Wednesday 30 November 2005

Conversation #3

Pennie, ‘Where did you go on the Tube today David?’
David, ‘Orpington.’
Pennie, Blank looks and silence.
David, ‘Well everyone’s heard of Orpington so I thought I’d go there.’
Pennie, ‘Mmmmm!’
Pennie, ‘So what did you see there?’
David, ‘Nothing but a bus station and a pub’
Pennie, ‘Mmmmm!’
David, ‘No Buff Orpington Chooks!’
Pennie, ‘Mmmmm!’

Masters Tennis at Albert Hall.

We caught the tube to South Kensington Station, using our Oyster Cards which make catching a bus or train a breeze as long as we keep them topped up.

Had lunch in the very excellent café of the Victoria and Albert Museum then off to Albert Hall… where we were approached by several people offering us free drinks! It was a promotion for Shloer, which are really delicious Grape juices with a tang… we couldn’t get enough of it.

Albert Hall looked incredible with the tennis court set up in the middle, there was a net all around the court to protect us from any stray balls, I did think the overall look was spoiled by the advertisements all around though. Our seats were excellent and so close to the action as you can see in the photos. The first game was between Sergi Bruguera from Spain and Mikael Pernfors from Sweden… Bruguera won easily! Then a brilliant doubles game between Peter McNamara and Illie Nastase against Mark Woodforde and Mansour Bahrami… who we had never heard of but we now will never forget and if we are lucky enough to get the chance to see him play again we will jump at it. Bahrami is Iranian who’s father was shepherd, he wasn’t allowed to play tennis because it was a game for the rich, eventually he made it onto the Iranian Davis Cup team only to have the Ayotollah close down all the tennis courts, he is a master of the tennis racquet but not in the conventional way, he uses it as a clown would which makes for one very interesting game. I don’t think the laughter died down for more than 60 seconds at a time and I think David laughed louder than me!

Illie Nastase is one player I was very fond of watching many years ago and he was just as funny as I remember and what a thrill to see McNamara and Woodforde play! Woodforde has thicken up a lot which makes him look a more huggable which I almost did when I saw him in the hallway… I controlled myself and just thanked him very much for a very entertaining 90 mins.

After a break with more samples of the delicious Shloer, we were thrilled to have Jim Courier and Mats Wilander play, Jim was in top form and beat Mats pretty convincingly, both of them were very funny but not a patch on that great doubles match we’d just watched.

How lucky we were to be able to see so many of my favourite players… we think we’d love to go to more Masters Tennis games one day… if they come to Australia that is.

We discovered it was Steak Night at Wetherspoons when we got off the tube at Wood Green so what better way to finish off a great day than with a steak!! Then to add the final touch David entertained me by reciting all the stations from South Ken to Cockfosters… he’s so clever, I do love him so!!
Albert Hall Organ.
Doubles, tossing of the Coin with much chat.
Nastase and McNamara
Jim Courier.
Mats Wilander

Tuesday 29 November 2005

Conversation #2

We run for a single decker bus on our way to Camden Lock, after rummaging in my pocket for my pass I plonk down on the nearest seat and to be conversational ask if this is a Bendy Single Decker? I can't look around to see for myself because I am wearing so many layers of clothes I can't move easily LOL
David replies scornfully and slightly amazed... 'All Bendy's are Mercedes!' I guess I should have known that!

Monday 28 November 2005

Happy Birthday Gwilym!


Today is Gwilym's Birthday, my baby is 25! I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday with the other kids and I hope your friends birthday party is just as much fun. We can see all the little differences in our garden from your photos Gwil, it all looks very lush and well cared for, Thank you! We love you and miss you heaps, love Mum and Dad XXX

Domestics... or Streetics??

We’ve been warned about them and now for the first time we saw three in our street. After our day at Camden Locks David was hanging out for a pint so he took off to Wetherspoons, I was feeling quite bus sick after our ride home so I started the walk home along Moselle Street, it was dark but only about 6pm. In the first block there was a horrible barney going on between a woman wheeling a baby and a man, just shouting, as far as I heard… but I crossed the road anyway and I didn’t linger.

Next corner and a couple of kids were shouting at each other, they were riding bikes and at first I thought they were having fun but… somehow I don’t think so and again I didn’t linger.

Last one was at the Laundromat which was quite busy, outside a couple of men were shouting and one in particular was pointing and screaming at someone inside… as I passed, on the other side of the street, a woman came out shouting and screaming louder than both the men… David caught me up just then, he’d changed his mind about the pint as there was a domestic going on at the Bar!! LOL so much entertainment in one day and all for free!

It was interesting that we haven’t heard or seen any domestics all the time we’ve been here and I think it must only happen up the low numbers on Moselle because this end (188) has always been very quiet.

Sunday 27 November 2005

Conversation #1

Driving through traffic on our way out for the day when David says... 'Don't we see a lot of 8 wheeled vehicles here!'
Pennie thinks for a while then gets the giggles... 'David I don't think I've noticed a single 8 wheel vehicle!'
David is amazed and promptly points out at least three 8 wheel vehicles in the lanes around us.
Poor David, I'm never going to get it am I?

'333' then Camden Lock.

Sunday morning we woke very late as we’d been up till 3am talking and seeing the family at ‘333’ where they’d gathered for a birthday lunch for Gwilym. How lovely it was to see them all and we weren’t jealous as it was wet and windy in Turramurra… but then they told us what they were having for lunch!! Fresh Oysters then Moreton Bay Bugs, Prawns and Barramundi cooked on the Barbeque… and for dessert I’d ordered a basket of Floral Fruit which looked absolutely spectacular and I’m told was delicious with the fruit all ripe and yummy!

My how Jackson Harry has grown tall and he was quite chatty as well, I think he’s grasped the idea of just where we are… we were sitting in Tom’s living room with Tom (Abi and Emma were sound asleep upstairs)… Jack was staying here himself just last year.

How incredible it is to be able to talk and see them all at ‘333’ for as long as we like for free… our grandchildren are growing up in a very different world as far as communication is concerned. After we’d walked home we were so hyped up and excited we couldn’t get to sleep, so stayed up reading till 3!

Anyway… We didn’t want to stay in bed all day so caught the tube and a single decker bus (a Dennis) to Camden Lock. The is the place to go for your Piercing and Tattoos, for the weirdest clothes imaginable, for cheap souvenirs, for great street food, for a decent pint of beer, for antiques, for your Australian Soap LOL and a fun day out. The streets and stalls were packed solid with people but all in a good mood even though it was freezing. I believe it’s quieter during the week but the buzz and friendliness was terrific on a busy Sunday.

The Locks themselves were fascinating, this used to be a big industrial area and the locks were the only way goods were bought in and out… now it’s market stalls and some very classy apartment buildings. A lot of the Antique Shops are permanent and under the arches of the Railway lines and there are a few small apartments up above the shops… John Lennon once lived here. The Horse Hospital was interesting with a big cobbled curved ramp up to it… now it’s full of Antiques which I would have loved to bought but…

We saw many Punks and I don’t know whats! The photo of the two sitting on the Railing was taken from across the road with my telephoto… they wanted £1.00 if you took their photo.

Camden Locks
On the way home, Green Lanes seen from the top of our bus.
Almost home, Wood Green High Street.

Thursday 24 November 2005

Workshop Manual.

Albion model CX19 Gearcase. To Dismantle and Inspect.
Remove top gearcase cover……. No, look, if you need it ring me.
Before getting near any such gear case there needed to be a few intermediate steps. I turned up on Friday at Kings Cross Station, reserved ticket in hand, and was thrilled to find that unwittingly I had booked myself on the 10 AM Edinburgh Express, still known 70 years later as The Flying Scotsman. (Just to confuse, ONE of the locos once used to draw it is called ‘Flying Scotsman’, after a racehorse I believe).
At 2.38PM precisely we arrived at Edinburgh Waverley, 640 km in 4.5 hours. It FLIES. And by 3.20 I was in Dunfermline, for the Scottish Bus Museum, being met by Jasper Pettie who owns or has a finger in 12 antique motor buses, mainly Guys, but also a Leyland TD5, just like my TD4 to listen to. AND he let me have a drive of it later: much needed because I have yet to really master the gear changing in mine. There are two schools of thought; the rapid change and the slow change advocates.
Also at the museum resides Sydney Albion no. 1877, (mine is 1892, yet they are only two chassis numbers apart, due to the mixing up that occurs in shipping and body building). 1877 is called “Sydney” here, which suffices to distinguish it --all the other buses come from Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) or Western SMT, McGill’s, Alexanders of Falkirk, Glasgow Corporation, etc.---. It is getting a massive rebuild, new framing, panels, engine, gearbox, steering, all new tyres, you name it. Because it is the only model CX19 in the country, it is greatly prized in the land of its creation. Glasgow had heaps but they were all scrapped before the preservation movement got into its stride. The chasses were built at Scotstoun, only a mile or two upstream from Clydebank where the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth (I) were built. I felt as if I was visiting a sacred site when we were taken to South Street where the huge Albion Motors works used to be, during the Albion Tour in September.
After some hearty male bonding over a steering box and gearbox, on a freezing cold day (about –3 deg. outside) we had lunch. I was asked would I be wanting a haggis pie; sensing a small test of intestinal fortitude I said yes please; after all any pie is just a pale shadow of its main constituent. When did you last have a meat pie that tasted like a freshly barbecued steak? Haggis pie, Scottish Bridies, steak pies and tea. I LOVE haggis pie---after all it’s just oatmeal plus lamb mince now, (they aren’t allowed to use offal any more) topped with potato and parsnip mash. For heat we were lucky (Davie Philp brought it from his workshop) to have a mini jet engine, running on diesel, see gearbox photo, top right. It blasts hot air at you and sets fire to your clothes if you get too close.
I have never pulled down a gearbox of any sort--- it was a learning curve, but Davie and John both once ran their own trucking companies so had some idea of where to start, plus some serious gear for undoing large bits which had been tightly together for forty years. From parts of the original Sydney gearbox and an identical Albion truck gearbox we now have an as-new box, from which will emanate the magic sounds that CX19s produce.
The amazing thing is that there are people all over the world to whom this sound appeals, plus plenty to whom it doesn’t. But then lots of people pay to hear Barry Manilow sing.
On the train back, armed with new knowledge, I paid particular attention as we left Grantham and passed by a village called Little Bytham. Here in 1938, a train hauled by “Mallard” (another racehorse namesake, I think) set the still unbroken record for steam of 126 miles per hour, also on the Edinburgh / Kings Cross express. I felt I had been over historic ground for quite some days.
Back at Kings Cross at 4.49 PM (due in at 4.48), I flourished my newly acquired ‘Oyster Card’ at the tube turnstile, which deducted the fare from the card, and let me into the bowels of the earth to be whisked back to Wood Green in 15-20 minutes.
And it was my birthday: for dinner darling Penelope had rustled up casseroled lamb shanks, Emma had bought a bottle of French claret, and some care parcels from Australia needed to be opened. Tired but happy I retired to the cot, the central heating doing its thing properly now, and I wonder if we’ll ever want to come home? Oh dear, more decisions!
Editors Note:- LOL… you are joking of course! Ed.

Kings Cross Station.

New Frame

John & Paul

Chassis painted

Wednesday 23 November 2005

Jackson Harry...

Gwilym has taught Jackson Harry to find photos of trains on the Internet... he looks very absorbed doesn't he! :-) JH is on my computer in the Office at '333', for those who are wondering that is an old London Transport Destination Roll turned onto a blind.

Congratulations to Emily!!


Emily finished Uni... Hip Hip Hurray!! Well Done Em, enjoy your champagne... love Pennie and David

What's Happening at '333'

Gwilym sent us these photos... doesn't everything look lovely and lush after all that wonderful rain.



Happy Birthday David!

It was David's Birthday yesterday and he had a really lovely one! Firstly a train trip from Edinburgh to Kings Cross Station, the tube to Turnpike Lane where Emma picked him up and bought him home to see his lovely wife who had missed him for 4 days and Abigail Rose who was playing with Pennie. Tom flew out to Singapore but managed a phone call from Heathrow.

Opening presents from Australia was fun and there were some from here as well then... what Pennie had been slaving over a hot stove with inadequate pots for... his favourite meal of all time... Lamb Shanks!!! Yummo! All in all a lovely day.

I didn't take a photo on the day but here is one of David doing what he most likes to do...

Baby it's Cold outside!!

Sunday 20 November 2005

The Hadhams

Tired of getting stuck in traffic no matter which route we head south on… to our old and familiar stamping grounds in Surrey and Sussex… but wanting to have a day in the Country we decide to head North thinking lunch in some delightful little pub in one of ‘The Hadham’s’ would make a nice day out, so off we set towards Bishop’s Stortford.

One of the first groups of people David introduced me to, just after we were married, were a group of people he’d met though an Aussie acquaintance friend, Justin! I remember staying at the beautiful home of these people and I also remember how much they looked down on us and made, me particularly, feel quite uncomfortable… (because we were ‘Colonials’ I guess) they talked about ‘The Hunt’, bitched about the locals and goodness knows what else… anyway we never saw them again thank goodness; in fact one of their group, one that we had both liked in fact, committed suicide about a year later.

We do remember they lived in Puckeridge a very beautiful part of the countryside so we headed that way via ‘The Hadhams’ driving thorough and admiring ‘Much Hadham’ then ‘Little Hadham’ both beautiful very old Villages on very narrow and in some cases one way streets and lanes with some houses made of old planks of timber, some with the upper storey rooms hanging over the footpath, (with no supports) plus some very beautiful Estates. We decided to have lunch in a Pub in Great Hadham so headed towards the sign that said ‘Great Hadham Golf Course’ it being the only sign to Great Hadham that we could find!! It’s a trick… there isn’t a Great Hadham!! There may have been at one stage but there is only a modern Golf Course now so we settled for a very comforting lunch in ‘The Bull’ in ‘Much Hadham’!

David almost caused me to have a heart attack when unexpectedly he sat up straight, hitting my leg and shouting out ‘Spellbrook’…

On the wall of our Family Room at home in Turramurra there is a Bus Stop sign with the destination ‘Spellbrook’ on it and no matter what reference guide or index David looked up he couldn’t find out what county ‘Spellbrook’ was in… so great excitement we’d found it hidden in the depths of Hertfordshire near ‘The Hadhams’. Spellbrook isn’t even a village but it did have a sort of very small and light industrial look about it… nothing to write home about really but there I go… I’ve done just that!!

Looking at the map we decided we had to head home via Essendon, we had to see what it was like for our Aussie friends Bonnie and Graeme from Bendigo who are the biggest Essendon fans we know (for Non Aussie readers… Essendon is a Victorian, Australian Rules Football Team… The Sydney Swannies are the 2005 Champs though! ) Wow! What a classy Village Essendon in Hertfordshire is!! I’ll bet there are a few London Stock Brokers living here… all in all a delightful day.

Saturday 19 November 2005

It's Cold...

It's exciting! Tonight is going into the Minus... only -1c though, the last few days have been bright and sunny with a maximum of 8c which is wonderful for getting about and seeing things. I see Sydney is expecting 30c today! The Sun is up around 7.30 am here but sets by just after 4 pm, our beds are lovely and cosy, the central heating works well as does the heating in the car so what more could we ask for eh??

David caught the train to Edinburgh for four days of Bus stuff... he had a great journey.

It's 10:15pm, Tom has his coal fire roaring and he and Emma are watching a phone-a-thon thing called 'Children in Need'... over £17 million has been raised so far... very impressive eh!

I'm going to walk home now :-)

Okay!!! I'm Over IT!!

I am joking and this email is TIC (Tongue in Cheek) but… I need to either kick somebody or something and that would mean I would either break something or myself so I’m going to have a real RANT instead.

Yesterday I was up early so I could pick up Tom and Abigail from the Station; Emma had gone straight to work from their flight back from Dubai. The car was covered in not only bird poop, it was also covered in ice… so back to the house for a jug of warm water to remove the ice from the windscreen and then off… only to be stuck in the traffic which turned a 5 min trip into a 20 min one… it didn’t matter because Tom’s train was late… somehow after thinking Tom had seen me as I waved and opened the boot of the warmed up car… he hadn’t so by the time I realized this he’d decided to walk and was so far away he couldn’t hear me calling him. I jumped back into the car thinking I would catch him up but soon remembered I didn’t know this side of Westbury Avenue so ended up going around in circles and coming back to where I’d started a couple of times… anyway I did find a landmark and made it to Tom’s just as he was opening his front door. Then he opened his mail and one of the letters was for me………. A £100 fine for being in a Bus Lane…. Don’t tell me not to convert, this is big money we’re talking about… $A234 in fact!! I remember what I did now, it was a quiet morning and David jumped out of the car to buy some Portuguese Tarts to take to our friends and I waited with the engine running watching in the rear vision mirror for any bus that may be coming.

Tom and Abigail went to bed so I went home and burst into tears, David was lovely and read the small print which said if the fine was paid within 14 days it would only cost £50 so he immediately filled in the Credit Card details and we posted it off on our way for a day in Hertfordshire (more on this later).

Today… after promises from Bulldog to be at ‘188’ between the hours of 8.30 am and 1 pm in the form of three snail mails plus a DVD, booklet and modem, one SMS, three phone calls and more than 3 emails they didn’t turn up!!!!! This is after telling us they would fine us £60 if we weren’t in… we’ve already paid them £60 almost 6 weeks ago.

I rang at 1.30 pm to be told the lines were busy so call back later… I rang another number and was told that they’d emailed us at 4:30pm yesterday to say BT had cancelled… I wasn’t a very nice person I’m afraid! Firstly Bulldog wouldn’t talk to me because it was David who had rung them even though it was me they had all their correspondence with… Humph!! I wasn’t having any of that and after 10 frustrating minutes all I could get was that it was BT that cancelled and Bulldog can’t do anything till BT put the line on. I tried ringing BT but my mobile told me I only had 21p left even though we’d put £25 on two days ago and only made a couple of short calls…. So off to the High Street and Vodaphone who tell me… oh hell I don’t know what they told me I’m off to bed!

P.S. We don’t want to call it quits even though we only have 16 weeks left, we want the convenience of being able to search the Net when we think of it, Skype when we want and Blog when we want to at home and not have to write ourselves notes to remember to do it at Tom’s. I’m calling BT first thing in the morning!!!

Thursday 17 November 2005

Happy Birthday Meredith!


It's my sister Meredith's birthday today, she's six years younger than me and lives in Perth... I hope you have a lovely day Merry! David, Tom, Emma, Abigail Rose and Penelope Jane can't wait to see you and Bill when you arrive just after Christmas!

Wednesday 16 November 2005

Another day in London.

Wood Green High Street and Billboard!
We spent another day in London, it's so easy catching a tube but today David wanted me to see a different Bus route!! Mmmmmm So we caught the #29... its two way radio broke down so we all had to get off only a couple of stops from where we got on... one passenger was heard to complain to an Official that Drivers shouldn't be listening to the radio they should be driving the bus!! LOL The next bus broke down at Mornington Crescent Station so we ditched buses and walked down 86 steps to the Tube then changed tubes for Kensington South! This took 2 hours, if we'd caught the tube from Wood Green it would have taken less than 45 mins including walking time!! mmmmmm
Albert Hall was top on my list and it is indeed more beautiful than I remember... I think we only drove past it last time we lived here so this time we walked all around it and took this photo because it isn't the traditional shot and it shows off the beautiful apartments in all the back streets. I'm so excited... we bought tickets... what for do you imagine? Bryn Terfel - Nah we aren't that rich! Proms? Nah! Messiah? Love to but we are already booked that night... we have two tickets for the first day of the Masters Tennis!! Can you believe they can turn the beautiful Albert Hall into a Tennis venue?? Incredible eh? We can't wait!



We both spent some time in the Science Museum, David 2 hours more than me, after I'd walked up and down every floor and seen more than interested me I crossed the road to the Victoria and Albert and enjoyed my time in the Rocco section... WOW!!
We caught the TUBE back to Wood Green and in 30 mins we were on the High Street and looking at the view greeting us... the moon shining over our street at 5 pm at night !

Tuesday 15 November 2005

A Day in the Country.

Arnos Grove
Inside Southgate
Inside Southgate
When I was a lad, aged about 12 I guess, I was given some of the books in “The Things We See” series of beautifully produced large format lithograph soft cover paperbacks. I lost one, but I still have “Ships” and “Public Transport”, by Christian Barman. Years later I learned he worked for London Transport, under the martinet Frank Pick, who made it the world’s greatest mass transit system, emulated and watched by all, including Joe Stalin who got Pick’s advice in planning the Moscow Metro.
The cover picture was a brand new Piccadilly Line tube train, destination ‘Cockfosters’, which was thereafter always in the back of my mind as A Place To Go. And as it is only five stations up the line from Wood Green it begged to be visited. Armed only with Tom’s camcorder and a Tube Pass for zones 2 to 6, I set off on Monday, but not before having digested, “The Subterranean Railway”, a history of London’s many competing underground railways from 1860 to the present.
This had told me that on the Piccadilly Line, ‘our’ tube, were to be found a series of the Charles Holden railway stations, commissioned by Pick, in the days when the UndergrounD group was a private company, with a chairman and chief executive who both believed that at bottom, the Underground was a benefit to society, not just a money earner for the shareholders. (It never ever paid a decent dividend from train operation).
His stations were each said to be the finest piece of architecture in the suburb it served, so I alighted at the intermediate stops, Bounds Green, Arnos grove, Southgate, and Oakwood and delighted to find a Holden station at each one. They are easily distinguished by their high towers enclosing the the entrance concourse—which may be circular or rectangular, and are wholly devoted to providing a gigantic skylight over the station foyer, with entrances on all sides, ticket offices, information and sometimes small shops around the interior perimeter, funnelling into the entrance gates which take you to the escalators. These are in tubular shafts lit by Holden’s distinctive upturned trumpet or tulip lamps which reflect off the white ceiling giving a marvellous feeling of welcome to what are really deep holes in the ground, with trains crashing through every 3 or 4 minutes.
After the minor disappointment of the Enfield Lock expedition, I wasn’t hoping for too much from Cockfosters. But the line emerged to above ground after Bounds Green and became increasingly countrified, which boded well. Cockfosters station is bang on busy Cockfosters Road, but over the road was a small bus station with a solitary gent, smoking, and doing The Times Crossword. Now if you hope for directions to a pleasant country pub for lunch (it was now 1.30 PM) you don’t ask a Rasta or a likely lad reading the Sport section of the Sun. This man thought a moment and pointed to the left with his biro, and said “on the left up there, past the sportsground”.
Faintly visible about 300 yards off up a lane was ‘The Cock and…..’(obscured by tree). The Cock and Dragon exceeded all expectations. A pint of Black Horse bitter set the tone (it’s not strong, honestly; about 3.5%), and a hot jacket potato with beans and bacon was so huge that it needed another pint, this time of Adnams bitter, to wash it down. It is important to try all these—one day the perfect bitter will emerge. So far King and Barnes Sussex Ale is doing well, but when I get to Scotland on Friday I will be able to try Deuchar’s again. It came up early on, during the Albion Bus Tour, when my critical faculties were not switched into “Bitter Ale” mode.
And then back to the station and some impromptu “interviews” with tube drivers changing ends for the trip back to Heathrow some 90 minutes away. I could now drive a tube train if my life depended on it, and I satisfied my curiosity about the drivers’ being shut away under ground for long periods: yes they do worry about lack of sunlight and the vitamin D question.

Abigail Rose... here is the Beautiful Abigail Rose

Mummy's Home... Abi is always happy to see her Mummy.
Gotcha Mummy, now come on lets do stuff.
Yummy! My first bone... my Great Grandmother Rose will be pleased but I still have a lot to learn about cleaning a bone as well as she can.

Grandmother Pennie has got me intrigued, how did she get these little pieces to make a diamond?? More to learn here as well I think.

Monday 14 November 2005

What's happening...

Emma flew to Dubai with Abigail early yesterday morning, Emma has a good job organizing a routine for an Aerial Act, the money is impossibly enormous with all expenses paid but who will look after Abi? Tom did a Three Waiters gig last night at Leeds Castle in Kent (http://www.leeds-castle.com/) and flew out early this morning to play with Abi and hopefully they will all enjoy a little holiday as well. I'm listening to Libby Gore on Radio 702 and playing with the Internet. We are getting a phone number and Broadband on this Friday which will make our lovely little home complete. Yippee!
David has gone off with Tom's video camera to film the Underground, I told him to ask permission just in case they think he is a terrorist planning his next move. Friday... David is off to Scotland to help or play or maybe even work on the Sydney Bus they are restoring and he's looking forward to that enormously. I will be sorting out Christmas Cards methinks... I have my first one already.

BTW Peter S and all you Lamb Shank lovers out there, I found fresh Lamb Shanks last week... you can buy them already cooked sometimes but fresh ones have been impossible to find... they cost £2.45 each... they were meaty but small and that's... and I know I mustn't convert BUT that's... $A5.84 EACH... just for ONE Shank that is!!

Well... Libby is talking to Shannon Lush about cleaning out the fridge so I think I will go and do that to Tom and Emma's... I do wonder why so many people are up and calling in when it's 3 am in Sydney!!

Weather... & Tom's back yard update.

I know you are all interested to know what the weather is like over here… well it has only just this week got a bit of a chill in the air. Most of October and November have been much milder than usual so autumn hasn’t been as spectacular as we were hoping, there has been plenty of rain but it’s never dampened our excursions or wet us too much and our little home is cosy with double glazing and central heating. I’ve only just bought a waterproof coat.

When we arrived in September it was far too hot for us although everyone we met was loving it, I for one couldn’t wait for the cold… well at last it happened on last night… I left ‘188’ around 5pm to walk the 7 minutes to Tom’s and wondered why everyone was rugged up with coats and scarfs… far too soft these Poms, I reckoned till I’d walked a couple of blocks and realized just how cold I was in my cotton skivvy and light woollen vest but it was a brisk walk and Tom and Emma’s was nice and cosy and the evening walk home wasn’t too bad either.

What we have had has been an abundance of wonderfully sunny clear days…the sort of days that make you want to rush outside and do something… it’s all wonderful!

The max temp today is 6c and the min last night was 3c so at last it's getting colder.

Here is an update from Tom's upstairs window...
A nice sunny day and the vine on the back fence has lost it's leaves, you can see more of the park showing through now.
Tom has bought a Shed, David and he spent a couple of hours putting it together and it's filling up fast.

Sunday 13 November 2005

Happy Birthday Dad!


It’s my Dad’s 89th Birthday today.
Happy Birthday Dad and Pa and Rip Rodd!
Have a good day we miss you very much.

This photo was taken just over a year ago when Dad and Mum celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary… don't they look great for a couple in their 80's?

Saturday 12 November 2005

Harringey Council

Wood Green is in the London Borough of Harringey. It is a very large Council area covering very posh areas as well as the not so posh… Wood Green is about middle of the poshness. As tenants we have to pay Council Tax we don’t know how much yet but are told to expect about a £400 bill.

This week we received a Residents Update which is full of very positive results as well as many very positive promises… here are a few of the results…

£1 million invested in road and pavement improvements.

Libraries issue 1.3 million books and Haringey the only UK library service with full ‘wi-fi’ access.

Four main Harringey parks awarded ‘Green Flag’ status.

Healthy Food: A parent-fun café opened as part of £450,000 investment in creating early years, family support and community facilities in Noel Park. (This is brilliant and is half way between Tom and us, it has a wonderful play area for little people just like Abigail Rose… Emma takes Abi a couple of times a week so she can play with other kids.)

52 Crack Houses closed this year.

Am I the only person absolutely gob smacked by this statement! It was just slipped in the middle of the Crime report but yesterday while I was up the High Street there it was in big black letters on a white Billboard in pride of place right on the High Street. I am very glad 52 Crack Houses have been closed down but??? Is that all of them??? How come 52 managed to start up in the first place??? Was one of them in that messy house further up Moselle Avenue??? Oh well! I guess none of my friends can say their local Councils have closed down 52 Crack Houses in the past 12 months! I bet Ku-ring-gai Council can’t.

Update on the Man across the Road.

The truck continues to fill up with never ending rubbish, it sits in our road for sometimes days at a time, today it has a trailer on the back and has just driven off, (it’s 11am Saturday) The thing is… it never comes back empty!
Yesterday I was heading up to the High Street and noticed two men in a doorway a couple of blocks and a couple of streets away when I heard a nice clear ‘Hello!’ I looked around and it was my man, I didn’t recognize him away from my Street :-)
Later that evening he was walking towards me with a younger man when he said ‘ello Darlin’ At first I didn’t believe what I'd heard and might have taken offence if he hadn’t added, ‘Awright then!’ I realized he was speaking Cockney!
Now don’t call me a racist but I’ve been having a giggle every time I hear ‘Aright then!’ coming from the Kurds next door when most of them can hardly speak English and now ‘ello Darlin’ from the Man across the road. I know you have to be there but it gets me chuckling for ages after!
We have a mystery though…as we passed, the young man turned back and said, ‘He made your stairs’ I smiled and said, ‘Yes he did!’ But I lie because I asked Kenny about that and he says he doesn’t even know my Man and he didn’t make my stairs!!!

P.S. Kenny's Plumber just left, (we needed a new valve in our Boiler) and as he was leaving he saw my Man and they waved... do you know him David asked, 'Oh yes I know him very well' and off he went to greet him... bugger I didn't have a chance to ask the Plumber if he organized my Man to put in the stairs!! I can't imagine the Plumber doing that but????? BTW they are dreadful stairs and still scary to walk up or down.

Friday 11 November 2005

How David spent Guy Fawkes Day.

One day I’m going to be too old and feeble to hoist myself into the cab of a double decker, and remember in each make where the pilot switch is, and where reverse gear is, and the engine stop control, so a couple of years ago I had a brainwave, in the shower as is my wont. The Albion Video was the result, so I now have a record of a Sydney Albion double decker doing a run from Wynyard to Newport Beach and back, on what was its old stamping ground, until 1970. I can watch it at my leisure… sitting down. My other secret desire was to make a Dennis Loline Video, so when I knew we were coming to the UK for six months I almost immediately put my plan into action.

Many years ago, after arriving on the liner “Southern Cross” at Southampton Docks I made my way to my friend Peter Waugh’s home in Guildford, Surrey, where I was met at the door by Aunty Nellie who was kind enough to lend me £20… which amazes me now as she had never met me, I was out of money until I managed to get to London and the Bank of New South Wales in Sackville Street, and somehow this kind Aunt of Peters coughed up the dosh for this eager Aussie.

Being very excited about arriving in England for the first time I took my first walk down Farnham Road where to my amazement I saw an ad. on the side of a dark green double decker bus, “Drivers and Conductors Wanted”---- it said. What luck! These people would give me a proper English double decker and pay me to drive it! I signed up the next day, underwent training by the Aldershot and District Traction Company (the ‘Tracco’, the men called it), and passed not only my PSV (Public Service Vehicle) licence but also my British driving licence in one go… in the bus! The company instructor must have had a word with the Ministry examiner, because some people have been known to fail their driving test up to 74 times, maybe they were desperate for drivers.

The buses in question were Dennis Lolines--- a truly remarkable vehicle I now realise—only 13’6” high (others are about 14’4”) yet having full-height centre aisles in both decks achieved by a very complex chassis, drive line and rear axle arrangement. They were the most economical double deckers ever built—up to 17 mpg in country service, able to carry 68 passengers in leather and velvet seats, and 9 standing. The economy came from a Gardner diesel engine and a very unusual five-speed constant-mesh gearbox. (To get really boring, all speeds were indirect ratios, 5th being an overdrive, and having to be driven like a “crash” gearbox, but due to the fact that all gears are in constant mesh, engaged by dog clutches, the gear change was very forgiving of slight errors in timing or engine revs. on the driver’s part).


David on the job in 1968 wearing the jumper Pennie knitted him.
The routes were through English countryside of overwhelming beauty, thatched cottages, tile hung cottages, half-timbered (real Tudor) houses and pubs with names like The Grantley Arms, The Withies, The Mucky Duck and The Red Lion, with others being local runs to Guildford suburbs. My all-time favourite was rte 24 to Petersfield, 24 miles out through villages, towns, wooded country, and rolling downs, past the Devil’s Punch Bowl and ending up in Hampshire not far from Portsmouth.

Not surprisingly there is a lot to get nostalgic about. With the aid of the internet I had about a year ago got to know of ADBIG—the Aldershot and District Bus Interest Group, and joined it as their only foreign member. Within the group were owners of Dennis Lolines: some preserved, others restored and running. By a series of coincidences I met Bill Tutty, owner of Dennis Loline III (ie. the third variant on the theme) fleet number 503, which had been based at the company’s Guildford garage, and therefore one which I would certainly have driven 38 years ago. I sent Bill a copy of The Albion Video, hoping desperately that he might agree it was worthwhile making a similar video about the Loline. He agreed.

As the bus is stored at Cranleigh, it made sense to do a run over the former route 23, Ewhurst Bulls Head to Guildford Bus Station, via Cranleigh, Shamley Green, Wonersh, Bramley and Shalford. (Yes, good pubs in all the above serving Real British Bitter Ales).

Last Saturday, November 5th, was the big day. The TV forecast promised high winds and driving rain all day—hell! But the following day Bill was off to Madeira for two weeks holidays and after that the chances are even worse of any fine weather, so it pretty much had to be the 5th. I always leave weather to Pennie: if she says it will be fine it will be. The day dawned clear and sunny and stayed that way all day, as the video will show.

If we carried no more than eight passengers, Bill’s insurance would permit a foreigner with NSW licence and NSW Bus Driver’s Approval to operate the bus, so friends and enthusiasts were able to come as “extras” to give authenticity, Bill drove out of Cranleigh to Ewhurst where we changed Drivers and I then sat in the cab of a Loline for the first time since 1969.

Despite the height limitations the designers at Dennis Brothers Guildford (the fire engine people) did a superb job—the driving position is high with clear vision up, down, over the engine bonnet left and cab windows right. (On the Bristol Lodekka, a basically identical vehicle, the driver has to crouch to see under the headframe of the windscreen). The gearshift lever, flasher switch and the valve for the air-operated front sliding door fall naturally to hand, and the foot controls are not tangled up with steering column, handbrake lever and front mudguard. There is no power steering but the wheel is raked back quite dramatically at 45 deg. making it easy to push-pull around. The old “Tracco” drivers loved their Lolines, I read years later. One of their most endearing traits is a delicious high-pitched whine from the gearbox when you engage overdrive 5th gear, at 30 mph or above. (They will do 65 mph I believe but I have never tested this).

I set off from The Bulls Head, nervous as a cat with an audience of enthusiasts listening to every gearchange and a presumably anxious owner, hoping I would not leave the gearbox on the road. Getting back into the swing of keeping an 8ft. bus on the right (left) side of a narrow country lane came back very quickly, gear changes went smoothly and confidence returned until I took a wrong turn just out of Cranleigh and knew I’d done it instantly. One seven point turn later we were back on track. In a spirit of mischief, but also because stopping and starting off again lets you hear the lovely sounds of Gardner engine and Dennis gearbox more often, I took to stopping to let cars pass and see if David (The Connie) knew where we were, to call out “Shamley Green, The Red Lion” on cue. He got it every time.

Bill took over at Shalford Station, to take us through the intricacies of the Guildford one-way system, now changed time and again. At Shalford, as arranged, my old mate Peter Waugh had got away from his car hire business, armed with his real Aldershot and District bus stop sign, which he’d mounted on a handy post. He hailed us down, and Bill stopped! To my surprise he later stopped to pick up other passengers, a grandmother with her two-year-old granddaughter, a lady going shopping, and an elderly lady, saying if I didn’t tell Arriva (now the local operator) he wouldn’t. Granddaughter later pressed the conductors bell and celebrated her first ride on a Tracco bus. It was certainly deja vue for granny, but she was almost jumping for joy. The authenticity of the film was greatly enhanced! Later, on the return to Cranleigh yard, we picked up five teenagers who wanted to go into Cranleigh from Ewhurst: they were suitably cool about it and heard to say on their way upstairs… “We will have more money to spend now”, we couldn’t pick up fare paying passengers, but I wonder if they felt all that comfortable when told the driver was an Australian tourist!

Pennie on camera succeeded in shooting 2 1/4 hours of raw footage of excellent quality leaving scope to distil it into a one hour DVD, to be edited professionally for sale.

Bill’s regular conductor David, whose father had been a Tracco Connie, was superb. He came dressed in full 1950’s uniform of trousers, jacket, tie, cap, badge, cash bag, the lot, plus the real Setright ticket machine, and at every stop he would call out in a rich baritone (say) “Bramley and Wonersh Station”, and ring the conductor’s bell for takeoff, calling “Oldverytightnowplease” which translated from a strong West Surrey accent says “Hold very tight now Please”. It’s all on tape and once you know what he’s saying you hear it perfectly.

Thankyou Bill, David and Pennie, and to John Hutchinson of Amersham and District Motorbus Society for (unwittingly) ensuring that I met Bill Tutty. I was in seventh heaven.And when we got home after lunch and a pint in the Bricklayers Arms at Shamley Green, Wood Green sounded as if the London Blitz was on again--- you can still buy fireworks anywhere here, for months before Guy Fawkes Night. I wonder all of our neighbours still have all their limbs.

Thursday 10 November 2005

Ministering to my Flock... by David

Frequently when I am out and about in Wood Green I am asked for directions, I must have an appearance which convinces people that I will know: or is it something about tan shoes and not sneakers that tips the balance? In two days I was asked three times for advice: first an old gentleman with a very old copy of the A to Z (Gregory’s for London) wanted Palace Gates Road: he was within a whisker but just on the wrong side of the railway line, which his very old map did not show. I took a punt, as Alexandra Palace is the big landmark around here, and said to go over the railway, and looking at his map we found the road over the line became his street further on.
I had gone to Alexandra Palace Station to collect from the nearby Wood Green post delivery office a parcel for Pennie, but I left it too late and the office closed at 12.30, and her indoors was not pleased so I had to go back the next day. On the walk up I noticed Bradley Road, and wondered if it might be a shortcut up to the station. I decided not, but within fifteen minutes I encountered a young mum with pram and child looking perplexedly at her A to Z. Feeling very confident I asked could I help: she wanted Bradley Road! Two happy members of the congregation.
Within five minutes a truckie pulled up, a container delivery from Harwich Docks, wanting Coburg Road. He had his computer print out of the Internet sat. nav. thing but it was hopeless because it left out whole chunks of intermediate streets, including the road he was now on. When it said turn right into Park Road, it hadn’t actually told you what street you would be on to do that. I had seen Coburg Road, vaguely, some weeks ago, while trying to find the Woolworths rear entrance to collect our £29.99 microwave. I pointed him in the direction of a distant gasometer and said, “No promises, ask when you get nearer”. Being subject to occasional bouts of conscientiousness, I checked later in my A to Z and found I had put him on the right track: Coburg Road leads off the road I sent him down!
Lest you imagine that I am limited to destinations in the vicinity of Alexandra Palace, I was at Wood Green tube the other day, returning from my expedition to see the Veteran Cars leave Hyde Park Corner for the annual run to Brighton, when a young man asked the tube staff where was the Library. She didn’t know, so I had to step in. However pride is said to come before a fall: if I am not careful I could end up sending somebody to Stratford in East London (a demolition site in readiness for the Olympics) when what they really want is Stratford to see about the Bard.
Those religious people get it wrong all the time about the End of the World, you know.

Wednesday 9 November 2005

Hello Hello...

Hello Everyone,

I have just put a few postdated Blogs and photos onto this diary of ours... I hope you enjoy them.

Plus... I've been reminded that I've hardly mentioned Tomos, Emma and Abigail Rose in my stories and the 'remindee' want's more because, after all... this is the real reason we are here so I will get my act together take some more photos and tell you all what they are up to in the next few days.

Jackson Harry has Tonsillitis :-( one of my parcels has arrived, all the Tractor Tom toys are being adored as I type, isn't that lovely :-)

For those of you who haven't seen it in the Sydney Press... the Bus and Truck Museum at Tempe has been saved, David is absolutely delighted of course and I'm sure he will want to tell you all when he knows more.

I got quite a surprise this morning, turned on the television and there was 'Premier Iemma Member for Lakemba' speaking about the arrest of the suspected terrorists... this is the first time I've seen Australia in the Press except for Sport... it had to be bad news didn't it... hang on... it might be good news in fact.

It's late, I'm off to bed, cheers Pennie

Our Postmistress.

Just around the corner we have a small Post Office come a-little-bit-of-everything-shop… except it's really an exactly-what -you-don't- want-shop... it has this weird door that says is automatic but you have to push it open… it opens further than you push then it shuts its self very, very slowly, every time I am in the Post Office someone tries to shut the door and the Post Master calls ‘Don’t touch the door’ over and over in his Indian accent… it’s a weird door. Once a dog got in and the Post Master almost had a heart attack… ‘Get that Dog out, Get that DOG out… whose dog is it, who’s is that dog?’ I was feeling quite nervous even though it wasn’t my dog! Both Post Master and Post Mistress are behind safety glass and you don’t even give them what you want to post… you put it on the scales on your side of the glass and then slip your money under a slot, they return your stamps and change then you put your posting into a sack on your side of the glass… I have a feeling bells would go off and shutters would come down if someone tried to be naughty.

We went in there together once after getting a thing in the letterbox saying we need to get a TV Licence… which we still haven’t got because the PO doesn’t give them for less than 12 months and we don’t want to pay for a whole year when we only have 18 weeks left… we have to phone apparently and we only have a mobile which has been costing us a lot.

A couple of weeks ago I went in to post a parcel to Jackson Harry, the Post Mistress, of Indian origin, was very inquisitive but very helpful and we did our business with lots of smiles and nodding.

One week later I go in to post another parcel to Jackson Harry… we do miss him so… the first thing the Post Mistress says to me is… ‘Do you live around here? Do you LIVE around here?? ‘
‘Yes, just around the corner’ I reply.
‘Do you LIVE… HERE??’ She repeats!
I explain about Tom, Emma and Abi and about the little house we are renting and then she says… ‘Do you Like it around here?’ Do you LIKE it around here?????’
I nod and smile and say yes… she is incredulous! ‘DO YOU LIKE it around HERE???’
‘YES it’s a nice little place’ I confirm.
I don’t think she’s deaf, just mystified… I don’t know what views she has of Australians, probably what she’s seen on Neighbours and Home and Away.

Then… ‘Do you drive?’ I say yes, she replies with ‘Do YOU?’ Yes… oh dear have I done something wrong? ‘Do you have a car?’ Yes we do… She raises her eyebrows. ‘You bought a car and you DRIVE!’

I am trying not to laugh but am at the same time becoming just a tad interested in why she’s firing all these questions at me…
‘Do you have Insurance?’ is the next question… when I say yes she looks most crestfallen!
Then she says… ‘Our Christmas Stamps are in!’ Oh good I say.
‘How many do you want?’ she fires at me.

I think she is trying for the title of ‘Salesperson of the Year!’ Now I can’t wait to post another parcel.

Monday 7 November 2005

Old Friends...


Hitting the North Circular once again we are heading back south to spend the day with friends we met 37 years ago. We met Peter and Sue Swiss before they were married and while they were on their first date… Peter was a friend of John Savage who I worked with in my first English job in 1968 at Reid and Campbell, a Fire Extinguisher Rental Company; I started work there just two weeks after we were married. We were unable to attend Peter and Sue’s wedding in early 1970 but they remember us sending them a Telegram from Dubrovnik in the old Yugoslavia where we were touring (and sleeping) in our old London Taxi cab at the time.

Peter became our English Dentist not only for us but also for our children when we returned to the UK in 1977; he firstly visited us in Australia in 1973 and has since visited us regularly every couple of years or so in his capacity as a consultant to the British Medical Defence Union.

It was lovely to visit their beautiful little Village of Warnham, near Horsham in Surrey once again, I almost found their home without help, we were actually in the street right beside their home and only 20 feet from the front gate when I doubted myself and gave them a ring. We enjoyed a brisk walk through some rather muddy lanes, a good warming lunch and sitting by the open fire while we poured over photos of their three beautiful little grand daughters, their grown up two sons and daughter-in-laws as well as a lot of photos from my lap top. Thanks for a really lovely day Peter and Sue.

Saturday 5 November 2005

David's Day...

The day David has been planning for weeks has arrived. He’s using up my promised one last Bus day so I’ve learnt how to use Tom’s movie camera and we drive down south to Cranleigh in Surrey, where one of the bus people David has met has promised to bring out his old Dennis Loline Double Decker Bus and re-enact one of the bus routes David used to drive in 1967. I forgot to take any photos as I was behind the movie camera for more than 2 hours of filming but others on the trip have promised to send us photos so I will let David tell you of his great day when we get those photos to scan onto out Blog.

Wednesday 2 November 2005

Up North...


David and I are just back from a last minute trip up north to Yorkshire... I will put up some photos and stories asap (we still don't have our own Broadband) but here are some names to tempt you.

Scotty & Lulu - M1 - Rugby - Leyland - Stainton - Penrith - Lilliput Lane - Arsygarth - Herriot Country - Kirkby Malzeard - Castle Howard - Gothland - Heartbeat - Whitby - Haworth - Bronte's - M1 - Wood Green!

I just downloaded lots of mail and realized that Melbourne Cup has come and gone without us knowing... how could we forget when we've spent the last 25 years either at lunches or organizing lunches... that's the Yorkshire Moors for you!

Haworth - Bronte Family

Leaving Kirkby Malzeard we are heading for Haworth, the home of the Bronte family and drive through Villages called… Winksley, Risplith, Bishop Thornton, Burnt Yates, Ripley (My Dad’s first name BTW) and Hampsthwaite but… I vote the next Village we drive though First Prize for ‘The Village with the Strangest Name!!’ The United Kingdom is full of delightfully quirky Village and Town names but this one wins hands down!

Blubberhouses!!! Now I ask you who would and why would anyone name a Village Blubberhouses?? It’s only a uninviting pub and a couple of houses but we do check out the Blubberhouses mine which is derelict, so not many people ever wanted to call Blubberhouses home eh?? We did ask someone where the name came from but although they had lived nearby all their life they didn’t know… I wish I could find out more.

Seeing a Steam Train sign, I do a quick right hand turn and we are in Embsay… what a find, this is a delightful little Railway Station with a terrific book and gift shop and they are gearing up for their Santa Trains that run for several weekends leading up to Christmas… they run their Thomas the Tank Engine train and each child gets a great gift from Santa, last year they gave away 1,000’s of gifts this year they are expecting even more children… I wish Jackson Harry were here.

Skipton for Morning Tea… the place is humming like no other Village we have seen… it’s Market Day! Actually the Markets run from Wednesday to Saturday every week, I buy a superior waterproof jacket for £20 and David buys a couple of very nice warm shirts at £12 for two… we are still proud of our buys but what we are proudest of all for finding is ‘Widows’ on DVD. I’ve been searching the Internet for years trying to find this old TV series but always come up - with ‘Not released on DVD or Video’ - and here we find it in the Markets in Skipton in the southern most corner of Yorkshire for only £7… now all we need is to get a free couple of evenings around at Tom’s to watch it, or maybe we’ll keep it till we get home.

Haworth… What a place, it’s just like being in an old movie… the whole Village has been kept as it was with all the streets cobbled and climbing up impossible hillsides, shops clinging to each other and just about every pub in the Village boasting that Branwell Bronte drank here… he was a bit of a lad we are led to believe by the Bronte Society who have turned the Parsonage into a most interesting Museum I am fascinated by it all and learn so much more about this very remarkable family, I also feel such compassion for Mr Bronte who managed to bring up 6 remarkable children and outlive them all… how sad!

Haworth was a destination for tourists while Charlotte Bronte was still living at the Parsonage and when Mr Bronte died in 1861 having been cared for by Charlotte’s husband, since she died in 1855 the Bronte’s furniture and goods were sold and bought by locals most of whom have donated or sold back their buys when the Bronte Society was founded in 1893… which makes walking through the Parsonage so very special knowing it is almost as it was when Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey were being written.
We now wend our way around large towns like Bradford and Leeds heading back to the M1 and eventually back to our dear little home in Wood Green. I manage to drive to the M1 but hand over the keys to David as I am now exhausted from our four day jaunt and I don’t usually get sick on straight Motor Ways… David does a brilliant job of driving through heavy rain as well as heavy traffic, promised detours that don’t eventuate… and I almost didn’t get sick!