home (if auckland counts)

in the auckland koru lounge. we had the speediest flight on record (i imagine) and arrived an hour and ten minutes early. so early and so efficiently dealt with that we got to the domestic terminal slightly before it opened - we tried slow walking but that meant we got caught in a fairly serious downpour and had to take evasive action as we walked between the terminals.

so, we waited for the travelling bag thing to start - also changed to an earlier flight to wtn - waited for the security gates to open (got to witness the milk for the coffee bar go through the xray!!) and walked straight into the koru lounge which was just open - thank goodness.

celebrated with two short blacks followed quickly by a latte (me) and flat white (G) - yum! don't do coffee in china - that's all i'll say and they do have some excellent tea

our experience of beijing, overall, left us eager for the trip home. however, it was worth it for the great wall which was fully amazing and wonderful. i couldn't help feeling that beijing has been broken and despite all the efforts they make, it has somehow lost its heart along the way - still, what would i know?

see you all at work tomorrow and variously at other places in the next few days... s and g

the (illustrated) globe

oh boy, what a day! so fabulous i can hardly decide where to start. ok, i'll be chronological:

first, we found a laundromat so got some more clean clothes - that's always a good thing in the sal and geoff book of travel. although those of you who read and digested earlier posts will know that i now have heaps of clean undies thanks to Marks and sparks... trialled a pair today - not bad for a quid (sorry Hamish, NOT).

then, we walked back through greenwich park and found a beautiful herb garden. after which, we travelled to the globe by river. that is definitely the way to arrive... took about 20 minutes, heaps of cool buildings and river activity to look at, before docking at Bankside, right next to the Globe.

Popped into the Tate and copped a great look at Monet's water lilies, a couple of Picasso's, lots of Miros (bored now), and assorted other pictures - oh, and heaps of school kids being dragged around and variously engaged (or not) by their hapless teachers.

off to the swan for lunch. Good. Then, rented a cushion each and took our seats in time to watch the groundlings gather below, and lots of them being told off (can't sit down, can't sneak into empty seats, can't open brollies, etc, etc) by the stewards, who i think are volunteers as they all looked to be retired or at uni.

anything i write will by puny but we had the most magnificent afternoon. it rained, it stopped, the sun shone (they gave us cardboard sunhats), the play - Henry VIII - which is a shakespeare collaboration by the way - the whole thing was just great. especially watching the groundlings get wet and also gently engaged and wound up by the cast. you will see in the pictures that i was very excited. great day!

we wandered along the river bank, found another pub (not difficult) near trafalgar square, then had a snack at the SMITF crypt before over-extending our day of culture at the GB romantics choral concert. weirdly, there was a free screening of Tosca going on in TS before, during and after our concert (by the elysian singers). THe concert was good. It was fun to be there - i reckon the Dorians would give them a run for their money with the howell's requiem, but it was lovely to hear it performed.

then, charing cross station to greenwich in about 20 minutes - no exaggeration. the train line is really efficient. way fewer stops than the tube.

tomorrow we have to pack up and leave for Munich and Beijing but we're in denial and still pretending that it's not happening. we have a cool new breakfast place sussed out - they made us beautifual flat whites today while we waited for the laundry. there you are - full circle.

hope you like the pics - there were actually lots of people at the play but there was a sign saying no photos so i took them early and then stopped xx sal and geoff

marks and sparks

oh yes - i found 10 pair of knickers for 10 quid at M and S - none met with G's approval... it was a relief to me tho as the laundering of my 4 pair was becoming onerous

i know, too much information

ciao

The Catford Ram

pictures will follow...
went to Catford - on the double decker bus - that was Sunday night - I was relaxed (stupidly) and Geoff was anxious that he wouldn't be able to find his former place of work.

well - we found it - the haven from Catford, Lewisham, call it what you will, it was a tiny bit scary even in daylight.
we had a half pint (young's special) to celebrate and a wee chat with the barmaid who was a bit interested but not really. she was shocked to hear Geoff's stories of what used to be done with the beer slops and was firm about that NOT being the case any more...

on the way into the bar, and after, about three times, we were approached, at first softly, but then with increasing vigour and potential aggression by a clapped out druggy who wanted 20p. we meanly declined and jogged off down the road in search of a bus for greenwich.
i have to say that greenwich is a nice middle class kind of place. The general locale of the catford ram is verging on scary. we saw a guy dressed like a pimp - just use your stereotypical imagination drinking from a bottle in a paper bag - i think i've already mentioned the strung out beggar - and i'd have to say that even the honest citizens of the neighhourhood weren't in great shape.

suffice to say, we did not extend the visit to try and rediscover geof'f's former flat.
all's well that ends well (as someone may have observed in the past) and that's all there really is to say about that.

the hope and sirloin

best lunch ever today at the hope and sirloin, near smithfield. roastbeef sandwich with horseradish. G had pork and crackling. both were delicious. washed down with a couple of half pints of a local brew called reservoir dogs.

interesting day - started with a paul rhodes' bakery breakfast - GREAT food - average coffee, tho by no means the worst coffee we've ever drunk.

jumped on an off-peak service into town and went to st martin in the fields' ticket office in the cypt to book our tickets for the tuesday concert. tomorrow will be extremely cultural...

popped into the national portrait gallery and saw some very cool stuff. wish you were here to enjoy it too.

then off for a spot of geocaching. have succesfully off-loaded all our trackables now, so that's good. it also led us to the london wall (very old, very crumbled) and the aforementioned lunch.

then for some shops. this was frankly the low point of the day - you know - they're just shops.

we regathered ourselves at a pret a manger for a snack, lemon cake, where geoff - to be on the safe side - ordered earl grey tea rather than coffee. my flat white was average and ok - his tea came with milk! oops.

we decided to go back to have another look at parliament and the abbey, both of which we saw briefly yesterday on the fat tire tour. we arrived at the abbey to discover that it was (a) closed to tourists after 3.30pm and also about 12 quid each! and (b) that if we wanted to pray we could wander on in.

a surly man at the gate wanted to know our business - i said Prayer very firmly - and we proceeded. turns out he was almost right - we were in time for evensong, so stuck around and listened to the choir boys. we were in the cheap seats so never actually saw any of the boys, but they sang very nicely indeed. got told off by the verger at the end of the service when we tried to hang around in poets' corner, but mostly stayed out of trouble. there was this crazy woman in front of us (possibly american) who every now and then tried to join in with the choir - an octave lower and not well at all - but other than that it was fine. the first lesson was all about joseph and what a prig he was etc etc and therefore how to avoid envy. altogether very uplifting (!)

sorry about that Dave. Also, they said special prayers for the anglican church in japan - turned out there was a large party of japanese anglicans in attendance - they were not in the cheap seats, but sitting around the choir stalls, so no doubt they saw many choir boys (as opposed to none).

Dave, if Michael loves singing I have an address - perhaps you could enquire before his voice breaks... and he too could be an abbey chorister?

after that we popped over the road for a restorative drink - mine was called lemony cricket and we evesdropped on some young Labour advisers or wannabes - talking about education and various other things. god, democracy should not be left to 23 year old policy wannabes! we came back to Greenwich after that - very tired, but all set to find a nice dinner. presently in our local - the mitre - having a wee drink and a read of the guardian. also this pub has free wifi, unlike our hotel (which is otherwise great).

hope you all had a good long weekend and are working hard. tomorrow, shakespeare's globe... we are toying with travelling there by river ferry... huzzah!

sorry mum

didn't mean to wake you up - just wanted to let you know we are safely (and happily) in London... won't do that again.

Did the fat tire cycle tour this morning - it was good fun and we saw lots of palaces and parks. i have the t shirt to prove it as well.

raced back to Greenwich - which is a really fantastic place to stay - so we could check out the market - Geoff bought me a lovely ring and then i sneaked back while he was catching 40 winks and bought a cute handbag as well. he will learn this when i go back...

We delivered the car in one complete piece, not even a scratch, to Bordeaux airport yesterday, before embarking on the big wait. Easyjet is an interesting experience but not necessarily one we'd be eager to repeat. Having said that, once we got on the plane the flight crew were really good and the flight was great - they almost made up all the time we'd lost on the french side and only landed a few minutes later than scheduled.

the really amazing part was queuing to board the plane - we all lined up, sort of, with speedy boarders (who'd paid extra) in their own queue. then they said they'd let families on first - tried not to snarl - but then they didn't and it became a bit of a free for all (after the speedy boarders, who got their 12 quids worth, i suppose), complete with some pommie whinging about how dare they promise families first but not deliver. G and I had our heads down and kept moving.

Even so we feared we'd be in the bowels of the plane. We chose the front steps to enter - hope springs eternal - and agreed we'd look for aisle seats across from each other. well blow me down, in row one there were two aisle seats, still empty. too good to be true? NOT! we were in the front row and almost first off at Gatwick. Then immigration. they had two types of queue. UK and EU citizens, then 'the rest of the world'. as it turned out there were about 600 people in the first and about six of us in the second. Yay rest of the world!

then it was a slight scramble onto a fairly packed train, a bit of a tortuous climb or two at the change (London Bridge if you're interested), and fetched up at Greenhich. the Ibis is great - excellent room and right next to a french bistro and spanish tapas bar, along with numerous other pubs and restaurants.

we celebrated in style with a pint each before dinner (tapas), followed by 1 1/2 further pints each after. Possibly we went a bit overboard on the pub visits, especially given we'd split a bottle of tinto over dinner. However, we felt very very pleased to be here. And we still are.

i think we might be off to Lewisham shortly - to revisit a sliver of G's past, then possibly a curry for tea. we had a slap up breakfast at an organic cafe this morning and found a really good coffee cart at the market, so are doing quite well - in fact probably undoing all the good work we did in Spain where we seemed to eat quite often, but quite lightly. hmmmm.

we have found a concert at st martin in the fields that we hope to go to on tuesday evening - have to ring tomorrow to check on tickets. if we do that it will mean shakespeare at 2pm and concert at 7.30! what a way to end our time here.

already we wish we'd chosen to stay longer in London - i can feel GB beckoning again and we're still here...

some images of San Sebastian