Whirlwind trip to the UK – August 2021

We arrived in the UK with a clear agenda: spend time with my folks, receive furniture from Italy into Cowgill Grange and store the rest; meet close family and any friends who happen to be in London within a 2-3 days visit window. Stay well, avoid COVID and leave. 

All achieved at our usual fast pace, with not much time for catching breath and relaxing in between. It was a relief to get on the flight out of Heathrow, even though 14 days of Managed Isolation/Quarantine (MIQ) in New Zealand was ahead. 

Whilst every road was chaotic and the motorways crash sites/car parks/to be avoided, our journeys from A to B were hellish. Meanwhile inner cities were unusually quiet and peaceful- especially at night. 

London was no exception.

Norfolk with my folks made this trip. We would not have travelled otherwise. We are so glad we did though. Lots of time has passed since we last saw my folks. We were shocked by how Mum is so thin and frail. After she has had so much go wrong, we wonder at her resilience and fortitude as she approaches end of life. We had little talks, walks and a few tears. What was most fun was looking through old slides and photos and hearing her laugh at us as kids, finding out new things, hearing old stories and sharing her memories. 

 

Mum and me before I left London and now.

We helped with a few chores played golf with Dad, managed some gardening, spring cleaning, a few family meals out or taking over the cooking.

Sarah taking photos. 

Our lockdown in UK was only 10 days but this involved taking a COVID self test at home 4 times. First swab each side of your tonsils and the back of your throat for 10 seconds (whilst trying not to vomit) then doing the 5 rotation swirl per nostril jamming the end as far as you could (2.5cm is a long way), popping the result into a test tube and triple sealing it (Test tube, plastic bag inside a box inside another plastic bag) How ridiculous is this UK isolation when to deliver the results, we had to drive 20+ miles to Norwich, park and walk it into the lab? Not quite sure what Jacinda and Dr Ashley Bloomfield would make of that. The UK has a semi relaxed COVID state: 30,000 cases per day is ok apparently now over 70% of the population is vaccinated. As the rest of the world eases up, NZ will not be able to sustain an elimination strategy, unless it wants to remain isolated forever.

Whilst with my folks we caught up with my cousin Damon and family (not seen for over 10 years); fun and friendly.

Next up, our storage and unpacking mission in Cowgill Grange. Rental has been going well but those maintenance tasks pile up. We will need to visit every year just to keep on top of them. Italian marble table now in extra marketing photos.  

Check out this home on Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/41532149?guests=1&adults=1&s=2&unique_share_id=967157e9-1bf9-4cc2-bd92-f9d85418161e

Took 6 burly blokes to lift it into place with lots of complaining (despite plying them with chocolate biscuits and tea)

Short trip to the Lake District followed by the Yorkshire dales: walks around Ingleborough, chats and great evening meals with Sarah’s brother Michael and Eric at Austwick Hall:

https://www.austwickhall.co.uk/index.htm

Typical gate over the wall. Stops sheep getting out. 

Found a route through the Limestone paving and through gaps in the rock walls.

 

Bad hair day. Windswept near top of Ingleborough.

On the culture front: Opera at Glyndebourne https://www.glyndebourne.com/festival/

Thanks to Hil and Dave securing tickets for us from their box office contact. Emails went from UK to Dunedin back to us in UK many times over. All just to see Simon O’Neil in Tristan and Isolde (the same Kiwi Tenor performed in the Old Atheneum Hall in Arrowtown about 1 year ago) but this time with fabulous full orchestra and a full cast of excellent singers. 

The conductor Robin Ticciati held the silence after the last note and all that could be heard were a few sobs. Standing ovation for a very poignant and spine tingling performance; it was that good.

Popped into Alfriston via South Downs next day before yet more opera.

Despite some sunshine, it was cold for a picnic. Sarah insisted on wearing a dress for 30C when it was less than 20C; I opted for trousers and boots. 

Interesting sculptures in the gardens. 

Grey skies followed us throughout the UK. 

Enjoyed the gardens and surrounds of Penshurst Place, location for filming of TV adaptation of Wolf Hall.  Castle like house; home of Henry VIII. 

Beautiful white rose bushes

Back in London we saw Jude, 

my brother Jeremy and Clare, Tel and Richie 

and Sarahs’s step mum: Angela with Jonty, Maria, Theo and the dogs. Squeezed in a cycle from our haunts in Greenwich (after coffee at her swish new flat with Chris Knight Maunder) along the Thames path to Tower Bridge. 

Excellent Rodin and Australian art exhibition in the Tate.

London is gorgeous during the day as well as at night.

Now we are in MIQ on Day 2 of 14. Food is ok. Room is ok but small (4x4m). Covid tests Day 1, 3 ,10 and before we leave. The place is run with military precision. Everything is given an assigned time slot. Now provided with a blue wrist band, we are allowed 30 mins a day get out of the room for exercise. We have a choice between the cargo corridor (think dungeon prison on the ground floor no air, inside) or a fresh air outside deck, size of a postage stamp shared with smokers. Both need to be booked in advance. No running allowed. We can prance like a pony or jig jog very very slowly whilst waving the arms about. We would be in despair if it wasn’t for a challenging daily exercise routine that we can do anytime, anywhere. Thank you to Debs Walder (Q Fitness, Queenstown) for stretching parts we have never noticed before. They are screaming now. We will be following soon.

You do not know what you’ve got until you have lost it. The blue skies look very inviting from our 3rd floor isolation. We can’t wait to get home to Arrowtown for a cycle, long walk up a mountain, swim, golf, bridge, wine, cooking at home, walk, decent coffee and catch up with friends.  Roll on 15 September. 

Until then

Jo and Sarah

xx

Epilogue- Some unusual shops. 

Sarah finds the shop of her dreams

or is it this one near Austwick? Left with lots of wrapped wax packages

Olde Worlde in Alfriston. Motorbike not Sarah's despite once owning one.

Finally - there were two of these in Keswick. 

Something for Arild and Kjersti to check out for authencity. 

PPS Keswick has good pubs too!