April in UK

We have left the shores of Lake Wakatipu in Otago for a few months to tackle my bucket list whilst I am well enough to kick the cancer along the road. Luckily, Sarah is up for anything.

We start off in April in UK.
Whilst not exactly a bucket list item, who would have thought breathing in plaster dust and scraping cement off the kitchen floor of an Old Rectory (known as a Grange) in Cowgill, Dent dale, Cumbria would be on my bucket list.

Sarah managed to convince me that the latest renovation project was something I would really enjoy and in some way she was right. We were back in the groove:
• coaxing tradies to show up and do the work they had promised to do some weeks before (drainage, damp in the roof/chimneys, getting the scaffold up)
• finding new problems and hunting down the source with a yet another expert (missing or short chimney flues and liners, plastic vents for wood burning stoves, septic tank pipe blockage cleared on Easter Saturday and actually witnessing a shower of shit, finding a man with a digger and another who takes scrap away in exchange for beef)
• inventing new challenges of our own (plants to cover bare patches, making pine furniture shabby chique, tidying up the greenhouse)

• cleaning, Cleaning. Cleaning dust and debris and filling a skip with it. We lived in a kitchen, bedroom and toilet amidst dust sheets, vacuums and painters.
• feeling dusty and dirty just leaving our space and venturing into the rest of the house.
And it is still not finished! Another 2 months to go. Hopefully the orange will be painted over by the time we are back.

We could not stay. The dust factor alone was too much. Besides there is only so much of your finger nails you can lose.
It will be a fine place when finished.

In between, skivvying we have been visiting friends and family. A few days with Mum and Dad and a game of golf at Gt Yarmouth and Caister whilst Sarah raced off to Italy for a week.
A gorgeous evening in Austwick with Eric and Michael.

Beautiful walk at Haweswater in the Lake District;

Overnight in York and concert in York Minster (sadly the acoustics were dreadful for singing)

A dash south to Somerset to visit Katie and Tony and a walk around High Ham.

Stunning blue bell woodland walk near Hinton Ampner with Ozzy and Clive (surprise visit from Hank in the evening)

A morning walk up a hill near in Winchester Cathedral

Two wonderful cultural days in London.

Visited galleries (National for Sorolla and Tate for VanGogh in Britain)

and Opera (Gornod’s Faust) and theatre at the Old Vic (All Our Sons)  All worth seeing, especially the play. Wished we had missed The Man for La Mancha- we walked out at the interval as Kelsey Grammar cannot hold a tune. Met a few demonstrators- For Brexit, Anti Brexit and the Labour day Communists & Socialists. All jovial and friendly.

We stayed at Copthall Green House with Angela and family. All so welcoming, but especially the dogs; they just love seeing Sarah (remembering past long, long walks)
Met Chris Knight in Great Queen Street - about 10 years after I last saw her in Sydney. Unreal

Now sitting in Gatwick airport waiting for the next instalment of our holiday:
Met Opera and theatre in New York.