United Kingdom

The answer to our last question in our last blog ...."The Englishman who went up a Hill and Down a Mountain" starring Hugh Grant, at a tender young age of 19 or so! Get the dvd its a great movie!
We have had a great holiday in Wales and Southwest England. The weather was kind to us in every way. We weren't at all affected by the floods. We had the sun shine at every destination, yes really I tell no lies, we had a very warm and pleasant climate throughout the 3 weeks. Most days mid 20's, the hottest was 34oC (in the car - does that count?)!

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

Well it's been a slow start here for us Houghtons! After holidaying for so long, we have become quite lazy and are enjoying the sleep-in's on the sofa bed. Who would have thought a sofa bed could be so comfy, but having the tv in the room helps and we are enjoying Breakfast television here, the poms do know how to report the news (so in depth, and so interesting!) .....
We are now making a conscious effort in finding work, we have registered with a couple of recruitment agencies, but the fascinating thing we've learned about all of this so far is that no recruitment agency actually wants to meet you, they seem to want you to email in your cv and then they will communicate with you only if they have a suitable job available! It's a bit off putting as Noel put his cv out to about 5 agencies and didn't get one reply and after 2 days he had to phone them back, all saying that as soon as a job is available they will contact him, and even then that's only to get an interview (along with zillions of others) so it's been a wake up call for him.
As for me, my ego was deflated last Friday when, after sending through my cv full of glowing references with my 25 years plus legal experience the young recruitment agent called "Louise" emailed me back advising that "due to not working in law for the past 5 years she could not place me in any legal position, secretarial, reception, admin or otherwise"!!?? Hell, presuming Louise is paid on commission, chances are she is very very poor indeed! However, both Noel and I have got interviews lined up this week so watch this space...!

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

Good afternoon from civilized Mother England! We have been in the most extreme of weather temperatures in the last 24 hours. Greece is in the middle of a heat wave, we were in it, although we were quite oblivious to the fact until we disembarked from the ferry at Athens! We were greeted with the most intense heat Noel and I have ever been in, seriously, we could hardly breathe, and lugging our luggage and backpacks didn't help.

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

A 10quid umbrella that broke after an hour's use, new mobile phones where the sim cards were faulty, a flat we were expecting in a dodgy area, a hint of sore throats and runny noses, funds in a UK bank which we couldn't access...that was yesterday...Today was fab! Everything we set out to do today was achieved, the faulty goods were all replaced by friendly shop staff, the Hong Kong Bank was exceptional, we have credit and debit cards and internet access, we declined the flat (it just didnt feel right) and our sore throats disappeared with the taking of excessive aspirin (which also took away the headaches), and to top it off, we had a great pub lunch off the Oxford Street in a quiet cobbled alleyway for a mere 8 quid total, (yep) plus we are enjoying the vast array of english beers on tap...ahhhh could life be on the up 'n up? We've had blustery wind here today, but temperatures are very warm (esp. in the tube), a mixed bag here weather wise. I've used the buses today, whilst Noel keeps to the underground, I seem to know where I'm going?? We are now off to Fulham to visit our kiwi friend for another round at the local, and packing for Europe where we leave for Pisa to begin the Italian leg of our journey. Hey, good news we are mobile, our number for texting is :0044 7786037010 (hope thats right) and we are relying on internet cafes now for the next leg......so Italia here the kiwis come ....arrivederci!

We are concentrating on the positive ...we have been in good ol' London for less than 24 hours and already our patience has been tested from struggling with our luggage and "nicking" a baggage trolley from Paddington in order to alleviate the worry, to not being eligible for a mobile plan as we can offer no permanent UK address! However, we will not be beaten, afterall we are kiwis, we are resilient, are resourceful and we will concentrate on the positive. London we are loving and hating all at the same time. We met a couple from Bolton in a local pub who thought NZ was "in the outback on Australia"....I kid you not ....! We learned of drinking "Guiness and Black" for the uninitiated ie Guiness with a dash of blackcurrant juice!! Smoking is permitted everywhere, and we are struggling to deal with prices here. Still London is like an old friend, you accept the good with the bad and love it no matter what. Tomorrow we head off to the Bank and to the recruitment agency, another day, another 100 pounds!!! Ps thank you to those sending comments, we really enjoy - keep it up guys!