Kent, 30 October 2010

We were invited to spend the day with friends we met in Hobart who have returned to the UK so it was up early to catch the train to Ashford in Kent. We got an early start since our train was scheduled to depart Victoria Station at 9.13 am which meant getting there from Paddington during rush hour.

Rush hour in London is a real rush and crush. Estimates are that the packing of people on the tube during peak times is equivalent to four people in a telephone box! So, with some sense of caution we left the hotel at about 8.00. The good news was that we only had to catch one train on the underground as the Circle Line took us directly to Victoria. The even better news was that it wasn't as packed as we anticipated and we were able to get seats for the trip.

The underground was very fast and efficient and we arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare. A visit to WH Smith to buy a book and a walk around and we were on the local to Ashford. Like all local trains the world over, it was dirty, run-down and smelly but it kept to schedule during its twelve stop trip and an hour and a half later we were alighting at Ashford International Terminal.

Ashford rates as an International Terminal because some of the Eurostar trains to the continent stop there.

We were met by our friends and we drove through the glorious countryside to their home in the small town of Woodchurch near Tenterden. Woodchurch is the quintessential English village with a church dating from the 13th Century, a village green, several pubs, a duck pond and a smock mill. In the 19th century there were 400 windmills in Kent. Now there are less than 20. Woodchurch Windmill has stood on its site to the north of the village since 1820 when it was moved there from another location.

The village became firmly established in the 13th century with the erection of the large All Saints church made of Kentish ragstone. Although it was extensively restored in the 1840s, neither wisely nor well, it still boasts a 13th century chancel and a famous brass of the 14th century, depicting a floriated cross design. It has an unusual four-faced clock and a spire which is 46 cm out of the vertical at the top.

After a delightful lunch with our friends, we walked through some of the countryside, feeding polo mints to the horses curiously following us. Later we drove into the town of Tenterden which is reminiscent of all of those eighteenth century epics one sees on the TV these days. There it was with its High Street and the luxury botiques with bow-fronted windows; more picturesque pubs with over-flowing hanging baskets still in full bloom, the trees in autumn colours just beginning to lose their leaves which crunched underfoot as we walked giving off that unmistakeable smell of autumn.

Later, it was back to the train and then to London; a bit dreary by comparison, but just as vibrant as when we left it earlier in the day. And, of course, we caught the evening rush hour going back to Paddington from Victoria and yes, we can attest to the fact that it was a bit like trying to squeeze at least four, if not more, very obese people into a phone box!

On a completely separate note, we have diligently written and sent postcards to many of our friends and family in Australia. But if you are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of one of these, don't. There is a major postal strike here and many post boxes are going to be sealed on Monday because of overflow since mail is not being collected.

Bond Street, Thursday 29 October

We decided to take a walk in one of the "best" shopping districts in the City, Bond Street, and have to say it wasn't a patch on the Rue Montaigne. One pamphlet describes it as:

Set in the heart of Mayfair, in London's popular West End, Bond Street is one of the world's most exclusive shopping destinations, revered for its wealth of elegant stores, exclusive brands, designer fashion, fine jewels, art and antiques.

All a bit of frippery! It is an elegant, lovely area, but just doesn't quite live up to the publicity.

The Beadle

We wandered into Fortnum and Mason and admired their displays and products, ending our visit there with tea in their very elegant tea room. A nice break, indeed.

There are a number of arcades in the area, including the famous Burlington Arcade. Opened in 1819, it has more than 70 two-storey shops, most of which are extremely posh! There is still a Beadle (see image to the left) in the arcade which was once habituated by homosexuals, including the notorious pair of Boulton and Park.

The area also contains the Royal Academy and the Ritz Hotel and some interesting and exciting statuary.

Below are pictures of an arcade in Bond Street, the sculpture in front of the Royal Academy and two pieces of sculpture. The one on the left is Beau Brummel and the one on the right is Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

Museums and Galleries - Wednesday, 28 October

While Virginia was in the West Country, I took the opportunity to visit some museums and galleries, including the British Museum, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. That's a lot of "culture" in one day!

I actually started by going to Leicester Square to see if I could get tickets to a show, but found that no seats were available for that evening. Since the ticket agency is so close to the National Gallery I headed there. It is impossible to see and retain everything in a gallery of that magnitude, so I limited myself to the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. The selection is comparatively small but of a wonderful standard. I think the two pictures I like most are The Umbrellas by Renoir and Surprised by Henri Rousseau.

Rousseau is less well known than Renoir. He is one of the painters generally labelled as a Post-Impressionist, but some would be more inclined to consider him a "primitive." A number of his best known works employ jungle scenes and motifs although he was never outside of France. He has a flat, almost child-like style, but one that is surprisingly powerful. Among the artists he influenced was Pablo Picasso.

One thing I have always disliked about the National Gallery has been the great barn of a cafeteria. It was a pleasant surprise to see how that had changed in the last eighteen months. There are now several very pleasant rooms in which one can have lunch or tea. One even opens quite early - two hours before the gallery - so you can have breakfast!

Outside, in Trafalgar Square, there are the four lions of Landseer. Whatever their artistic merits may or may not be, they have an ineffable attraction for young children who make them their own personal pets.



From the National Gallery I went around the corner to the National Portrait Gallery where I spent an hour or so looking at the Victorian section. I always enjoy the NPG but was dissapointed on this occasion since I was looking for a protrait of Earl Grey and was unsuccessful although they do hold a number of "carte de vistes". There were, however, a number of other portraits of individuals with an Australian connection including Sir James Stephen (1789-1859) who was the British under-secretary of state for the colonies from 1836 to 1847.

After a quick lunch I headed off to the British Museum. While I always enjoy the exhibits, this time I really intended to just wander around a bit. In fact, the last time I visited the British Museum, I went into the old reading room and found it rather depressing. It still looked much the same, but there were huge spaces on the shelves and in a strange way, it seemed to me to be dying. Well, I suspect it has now died.

When I couldn't find a way in, just for a sentimental look, I asked a young woman with an official looking badge on.

"Excuse me, can you tell me how I get into the old reading room?"

"The Reading Room? Oh, you mean the exhibition space."

It's enough to make a grown man weep. Mind you, as someone who uses the new British Library out at St Pancras and finds it excellent to work in, it is just sentiment that binds a small part of me to the old reading room. Ah well, time to go back to the hotel, meet Virginia, and catch a bite for dinner.

Westward Ho ... Wednesday, 28 October

While Bruce spent the day mooching about London, I went to the West Country where I was born.

The train trip between Bristol (or Bath Spa) and London Paddington has been familiear to me since the very earliest days of my childhood when my mother took me up to London a couple of times a year to see the various sights. In those days (sixty plus years ago) the trip was, of course, by steam engine and it took nearly four hours to complete the100 mile journey. Then, there were two sittings for each meal in the Pullman car; now the trip takes less than an hour and a half, hardly time for a cup of coffee at the buffet! With trains every half an hour in each direction, it is no wonder that places like Bristol and Bath Spa have become commuter suburbs for London.

I caught the 8.30 train, arriving at Bath Spa well before 10.00. Bath was first established as a spa resort by the Romans in AD 43. It was to become a famous spa town during the Georgian Era and has beautiful buildings from that period. Jane Austin lived there and many famous literary lights visited the city or came to "take the waters." It is my favourite place in England and when I win the 20 million dollar lottery I just might be able to afford a one bedroom flat on the glorious Royal Crescent.Bath was at its very best on this occasion, the wonderful Bath stone buildings glowing in the late autumn sunshine and the beautiful trees all shades of red and gold.

A friend met me at the station and we drove around admiring the Somerset scenery. Eventually we arrived at Homewood Park at Charterhouse and had coffee. Homewood Park is a country estate which now operates as a luxury hotel with gorgeous views over the old estate grounds. Charterhouse is the most delightful village with steep and winding narrow lanes making it only just possible for two cars to pass, one if not both having to climb the verge. It is not an experience for the faint-hearted. The actress, Jane Seymour, owns a home which was previously an ancient convent and the villagers say she is often seen in the village in her "wellie boots."

One thing that I have always missed in Australia is the English style pub and particularly that wonderful institution, the country pub. So, the next stop was at the Hungerford Arms at Farleigh Hungerford. Although this is a fairly ordinary pub it has the most magnificent views of Farleigh Castle, again particularly stunning amidst the autumnal trees. Lunch was at another pub, the Old Bear at Staverton. English pub grub, although plain, is reliable and reasonably priced. As it happened, on this occasion, we nearly got a free lunch. A very generous wake was being held following the funeral of a local celebrity and they thought we were part of it and brought us a tray of food and drink. Sadly we felt obliged to explain and refuse!

Farleigh Castle

Later in the afternoon we drifted back to Bath for afternoon tea before I caught the train back to London.

A Walk on the Mall - 27 October

Another glorious day so we decided to take a walk down the Mall. Mounting our faithful steed (that's bus No. 15) we headed off. If you really want to see London, the bus is, of course, the way to travel; but if you need to get from point A to point B the underground is much faster. In fact, it took at least five times as long to get to Trafalgar Square by bus - just over an hour - as it would have on the tube. But the views are infinitely better. London's underground is the largest in the world, and the oldest, so it is no wonder that there are always problems. But as any Londoner will tell you the problems are always on their line!

We got off the bus at Trafalgar Square which is still one of the great squares of the world with the National Gallery and Nelson's column dominating it. A short walk took us to Admiralty Arch. Admiralty Arch is actually an office building and although it looks as if it has been there for hundreds of years, it will not be reaching its centenary until 2012. There is an interesting statue of Captain Cook at the Arch. After walking through the Arch we continued down the Mall admiring the glorious colours of the changing leaves in St James Park. Virginia paused reverently at the statues of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mum) while I took the compulsory photo for her "Book of Royals." I fear the Republicans will never get her!

In addition to the park, there are some lovely views of Clarence House and St James Palace nearby. We got to Buckingham Palace but having seen the changing of the guard on numerous occasions decided not to stay for that although we did see some mounted cavalry go by in all of their ceremonial dress.

From the palace we made our way to Victoria Station where we picked up our tickets for a trip to Ashford on Friday and then came back to our room on the Circle Line. It is half-term at the moment and frustrated Mums are to be seen at every turn with rambunctious children.

One of the things we have noticed is the amount of smoking. Pubs are now smoke free, which is very nice. We had our laundry to do and while we waited for it to finish we went across the street to a very pleasant pub which we had discoveredwhen we were last in London and had found it pleasant and charming but terribly smokey. This time it was a delight; smoke free. From the number of customers it seems as if the horrors of a smoke-free environment which were being touted here (just as they were in Australia) were - pardon the pun - just a smokescreen.

Cigarettes here are very expensive and you wonder where people get the money to smoke. Well, the answer, we found, is in the black market. Cigarettes can be purchased for as little as two pounds fifty pence per pack which we were told was about half the going price for legal smokes and, interestingly, was described as children's pocket money. They are sold under the counter in shops and out of private homes. These "tab houses" as they are called are apparently very common (not to mention economically successful). Interestingly all of the anti-tab propaganda focusses on issues such as age of beginning smoking and volume, but in reality the government is opposed to tab houses because it loses millions of pounds in income from cigarette taxes every year.

Early to bed - Early to rise...

Well, in the words of the old ditty, we were early to bed and early to rise. As to whether it made us "healthy, wealthy and wise," is another question.

After breakfast we headed out and walked up to Paddington Station (home of Paddington Bear), where we got our oyster cards and put a week's travel on them. This is the most economical way to travel since you can use it on the buses as well as on the underground and you pay for a week's travel no matter how much or how little you may use it. The amount you pay depends on the number of zones you want it to work in and we bought one that lets us have unlimited travel in zones 1 and 2.

It is a rather sad commentary on London and tourism that considering the number of tourists who must arrive in Paddington Station, especially since it is the terminus of the Heathrow Express, there is no information kiosk or tourist information site. It just seems ridiculous that you have hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists daily; many of whom would like to know about London or find a place to stay whilst in the city and there is no help or welcome for them. A wonderful opportunity lost and we can't help but wonder if this will improve for the forthcoming Olympic Games.

Anyway, since Viriginia is going down to Bath to see an old friend, and since we were already at Paddington Station, we picked up her tickets and therein lies a tale. If you don't believe the following, you can check it on the Internet.

If you walk in to Paddington Station and buy a return ticket to Bath Spa, you will pay 148 pounds or, if you buy a super off peak fare it will cost you 49 pounds. By buying the equivalent of the ordinary return fare via the Internet, well in advance, the cost was only twenty-three pounds. The only restrictions are that you must use it at the nominated times. After buying them in Australia we were given a code which we entered into a ticket vending machine along with the credit card we had used to pay (this is for verification) and, SHAZAM, out came the tickets.

After almost breaking our arms patting one another on the back for our foresight and intelligence, we wandered up to catch the No. 15 bus. We knew which bus to catch because Virginia loves maps and had pored over and, I am convinced, memorized the entire bus and underground system for London. The No. 15 goes along one of the best routes in the system. It starts from Paddington, goes along Praed Street past Saint Mary's Hospital birthplace (my Royalist wife tells me) of Princes Harry and William, then down Edgeware Road to Marble Arch, along Oxford Street to Oxford Circus, then to Regent Street which it follows to Trafalgar Square, and up the Strand (have a banana) and Fleet Street past St. Pauls and on to the Tower of London.

Covent Garden

We only went half way up the Strand and got off to walk the short distance to Covent Garden where we picked up pre-booked tickets for Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet on Saturday. After wandering around Covent Garden for a while we strolled down a little street and found the Australia shop. Now we are not people who feel the need to spend our time overseas with Australians or seeking out things Australian. However, there is one major exception to this rule, Vegemite! Apparently it is now impossible to buy it in many places including (or so we have been led to believe) the EU. We shall, of course, be taking the small jar of Australia's wonder food on to Paris with us!

Covent Garden is an interesting place. From the 1500s until the mid 1970s, it was the site of a flower, fruit and vegetable market. Now it is full of restaurants and little shops, but the old walls can still convey a sense of the history of the place and if Eliza Doolittle is no longer selling flowers on the steps of St Paul's Church, there are other things to buy and much to see including the Royal Opera House. Just across the street from the Royal Opera is the Bow Street Magistrate's Court (now closed) and nearby a wonderful sculpture of a ballet dancer by Enzo Plazzotto.

After Covent Garden we went back to the Strand and on to Somerset House and the Courtauld Gallery. With impeccable timing we discovered that on Mondays admission is free. If you don't know this gallery, it is probably one of the best small galleries in the world with a very tidy collection of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists including such wonderful pictures as Renoir's La Loge, Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergere, Toulouse Lautrec's Jane Avril and other works by Seurat, Matisse, Degas and more. They also have an excellent restaurant with reasonably priced meals and the most beautifully served tea - not to mention cakes.

By now we were beginning to feel a bit of jet lag so we hopped back on the No. 15 and were back in our digs about 3.00 in the afternoon. Later we went to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner and then to bed after reading, blogging and watching TV.

London

We were up early and after a light breakfast wandered down to our departure lounge and boarded the plane. We were flying in one of the Boeing 777s, which is a really nice plane. The entertainment centre is truly astonishing; hundreds of films, TV shows and games and, finally, a screen large enough to see them on. In addition, there is a power point in the armrest so that if you want to use a computer you can do so without resorting to using the batteries. The seats, although still cramped now don't just tilt back, the seat slides forward which makes them far more comfortable.

We were in the three seat middle section with one empty seat so had room in which to spread out. As usual, the flight was long and tedious, but we arrived in better shape than we had anticipated, suffering only minor jetlag. Heathrow Airport is as awful as ever. Or maybe it just seems that way after Changi. No, it is awful! It looked as if nobody had bothered to clean the terminal since it was built; most of the escalators didn't work and the moving walkways didn't move! This, of course, meant that you had to lug your baggage up stairs and down.

The arrivals area, where you clear immigration, was packed and queues extended well beyond the signs which said "From this Point it May Take 45 Minutes to Clear Immigration." It certainly looked as if it would take at least that long if not more than an hour. Since I am not British or from an EU country, I normally queue in the non-citizens line but this time I went with Virginia and was cleared in the Residents and EU citizens section. That only took about fifteen minutes. The rest of the process was quite fast. We got our bags and went through Customs on the green "Nothing to Declare" line.

Interestingly, Heathrow is apparently considered the worst international airport for queues and Changi the best. Heathrow is also seen as the airport in which you are most likely to have your luggage damaged but is reported as being friendly and the strongest on security. While we found it reasonably friendly, we thought that the security and friendliness at Changi were at least as high, if not higher. I suspect that the "security" issue is a rationale for the long queues, but if my ageing memory isn't failing me, they were just as long in the 1960s when I first visited England.

Probably the best thing about Heathrow, is how you leave it. You can catch the Heathrow Express which takes you to Paddington Station in just about fifteen minutes at a cost of 20 pounds, but it is worth every penny when you have just arrived. The trains are clean and efficient and, for us, the ideal way to get into the city since our hotel is only a five minute walk from the station.

After checking in, we went for a walk around the neighbourhood, and made an early night of it. Tomorrow our holiday really begins.

Walking in Sydney

A Jacaranda in the Heart of Sydney

Up and out! I have a feeling that is going to be our motto for much of this trip. A good morning walk left us feeling, if not healthier, certainly self-righteous. And what a beautiful morning it was with the sun shining and the Jacaranda in glorious bloom.

Walking is always so much more interesting when you are in a city. For example, we walked down Clarence Street and just opposite the site of what was once the old Wynyard Military Barracks, almost crushed between and dwarfed by larger buildings and current construction we found a gem of a small building dating from the 1880s. With a frontage less than three metres wide, it is now a shop and, unfortunately, time was not available to find out more about it. Continuing our walk up Clarence Street and nearing the approach to the Harbor Bridge, we passed St. Philip's Anglican Church which was started in the 1840s. It has lovely gardens around it. In fact, the Sydney CBD is blessed with numerous little garden areas and long may they flourish. They keep the city from being all glass, stone, steel and concrete.

In all fairness, there are some pretty awful buildings in Sydney as well. One example, in York Street, is what was once a neo-gothic building on top of which has been added a number of very modern stories. It always makes me think of a really bad wedding cake!

As always we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. There has obviously been a lot of work done recently on the airport and it is better than it used to be. I mention this simply because later today we will be in one of the great airports of the world at Changi in Singapore. One particularly interesting thing at the Sydney airport is a "play" wall; a wall which contains several large-scale play boards for small children such as those made by Fisher-Price which parents frequently hang on the sides of their children's cots.

As usual we flew with Singapore Airlines which has become our airline of choice in recent years. We like the level of service and the quietly unobtrusive way in which the cabin crews work. We also like the fact that there seems to be a "toilet fairy" on board since it doesn't matter when, during the flight, you go to the toilets, they are always spotlessly clean. After about five hours of flying over Australian territory, we were out of the country and on our way to Singapore. Three films, two meals, a couple of drinks and a couple more hour of what seems like interminable boredom and you touch down in Singapore. Oh Well, better a boring flight than one that offers too much excitement and, after all, we consider ourselves only in training for the marathon flight yet to come. It is a question of, as the French say, "patientez".

In Singapore we usually stay in the Ambassador Hotel which is situated in the Transit Lounge.  This means that our bags go on to London and all we have with us is our hand luggage. In the morning, after a night's rest, we can walk down to our departure gate and aboard the plane.  No immigration, no customs -  bliss!! Changi airport is remarkable.  Every year when the airline industry selects the best terminals Changi either wins or is second.  It is composed of three huge, multi-level terminals with all the "mod cons." A fourth terminal is currently under construction.  The terminals are beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and there is even a butterfly garden in Terminal 3.  Filled with wall-to-wall shops, you can find all of the great labels without leaving the airport.  Indeed, we sometimes wonder why people go into Singapore to shop when they can get just about everything at the airport.  Do you need a Doctor?  Each of the four terminals has a medical clinic with links to major Singapore hospitals.  Do you want a new computer, or a new suit, new luggage or some high-end-label clothing?  It is all available in the airport terminals.  And, as elsewhere in Singapore, the name of the game is "service."

We had two clear examples of Singapore service.  Imagine, if you will, that your mobile phone has run out of power and needs a recharge.  There are free recharging machines throughout the terminals.  Not only can they recharge mobile phones, they can recharge MP3 players, cameras and a range of other devices.  The other example was when we walked out of a shop and we were asked by a member of the terminal's staff to answer a few questions about our shopping experience.  We were happy to do so since we knew we could answer almost any question with "excellent."  Nonetheless, we felt as if the answers to the questions would be followed up with some discussion with any merchants who were not providing the level of service that was expected. Whilst all of this is great for us as tourists or as people passing through, there is a distinct sense of "granny state" mentality in Singapore.

Changi Airport Terminal 3

And so to bed...

Tripping - in more ways than one!

Have you ever noticed that no matter how well you plan your departure to the airport, you always wind up sitting around for the last hour after checking all of the powerpoints, spraying the house with flyspray and packing your bags. And speaking of packing your bags, why is it that no matter how carefully you pack on top the things you will need at the beginning of the trip on top, they always seem to migrate to the bottom of the bag. So, there you are, spending one night in Sydney, and your toothbrush is at the bottom of your large bag which you vowed not to open until you reached your final destination.

Anyway, after reaching Sydney and finding our toothbrushes, we went for a walk down to the Opera House. No matter how many times we see it, we are always amazed at the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the buzz of Circular Quay. This time, however, because of a minor accident we learned some interesting things about the area. We were walking along when Virginia tripped and fell. We were immediately surrounded by young men (later Virgina told me it was almost worth falling over for). It reminded us that with all our complaints of rudeness and a general "don't give a damn" attitude, the great majority of people are caring and kind. The young men got Virginia a chair from a nearby restaurant, some ice to put on her scraped arm, and hovered around to make sure she was all right. The other thing we found of interest, was the high level of security. When Virginia tripped, among the young men who rushed to her rescue, were two security guards. Apparently the area is literally awash with the plain-clothes security personnel. They are very unobtrusive but very efficient. They also told us that the entire area is covered by CCTV cameras and the whole incident had been captured by them.

On recent trips to Sydney, we have stayed in the Wynyard area. We find the underground station there fascinating. It is almost like a small city with everything you could possibly want. We bought our breakfast stuff for tomorrow, I got a haircut, and we wandered. Since we only had the afternoon in Sydney, we didn't do a lot other than walking. Tomorrow we will take a walk in the morning and then go out to the airport to fly to Singapore.