I had promised myself and a few others that i would keep a blog of our wanderings, but things got somewhat delayed, as they do. Alas, this is going to be text only, 'cause we still haven't worked out how to use the @&!% camera. That's the next technological challenge.
Where to start? We left in early September, and it's now mid October. Okay, travelogue stuff.
The trip from NZ was no problem. Arrived at LA to be greeted by our first hustler. Having no change, we gave the hustler no joy. We stayed in Annaheim and, almost against our better judgement, went to Disneyland. One can't not. It was all that we expected - naive, plastic, slick, incurably and very commercially optimistic (did I say naive? not a bit of it)and generally rather enjoyable. But i don't think we'd pay a return visit.
Now in England, in a rather charming part of Milton Keynes - yes, it does have its charming parts, despite the doomsayers (charming, by the way, is a term that is likely to be heavily overused in describing England, its villages and pubs, so no apologies for its use.. This is a catchup posting, so, in quick succession, our weekends: Kennilworth Castle, built shortly after the Conquest, enlarged, and then 'slighted' - ie mostly pulled down - during the Civil war - an impressive ruin; Warwick Castle. Another ancient one, complete with dungeons, but now owned by Tussauds, who have filled the place with reconstructions; Kew gardens - very impressive, but the most intriguing part was the tiny palace where poor old mad King George 3 spent his last days. it had a delightful/charming Georgian garden. Jane has a few more ambitions for our place - like plant a fig tree, espallier it, and stand back for 200 years. Chatsford house in Derbyshire - MOST impressive. Owned by a very rich and powerful family, until 80% death duties on the death of the 11th duke forced the 12th Duke to turn it into a trust and rent apartments within the castle. The House itself is stuffedwith extraordinarily grand and expensive objets d'art, but what was far more impressive were the grounds - about 4000 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown (it included razing the odd village, and then about 50 acres of garden designed by Thomas paxton (C19th). We took only about 30 minutes to work out the maze, but the rest of the garden took the rest of the day. Dined at a pub owned by the Estate in a village owned by the Estate on the way home.
Work? Shouldn't really be part of a travelogue, but will chuck in a brief mention. Jane's Penwith School is an inner-city ghetto school (well, poor housing estate, full of Somali refugee kids. lovely staff, but rather dodgy equipment, like interactive whiteboards that are 5 years past their use by date. My work? Vast, overwhelming (5000+ staff on campus) but reduced to human size by, again, very pleasant colleagues, some of whom actually seem to know what's going on.
Well, hallo, blogspotters.
ReplyDeleteI had promised myself and a few others that i would keep a blog of our wanderings, but things got somewhat delayed, as they do. Alas, this is going to be text only, 'cause we still haven't worked out how to use the @&!% camera. That's the next technological challenge.
Where to start? We left in early September, and it's now mid October. Okay, travelogue stuff.
The trip from NZ was no problem. Arrived at LA to be greeted by our first hustler. Having no change, we gave the hustler no joy. We stayed in Annaheim and, almost against our better judgement, went to Disneyland. One can't not. It was all that we expected - naive, plastic, slick, incurably and very commercially optimistic (did I say naive? not a bit of it)and generally rather enjoyable. But i don't think we'd pay a return visit.
Now in England, in a rather charming part of Milton Keynes - yes, it does have its charming parts, despite the doomsayers (charming, by the way, is a term that is likely to be heavily overused in describing England, its villages and pubs, so no apologies for its use.. This is a catchup posting, so, in quick succession, our weekends: Kennilworth Castle, built shortly after the Conquest, enlarged, and then 'slighted' - ie mostly pulled down - during the Civil war - an impressive ruin; Warwick Castle. Another ancient one, complete with dungeons, but now owned by Tussauds, who have filled the place with reconstructions; Kew gardens - very impressive, but the most intriguing part was the tiny palace where poor old mad King George 3 spent his last days. it had a delightful/charming Georgian garden. Jane has a few more ambitions for our place - like plant a fig tree, espallier it, and stand back for 200 years. Chatsford house in Derbyshire - MOST impressive. Owned by a very rich and powerful family, until 80% death duties on the death of the 11th duke forced the 12th Duke to turn it into a trust and rent apartments within the castle. The House itself is stuffedwith extraordinarily grand and expensive objets d'art, but what was far more impressive were the grounds - about 4000 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown (it included razing the odd village, and then about 50 acres of garden designed by Thomas paxton (C19th). We took only about 30 minutes to work out the maze, but the rest of the garden took the rest of the day. Dined at a pub owned by the Estate in a village owned by the Estate on the way home.
Work? Shouldn't really be part of a travelogue, but will chuck in a brief mention. Jane's Penwith School is an inner-city ghetto school (well, poor housing estate, full of Somali refugee kids. lovely staff, but rather dodgy equipment, like interactive whiteboards that are 5 years past their use by date. My work? Vast, overwhelming (5000+ staff on campus) but reduced to human size by, again, very pleasant colleagues, some of whom actually seem to know what's going on.
Pubs and eateries? Next blog.
Hi Richard, Glad you managed to conquer your Blog Site! Look forward to following you in the blogging world.
ReplyDeleteHope you realise that research for the pubs and eateries blog will be never ending :-)
ReplyDelete