A Trip to Redruth

20 January 2012 - The TV signal in the hotel has gone kaput and they can't get anyone to fix it till tomorrow so the landlady managed to find out the password to the hotel next doors wi-fi and so I am on the air lol.

My cough seems to be slowly improving although i'm still dog tired. I had to force myself into the car today and I drove to Redruth ...if I didn't go today then that would have been it. It was a 2  1/2 drive - probably a shorter way but I got lost several times. The scenery was outstanding and everything so green. By the time I got there I was absolutely beat but I got out and walked down the main street and up it again and looked in at the Redruth Cornish Society and bought a book.  Redruth is not the prettiest town I've seen but I did like what I saw. I took a picture of two policeman in the main street who then came over and queried why I was taking photos of them. Do I look like a terrorist?  Maybe I do. I explained and all was well and we  had a bot of a natter and all was well.

The Pub over the road where I eaf

View from my room - see the Pub?

I pretty much got back in the car and started the drive home. I got lost but then I was found :)   Then there was a huge traffic jam due to a crash and I was just creeping along.  I'd allowed myself plenty of time to get home in daylight  because I can't drive in the dark without my glasses (everything is blurry and I can't read signs) and unfortunately my glasses are broken. It seemed like it was instantly pitch black at 5.30 and there was so much traffic and I couldn't even find Torquay  never mind the hotel. In the end I just kept following the car in front of me as there was nowhere to stop and look at a map but it didn't matter anyway because I couldn't see the street signs anyway. I could feel the anxiety building and I was perilously close to tears because that was the best plan I could come up with. We stopped at some traffic lights and I glanced at this building on the side of the road and you will never guess...It was my flaming hotel. Don't know how, what,or wherefore but tonight I had a guiding light. I didn't even think I was in Torquay lol

Bed time...so tired....good night zzzzzzz

Torquay

Torquay

Torquay

Redruth

Redruth

Redruth

Torquay

19 January 2012 Still blogging on my phone as no wi-fi so apologies for errors. Went up to my room this morning after breakfast and sat onmy bed and woke up two hours later. I am a little tired lol. I managed to find a laundry and got my washing done and also bought a big case with wheels. I just don't have the strength to carry my back right now. I got back to the hotel a out four and sat on my bed and woke up two hours later again!! I a feeling abut better but just very tired. Today I also booked into the hotel for another. iChat and extendedmy car hire for another day. On Sunday I get the 9.54 am train to Paddington. There are 3 Train Ganges on the way there. Then I get another train to Heathrow. I should get there about four pm and plane leaves at eight pm. Ugly Korean Airlines with a short stopover in Seoul then into Brisbane. It's Lee's birthday the day after I get there so will be able to spend it with her and fly back to Adelaide on the 26th. I may then sleep for a week or three. Tomorrow I'm going to drive to Redruth and just take it easy. It's lovely driving my little black hire car on the correct side of the road again (sorry American friends) - it reminds me of my car at home. The roads in Torquay are very narrow and winding and the way the locals drive its a wonder there aren't head on crashes every day. I can hardly stay awake so goodnight zzzzz zzzzzz

Traveling South and my journey's end in sight

I am doing this on my phone as there is no wi-fi so it may ba a bit laborious. 17 January 2012 Caught the train to Torquay and travelled through some incredibly beautiful English countryside. It was cold and overcast but it didn't diminish it's beauty. I am staying in a hotel that - to look at - isn't that dissimilar to Fawlty Towers. I am in the right area - it was set in Torquay but was actually filmed in Buckinghamshire. The innkeepers are very nice and there's not a trace of Sybil. HOWEVER the prat at the railway station says yes - you can walk to the hotel - its just around the corner. Bastard. It is actually 2 miles - UPHILL. It was six at night and freezing by then and I had a 20 kg backpack and a 10 kg front pack plus another carryall. By the time I crawled into the hotel - which I missed twice in the dark - I felt quite sick. Then my room was on the third floor - no lift. I coughed all night and got no sleep. I think I coughed my toenails up. Felt rotten this morning and went to doctor. I have Pleurisy and apparently am lucky I don't have pneumonia. Am on penicillin and bed rest.....sort of. I went to pick up my hire car today and just drove aimlessly around just admiring the wonderful beachside and ships. After driving 25k miles around USA on a big van on the wrong side of the road it was weird being in a small and back on the left side of the road again. Took a while to get used to - and it's a manual. After a whole it all came back to me. Went to the Bull and Bush which is across the road from the hotel for dinner - steak and chips and mushy peas. Luvverly. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I will drive to Redruth where I was born and tootle my way back. I won't be going north or to Scotland and I plan on flying back to Australia next week if I can get a flight. It will be nearly 7 months when I get back and I've had enough. I really don't think I'm going to shake this lung thing off over here - I don't have healthy lungs at the best of times. I am quite excited about returning now the decision has been made.

Windsor Castle......Stonehenge.....Bath....fish and chips

16 January 2012 - Went on a coach trip today - I travelled over 300 miles and thoroughly enjoyed it -  a lot of very beautiful countryside. The temperature was zero when we started out but beautiful blue skies and no wind. Major frost on the ground at Windsor Castle.

Windsor Castle - Ten times bigger than I thought it would be and just so so imposing. You can see what a strategic location it would have been back in the olden days. Bought too many souvenirs - will have to post them back to Oz - my bags are overflowing.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Frosty ground Brrrrr

Stonehenge - This was quite amazing although I had always envisaged it way way out in a rocky wind swept craggy  field miles from any where. In actual fact it is a nice grassy area in rolling hills surrounded by sheep and right next to the motorway. It sort of took away a little bit of the mysticism....but not much. The big stones came from 250 kms away and each weigh 4 ton. The top lintels are 2 ton and came from only a few miles away but they are actually fitted to the top of the uprights with a tongue and groove system. How the hell would they have been able to transport them and then lift those stone that high back in 2300 BC. I got a T shirt that says Stonehenge Rocks and they are..... and they do.

Amazing

Sheep!!! Made me homesick...so long since I've seen one

Bath - this is an impossibly beautiful town and totally fulfills any preconception you may have of an English town. Any movie you've seen with quaint winding streets, tiny shops, lovely river and gardens...it's all here and unspoiled by time and progress.

Interesting fact - some of the houses date back to the the 1600's and they have windows cemented in and then pretend windows painted on. The government imposed a window tax in the 1600's on each window in a house. The premise being that the more windows you have then the bigger the house therefore you must have more money.  As a result people cemented in their windows to lower their taxes....this made it darker in their houses and gave rise to the expression "daylight robbery". I love this stuff.

Imagine Julius Caesar in the bath with his rubber ducky singing Splish Splah I wuz taking a bath

Bath

The white door is where Jane Austen lived

We got back quite late so I went to my "local" ...The Green Man.....and had fish and chips and a pot of tea.....a perfect end to a perfect day.

My local near the hotel

Lee - this would be heaven for you

My Dinner

More of London....can't get enough!

15 January 2012 - I woke today feeling a lot better - about 70% - but very tired. So I wouldn't waste a day I caught a Hop On and Hop Off bus and rode around London for 4 hours - getting off every now and again. I covered a lot of the ground I did yesterday but it wasn't quite as exhausting and I saw a lot of new things too.

I met Karen from Phoenix Arizona and her daughter from Seattle Washington on the bus. They had just been to Belgium and were having a couple of days in London on their way back - nice to meet you ladies - have a safe trip :)

Sitting on the top deck of an open double decker in 6 degree temperatures made this the coldest day I've felt since the trip began. I've got a brilliant coat that lets no wind through and thick socks and hiking boots but my face and hands and legs were frozen (forgot my gloves and my hat). When I finally got off the bus I stood  in the doorway of all the shops just too warm up - they have hot air blasting down and then I walked two miles home to get the blood moving.

Interesting things I heard today

• The Bishop of Winchester back in the 1700s had his own private prison called The Clink - thats why we use the phrase today - throw them in the clink. I did not know this.
• The reign of terror of Jack the Ripper only lasted 3 months. I thought it was a long term thing.

Marble Arch

Piccadilly Circus

Before I went out today I booked a hotel in Cornwall for 3 days and a hire car and a first class train ticket to go down there on the 17th. I'm looking forward to doing some exploring and visiting the place of my birth  (Redruth).  I couldn't decide which town to book the hotel in and then I thought - being a Fawlty Towers fan - it HAD to be in Torquay so that's where I'll be.

Tomorrow I'm off on the bus trip to Bath & Windsor Castle and Stonehenge.

London :) :) :) :)

13 January 2012 - I arrived in London around midday after a 3 hour flight form Iceland. I got held up in customs due to the fact that my original UK Passport had been stolen but I hadn't reported it to the UK government.  It was all OK though - in case of any problems I had a copy of the police report and the letter from the Australian Embassy in Washington DC with me. They were really helpful and gave me a form to fill in and post and they said they will just post me a new one when it's ready. I will get some new passport photos taken before then as the ones I have are really really scary. Even I get a fright when I look at them.

I was quite proud that I managed to tote my very heavy back pack and 2 other bags and find my way to the hotel in Bolsover St Fitzrovia - peculiar name but its near Oxford Street - without too much drama. Was exhausted when I got there - my bags are heavy and I was suffering a relapse of my sickness and I had only 2 hours sleep in the last 36 hours. Yes....I could feel it coming on....wanted to cry lol BUT I DIDN'T. I think I'm getting tougher.

By the way - in Iceland a toilet is called a SNYRTINGAR ...sounds much more impressive than the LOO or the BOG.

Gordon Mc Gnome suffered a near fatal Humpty Dumpty mishap - he fell (or was he pushed?) off the table and suffered a broken hip. I'm hoping some glue will suffice to fix him or he will need a total hip replacement.

14 January 2012 - I woke up this morning which was my first surprise - I felt so awful I thought I'd died in my sleep.  I am now dosed up with Sudafed for my ears - nose spray for my sinuses - aspirin for the fever - cough medicine for the cough. I did sleep the best part of 12 hours which is probably the best medicine.

I got a late start and caught the tube to Tower Bridge. Loved the Tower of London - so much history  it's just knocks your socks off.  Looking at stuff that happened in the 1300's - a little toy soldier from the 1500's and trying to imagine the little boy playing with it. You can almost feel the ghosts around you. Standing at the spot where Anne Boleyn got beheaded and being in the room where the two little Princes were imprisoned and later just disappeared.....love it.   I walked around for about five hours and also visited London Bridge (it never burned down - I saw it!!) - Trafalgar Square and Nelson's column (impressive) - Buckingham Palace (Betty and Phil were home but didn't wave) - Green Park and St James Park (beautiful) - I had a cruise on the Thames (most enjoyable) - I saw the big London Eye (looks like a giant bicycle wheel with big spokes - not operating today) - 10 Downing St (though you can't get into the street) - Whitehall - Big Ben  (beautiful) - The Houses of Parliament at Westminster - Westminster Abbey (couldn't get in as there was a service on).   I caught the tube back to Great Portland Station (my nearest) and went to a very English Pub and had Roast Beef. I really didn't feel hungry but I hadn't eaten all day so I forced myself to order but really enjoyed it once I started. I also booked a bus trip for Monday (hopefully I'll feel a bit brighter) to go Bath & Windsor Castle & Stonehenge where I will probably feel quite at home. :)

The Rack - MWhahahaha - in the Tower of London

Betty & Phil's house

All he did was march up to that gate behind him - throw a u-ey and then march back.  But he looked pretty in his winter coat

Iceland and SNOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!!!

12 January 2012 -  I got to JFK airport pretty early as I had to be out of the hotel at noon but my flight didn't leave till 8 pm so I just hung around the airport and people watched and read and managed to re ignite my cold. Got quite feverish by the time the plane took off. Add to this that the plane wasn't quite as big as I am used to and there seemed to be an awful lot of people on it and the ambient temperature was very high - or was that my fever?  Managed to amuse myself watching movies to while the time away but for the last half hour - I guess as we began descent - my ears went crazy. Couldn't hear a thing - and the right one hurt. Didn't want to try any of the yawning tricks to pop them as previously I have burst ear drums on both sides and I had visions of bursting them again - it was that bad.

Imagine arriving at the airport at 6 am where I couldn't find anyone who spoke English - there were no signs in English - and when I did find someone who had limited English I couldn't hear what they were saying. lol Was like a bad Benny Hill Show. Anyway - finally found a nice young man who got me a ticket on the right bus (40 mins to hotel from Airport so was glad I didn't have to cab it) and physically took me out and carried my bag to the bus. I'm sure that he thought I was permanently deaf and maybe a little bit senile.

The good news is there is lots and lots of fresh snow....beautiful. This park was covered with pristine snow.

Park with pristine snow - BEFORE

AFTER - I just had to hehehe

Sunrise was at 11.03 and sunset at 4.09 so I spent most of that time just trudging through sometimes quite deep snow looking for a Chemist shop to treat my dodgy ears.  Once again no English signs and very few English speaking people. I asked one man for "Chemist"....head shake....."Pharmacy"....head shake....."Drugs"....and his eyes nearly popped out his head. I think he thought I was trying to buy some illicit drugs lol.  I finally stumbled on a Pharmacy and could only tell the difference between that and a pickled herring factory because it had "Nicorette" on a sign.  Now have spray for my nose which will clear my ears...they tell me...and more cough medicine. I also got some ear plugs which I'll use tomorrow on the 3 hour flight to London. If it still is an issue I will go to the doctor there...ok ..KAE....KAREN....ROBYN!! nag nag :)

Went back to the hostel and once the sun went down I caught up on some sleep....my timing is all up the spout......and it will all change tomorrow so I'll just play it by ear (oops!!!)

What I have seen is very beautiful but a little smelly..I'm thinking maybe sulphur as it's a volcanic area....the beauty outweighs the smell and I'm very glad I came

Pretty:)

Gordon making snow angels