It's still Christmas

Unlike my antipodean relations, it's still Christmas here, if only for another 14 minutes. I felt the need to express my disappointment at the lack of prior planning and preparation that prevented my first northern hemisphere yuletide celebration from being a white one. Despite skidding across the carpark on the way to work numerous times on frost and ice, on Christmas Day itself, there wasn't even a frost. Bollocks to that. Next time, dear weather overlords, get it right!

But why is the pumpkin gone?

A recurring question during the time that I have been in the UK relates to the significant absence of pumpkin. It appears that once Halloween is over, it becomes virtually impossible to source any pumpkin other than butternut (which, incidentally, is called butternut squash over here). If one is lucky enough to find one, it's barely big enough to feed a person for more than one meal, and will cost you a fortune for the privilege.

Although this is not strictly a travel story, it does specifically relate to my time in the UK. I removed the skin from my knuckle whilst peeling said pumpkin for Christmas lunch today. Small, expensive pumpkin, plus blood, does not a tasty lunch make.

Oh dear God!

I was merrily making lunch today, with the sun shining through the window. All was at peace with the world, and I wasn't actually cold for a change. I could see that it was becoming a little hazy, and within about 3 or 4 minutes, a thick fog had rolled in.

I swear to God the temperature plummeted. I went from just right at about 6 degrees, to turning up the heater and shivering under my doona (duvet for you English folk). I took the photos at about 3.45pm, a couple of hours after it rolled in (and just minutes from sundown, as if that would make a difference).

This country is an advertisement for moving to warmer climates!

The (not as good as I expected) Christmas lights

I left the museum and headed into Oxford Street. After a little shopping and some dinner, I braced myself for the walk down the street to see the lights. Suffice to say I didn't make it the whole way - I didn't see the point. I don't know if in the end I've missed something exciting, but I sure didn't see anything too exciting in the first half. Every year they have a theme for the lights (it was Ice Age when my parents were there once), and this year it's Enchanted. Whoopee.

Because that was as exciting as, oh, I don't know, smashing my head into a brick wall repeatedly, I headed for Trafalgar Square. I'd heard all about the Christmas tree that was donated by the Norwegians, as it has been every year since 1947, so I was expecting something good. Well, it was big, and it had lights on it. It was pretty plain actually. I think the one in the city in Brisbane is much better, and it certainly doesn't come all the way from Norway. Still, I like the fact that it's the 60th one that they have had donated.

British Museum

After I'd finished at Harrods, I went to the British Museum. I got there, despite Transport For London's best efforts to stop me through their ineffective operation of the underground. On a side note, I swear it was their mission today to delay me and annoy me as much as possible - I did not catch a single train that wasn't delayed for one reason or another, and all up I caught 10. It would have been 11 but I gave up on the last one and caught a cab.

The museum was huge, and I don't know if it's just because I didn't go through the main entrance, but I didn't have a map to guide me around, so it was also a little confusing. I think I will have to go back more than once to take it all in, and especially to see the Terracotta Army which is currently being exhibited there.

I saw a great range of displays, from medieval England to ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome. I also saw some stuff about Africa, and this other exhibit that had a theme about healing (I think - either I didn't pay enough attention or it really wasn't clear). It would be the perfect excursion for my old History's Mysteries class, if it wasn't on the other side of the world. Walking through the museum was like walking through a virtual reality-edition of the unit. I took plenty of photos to perhaps use in future.

They have the Rosetta Stone on display there. It's awesome to see things that I've read about, and even taught in classes - it really does bring history to life.

This is a decorated limestone sarcophagus, from the 4th century AD.

These are glazed bricks and stone carvings from a palace in ancient Persia.

Artwork from the Nubians (related to the ancient Egyptians).

A mummy (so cool to see those), with amulets for the afterlife laid out in a funerary arangement.

Last, but certainly not least, the Rosetta Stone. If you don't know the significance of it, then befriend Google.

Harrods baby yeah!

I took myself on another little trip to London today. I was supposed to meet up with friends late in the day to go and see the Christmas lights, but someone (not mentioning any names) is a snob who wouldn't respond to my texts, so I ended up going all on my lonesome. It was all good though, and I'd planned on doing a few other things before then anyway, such as a trip to THE department store, Harrods.

Oh, if only I had a few grand to drop on random luxury items. Let me just say, walking through the shoe department was my own private hell. The Jimmy Choos alone made me long for a sugar daddy!

One thing that this trip did make clear was that I'm a little lacking in the Christmas spirit department. The crowds were huge, as one would expect on a rainy Saturday so close to Christmas. You had to push and shove to get anywhere, and it was clear to anyone with even a single functioning brain cell that it wasn't going to be a good idea to stop in the middle of the walkway. So, when this absolute muppet did stop, is it any wonder that I, along with half of England, ploughed straight into his back? And what did Sir Knobulous do? He turned around and abused me. What was I supposed to do? Using my best (and loudest) teacher voice, surrounded by Chanel and Valentino and D&G amongst others, I told him that if he was going to be such a twat and stop in a CLEARLY DEFINED walkway, then he damn well deserved it, and that perhaps he should open his damn eyes. The woman behind me applauded.

All that aside, the store was amazing. Not just because of the brands and all that jazz, but the actual building itself is amazing. There are Egyptian escalators, mermaids in the seafood section of the foodhall, and a general air of opulence which, lets face it, most of us don't see on a day-to-day basis.

One downside - the 2007 Harrods named Christmas baubles this year are crap. I had intended to buy one for me and one for my mum, to add to the collection, and even the promise of buy 2, get one free couldn't induce me to part with my hard earned cash. They were just damn ugly. Get onto it, Mr Al Fayed.

Christmas lights

Because I won't be home for Christmas (home meaning either with the family in Australia or in my house in England), I'm not bothering to get a Christmas tree. I was contemplating getting a real one, but I'm don't think I can be bothered with that either. Still, a package of presents arrived, so I had to do something to tittify the place! I compromised over the lack of tree - I have lights up now, and I will put the presents under a plant that I have.

Children in Need

We had a free dress day at work today, in aid of Children in Need. Staff dressed up as movie and TV characters, and the kids paid one pound to go in free dress, and had a competition to identify us all. If nothing else, we had fun!


Agent Kay and myself, Harry Potter.


Two of the manual arts teachers.

Weather

I went outside this morning and found the cars like this:




Yes, that is ice on the roof. No, it's not yet Winter.

Note to self: the worst is yet to come!

London

The weekend before last I went into London with some friends, to do a bit of site-seeing. We planned to go to Tower Bridge and the engine room museum (more exciting than it sounds, believe me), but we got partway there and realised that the tube line that we needed was closed for maintenance. We stuffed around for a bit, and then decided to go to Westminster.

We got off the tube at Westminster station, whose decor is best described as 'nuclear war chic'. Apparently it's supposed to be so well decorated because of its proximity to the House of Parliament etc, and therefore has so many important people passing through on a regular basis. Personally I think my bathroom is decorated better, but that's just me.

We came up to ground level right at Big Ben. I didn't get to see it while it was stopped, which would have been grand, but it was still pretty cool to be looking at it, again after seeing its image so often. I took a few photos of it and the House of Parliament, and then we strolled across the bridge (by strolled I of course mean shoved our way through, leading with the elbows at all times). Over the bridge was the London Eye. We walked through the area for a bit, trying to decide what to do for lunch. In the end we decided to go to this burger place near Trafalgar Square that my friends had been to before.

Now that we'd decided what to do, we set off in what we hoped was the right direction. We strolled past one side of King James Park, where we had to make one of our friends keep walking, as he wanted to go and find out what the police were investigating (there was a crime scene taped off, with police taking photos etc). As we neared Trafalgar Square it was obvious that there was something going on there - there were plenty of police around and we could hear cheering. Turned out to be a rally for the National Health Service (NHS). People were seriously wandering around with flags that said "I love the NHS". The equivalent of this would be "I love Queensland Health" and "I love Medicare". Strange, but true. Sadly, my friend wouldn't steal a flag for me.

We bypassed this rally and headed on up to lunch. It was great food, but crap service. I ended up speaking to the waitress in the same way I speak to naughty students, but after waiting 45 minutes just to order once we'd been seated, I wasn't in the mood for playing nice. It worked too - we ordered and got served our food quite quickly after that.

We then moved on to Leicester Square, before going to the Australia Shop in Convent Garden. A few purchases later, we moved further into Convent Garden, watching some street performers at the spot where the first ever Punch and Judy show was put on.

We then moved ourselves along towards Oxford and Regent streets, again utilising the full force of our elbows. We strolled past virtually all of the shops, on a mission towards the UK's biggest toy store, Hamleys. There we played with the keyboard that you step on, admired the range of Harry Potter wands and thought about how much fun it would be to play with the petrol-powered remote control cars.

Next we headed over towards Soho, before finally calling it a night. I'm fairly certain we walked across most of London!!

Halloween

This year was my first official halloween - official meaning that you get proper trick-or-treaters who have put genuine effort into their costumes and therefore deserve sweets, instead of a total crap effort put in by a bunch of teenagers who have dressed up as, well, themselves.

I got into the spirit by hanging up some skeletons (unfortunately the photo of the skeletons in my window didn't work out - they were white plastic skeletons with green flashing eyes). Next year my aim is to carve a pumpkin, as my neighbours did.

More pics

I haven't posted all of the pictures from my trip on here, but I am putting them on my photobucket site if you're interested. Make mouse go clicky now!

The World of Beatrix Potter

On the morning that I was leaving the Lakes District, I stopped in at the World of Beatrix Potter attraction. I hadn't realised until the day before that you could actually visit Hill Top Farm, her home, so that's on the list for when I go back.

This place is basically a children's attraction, but it was fun! All 23 of her stories are brought to life, with models of all of the characters. The detail is incredible; every costume and scene is an exact replica of the pages of her stories.

The hairy cow

When I was leaving Ambleside to go to Carlisle, I followed the route that my Tom Tom took me, rather than going straight out to the M6. It took me up over Keswick Pass, a narrow, twisty, steep road, that provided some awesome views of the area. It also led me past a property (see if you can find it on the first photo below), that had long-haired cows. They're actually highland cattle, but I didn't know this at the time. Could you imagine what it would be like if I was the person who decided on names for animals? Between the hairy cows and the 'cow sheep goats', it would certainly be interesting!

Carlisle Cathedral

The cathedral was built in the early 1100s, during the time of Henry I. Most of the original building is now gone; having survived several centuries of poor weather (which has lead to almost every pillar leaning in a different direction, as there are extreme wet and dry seasons), it was eventually captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army, and was pulled apart so that the stone could be used to fortify other buildings. As the English regained ground, they imprisoned those who had desecrated it, eventually torturing and killing them inside the building. Makes sense, doesn't it? In revenge for what they did to a holy place, the English tortured and murdered people inside it.

Ignoring all that, I got to go inside the cathedral, although couldn't take photos inside as the gift shop where I needed to pay the fee was closed. It was amazing to see it all. What a difference between this cathedral and St Monica's!

Carlisle... really this time!

I finally made it back to Carlisle after my visits to Gretna Green and Hadrian's Wall. I shot through peak hour traffic to the car park near Carlisle Castle, knowing that I'd be cutting it fine if I was to actually go into the castle. Sadly, I didn't make it. I got to the outside of it, and the guy told me that they'd closed ten minutes before I got there. When I told him that I'd been caught up in the M6 traffic, he left me go into the courtyard to at least see part of the castle, even if I couldn't go inside.

Back towards Carlisle

Once I left Scotland (I still laugh when I say that), I started heading back towards Carlisle. I didn't quite make it straight away though, as I saw a sign for Hadrian's Wall. I'd quite forgotten that it was up there, but couldn't resist the temptation. It was only about 20 miles from the motorway, and I figured it was worthwhile.

I got up there, not realising that I'd be traipsing up a sheep paddock to actually get to it. I had the wrong shoes on, and damn near slipped up on the way up to it, which would have meant landing in a big pile of poo. Luckily I didn't actually fall!

It was cold as a witch's you-know-what up there, with the wind blowing and me not being accustomed to much below 20 degrees. The view was once again amazing, and the thought of standing on something that had been built nearly 2000 years ago was something else. I can't even begin to fathom how these things have lasted so long, and when you think about the fact that it's about ten times as old as European settlement in Australia, it's really quite a feat.

My car, although hard to see, is the one on the right. As I said, it was a bit of a walk up that paddock!

Carlisle... sort of

The next day I left early, planning on heading up to Carlisle to see the castle and cathedral. It was about 40 miles or so from Ambleside, so I figured I'd have plenty of time to see everything and go anywhere else that I saw along the way. Well, the best laid plans always seem to go awry.




There was a big accident on the M6, resulting in the whole motorway being blocked in both directions. This being England and not Australia, there's always another raod to take, however given that it's the main road between well, London and Scotland, that means there was a lot of traffic clogging up the roads. It had gone from 3 lanes in each direction to one each. As a result, that lovely little 35 minute journey stretched out to 4 hours. It's times like that that I wish I was a bloke - I saw quite a few of them jump out of their cars and pee behind the hedges, and by the time I finally got to Carlisle, things were a little desperate!


I decided that I wouldn't go straight to the cathedral and castle, but to continue on up the road another 10 miles, and come back to Carlisle afterwards. Why continue on? Well, I discovered that I was only 10 miles from Scotland! What's a girl to do? Naturally, I went. I was only there for about twenty minutes, but the fact that I drove to another country was exciting enough for now. I went to Gretna Green, which is full of marriage houses. Back in the day the English decided that you could only marry if you were under 21 years of age, if your parents consented. This law didn't apply in Scotland, so there were lots of runaway marriages. Gretna Green was the closest town to the English border, so it became the place to get married when your parents wouldn't allow it. The marriage houses are still there, and are still in use. I feel that I should clarify - although I went to Gretna Green, I didn't get married.

Once again, I couldn't park anywhere, so I took this photo from the driveway of a hotel. I couldn't park anywhere near the "Welcome to Scotland" sign either, but I really did go there!

Also in Keswick...

I had joked before I left on the trip that I would make a visit to the pencil museum. Yes, you read correctly, the pencil museum. I was only joking, but I came upon it quite by accident in Keswick. Sadly (not), it was closed for the day, but I made sure to get a couple of photos to at least prove that I'd been there. Guess I'll have to go back to see the world's largest pencil!

Keswick

After Rydal Mount, I headed over to Keswick (pronounced "Kessick", as I was rudely informed). By this time of the day I'd been all over the place, and wasn't desperately keen to go anywhere else, but I figured that I might as well, seeing as I'd come so far to be there. In the end it turned out to be a great decision, as I took a turn off to follow the Stone Circle road, on the other side of the lake from the main road. It was a little hairy at times, as it was only just wide enough for two small cars, and I passed both a mini-bus and a lamborghini, which just about caused me to drive off the side of the road (stupid git obviously decided that he owned the road, and everybody else needed to avoid him).

There were some spectacular views along the way, but unfortunately I couldn't stop in most places to get good photos.

Crossing back over the lake, I passed what is known as a folly. I didn't know that at the time, so to me it was just a random building off to the side of a bridge. The sign on the gate stopping people from getting at it was from the water board, so you can see why I was confused about it!

Rydal Mount

Once I got back from Penrith and Orton, I decided to go on to Rydal Mount, a former home of William Wordsworth. It was his favourite home, and he lived there for 37 years. It was where he lived when his daughter Dora died, and where his wife planted the daffodils that were the inspiration for his famous poem. He landscaped the gardens himself, and they've preserved exactly as he had them.

I couldn't take photos inside the house, but the outside was worth it.

Penrith

I had gone on this trip without really planning specific things to do, except for a couple of places to visit. I had decided to see what the weather was like, and see what else I found when I got there.

So, on the first morning, I found myself on the way to Penrith, which supposedly had great markets. Unfortunately the markets weren't on that morning (a fact that I couldn't find written anywhere), but it was a nice place to visit all the same.

If you can't read it, the sign just above the door says that this business was first established by James and John in 1380 (although clearly not in its current form).

From there, I headed over to Orton, home of a chocolate factory (no surprises for guessing why I was going there). I turned off the main road, and just about ran over a sheep. Yes, a sheep. I laughed when my parents nearly did the same thing in Wales (although Barbara was later killed in a viscious hit and run incident), but it damn near happened to me. It would have done some damage to the Corsa that I'd hired! For those who don't know, a Vauxhall Corsa is the equivalent of a Holden Barina (Vauxhall is Holden over here).

I continued along the road a little further, and saw what I at the time called the 'cow sheep'. I haven't seen too many sheep in my life, and most of the ones that I have seen have been white. I saw all kinds on this trip, and took a photo of these two animals as I'd never seen that sort before. It was only when I uploaded the photos to my computer, and zoomed in to see that they were actually goats. They didn't look like it from a distance though, so now they are to be known as the 'cow sheep goats'. All kinds of new things in this country!