Road trips and football mania
Last weekend we got wheels for the first time here in England - we hired a car. Bliss! English public transport is the laughing stock of Europe, late trains, late buses, it's amazing that anyone gets anywhere in this country. So we hired a car and discovered the perils of English driving: hedgerows, blind corners, very narrow roads and a complete lack of speed signs. But boy it was good!
On the Saturday we drove up to Sandringham, the Queen's Christmas holiday home.
Ignoring the rather large amount of gold leaf, antique furniture and
entire room full of hunting guns it was pretty much your typical country
retreat. It even has a small ballroom. The grounds were gorgeous as
was the private forest next door. The Queen also has her own orchard
which produces the most amazing apple juice. About a dozen different varieties
are available, all made from different types of 'old world' apples.
Andrew was in his element and we took home two bottles, Cox which
we tasted over our cream tea, and Bramley which we bought in honour
of our friend Bramley White, Bram you're a bit tart but very tasty!
Our other favourite part of our visit was the sign in the canteen
letting patrons know that any game dishes should be checked for buck
shot before being consumed...
On Sunday we drove along the coast, heading first to Orford, a small and gorgeous
fishing town. Orford is the spot where King Henry II decided he needed
to build a magnificent castle, using 10% of the royal income, to bring
the Anglian lords and barons into line. Only the keep (or inner building)
remains standing and it's an amazing example of what great architects
the French are (Henry the II being Norman). With several very cool
features including 3 metre thick walls, a private urinal, i.e. hole
in the wall, for the constable and an amazing chapel with, gasp!,
glass windows it was an amazing place. After lunch in a local smugglers
pub we drove on along the coast stopping at Aldeburgh, home of the
composer Benjamin Britten, and a popular seaside town and then on
to Thorpness, also a holiday mecca. After a disturbing walk along
the pebble 'beach' we retired to the nearby Meare (man-made lake)
for our second cream tea of the weekend, this one had clotted cream
(a new addiction for Kate), fantastic strawberry jam and pretty good
scones. Our quest for the perfect cream tea goes on.
This weekend was dominated by the Ipswich Town v. Plymouth-Argle match we went
to on Saturday. Tara came up from London and we headed in to the stadium
for the 3pm kick-off. One of the girls at work had told Kate that
the 'North Stand is the only place to sit' so Andrew had dutifully
booked North Stand seats, much to the horror of Kate's other workmates
when she proudly told them they'd be attending the game. It turns
out that the North Stand is a lot like Bay 13, except with more colour.
We were assured that we'd be fine as long as we cheered only for Ipswich
Town and left earlier if it looked like Ipswich were going to lose.
Highlights included looking across the ground to see all the Plymouth-Argle
fans surround by police and security guards in their own section of
the stadium, the 'victory dance' of standing up and punching the air
repeatedly whenever Ipswich Town scored a goal and the cheering of
the crowd when it was announced that Nowich United, Ipswich's arch-rivals
who were promoted to the Premier league this year, had lost their
match. It was a great experience, and made all three of us realise
that winter is on the way, it was cold up there in the stadium! Just
for the record Ipswich won 3-2 in a thrilling game, scoring two goals
in the last 10 minutes of the second half.
Apart from our weekend activities Andrew also had a great couple of weeks
at work. Two weeks ago he headed into London to present his project
at a London BT Open Day and then this week was BT Exact (the Martlesham
labs) Open Day. Rather oddly they decided to theme it as an airport,
bring in X-ray and scanning machinery that guests had to pass through
as they entered the area and even going to the extreme of borrowing
some airport trolleys to add atmosphere. The day was a great success
and as a reward his group organised a day out to celebrate, using
a Bucks Night company to organise it. They went 4x4 driving, quad
biking and clay shooting. Andrew turns out to be natural with a
gun scoring 8 out 10 and avoiding all wildlife. We're
on the look out for a small, vacant, baronette, figuring that Andrew
has all the skills needed to move in such circles now that he's
handy with a shotgun, but don't mention fox hunting which seems
to have divided the nation. We've also spent the week booking holidays
and have now lined up a week in Prague for the 16th of October,
Kate's going on a National Trust working holiday on the 23rd of
October and we'll be spending Christmas in Salisbury. So all we
need now is some well paid work!
Bigs hugs to everyone, Kate and Andrew.
- 26th September 2004
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If it's good enough for the Queen.. |
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