This month's issue of my newsletter is a good news-only issue, written for my Mum & others to enjoy reading! February & April's issues have the more serious news & events.

My trip to NZ was on my own, Chris staying behind in the UK - looking after her Dad, visiting friends and going to Antwerp. This unfortunately meant that Chris & I would be apart for our 11th wedding anniversary.  

A few weeks before my trip I left, our car engine 'blew up', costing $1400 to repair. Bugger! That's over 1/2 of what we paid for the car in the first place. Silly me for not recognising that the problem with the interior heater was foretelling more major problems. There is a stupid design fault on our Rover 414, in that the temperature sensor is on the radiator, so if the water isn't circulating - the sensor doesn't detect the heat! The temperature gauge was showing everything as normal. As the engine became sluggish (from over heating) we thought it was a fuel problem and carried on with more throttle, with a disastrous end result - an explosion of steam from the engine and having to leave the car on the side of the road (on an unsavoury road in a council estate) until we could get a garage to tow it back the following morning.

Enroute to Heathrow, Chris & I drove to Reading , we stayed the night with Lynda & Dave.   In the morning, Dave asked Chris how 'Russell' was – Chris thought that they had a new pet, but in fact they were referring to a little secret... so this was the cue for me to give Chris our wedding anniversary present, a magnificent pottery rooster which we had seen in a shop window in Eton, several months earlier. Chris really liked the look of it, but the shop 'studio 101' was closed that day. So I phoned up a few days later, bought it, and had Lynda pick it up and store it until this day. So we now have 'Russell the Rooster' gracing our dining room in Birmingham. But it is yet another thing which is going to have to be put in a tea chest for shipping back to NZ when we return…

After Reading, we travelled to Redhill, Surrey to spend the day with friends Angus & Anne. It started snowing as we arrived. After lunch at a local pub, they drove us to Heathrow Airport where drama unfolded - when Chris was pickpocketed. Although she didn’t realise it until the following day, she lost her purse, with credit card, ATM card, drivers licence, id cards, gym membership card and cash. With her ATM card, they somehow managed to withdraw $800 from our bank account. Bugger! The swines! It has taken many weeks of sorting out issues with police, the bank and drivers licence people to get things sorted. We got most of the $800 back from the bank, but not all of it – we had to suffer the first $140 of loss. It seems that there is a way that thieves can get money out of money machines without a pin number, of course the banks won’t tell us how they did it…  

Another distress for Chris was coming back to our flat, feeling insecure, and then hearing & seeing rats around the building, in our storage cupboard, and inside our ceiling. She was not a happy chappy. Add to that, her job restructuring turned weird and she was really distressed by all of that.

The fourth thing to go wrong for Chris while I was away, was that her Dad George suffered an adverse reaction to his chemotherapy. Everything had gone well at the hospital, but when Chris saw him home later that evening he was in a really bad way. She took him to A&E where they took him into resuscitation, he ended back in hospital for three more weeks.

Fifth, Chris became really upset about not being in NZ, to be with me during all the dramas. So March was a truly miserable month for her.

She stayed a few more days with Angus & Anne, and it snowed the whole time – the coldest weather that the area had ever seen, minus 7! Visually pretty but blimmin cold! Apparently the snow didn’t stop for a whole week. She got to see foxes in Anne's garden, really up close.

While I was away in NZ, Chris had a jewel of a time, she went to Antwerp - city of diamonds. Fortunately she was so busy on the guided tour of an incredibly modern Jans Celag pharmaceuticals factory, that she didn’t have time for any expensive shopping. She had a great time, a wonderful trip courtesy of the manufacturer. Antwerp is an old gracious city.

I had good flights from UK to NZ, two seats to myself for both flights. Was served dinner at a silly time: 12:30am as I flew over Prague. It was great having a spare seat, go all the junk can go on the other seat rather than on the floor, and to be able to spread the meals out over two trays so it’s not so cramped. Who needs business class?!

The bitter cold of England was soon contrasted with the 33 degrees of Singapore, stinking hot, which made my wish to do lots of walking a bit of a challenge. So I had a few swims in the Allson Hotel swimming pool, and did lots of walking very early in the morning (waking early due to jetlag!). Was amazed to see UK shops like Mango and Marks & Spencer, and to hear that there is an IKEA in Singapore. The reality is that many of the residents are UK ex-pats with lots of money, so there’s plenty of UK shops to help them spend it!

To break my journey, I chose to spend one night in Singapore on the way over, and two nights on the way back. I am amazed at how the cost of flying via Singapore has become so cheap, especially with the Singapore Airline Stopover Holiday package – very reasonably priced hotels, with airport transfers and free entry to a number of things like the Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park. Upon checking in at my hotel at 10pm, I took at taxi to the zoo for the night safari (only $15). Aidan & Racheal had highly recommended this to me. I was wide awake, so thought this would be a great way of spending the time. Night time is of course the best time to see animals in the tropics, as most are asleep during the day. The taxi driver had a particular style of weaving all over the road without indicating, which I soon learnt is how all Singapore taxi drivers drive. Aidan has a great night vision feature on his camera, but mine doesn’t, so I ended up with dozens of blurry indeterminate photos (you are not allowed to use the flash on your cameras). The zoo is built in jungle, with discrete electric fencing defining where the penned areas are. Around the pens were floodlights, putting out a very soft glow of light, to simulate the dusk. I saw all sorts of animals which I hadn’t seen before, like hyena, flying fox, porcupine, stork and some very weird tusked pigs. A great evening out, which I highly recommend, despite the overly enthusiastic commentary on the tram journey by hostess ‘Tina’.

Did lots and lots of walking, went for a foot massage at Kenko - which Angus had so enthusiastically recommended. OUCH! It was really painful, but it sure felt good when they stopped! Walked the entire length of Orchard Road and didn’t buy a thing. Got some blisters though, a rotten reward for my discipline of not spending any money.  Saw lots of things that I wanted to buy, but I was good… It was the time of celebrations for the Chinese New Year while I was there, wish I had been around for the fireworks which inevitably accompany such celebrations. At the Tanglin Shopping Centre, I saw a beautiful porcelain rooster, even nicer than 'Russell', for a whopping $3000. Fortunately my suitcase wasn’t big enough, to add this one to our brood.

Woke at 6am, walked up the Cannon Hill, watched the sunrise – sitting on a grassy bank until biting ants got the better of me, listening to the dawn birdsong, watching people performing a tai chi routine with swords. There was a huge golden rising sun, very appropriate for an Oriental location. Got lost around Cannon Hill Park, finally worked out that the maps around the hill were not orientated North:South, so the little compass I was carrying was a fat lot of use - no wonder I was getting lost!

Lovely being in the big city, early in the morning when the city is sleeping, the only people around sitting at street pavement cafes – having their noodle breakfasts.  

In the evening, I spent a while sitting by the worlds biggest fountain (the circular ‘fountain of wealth’) at the SunTec Centre, which is all lit up at night. Young lovers can pay to have their names ‘written’ on the water by laser lights.

Singapore really is an amazing city, undergoing massive transformation to be a very modern city, truly a shoppers paradise. It is obviously a very wealthy city. Over the next two months, I will have visited Singapore four times, and now know the city quite well! Chris & I really enjoyed it last February, including our glitzy evening at Raffles & our multiple Singapore Slings.

Had to checkout at 2pm with had several more hours before I had to leave for the airport, so went for a swim and window shopping up Orchard Road again. Got back at 5pm for another swim and then changed into my travelling clothes at the swimming pool changing rooms.

At the airport, I repacked my bags to try to bring the weight under limit, transferring a 5 Kg pile of Sunday Times Magazines which I have been collecting for Max into my hand luggage. My suitcase was still 32 Kg which is 10 over the limit! Fortunately they let me off, and I think that Singapore Airlines let you have up to 30 without too much hassle. ½ of the suitcase was full of baby clothes for Aidan & Racheal's first baby, and some maternity clothes for Racheal – most from MotherCare, an excellent shop in the UK. Also a large biscuit tin of Scottish biscuits for Mum, which caused her great delight over & over again – every night when I got the tin out & offered her some of the yummy shortbread, Mum was really delighted by the picture on the tin.

Saw lots of forked lightening on the flight to NZ, and again was fed too much food at weird times of the night. Had seats by the wing escape door, which meant lots of leg room. 60 movies to choose from on the in-flight entertainment system, which I now discovered you could pause, and even rewind and watch from the beginning.  

I saw this wonderful cartoon in the NZ Herald, which perfectly describes how I felt when I arrived in NZ. My Singapore Airlines flights were as good as they could be, but I still felt dreadful. I had the worst jetlag I've ever suffered in my life! I tried taking Melatonin tablets - these are not legal to purchase in the UK or NZ, but are available duty free on-board Singapore Airlines flights. Our friend Robin swears by it, but we've read lots of articles warning against it. I took 2 or 3 and felt a bit weird, though couldn't tell if the tablets were making me feel better or worse!

The traffic in Auckland certainly has become worse since I left. On the Friday night it took me 2 hours to journey from Birkenhead to Papakura! And then only 25 minutes to travel back again later than evening. Ridiculous! But the journey was worth it, as I was longing to see Aidan & Racheal, and to give them the huge pile of baby clothes that I had brought over.

On the first Saturday, we had a lovely family lunch at Verran’s Corner Café, a wonderful range of simple, tasty, good looking food – the likes of which I have much missed while in the UK. Most of the cafes and lunch bars in UK seem to sell food that’s been made in a factory the day before. Maybe the factories weren’t even in the UK! So much seems to come from Europe, and now a lot of the labels on things simply say ‘Made in the EU’ so you don’t know which country they actually come from.

Then home in the afternoon with lots of nieces and nephews visiting. I bought lots of yummy food (yes – healthy as well as naughty). Amy (Wilma’s oldest daughter) was there from the UK as well. Later I went out and bought a new computer for Dad, so that his emailing and MSN chatting would work better. He has been really enjoying our regular emails and MSN chats – including those with video pictures with the web camera I bought him last year. The picture of web cameras is small and awkward, but it has been great fun for us to wave at eachother, pulling silly faces, showing off clothes and things we have bought or are eating – engaging my Mum & Dad in our life with live pictures as well as text and voice.  

The following day was AGP day. Mum collapsed in the morning and was taken to hospital in ambulance, but she insisted that I still go to my party, so off I went. My going as a surprise guest worked fairly well, it was great fun seeing people’s reactions, but someone must have let the cat out of the bag, as people were commenting “so you DID come after all!”. Maybe I gave the game away with my subtle hints in some emails about “wouldn’t it be fun if I just turned up unannounced”. It was a glorious sunny Auckland afternoon, the venue being Bastion Point – next to the Sir Michael Savage Memorial. The Waitemata harbour was sparkling, the guests protected from the sun by the huge trees, dozens of flags flying, the customary sunflowers beaming their golden yellow glow. There was mountains of sumptuous food, dozens of bottles of wine, and most important – lots of long lost friends. After some food and a couple of glasses of champers, I finally began to relax and unwind. It was fun to observe tourists coming up to our group, inquiring what the flags signified, thinking that it was some sort of major event!

AGP is quite a special thing for me, for 12 years a group of friends have been meeting for an elaborate 'Annual General Picnic' in an Auckland location. Each 5th anniversary is overseas, and we enjoyed going to the San Francisco one two years ago - when 23 people flew to attend it. Planning is already underway for the 2007 AGP, which I am trying to persuade the organisers to have in the Cook Islands (rather than Hawaii), as I feel that it would be a more authentic island event. Rarotonga has been my favourite place, even since Chris & I honeymooned there in 1994. I put together a comprehensive proposal, and presented it at the meal they had for Lee’s farewell.  

Visited Bruce & Mo several times - I used to be in business with Bruce in the 1980s, when we worked together at CBL and we then formed Waikato Computer Services to pursue our interest in providing personal computer software. They now run a very successful business related to the Crystal Reports computer software, they are NZ’s two accredited gurus on this popular system. They have achieved my dream of a home run business, I'm quite envious. 

Wednesday night, went to visit Michelle & Ross Ashby. I worked with Michelle at Hallmark in the 1980s, and had been meaning to keep in touch with them over all these years. The Auckland Maritime Museum has a wonderful old steam boat – the Ted Ashby, from Ross’s grandfather.  

Thursday, at 6am, I was at Auckland Mangere Airport to greet UK friends Simon & Jan. I worked with them at Shoosmiths, and was delighted to be their host for the first few days that they were in NZ. We had a lovely lunch at the Viaduct Harbour and took them on a tiki-tour around the inner city. Here’s a photo of a proud moment for me, taking them up the top of Mount Eden, showing off the splendour of ‘my city’. Perhaps on this trip I have found my heart quite affected by Auckland, a sense of belonging & wishing to return. My Dad taught me that it’s a great idea to take overseas visitors up Mount Eden as their first place to visit, as it gives a great sense of the layout of the city, with it’s landmarks and showing where the sun rises & sets. Simon & Jan are now living in the Massey/upper Waitemata harbour area, and I hope that you will make them feel ‘at home’ in NZ.

I had originally planned to spend five days in Hamilton, but the developing situation meant this had to be reduced to just a couple of days. It has been two years since we left NZ, and I was amazing & disappointed to see that the roadworks between Auckland & Hamilton are nowhere near finished. I arranged to visit our Olympia Place home and Frost Place rental property with our great property manager – Bronwyn Hunter. To my relief, Olympia was looking great inside even if the gardens were a little overgrown – that’s to be expected. Frost Place wasn’t quite as good, the garden shed was in a collapsed heap on the ground. But nothing really to worry about. The tenants in Olympia seem really nice, their biggest concern is that we weren’t planning on coming back any time soon, as they didn’t want to leave – so that’s a good sign. Went to the bank and picked up visa cards, saving a $40 courier fee for them to send them to the UK. With Chris having lost hers at Heathrow, this was good timing.

Popped into Hill Labs for a flying visit, to hello to some of my old workmates. Then back to Olympia Place to say hello to neighbours - the Petcus. We them went on a brisk walk through the Hammond Bush, which has been a major project for me over the last 6 years. It was a lovely feeling seeing so many of the trees I planted grown up. The walkway which I had dug up the hill from the stream to the boardwalk (without a resource consent!) has been replaced by a well built concrete path, and the ugly culvert over the stream has been replaced by a tidy little bridge. I thought that Hamilton is looking great, I do miss the place. I found myself wandering down the main street, desperately hoping that I would bump into someone I knew (I didn’t!). Instead I popped into Colin Hancock’s backpackers shop on Victoria Street – I worked with Colin at Hallmark many years ago.

Had dinner with Jane, and presented her with an unusual gift which I had found for her – a very old brass whistle with “J Hudson – made in Birmingham” inscribed on it. This particular one is apparently called a ‘G5 metropolitan police whistle’, so called as it is a genuine London’s bobby’s whistle which had been stored in a Government store depot called G5 as part of preparations for nuclear war! They had reckoned that in nuclear war that all telephone lines and radios would be knocked out of action, so police on the beat would have to resort to old-fashioned whistles for communication! It took a long time to track one of these whistles down, but it was worth it - as it’s a special bit of history. In June I visited the whistle making factory again with Richard Ward, and had a long talk about the history. He told us that Jane Hudson was the name of the founder’s wife, so that’s an amazing coincidence. He sincerely warned us off becoming whistle collectors, as it can become quite a compulsion – one collector has about 1400 in his collection! I bought one, so that I could have one like Janes. In the factory, there is a museum section which has many of the items which they have manufactured over the years (the firm was founded in the 1860s), including musical whistles for orchestras, horns for hunting parties, whistles for the communicating pipes in ships and tanks, all sorts of curiosities. They have even made a huge flying whistle, which is designed to be dropped from a plane – accompanied by two sky divers!  On their website, you can listen to sound samples of their products – give it a try on www.acmewhistles.co.uk This company is quite famous for having made the whistle used by crew on the Titanic, and have made 45 million of these police whistles!

When at Janes, I got a call that Dad was asking for me to return ASAP - so I sped back to Auckland. At Ngaruawahia I realised that all the rear lights on his car weren’t working, and that I really shouldn’t be driving – but I really had to return to Auckland, so I carried on & hoped that I wouldn’t be stopped. At Taupiri I was captivated by the glow-worm like lights going up the hillside, among the graves. I realised there must be 100’s of solar powered garden lights, making for quite an eerie sight. My fear of being stopped & found out for the broken lights rose, when I reached a police road block at Mercer! Fortunately they waved me through, as they were there mopping up after an accident – they had been chasing a boy racer, which veered across the road, causing a truck & trailer to swerve and end up in the Waikato River. The road was soon closed for six hours, so I was lucky to get through! The next problem was when I reached central Auckland – the motorway was closed north of Nelson Street for roadworks, so I had to travel around the inner city streets before rejoining the motorway onto the harbour bridge. Finally made it to North Shore Hospital just before midnight.

It was so hot in NZ, and my sandals so uncomfortable, that I went to Warehouse to look for a bargain. The $50 sandals I chose were reduced, and then at the till they charged only $4 for them! I had paid $26 just two weeks earlier to have my old sandals repaired, so I couldn’t believe the bargain I had found.

For my second trip to Hamilton, I stayed overnight at Richard & Beverley’s Koromatua place. I had been wanting to catch up with Jevon and his new girlfriend Tash, having not met her before. So we had a BBQ at Koromatua. Earlier in the day I had stopped at the Frankton Market and pickup up some really aromatic smoked sausages. They were very yum. Also spent ages trying to find a nice silver fern brooch, and was really surprised that I wasn’t able to find a really good one. The ones for sale in the tourist shops were very tacky, and there were none in any of the jewellery shops. Finally found a half decent one at the visitors information centre across the river from the Huntly Power Station. To my delight, I was given a beautiful gold fern by Richard & Beverley, which I will wear with great pride on Anzac Day etc. On the spur of the moment, I phoned around to see who else was in town on the day I was there, so I managed to catch up with Lizzie, Luanne, Diane & Adrian at Hyrdo Magestic Cafe. Most of the guys were away on a boys weekend with Lee, so I missed out on seeing them. Got a bit of a fright in the men’s loo there, when I first opened the door I saw a naked leg and thought there was someone in there already! But then I laughed when I realised that it was part of a shop mannequin, put there for 'decoration'. We had to move table though, when a well known couple of large local ladies (Les Horribles of Hayes Paddock) arrived in their Lexus, demanding that we vacate 'their' regular table.

Returned to Auckland, and made a flying visit to my old school – Birkdale College (now called Birkenhead College). My wish to go there is perhaps part of my mid-life crisis, but perhaps more related to my seeing my Mum’s memory fade and my wanting to record some of my memories about the place before I forget them! The Principal Jim Mathewson made me most welcome, really interested to hear my stories as a foundation pupil (reportedly the first pupil ever enrolled). We went on a quick walking tour and I pointed out some interesting history about the place which he didn’t know. He then proudly showed me the new gymnasium and photography rooms, along with the extensive suites of computers. In my day we didn’t have any computers at all (the PC wasn’t invented until 1983 and I left school in 1976!). I was surprised to see how many rooms in the school now had different uses, eg the hall is now a dining room! To my surprise, he knew about my having built the first darkroom in a cleaner’s storage cupboard, but there was much he didn’t know. To assist me with writing my history of the school, he kindly provided me with copies of all the school magazines from my era. It was quite funny seeing old photos of me again… A few days later, I had a really long talk with an old school mate Robert Jones, who is running a very successful locksmithing business in Whangarei – it has been almost 30 years since I spoke with him last, and it was a great feeling to be able to slip back into conversation with a long lost friend.

Visited another favourite couple of friends, Robert Love & Eileen Hawkins at Waimauku. If only I had known they were in London a few months ago, we would have visited them!

Found time for a third trip to Hamilton (geez I must like the place!). Met up with lots of old friends at the Hamilton Gardens – Robyn & Helen (and his Mum), Diane & Brian, Jane, Margot & Liz Carthy, Brent & Delwyn and then popped into visit Richard & Anoushcka, John and Josephine. A whirlwind of a day, which was wonderful. Thank you to all, you really lifted my spirits! Spent a wonderful ½ hour walking around the Hamilton Gardens, I’m really impressed by the new Indian gardens. What a great asset for the city they are. When I got back to Auckland, nephew Aaron had been & delivered some freshly smoked marlin, caught by his own fair hand – really tasty!  

The sea beckoned, so I went for a long walk along Milford Beach and remembered having been there when I was a little boy. Somewhere along there are the remains of a forest embedded in the lava flow, lots of ponds of sealife, which I remember exploring on a primary school trip in the 1960’s. Probably with the darling Mrs Metge – who to my amazement I met up with in April.

Was talking with an old Birkenhead friend of the family – Janet & Peter Wright, and discovered that they both come from Moseley in Birmingham. So had a good old chat with them about what their old stomping ground is like now & loaned them my illustrated book about Birmingham of the new millennium.

It’s an odd feeling – staying in your old bedroom, in what is probably the same bed, as in your childhood. The room seems familiar, but much smaller. The place has been redecorated several times over the years, but has the same structure, the ceiling you look up at still has the same wooden beams and plaster panels. On this night I was alone there, with the sound of parties raging in the house next door. Feeling lonely, wishing Chris was here to share the fun and drama of this time.

Phoned my old buddy, Mrs Goldsman. I was best mates with her son Alan, and used to spend many happy hours in their house. She is now living in Milford, with a lovely view of the sea. She's a bit like my Dad, very busy in retirement - doing lots for charities like the talking book library for the blind. Good on her!

It was quite surreal, having all the drama at Mum & Dad's house, and then to step out of their house in the evenings and to walk into a film set at the end of the street – South Pacific Pictures filming a TV series called ‘Last Man Standing’. Our real in-home drama was happening just a short distance from a make-believe drama. Huge floodlights lit up the house at the end of BridgeView Road, until after midnight. The film crew had wanted to use Mum & Dad’s house for the film, and Dad had booked a holiday in Bali so they would be away during the filming, but wisely he cancelled both. Thank heavens for travel insurance, refunding their business class fares and hotel costs. Their house had been used for filming of Shortland Street (it was Kirsty’s flat at one stage), and I was told that his Mercury Printing factory was once used as a film set for the TV series Gloss in the 1980’s. Add to that Mum & Dad’s appearance in a TV advert for the railways – they’ve had quite a showbiz life!

A key decision we made for Mum & Dad’s care was for a new bathroom to be built. This would be one which is the same as a hospital one – no shower walls, designed for a free standing chair to be in the shower, and for the floor to slope gently to a drain. This would mean that we could hire a carer to assist with looking after Mum & Dad. A bizarre sight was seen when we removed the old bath, hundreds of snail shells underneath it! My Uncle Barry came over to do the plumbing, with lots of help from Ian and Alan. Ironically, Barry then came to visit us in Birmingham a couple of weeks later.

I had extended my NZ trip from two weeks to four, but finally had to say my goodbyes on 20th March.  A special moment happened shortly after the plane took off. When I looked out my window - there was a fantastic view of the west coast of NZ and I could clearly see the Anawhata beach which was so very special to my Dad and so many of the Pooch family.  

So, I’m sitting on a nearly new Boeing 777 plane, heading west from Auckland, with brilliant sunshine on my shoulder and the sparkling Tasman sea far below me. After flying directly over Sydney and seeing the Opera House, I had a great view over the expanse of waste space which is the Australian interior. How on earth can anyone live there? It's so barren! 

I was discussing favourite arthouse movies with the passenger next to me, mine is "The Pillow Book", his was " 3 colours red, 3 colours blue, 3 colours white" - which I've since found out is actually three movies. 

Spent another two nights in Singapore, again staying at the Allson Hotel. On my travels I saw this shop - which specialised in selling small size dresses! 

I walked from my hotel to Orchard Road, much of the area is currently dug up - for extension of the underground railway system. When I was in Singapore 12 months earlier, I suffered really bad food poisoning - so I am extra cautious when it comes to buying food from outside the hotel. So there I was, sitting at the famous Merlion water fountain, eating Macdonalds on the steps next to it Went to see the laser light show at the fountain, but it was broken!

Aidan & Rach had recommended that I go to the Little India area of East Singapore city, were I went to the huge 24 hour shop - the Mustafa Centre, which was a bit like Forlongs in that it felt like a family run business.

Went to Raffles, for a Singapore Sling in the long bar - famous for having peanuts all over the floor, but I didn't really enjoy being in a bar on my own, not my scene.

Took the underground MRT train to Jurong bird park (another thing with free tickets as part of the Singapore Stopover Holiday Package), it is highly recommended. A hint for people going there is to take a bottle of water and a plastic cup (like the one in my photo) and hide a loaf of sliced bread in your bag, so that you can hand feed the birds without paying the relatively rip-off price that they charge. As I wandered around the huge aviaries, Singapore Army jets roared overhead. I can highly recommend that you make sure you are there at noon, in the large aviary, for the simulated tropical rainstorm ­- with sound effects! It was great watching the birds bathing & preening themselves in the rain.

Later, back in the town, I sat and listened to a childrens orchestra, playing weird instruments I had not seen before, like mouth blown wind instruments with a keyboard and lots of trumpet horns rising above it.  

Feeling a little bit better after my ordeals in NZ, phoning Mum & Dad every day, I returned to the UK. My Uncle Barry and Aunty Marie came to visit for a couple of days, so we took them to the Black Country Living Museum, a drive around the picturesque Cotswolds area, visiting some of the incredibly old houses in the area. They had been staying in Windsor, but were keen to be away from there during the weekend of Charles & Camilla’s wedding. Some wag observed that Charles had proposed to Camilla on the same day the Ken proposed to Deirdre (Coronation Street). The last time that Ken & Deidre proposed was the same day that Charles had proposed to Diana. Too much of a con-concidence? A bad omen? Only time will tell.  

Back in Birmingham, it was rain and cloud, chilly days – I really had hoped that Spring would have spring before I got back, but no such luck! Chris & I went to the gym five times over Easter, in an attempt to burn off my jetlag.

Cheers,
Geoff