My baby is in the air at last!!

David and I took Gwilym and Emily to the Airport today for their flight to Ho Chi Minh City and the start of their Excellent Adventure. Their plane was supposed to leave at about 11am but Kingsford Smith Airport suffered a big blackout and they took off almost 4 hours late... they have been in the air for 23 mins as I write this, so I think they will be really happy to arrive in Vietnam in 9 hours time and meet their friend. They have almost one month in Vietnam then off to Helsinki and several Eastern Block countries before they start work in France for our friend Marie-Therese in Castelanne then to London to stay with Tom, Emma and Abigail Rose for more work.

Some Photos of us all...

Abigail Rose enjoying her first Iceblock
Tomo, Jackson Harry and Gwillo
Jackson Harry teaching Tom and Abi how to negotiate the Wiggles Website.
Emma and Nerys
Tom reading to Jackson Harry or is it Jackson Harry reading to Tom!
David and Jackson Harry watching Toystory
Joon and Briony
Emma and Tomos
Pennie and David
Gwilym, Emily and Abigail Rose
Tim and Nerys

Reunion.

Just on three years have passed since we've all been together which was Tom and Emma's Wedding, now we have Abigail Rose to introduce to the family... check out heaps more photos here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobbin/

Preparations are underway...

Nerys and Jackson Harry have moved into '333' for a few nights in preparation for Sundays big family reunion. Tim will move in Saturday and Briony and Joon will arrive first thing on Sunday morning while I go out to the Airport to pick up Tom, Emma and Abigail Rose... this will be the first time we've all been together since April 2003 when Tom and Emma were married just before leaving Australia to make their home in London. David and I are the only ones who have met Abigail Rose so excitement here is on an all time high. All the bedrooms have been prepared, we have a basket full of toys that Abi will like... all old but goodies belonging to her father and Aunts and Uncle! Jack and I have decided which of my Teddy collection should go in Abi's room and a BBQ with more than 50 family members is organized for lunch on Sunday... it's a 'Welcome Home' for David and Pennie, 'Farewell and have a Great Trip' for Gwilym and Emily, 'Welcome Back' for Tom and Emma and a 'Pleased to meet you' for Abigail... we have 5 nights together before Gwil and Emily leave on the 31st so we've got a lot planned.

The Great Blubberhouses Mystery

When we were in Yorkshire last year we drove through an almost non existant village called Blubberhouses, we were highly amused so took a photo of a sign for this Blog. About 3 months later I was checking my Lilliput Lane house list to see how many cottages I had in Devon and Cornwall in the hope of driving past one if the location was listed... the name Blubberhouses jumped out at me! On my Lilliput Lane Database, which I updated before we left by taking every house down, recording it, dusting it and returning it to the shelves in the Living room. My list said I had St John the Baptist Church in Blubberhouses, North Yorkshire in my collection... I was spitting chips of course, fancy not knowing I had something in a Village called Blubberhouses.

The very day we returned to Sydney I searched my now 107 houses for St John the Baptist Church to no avail. I then searched the record books I have that Lilliput Lane send me each year and found a picture of the said Church... it first appeared in 1996 and was discontinued in 2001... funny I thought to myself, I don't remember this Church... I have two Churches that I do remember though... I peered closer and closer at the photo and noticed a Minister at the door waiting for a lady taking her baby out of a pram... I still didn't remember this Church so I searched my file which includes all the Deed cards that come with every house when you buy it and yes! I have a Deed card for the aforementioned Church.

The photo I have in the book and on the Deed card of St John the Baptist is almost identical to photos of the real Church which is called St Andrews and according to the Internet name Blubberhouse comes from 'Houses at the bubbling spring' which sort of makes sense.


The Mystery...
Did I ever own this Church?
What has happened to it?
Was it stolen?
Why would anyone steal it?
If it was stolen how come I don't remember it when I remember all the others?
I wouldn't have a Deed card if I didn't have the house though... would I?

This Mystery will have to stay unsolved methinks!

One Week...

We've been home one week today and it's taken me that long to start to feel just a little bit normal... it wasn't nice of Sydney to put on a heatwave just as we arrived... 6 days in a row of over 31c temps when one is used to 1c to 5c temps... I was ready to pack my bags and head back to a lovely London which has been having another cold snap!!

But... the temps have dropped to a managable 27c with cooler nights which helps us adjust enormously... although I am still waking up before 5am and unable to get back to sleep so getting up and doing stuff is the only answer. I shouldn't complain it's so lovely to be home and the pool is a delicious refresher thanks to Tim's regular maintaince.

We now own a 2 year old Peugeot 307 which is very spiffy so today we will head up to Kincumber, a one hour drive, to see my Mum and Dad... Hey!!! It's raining... how wonderful for the garden after all that heat!!

Saturday 11th March

Before we left London Jackson Harry had David booked to take him to see the Steam Train running along our nearest line just 4 days after our return. Jack loves to watch David’s Train Videos when he comes to play with us so he was getting in early to see the real thing with his Grandfather!! Unfortunately queues were far too long on the very hot Saturday and all the tickets were sold out so watching the train go by was the only option which is much better than being on it and not seeing the Engine. I was invited to join Jack and David but opted to stay in the cool at home till they all returned for lunch.

Aaaahhhh Home!

It's great being home...
I was up before 6am after a good nights sleep...
Magic watching the sun come up...
Unpacking is taking forever...
Mail!!!! So much mail but Gwilym has opened it and sorted it for us...
David spent most of the day either on the phone or the Internet looking for a new car for me...
The Thursday Tennis girls saw a snake on the Tennis Court... means Gwil has been looking after our Environment well...
I did a little fresh food shopping and bought a box of 42 delicious figs for $12.99 (£5.48)...
The temp hit 31c and we found it OK!...
JH and Nerys came around for a swim...
Sushi and Sashimi for lunch...
Gwilym BBQed a chicken for dinner...
Gwilym and Emily are so lovely to have around...
This is the smile that has been on Jackson Harry's face since the minute he saw me, I keep getting great big hugs and lots of 'TV Kisses' (long on the mouth sloppy pashes)

Hello or is it Goodbye... From Heathrow!

David and I are enjoying a few hours in the luxury of the Business Lounge at Heathrow Airport, we came early because we needed Tom to help us with all our baggage on the Tube, he then had to go to a gig in the city so we've enjoyed our time reading, emailing, drinking and snacking on Smoked Salmon and Prawn sandwiches...I could get used to this methinks.

Our luggage was spot on so all that time I spent packing and weighing paid off, we've got some VAT back on the Lilliput Lane houses I bought... we have two flat bed seats upstairs on the plane........ Hey.... we're going home!!! It's just hit me! See you all soon cheers Pennie

Monday...

Who is this little Puppy Dog I wonder??

We are doing final packing and sorting. Tom and Emma are on the phone trying to reorganize their Mortgage before Tom flies to Dubai then Hong Kong tomorrow. They are also on the phone organizing Insurance for the Pug we are leaving for them. Emma has Dance moves in her head because in one week she flies to Hong Kong then China for a couple of gigs, she is also trying to organize for a pair of Wings that folded up measure 3 metres 60 cms long, she has to get them to Wood Green first then to Heathrow for her flight. Abigail isn’t 100% she still has a cold but is happy dancing and pottering around us all.
Why... it's Abigail Rose getting in some Aussie - Aussie - Aussie, Oi Oi Oi practice!

Monday Morning in London...
1:30pm London Time... Abigail is asleep which is a hard place to get her so Tom drove us to Turnpike Lane with all our luggage… left us up the top of the stairs and went and parked the car putting £1 in the metre then rang Emma to tell her where it was so she could come and pick it up when Abigail wakes up. The three of us manhandle 2x30kg bags, 2x18kg bags, an over packed backpack and my over packed computer bag down the stairs then escalators and onto a thankfully almost empty Tube Train. We feel quite nostalgic on our last trip on the Piccadilly Line during the 90 minute trip to Heathrow… our flight doesn’t leave till 9:25pm but Tom has a gig in the City at 5:30pm and we are only too happy to be relaxing in the Business Lounge at the Airport. Emma rings… she walked Abi up to the car to discover she’d left the keys at home so had to go back for them and when she got back to the car again she had a parking Ticket for £40 ($A94.69) Poor Emma she has too much on her mind.

11:35pm London Time (Still Monday)… Our plane takes off, more than 2 hours late but we are thrilled with our flat beds upstairs and all the light and space around us we can easily get up and walk around without disturbing anyone, our seats/beds are right at the back of the 20 seats and face each other so it is easy to talk and I face the way the plane is going so get to see the cockpit every time the door opens which is reassuring because they look important in there and there is always something going. Dinner starts off with Crayfish Tail with Mango and Coriander Salad and never lets up, we are called by name by both lots of staff, which is nice.

This is the best timed flight to take because you take off at night and after Dinner the lights are turned off and it’s very easy to sleep… well for an hour or two here and there… then we are woken up just before Bangkok for breakfast of Fresh Fruit Smoothies as well as the full English Breakfast if we want it. We have made up almost one hour and the decision has been made to have a quick turn around so we can get off the plane if we want but we wouldn’t be able to get to the Lounge and back in the time allowed so there goes my planned Shower but I’d rather get to Sydney on time so stay on the plane while 100’s of Thai’s clean and change our pillow slips and so on then we are off again.

It’s evening again so after another lovely meal the lights are turned off and sleep is possible… THEN!!! Less than 2 hours from Sydney the lights come on and the Pilot tells us we have a sick passenger and have to divert to Adelaide, which is only 40 minutes away… it’s pitch dark in Adelaide and there are 3 ambulances on the tarmac… The Drama we think is going to unfold doesn’t really happen and I think the passenger walks off the plane with her travelling companions and all their luggage… we all have to wait on the plane but luckily we can get up and walk around and peer out windows… not like those downstairs who have to stay in their seats till they get her off. THEN we have to wait for approval for more fuel… BA’s credit hasn’t been established in Adelaide methinks LOL. We are off and by now starving so enjoy a large fresh breakfast.

11am Wednesday Sydney time
Sydney is below us… it’s cloudy but we get a great view of the Harbour and come in over Rodd Island, which is always a thrill for me and we are HOME!! THEN… some other plane is in our exit bay so we have to sit and wait for 10 mins!! We are almost 5 hours late!

We Declare David’s Hops and my French tinned food which they don’t like because one of them has some egg white in it but they let it through…. And there they all are… Briony, Joon, Nerys and Jackson Harry who is smiling and waving so much I break into a run to cuddle him… they all look so well… Bri has a fringe, Nerys has a big tummy and Joon’s smile hasn’t changed one bit, Tim and Emily had to go to work but we get our big hugs with them later on.
Jackson is learning to use the remote for my camera... he took this photo.

My Traveleeze works so well and with no drowsiness... I only felt the odd twinge on the plane and now as a passenger in the car am fine but it’s David in the back seat who is feeling queasy… he hasn’t been well with a bad cold and I think that last car trip got the better of him so we change seats and Gwil is amazed to see me in the back seat of the car when we arrive at ‘333’ at least 33 hours after we left Wood Green. Our favourite Chinese Take Away for dinner with the family tastes just wonderful!

It’s going to be 31c today… not good for us who are used to temps between Minus and a max of 5c but the pool it there and the house stays cool.

I will continue this Blog so it covers one year… we have so many exciting events to look forward to in the next few months it will make a good read in the years to come.

Sunday...

Our last full day in London so off to the 'Tollgate Pub' for breakfast with Emma and Abi... Tom is in Jersey... a traditional English breakfast of eggs, bacon, mushroom, baked beans, hash brown, sausage and toast only costs £1.99 ($4.69) which is pretty darn good!!
Abi practices her ballet steps with her mum .

David and I head into the city after breakfast and get off the tube at Russell Square then walk to Charles Dickens home which is really interesting and full of all sorts of personal items belonging to him as well as some of his hand written text... we really wonder how anyone could have translated them into print because we can hardly read them but that was the same with Jane Austen and the Bronte's... I guess I am so used to the printed word.

Look at these Man Hole covers... I've been fascinated with these and have several photos of different ones I've seen and I'm thinking I'll make a quilt using these designs one day... yeah yeah One Day!

My Country...

Sunday Night...

Tomorrow evening we will be on our way to the rest of our family and our home in Turramurra... Nerys, Tim, Jackson Harry, Briony and Joon will be at the airport to meet us while Gwilym and Emily will be preparing breakfast for us all... I can't wait!

Living in London is a dream of 27 years come true for me... after watching 'Dial M for Murder' with Grace Kelly and Ray Millan I fell in love with their little one bedroom ground floor flat which had french doors out to a small garden and was only a short walk away from a tube station... since then I've always said 'Next time we go to England I want a flat just like Grace Kelly's'. Well it may not have been as posh as hers but it was comfortable with the added bonus of being near Tom and Emma and of course the very beautiful Abigail Rose.

A small part of my heart will always belong in England but the following says it all for me, it's my favourite poem by Dorothea Mackellar and starts off by describing England .

My Country by Dorothea Mackellar (1885 - 1968)

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Farewell to Moselle

Saturday 4th
Our 5 month lease is up today so we moved back in with Tom, Emma and Abigail Rose... our station waggon was loaded to the roof twice before we ourselves moved in, I know a lot of what we moved belonged to Tom and Emma in the first place but two car loads?? We spent two frustrating hours in our empty and spotlessly clean little home waiting for the Landlord to come and give us back our bond money which he eventually did... grrrrr but that's another story.

So farewell '188' we probably won't miss you too much when we get home (especially the stairs when I need to go to the loo in the middle of the night) but we will miss living so comfortably in London... oh well all good things must come to an end, so I'm told, but we will return and well before another 27 years have passed.

Not One but several Naughty Fingers...

Who is fiddling with these switches?
Who is this Helping?
Aaaah! I thought so... Abigail Rose.
Now... lets see how I can fix this stove!

Noel Park, Wood Green... London.

This is where we live in Noel Park, Noel Park is in Wood Green, Wood Green is a suburb of London. Can you see the Bell shape which is formed by the High Road on the left, Westbury Road on the bottom of the map leading from High Road up and North then joining Lordship Lane which winds around to the left and joins the High Road at Wood Green Tube Station.

From Top Left…
Ally Pally…
Climb up Station Road and just off the map is Alexandra Palace and the very large Alexandra Palace Park
Our Tube…
Wood Green is where we catch the Tube to the City, to the North it terminates, after a few more stops, at Cockfosters .
‘188’…
If coming from the Tube we walk down Lordship Lane past the beautiful Wood Green Crown Court to Salisbury Avenue, past David’s hairdresser, Peters of London, past our friendly I Pakastanis in the little Post Office then left into Moselle Avenue and home.


TFC…
The Turkish Food Centre, our closest Supermarket.
The two butchers in the TFC, he's only smiling because I'm taking a photo, usually he ignores me till he's told to serve!!
Tom…
Where Tom, Emma and Abigail Rose live.
Tom’s Tube…
Turnpike Lane
Toll Gate Pub…
Our favourite Wetherspoons Pub.
High Road…
This is the High Street where you can buy just about anything from all the main chain stores like Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Oktar and all the rest… it’s a very busy busy place and to be avoided on weekends!!
The Walk…
We walk to Tom and Emma’s by heading left out our front gate and left again immediately at Darwin Road all the way down to Maurice Avenue… if driving we have to go over 11 road bumps and 9 stop signs… Abigail Rose walked all the way by herself once.

I have loved living in our little house here in Noel Park, it isn’t the poshest of places

The Good…
Every day I am out I see at least 3 to 6 Learner Drivers, even on a Sunday, it’s a good quiet place to learn all the basics I guess.
The kids playing football under signs that say ‘No Ball Games’…
The quiet… with about 100 road bumps Noel Park is hardly the place one looks for a ‘Rat Run’ and the neighbours don’t party much.

The Bad…
The Rubbish… which isn’t really just a Noel Park problem but blows about and just doesn’t look good, especially when it’s a television spread all over the road.
The broken glass… lucky it isn’t the place one would go barefooted.
The lack of interest in recycling… this again isn’t just a Noel Park problem… I can see one very big job here for Ian Kiernan of Clean up Australia.

The Ugly…
When someone thinks they should paint their perfectly good brick Terrace home… it really looks tacky in a short time and spoils the look of a row of homes.
Some of what they’ve built in gaps left by WW2 Bombs.
Mecca!!! I think this is some sort of gambling club.
The High Street shopping Malls… there is nothing beautiful about these buildings.
Paving over of front gardens… wouldn’t you think with a tiny space of about 6 foot square they could have a little garden with a bush or two… it wouldn’t be hatd to maintain would it?

I will put a lot more photos up on Flickr when I have the time, cheers for now, Pennie