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

20 April 2003 

Hello all,

Hope you had a great long weekend.

We are feeling a bit blue at the moment, missing you all. We're very social people in NZ, so it feels awkward that we've not made many friends here yet. We've even considered joining the local yacht club - but it's £208 per year (almost $600) so that's not an option.

Someone asked about the range of food available here, so here's a sampler of some of the origins of food in the Sainsburys Supermarket:

Why oh why did the NZ Government give away (and encourage) other countries to grown Kiwifruit?!?!?! The name Zespri is nowhere to be seen, the only reference to NZ Kiwifruit that we have seen was on a bottle of fruit juice.

We have purchased a really beautiful Iranian floor rug. Dark red, with very fine coloured detail all over it, similar to leaves. Amazing how the rug shops offer to buy the rugs back at a later date, for the same amount as you have paid for them. They really do increase with value over time! The more worn they look, the more valuable they are. We saw on TV how some of the weavers put the rugs on the motorway, so that cars & trucks can drive over them - to wear them quickly! Our rug is from the Kashkai/Qashqai tribe, of the Fars Province of Iran, near Shiraz. It is called a Soozani type rug, as it is woven in pieces which are then assembled together. So there are distinctive small slit gaps in the weave.

Sunday. A big day in the Salter family today, as Claire is moving today to Swindon with her fiancé Dave. This leaves Chris's Dad George living on his own, which is a bit of a worry. While he's well (as he is at present) that's not too much of a problem, as various members of the family will pop in to see him most days of the week, for dinner and to help him with cleaning etc. Claire will come back most weekends to stay with him.

Monday. Phone call today from a recruitment agent for a 'knowledge management analyst', sounds like he will put Geoff's name forward to the client. It is similar to work at Hill Laboratories, so I may be in with a chance there. A gently entertaining evening was had by all at the Solihull Women's Institute, where there was a talk about the history of three Birmingham manufacturers: HP sauce, Typhoo tea and Birds custard. HP also make a lovely smoky flavour sauce, so I have been able to recreate my famous Nachos recipe here!

Tuesday. A lovely day, temperatures should reach 20 for the first time. It is a relief that the TV news is no longer dominated by the Iraq war. That is still 75% of the news here (BBC 24 hour news channel) but there's a good amount of other news as well. One gets a sense of being closer to 'the city' (London) when the exchange rates are shown on the TV news - and they are changing every couple of seconds. I.e. they are 'live' figures, changing every time currency is bought or sold on the world market.

Have just had two phone calls from employment agencies, wanting to know more about me, so they can search for a position. That makes Geoff feel better!

Wednesday. An amazing change of weather, 25 degrees! Shame our 'new' car doesn't have air conditioning, but we believed that we would never need it here!!! Geoff probably frightened the neighbours a bit - sunbathing on the tiny bit of lawn at the back of our flats. It must be no more than 16 feet square, with a little bit of garden around it. The daffodils are out and the robins are singing in the trees.

Friday. Easter Friday. We ate too many Sainsburys Hot Cross Buns, and managed to be disciplined and not have any Easter eggs yet. Had planned for our first dinner party in our tiny flat, with Chris's brother Rob, his wife Dawn and their son Tom. But Tom came out in a rash & had to be taken to the Doctors. They're playing it very careful, as they wouldn't want any illness in the family affecting their incredibly tiny twins. The girls, Grace and Caitlin are doing very well now - one is 3 pounds and the other 2 pounds 2 ounces.

Saturday. Rob & Dawn & Tom came to lunch, and experienced my Nachos washed down with Lindauer Special Reserve. That night we went to our first 'show': Carmen - the story sung in Spanish, with flamenco dancers and a wonderful Andalusian white stallion joining in the dance. The bugle orchestra was a bit of a racket and the wailing songs of the old gypsy women rather tortuous but it was all part of a wonderful evening. Going to the show was Chris's birthday present.

Sunday. An early start, as we travelled to Oxford to meet up with Lynda & David Stiles (Geoff's friends from Waikato Uni in 1977). Joining us were a young Kiwi and a young Aussie who have just moved to the UK in search of work. Oxford - quite a strange feeling being in amongst all the places of long established higher learning & thinking, but quite disconcerting the feeling of exclusion of lower classes. High walls, steel fences, locked doors - admitting only those of the chosen few. None of the colleges are open for free-of-charge public viewing. Ah well, that's tourism for you.

Then drove back via Fairford air force base, where the huge American B52 bomber planes are parked. Incredible security around there, hundreds of police, floodlights, armed guards, etc. We popped in to see Chris's brother Ray - the one who trains and flies falcons

Glad to be back in our comfy flat, scoffing Easter eggs and hot cross buns.

Wednesday St Georges Day The Olton mere is a water reservoir built 200 years ago, to feed the canal system. The area is now all fenced off and no longer accessible to the public. A great shame. We managed to find a small opening in the fence and had a wander around - felt like naughty kids! Had a friendly chat with the 'ranger'. The area has been used for 100 years as a fishing lake and yacht club. In the club house is the mounted remains of a 26 pound fish caught there in 1916. Fishing here is big commercial business, with your having to pay to fish on rivers and canals. The Olton Mere is being redeveloped at the moment into a carp fishery (a shame really), and the yacht club is about to rebuild their facilities. They have a small clubroom with a bar - and we enjoyed a couple of hours there, chatting with club members. But it's too expensive to join… We can pay a much lesser amount to have 'walking access' so perhaps we'll do that instead.

I see that Ravi Shaankar is having a concert in Birmingham soon, with his daughter Anouschka. That would be a wonderful concert - his Sitar music has been part of the Beatles music, and his other daughter is, of course, the currently famous Nora Jones.

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