Bus 141

What City is this?
Friday we took the 141 Red London Bus to London Bridge, it was better for seeing the sights than the faster Underground but what traffic chaos with cyclists and roadworks adding to the congestion. We did something we've never done before and that's walk over London Bridge along the south side to Tower Bridge along the city side of the Thames and back to London bridge pottering in and out of wonderful old sites and reading as many plaques as we could find.

I've put some photos onto Flickr for you to see, just click here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/50948815@N00/

Locherbie

While driving back to Glasgow from Penrith we decided to drop into Locherbie. I'd read an article recently about a play just written about the women of Locherbie who washed, ironed and gave back to the relatives every piece of clothing from the plane crash in 1988... it was a cleansing process.

Locherbie is a larger town than I thought surrounded by rich farmland with crops and livestock, the town is bustling and busy on a Saturday morning. There were no obvious signs of the disaster or a monument as we drove around the town it's just a town getting on with life... something the British do very well. I've since discovered there is a memorial at the towns Cemetery. I was glad we made the detour.

Housing Update...

We have found a little house to rent... No Real Estate Agents were interested in a 5 month lease but we offered to pay up front and found a newly renovated Terrace house. It's only a few blocks away from Tom, Emma and little Abigail Rose and is a smaller house than their home but perfect for the two of us. We need to aquire furniture but Tom and his friends are able to help so that's just about sorted and we hope to move in on Monday.

Tom is home and I was able to get my iBook connected and upload a few photos but you will have to go back down the Blog page to find them... there are more to come. Tom is off to Leeds tomorrow, Emma is teaching and I have another day to play with Abigail Rose.

Cheers Pennie

Happy Birthday Jackson Harry :-)

Jackson Harry is three years old today, he's already had a few quiet celebrations and now has a few more to come. Here he is at Luna Park.

Happy Birthday darling little boy, I hope you like your gift from us, we reckoned anything Thomas the Tank Engine would be appreciated so we hope you like the Maintenance Depot!!

We miss you every day... lots of love and hugs and cuddles from Pennie and David XXXXX

A long day

Yesterday we became a tad 'over it' we love everything except finding a place to stay each night... we've decided to stop calculating how much things cost in A$ and made a pact not to complain that petrol is sold in litres (around 90p) but the cars, road signs and distances are imperial! We've also decided not to whinge about getting a handful of Scottish Pounds in change when we know it is legal tender in England but not liked... we are a lot more on guard with our coins though a couple of times we've been done by being given Euro's instead of Pence, we think some Euro's which look like Pence are in fact not worth half what the pence would have been. So having got over it and stopped whinging we plan a big day for Friday.

We are in the birthplace of J M Barrie in an ancient town called Kirrimuir, the pub we stay in is straight out of some old set, the coach house is still there and the whole building shouts 100's and 100's of years long past. Glamis is not far away so we drive through and are blown away by the childhood home of the late Queen Mother, not only the Castle but the grounds, the out buildings and the town... everything is well maintained and looks peaceful and well off. Glamis Castle was also the setting for Shakespear's Macbeth.

We have decided to by pass all the big towns, pop back to Biggar where the Albion Archives are and head for Penrith where Lilliput Lane has there headquarters, I have a collection of 103 little houses in the Living Room and have always wanted to see the replica house they built, the workshops, the painting rooms and buy the little house one can only buy when visiting the workshops.

This is a little more than 100 miles of travel some of which is on motorway some back roads in weather that in mildly described as changable!! We start off in rain, then hit a veryheavy fog, more rain, cloud then the Sun comes out... heavy rain in Biggar and so on.

We drive back into England and find Lilliput Lane without a hitch but are 20 mins too late... they close up at 4:30 each day and don't open on the weekends... we have to get back to Glasgow to fly back to London on Sunday!!!!!!! Lilliput Lane isn't open again till Monday! Need I say there were a few tears shed !!! :-((( But we will return!

Just by luck we find the most beautiful hotel for the night in a little town called Stainton... Hello Ian and Corrie... it's something that you see photos of in Calendars, so the day ends not so unhappy!!!

Then... next morning... how wonderful it was to receive an SMS by my friend Kerry to say the Swans had beaten her team by 4 points... to be followed up by another SMS from Gwilym! Sydney must be jumping out of their socks and it sounded like a tight game.

Glasgow then London!!

Saturday we drive back north to Glasgow and visit friends Paul and Evelyn, the night before they tried to find us some accomodation near them and close to the Airport for our Sunday flight to London but to no avail... Monday is a public holiday in Scotland and almost everything is booked out. They do find us accomodation 20 minutes away from their home and very kindly direct us to not only check it out but again in the evening after a delightful meal and evening spent with them... and thank goodness they did I know we would have got lost many times. It is a pity that about 20 Liverpudlian Golfers were also staying at the hotel and didn't think it necessary to sleep so stayed up most of the night drinking and partying!

Evelyn meets us in the morning and leads the way to the Airport which is made complicated because a vital bridge is undergoing maintence. Thank you so much Evelyn and Paul we really enjoyed our two weeks on Scotland.

At the Airport we hand over our lovely bright blue Ford Fiesta which we did 1,120 miles in in 7 days and have an great short flight back to London, the plane came in over the north of London then banked to the right and along the Thames... we can see it all the Tower of London, Hyde Park, Houses of Parliment, Buckingham Palace the London Eye... what a sight!

How perfectly wonderful it is to be back with Tom, Emma and our adorable Abigail Rose... we really missed Emma's great cooking and hospitality and are now keen to find our own place nearby. Tom took off to Hong Kong a few hours after we arrived and I've just realized that he hasn't slept one single night in his home with us... he will be back on Wednesday morning before heading off to Leeds!

Pennan

Our first view of Pennan...setting for 'Local Hero'

The whole Village of Pennan.

The smallest home in Pennan.

The Phone Box!! not as it is in the Movie those buildings and cars certainly weren't there but it is opposite the Pub.

We did it... we did it... we made it to Pennan!! For 22 years I have wanted to visit Pennan, I didn't know where it was because all I had seen was the movie but from the first of at least 20 times I saw 'Local Hero' I've wanted to visit the town it was set in! We are staying in Nairn, in a wonderful little flat where we can cook and do our washing and today made the trip to Pennan... Very Big Sigh!!! It was all and much more than I was hoping it would be!

Local Hero is a movie about Knox Oil Company in Dallas wanting to set up a North Sea Oil Town in the North of Scotland, the boss (Burt Lancaster who is hardly in the movie thankfully) sends a guy called MacIntyre, (Mac) because he sounds Scottish but in fact is Jewish and had a name change... Mac is played by Peter Riegert?? The Scottish guy sent with him is played by Peter Capaldi, I've forgotten his name in the movie... Anyway Mac is trying to do a deal with this little Scottish Village to buy it, the whole Village wants to sell but is holding out for more money... The film is wonderfully quirky with some beautiful Characters and a film that has never been taken off the number one psition of my top ten most favourite movies!

After leaving towns like McDuff and Elgin and McBeth and Banff we are in very rural area much different to the West Coast of Scotland where it's hilly barren and very rugged. The road is two lane with a central marking but soon becomes just one lane... the North Sea is in front of us and down very steep cliffs... we are nowhere, there are no buildings in sight... nothing but soft green fields and the sea in front of us when the road does a sharp hairpin to the right then steeper than steep to another hairpin bend to the left... we can't see the road ahead but are in first gear winding down and down... slate roofs begin to appear... a walled boat harbour then white painted buildings in front and we drive on one lane between two buildings which we could touch if we each opened our windows and put our hands out... to the sea front. Turning left there is a sort of two lane road with the houses right on the road to our left and a sea wall walkway and the ocean to our right... parking is possible along this road so we do so and out we get. I am so excited!

The houses are white and small and although not actually joined to each other are very close... they are about two small rooms deep leaving only a couple of feet of yard to the shere cliff behind them... across the road and on the walkway are clothes lines some full of the days washing... it is a weird sight. The town is maybe 20 houses in all no shops but with one small pub, not the pub in the Movie but still very cute, we have to go in for some lunch and find the host and hostess... lets call them Gordon and Stella Urquhart as in the movie, they are a young Scottish couple just returned from living in Perth.... Australia!!! They have moved back home for good. We find the phone box where Mac called America and saw the Northern Lights and I ring Gwilym and Emily as their (our) phone number is the only one I remember... £1 gives us a quick 'Hello we are here in Pennan!'

We spent a wonderful time walking up and down the village, having lunch in the tiniest pub I've ever been in and me taking photos and more photos... thankfully my battery was still working. Driving up the road and out of Pennan is very sad indeed... not that I would like to live there but I feel it is part of me. The girl in the Pub had only seen the movie a short while ago and can't understand my love of it... no one else I know has either... except my friend Jo Hind who was with me the first time we saw it!! I've been there Jo... and it's all and more that I expected... I think I'm in love!

Control Freak

We have our little blue Ford Fiesta, hired for a week of driving around the Scottish Highlands... I feel so much better behind the wheel now... David calls me a Control Freak but I don't mind it's better than feeling motion sickness.

We drive out of Glasgow and already I miss the boys who have all dispersed to different parts of Scotland and beyond... driving is easy the roads are excellent... Fort William is our first night over in a large old hotel where the hot water ran out before we could have a bath, David is surprised there is no shower but this hotel is a little behind the times like something out of an old movie in fact. The bar girl is from Canberra! Breakfast is in a very large dining room with just a scattering of people and everyone talks in whispers, one of the waitresses is from Poland.

Monday is raining, windy and quite bleak just like the countryside which is spectacular with it's steep cliffs barren hillsides with nothing but heather and weeds growing along the roadside. We are heading to Mallaig which is where a steam train still goes to and back once a day in the Summer... we pull into a small station and watch it go by, David was wishing he was on it till he saw how full the carriages were with windows frosting up by the warmth of bodies. We see the first Concrete Viaduct built by Lord McAlpine, there are in fact three viaducts... this we know because David has a video of a trip on this route, it is in fact one of Jackson Harry's favourite videos...

Just before Malliag is a little hamlet called Morar which is where the beach scenes of my all time favourite film Local Hero were shot... we see the beach through blinding rain and wind but we see it.

On to the Isle of Lochalsh where on another video Michael Palin catches a train and takes away one of the signs... we search the platform for other signs but he must have taken the only one because there is only one very modern replacement sign there. We see Skye in the distance and the very impressive bridge over to it but stay on the mainland and find a great hotel at Tingle Bay... next morning we are off to Plockton where they made the Hamish McBeth TV Series... it is very very touristy but very cute and much bigger than we see in the series... there is even a High School. I am running out of Internet time so will close now...

P.S. after a 45 min delay caught in traffic because of road works we eventually made it onto the new bridge to Skye... we only drove around one little hamlet then went back over the bridge and on our way to Inverness... but we did get to Skye! Last time we were in Scotland we drove all the way from Lands End in Cornwall to John O'Groats in Scotland sleeping in our old FX3 London Taxi Cab... these are the northern and southern most points of Great Britain... this time the memory of midges decided us on not repeating that exact trip! So Inverness is as far north as we went this time.

My Babies

I am missing my babies, not only my real adult babies and their partners but the smaller babies of the family. Little Abigail Rose is in Yorkshire with her mum and English Grandparents and will be back in London when we get there... but what of my little Jackson Harry!!! Nerys writes that she and Tim took Simon to the airport for his flight home and when JH got there he was expecting to find me!! Oh dear!!!

Publicity

Our group is creating some publicity, there was a big article on page 3 of the Glasgow Daily Newspaper in yesterdays edition, there was a radio interview with Robert Hood from Goulburn and of course the earlier article and photo I mentioned before... Scotland had an enormous number of restored old vehicles and their museums receive grants for some restorations. Last year an old Albion Sydney Double Decker was bought by the Scots and shipped over... it has been stripped down in the Dunfirmlin Museum revealing lots of rust but is being very carefully restored to it's original glory. This Sydney bus is the only one in Scotland and received lots of publicity when it arrived several months ago... the driver of my taxi the other day had read the article about it so was fascinated to hear there were a bunch of Aussies over here to check it out.

A Quilt... A Quilt... I saw a Quilt!!!

Yesterday we drove out of Glasgow and back into the countryside firstly visiting a man with trucks, before we got there David patted me on the leg and said... I'm not into trucks so we can have some quality time here!   Quality time lasted all of 2 seconds... the trucks were Albion's and the same chassis as his bus!! He had another wonderful time comparing all the different aspects of the vehicles, I am always amused by the crank handle in some of these vehicles they are strapped to one side with a thick leather strap.

David asked how easy it was to start the engine, the owner cranked the handle once and it was humming... he invited David to have a go... many many cranks and much laughter later David was pronounced a failure, only one other Aussie was game to have a go and he had no success either... the owner had one more crank and it was running again... do you think this is what David thinks is 'Our Quality Time'???     I saw this enormous tree with these huge fruit looking things on it and discovered they were Horse Chestnuts, not edible and inside is what young boys use as Conkers, I always wondered where Conkers came from... NOT!

We were heading for a little village called Biggar which we reached at lunchtime and were treated to a marvelous homemade Scotch Broth Soup served by some volunteer ladies from I'm sorry to say I don't know where... naughty me I should have asked. The Museum at Biggar has a Quilt!!!

Brian Lambie whom I had already met in Australia many years before sought me out and took me directly to it.  I was absolutely blown away by it and another one hanging next to it... both were in a darkened room hanging behind glass for protection, they were both made by a bloke called Menzies Moffat who was a tailor in Biggar and had been to the Crimea War,  this quilt took 7 years to make from felt and silk thread, is now 160 years old and in excellent condition. The Museum had no more information than that but there must be much more of a story behind it is made up of beautiful pictures of all sorts of people, in the top left corner is one man stabbing another, then there is a man wearing full uniform on a horse, then portraits of beautiful women... in the middle it looks like it could be the King and Queen of the day with portraits of their children around them... I was totally blown away by the tiny detail of every piece of every block and the tiny embroidery stitches joining each block. They describe it as a Tablecloth!!! The other quilt was just as beautiful and done in a star hexagon pattern. I have a poster of the first quilt and will scan it into this blog when I get back to London. I was ready to go back to Glasgow after seeing these but no... there were more trucks and buses to look at!

Last night was the finale of this part of the trip, we said goodbye to all the Scottish Blokes and the Aussies took off in different directions this morning... Now David and I can have Quality time LOL. We have one more night here in Glasgow... we must find a laundrette this afternoon... then tomorrow we collect our hire car and take off up North over to Skye then across to Inverness along that north coast and down through Aberdeen.

It is lovely getting emails and comments from you all... cheers for a few days, Pennie
Here are a few photos of the quilts and the old poster advertising a showing of the quilts.

Glasgow

We drove into Glasgow from the West yesterday doing a sort of circle from Stirling past many beautiful Loch's... as we came in we saw these beautiful old Apartment buildings that are called Tenements!!   I always thought a Tenement was an almost condemned building with no water and rats everywhere but these were in excellent order and beautifully cared for... there was the odd gap where a German bomb had hit more than 60 years ago because we are right on the Clyde River where all the big ships were built as well as QE11 in more recent times... some of the gaps have been turned into parks and some have new buildings similar to the old ones.

Glasgow is a big vibrant city and I haven't seen a single Busker making that awful noise!! Our hotel is in the Theatre district and very modern, tiny tiny room but it has everything in it. This is our home for four nights until we take off in our little hire car for non bus areas LOL

Today is the day David has been excited about for months... this morning they were picked up by a 1949 CX37 Albion Double Decker Bus... this is the first time it has been allowed out of the Glasgow Museum since it was put in, it is in pristine condition and painted in it's original colours of orange and cream and brown and green... I wouldn't call it an attractive colour scheme but all the blokes were oooohhhhing and arrrrring and snapping so much I don't think they noticed the colour!! They all went off to the now defunct Albion Factory where our old Albion Double Decker bus chassis was built and shipped to Australia for it's distinctly Australian body.

David was almost speechless with excitement this morning! Then to top it off one of the Scottish blokes has organized for them to have a tour of the Glasgow Underground tonight... David even drove an underground train... What bliss!! I've decided to do my own thing... what that thing is I don't quite know yet but I will decide after I finish on the Internet.

The Boys...

I thought I would give you a little background into who David and I are traveling and meeting with during this first week in Scotland. Our Tour Organizer is Andy Stewart who many years ago drove a Sydney Albion Double Decker bus from London to Sydney many times over, he is now a travel agent in Adelaide and in 2004 organized for a group of Scottish Bus lovers to come to Australia to see our old transport vehicles... this is the return trip to see the Scottish Transport museums.

The Australians on the trip I had mostly met before and are from Tempe Bus Museum but there are a few extras... one from Melbourne and one from Perth. We are a group of 12 with me being the only female... most of the blokes are older batchelor's who I always thought to be shy but as we've been moving in the same circles for the last few days that's not the case, they are all wonderful gentleman and will chat to me about all sorts of subjects... it is a very happy group of people with no personality clashes or problems. I go with the boys to see the wonderful countryside and to enjoy an evening meal but do my own thing while they are getting down and dirty in the Museums.

Joining us every day are several of the Scottish blokes who came to Australia, I recognize many of them from when we gave them a BBQ at '333', they are all wonderful Gentleman just like the Aussies.  Edith joined us one day, she is the wife of Big Jim Docherty, a bus operator in Auchterarder a small village outside Stirling... the local Newspaper took a photo of us beside a nice old Black and White bus... a Leyland I think... I have a copy of the article which I will scan later on.

Photos... I think the combined total must be close to 0ne million by now LOL I decided to limit David because we don't have a battery charger for the Camera and I really want a photo of the phone box that was in the film 'Local Hero'... I've asked one of the boys to email me a couple of good photos of buses when he gets home and I'll put them on the Blog.

Trains...

I ditched all the boys today and took off to Edinburgh via Train. The Station of Dunfirmlin was very very quiet with only me looking for a train but there were 8 guards waiting to sell me a ticket!! I did ask why so many and the answer was that it was always that many during peak hour... what? just one person makes a peak??? Several more passengers did arrive about 10am but that's when all the guards finished work and were off out before the train arrived! I sat with an 87 year old man and learnt his whole life story which was sweet, his wife had died this year and he was lonely so regularly caught the train into Town to have a coffee and scone at Jenners the Scottish equivalent to Harrods.

There are buskers on every corner and they are all wearing kilts and blowing on bagpipes! The tourists are going off taking photos... One of our group said that the English invented the Bagpipes as a joke but Scotland have never got it!

After lunch in the beautiful gardens I caught another train to Stirling where the boys were going to end up after their day of buses... the British trains are so luxurious and so smooth and the country side is just like you see in postcards, soft and beautiful.

The Royal Hotel at Stirling where we are staying is very old with one of those old lifts that only fit one person and one bag, you have to close both doors before you can move... the stairs got a good workout... the floors creak all the time and it smells of furniture polish and smoke! Our room overlooks the street and a Butcher who tells us he is a Poulterer and Flesher... he seems very popular in this small town and when I go in for a bit of a sticky beak he tells me he makes his own Haggis which is very popular! Several of the Scottish blokes with us have it regularly when we eat out! The funniest thing I saw in a Supermarket was a Vegetarian Haggis... now come on... Haggis is made up of Pig heart, liver and all the other pig offal bulked up with oats and stuffed into the skin of part of that pig so how could they possibly make a Vegetarian one???

The whole hotel shakes when a truck goes by... but the best thing is a plaque in the front which says Dickens, Thackery, Chopin and The Beatles slept here but the Beatles are on top of the list!! Very funny!

Edinburgh

It took me two Qwell and 7 hours to get from London to Edinburgh, I reckon it would have been quicker to drive and much more pleasant but we are here and it's absolutely delightful! I've always loved Scotland. Lovely crispness to the air and those wonderful lilting accents... we were met at the Airport by one very old single decker bus that David was in raptures about... of course my drugged brain didn't register what model or year it was but I will let David fill you in on those details when we have better Internet access.
The buildings in Edinburgh are wonderfully austere, mostly made of a grey stone and very straight up and down with regimented neat streets and if you're lucky you catch a glimpse through shining windows of well polished wood and a wonderful warmth. Not unlike some buildings in Melbourne. Colour is everywhere with flower boxes full of Geraniums, Lobelia, Pansys and enormous Begonias it's a riot of colour... so far we've had excellent meals and are yet to see any Deep Fried Hamburgers or Deep Fried Mars Bars as we'd been told... maybe that will come!
Lunch yesterday was under the Forth Rail Bridge which is a rather wonderful looking old bridge, I do remember David raving about it last time we were in Scotland!!
Today David was in heaven at the Scottish Bus Museum, I went along with him in the morning but decided to potter around the wonderful Pitbauchlie House Hotel and gardens this afternoon. Tomorrow after more Bus stuff we head to Stirling for two nights, I'm looking forward to pottering around there on my own. I'm writing this in haste... I've never had to pay for Internet Access before, it's a bit nerve raking!!

Off to Scotland...

We are off to Scotland for two weeks first thing in the morning and as I couldn't work out how to get my laptop onto Tom's Internet I will forget about it till we get back to London on the 25th so you won't be hearing from me till then... I will save up lots of photos and things to tell though.
I have a mobile phone working on the British system and we think we've found a pretty good flat only three blocks away from the Griffiths of Wood Green... so not a bad mornings work eh?

Beautiful Days...

Two absolutely beautiful days here in Wood Green... very warm and sunny with only a sheet and one quilt needed to sleep at night, it was the Musical Quilt I made for Tomo a few years ago... so lovely sleeping under one of your children's quilts! We haven't bought cool clothes so we're in a bit of a pickle!
I took the first day very gently after my horrendous flight... but slept very comfortably and feel almost myself today. David and I took Abigail Rose for a long long walk around the neighbourhood and up the High Street. Got a British SIM card for my mobile phone and started the Flat hunt, we should be able to get something comfortable within just a short walking distance from Abigail Rose but we'll get more serious after our two week trip to Scotland on Saturday... Tom gets home on Saturday but we will miss him by a few hours.
Abigail is just adorable, she keeps herself so busy on her hunt to find things to put in her mouth and finding things to climb up on, she is very good at entertaining herself and it's a joy to watch her... Tom and Emma pretend to run and catch her and she laughs these real belly laughs, I gently tickle her all around her head and she becomes almost hypnotized by it... what a treasure she is! I've taken some photos but have to be careful as I left my battery charger at home!! Well I had to leave something didn't I eh?? Gwilym is posting it but I won't get it till we get back to Wood Green. Also I haven't been able to work out how to connect to Tom's Internet access or to add photos to his software so I will have to wait till he gets home then till we get back from Scotland so you may all have to wait for another two weeks to see my little darling! Darlings that should read!! Shouldn't leave out the adults they're almost as adorable as Abi!
There is the most wonderful Turkish Supermarket only a short walk away, great display of fruit and vegetables, terrific Deli, great meat and such an arrangement of wonderful things in tins! I need to explore it without Abigail in tow methinks. There are also some wonderful cafe's and a terrific Portuguese Bread Shop that sells the best Portuguese Tarts that I've ever had.
One thing we can't get over is the number of betting shops around us, not something one sees much of in Sydney. Cheers for now, Pennie

In London...

Look who's got Abigail Rose

Proud Granddaddy David
After the worst nightmare trip of my whole life, the service and plane were excellent with no delays or holdups... but my belief in one Quell 4 hours apart to avoid travel sickness didn't work I won't go into the gory details just to say four times on an empty stomach isn't fun... I've decided to walk home next March!!
It was wonderful to see Tomo at the airport and wonderful to see Emma and meet our beautiful Abigail Rose who is more adorable than any Web Cam can tell, she is so happy and entertains herself by crawling from one thing to put in her mouth to the next... very very cute. I'll put a photo up soon.
Tomos is off to Japan in about one hour to do a show but he's leaving Abigail and Emma... we fly.... dirty dirty word!... to Scotland on Saturday for two weeks.

Happy Birthday to Briony...

The 7th of September is Briony's Birthday, madness that we are leaving the day before but as we won't be able to spend our other children's birthday's with them this year... we didn't want her to feel like she was missing out. LOL

Happy Birthday Darling... Love Mum and Dad XXX

Today we Fly...

The morning is so peaceful, the sky is so blue and the first Wisteria flower is opening up... what a beautiful city we live in... maybe that's why I am so nervous and teary.
Last time we went to live in England was 28 years ago, we totally emptied our home and let it, packed up three little children aged 5, 3 and 4 months and sailed on the 'Australis' for 6 weeks... we had to pack not only household goods but clothes for two totally different climates for the 5 of us. This time we only have to pack for the two of us for one climate... Cool to Cold!! So why has it's taken us months and months of organizing?? some of which is still unorganized! Anyway it is done now and without our suitcases over the allowed weight, even though a lot of what's in my bag is for the beautiful Abigail Rose.
We've farewelled Mum and Dad, our brothers and sister, many of our friends and Tim and Joon. Briony and Emily we will farewell this morning and Nerys, Gwilym and Jackson Harry will take us to the Airport. Hey! this will be the first time David has flown to England even though we've lived there twice before!
Thank you to everyone who emailed and phoned to say farewell and have a great time... we will indeed, especially with our Tomo, Emma and our beautiful little grand daughter Abigail Rose. Farewell from Australia.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to David, one of his presents was this model of a pre war Albion Venturer Double Decker Bus, not too different to the one he restored a few years ago that now lives at Tempe. How lovely it was to have gentle rain all day, the garden was drier than dry. Only two more sleeps... three more before we see Tom, Emma and the very beautiful Abigail Rose.

Swimming Lesson.

David, Gwilym and I went to watch Jackson Harry's swimming lesson, this is the same pool Gwilym started his learn to swim lessons about 24 years ago, when he was one year old.

A Treat!

What a treat for Jackson Harry... a Baby-Chino.

My Brother Tim.

Happy Birthday today to my brother Tim, here he is with the lovely Monica on Rodd Island in November last year.

They're Back!

Nerys, Tim and Jackson Harry are back from their holiday in Noosa, they took Simon. Tim's brother up to visit their dad Terry and wife Sue. Jackson Harry was waving his whole arm when he saw me and couldn't get out of the car quick enough to give me a cuddle and a big kiss... Oh yes... this the sweetest love. The pink around his mouth is what's left of one of the mini ice-creams that can always be found in Pennie's freezer.

Care Parcel

This is Tom's much craved for Care Parcel, I hope no one has the munchies before they get to him!