All posts by bpheasant

around home, family, London, UK

Shooters Hill & Dulwich Picture Gallery

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Eager to get out of the house while it was sunny, albeit still windy, on Sunday Trish & I went & picked up Nora (my great-aunt & Trish’s mother) for a small outing. We didn’t really intend to, but somehow we ended up at Shooters Hill. One of the highest points in London (not really saying much) there are good views south across the field. We spent a bit of time wandering through the 8000 year old wood dodging the acorns being blown from the trees above us. Nora did surprisingly well with the (very modest) amount of walking & I was glad to go somewhere I hadn’t been yet.

Having an arm in a sling is as tedious as usual, but with Trish repaying all I did when she was recovering from her broken ankle I shall be able to keep my arm immobilised longer than usual this time. With Saturday’s trauma I’ve been pretty tired & have spent well too much time watching my favourite Canadian cop drama – Rookie Blue. That title is only bestowed on it due to the small sample-size; Corner Gas being the only other Canadian show I ever watched regularly. But now I’m all caught up to the end of the second series & struggling to fill the time – maybe I just wanted to hear the accent again, even though Canadian seems normal & unaccented to me, for now. Well, I’m still looking for work but that just consists of more time on the internet & looking at vacancies that I’m not quite qualified for or that just sound boring. I should go & see the Vocation Guidance Counsellor – but I don’t even have the right hat for that. We’re slowly starting the redecoration of the middle room, but chipping paint off an old fireplace is slow at best using my left hand.

Yesterday was Trish’s birthday so we took a little outing to the Dulwich Picture Gallery – another place I didn’t get to last time I was here. Famous for being one of Sir John Soane’s designs & the first purpose-built art gallery open to the public in England, the collection is small compared to some of the larger galleries around but very impressive in its content. There are numerous Gainsboroughs, Rembrants, Rubens, van Dycks, Reynolds & a couple each from Canaletto & Hogarth – and many more besides. I think my favourites were those by Gainsborough. With the skylights there is plenty of light streaming in – I recommend visiting on an overcast day. The glare on the higher positioned paintings was too much & had me wandering around in random directions just to try & get a decent view of many pieces.

We had a short stroll around Dulwich Park, which has recently been returned to its original Victorian layout. It is very nice with big open spaces bordered by big old trees – we didn’t even get attacked by any geese or swans. Avoiding the random toll-gate in the middle of suburbia, we tiki-toured home; I suppose if your school is almost four-hundred years old you’re quite welcome to put a toll on these new-fangled automobiles. Over a very pleasant & large dinner out I was regaled with very interesting stories of Trish’s seven years travelling & working in Australia.

around home, bikes, shoulder, UK

More left-handed typing

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Well, I managed to get two rides in before incapacitating myself. One just a little road ride out to a charming little village, Eynsford, in a strong wind & the other yesterday in a small wood behind Ray & Jill’s place that has some singletrack. Yes, I know – singletrack! Nearby too. It’s not really marked out, so I just spent a while exploring a myriad of trails, going around in many small circles & reappearing at familiar looking junctions. Good fun & even a little archaeology too – a big ditch that the Saxon farmers had dug to help defend their land after the Romano-British colony fell apart 1500-odd years ago. Plus, the heather is still out.

Yes, I know – but I haven’t been taking many pictures recently

Job-hunting has been rather tedious with only a few nibbles.  There seem to be jobs out there, maybe I’m just a little too picky as to what I think I can & want to do.

Trish & I have been working towards clearing the middle room out so we can decorate it. We took a full car load down to the dump (mostly a recycling centre really) this morning & since there was access to the window, I set out to clean the conservatory roof. Somehow, while getting the hose up on the roof, I managed to pop my shoulder out again. For the first time I was off to the hospital to get it sorted – one of the advantages of not being in the middle of nowhere. Although, being buried in snow does help to numb the pain a bit. Of course, it was proper hurting again – this time perhaps more than the previous times. But I got X-Rays this time, for a change, before they attempted to put it back in. And quite an attempt it was.

For some reason it would not get back in – I hope the audience I’d collected enjoyed the show. Trish was fantastic, her nursing/mid-wifery training kicking with constant reminders/commands for me to breathe in – that Entonox was something else. I have no concept of how long it took to end the ordeal. The Nurse-Practitioner had a good couple of attempts before the doctor came & it was another two or three goes before it was back in – after all sorts of wrenching & pulling. The joint sure was stubborn this time & even through the gas, it was a whole new level of pain. I’m just glad I’ll never have to give birth. After the gas wore off quickly I think I made some uncharitable comment about going back to Kenya for the next time – not sure that went down well. I got to look at the before & after (out & in) X-Rays – the bone sure was a long way out. So, I sit on the couch for the next few days – should be thrilling.

bikes, MTB

Bike part arrived finally

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Well, if you’re ever looking for spare GT i-Drive mountain bike parts – don’t bother with trying to get them in the USA, Canada or the UK.  Just order them from the other side of the world – New Zealand, that is.  After trying to find a replacement dogbone/wishbone/flexbone (I’ve heard it called many things) for my 2007 i-Drive 4 in many stores in Washington state & Vancouver (BC), waiting for over three weeks for it not to turn up at my local bike-store in Canmore & then being told in London that the UK distributor had the part but wouldn’t ship it (some lame excuse that they weren’t very good – I didn’t care, I just wanted to ride my bike) I finally called home.  Will at 239BIKE in Pukekohe was ever so helpful, had the part in the shop & Ruth, his wife, shipped it to me that afternoon.  For the princely sum of $NZ30 I had the elusive part in my hands this morning – two working days after I placed the order.  Absolutely fantastic service – especially compared to all the previous hassle I’ve had. So it’s on the bike now & I’m looking forward to the weather being more conducive to a ride tomorrow.

On a less bike-oriented front, the job-hunt is progressing slowly (although it is nice to talk to enthusiastic & friendly recruitment consultants every so often) & is being interspersed with reading, catching up with extended family, helping out clearing stuff in the garden and loft & spending a lot of time on the phone back to NZ catching up with various friends. When friends announce in conversation that they’ve got some news, I’m a little wary of asking if they’re pregnant or getting married (friend’s situation dependent, of course). But this time I should have had more faith – it’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited to hear of an upcoming birth (even better to hear someone tell me, rather than read it). Pity it’s a little difficult to hug someone down a phone line.

around home, history, UK

Rochester Castle & Cathedral

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Back home after two rather busy days of travelling & helping a MTB buddy, Andy, move house to Bristol, it was a bit of a surprise to see it clear wonderfully this afternoon. Of that – more a little later. With a short ride on a quick train from Waterloo to Farnborough on Tuesday morning, Andy, Rich & I were quickly filling up the large van. I was just a little envious of someone moving to Bristol (I’m keen on the idea) & actually having a settled normal life owning furniture (imagine) & more importantly – five (all necessary, naturally) bikes. I’m not sure how we managed to fit all of Andy’s stuff in to his rented Bristol place (it’s a bit smaller than the flat he’s trying to sell) yesterday – I think having a garage to stow less-used things in helped. With two days of moving done & a lot of driving along the M4 corridor & A-roads (nice countryside, especially turning off towards Bath) I rushed back up to London to have some final drinks with NZ (first) cousin Chris. A little sad to see the last of my Kiwi family leaving UK, but it was a good night & it was fun swapping travelling stories with similarly-accented Kiwis. It was funny to be back catching the last train from Charing Cross back home – vague recollections of many such escapades well over a year ago.

Back to today – I was sitting on the couch taking it easy & trying to start the job-hunt in earnest (baby steps are probably the best description) when Trish realised that it had become a nice sunny afternoon. It took us a while to decide where to go but we eventually settled on (unvisited by me) Rochester. Only half an hour down the A2 we wandered down the main street & ducked in to a old almshouse built in the 1580s or some similar very long time ago. Even I almost had to crouch as we wandered around. Built for poor travellers, it was nice to poke around & appreciate not having to sleep on such beds. The rest of the street was a nice hodge-podge of differently styled old buildings.

We wandered in to Rochester Castle & clambered up & down many uneven stairs as we explored inside & between the huge stone walls that are all that remain of the structure. It was quite incredible just how much had survived considering that parts of the fort go back to 1088. The walls were suitably thick & the beams that stretched between them to support the four floors must have been similarly impressive. The view over the Medway River was pretty good too.

We also took a quick look inside the cathedral. Bigger than it looked from the outside, there were a few other sightseers poking around too. The cathedral must have some unexplained link to the Royal Engineers as there were inscriptions to fallen servicemen all around the place. Strangest sight however were the five young women congregating in full goth regalia.

This paddle steamer was moving quicker than I expected – see how its stack has been folded down to fit under the bridge