Christmas in South West London

I thought I would break my blog silence with an entry about my Christmas activities.

On the 23rd December, I went over to my Mum and Dad's house to stay for the Christmas week. The first key thing I did was attempt to bake. I should probably explain that normally I am not a baking person. I don't tend to spend my time baking cakes or pastries and although I love "The Great British Bake Off", I'm generally a bit lazy to give it a go myself. However, I decided to try making the mince pies. Turned out that making pastry is not too difficult although I was a bit terrified it wouldn't work out. Luckily, I cheated and used pre-made mincemeat so there was at least one part that was guaranteed to work. Sadly, I didn't quite make enough pastry so I had to use some cutters to make fun designs to go on top of some of the pies. I think it paid off and the finished results actually tasted alright.

Normally, my Gran and my sister are also with us for Christmas. As you may know already, my sister is in Indonesia teaching English and is sunning herself in Bali for the Christmas break (little bit jealous). My Gran was all set to come and stay with my parents from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. Unfortunately, on the 23rd December the south of England was hit by quite significant storms. Although the storms did not cause any damage to the roads we required to collect her, she decided it would be best not to come after all. For the first time that I can remember, there was just the three of us for Christmas. Very strange.

We started Christmas day off in the normal way for us by going on a walk in Bushy Park with some friends of my Mum. We decided to be energetic and cycled there, my parents on their tandem. Despite being fairly full of a cold, I managed the bike ride and the walk around the park without feeling worse. After the walk finished, my Dad took a couple of my Mum's friends for a ride around the car park on the tandem. Having grown up around tandems, I forget how weird they must be to ride for the first time. 

Once back at my Mum and Dad's house we had some wine then opened some Christmas presents. I was very lucky and got some very nice things. My parents seemed to like their presents too. Bonus. Once done unwrapping things and drinking our wine, we had Christmas dinner. Pretty traditional turkey with roast veg and all the trimmings (except brussell sprouts) followed by Christmas pudding ice cream. 

In previous years, we've followed up Christmas dinner with a drive into central London to view the festive lights in Oxford and Regent Streets. This year, my Dad didn't fancy the drive and I didn't fancy doing it instead of him so we decided to go for a second walk. This time we wandered down to Teddington Lock. The storm had caused the river to get up pretty high and there was a bit of flooding too so we didn't walk up too far. It did prevent us all from having the post Christmas dinner lull/nap time and conveniently meant we missed the Queen's speech. When we got back we managed to catch Megan for the second Skype chat of the day.

On Boxing Day, we went to Bognor to visit my Gran. Although the storm had caused some flooding and fallen trees, this had not affected the roads we used. The journey still seemed to take ages though, think everyone had the same idea of visiting relatives on Boxing Day. Luckily, the weather in Bognor was sunny and we were able to take my Gran for a quick push in a wheelchair up to the seafront. As there was a lot of shingle on the promenade, we couldn't take her too far along as the wheelchair was really not up for that kind of obstacle. 

I spent a further two days with my parents, mostly being lazy and recovering from my Christmas cold. I am still off work until 2nd January. In that time, I don't really have much planned but should be attending my friend's New Year's Eve house party on Tuesday to mark the new year itself. Here are some fun pictures from the last few days:

 My amazing mince pies

 Classy hand decorated Christmas cake

Christmas day walk

This will probably be my last entry for 2013 but don't worry, there is much to look forward to blog wise in 2014. Not only will I probably go on some trips around the UK in dubious weather but I will also be meeting up with Megan in Malaysia in April. That will definitely warrant a few blog entries and hopefully they will be even better than this year's selection.

To Hull and back

Firstly, I need to apologise for the slightly overused pun based title of this entry. However, it is true. I did go to Hull and back in a short space of time which I feel justifies it.
 
When I was at university, I studied American Studies. A combination of history, English literature, film and cultural topics all focussed on the USA. In 2013/14, the American Studies department at Hull celebrated it's 50th anniversary. As part of the celebrations for this, the department arranged a 50th anniversary Thanksgiving dinner which I went to with my friend Lucy who also did the same degree as me.
 
We went up to Hull on Thursday by train. The view of the Humber Bridge as we came into Hull remains one of my favourite views ever.

 
We stayed at a hotel opposite The Deep - Hull's aquarium (known as a submarium, not sure what the difference is). Once we had arrived and dropped our bags into the hotel, we decided to take a nostalgic trip to the university campus. Turns out a lot had changed in six years since we had graduated. The students union had been done up and work was being done to upgrade the university library. Luckily the University of Hull sign at the front was still there for us to pose next to.

 

 

The meal in the evening was a lot more fun than I was expecting. Both Lucy and I were quite concerned that there would not be a large turnout. Luckily, there was over 100 people there from across the fifty years of the department. Our decade, the noughties, was a bit under represented compared to some of the other decades. There was only six of us on our table which mean that the Dean of the Faculty and Director of Cultural Studies were sitting at our table to make up the numbers. Despite this, we mingled with our former lecturers and met a lot of interesting people. Including one of the first ever graduates from the 1960s.

 

The next day, we went for breakfast in old town Hull and took a quick wander of the cobbled streets in that area. The city has recently been awarded UK City of Culture 2017 so there was a lot of excitement in the area. All the taxi drivers we spoke to were hopeful that being City of Culture could lead to great things for Hull. Hopefully, it will.

Sadly, we had to return to London later that day but I'm hoping to go back again next summer with a few more days to spare so I can fully explore the area and maybe catch up with old friends in the area



Sunshine in Southend

I recently started flexi time at work. This means that if I work any extra time, I can build it up to use as a day off. For my second ever full day off after building up enough hours, I decided to go on a trip to Southend on Sea in Essex with my Dad.

I've been to Southend once before when I was about eight when I went on a boat trip there with my family. All I could remember about it was a very long pier and not much else. This time, we caught the train there from Fenchurch Street.

Unfortunately, it was a grey and slightly grey day when we got to Southend. This didn't put us off one of our key reasons for our trip - a walk along the pier. We paid our £1 each and started walking. Initially, it wasn't too bad. Slightly windy with spits of rain. Unfotunately, it got a lot worse as we continued. The wind increased and the rain started pouring down. By the time we were halfway along the pier, we were soaked through. The little train that runs along the pier passed us at about this point, as if to remind us that walking was a stupid idea. As we had already got halfway, we carried on to the end. Getting wetter and colder as we went. As the weather was so bad, the view from the end of the pier was mostly cloudy and grey. The Thames estuary looked particularly grim.

Dad at the end of Southend Pier

 

Me at the end of Southend Pier

 

 

The weather was no less horrible after a few minutes of taking grim looking photographs so we took the decision to treat ourselves to the train back down the pier. For £3.50 in total, we could sit somewhere dry and vaguely warm. A pleasant alternative to the prospect of a rain and wind swept walk back.

 

We were both still pretty damp by the time we got back to the end of the pier so decided to find a warm café for some lunch. We found one pretty quickly where we had some non traditional soup and a Panini while sat fairly close to a radiator.

 

After we'd had some lunch, we'd vaguely warmed up and the weather was starting to brighten up. Although not fully dried out, we had a walk along Southend sea front. As it was winter, the fun fair and amusement arcades were all closed which made it a little bit depressing. Luckily the sun was starting to come out and the wind had completely eased off. Perhaps that would have been a better time to take a walk along the pier.



 

Cheeky trip to Bristol

As a bit of a last minute thing, I decided to go to Bristol for a few days with my friend Robbie.

Not necessarily the first place you think of as a holiday destination but there was an offer on with the hotel and the train fare turned out to be pretty cheap.

We spent the first day wandering around the city's marina area and checking out the shops. It feels like a lot of work has been done recently to improve both areas as everything seemed pretty modern and most of the shops were still occupied. We also checked out the aquarium (if you've read any of my previous entries, you may notice that I love aquariums). Sadly this one was a bit on the disappointing side. After promising one of the largest captive octopus in the world, we got to the tank to find that said octopus was out on loan at another aquarium while the tank was being improved.

Keeping with the animal theme, we decided to go to Bristol Zoo on the second day. After the slightly unimpressive experience at the aquarium, I had low expectations. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the animals were out and about despite it being a little chilly. Plus, we managed to get quite close to some of them, particularly the lemurs. You could actually go inside the lemur enclosure and as it had just been feeding time, they were all hanging out on the wooden barriers separating the path from the trees/rocky area intended for them to play on. I was almost close enough to touch them, pretty cool.

Giant tortoise

Up close with the lemurs

We also checked out the penguin and seal feeding time. The two weren't fed at the same time but had enclosures next to each other. The seals had been trained to do some fun tricks, apparently to help them get checked regularly by the vets. The keepers demonstrated by getting them waving, jumping in and out of the pool and generally performing in exchange for some food.

Back to normal South West London life now but I'll try to write another update soon.

The blog is back!

Adventures in an airport & more fun

I've decided to try and make a few semi regular updates. This is partly in exchange for my sister Megan making updates to her blog while she is travelling to more exciting places. If you've stumbled across my blog by accident, you should check hers out too http://megs-meanders.blogspot.co.uk/

As I am not travelling very far at the moment, I'm not sure how far I will get or how interesting it will be.

Yesterday I took the day off work in order to see Megan off at the airport with my Mum. She's off to teach in Indonesia for a year. We met at the bus stop in Teddington and got the fast bus over to Heathrow. Once in Heathrow, we checked Meg's bags in and decided our next priority was to get coffee. By this point, I was struggling not to feel very jealous of the people who were actually catching a plane to somewhere exciting so welcomed a distraction.

Megan & Mum at the airport

 



After making our coffees last an impressive amount of time, we wandered over to the security gates. It was time to say goodbye. We're not an overly emotional family so I think Megan found it a bit awkward but we had a hug and waited until Megan had disappeared behind the security gates.

As we'd booked the whole day off, Mum and I decided to go over to Greenwich for the afternoon. We headed off onto the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines in order to reach North Greenwich, home of the O2 (formally the Millennium Dome. Our plan was to have some lunch and then go on the Emirates Cable Car that has been open for just over a year.

Unfortunately, shortly after our lunch it started raining. Big style. We waited it out to see if it would eventually ease off or even stop. Luckily, we only had to wait about 15 minutes until the clouds cleared and the sun came back out.

The cable car itself was not very busy so Mum and I got a gondola to ourselves. As you can see from the photo, you could almost pretend it hadn't just been raining.

 

 

The only disappointing element for me was the view. The O2 and Canary Wharf are interesting enough but those were the only real landmarks I knew well enough to recognise. I'm sure people living in the Greenwich area would disagree but to me, the tower blocks all start merging into one. Despite that, it was a fun trip and definitely worth it.

 

After that, we got onto the DLR at Royal Docks and headed back to Bank. By that point it was nearly 4pm and we were keen to avoid rush hour. As a result, we decided to get the Waterloo & City line back to Waterloo then get a train back to Teddington.

 

Not quite as exciting as a trip abroad or a year in a foreign country but stick with it, I may write something good soon.

To Cardiff!

It's been a little while since I last added an entry. Mostly as I haven't left the London area and don't have much to say about an area I spend most of my time in.

For the Easter weekend, I took a trip to Cardiff with my housemate. Due to parking concerns, we elected to go by coach. For £20 each return, it was cheaper than both driving and going by train so it seemed like the best plan. Unfortunately, everyone else was going to Wales on Good Friday. Instead of the scheduled three hours, our coach took six hours to get from London Victoria to Cardiff Central. A long and slightly uncomfortable journey for all concerned.

When we eventually got to Cardiff and found our hotel, we were worn out from all the travelling and decided to get an early night. A true sign that I am getting old.

My housemate's main reason for going to Cardiff was to visit the Doctor Who Experience so on Easter Saturday we walked down to the Cardiff Bay area. It was about a 45 minute walk from our hotel but fortunately the weather was sunny for a change. We explored the area around the Millennium Centre and Roald Dahl Plass first. Apparently this area was heavily featured in the Doctor Who  spin off Torchwood.

The Millennium Centre

 

We then joined the queue for the Doctor Who Experience itself. Considering it was Easter Saturday and school holidays, we didn't have to wait for too long. The exhibition starts off with an interactive experience where essentially you all get to pretend to be the Doctor's new assistance. You go in the TARDIS, defeat some Daleks and see some other villains before saving the Doctor's life in some manner. Pretty good fun, even for someone who isn't so much of a Doctor Who fan. After this, there is an exhibition featuring aspects of the series throughout it's history. There were costumes from all of the Doctors and many of the assistants. There were also recreated TARDIS interiors and most of the villains were featured too.

 

A collection of Daleks, scary

 

 

In the evening, we went for a night out in Cardiff town. Being Londoners, we found ourselves pleasantly surprised by the lower alcohol prices and had a good night out. Despite it being the evening after a larger rugby game in Cardiff, the town wasn't too busy and we found ourselves in a 90s themed night club to finish the evening off.

 

The following day, we decided to get a bit more cultural and visit Cardiff Castle. The castle was only a short walk from our hotel which also helped persuade us it was the place to go that day! Like with the Doctor Who Experience, it wasn't as busy as expected but this made wandering around much easier. For the entry price, we got a free audio tour which was pretty interesting. My favourite part was climbing up to the top of the Castle Keep where I could see the city and surrounding countryside.

 

The Castle Keep

 

View from the top

 

I think two days was enough to cover most of Cardiff's major sites and I really enjoyed my second visit to the capital of Wales. 

 





Japan part 2 - Kyoto

After a less than comfortable night in Tokyo bus station, we finally got to start our eight hour journey to Kyoto at 11.30am the following day. Having not got a great deal of sleep, I was hoping for a nice and comfortable bus so I could spend most of the journey napping. Sadly, my height let me down. 5ft8 is apparently quite tall in Japan which meant limited leg room on the bus and a slightly uncomfortable trip for me. After a longer journey than planned, we eventually reached Kyoto at around 8pm and were totally worn out.

The following day we started exploring the city. After Tokyo, Kyoto turned out to be a lot less busy and was much easier to explore on foot. We also made a few friends at the hostel we stayed at who told us about the better places to visit and where to get good food from.

Within walking distance of the hostel we were staying in was one of the larger shrines in Kyoto. There were lots of Japanese lanterns and areas for praying as well as some nice park areas to wander around.

 

 

We also visited Nijo Castle.  I think it was built for the imperial family at some point in the 17th or 18th century. The floorboards were designed to creak so that you could hear any potential assassins waiting to pounce on you. Nowadays, there are no potential assassins (forunately) so we explored the castle in peace. Japanese castles are not the same as those found in the UK. There is a moat of sorts but no battlements or turrets. Here is a picture to illustrate my point...

 

There were also extensive grounds around the castle, my favourite part was here...

 

 

Probably my favourite part of Kyoto was the Golden Pavilion or Kinkaku-ji. I'm not sure when it was built but I think there is actual gold used on the Pavilion. It probably looks good even on really bad days. The day we went was fairly dull but even then, the pavilion was impressive.

 



I felt with both Tokyo and Kyoto there was a lot more to explore than what we managed to see in our time there. I really enjoyed Japan and am now quite keen to go back to revisit Tokyo and Kyoto as well as new places like Osaka.

Sorry it's taken a while for me to post this. Turned out that I wasn't too good at handling the jet lag after I got back to the UK. On the first day I got back, I woke up at 2am. This wasn't too much of a problem as I'd booked the day off. Unfortunately, each day afterwards I woke up at stupid times and had to drag myself to work despite how tired I felt. I drank more coffee on my first day back in the office than I normally would in a week.

Japan part 1 - Tokyo

I've always wanted to go to Japan. I can't quite explain why but it has always been on my list of places to go. When my sister announced that Japan was the final leg of her travels in Asia, I decided to go for it and booked my flights.

We started in Tokyo. It's a massive place with a train system that I could never quite grasp. There are lights and people everywhere, everything I expected of the city.

The first evening we met one of my sister's friends who is teaching in Tokyo. He took us to a restaurant where you cook your food on a hot plate in the middle of the table. We cooked these savoury pancake type things. Not quite sure what was in them but they tasted great.

The following day we met my sister's friend again. Our first stop was a Japanese cat cafe. Not what you're probably thinking... In Tokyo, a lot of people live in flats where they are not allowed pets. As a result they visit a cat cafe to get a chance to play with the cats and feel like they have a pet for an hour or so. It was a strange experience but one we all really enjoyed. Probably took a few too many pictures of cats though.

 

 



After getting very attached to the cats, we moved on to Asakusa to visit one of Tokyo's larger shrines. It turned out to be huge and really busy but very impressive. There were loads of people visiting just to reflect and pray.

On the Saturday, we took the train to Hitachi-Ushiko to meet with our former Japanese neighbours from 1988. They invited us into their home for Japanese tea and cake before taking us to Koubuntei. Koubuntei was a good two hour drive from their house so it was a struggle to stay awake for the whole journey! At Koubuntei, there is a 17th century (or so) house and park. We took a tour of the house with our Japanese friend translating before having a wander around the gardens. It was all very pretty.

Once we got back to Tokyo, we went to the Imperial Palace Gardens in the centre of the city. The gardens were really pretty and surrounded by the sky scrapers of the city. It reminded me a lot of Central Park in New York.

The snow hit on our final day in the city. The day we were due to get the night bus to Tokyo. We decided to spend the day exploring the shops and hoped the snow would ease in order to allow our journey to Kyoto to go ahead according to plan.

Unfortunately, when we arrived for our 10.45pm bus, we were told it was cancelled due to the snow. Leaving us with no alternative but to book onto one the following day and spend the night in the bus station waiting room. Not comfortable at all! Particularly as we got woken up at 5am and told to leave the bus station for an hour.

My next entry will be all about Kyoto and what we did when we eventually did manage to get there!