Season's Greetings

There's just a few days till Christmas, so we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. we hope that the day will be a happy time with your family and friends gathering around you.

We were thinking of going somewhere warm for Christmas, eg Spain - but we will stay and partake of the Salter family high-jinks on Christmas Day & have an open home on boxing day.

Christmas Day - we will be at Rob & Dawns
Boxing Day - will be at home 
Remember that NZ is currently 13 hours ahead of the UK, so a good time to phone is 10pmNZ = 9amUK or 10amNZ=9pmUK.

Just for fun, here's some singing reindeer for you (click on each reindeer and have your loudspeakers turned up!)

The highlight of November for us was going to the huge NEC (National Exhibition Centre) and concert venue to see The Corrs. As a treat, we took niece Christina & her fiancé Dave - in thanks for his helping us buy a car at a really good price. 

Not all the Corrs were there, the drummer girl was at home having babies, so there was a replacement for her. Their music was excellent, exactly as we had expected, no disappointment at all (whereas some groups like the Chieftains can be disappointing live). Not so good was their support act Myslovitz,  a heavy rock band from Poland, a most odd accompaniment to the sweet Celtic sounds of the Corrs sisters. Their guitar strumming style was alarmingly energetic and hard on our aging ears! The music wasn't harmonic, it was dissonant, it make the start of the Corrs music even sweeter in comparison!

We ate far too much, drank in moderation (although the port samples were were given were VERY generous - due to the stand being run by a cricketing friend of Angus's. We laughed a lot at a cooking exhibition by Rick Stein and Anthony Worrall Johnston. We didn't see any Anchor or Zespri, but did buy a big container of munchy nuts - a tasty mix of seeds and nuts for putting on salads and fresh bread. I was delighted when the seller picked up on my accent and explained that their business started in Blenheim! The best thing I saw at the show was a chocolate fondue fountain, about 6 feet tall, hot chocolate sauce cascading down from the top, so that staff could run skewers of fruit and marshmallows through the dripping chocolate. Sadly it was closed by the time we made our way back to the stand - probably for the best, as I had already eaten far too much that day. The following morning, we went for a swim and sauna, then came back for a slap up brunch with 2 varieties of sausages, poached & fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, smoked bacon, baked beans and lots of strong coffee! 

The play show two parallel stories, one was the traditional old story by Christopher Marlow, the other was the modern story about the controversial British artists - the Chapman Brothers. When the play started, it seemed like it was going to be a very dreary old-fashioned language play. But then the play swapped to a modern scene - the art studio of the "enfant terribles" of Brit-art; the Chapman Brothers. In just a few seconds, the set of a Victorian library was folded in on itself, to reveal a stark white room. During the set transition, the actors went into slow motion, helping move the props into place. For the final scene, they made the set appear to flip forwards, so that the audience were looking down on the artists destroying the Goya paintings. This was achieved by a clever arrangement of horizontal sliding shelves which the actors lay on, to form the optical illusion. Difficult to explain, but very effective staging. 

We went to see the play with Shoosmiths co-employees Simon & Jan. When traveling to their house, we traveled by some Northamptonshire backroads, including places like Crick, Nobottle and Great Brington. There was a Church bazaar sale happening in Brington as we passed through, so we stopped and had a look. We knew that Althorp estate was nearby, but we didn't realise that this Church was in fact the Church of the Spencer family, i.e. Princess Diana of Wales. As soon as we saw the stylish glass door, we knew we would be in for something special.  At the alter-end of the Church was a chapel & tomb for (twenty generations of) the Spencer family, with some of the most amazing tombs that I have ever seen.  We bought a few things - some home made chocolates, a pot plant, and a crystal/glass bell (for 50p). It wasn't till later that we looked closely at the bell and we saw that it was engraved with the insignia for Charles & Diana's wedding - so we now have a memento of Diana, from the Church she attended as a Child (and next door to where she is now buried). It's the sort of thing that we wouldn't normally buy, but now think it's a lovely keepsake.  

Ray has written the first part of his Falconry book - view it on my new Falconry page. He's disappointed to discover that Falconry is illegal in NZ, due to the high conservation values. But perhaps he could get some work in conservation, using his bird handling skills in the rehabilitation of native birds. That's the type of work he would be happiest doing. He's currently studying for some qualifications which will help him to get into the career he wants in NZ.

When they come to NZ, they would really like to meet all our NZ family, so we'll be asking a few favours - for them to stay a night or two with each of you, to give them a friendly start to their NZ life. Also, please give us any idea for Ray in terms of jobs - they will look for work after their first few weeks in NZ.

Fireworks of all types are available for sale throughout the year, the only bans being for letting them off after 11pm. Hoons make their own fireworks, by constructing some sort of gas bomb which makes an frightening loud bang. 

Recently there was a massive train crash, but I feel safe on my train line as there are no level crossings, and it is a slow speed line

My step count is high as I walk to the train station most days, and on that day I went for a long walk at lunchtime. 

It is getting colder, time for long coats, scarves, gloves. We've had one night of snow in November. As we drove home we noticed that the rain drops were sticking to the top of the car bonnet, and were no longer sliding off the car windscreen. The temperature rapidly dropped to below 2 degrees. Then the rain stopped and big, soft, fluffy flakes of snow started falling from the sky. The footpath soon became covered in snow, along with cars parked on the road side. The snow lasted abou0t an hour, and I was transfixed by it! Most of the snow had melted by the next morning, but most cars were still covered with snow and ice. Brr....

Beautiful clear days with a light frost in the morning. Deep orange sunsets. Lovely duvely.

Most of the leaves have now gone from the trees, I'm like  big kid, stomping through piles of dry leaves on the footpath, on the way to my train station.

9am - and I'm sitting on the train (running very late today), enjoying the sun streaming in through the rather dirty train window, listening to the BBC on my walkman radio - Cat Stevens is singing "Morning has broken". It's a chilly day outside, but the sky is blue, it's not raining, and the weekend starts tomorrow. Life is good!

I quite enjoy the 40 minute commute, as it gives me a chance to listen to the radio (Terry Wogan is an ancient broadcaster with a wicked sense of humour). I really like the self deprecation of his programme, reading out all sorts of letters and stories (and singing songs) sent in by listeners. When we return to NZ we will continue to listen to his programme via the internet. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/wogan/ 

When Aidan & Racheal were here, we had hoped to have taken then to the National Motorcycle Museum - but it was closed after a catastrophic fire last year. Hundreds of their beautiful old bikes were destroyed when someone threw a cigarette onto a pile of cardboard. The fire wasn't noticed for quite some time, by which time it had taken hold and took a long time to put out due to their being no sprinklers. The owners believed that more damage is done by sprinklers going off accidentally, than by fire. His gamble didn't pay off this time. The museum has bee rebuilt, with sprinklers this time. Sounds like they were well insured, as they've been able to build an ever bigger museum, and they've been able to buy many old bikes from around the world. Some of the bikes there are well known by Chris, who used to ride bikes with Ian, like a Velocete Thruxton - shown here with its distinctive exhaust pipe. 

Speaking of motorbikes, I'm impressed by the ambulance service in the city centre, who have paramedics on motorbikes - who are able to quickly respond to incidents, while waiting for a conventional ambulance to weave its way through heavy traffic and around frustrating one-way systems and pedestrian only streets.

21st November was the Birmingham Bombing Anniversary - one of the chilling parts of Birmingham history is that on 21 November 1974, the Mulberry Bush pub at the foot of the city's Rotunda tower and the nearby Tavern in the Town, were both destroyed within minutes of each other, by IRA bombs. 

The memorial near my work has been covered with floral tributes and there has been much reflection on the events and the subsequent wrongful imprisonment of 6 suspects. 

The snow on the ground around it makes it look even more foreboding. 

We were sad to hear about the mass whale stranding at Opoutere. We have stayed at that beach several times, it's a wonderful place which we find very special. We're told that it is a nudist beach, but we've not seen much more there than we've seen anywhere else. 

Several years ago, we helped at a whale stranding at Te Mata on the Coromandel Peninsula - spending two hours in the cold water with a 23 foot Minke whale. To our delight, that whale did swim off & didn't return. So often, they swim back to the beach to die. That's me in this photo, just to the right of the tail!

We are now seriously into winter, it's dark at 4pm and the sun rises as 8am, so we don't see much sunlight other than on the weekends. We are getting spectacular sunsets - this was the view from my office a few days ago (at 4:30pm), looking over to the huge ferris wheel which is currently located here. Fortunately the 'carriages' are centrally heated! I went on the wheel last year, when it wasn't heated, and it really was freezing up there!

Wednesday 22nd December is the winter solstice, when thousands will be gathering at Stonehenge to celebrate the turn of the season. On that day, sunrise is 8:15am and sunset is 3:55pm, so a very short day indeed.

Do have a wonderful Christmas, celebrate carefully, hope it's not too long before we see you all again.

Love,
Geoff & Chris 

(C) Geoff Pooch 2004

Geoff & Chris in the UK     
Letters & Photos: Previous Next