Packing for Indonesia

       At Fiona and James for a midweek meal & 

       catch up

This is a very short blog to see if Brian can do it on the mobile phone. We are not taking the laptop to Indonesia as, although all the flights have hold baggage, there are 11 internal flights. I made the decision to see if it was possible to travel with the 7kg permissable for cabin baggage, and it is. We may be wearing more clothes through the airports than we'd like, but for the lack of stress I think it's worth it. If you'd like to see our plan for our trip look right in the column alongside. You'll see a map, click on the square top right to enlarge and click on each of the map markers to see details. Above the map is a picture of some Komodo dragons. Click on that and it opens a page describing our trip.

.      We're packed - and this is all we're each taking 

       for 37 days in Indonesia

We left Bristol and don't seem to have stopped since, flu jab, tidying in the garden, ballroom dancing (in preparation for the January cruise), dinner in their local with Fiona and James, packing a million times into new backpacks and a very busy weekend.

.       On our 6 mile walk with Denise and Paul (he 

        was there, he's taking the photo). This is a 

        lovely spot along the Worcester & Birmingham 

        canal with Lower Bittel reservoir behind and the 

        Lickey Hills beyond

The weekend started with a walk with Denise and Paul from the house, a good 6 miles on a sunny crisp day, lovely. We finished at the Red Lion for a pint, and for us, a light lunch.

.     See, I told you he was there too. A sunny but 

      quite cold day

The reason for the light lunch was the arrival late afternoon of Jonathan and Lucy. They were coming to see us obviously, but also to see all the changes we've made to the house. We'd booked Kurzi lamb at the Indian for our evening meal as it really is a treat. We ate and ate but seemingly made little impact. The leftovers have given us 4 meals, finishing with a twist on shepherds pie!

.     Me taking a photo of Denise taking a photo of 

      some sheep

Sunday was also clear and crisp, so another walk, almost 6 miles at a really good pace with a light brunch in Barnt Green. They then headed north, to Telford to collect Lucy's mum and stepdad to take them home for a few days. It was lovely to see them, we talked and talked, unusually for us as normally our focus is on Charles and Caroline, not Jonathan and Lucy.

.     The Kurzi leg of lamb we had in the Dilshad, the 

      Indian restaurant in our village. It has to be 

      ordered at least 24 hours in advance so they can 

      slow cook it in all those lovely Indian spices. It's 

      huge and absolutely delicious!

We chilled for a short while before heading into town for a Sunday tea club, Manu and Ming, Helen and Ian and newbies Mike and Ella. As usual Ming ordered, we ate and much laughing and talking was done.

The 'house thing' for this blog is we now have a new roof. We got back from Bristol in much rain, which didn't stop, to no tiles, fortunately the battens and felt were well secured and the space remained dry. 

.     Out for a 6 mile walk with Jonathan and Lucy on 

       Sunday morning. This may look similar to the 

       picture with Denise and Paul and that's because 

       it is! However only this part of the walk was 

       similar, the rest was quite different

They didn't come on Monday to start tiling as the weather forecast wasn't good. The day was, so everyone was a little irritated. They turned up on Tuesday and didn't hang about, finishing about 10.30 on Thursday! They've done a really good job tidying up inside the loft, and didn't do a bad job outside. It wasn't until the scaffolding went though that we could really tidy. The back was cleared on Sunday so we cleaned all the windows, soffits and sills on Monday, he then turned up Monday evening to clear the front, so that was Tuesday, including doing nextdoor, as they were very dusty and it really wasn't their fault!

.     Sunday Tea Club. This is in the pub before we 

      went to the Chinese restaurant where Ming 

      orders everything and we have a feast! LtoR: Ian, 

      Helen, Ella, Mike, Ming, Manu, Jackie and me

Along with cleaning and final packing we've also had our minds focused on the cruise as Denise and Paul are going to come too which will be great. They are much more organised with the shore trips so we've now sorted all of those too, hurrah!

.     Walking down the steps from New Street Station 

      towards the Chinese restaurant 

Tomorrow we get the bus to Gatwick, an overnight and then our flight to Jakarta.

.     Our roofers just starting the tiling. We had ours 

      done with our neighbours so there's two roofs 

      being done at the same time. The roof was 

      without any tiles last weekend when it rained 

      heavily. We had only a layer of felt to protect us, 

      but it worked well, no water got in. Note the very 

      useful conveyor they had for getting the tiles up 

      onto the roof. Made the job very easy for them

.     They also had a drone and this photo is an aerial 

      view of the roof as it was on the weekend with 

      no tiles

.     And this one shows the finished roofs before the 

      scaffold was removed

A month of dog and cat sitting in Bristol

Freyja dog with Jackie at Battery Point Lighthouse, Portishead

There really isn't much to write in this blog about our time in Bristol with Freyja dog and Tinsel cat as Freyja has just had all of our time!

We've been to Uphill, at one end of Weston-Super-Mare, where she can run for miles on the beach playing fetch with her ball. When we are bored with this she has a small tennis ball that she buries and digs up in the dry sand, very funny though the thought of sand against the teeth does set my teeth on edge.

On the beach at Weston-Super-Mare. Weston gets bad press in the UK, unfairly in my view. It is situated in the Bristol Channel that has the second highest tide in the world. The beach is gently sloping, making it a safe area, but this means that when the tide is in there's only a small beach, but when the tide goes out its huge and the sea disappears! A good section of this is sand, but further out it reveals mud, which can be sticky and it's possible to sink into it. It's therefore unaffectionately known as Weston-Super-Mud, but there is a huge beach and a pleasant place to go

We've walked down the coastal path to the Ship, a huge pub, built in 1973 by Vic, who still runs it now. He can be grumpy, and obviously doesn't need the cliental, but does it because he wants to. We had a great chat with him, and a good pint.

Our coastal walk towards The Ship near Clevedon. Actually this might be the walk towards the beach at Weston-Super-Mare, but its a nice photo! 

There are a couple of woods we've been to, Abbots pool and Leigh woods. Both of which are great fun for sniffs and leaping through looking like a little deer. Leigh woods is the only place Bev regularly puts the tracker on her, so we did too, just because she does hare off out of sight. We didn't worry about her not coming back to us, as that is one of the joys, she wants to come back to you, but if something happened you'd be hard pushed the find her. The first time we went there she did vanish for a short while before returning, about the same time as the WhatsApp message came through from Mall the dog walker saying she'd got Freyja. She'd obviously heard her voice and thought she'd say hello, before bounding back to us which was very pleasing. 

Drinks and lunch at The Ship. Go back in time to the 1970's and enjoy the hospitality of Vic, who had the place built in 1973 and still runs it. He's one of the characters of the world (and serves a nice pint of real ale)!

One of our favourite places was Ashton Court which feels very safe. It's very popular with dog walker's which means sometimes she'll meet a dog who wants to chase her. She loves it, just so she can show off about the speed she can go. One day someone will be able to catch her, but no-one we saw got close. There are also woods here for sniffing and squirrel chasing and open areas for ball chasing. A bit of everything. There is even a park run so last Saturday Brian decided perhaps he'd give it a go. This did limit where Freyja and I could go, and it was a bit of a challenge walking away from him. She looked back a few times but forgot about him soon enough.

Saw this in the boatyard at Weston-Super-Mare next to the lovely Boatyard cafe at Uphill (where we had lunch everytime we went). Many of these boats are rotting away but it's not an unpleasant place. I liked the notice someone had put on this old hulk. If you can't read it it says: 'Uphill Wharf - Welcome to the graveyard of broken dreams Rest in Pieces!' I have heard it said that there are only two best days of owning a boat, the day you buy it and the day you sell it!

This was not the case last week when we went into Pill. I popped into the barbers to see if he could cut my hair, which he could. Rather than wait Brian took Freyja up to Hams Hill the standard 'fall-back' walk. He had to drag her all the way there, didn't dare let her off the lead for fear she would run back to me, and then get towed all the way back. It's safe to say she is a ladies dog so in Bev's absence I am top dog.

Whilst Freyja dog is the main event, we were also looking after Tinsel cat, a 17 year old moggie who keeps well out of the way of mad dog, spending most of her time on a chair in the kitchen but demanding fuss whenever there's someone around, summoning attention with a very loud miaow! She will have nothing to do with Freyja despite her repeated attempts to befriend her. The closest she's got is sniffing her tail when she doesn't realise she's there!

The dog walker has had her for a couple of hours a week, just about time for us to go to do our food shopping. Apart from that she's been with us. We did have one scary moment though as we had to have an emergency vet visit for an emetic injection as we didn't know how much of her teddies paw she had swallowed! Quite a lot as it turns out, so I'm glad we made the decision to be proactive rather than risk a blockage, though she'd probably have been ok! 

Mad dog in action in the house

Apart from Freyja our other activity has been booking trips. Three to be precise. We head to Indonesia in 10 days time for six weeks - have a look at the map and description to the right of this blog to see our plan, we have a 10 day cruise in January to hopefully see the Northern lights and a ski trip with 6 other members of the mountaineering club, that Brian organised. It'll be just like old times. We are even going to stay in the chalet run by Cassie and Simon who we met on our ski seasons. So although we never actually stayed with them Alex and Rob, and Mike did so we all know we'll have a great time.

Not my video, it was taken by Mall the dog walker who looked after her on Wednesday mornings. I never got a really good video of Freyja running but this one captures it well. She's a Whippet and is one of the fastest breed of dogs. She just loves running at this speed and goads other dogs to chase her. To date we haven't seen any other dog getting close to her. Here you can see how she leaves them standing 

We have really loved being here and are so going to miss little Freyja puppy dog, she is such a gorgeous girl and has filled out hearts.

The trig point on top of Brean Down. Its only 97m above sea level, but still a decent walk, especially for a whippet who had to be kept on a lead and couldn't race off. Brean Down is a sliver of rock that juts into the Bristol Channel separating Weston-Super-Mare from Brean Sands. Great views from up here...

Looking south from Brean Down is Brean Sands. The tide is going out so the sand is still wet, but you can see the huge expanse exposed by the retreating tide and it is by no means low tide, so it gets even bigger. You can actually see our car parked on the left, halfway up on its own in a small car park. We'd walked from there along the beach almost to the headland in the distance, Freyja doing about five times that distance at high speed chasing her ball. We then walked up here for the view. Brean Sands is almost 7 miles long and one of the longest stretches of sand in Europe. Like Weston, at low tide a layer of mud is exposed so care must be taken not to walk on that for fear of sinking in! 

Looking north from Brean Down is the resort of Weston-Super-Mare. If you zoom in you can make out the exposed mud flats, which are much larger than those on Brean Sands just the other side of this headland. I'm sure there's someone who could explain why its different on each side, but I can't

Another day and another walk. This one was a trip down memory lane for Jackie and I as this was the first pub where we had a drink together. It wasn't a date and, in fact we weren't even an item then. We started off as rock climbing partners and we used to climb on the 100m cliffs of the Avon Gorge, nearby on a Tuesday evening in the summer. I had been climbing with my friend Phil Powell in the Avon Gorge for years, we used to slip off work early on a Tuesday and drive down to the gorge for an evenings multi pitch climbing. In later years Jackie joined us as she used to work shifts at the BBC so, when her shift pattern allowed she could join us. On one occasion Phil had work commitments so couldn't make it, however Jackie could, so we climbed together for the first time. On the way home we stopped off for a drink here to savour the evenings climbing in the fading light over the River Avon and so, we gradually became more than climbing partners! It wasn't sudden though, but a gradual realisation. Multi pitch climbing is very intense, you are putting each others lives into the others hands, complete trust is necessary and, on small belay ledges halfway up a cliff with only us and the rock with a big drop below, you really get to know someone

The view outside the Lamplighters  pub. We'd sit on that wall looking across to Pill and  savour the summer evening

And now we're the other side of the River Avon in Pill, near to where we're housesitting. The tides out and you can see all the boats on the mud. It's a pity that you can't quite see the Lamplighters pub in this picture, it's just out of sight on the far river bank behind that yellow building on the right. But in the above picture you can still see these boats in the little side inlet

This was our favourite place to take Freyja doglet, Ashton Court, a stately home now National Trust property (Edit: I have been told by Bev that it's not NT but owned by Bristol City Council. That's me told, should check my facts better!). It's got extensive grounds overlooking Bristol and lots of activities happen here. Hot Air balloons take off from one field on warm calm days, theres a weekly ParkRun that I joined one week and they had an antiques fair one week. They have a nice cafe in the building, something we stopped for everytime we went. It gave a nice break for us and Freyja in between mad running with other dogs we met on the way, running after her ball and lots of sniffing in the woods (her not us!)

In Ashton Court and just because I thought it was a nice photo. We're going to miss this little girl, so sweet natured and very fast. She's either on (mad running) or off (asleep)

Bev and Iain return to reclaim Freyja. They had a great holiday in Turkey and we had a great time in Bristol. We look forward to catching up with them again very soon

We got back home in the rain to see how they are getting on with our new roof. All old tiles stripped off, felt and new battens fixed. Good job its watertight, but just a layer of felt protecting us from the elements until the new tiles are fitted this week 

Birthday treats on a posh train, a 21st birthday party and dog sitting in Bristol

Our posh train ride to Wales and back on the beautifully restored Pullman Statesman. We were pulled by a Class 47 diesel D1935 originally built by Brush Electric in Loughborough. A total or 512 Class 47's were built between 1962 and 1968 and the numbers range from D1100 to D1999 so this was one of the later ones built

The last of Brian's birthday celebrations was another train ride, but this one was special. A flyer had come through the doors couple of months before advertising the Statesman Pullman Train going from South Wales to North Wales, and back. One of its stops was Barnt Green, just down the road, for a luxury day out. The first thing I knew was a WhatsApp from John at 06.00 with a screenshot of the train journey saying it was running an hour late and suggesting that it was cancelled. It wasn't that bad, it was an hour late, but only the first stop had been cancelled, due to a problem with the doors. We rang the emergency contact who was on the train and confirmed the delay, but assured us we should still turn up. John came to collect us, in our smarter than average clothes, to take us to BG and showed us the live train times tracker. We joined the many other smartly dressed people on the platform, making immediate friends with people by letting them know what was going on, and tracking the train.

Dressed in our posher than normal clothes but not ultra posh, we were ready to be spoilt in luxury

It pulled in at 09.00 and we all boarded with much excitement, just hope we have a couple we have something in common with to share our table. Oh look, it's the lady with lovely shoes, well that's a good start. They were a great couple, having the trip for Richard's 60th birthday, rather than Brian's 70th. We tried, without much luck, to give them some space as alone time was obviously something they didn't get much of.

We had time for a walk through Betws-y-Coed by the river and to visit all the outdoor shops looking for gear. We just felt a bit odd looking for climbing shoes dressed smart whilst everyone else was dressed in rugged outdoor gear giving us strange looks (they probably weren't it just felt like it)

A champagne cocktail was served and breakfast order taken. Eggs Benedict for us, coffee, pastries, more coffee, and more pastries. By the time we arrived in Betws-y-Coed at 12.30 we were only 15 minutes late. We disembarked here, with many others. The train was continuing to Blaenau Ffestiniog where there was an optional steam train ride. This hadn't been an option for us as we were too late and it was full so we opted to stay in Betws-y-Coed where there is more going on. The weather forecast had been rubbish, and it wasn't very good, but it wasn't what the day was about. We went in every outdoor shop looking for rock shoes, mine are 14+ years old so I'd like some new ones, but this was not to be. We certainly didn't need any lunch so we stopped for a GnT and the crossword before returning to the station to watch the train come in to take us back home.

A look inside St Mary's Church in Betws. Parked in its car park many times in the past for a break on the way back from climbing mountains in Snowdonia (Eryri) to look in the gear shops but never been in. Somehow on a posh day out it seems the right thing to do and what a nice church it is

We were welcomed back onboard with champagne and hors d'ouvres and so started 4 hours of eating, drinking and chat. The fish starter was lovely and followed by some amazingly tender lamb. The cheese board was stunning, taking two members of staff to carry it down the carriage, a chocolatey pudding I couldn't eat all of, all accompanied by half a bottle of wine and rounded off with coffee and petite fours, finished as we pulled into Barnt Green at 20.30. What a luxurious way to spend a day. We didn't even need to get John to collect us, though he had offered, as one of the people we'd been talking to on the platform in the morning had offered us a lift home as they were passing the door.

Champagne on the journey back followed by a 4 course dinner, wine and afternoon tea

The next week was all much more prosaic, a trip to the financial advisor, a walk with John, climbing, Monday night curry and a regular CT scan for Brian.

Out on a Tuesday walk with John and this sort of stop is essential. I've spent too many years rushing from place to place on motorways when I was working and looking longingly at people who are out walking and taking life easy. Well, it's payback time, particularly when there's a traffic jam underneath

The weekend was spent in Tring celebrating Caroline's 21st birthday. We went the long way down, via Telford to collect Veronica and Ron, Lucy's mum and stepdad. Well we are much closer than anyone else to collect them. We had lunch at the house where we caught up with Jonathan, Lucy, Charles and Caroline and the 5 friends she had from Oxford Uni coming to the party. Haven't seen Charles for ages so it was good to be able to spend some time learning about training with the Commandos. We went to check in to our Airbnb, which was very nice, on the High Street in Tring where I grew up, but have probably only set foot in twice in the last 25 years. We had a good little amble about as I reminisced about all sorts of things. There has been a lot of reminiscing going on recently as for his birthday Fiona bought Brian something called 'Your life in a book'. Rather than just give him homework she did one for me too, which is lovely. Once a week we are sent a question to answer, so far all about our young memories. You can write as much or little as you want and add pictures, it's a really lovely thing to be doing.

Easy does it on our Tuesday walk

The party was at the Kings Arms where I used to drink before going to university. I even had my tankard behind the bar with all the lads. Thoroughly enjoyable evening, much chatting and socialising, not least Jonathan coming in at the end of the speeches in a dinosaur costume, much to Caroline's delight.

John inspecting Tardebigge Top Lock on the Worcester & Birmingham canal. It had to close earlier this year after the brick wall gave way and fell into the lock with hundreds of tons of soil, causing a complete blockage. Its a vital link for the narrowboat leisure industry, as well as the top of an historic flight of 30 locks, so its closure had a huge impact at the start of the season. Funds were raised and the massive job commenced only finally opening again a couple of weeks before this photo was taken. You can see the new blockwork under John's feet

Last week we came down to Iain and Bev's near Bristol as we have done many times. They are doing their usual month in Turkey and their booked house-sitter had backed out. Not that anyone can blame her, she works from home and 2 old cats have turned into one old cat and one 13 month old whippet. We met Freyja in May when we came for the weekend and she is a joy, so much energy it's scary, runs around like an absolute nutter after balls, frisbee's and other dogs. She's very good though, only her toys and on the whole bigger dogs than her as she bowls over smaller ones. Once the running is over, a good sniff through the woods before another few throws and she'll sleep all afternoon till it's time to do it all again! Talking of which.....

Our walk round Tring, Jackie's childhood home and a big reminisce for her. The house with a blue door was one of her homes and one where a box office was set up to sell tickets for the Gilbert and Sullivan am drams all her family were in on a number of occasions. Oh yes, I have heard many renditions of G&S songs sung by her mum and Jackie and, when in Spain, her dad and Jackie 

Victoria Hall, the place where they all used to perform the operas. Downstairs used to be the library and was the first place Jackie was allowed to walk to as a child as her house was just back through an alleyway and very safe

This used to be Jackies grandfathers business that her dad was MD of. It's just private houses and a small business area now, but it used to be a big concern in early IT equipment

The birthday girl! Caroline at  her 21st birthday party. You need to zoom in on this photo to see the amazing eye makeup  one of her friends did for her

Jackies brother Jonathan in his dinosaur costume bought specially for this event as Caroline is mad on dinosaurs

Monday night Diwan balti with Bill, Tim and Mark

And so to Bristol and a month of looking after Freyja dog while our friends go on holiday to Turkey. Somehow she just absorbs our time, but she's a lot of fun and can run like the wind! Here we are at a sculpture called Stronghold by Pat Daw, but commonly known as the hammer and spanner(!)

Here she is in full run mode. She has an on/off switch, she's either sleeping or at maximum speed either running or playing, nothing in between and that includes in the house. She will thunder around the house always causing a bit of a laugh. She doesn't know trot or walk and she hasn't worked out why a toy can't be pulled out of a hole in the side of her toy basket by its arm or leg. The whole thing won't go through resulting in the basket of toys being pulled across the living room past all the other toys deposited around the room. She can outrun almost any dog (greyhound excluded) and, in the park many try, eventually giving up as she's still going and leaving them standing. She will pant, have some water and a few treats and will be ready to do it all again after a few minutes rest. Oh to have that much energy!

A pause for a treat in between running after her ball. We are at Uphill Beacon here, above Weston-Super-Mare that you can see below. It has been very sunny but quite cold recently, particularly on the coast, so she's had her cosy coat on 

On the expansive beach at Weston. When the tide goes out, you can barely see the sea!

However, sand is only at the top of the beach, as the tide recedes (it has the second highest tidal range in the world) it exposes mud, hence the sign. Many people unflatteringly call it Weston-Super-Mud, but its not as bad as that!

There is some sand and Freyja likes to dig in it!

This is Ashton Court just outside Bristol and we like it here. Its a NT house with huge grounds and very popular with dog owners. It also has a cafe so we can stop for hot chocolate halfway!  Here Freyja is chasing her ball but we love it when other dogs appear and chase after her. They try valiantly to catch her but they really have no chance, she is a joy to watch and she loves running hard, it seems its what she lives for. We see so many dogs try but eventually give up completely exhausted. However, we only need to walk on a while and another dog gives chase and she's off again. How does she do it?

The switch is off!

Posing!

Being nosey looking out of the window

Not forgetting 17 year old Tinsel cat who has to put up with all this energy. She just keeps out of the way of mad dog!

Being good while we have a drink at the local pub

We managed a couple of hours out without Freyja to visit Tyntesfield, a fabulous Victorian country house. The original owners made their fortune and built this house from profits from guano (bird poo) imported from Peru. It was used as fertiliser and was in great demand at the start of the industrial revolution as demand for food expanded. It unfortunately decimated the islands in Peru where it was over exploited, slave labour was used and eventually led to the Peru, Chile, Bolivia war where Peru lost territory to Chile and Bolivia became a landlocked country losing its access to the sea to Chile. Not a great record unfortunately.

Now that's a staircase!

We were amused by this wallpaper in the huge dining room. There is a lot of wallpaper in here and, as the sign says, originally the background to the pattern was red, but they decided it made the room too dark so they employed someone to overpaint it in cream! Can you imagine!

They even had their own chapel for private services. Chapel!? Its bigger than a lot of churches we've been in!

Managed to snap this photo of a buzzard from our bedroom window this morning using full 40:1 zoom on my camera

We're down in Bristol for a month now, but before we went we bought a new addition for our back garden. Meet Babar, our baby elephant sculpture who's going to keep Geraldine the giraffe company while we're away