The Other Side

Days 134 – 137, Tuesday 30th December 2008 – Friday 2nd January 2009 (Cath)

Just to continue our international stalking of Mel (and because the OneWorld alliance couldn’t fly us between the African cities of Cairo and Nairobi without passing through Europe), we flew back to London and met her at Heathrow, where she’d arrived about an hour earlier, but her luggage hadn’t. Yay for the Italian airline again! To be fair, they delivered it to her house as promised the very next day.

We were actually picked up from the airport! Mel’s mum, Tilly, is house-sitting in Windsor, and she very kindly drove to meet us, took us into town to do some much-needed shopping, made us a home-cooked dinner, and let us stay for the night. The next day, Mel drove us (in her new car, which was quite exciting!) to Brent Cross Shopping Centre so we could continue to stock up on supplies for Africa, while she headed home, where we met her later to get ready for New Years Eve.

The party we went to – at Al’s friend Ky Le’s house – ended up being quite relaxed, with some good people to chat to and some delicious chilli con carne for dinner. There were unfortunately two low points to the evening. Firstly, I left my French champagne to chill in what I thought was a normal freezer, but turned out to be some sort of mega-super-freezer, and it froze long before midnight. Secondly, we discovered the next morning that we couldn’t find our little Canon Ixus camera. Honestly, it was a really quiet night for us, and nobody was drunk – I think we just let our guard down because it felt like we were at home, and stopped worrying about our belongings as much as usual. Whether we left it in the car and it was stolen, or whether it fell out the door of the car into the gutter, we no longer have our Ixus, or the photos of us all dressed up for the night (with me wearing my new little black dress – boohoo). Luckily, we had already backed up the photos from Egypt onto the laptop. However, this post will remain photoless.

Unfortunately for Mel, we weren’t great company the next day, packing our stuff and arranging a huge parcel to be sent home. We were a little bit sociable and went to the movies together to see Baz Luhrmann’s Australia – it actually exceeded expectations (mind you, our expectations were pretty low), despite some very annoying Nicole Kidman moments. We capped off our visit with a lovely Japanese banquet around the corner from Mel’s place, then stayed with Tilly in Windsor again for the trip back to Heathrow early the next morning.

After spending much of the night searching for the Ixus again, we accepted it was lost, and nearly missed our plane because of the time we spent finding a replacement for it at the airport. But we got there a couple of hundred pounds later and, with video capability restored, we were ready for Africa!

Days 94 – 96, Thursday 20th – Saturday 22nd November 2008 (Cath and Al)

Our relief at arriving ‘home’ from Bath to find our new passports were waiting for us at the Muswell Hill post office turned to a twinge of sadness that our time in London was nearly over. Not having passports had been a slight obstacle to onward travel plans – now we were forced to do something. We were extremely keen to do something outdoorsy while the weather was still good enough for it to be possible, and the Cinque Terre was calling us, so we found a cheap flight to Italy for Saturday morning. Our aim has been to travel by train wherever possible, but in this case the savings in both time (which we were now a fair bit shorter of than we had planned) and money meant we bent our own rule and decided to fly, and tried to let the carbon offset payment make us feel better.

Our last two days in London were mainly spent shopping for equipment for Egypt and Africa (sleeping bags, mats, and light-coloured long-sleeved hot-weather clothes – not as easy as you might expect in England in winter). We became regulars at Brent Cross Shopping Centre, half an hour from Mel’s place by bus, and just a little bit bigger and shinier than Altona Gate. Pretty sure it was bigger than even Werribee Plaza.

Brent Cross sunset 

We also found time for one last serve of fish n chips in Muswell Hill. Pictured (and out-of-focus) is a chip, from ‘Britain’s Best’ fish and chip shop, which we ate in the sun last week. We might have caught them on a bad day – the chips were satisfying enough, but there were not many crispy ones, and the batter on the cod was too thick for my liking. I know a shop or two back home that could give the British establishment a run for their money. And I’m still craving a good crumbed flake (they don’t eat sharks over here for some reason)!

On Friday night, after watching a local dance (pronounced here as “daaarnce”) company’s stage performance in Potters Bar (which meant we had to catch the tube to Cockfosters, which was exciting) with Mel’s friend Kerrie, we headed back in the other direction on the bus then tube then bus for a night out in Angel with Rich.

See if you can guess who had had the most to drink

Our early morning Ryanair flight from Stansted meant leaving the house at 04:30, so we thought it might be best if we stayed up all night. This wasn’t difficult, especially with the help of the Walkabout in Angel, but saying goodbye to our dear friend and landlord for the last two weeks was. Mel was such a generous host – we are so grateful!

Days 92 – 93, Tuesday 18th & Wednesday 19th November 2008 (Cath and Al)

The Mayor of Bath is very generous and runs a Corps of volunteer guides, one of whom (Roger) we followed around for two hours this morning on a free walking tour of the city. We started in the ‘medieval city’ around the Roman baths and the Abbey, then walked up the hill to the ‘18th century city’, wandered back down through the main shopping street, and ended up back where we started.

Roger telling us about The Circus, an impressive circle of Georgian residences, inspired by the Roman Colosseum. Nicolas Cage has apparently bought one to complement his other houses in California, the Bahamas and Bavaria (‘he hasn’t moved far down the alphabet, has he?’, quipped Roger in his clipped accent).

Cath in the middle of the Circus. These trees were planted only after the architect (John Wood the Elder) died, as he wasn’t a fan of trees – they tended to block views of stone buildings.

 The Royal Crescent, designed by John Wood the Younger, son of the Elder.

 A former hotel (now offices) near the River Avon, with three different styles of roof. From left to right are the facades of a village house, a manor and a castle. This was supposedly to show that all classes were welcome here – as long as you had the money to pay the bill of course.

We started and finished the walking tour in front of the gothic Bath Abbey, which looks particularly impressive when the sunshine hits it. It’s actually pretty impressive when the sunshine hits anything in this part of the world…

The Roman Baths were wonderful – great museum.

Cheeky holograms surround the cold plunge pool - Cathy waited a few minutes for this particular one to come back.

After spending a couple of hours seeing and hearing about how the Romans used to bathe (and how the Georgians used to just drink the water), we were very keen to try out these waters ourselves. Although more keen on the bathing than the drinking, we did have a taste from the elegant fountain in the Georgian Pump Room (one free glass was included with entry to the museum) – mmm, sulphur.

Then, when in Bath… We went to the new Thermae Bath Spa complex (opened in 2006), and pampered ourselves with a two hour session. The steam rooms (especially the one scented with eucalyptus and mint essential oils) helped clear the pores and the sinuses, but the highlight was swimming in an open air thermal pool on the roof, as we watched the sun set over the old town centre. When planning for a final dip in the warm lower level thermae pool, we both were so relaxed we actually fell asleep on some deck lounges next to the pool. We woke up just in time to shower, change and get out before the charged us extra.

For dinner we visited what we thought would be a very touristy restaurant in the oldest house in Bath, Sally Lunn’s. It looked pretty, but we thought that, as is often the case, the quality of the food would be in inverse proportion to the beauty of the surroundings. Luckily we were wrong. Our meals came with the (apparently) famous ‘Sally Lunn buns’, which were basically slightly sweet white bread rolls, but the buns were overshadowed by the simple tasty goodness of my duck and Cath’s ratatouille.

Next morning we drove around Bath on our way out to the freeway, deciding to stop at Lacock to get some lunch. Unfortunately the abbey, where some Hogwarts scenes in Harry Potter are filmed, was closed. But the village itself was small and not without its charms. A nice bakery provided lunch for the drive back to London, and then we hit the frog and toad back to Heathrow.

Days 90 – 91, Sunday 16th & Monday 17th November (Al)

Yes, we know they are more than just rocks. But despite adding to the atmosphere, the constant drizzle and temperatures in the single figures did somewhat dampen our eagerness (pun intended) to wander around the fields of ancient megaliths at Avebury and Stonehenge.

Avebury Stone Circle – would have benefited from more information at the site to explain its significance, but was interesting nonetheless.

 The thatched roof houses did lift Cath’s spirits somewhat (Ed. note from Cath – this one especially reminded me of Milly Molly Mandy’s house, for those who know her)

This photo doesn’t show how rainy it was there, but seeing Stonehenge appear out of the mist as you drive towards it was still quite a spectacular sight.

It was then time to bid a sad farewell to Mel as she boarded the train from Salisbury back to London town – feeling some of her pain as she was back at work the next day (as most normal folk are on a Monday). We drove our Astra, feeling somewhat emptier, to nearby Amesbury to visit some Forrester family friends – Lauren and Dan. Was nice to catch up over a cup of tea and some delicious slice, which Lauren had made in her impressively spacious Air Force kitchen. It sounds as though Cath’s mum Marg and Lauren’s mum Lois were almost happier than we were that their kids caught up so far from home! 

Exeter was our night time stop, a place that has terrible curb-side parking availability. A nice pub dinner up the hill and an early night rounded out the day. The weather improved the next day by the time we arrived in Dartmoor National Park – improved as in it was still freezing and windy, but no rain.

Beautiful countryside, narrow roads bordered by hedges and wild pony sightings made for an enjoyable morning.

Dartmoor’s desolate beauty and my somewhat dubious choice of pose made this photo look like an album cover:

Available at all good music stores – Alister Park presents “Songs From the Moors” featuring the classics: “How Come You Don’t Call Me No Moor”, “Gimme Gimme Moor” and, of course, “Moor Money Moor Problems”.

Wild pony

Wild pony poo

Although we enjoyed Dartmoor, there were more moors to see – so a pleasant drive to the Bristol Channel coast brought us to Exmoor National Park. After a simple lunch in Ilfracombe we decided that, being in the County of Devon, we should try a Devonshire Tea. Here they refer to it as “Cream Tea” as there is still some controversy around its true origin.

Ilfracombe’s shitty beach. Sorry to our lovely Grandmas for the harsh language but I think you will all agree – it is cold, muddy and doesn’t seem to have any water. Surf’s up!

The neighbouring rugged coast, however, was something worth stopping for.

Sheep grazing at dusk outside Minehead. The lights of Wales (we think) are visible in the background. From here, Cath put in a solid 2 hour night time, wet weather driving stint to get us safely to a warm, dry room in Bath.

Days 88 – 89, Friday 14th & Saturday 15th November 2008 (Cath with Al as ghost-writer)

With our passports off being processed at the Australian Embassy, and therefore us staying at Mel’s place longer than planned, we thought we should get out of her housemates’ hair and get into a bit of the English countryside – it was time for a ROAD TRIP!

What we realised only after spending an hour and a half on public transport to get to Heathrow (and apparently not reading our confirmation email closely enough) was that you need a passport to hire a car in England. Even English residents need to show two recent utilities bills, and for some reason Mel doesn’t usually carry those with her on a Friday night. And car rental companies don’t give their employees much room to bend the rules. But, after many understanding nods and sighs and discussions, and a bag being put on the ground in frustration with maybe a tiny bit too much force, we somehow got away with handing over a (perfect colour) photocopy of my passport, and found ourselves with the keys to an Astra (upgraded from the smaller car we were paying for)! We shut up and drove!

Eating a late night dinner at Nando’s (which had a much more interesting menu than the Australian version, with not one but TWO types of vegie burgers), it was cool to see hundreds of students roaming the streets. It was Friday night in a university town – and not just any university town - and it made us all wish we’d studied here and ridden bikes everywhere and hung out with interesting people from all over the world, too.

The Oxford Town Crier (‘oyez, oyez, oyez! I doth proclaimeth this to be the shytest job I haveth hadeth’)

 Church of St Mary the Virgin, exterior above and fantastic views below

The Radcliffe Camera, the octagonal reading room of the Bodleian Library (I tried to go in but visitors were not allowed – again, I wished I studied here)

Perhaps I could read philosophy here – but should I choose Natural or Moral? And what is choice?

Christ Church College

Very familiar-looking steps inside Christ Church College - a little Hogwartian perhaps?

The Great Hall, definitely familiar-looking (from Harry Potter, for those who aren’t down with the kids). Lots of paintings but none of them move or talk to you (although one did follow us sharply with his eyes and even seemed to turn his head).

Mel recommended the Turf Tavern Oxford, where she had been before, for lunch. It was a quaint pub tucked away down a side-street, and also happened to be the national winner of the 2007 Perfect Pub Award. With my philosophical background I can’t say it was perfect, but it was very good, and we spent a relaxing little while sitting in the beer garden with fish ‘n chips and other standard pub fare.

Next was a one and a half hour jaunt to Bristol, where we had dinner at a Latino restaurant (it couldn’t seem to decide if it was Brazilian or Mexican, but it was tasty and spicy!) and sampled the waterfront nightlife which Mel’s housemate Rich had raved about. The bar we ended up at wasn’t the venue he recommended to us, because we were feeling too cold and stingy to face the long line and cover charge at Rich’s place, so maybe we can’t entirely blame him for its lower-than-expected quality. It was fun for a while, which was mainly spent laughing at the drunken lads there on various stag nights, but it had nothing on Turf Bar (although Al says this pub’s music – classic hip hop – was superior).