This gallery contains 18 photos.
We were warned for the best part of a week, it was from Russia and it was going to hit Saturday night. Road gritters started gritting the roads mid week and Heathrow cancelled one third of their flights in advance. … Continue reading
The last week has seen the team from Aspley Guise pack up and move to Bromham. That’s a distance of about 30 kilometres but the move involved serious logistics and planning as well as a decent dollop of muscle over the weekend just past.
Adding interest to the move was the impending “big freeze” that was due to hit the UK on Saturday. Thankfully it held off until the move was finished – just. The lads were enjoying a couple of beers just as the first snow started to drift down.
Next morning our new neighbourhood was under 3 inches of snow – what a lovely welcome to Bromham.
On Saturday we returned our trusty Renault Megane Estate. Its 6 month lease was over and we couldn’t extend the term any further. It has been a fantastic car – reliable, spacious, comfortable, fast, economical, everything you could want. We returned it almost intact to the Renault Depot at Heathrow, just a couple of scrapes on one side resulting from trying to squeeze into a narrow driveway in Firenze.
We will miss its luggage capacity, its start/stop button (just like an Aston Martin) and the way its side mirrors folded in when parked. We won’t miss its cable gear shift which meant that second and fourth seemed to be in the same place, or the cacophony of beeping that greeted any parking manoeuvre thanks to the front and rear parking sensors.
So what car would you get as a replacement for a capacious, comfortable estate car? A Fiat 500 of course.
The irony that all through Italy we drove French cars and now in the UK we drive the quintessential Italian car is not lost on Jean and I. The irony that we have an estate cars worth of luggage and the 500 is about the size of a roller-skate is also not lost on us.
But it’s a Fiat and a really good one at that. It handles like a go-cart, it looks cute and it just makes you, well, smile.
It’s ours for the next two weeks or until Mr Avis wants it back again.
Note: The photo of our Fiat 500 was taken at Woburn Estate just before sunset. I quite like this shot.
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There are two villages close to Aspley Guise. One is Woburn Sands which boasts a population of around 2,000 people. The other is the much smaller village of Woburn which has, as its close neigbour, the Duke of Bedford’s estate … Continue reading
Last weekend we went to Ipswich. It meant a drive of about an hour and a half across England to the eastern coast – well almost the coast as Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell.
Friends Sue and Ali are kiwis living and working in Ipswich. They came and stayed at Aspley Guise over Christmas and invited all the Aspley Guisers over for dinner and to stay the night.
They have a penthouse apartment on the Ipswich waterfront. Like many towns located on the water, the area around the port has undergone a rebirth in the last few years with new apartment blocks being built and the original waterfront buildings being renovated. There is a feeling of Auckland when you walk along the Ipswich waterfront. Leisure craft are moored alongside and a plethora of cafes and bars exist near the water.
On Saturday night Sue cooked a fine meal which, accompanied by a couple, a few, some, quite a lot of wine and beer, meant Sunday morning was a slow start. A walk along the waterfront was the ideal way to blow away the lingering hangovers.
The past week has seen two celebrations at Aspley Guise. Gill had a birthday and, quite rightly, became queen for a day, and dear old Daisy the dog had a birthday – her 15th.
Gill’s birthday involved champagne, a fantastic meal out at The Birch restaurant, presents from all over the world and a good old-fashioned hangover the next day.
Daisy’s birthday involved a cake with candles, doggie treats, presents from all the doggie shops we know of and a hangover the next day due to a late night when the whole team were visiting friends in Ispwich.
Daisy received a new winter coat from Jean and I which, unlike her current one, doesn’t need to removed by it pulling over her head (she bites anyone who tries to take off her current coat) and a new basket for her to sleep in from Gill, Andre, Josh and Jordan.
In dog years Daisy is, depending on the formula used, either 90 and 105. Not a bad effort for an old lady and she continues to battle on despite her heart condition, poor vision and lack of hearing. The heart specialist in Italy described her as “il cane di miracolo” and she continues to defy the odds and lead a happy and relatively healthy life. The difference between now and a couple of years ago is that her pace of life is much slower.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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One thing that constantly fascinates me about an English winter are the deciduous trees. In New Zealand the vast majority of trees retain their leaves through the winter. So the sight of great swathes of naked trees is a novelty. … Continue reading
The girls usually have a haircut every 6 to 8 weeks. The last time they were groomed was in Siena at the end of October – 10 weeks ago. Jean had given them the occasional trim along the way but they were pretty shaggy so their first groom in the UK was quite extreme. Poppie survived relatively unscathed but poor old Daisy ended up with the Bichon equivalent of a number 1.
The only redeeming feature is that her coat will grow back – and in an English winter quite quickly we hope.
Virgin Trains Pendolino train at Euston Station
On Tuesday we travelled to London to meet with recruitment consultants to gain an incite into the English employment market. We took the fast train from Milton Keynes to London Euston – 30 minutes non-stop.
When we arrived at Milton Keynes Central to catch the train we discovered that services were delayed due to a train breaking down earlier in the morning (half a world away but things don’t change) but even given the delay we still arrived in London with time to spare. Before the trip back to Milton Keynes I snapped a shot of the train – something for the rail boys (and girls) back in New Zealand.
Virgin introduced the Pendlino trains in 2002 and now operates 50 sets. The trains currently have a top speed of 125mph.
This is our 200th toscanakiwi post. When we started the blog it was to keep friends and family informed about our little adventure in Italy. But reading back over some of the last 200 entries I now realise it is also a collection of memories for Jean and I. It might be old age or just the passing of time but little things get forgotten and one adventure gets confused with another in our minds – but the blog is always there with the real story.
In September 2011, post number 100 was sent from our cottage in Tuscany. At that stage around 4,800 visitors had read the blog since it’s launch. As of today that figure has increased to 11,541.
A huge thank you to all our lovely readers. Your feedback is always welcome and knowing that our adventures are providing a little interest and entertainment is all that we can ask for.
Ciao
Graeme and Jean
This gallery contains 18 photos.
England has an extensive network of canals. They were built in the 19th and early 20th century to carry freight around the country but are now the playground of a legion of narrowboat owners who spend the summer travelling through … Continue reading
There are a number of notable buildings in and around Aspley Guise. One worth mentioning is “The Rookery”. Although it is now a private home, during World War 2 this secluded Victorian mansion was the home of Australian Dennis Delmer. He was involved in “black ops” which included broadcasting radio propaganda and programmes to Germany which, among other things, suggested that Hitler had Jewish ancestry.
In fact there was much covert activity in and around Aspley Guise during the war with Bletchley Park, the home of the World War 2 Enigma code crackers, only a few minutes down the road.
Another notable house in the area is Aspley House. This is a splendid property set in grounds near the entrance to the village. It was built around 1650 and remains the largest house in the village.
This gallery contains 8 photos.
Today I wandered through Aspley Guise to the village church – St Boltolph’s. There has been a church on this site since 1223 with the current church tower built sometime between 1400 and 1650. For a small village church it … Continue reading
It’s easy to tell if the girls are feeling at home. The more couch they take up, the happier they are. Now we just need to figure out where the humans sit.
I have been asked by a reader (well not really, but I’m going to tell you anyway) what camera gear I have been using over the last few months to capture our travels in Italy and other places. For my last birthday I received a Nikon D7000 body which replaced my old but hugely competent Nikon D70.
This camera body is an amazing piece of kit. All the niggles I had with the D70 had been fixed or improved and the video capability and “live view” are a bonus. The operation with my existing lenses is seamless.
On the front of the camera I use a Nikkor 18-70 zoom lense, a Nikkor 80-200 zoom lense and a Sigma 10-20 wide-angle lense. For the times when carrying a full size DSLR is not convenient I have a Sony T500 point and shoot camera and, of course, my trusty iPhone.
My most useful accessory is a good solid tripod followed closely by a Nikon SB400 flash unit. This flash is Nikon’s smallest but it is ideal for situations the on-body flash can’t cope with. A good solid, waterproof camera bag is also a must – mine is an over shoulder Lowepro Stealth Reporter (where do they get these names from?) which holds a body and up to 4 lenses and accessories with ease.
All images are downloaded to my MacBook Pro and stored in Aperture. Any retouching is done in Photoshop.
I have two portable drives for backing up data – one for the Aperture vault and one for the rest of the data on my MacBook. A word of advice – back up your stuff. For us, the thought of losing the photos and attached memories we have collected on this trip because of a hard disk failure is not worth thinking about.
La dolce far niente 