claire was just the same. She said she felt she was in a time warp and that things were the same as when I left, the only difference being of course that she has a son now to add to the 4 girls. Theirs is such a busy household! It was good to see Claire but it was just a flying visit and I am looking forward to catching up under slightly less chaotic circumstances, like the tea-time we arrived at. Helen had taken Adam, Harriette and Eric home and dropped Harriette in Folkestone where she was meeting Bryre, Cheyenne and new friends she has MSN’d with. I picked them up later took them to Bryre’s place where Linda met them and they dressed up to go out for a movie and Chinese meal. Eric then returned them to Bryre’s where they have slept over. We will collect her this morning before we head off to Bath.

2nd July - Day 2

5am. I’ve been awake since 2.15am!! I was so pleased with our progress on the jet-lag front. Arrived exhausted and managed to get through the rest of the day until 10pm, took a mild sleeping tablet and slept until about 5am. Went to sleep at about 10.30pm last night then it went wrong. Oh well. Back to a sleeping tablet tonight I think then hopefully I’ll be on track. Thank heavens for good books. Eric bought me Jodi Picoult’s 19 Minutes for Mothers Day in May and I have been saving it for the plane trip. As it was I didn’t read much of it then but am enjoying it now.

We landed at Terminal 3 and found our taxi driver. Ava had booked a people mover for us. Getting to the car park was an experience I would have expected if we were in an airport at Karachi. We had to wait for 5 lift loads of people before we could fight our way in to the lift. Do these people not realise that if you stand in front of the doors the people in the lift, whose place you want, can’t get out?!! The car park was full of big shiny new Merc’s and BMW’s. Within half an hour we were having that longed for cup of tea (with custard creams), and acquainting ourselves with Eric’s nieces (3 and 5 years old) whom he had previously met but we hadn’t. They are gorgeous, blonde, blue-eyed darlings that could charm the monkey’s out of the trees. We had noticed lots of police activity as we drove away from the airport and found outt when we got to Ava and Henry’s that a car bomb had blown up at Glasgow airport, literally as we were coming in to land. The security levels here are at their highest and this became evident as we moved around London the next day; announcements on the tube about unattended luggage, bag checks on entering the art gallery etc. The rest of the day was spent catching up and having a nice meal, after we had walked to Tesco’s. I needed a toothbrush. After nagging everyone not to forget their’s I forgot mine!! Whilst there we bought Muller yoghurt and Hobnobs! When we lived in England Eric and I always had Hobnobs with our tea in bed on Sunday morning - a habit I was keen to re-instate for the next 4 weeks!

On getting Mia ready for bed Ava-Lee found she had chickenpox, apparently London has an epidemic of it at the moment. She doesn’t seem to be poorly with it. Maddie has been vaccinated against it, and all the rest of us have had so we can’t get it, or spread it on to others on our travels.

Yesterday we were tourists in London!

Alice was so excited to see a red phone box. She wanted her photo taken then fell about when she realised there was someone actually using it!

It was weird, London being, in one way so familiar, and yet so novel. We took the tube from Hammersmith (about 10 minutes walk from Ava and Henry’s) to Covent Garden where Katie, Eric’s niece and a delightful young lady, met us and took us around for the day. We watched street entertainers and strolled around the stalls at Covent Garden and then had a lunch at a tapas bar. I dived into a catholic church (just because I could) for 2 minutes of peace and to look at the ‘oldness’ of it. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but churches and old is something we want to try and do very often this month. It is one of the things we do miss living in NZ. We bought postcards of London buses and took photo’s. I loved it. Covent Garden is very familiar to me but I had forgotten how lovely, and plentiful, the pubs are. And how ‘English’! I know that’s a ‘Duh’ statement but true. There are vandal proof huge pictures dotted on walls around London in an effort to get people interested enough to go in to the art galleries. After lunch we went looking for Neal’s Yard, found it and discovered that the huge food warehouse I remember no longer exists as ‘they don’t do food’ now. From Neal’s yard we went down to 7 dials, a junction where 7 streets meet and there is an obelisk with 7 sundials on. Your homework is to find out why anyone would want to put 7 sundials in one place!? Katie was endlessly patient as Alice and I kept saying, ‘Oh I just want to pop in here’ at every shoe and bag shop. I had forgotten how phenomenonally huge the choice is! Amazingly we bought nothing. At one stall in Covent Garden I whittled 4 handbags down to one and sought Alice’s opinion before pulling out my purse. “What do you think of this Alice?” I asked expecting to be commended on my good taste. “Mom. I think I’d vomit if I had to wear that”!!!!! I just could not bring myself to buy it after that! A similar response when I showed her a pair of Air Wair Doc Martens boots, pink and covered in daisies. “Yuk” says Alice - and I so wanted a pair of them!
On then to Trafalgar Square.

Not at it’s best as it, and St Martins-in-the-Fields are being renovated. The church covered in cloth, and the square has construction fencing up all over the place. We passed the National Portrait Gallery which Harriette announced she wanted to go in because there was a picture of Jane Austen there, a sketch by her sister. It was tiny! We spent an hour in there feeling like tourists as we whizzed round. I hate that. I like to spend hours and hours in art galleries. I know nothing about art and pictures don’t ‘speak’ to me but I stand in awe of the talent of artists.

From here we took the tube home to find Maddie had a temperature of 40 degrees and Mia had recovered from the disappointment of missing a birthday party as she has chickpox. We laid in bed that night relishing the idea that we didn’t not have to go to work for a month, that we were really in the UK and life was very good.

Blogging at 10,700m!!

What a week. Regarding the packing and holiday I was actually quite organised but a few crises over the last 48 hours have made life very stressful. Not least thinking I had lost/had stolen, my handbag.

I have had a really busy week at work, mainly just trying to catch up and leave being well organised. It didn’t really happen. I got everything done that absolutely needed doing but my monthly report only had the bare basics and I had to work on Friday, a day I was planning to take of for time in lieu. I ended up working until mid-day! My Thursday evening plan was to run the hoover round and have a final tidy up just didn’t happen because of the handbag saga. During the day on Thursday I went to about 11 different places.I’ll start at the beginning. I got up early and made chocolate brownies for tea break at band practice in the evening. I burnt my finger tips taking them out the oven which made typing for the next 2 days very difficult. I then went to Matamata, Te Awamutu and Hamilton with work finishing up doing a teaching session on the paediatric wards at the hospital. As I pulled up to the hospital it occurred to me that I had left my file with all my band stuff (ie management things) at home and I did not recall seeing the keys in my car. I figured the keys were in my music folder box (which of course, I’d left at home). I quickly phoned the school but could not get anyone so I did my teaching session then flew out the hospital preoccupied with keys. If I could not get another set I would have 25 kids turning up to a locked building. I dashed to the school (quite near the hospital) and borrowed the music teacher’s keys. I then finished my work stuff, which meant trekking across Hamilton from one furthest point to another and finally got back to the school for 5.30pm. (Robyn was bringing the girls in.) However, on the way there I called into the dairy to get milk so we could have coffee during practice and could not find my handbag. Thinking I had left it in the Mistral when I swapped cars with Eric earlier in the day I did not worry too much… until I got home. No handbag anywhere!!! So, instead of housework I spent the evening searching, then fretting and trying to backtrack on my days movements. I just could not come up with where it could be and worried that in locking my car with the bleeper thing I had inadvertently left it unlocked and someone had stolen my handbag. I left it until the morning then phoned everywhere I had been, including the police in 3 towns. No handbag. Now I had, the previous night, put in the UK credit cards that we will be using for the holiday and it had my drivers licence which we need when we pick the hire car up on Monday. No licence, no driving! I therefore cancelled my drivers licence so I could get a temporary one issued and was about to start phoning credit card companies to cancel all my cards when I had a phone call, about 11am. The paediatric ward at the hospital “Did I want to pick up my handbag before I went away!!!!!!” I could not believe it. I never take my handbag in to practices or the hospital when I am working! That’s why I ddn’t phone them. I must have been preoccupied, or planning to go through it looking for music block keys. Anyway…. we picked it up on our way to the airport and I un-cancelled my drivers licence. What a relief, and a waste of hours phoning and searching. Oh, and I’d put the music block keys in the Mistral presumably thinking that if I left them in there I would not forget to take them to band (good plan until I take a different car!)

We left Auckland in pouring rain amd 14 degrees and found out that London is 13 degrees and raining with more rain predicted. I am sitting here in a vest and shorts as I was just too hot in jeans in Singapore, so hope it’s not too cold in London!

Both flights have been jam packed so not terribly comfortable. 2 very nice meals on the first flight though. We had a bit of a dash to the plane in Singapore after going for a, very welcome, swim not anticipating it would take 20 minutes to get from the pool to our departure gate. We arrived there and joined a queue but did cut it a bit fine (in true Tanner form!)

So now, we are tired, have headaches and are sooo looking forward to sitting in Ava’s house with a cup of tea within 8 hours. So, from above Afghanastan (miles and miles of brown nothing) I say ‘Adieu’, for now.

So close now!

Gosh I’m managing to fit in another blog. Actually my theory is that I have been better at this lately because I am not walking in the morning. My hip has been a real problem, it is the joint itself and, because it is interfering with my fitness efforts, I took myself off to the physio. It is much better and I can start walking again but I have not been feeling too good this week after a GA on Wednesday, dizzy, wobbly and just ‘not right’. Yesterday I wanted to pressure wash all the cobwebs off the outside of the window frames, and of course got carried away and did almost the whole house. I really suffered afterwards and was fit for nothing. Planning to take things easy today.

Only 5 sleeps!! We went to Mom and Daddy yesterday to borrow some suitcases. I have also bought 2 new ones as ours were looking very sad. We picked up the tickets on Wednesday on the way into hospital. It was quite weird as, as Eric went into the travel agents to get tickets to take us off to warmer climes (I know it’s raining in the UK and set to do so all week), I went into PostiePlus to buy thermal vests for the girls. It suddenly got very cold this week and we woke up to frosts on 3 consecutive mornings. It then got warmer but very windy.

The girls went out to clean the cottage yesterday (well sort of) and found the bathroom flooded. The toilet cistern had been leaking. Not sure if it will be an insurance job yet. Actually we are notching up claims. We have only ever made an insurance claim once when I smashed a box of Royal Doulton china in the UK. However recently, Harriette dropped a Le Creuset pot in the butler sink taking a chunk out of it and Alice smashed the screen on the older laptop.

Have just been sorting photo’s and have this one of Alice



She represented her school in a Model UN competition. They competed with college kids, ie 2 years older than them. They only got in because their teacher is involved in the competition organisation. Amazingly they won against 13 other teams. What made it better was that they were voted winners by the other teams. They were so shocked when the results were announced. Alice was told she was a budding Helen Clark!!