Due to public demand, we are renewing the blog! We were wondering if the entries were really of interest, however we have learned during the absence of reviews, that you are wanting to know how the Houghtons are getting on in the Land of Hope and Glory.

Our last blog entered in November described how Noel lost his passport, and our amazing trip to Dubai. That whole chapter in our lives seems so distant as we have been kept busy here in Fulham ever since ....

We relished the Yuletide Season here, the English certainly celebrate Christmas very well indeed. We spent many a cold dark afternoon wandering the streets, markets, department stores and parks of London which exhibited their Christmas wares and wonders to all and sundry. We spent an enjoyable evening watching the ice skaters on London's largest open air ice rink in Hyde Park, one of many rinks set up over London especially for the Christmas season, and in awe of the spectacular "Winter Wonderland" which featured an authentic German Christmas market (and it really was, it had all sorts of German food, ornaments, candles, furs, ornate Xmas decorations), a tobaggan slide, bungy dome, helter skelter, carol singers, and we were greeted everywhere we walked by Santa bearing glasses of warm Mulled Wine (a spicy warm red wine with cinammon). I am attaching photos of Regent and Oxford Street Christmas lights, a truly spectacular vision, I haven't quite seen anything like the enormity and splendour of the Christmas lights, decorations, trees, etc etc

Our Christmas was spent in the Fool em Flat huddled in front of the tv as Noel got very sick with an aggressive flu. No alcholol passed his lips for two weeks (even past New Years) so a very sobering and pretty dismal time really. Fulham really quietened out over this time however, the streets were deserted and very little activity around, even public transport was restricted most days - the poms certainly enjoy their public holidays - everyone escapes to the country for Xmas!

As to work - well we are both quite exhausted really! I am employed as a Lettings Negotiator in Parsons Green, I walk to work, and our office is situated right next to the underground station, so I am enjoying "people watching" from my desk. It's a busy footpath indeed, and the flow of pedestrians continues all day and night. Never quiet. I am involved with advertising properties to rent, screening applicants, taking viewings, processing offers and paperwork, and setting up on the computer. I have learned to download, upload, scan, attach, diarise, minimise, use the pdq, and pdf and jpeg and all sorts of wonderful IT stuff, but the monetary rewards are minimal, I seem to do a hell of a lot of work for very little money!

Noel is commuting from Clapham Junction to Waterloo then on the tube to Goodge Street to his office just off Oxford Street, near Tottenham Court Road - takes him 45 minutes. He has had another trip to Dubai since November (his passport was safe and secure this time!), he seems to be working with a good lot of people and is used to the open plan environment where he is surrounded by 70 desks and no windows.

We have had fantastic trips out of London, we have spent many an enjoyable evening with our friend Maria in Burnt Oak where we frequent the best Indian restaurant (and modestly priced too) in Mill Hill Broadway, a fantastic trip to Queen Vic's holiday home Osborne House on the Isle of Wight with our friend Margaret in Bishops Waltham near Wincester, a home made roast dinner with our friends Wanda and Glyn in Godalming, and we have had numerous kiwi visitors at the Fool em Flat, the classic being when Noel's ex workmate Alan arrived for Saturday night, and the Fool em Flat already had Bruce from Auckland using the sofa bed, so where to put our mate Alan ....no spare bed and no spare blankets ....we took the squabs off the couch, bedded him down on the floor of the dining room next to the radiator, and just like Maria in the Sound of Music, we took down the heavy drape in the dining room and used that as a blanket!!! Alan swears he had a comfortable night's sleep and assures us he was warm and cosy on our floor wrapped in a curtain!! Our hotel rating may have lost a ** or two however!!

We have a full itinarary ahead ....our Danish friends Jorgen and Kirsten are arriving for a couple of days at the end of this month, Lois and Nancy from Maine, New York, whom we met on our travels through Italy are here for a week in June, to Ian and Helen's wedding in Preston in May (ex Newmarket neighbours), to Prague for 3 days in May, and we have Def Leppard and Journey concerts to see in London. We saw the Eagles at the magnificent O2 arena (formerly the Dome) what an amazing arena, and a feat of engineering (this is for Emma, Grandad Tom and for other engineers we know!) - its base is 10 times that of St Paul's Cathedral and Nelson's Column could stand beneath its roof. Its canopy is made from 100,000 sq m of teflon coated spun glass fibre and is held by over 70 kms of steel cable rigged to 12 100m masts. It's not just an arena but it includes residential, hotel, offices, retails and a huge entertainment restaurant facility - so many restaurants, so much choice!

We have been to numerous Westend shows including Noel Cowerd's Brief Encounter (set in a rail station just like in the movie) but great special effects, we thought a real train was actually coming through the theatre! The hilarious Alfred Hitchcock The 39 Steps - 4 actors who played over 120 parts - we were in stiches - and we went to the Royal Albert Hall built in 1871 and modelled like a Roman amphitheatre - it is famous for hosting "the Proms" but we were there to see a Classical Symphonic Spectacular - the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing under Laser Lights, fireworks (yes and all set off indoors) with canons (which frightened the hell out of me) to music of the 1812 Overture, Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Brittania - to hoardes of poms waving their Union Jacks (very patriotic indeed), the best being the very moving and goose bump thrilling "Ravel Bolero" the music made more famous by the ice skating duo Torville & Dean (who incidentally are performing here at the moment). What a memorable night - just awesome.

Here are some random photos for you just to show that we are certainly alive and well in this wonderful city of London we are callingl "Home" for now! For those of you lucky enough to be coming over to this part of the world, make your bookings at the Fool em Flat .....the sofa bed is being well and truly used!

Yes We are Still Here in London! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Dubai is a unique city, with its population of approx 1.3million, the population is made up of only 20% locals - with 80% made up from the Phillipeans, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankians, Egyptians and ex-pats. They expect the population to increase to around 3million by 2017, and I would believe that after seeing all the development work and job opportunities there are in the city. Of the 20% local population though, only 8% are women!!

Despite being a desert climate with lower than average rainfall, water shortages are unheard of. The arabs have a complex of desalination plants (the biggest in the world) in Jebel Ali to boost production. All the gardens and parks (of which there are many, with still an abundance being built) all have irrigation systems in place using copper piping (no cheap pvc here mateys it would melt!) and the gardens are plush and green!

Every time the leader is mentioned in any newspaper he is recorded like this: " His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai." Yep, every time in print that is how he is recorded so if his name is mentioned more than once in an article, thats how it is! He is a visionary to achieve socio-economic and political development for the area, and his aim is to join the ranks of the more advanced countries in all fields. There is construction work going on everywhere, with roads and motorways and a new rail system and high rises everywhere you look. I counted 21 high rises under construction within a 1 mile radius (view from the bus window!). Incredible stuff don't you think? And the Emirate is to host the world's richest golf tournament with prize money in excess of $10million (American) in 2009 - wonder if Noel can qualify for that?

I went on a walking tour through the Textile, Spices and Gold Souks (markets) and crossed the Creek (the main river through the city) on an old traditional wooden "abra" (water taxi). The Creek water is so clean, emerald green, and is the life blood of the city with activities going on everywhere. I was mesmerized by the aroma of the fragrant spices with huge sacks filled to the brim with every type of spice, herbs, dried fruits, dates, nuts, chillis, vanilla pods, saffron strands, it blew me away! And the textiles, layer upon layer of beautiful materials, hanging in doorways, outside on the footpath, beautiful ornately designed gorgeous colourful fabrics in every direction - amazing! And gold everywhere! Jewellery, gold, chains, sparkling, yellow, white, diamonds......ahhhh what a dream!

I spent a day on Jumeriah Beach, a golden sanded palm laden stretch of coast to the Arabian Gulf, spotlessly clean water with nets to keep out the unwanted sealife! It was "Ladies Day" and as a result the locals as well as expats (not many other races, they were all working) were there on the beach. The Arab women are absolutely stunning, and most of them wore there designer incey wincy bikinis adorned with jewellery etc. Stunning! No photos allowed although I did take some! There were many though that remained covered from head to toe (and swam like that!).

Dubai is out to be the world biggest and busiest commercial den of the world! The Arabs are doing all they can to make it a fast paced commercial centre, their traffic is shocking. Every single Arab has these huge big brand new European 4WD's and they all go at speed along the 6 lane highways, there are accidents all the time which cause huge traffic jams (worse than Auckland) but no one takes any notice, they all still continue to speed and lane change and dodge through the traffic with great haste! Horrible! And you will see so many young Arabs driving expensive high powered european cars (especially the Arab women) with mercedes, masceratis, lotuses, ferraris, lamboginis, jaguars, bentleys, etc etc Amazing! I couldn't stop staring!

We are captivated by Dubai, we will return here, I regret we didn't get the time to do the Desert Safari trip which involved 4wd over the dunes followed up by dressing in traditional costume and having a meal on a carpet with belly dancing at night in the desert - next time Dubai, We will be back!!

We arrived back in London to 10deg. (after Dubai at 31oC) and Noel impressed the immigration officer waiting for him at Heathrow that he has been granted a temporary 6 month visa, that should give him enough time to deal with the Home Office to secure his ancestry visa - or will it!!

During our 10 day absence from London, we have noticed how dark it gets here now, by 4pm its pitch black and cold, I've packed away the bathing suits, beach towels and sunblock but wondering for how long - there are great deals to Goa, Tenneriffe, the Carribean and Kenya and Christmas holidays are nearly here ....hmmmmmmm watch this space!!

DUBAI...WHAT AN EYE-OPENER! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Next day bright and early, the boys headed off to play golf at the Ancient Course at St Andrews. They had put their names into a ballot - all very formal - but regrettably had been told they had been unsuccessful in getting a tee off time. However, not to be outdone, the boys were determined to play, after all they had not come all this way not to play golf, nor see the famous old course. But luck was against them, there were absolutely no free tee off times available. The boys meandered around the course and explored the pro shop, and drove out with their hearts heavy and heads hung low.

As for Elsie, well, she met up with a very old acquaintance whom she worked for in 1977! Nigel Davies. It had been 21 years since Elsie had seen Nigel, an ex-lawyer who now lives on the Scottish Borders and is now an amateur farmer. He apparently is the "beater" in a local pheasant shoot, (which means he uses a broom to shoo the birds out from under the bush!), he owns a couple of acres of hardy land that isn't much use but but otherwise it was a pleasant afternoon spent with him in the Dome, a converted old Bank building with huge high stud plastered ceilings and fancy chandaliers, all very posh. A stroll through the famous Princes Street gardens, then some pub grub in a quiet backstreet pub. A fantastic afternoon! Til next time Nige....

Edinburgh is a "sobering" city, we did find it quite dull and colourless in its surroundings, perhaps because of the medieval and georgian architecture and the ancient stone buildings, and there are two distinct areas, one being the Princes Street area, the main thoroughfare and commercial centre with the adjacent Princes St Gardens under the proudness of the majestic Edinburgh Castle.

Then the other being the Old Town with most of the city's medieval history clustered in the alleys of the Grassmarket and Royal Mile areas. Edinburgh is of course a beautiful proud city, its a shame we never quite warmed towards it

Back to London and next day a trip to the famous British Airways London Eye - - what an engineering masterpiece. It stands 443ft high, 32 capsules each allowing unobstructed 360 degree views - each holding up to 25 people, luckily, we only had another 5 or 6 other bods in with us, and it takes a gentle 30 minutes round trip. On a clear day the Eye affords a unique 40 km view which sweeps over the capital in all directions and on to the countryside and hills beyond. Our day was rainy and cloudy unfortunately, but we had a most enjoyable "flight", see photos below. Some stats for you: 80 spokes made from 6 km of cable hold the structure in tension, two cables 60 metres in length suport the entire structure from concrete bases, the wheel rim was floated down the Thames in sections and assembled on site, and more importantly, it cost 14 quid a ticket!

Noel and I have enjoyed 2 full on weeks with our friend Moundie, as the photos depict, we had so much fun, visiting Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Gordons underground Wine Bar in Charing Cross, (our kiwi visitors know where that is), the local Peterborough and The Ship Pubs, Mama Mia musical, Picadilly Circus at night, Tower of London and a visit to the jewels, a curry meal with our friend Maria and her friend Judy, drinking loads of red wine and listening to music til the wee small hours, and generally having a fun and memorable time. Moundie heads off to South Africa now and we are sorry to see him go. Come back soon buddy!

More adventures follow....Noel is off to work in Dubai for 10 days and I am joining him, what will be in store for the Houghtons on this trip.....?

ON WITH THE KILTS - SCOTLAND WE WILL GO! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Alas, there is something to be said about commuting in London....and I know that in a week or two we will think nothing of it, because Noel and I will have adapted, but commuting here really is a "life experience" and one that needs to be addressed.....

We should never take for granted how we travel to work....our own car with radio, air-con, automatic, stereo, cd player, driving along the Southern Motorway in a mere 3 lanes of traffic, - a dream come true in our minds....the Pakuranga Highway, Waipuna Bridge, Eastern Arterial .... piece of cake .....! Come and work in London.

We live close to all amenities and public transport, which is fortunate for us as we can use the buses, the tube or the overland train which takes us into one of the busiest(and largest) stations in London (Waterloo) from which the famous Eurostar departs from as well.

Noel works off Oxford Street. I work off Fleet Street. Journey time takes one hour (easy stuff we hear you say!). HELL NO! Both of us leave together in the mornings (after a 6.30am alarm) and we head off on different tube lines to be at work by 9am. But what a trek.....no matter what time you leave in the mornings, the tube arrives at the station to a very packed platform. The double doors on the train open wide and you just cannot get on the train ...the commuters are squeeezed in like sardines, the isles are jammed packed, the windows fogged up on the train, and although we look up at those lucky ones on board with pleading eyes to let us on, no one says a word, no one even looks at us, the doors suddenly close, the tube chugs away, you remain left behind, and again you wait for the next tube ......and time ticks by.....

And the same thing happens, another packed train full of commuters, too full to allow you on, and again you step back and wait .....and again....what? third time lucky.....we wish!! And suddenly you realise you have spent 15 minutes trying to leave the station! Time ticks by .....9am is creeping up real quick!

But what's weird about this whole scenario is that the English never complain about it, our workmates just shrug their shoulders and carry on with their work, I seem to arrive in a huff and puff and ready to blow hot air around the room, just to recover from my morning commute, hot and sweaty (yuck), but the POMS are blase and just continue on with their working day....you gotta admire them for their patience and politeness, no road rage (er should I say tube rage) here, I guess that's why we love Londoners so much!

The time will come (and I think sooner rather than later) when Noel and I won't even notice a packed tube, people pressing themselves up against you and invading personal space without making eye contact, still reading their paper in the process, holding on to anything for balance, a full platform, a queue to get through the "oyster barriers", a long ride up the escalator to the top, that feeling of cold fresh air against your face as you head for the station exit. This, we realise, is London. This is how one commutes, conquer this, you will accept the London lifestyle.

For those of you who know London, we spied out a great tee-shirt ...."Mind the Gap" is recited thousands of time over the loud speaker through all the stations to deal with the wide gap between the platform and the tube train. We found a great tee shirt in a souvenir shop which sums up the daily commute in this wonderful city of London ...."f**** the gap!" We just gotta buy that soon!

Job wise though all going well, we are both fitting in nicely, getting on with our jobs, coming to terms with having no coffee or tea making facilities on site, and having no proper lunch hour, no one seems to leave their desks all day, and sharing an office, desks, phones, stationery, printers, with about 50 other colleagues no windows or natural light.......gotta love London. Maybe our kiwi employers want us back??! You can see why we question ourselves as to why we are here.....!

We had Teva (Noel's golfing buddie) stay at the Fool em Flat who enjoyed a golf game at Stockley Golf Course last week (Noel won 2 and 1) much to Teva's disgust. He reckoned the room service wasn't up to scratch! We caught up with our lovely Danish friends at the surprise dinner in Nottinghill last weekend, Kirsten, Bende and Regina (lots of laughter), we caught up quickly with Carol Woods and Suzanne from Howick (on Sunday) in a quiet little mews street right behind the hustle and bustle of Knightsbridge and enjoyed a drink, great girls, great kiwis, great fun....

Better go, have a train to catch (ha ha).....we are heading to Edinburgh this weekend to enable Moundie and Noel to play golf at St Andrews (no doubt another adventure follows), and I am catching up with a NZ couple whom I have not seen since 1985! Keep up the good work on the emails, we love hearing from you all, from a rather "harrassed working couple of commuters"! Til next time, Elsie and Noel!

WE'RE LONDON COMMUTERS ...LIKE IT, OR LUMP IT! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

We managed to arrive in time for David and Sue Gibbs' 'surprise' entry to the hotel at Shillingford, where we dined on fine red wine, seafood and pork, it was lovely to see David and Sue and meet their extended family, who made us feel extremely welcome.

We arrived back to London to be greeted with fantastic news that Noel had secured a job with a Danish/UK engineering company called Ramboll Whitbybird based off Oxford Street near Tottenham Court Road. The job is in the finance department and it will involve some travelling to Dubai. Poor Noel, had a slow start to working, as it had been 5 long months since he had sat behind a computer desk and put his brain to use, and he had to get used to the open plan office, 50 colleagues working alongside each other, and not a lunchroom in sight! The poms here seem to sit at their desks all day long, and not take any sort of breaks at all, Noel decided he needed to enjoy his homemade vegemite and cheese sandwiches whilst endeavouring to complete the daily suduko. God, how he missed his old workmates at Eurolift last week!

And the luck of the Irish shone down upon Elsie as she was fortunate to secure a staff recruitment position as a consultant in Holborn, the heart of the legal district in London, with potential to set up a Legal desk and recruit staff for legal firms, whilst also securing solicitors firms to use the recruitment company. The company is called Parkhouse Bell and already Elsie has started chatting up prospective business contacts in the local pub! Hey, its called networking - Go Elsie!

We have met some more interesting people here, we met a lovely couple, Elise and Fraser Devere from Fielding way, who are neighbours and we entertained them with Elsie's famous lasagne, chocolate cake and cheap red vino (is there any other sort?) and we ended in the tiny kitchen all night eating wining and dining - great fun, a typical kiwi party in the kitchen!

We have more friends arriving from New Zealand, the 'Fool 'em Flat' is really busy, one of Noel's great golfing buddies, Teva Loos, is arriving this weekend for a game of golf with Noel, and following we have Moundie (Ian Mound) arriving for a 10 day visit, so there will be loads of entertaining and fun times ahead.

This is written the day after the disappointing loss to France, and I hesitate to even mention the rugby at this point, but Noel and I, together with our friends, Wanda & Glyn from Godalming, took a "Beige Brigade" bus tour to Cardiff for the event. We have never ever seen so many kiwis bonding in a foreign country ever, quite honestly, there were 1,000's of us there all wearing our supporting black and Cardiff was inundated with kiwis and the frogs everywhere, Cardiff had an electric carnival atmosphere, the town was alive and every bar in town was bulging at the seams with rugby revellers in every corner. The beer flowed like water, the tongues were wagging, there was a real sense of party fun in the air, colours of black, blue and red everywhere......fun and frivolity and great excitement ahead...

The bus trip home was very sombre indeed, very few words were spoken, tears flowed, hugs galore, a very bleak and sobering atmosphere, the black garb seemed appropriate, everyone in mourning, and the grieving and the pain of a loss to the french was overwhelming.

Enjoy the photos, keep up the comments, we appreciate news from home, and hearing from you all, Noel and I cant believe its 5 months since we left you all behind.

NO MORE LAZY WEEKS, ITS WORK AS USUAL! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Noel and I hired a row boat whilst Wendy and Dave enjoyed peddling a canoe in the Serpentine (Hyde Park). The weather perfect, sunny, warm, 21oC, and suddenly Wendy voiced her rendition of a poem starting with "there was a young man from Ealing....who had an incredible feeling ......great fun! A leisurely stroll through Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon lead us to Princess Diana's memorial fountain...this is the controversial one that didn't operate properly and people had accidents slipping over water cascades! But we must say, it was a rather serene and peaceful and a sight to see everyone with sox and shoes off dabbling their feet, kids paddling and giggling, and the oldies (like us) sitting on the grass and people watching.

Denis and Liz Signal (Howick) now living on the Wirral, Liverpool area, joined us for the weekend. We spent a lovely afternoon at Buckingham Palace and toured the magnificent State rooms all lavishly furnished with the world's greatest treasures, the finest porcelain and English and French furniture, paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin and others, and the epitome was the special exhibition of the celebration of the Diamond Wedding of the Queen showing all the wedding costumes, archive film footage and gifts, a well organised worthy tour of this magnificent "living" palace.

Thanks to Denis for driving us in his mercedes to Tunbridge Wells to visit Scotney Castle, a late 18th century castle set in parklands, beautiful gardens, vistas and views. We topped off the weekend with another bbq together with Paul and Rae and again sipped on Pimms, wine and cold beer and chomped on salmon sausages and chicken - another fun night with loads of fun laughter and frivolity. We are making the most of these warm summer evenings.

Our quiet little flat in Fulham needs more activity, so who's our next victim....er house guest....BRING IT ON!!!
PS: An absolute cracker for you : Denis rang Buckingham Palace Tourist Office on Sunday morning regarding the palace tour, overheard Denis in his finest kiwi accent ..."Yeah Gidday, I'm enquiring about the tours of Buck House..." you just gotta laugh - well done Denis!!

ENTERTAINING IN LONDON - KIWI STYLE! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Don't be mislead however, remembering that we four, Paul and Rae Ewing, Noel and myself, were in no particular hurry, after all, we had no pressing engagement or regimented schedule we needed to follow, hell no, we had all the time in the world to check in and get started ....

Well "Hannah" our lovely boat was presented to us and she was parked about 4 deep, which meant we had to wait for 3 other boats to be processed and depart.....we were invited on board to unpack and famaliarise ourselves with the lovely lady. WOW! Again, the English do things so damn well, "Hannah" was beautiful inside and out....2 double beds (separate bedrooms), modern bathroom with shower glass-door and toilet and handbasin, a built in modern kitchen (room to swing a healthy kiwi cat in) but boasted full oven/grill, fridge (perfect for the beer and cheese), sink and bench, cupboards with all utensils provided, and a sitting room and dining table with tv and radio. French doors leading from the sitting room to a front deck (big enough for Rae and Elsie) and a rear deck for the captains. What more could 4 kiwis ask for ........?

We were the last to leave the marina, by now it was quite late in the afternoon so being the tired and thirsty kiwis that we are, our first question we asked the boat keeper was the location of the nearest pub....and we found it, thanks to Paul and Noel manoeuvering a 30 point turn right in front of it in full view of other boaties and locals sitting in the garden bar - but hey they did it, and we eventually moored and enjoyed a really well-deserved cold beer or two, then plucked up the courage then to continue on with the trip and after a peaceful chug-a-long the canal passing loads of traffic, overlooking cows and bulls, sheep, freshly mowen hayfields and spying loads of ducks, ducklings and little birds which resumbled our kiwi pukekos, low bridges, sleepy marinas and quaint picturesque church steeples and serene inlets, we moored securely and safely and opened the bubbles, hooters (you know the ones, Elsie enjoys the birthday hooters just for the fun of it!!) and the pirates hats!! Great fun enjoyed by us all. We really were the experienced canal boaties now, but hang on a minute, what about mastering the locks, of which there were only 3 in total ......

Rae and I were designated the responsibility of firstly, jumping off Hannah onto the 'toe path' and tying the middle rope which "held" the boat close to the bank, and then opening the gate in order for Noel and Paul to sail into the lock, and undoing the paddles (this lets out the water) and then closing the gate and paddles, and opening the otherside and doing the same thing, making sure that all is done methodically and without incident - Noel came over to help us and nearly got his hand ripped off because he hadn't secured the paddle with the "key"! Of course, Rae and I knew exactly what to do ......!!

What a lot of fun and excitement, it seemed that at every lock there was a whirl of activity, as the locals seem to come out and watch the world go by and enjoy seeing everyone attempt the process, honestly we saw dogs jumping off their boats with the owners screaming at them to get back on, kids casually leaving behind their lock keys and would have if we hadn't told them, a longboat which had to stay inside the lock as its rudder had popped, just loads of noise, buzz and non-stop action. We loved it!

We met up with an incredible lot of people, thanks to sweet Dave, Guy, Kevin and Frank from Air New Zealand, who introduced us to drinking pimms on board, and to their wayward antics - believe me they had us in stiches, they had 2 NZ flags flying high on their boat, but they managed to hit other boats, (or was it the other way round), got yelled at by other captains, lost their buoy overboard,Guy talked to every Tom Dick and Harry, and who knows what else, but they truly delighted us with their stories, and we hope we can meet up again soon. And to the lovely English family (the Martins) from Doncaster (and their smelly dog!) who were so friendly towards us kiwis and made us feel so welcome in their mother country.

What an experience, please, if you are intending to travel to the UK, make it a priority to sail on the canals, it truly is so much fun, both Noel and Paul mastered the art of steering, reversing, manoevering, parking, locking, and drinking and eating whilst achieving all that!! What a memory for us all, and it was rather sad having to return to London after our 3 night stint - we kiwis are born to sail!!

We are now back to our "Fool 'em Flat" in Fulham, Paul and Rae have set sail on their Baltic Sea Cruise, and we are expecting Dave and Wendy Timms from Howick to enjoy a week on our comfy sofa bed. No doubt there are more stories to tell ........

CRUISIN' ON THE CANAL remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

There was much to be excited about, Kirsten had decorated her "party room" adorning the 4 tables with the finest of linen, candles, flowers, glassware and china. Thanks to Kirsten number 2 for folding the serviettes ever so fancy for the tables, and to Regina for dragging Noel up onto the dance floor and giving us a little bit of "Icelandic cheek" and to dear Grandmother for her delicious home made baking, wow .....her fabulous Kransebage (marzipan ring cake), American chocolate chippy cookies (with the HUGE) chocolate bits in just for Noel, her jam "swiss roll" sponge cake (yum) and her spicy cinammon loaf, Grandmother was simply lovely and we shall always remember her generosity.

We were educated in the art of eating and enjoying Danish lunches, we were each given a wooden bread board and a plate, and we experienced eating herring, rugbrod (rye bread) and karysalat (curry sauce) and red onion followed by Danish cheese, and always saluting with a glass of schnapps! Scholl! There is always a sense of order and tradition in eating the meal, no one ever left the table at any meal time without the last person finishing, and the plate of food was handed round to each person, no one was left to stand and hold the plate out, it was always passed from person to person.

We just loved every part of the holiday, we loved seeing Rune and Thomas all grown up now, and to Kim and Lis, Tina and Benda, lovely Christian who was terrified of dancing with Elsie and almost ran from the room as she approached him to dance - we joked about that the next day, it was all great fun and the memories will be for us forever. Sorry for missing others out from this blog, you are not forgotten and will always be remembered - we truly loved meeting and talking with you all.

We hope to see our lovely friends again, they will always be welcome here and in New Zealand - Denmark is a country surrounded by water, and is very flat and green with dairy and pig farms everywhere. The fertile land and farming industry is evident everywhere, corn crops, rye, windmills generating power, recyling plants, fresh and invigorating sea breezes, and blue skies, and long straight roads that always seem to lead to the sea. We visited the West coast past Esbjerg and there was a sense of familiarity there as it so reminded us of the east coast beaches of home.

We had a fun night on the ferry from Harwich-Esbjerg and home again, its a first class hotel on the water, it boasted a twin cabin with tv and ensuite, we took on board our own picnic (cheap skates) but great to have our own bottle of red with a vegemite and cheese roll! Ahhhhh, we are such the travellers now. A great experience and one we wish to do again.

We now have Paul and Rae Ewing from Howick with us and are heading off to Coventry for a 3 night stay on a canal boat, so no doubt there will be more adventures in store for us Houghtons.

Thanks for the emails, we are thankful of our many friends and family who are keeping in touch with us all the way through our travels, and we just love to hear from you with your goings on, a little goes a long way! Take care, til next week, Noel and Elsie

DENMARK, GREAT FRIENDS REVISITED remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

We visited many beaches, and can genuinely say they were rather picturesque, pretty and even swimeable!! Don't laugh, we were sorely tempted on many occasions to dab our toes into the water but it was the scrambling across the stones that put us off! We saw many a beach-hut, deckchair for hire and wind-protectors on the coast, topless Englishmen, god do they love to take their shirts off even when they are not on the beach, surfers....can't see what they were surfing on, there was certainly no surf in sight! Plenty of full cream Devon ice-cream, hot stuffed potatoes, scones with jam and cream, and beach "rock" on sale!

We have sighted historic mansions, churches, cathedrals, abbeys, castles, gardens, ruins and pubs! We have walked many a cobbled street, not suitable for heels ladies! We have ventured in the many city centres, got lost, blamed each other for that, paid exorbitant parking fees, mastered the carriageways, the extremely narrow hedge-bordered one way traffic lanes in rural Cornwall where one takes a breath approaching a blind corner, never knowing whether to expect a tourist bus or not, motorways, A and B roads and the numerous roundabouts at major junctions, tunnels, (yep the Mersey), and those graveled country roads just marked with a white line on the map! We only had one slight traffic hold up on a dual carriageway, but overall the traffic flowed freely and easily for the 3 weeks. Great, better than Auckland!

We had great pleasure in seeing our dear friend Margaret Glover (who worked for Richard Still in Picton Street in 1989 where she and I met), who showed us Southampton coastal area, and the very pretty and quaint Bishops Waltham, who took us to the coastal resort of Hayling Island where we walked the coast track past sleepy inlets, through a cemetery, enormous holiday homes with huge gardens, and meandered to a grand little pub serving great traditional English fare followed by a well earned cold cider - thank you Margaret for your energy and expertise on the area, you are a gem, and to Greig Nicholls whom we met in Antiparos and who entertained us til 5am with his vast array of music and Belgium beers, and to our dear friend Maria Casaletto from Burnt Oak who filled us full of homemade roast and veges. and wine and who has made us feel extremely welcome in this far-away-land. Thank you guys, you are making our trip so worth while, we love you for your hospitality and friendship.

There is no rest for the wicked ....we are heading to Denmark on the overnight ferry from Harwich on Tuesday (now, that will be interesting?) .........yes, the travelling continues for us Houghtons, we are off to a 50th birthday party and seeing long lost friends, who incidentally, we met in Howick in 1996 and who now are living back in their homeland of Denmark! Can't wait! So wait up for the next instalment of life with the Houghtons.....! Keep those emails coming, we do miss you, really we do...! Love Elsie and Noel

ENGLAND, LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Who knows what "Llanrhaeadr-ym-mochnant" is famous for? Come on, one of you must know! Winner gets ....Mike McKenna you know the story...but better keep it clean, a warm welcome at our Fulham flat!! Give you a hint, a film was made there! ahhhh, but which one.......??

I am keeping short the blurb and wanting to give you more photos to cast your eyes upon. This wonderful country is still developing, it needs to, we have discovered it is well behind us kiwis in a lot of ways, banking, processing of crowds, queing, etc. etc. but we discovered today though that one can purchase spirits and port at the local supermarket and what a selection.....! yes the Houghts are still doing what they enjoy best, drinking the wines (we have acquired a taste for the cheap french and italian ones in the supermarket). It's all good.
ps I phoned Denis Signal from Howick whose living just out of Liverpool, he sends his regards, he and his family are in a 4 beddie house, have bought a car, toured France, and like us, are getting jobs and endeavouring to settle here for a wee while. All is well in his camp....go us kiwis!

Please keep sending us the emails, we truly do get homesick, we miss you lot (sometimes) and we appreciate our family and friends more than we ever have in the past.....hurry up and visit, a wine and bed await! Love you lots, Elsie and Noel

WALES, YOU SO REMIND US OF HOME! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

BUGGAR THE JOBS - ESCAPING TO THE COUNTRY! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

We have caught up with Victoria Gibbs having enjoyed a yummy thai meal in Bond Street (Vic knew all the pubs and places to go, she is a sociable young thing) her enthusiasm and energetic spirit was uplifting for us oldies, we visited Edgware, this town is at the end of the Northern Line (north London) and this is where Noel and I first met in 1978! The old house still looked the same, but a couple of the pubs had changed a lot, one had actually closed and was rather run down, a bit sad as we had spent a number of fun nights there in our youth.

We have caught up with John Cock (my old boss in 1986) who is taking me to Covent Garden on Wednesday morning, he is a Friend of Covent Garden, and gets these cheap (or mostly free) tickets and there is a dress rehearsal on for a 17th century opera about two men who go off to war and when they return the men swap places to check on the infidelity of their wives! something like that, I will fill you in after Wednesday, me thinks David Gibbs will know what I am talking about (ghad I love him for that).

We then visited our friend Maria who lives in Burnt Oak (one station from Edgware) whom I worked with in 1977, and she took us out for a curry, it was great, the variety of curries was absolutely amazing, really, we didn't recognise half of the meals (too diverse a range) but just brill and both Noel and I realise that no matter the length of time away from our friends, the distance between, it's so easy to just pick up and carry on where we left off....no one seems to have aged, everyone seems just the same, it's a neat feeling that's for sure!

We met up with a kiwi couple who are estate minders/housekeepers/gardeners in a tiny village in Surrey called Godalming. What a delightful place! We spent the afternoon drinking cider and watching a local cricket match, the sun came out and it truly was a relaxing day. Noel and I then ventured down to Portsmouth on Saturday night and visited the Naval Museum and the Mary Rose, the only tudor warship remaining in the world (at least 400 years old)! The poms salvaged the ruins in 1979 and its a remarkable restoration story, the ship was named after his favourite sister of Henry VIII, and the scientists have found most items intact and in perfect condition (the silt in the water has preserved most of it), truly fascinating. We also visited the D-Day museum, boy what an exhibition of gear, even the original plan of attack (operation over lord) showing location of warships, aeroplanes, bomb carriers, taking up one whole wall, all handwritten and handpainted symbols etc. Quite incredible, very intelligent people those poms! I left there showing great respect for those war heroes, and a half of cider at the Old Port Pub finished off a great day out!
Some more pics for you all to enjoy, the sun's been out now for 3 days, even have the washing outside today! Ahhhhh, London can be a 'home away from home' that's for sure. Plans for the week: find jobs, meet up with a couple we met in Greece, opera, we are hoping to visit a town called Matlock to catch up with Noel's ex workmate and then a Sunday roast back with Maria........til next time, da Houghts

ENGLAND, MY LION HEART remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

We followed the passengers en masse (100's of them) off the ferry and just went with the crowd, the leader of the pack seemed to know where to go because we arrived at the Athens underground station and its actually quite a simple travel system, we managed to make it to Syntagma Square without getting lost and only for a mere E1.60 for two. We had been approached earlier by a taxi driver to take us to our hotel for E25.00, hey, we are very street wise now and know the value of the euro. One euro equals $2.00 NZ.

We had about a 10 minute walk from the Square to the hotel and in that time we reckon we sweated litres and our clothes just clung to us, the sweat trickled from places we never knew sweat glands existed!!?? Not sure how we looked when we arrived at the hotel reception, but by god we needed a cold beer by then! That's when the receptionist told us temperatures had risen that day to the highest level in 25 years = 460C IN THE SHADE! Can you believe that? Man it was unbearably hot in the room, the aircon was on overtime but we simply stayed in our room with wet towels on our feet, naked and we still sweated! OK moving on....

We arrived in London 24 hours later to a temperature of 16oC....work out the temperature difference!

England just appeared to be so clean green fresh and the rain just washed all that heat from our bodies. We are quite happy to be in temperatures we are used too!

Today London is saddened by the news of a massive bomb scare alert in Haymarket, Piccadilly, and it seems ironic that Noel and I were there yesterday afternoon. We caught the bus to Piccadilly Circus and walked down Haymarket to NZ House, walked past the American Express office where the car was located this morning. We are numbed by the news today, but this is real life London, it is expected, and it brings to one senses the vulnerability of us wee kiwis on this side of the world away from our lovely safe New Zealand haven.

We are flat sharing in a fabulous suburb of Fulham, near Wimbledon, and we know we shall enjoy living here, loads of pubs, parks, cafes, restaurants, and all near to buses and tube. The sofabed will serve us (and our guests) well, we are really looking forward to having guests and are starting the bookings for the sofa bed now, so first in, first served!!!

On a more sobering thought, we are on the serious look out next week for jobs, and are meeting up with some old friends so we shall have more news for you soon. Tomorrow we are at The Slug, a pub in Fulham which is showing the All Black v Oz test at 10am. Noel and I have our all black scarves ready, our first encounter of a rugby match in a London pub. Roll on Saturday!

Thanks for the comments too, enjoy these photos, they certainly brought a tear to my eye when we saw them! Cheerio for now, Noel and Elsie

FIRE AND ICE remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

We have appreciated the way the Greeks take their time over most things, its just too damn hot to work quickly, and how they serve huge thick slabs of white crusty bread to you before you have even ordered a meal, the paper tablecloths freshly laden at the table as you sit down, the red wine is served in a tin decanter, the menu may look full but when its time to order, only a handful of meals are available, the way the Greek owner will come to the table and discuss how the meals are made, usually by his loving wife out the back in the kitchen, and how, when they present the meal to you, in one hand is the food, the other a cigarette! And always, well nearly always, a gratus token left by the owner, either an oozo, raki, or watermelon, they are generous and open. We thank the Greeks for that.

The food, well what can we say, simply and plainly delicious, oily, lack of vegetables, plenty of stewed veal and beef and some lamb, their full greek salads boasting always a huge slab of feta cheese covered with oil and fresh oreganum, which incidentally, grows wild here and smells devine. Their chargrilled squid, which we saw drying out on the wooden old boats on the seafront every day, ready to dine on that night. The juicy cucumbers, red full tomatoes, and olives, we truly have savoured their cuisine, and thank them for that.

The sea, the beautiful med. the crystal clear waters with stony bottom and little tiny fish that swim round your feet. The calmness of it, the freshness of it, we have our little 'houghton cove' where we have had so much fun jumping in from the rocks above, snorkelling and finding tiny fish and sea eggs, where the depth of the water seemed never ending, purely magical and we shall so miss that little quiet spot in the sea. We thank them for that.

We have sat and watched the most spectacular sunsets at Sunset Beach, you will see a photo next week of that, every night at between 8.20-8.50pm Noel and Shirley V, together with Greig, would simply sit quietly and watch and absorb the most colourful richness before us as the sun disappeared slowly beneath the horizon.....I don't ever recall seeing such a sunset before, it truly moved me every time. We thank them for that.

We have spent 2 weeks here, Antiparos is quite perfectly our special Greek piece of paradise. Kia ora, we shall love it forever.

We are now heading back to London, full of trepidation and again not sure of what to expect, we are ready to settle with a roof over our heads, having a permanent address, a washing machine and fresh vegetables! Our main aim there is to find work, and meet up with old acquaintances, so let's see what awaits us and roll on our next adventure!

Yasos and yamas!!

FAREWELL OUR LITTLE GREEK ISLAND remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Our little piece of Greek paradise! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Fun and Frockling in Folegandhros remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Idling in Ios! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Spectacular Santorini remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Yasas Greece remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Farewell Italy remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Roccalbegna Rocks! remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Final Days here in Bardeggiano remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

A Touch of Tuscany remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Rural Remote Italia remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Amare Italia remains copyright of the author houghts, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs