ANZAC Day and the Antiques Roadshow (photos to come!)

... well, not at the same time!







Friday was ANZAC day, and being the good wee kiwi bunnies we are, we dragged ourselves out of bed at an astonishing 0330 to catch a bus into Hyde Park corner and the NZ memorial where dawn service was to be held.



It was a fairly good service, the first to be held in front of the NZ memorial, and now it is going to alternate between the Aussie and the Kiwi memorials each year. A few interesting things...



*it was very dark



*it was very early



*there was a choir of school kids from Australia



*they weren't very good



* there were HEAPS of people there



*its the first time I have not heard people singing hymns at an ANZAC service



*the taped music was not the best (why couldn't they get a band?)



*the last post was played by a person from the London Irish Guards band (are there seriously no Kiwi's or Aussies's in London who could play the last post???? and if they could fly 2 bus loads of kids from Oz to sing - badly - surely they could fly out one more person to play the last post????? sigh...)



*the poor piper who almost seemed forgotten was playing his lament after the ceremony had finished and the Ngati Ranana were singing a waiata....



*it was the first time I have seen the words to the Australian National Anthem



*it was the first time I have tried to sing the Australian National Anthem



*I cannot believe how rude the Australians who were standing next to us were, they talked all the way through the NZ anthem (did I do that to their anthem? hmmm? did I? did I? sigh...)



*I ran into people I knew... hehehe....



*lastly... there is NOTHING open to buy a cup off coffee at 6am in the morning in Kensington...







Anyways, yes... made it to school and actually managed to teach all day (I don't think I would want to do that again any time soon...) And Alex actually survived his 10-6 shift - which I think is more impressive!

Then Saturday. And we decided to have another early start (although, not 3am...) and we managed to catch a train to Windsor. What a loverly train ride. I managed to get through none of my marking because the scenery was so nice. When we got to Windsor, it was quite busy. Not only did we manage to see the changing of the guards (with a drum and fife band) but there was a welcome home parade for about 500 soldiers of the 1st battalion, Coldstream guards, which made the town VERY busy, but was very interesting to see. It was such an amazing day that we both ended up sunburnt, very naughty!!!! (and quite odd, considering it was snowing only 3 weeks ago!!) We didn't visit the castle this time, as I have a friend who is going to lend us his tickets (its about £20 to get in!!!) as tickets are annual. We had a very nice lunch, sitting in the sunshine outside the castle and then had a wee wander about Eton (since some of the boys I teach will be going there!!!). We will be going back!!!!

We then had a nice ice cream and jumped on a bus to go to Ascot. Why would we go to Ascot?? Because the Antiques Roadshow were filming there!!!! A once in a lifetime opportunity to see a program that I have seen at least a hundred times (thanks to my wonderful mother!!!!) being filmed, very cool!!! I also decided that I would go and have the one valuable thing (grandma's engagement ring) that I have over here with me valued, just for the sake of saying that I have done it!!!! Think we might be in the background of someone else being fimed, so keep an eye out for the Ascot 2008 Antiques Roadshow episode!!!!

Then it was a rush home so Alex could go out to a dinner with the London Scottish Band.

Phew, what a weekend!!!!

Love to all!

P.

Last Day of School Holidays - Paula

And I have been doing the teacher thing and procrastinating writing this blog, so, my apologies.

We have been getting up to a few adventures over the past few weekends, so I will update them backwards.

Last weekend, IT SNOWED!!!! Yes, it snowed, in London. In fact it was eough to stay on the ground around our area. So, Alex got woken up by an excited Paula jumping up and down. Well, I am not really used to snow...

Picture of our back yard and Alex on the front steps - in the snow (just before he threw a snowball at me...)

Also on that Sunday, we decided to make an effort and go and see the Olympic torch relay. Well, yes, that was a wee bit interesting. Stood outside the British museum ( in the cold, melted snow conditions) and I'm not sure about Alex, but I certainly felt a wee bit unsettled. There were plenty of free Tibet protestors and there were also plenty of people who supported China's point of view. So, the politics were a lot more interesting than the whole 5 seconds of seeing the flame go past, with its entourage of about 40 police and bodyguards. I do have to admit to laughing out loud when I saw the number of people surrounding the flame. It was one of the funniest things I had seen in ages!

can you see the flame??? And some of the free Tibet protestors

Right, well the weekend before that (the 29-30 March) was a fun weekend. We got up early on Saturday and made a mission out to a car hire place. The part that was even more fun, was trying to navigate Alex back to our flat! We made it back safely and set off North to Nottinghamshire for my friends wedding.

Well, yes, the wedding... Just a small church, really... Celebrating its 900th anniversary later this year (it is also going to be on Antiques roadshow, so keep an eye out!) It was fantastic!!! Southwell Minster. Absolutely amazing! And to be able to see a wedding in there was awesome. Especially with Clare's choir singing her up the aisle and performing throughout the service. Very nice. Then there was about a 40 minute drive to the reception in Lincolnshire. This was in a marquee attached to George's parents house. Very nice. :) Had a great time.

On the Sunday, we decided to go back to Southwell (we had found a very nice cafe the day before and wanted to have a wander about Southwell). It was a loverly day, sun shining, not much wind, beuatiful! After Southwell, we drove to Barkston, where Mum and Dad lived for a year when they came out here. We wandered about a bit, parked by the post office (I wonder if it was still the same one Mum used?) and finally found the right street. Wandered down until we found the house that we think Ma and Pa lived in. After that, we deicided to eat our little lunch in the chair on the village green. Very nice. :)

Alex sitting in the village green. Mum and Dad's house (I think...)

The Barkston pub. Is it the same Dad?

Then we headed home and called into St Albans on the way. Had some very nice dinner after deciding that we had seen enough of one cathedral that weekend and we will have to head back to St Albans some other time.

Right. Last interesting thing... Easter... Well... yes... We planned to head up to Suffolk over Easter for a nice quiet, sunny weekend away. However, we did not expect lots and lots of snow... But we got LOTS of snow.