Carry on blogging!

One of my own difficulties in keeping up a blog is that once anything is finished, I find it hard to 'finalise' it: hence the ends of bits of blog tend not to get written. So I never wrote up the end of my Grand Tour, which included a very pleasant drive through wonderful Autumn colours, a visit to the ballet in Plymouth, a visit to another historic Quaker meeting house in Long Sutton, Somerset, a trip round Stonehenge and a delightful day in Reading with two old friends.

However, all that is in the past and I'm in Cornwall again, having flown down this time (in, I have to say, one of the greenest of aircraft, if any aircraft can be considered green!). We were only just able to land because of fog, which had caused us to be diverted from Plymouth, the scheduled first port of call, to Newquay where I was going anyway! But flying was both a good deal cheaper and much quicker than travelling by train, and I do find nowadays that long train journeys in standard class are a real trial: I end up feeling cramped and arthritic and quite out of sorts, which is why I travel First whenever I can, and when it's not too much extra.

Cornwall so far has been a bit damp and windy, but it's nowhere near as cold as back home in Newcastle. It was up to a balmy ten degrees earlier today! I have been wondering, in the very cold spell the whole country has had in general and the North East worse than most, at least in England, what happened to global warming, and please could we have a bit of it here just now? I can understand, having had snow in the garden for over a month continuously, why people wonder if it's really happening at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm a believer, but sometimes as I shiver I do just long for the summer days, and when I see the pictures of the Test Matches I ache to be back in Australia!

So a definitely not-all-that-Green visit this time: but looking forward to the New Year's Eve celebration with my good friends, knowing there will be a wonderful meal tomorrow and the setting off of rockets and skylanterns to celebrate the start of 2011. May it fulfil all its promises! And maybe I'll keep this blog up more regularly too.

The Grand Tour, days 7 and 8

Down in Cornwall at last, this is the far point of the tour. I'm with my friend Angie and her partner: and I'm here a day earlier than originally planned because of changes to the schedule due to my inadequate communications! So on Saturday I was able to have a quiet day, helping with the shopping and then going for a very enjoyable walk in rhe local woods in the sunshine

On Sunday I had the delight of going to Come-to-Good Meeting. This is in a very special Meeting House, Grade I listed and dating from 1710. I'd wanted to go for ages, but this was the first time I'd been in Cornwall with the car, which was necessary. My trusty SatNav Daisy found the way without difficulty, and I arrived in very good time. The benches were a little rigorous, but there were also chairs and cushions to put on them, and that was a good compromise. It was a lovely meeting, all about simplicity, and I enjoyed chatting with Friends (two of whom I knew) afterwards.

After Sunday Lunch with relatives of my hosts, I was able to have a pleasant and lazy afternoon nap before going to take photographs of a church parade that happened to be that day. We ended the day with a scratch supper and a bout of television watching: definitely a day of resting from our labours!

So on the whole an uneventful two days: but the next two were planned to be much more active. Watch this space!

The Grand Tour, days 5 and 6

One reason for stopping overnight in Ross on Wye was its proximity to Slimbridge. I've been a member of the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust for some years now, mainly to go round the Washington wildfowl park, and had not visited any of their other places. So I made a relatively early start, and headed for the Slimbridge wetlands area.
It's quite a big place, with pond, riverside and estuary areas, and I walked round most of it. Birds were in abundance, including three different kinds of flamingo! Nothing much of the rarer birds, though: a man clearly much more expert than me told me there were three Ruffs on the far side of the pond I could see, but my little binoculars couldn't pick them out. However, even on a dull morning it was an enjoyable experience, and I spent a couple of hours there before heading southwards to my next port of call, Glastonbury.
I arrived there mid-afternoon, and spent the best part of two more hours walking round the square of the town and looking at shops (so much New Age, so much tourist tat). Arriving at the far corner, I passed the Chalice Well - a lovely garden, as I know from a previous visit - but decided instead to take the exercise of climbing the Tor. It took me twenty minutes of hard climb, but such good exercise: just a pity the still misty day meant that the view was not all it might have been. And here's the photographic evidence that I made it!
My hotel was about three miles out, a charming place once the summer home of the Abbot of Glastonbury. The room was more luxurious than the one in Ross, but had less putting place and was in fact somewhat smaller, though with a bigger bathroom. I unpacked, snoozed and then drove back into Glastonbury for an Indian meal - as ever in Indian restaurants, there was enough for two, but I was good and didn't over-eat.
It had been a busy day, and I slept well.
Next morning the weather was still dull, and after breakfast I decided that rather than going back to visit the Chalice Well garden, I'd get on and get down to Cornwall. I made good time and arrived at Mike and Sue's in time for a bite of lunch. We always fall almost into the conversation we had last time we met, it's a delightfully easy relationship. After a bit I went for a snooze: Mike and Sue had their Home Group at someone else's house in the early evening, so I was able to do very little and watch the news before enjoying Sue's tasty echilladas and watching Dad's Army (recorded) and New Tricks (live). A pleasant end to the day!

The Grand Tour, days 3 and 4

On Tuesday, Christine (my hostess) was back at work, so I had the day to myself. I'd originally thought of taking the train into Liverpool: being very much a city woman, I could see myself enjoying just wandering around, looking at one or two of the many museums and art galleries, finding a nice bite to eat and coming home early enough for a relaxing nap. However, the day dawned rather dull, and I was feeling a little tired after the exertions of yesterday: so instead I had a very quiet and lazy morning, doing not very much, and then taking the local bus into Chester. Christine had mentioned a tour at the Grosvenor Museum starting at 2, and I thought it might be interesting to go on this. So I found a place for a light(ish) lunch - jacket potato and something or other - and then went up to the museum, arriving in good time. I checked at the desk that there was indeed a tour at 2, and the man said yes: and sure enough, a tour guide appeared - and started checking names on a list! So I asked her if I could come as well, and she said that it was fully booked. Neither Christine nor the man at the desk had said anything about booking. The guide said that not everyone had turned up, so there might still be a space, so I waited. In the end, she took all 25 who had booked and five more 'hopefuls' like me who hadn't. Now I'd thought it was a tour of the museum: but in fact it was a walk around the town, looking at evidence of viking occupation. In fact there is very little of this, and most of it not now visible: excavations have found post-holes and odd bits of wattle and daub, but not much more. But there have been three finds of silver hordes, mostly coins: and apparently both DNA and name evidence makes it pretty clear that vikings did settle in this part of the world, around 700 - 950 or so. The walk ended with bits I'd see with Christine the previous day, so I left it then and went back home after a fruitless search for cheap headphones, having left mine at home by mistake.
This was my last evening in Chester, and Christine - happy birthday, it was indeed hers that day - took me to her film club to see a fascinating Belgian film about a Belgian girl going to work for a big Japanese corporation. She finds a major clash of culture, and the Japanese staff do nothing to help her adjust to their ways. She sticks it out to the end of her one year contract, and then goes home and becomes a successful writer. 'Fear and Trembling' (the way one is supposed to approach the Emperor) was well worth seeing, though there were problems with what it was trying to say and how far it was a Belgian view of Japanese corporate life rather than a real one. Worth a try should you see it on offer, though.

Next day I took Christine to work in Wrexham on my way south. I'd intended to call in at the Nightingales factory shop in Craven Arms, but sadly this is no more: this lovely clothing company is now part of the J D Williams group, and is in my view likely to decline as a result. So I pressed on to Ludlow, a place I'd visited a few years ago and enjoyed, and this time I had time to go round the castle. Edward V and his brother Richard both lived here as young boys: a lovely place to live, I should think, with comfortable quarters (lots of fireplaces in evidence!) and beautiful countryside to explore.
I had lunch in the same wholefood cafe as before, the Olive Branch (highly recommended if you're in Ludlow), and then drove on, guided by Daisy (my satnav, called Daisy because she goes with my little yellow car which is called Buttercup) to Ross on Wye, my overnight stop. I went into the town centre first and had a brief walk round, enjoying a riverside walk and a look at a few possible eating places. Then I (or rather Daisy) found my B & B, and very comfortable it was too, and in walking distance of town. I had a snooze, then followed the landlady's recommendation and ate at the Kings Arms. Christine is a vegetarian, and I'm not, so I settled for a locally produced Cotswold Steak with a superb blue cheese sauce, beautifully cooked vegetables - four of them - and new potatoes rather than chips. All in all an excellent feast, and a good way to end day four of the tour.

The Grand Tour - first two days

At last! my long planned tour of various friends in various parts of the UK has finally got under way. Not without incident: alas, the Open Golf in Wales meant that the dates I'd hoped to make a visit there coincided with a postponed start of the University term, so my lovely friend Tracey couldn't have me to stay on those dates: and due to my own stupidity in not confirming a rather informal suggestion that I visit in Bristol, my relative there found that this was the busiest week of her year and it really wasn't a good time for me to go! However, such things can also be opportunities, and so I'm going to be able to have some time in Ross on Wye, a place I've not been to since I was about 15, and Glastonbury where I've not been for 15 years (this is the town, not the festival). So I'm looking forward to some quiet, peaceful times in both those places.
So here I am, at the first port of call in Chester. I arrived on Sunday evening, and before even unpacking the car much I started work in the kitchen. Christine, my hostess, had herself only just got home from a working weekend, so I'd said I would bring the wherewithal to make stuffed peppers for supper (she's a vegetarian), and another mutual friend joined us. I always enjoy cooking for people and this was no exception: and we had a very pleasant meal with good conversation and a totally quaffable bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

Next day dawned a superb, cloudless sight, and it seemed a shame to follow Plan A and do some computer education and book Christine a coach journey on line. So we went into Chester, on foot as we had, it turned out, missed the local bus due to the timetable having been altered, and looked at the ruins of St. John's church which was founded in Saxon times. It's a fascinating building: it was once the Cathedral in Chester, and King Edgar, having been actually crowned at Bath Abbey, came there for his Lords to pay homage to him. Then we went on past what you can see of the amphitheatre, which would be the largest Roman amphitheatre in Britain if it were not half under buildings, one of which is Grade II listed despite having little architectural merit, in my eyes at least. We had time to walk part of the walls before going home to lunch.

After lunch we went to pick up Christine's friend Irene and then drove up to Studley Hall, once home of the Holt family (the Holt shipping line was in existence until some time after the war). Here there was a fascinating collection of paintings, the personal collection of George Holt, and very impressive: it included Turners, Burne Jones, Rosetti and other pre-Raphaelite artists as well as earlier ones such as Reynolds and Gainsborough. What a feast! We had a thoroughly enjoyable time looking at many rooms full of pictures before having tea outside and then taking a walk in the park before going home.

Not just the Amazon Rainforests

Interesting to learn, in the National Museum of Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Papa, that before the Maori people came here about a thousand years ago, a very high proportion of the lowlands of this country was forest. Maori needs and practices cut this down by a fair amount: but when the white settlers started moving in, around 1840, even more forest was cut down to make farmland, and much of that was to supply the UK with cheap meat and dairy products. The New Zealand Lamb industry, for so long a mainstay of the British food supply, had meant the clearing of forests long before the concerns about MacDonalds chopping down stuff in Brazil for beef ranching. So the connection between meat-eating and the environment goes back a long way. Now, the lowlands here are 51% grassland, well above the world average of 37%, and most of that used to be for sheep, though in recent years market forces have made many farmers switch to cattle.

Having said that, it's not going to change in a hurry, and I don't see any sign that New Zealand's contribution to climate change might be to replant forests. In a country where most of the electricity seems to be from renewable sources (there's a lot of scope for hydro here) I don't think the rest of us can complain that they aren't doing their bit already. But as the money in sheep farming declines, it might be an option, as indeed it might in many other places. Should replanting forests be on more nation's agendas?

Greening the neighbours

Brisbane: a city, apparently, in Transition. I'd not come across the Transition Towns movement until I went to the Sustainable Living festival in Melbourne. But here in Brisbane it's alive and well and about to flourish in the suburb of Tarragindi, where my hostess Valerie lives.

Valerie had gathered her immediate neighbours together to hear talks from three people: one on composting, one on being green generally and one on the Neighbourhood Watch; this over a shared tea party. About a dozen came, and the talks gave us a lot of food for thought. I learned a lot about composting, and realised I can deal with all my food waste in a better way with a small device called a Bohasi Bin, which will enrich my little patch of garden and reduce my landfill waste even further. I could also think about the rather defunct Neighbourhood Watch scheme which we used to have at home. And the whole idea of Transition Towns is something that the Quaker Meeting might consider as well. So there's a lot there to take home, starting with the idea of having your neighbours round, getting to know them and encouraging us all to be green together.

I found it interesting that in Australia the priorities are different. At home, with the huge Kielder reservoir, water is literally the least of our problems, whereas here it's the biggest one. This in spite of much of Queensland being flooded at the moment! They have real problems of water management, and are seeking ways for the surplus to be used more effectively. But they don't have problems of heat waste (they use air conditioning rather than central heating): they do have problems of transport, and it's just assumed that everyone has a car. Different strokes for different folks! But it's good that there is much environmental awareness here, more, I think, than in the UK. We've still a big task ahead to convince folk of the need to care for the planet.

Green or brown Australia!

It was obvious, even coming in to land at Adelaide, that quite a lot of South Australia is brown rather than green at the moment.  They’ve had a hot, hot summer:  and part of the problem is that the main river, the Murray, is over-used further upstream for irrigation and so is nearly drying up by the time it gets to the sea.

Water shortage, my host Christine thinks, is the next big crisis here.  If you ever doubted the reality of climate change, compare pictures of South Australia twenty years ago with how it is now.  It’s amazing that they manage to grow so many grapes and make so much wine!  But my host does a lot of water conservation, including having buckets in the shower – you fill these with the cold water whilst the warm is coming through (assuming that you don’t want to step straight into a cold shower!), and then it goes on the garden.  They have a water tank to keep any rainwater, and sometimes they use it as the main water supply, with just a small filter tap for drinking water.  And there may be more things I’ve not discovered yet.

I’ve certainly become more aware of the need to save water, in the few days I’ve been here.  Back at home, where we have the huge reservoir at Kielder, there seems little point in taking fastidious measures to save tiny bits of something we have in plenty, even in the dry times of the present decade.  But out here…and worldwide?  I suspect that fresh water will be a big issue as climate change bites more and more. 

Yet I don’t see any solar desalination here, or indeed hear of it anywhere much.  These systems are basically a sheet of glass set at an angle to catch the sun, with a shallow lake of sea water behind and a run-off channel for condensed water next to the base of the glass.  The sun heats and evaporates the sea water, and it condenses on the glass and trickles down into the channel.  Energy required once built:  zero!  Just keep filling the sea water pans and collecting the fresh.  This, on a large scale, could be a major help – couldn’t it?

Meanwhile, there are advantages to being in an area where wine is plentiful even if water isn’t!

Belinda on ice!

The problem with having cycling as your main method of taking exercise is that it's not easy in winter. So when, a fortnight ago, Monday dawned bright and sunny, and the roads were clear of snow, I saw it as an opportunity both to be green and go shopping on Belinda, my trusty bicycle, and to take some much needed exercise.

I set out for Sainsbury's, starting off on the roads but very soon turning off onto a well tried bridle path, which runs down beside the Newcastle United training ground. The path is almost due south, and as I turned on to it the sun was shining directly in front of me: so it was quite difficult to see the actual surface of the path. I could just about make out the potholes, of which there were several, all full of water. Whoops! I slid a little, a couple of times, and so rode slowly and carefully as it seemed the path was very muddy. Then, inevitably, the back wheel slid right away and I came crashing to the ground: not a good thing for an overweight 67 year old. I came down heavily on my right hip, and it was only when I was lying on the ground that I realised the path was covered in ice. The snow may have gone from the roads, but sheltered paths with no traffic were a different matter.

I picked myself up, swearing in a lady-like manner, and turned round, walking Belinda as far as the road and then cycling gingerly back home. A quick inspection showed no obvious damage: I sat down and had a cup of tea and a piece of toast and marmalade (carbohydrate is good for shock), and felt much improved. That evening I went to a wonderful concert at The Sage, our local international standard concert hall: it was a recital given by Murray Perahia, one time winner of the Leeds piano competition and now a world famous performer. I had no problems sitting for two hours, and no particular pains: it was only the next day I saw I had a small bruise on my right hip. Two days later it had become a very large bruise: it's now fading, two weeks later.

But it was on the Friday, when I had to go to London for a meeting all day on Saturday, that my left knee began to give trouble. On Friday night it was difficult to sleep (and being in a strange bed in a hotel didn't help!), and by Sunday I was having some difficulty walking. I took it to the doctor, who said it often took a couple of weeks for the full effects to be apparent, but that by the time I go away (see my Antipodean Adventure blog) it should be improving, and the warmth of Australia should help.

I've always accepted that being Green had a cost: but this was an avoidable one, and not what I wanted just before a long trip away. Ah, well....maybe I also needed to slow down a bit and do only the essentials in preparation. Either way, it will be April or May before I take Belinda out again!