buildings – The Vanninis' Manoeuvres

A scary night

Sit down, make yourself a cuppa, and I’ll tell you a little story, albeit a true story that scared the bejeezus out of me.

We were safely parked at the Papakura club, we have stayed here many times in the past and we had been here for a day or two when on Sunday night at around 12.30am I was woken by a burglar alarm going off and what sounded like the rubbish bins being emptied. That’s strange, why are the bins being emptied at this hour of the night? I got up and snuck a look out the window and saw what looked like a camper (a small white van with a luggage pod on top) parked up outside the side entrance of the club right opposite us, only about 25m away.

Now the carpark is well lit with floodlights, in fact it’s like daylight at nighttime!! and lights are on the outside of the building. I thought to myself that’s an odd place for a camper to park, I could see the sliding door on the drivers side was partly open but didn’t have my glasses on to see clearly. So I headed back down to the bedroom for my glasses. Next minute there is an almighty smash, lots of shouting and yelling, I raced back to the front of the van and looked out the window to see numerous figures all dressed in black running into the club….s*#t, this is a robbery in progress so I raced back to the bedroom trying to wake Roy (he couldn’t hear a thing) grabbed my phone and rang 111. By this time when I got back to the front of the bus to my sneaky look out point, (I did not want to draw any attention to us), the engine on their vehicle was revving up and lots of yelling and shouting as they all climbed back into the vehicle, the vehicle tore out of the car park at a great rate of knots but it sounded like they were dragging something along the road. The vehicle stopped at the carpark exit as whatever it was was causing them trouble. Oh no, they haven’t spotted me have they? But no, they dragged whatever was hanging out of the door inside the van as they took off down the road. At the same time as all this was happening I’m talking to the police call handler, my heart is pounding. and I have to admit I was very scared. The phone call handler was very good, as I was telling her what was going on she was trying to get the helicopter up to follow them (apparently it was busy elsewhere), but she’d already had a patrol car on its way. She took all details, asked good questions and didn’t go thru the who are you? what’s your address? Phone number? information until til the very end of the conversation which by that time police and security had arrived.

It wasn’t until around 2.30am that the police left, I’d gone back to bed at this stage but couldn’t sleep, I guess the adrenalin rush was still there plus I kept thinking about every other (im)possible outcome, you know, all the “what if” scenario’s.

Security stayed on site throughout the rest of the night but I was woken at every little sound I thought I heard. At 4am security changed over personnel – very loudly too I might add, off course I didn’t really sleep as every little noise I got up to have a sneaky look, check on things or I peeked out of the bedroom blind.

Arrow indicates the doors that were smashed to gain entry, further doors and furnishings were smashed in the senseless raid.

In the light of day things became a little clearer, the forensics team arrived to do their job then the clean up could commence. I spoke with the club manager who was very grateful that I had rung police. It seems that the getaway vehicle had been stolen earlier in the evening and subsequently dumped nearby, there were 8 people involved and they caused around $75K worth of damage just to get away with a bit of alcohol, the tills which contained no cash plus a few other random items. It seemed that what I heard them dragging along the road was probably a till and when the opened the door to collect it they dropped and smashed numerous bottles of alcohol onto the road.

My blood pressure has now returned to normal, the heart rate has dropped to its usual pace and life goes on. However, I can assure you I don’t wish to witness anything like this ever again.

Although we were booked in to stay another night we moved on as I was a little apprehensive to stay. I think the thing that has stuck with me is the noise of it all, whilst it probably lasted less than 3 minutes, I’m on hyper alert for any noise. The whole episode was senseless, I hope that they are held to account, if not now, at some stage in their lives.

Museum visits

Eeek, where has the time gone? It’s time to get a move along and get a couple more museum visits in with Callum before it’s time for us to pack up and leave. So we are off to the Science museum, walk, bus, train, cab, walk, repeat.

In the cab (my selfie skills are not improving)

We had a great day exploring the museum, we started off in the area that has activities set up for preschoolers which Callum just loved.

Water activities with wheels, chutes and channels

Playing with the giant rubber Lego style blocks

Someone was getting a little hungry so we went upstairs to give him lunch. We were somewhat surrounded by lots of schoolchildren on an outing and it became very noisy, time to eat a hasty retreat. After Callum had his lunch we went back down to the preschool area as he said he wanted to go back to play there.

Building a tower, but can I build it taller than me?

Off for a bit more of an explore around the museum however it was soon time to head back home before the afternoon commuter rush but first Roy and I needed a bite to eat. We walked down the road to grab something, we must have worn out Callum as he was fast asleep in the pushchair after two minutes! We ate our very late lunch then hailed a cab to take us back to Paddington Station, Callum slept the whole way back to the station which was just as well as we were held up for 20minutes getting out of Hyde Park as protestors had blocked the road. Callum woke just as we got to Paddington Station ready for the journey home.

The following week and we were all off to the Docklands museum on Alex’s day off. The weather has become quite autumnal and we had to break out our winter coats that we keep in London.

Off the train at Canary wharf and a short saunter to the Docklands museum.

We had booked a time slot for the play area so we had plenty of time to wander through the museum and do one of the other activities for children which requires you to find small toy rats hidden throughout all levels of the museum. This meant we had a good look at everything on all levels searching for the toys. Once we had found all the rats, it was time for us to head to the play area.

Callum intently loading up ships and trains in the miniature dock area.

Sliding down the super fast slide in the soft play area.

Loading up the ships hold…too much on one side and it tipped, a great balancing game. Callum loved this game, and once he had loaded it all up, we then had to unload it all ready for the next person.

I have to say that this is one of the best museums we have been to particularly for children to explore, it is very well laid out with lots of interesting displays including interactive activities dotted throughout. Once we had finished our time at the museum, it was time for some lunch so we headed to a pizza place along the Docklands foreshore in one of the old warehouse buildings. This area has undergone extensive rejuvenation over the past few years and is now a vibrant mix of offices, restaurants, cafes, museums, and apartments.

Boys versus girls…. apparently Grandma isn’t very good at this game 😜

Another couple of museums ticked off the list, until the next time.

Down to Downe to visit Down House

Barry & Matt invited Roy and I along with them to visit Down House, the home of Charles Darwin. We were picked up first thing and went on the 30min car journey to Downe (yes, the town has an ‘e’ but the house does not) but before we visit the house we have a late breakfast at the Spitfire Cafe in Biggin Hill which is not far away from Downe.

Spitfire Café, the inside is full of memorabilia of all kinds.

After a hearty breakfast we were off to Down House for a self guided tour. Down House belonged to Charles Darwin, who lived here for 40 years until his death in 1882. Darwin was a naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for contributing to the understanding of evolutionary biology. After moving to the house in 1842, Darwin and his wife, Emma, remodelled the house and its extensive gardens, which Darwin used as an open-air laboratory. It was here that Darwin developed his theory of evolution by natural selection and wrote his groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).

Barry walking across the lawns at the back of the house, looking for the worm experiments that Darwin initiated.

We spent a good few hours wandering through the house listening to the audio commentary. Darwin was certainly a very interesting man who formed great scientific theories as well as being a very attentive and caring husband and father of 10, he was a hands-on father which was most unusual for these times.

Looking at the house from the Sandwalk path. Darwin’s daily walk of several circuits of this path served both for exercise and for uninterrupted thinking. He set up a number of small stones at one point on the walk so that he could kick a stone to the side each time he passed, so that he did not have to interrupt his thoughts by consciously counting the number of circuits he had made that day.

The gardens include a very large greenhouse which Darwin used to cultivate orchids, carnivorous plants and many more which he used for his theses and experiments. There are also very large vegetable, herb and flower gardens, which are tended to by expert gardeners who are using plants grown from original cultivars so for example there will be a place marker with “Cauliflower 1764”, indicating the year that that particular variety was originally cultivated.

It was a fascinating visit to this property, Darwin was not only a very clever man and scholar with extensive knowledge and views but a very caring gentle man and humanitarian who displayed many, many talents.

Many thanks to Barry & Matt for an excellent day out, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Bath

The historic city of Bath is just a short 20minute train ride from Bristol so that was today’s activity. We packed ourselves up with what we may need for the day out and walked to the train station where we caught the train to Bath.

Once in Bath, we found a local map and walked into the city for a look around. As you probably know Bath is famous and named for its Roman Baths which are located right in the centre of the city as well as the Abbey. I have to admit that we balked at the admittance price to view the baths so decided to spend our money elsewhere.

And the view from the other end of the circle

Parade Gardens looking up to the back of the Abbey

Pulteney Bridge and weir completed in 1774, with shops built across its span on both sides which reminded me of Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

Pulteney Bridge viewed from North Parade bridge downstream on the River Avon.

We had a lovely day out in Bath returning late afternoon to Bristol on the train. We walked home through some of the gardens and parks before stopping for a bit of light refreshment.

someone found this statue in the gardens

The Llandoger Trow (1664). The pub is said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write of the Admiral Benbow Inn in Treasure Island and Daniel Defoe supposedly met Alexander Selkirk there, his inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. In the above picture Alex, Ian and Callum are in the doorway and Roy at the base of the steps.

Back home again for a cuppa and a cuddle – Alex & Callum

I had found a very exciting sounding restaurant just around the corner that we thought would be a treat on our last night in Bristol. Alex Ian & Callum were going to head off to find a child friendly pub for themselves but more on all that in the next exciting instalment!

Around Bristol

Another day in Bristol where we continued our adventures. Today we did a hop on hop off bus trip to see some of the sights which are further out of the central city and walking distance.

I took a screen shot of our route today, and noticed something familiar.

A suburb named Cotham, a variation of spelling of my maiden name Coatham.

Callum listening to the audio descriptions

We hopped off the bus in the town centre for lunch at the market.

Crossing another bridge looking across to old and new buildings

After lunch we returned to our bus journey around the city .

Clifton Suspension Bridge. Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. A young and innovative engineer, he was 24 when he was appointed for the project which came about through a competition. Brunel described the bridge as ‘my first child, my darling’, and the ingenious bridge, which took 33 years to complete opening in 1864, marked the beginning of a great engineering career.

Some people thought they’d get a good selfie with the Clifton Suspension bridge as a backdrop…..until someone photobombed them!!

At the viewing platform for the suspension bridge I watched a young lady climb over the barrier at the top right of the photo, she then proceed to slide down the rock face. Apparently this is a ‘thing’, you can see the dark line in the rock face where many others have slid down before her. Eeek, not for me!

Brunel statue outside the Railway Station

View of the bridge from the Avon River side

Quakers burial ground plaque at the entrance to a small garden. Nearly 200 of the headstones that once covered the area were neatly stacked and placed in the nearby Hermit’s Cave, where they can be seen today through the gated cave opening at the back of the small garden.

Artwork of Captain Sir Tom Moore, this has been altered from the original, with a stencilled phrase removed from above his head, it said “Be your own hero – never give up!…” fangs have also been added. It begs the question – why?

After spending the day seeing the sights of Bristol we headed back home along our route we found a Roller Disco having a very good night. Callum was intrigued by the whole concept and wanted to have a go!

BUMP – roller disco along the waterfront

It was already late so we headed home ready for another days adventure tomorrow.

Off to Bristol

We had a week at home catching up with life and the family before it was time for us to head away again. Alex & Ian, Callum, Roy and I were off for a wee break away to Bristol for a few days. An AirB&B had been booked, a car park had been sorted for when we get there, the car was packed with everything we need and we were off. The first mission is to negotiate the M25, the ring road around London and to be fair it wasn’t too bad and we made good progress. We had a break along the way for lunch at one of the very regular services along the motorway and to give Callum a bit of a run around.

It wasn’t too long before we arrived at our accommodation for the next few days, wow, what a place. A Georgian terrace house set right in the centre of town overlooking the river. We had the ground floor and basement floor as our apartment, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large lounge and dining room and an amazing kitchen with every modern appliance you could want.

Seen from across the harbour, our accommodation was the fawn coloured building third from right.

Top: lounge and dining, bottom: kitchen and one of the bedrooms

Once we settled in, we went for an explore. Just across the road opposite the house was a set of steps leading down to the riverside and within 20metres was a pub. It would be rude not to go and try it out!

The Ostrich, you can see the end of our building at the top left

First stop at the pub at the bottom of the steps from our accommodation

We wandered along the waterfront gaining our bearings before heading back to settle in for the evening. We have plenty planned over the next few days to keep us all busy.

Signs seen along the waters edge, I don’t think they want you to fall in the water.

Durham to London

15th September: After a wonderful few days in Durham to finish off this side trip which included the Yorkshire Odyssey, it was time for us to head back to London. I must add in here that I had booked our train tickets a few weeks ago, however, last week I had received an email from the rail company to say that our return trip had been cancelled due to strike action. However, things rapidly changed as of course the day after I received the email, the Queen died. As a result the train strikes were called off and our original booking became valid again.

I have mentioned before how the English travel by train with a seemingly endless supply of drinks and snacks, so not to be outdone, we thought we would join in the trend.

To be honest, the drink was borrowed for photographic purposes from a fellow passenger!!!

We settled back into our seats to watch the countryside whizz by, there is nothing quite like the English countryside. We passed though towns and villages including some with familiar names.

It wasn’t too long before we arrived at Kings Cross Station where we quickly walked to get the tube to Tottenham Court Road to then catch the train to Abbey Wood.

As we crossed Blackfriars Bridge we could see that on the other side of the Thames there was a long queue of people.

Queues forming in front of the Tate Modern to view the Queen lying in state.

Of course over the next few days we now know that the queues extended for many many miles with people waiting for up to 24hrs. We arrived in London in June for the Queens Jubilee celebrations and just a few months later we are here for her funeral.

We arrived back at Alex’s ready for a bit of a rest before we head off again for another trip away.

Beamish – a living museum

Wednesday 14th September: Beamish is a living, open-air museum just a 20minute drive into the countryside from Durham. We set off at a good time to get there for opening time, and already the car parks were nearly full and people were lining up to go in.

The museum’s guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of the Industrial Revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artifacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters

To think that originally it was all farmland and a coal mine, its transformation to what it is today is remarkable and impressive.

Whole buildings have been moved brick by brick, along with cobbles to line the streets, tram lines, vehicles, houses and all manner of machinery. In some instance whole streets have been moved on site. It really is a magnificent achievement. Every area is recreated in such a manner that it seems as though it has been there forever. Together with a host of people dressed appropriately serving in shops, bakeries, chemists and garages it really feels as though you have stepped back in time.

Various modes of transport, and yes, we sampled them all.

We wandered the streets, reminisced about items that were on display that we knew from our childhood (are we really that old?), especially the 1950’s town.

1950’s street, pantry, bakery and what’s that sign? Kia Ora is a Māori greeting not orange juice.

Street with various businesses and shops, everything from sweet shops to newsagents, dentists and solicitors and the large Co-op department store, hardware store and garage. You would think it had all been there for ever.

Looking down onto the pit village, going past the fairground and a warning sign.

The coal mine, train track and deep shaft mine.

We had to try an ice-cream, in this case it was Cinder Toffee flavoured ice-cream (similar to what in NZ is called Hokey Pokey).

The extensive vegetable garden outside one of the miners cottages. There were ducks and chickens in another front garden, and one with fruit trees.

Mail box from Victoria‘s reign , now of course there will be new ones replacing ER with CR.

This is only a small selection of what is on display, we really enjoyed wandering throughout the whole complex, listening to the tales being told about the people who lived in the houses, working in the various occupations and they brought everything to life.

After spending all day wandering around the estate, wearing ourselves out and walking for miles, it was time for us to leave and head back into Durham. But I did have a bit of a brainwave and called Harry to see if we could drop their car back to them, then if one of them could drop us back to our hotel it would save us meeting up again in the morning to do the car exchange before we catch our train. Sure enough that was a good plan as they had other things planned for the morning so it would work out well.

The car was returned, we bade fond farewells before returning to our hotel in town for the evening. All in all a fantastic few days in Durham and spending time with Kim, Harry & family, now it’s time for us to return to London. Thank you to the family for their time and patience, we look forward to our next encounter.

Durham

Sunday 11th September: After an epic week in Yorkshire with family, we headed to Durham for a few days to see the sights and catch up with friends. We’ve passed through Durham and have stayed on the outskirts of the city a few years ago but we haven’t explored the city itself in depth.

Waiting for the train in Glasshoughton just a few minutes walk from our hotel

We caught the train in Glasshoughton, changed trains in Leeds (running all the way between platforms and up & down numerous sets of steps as we had just 4 minutes between trains) to continue on to Durham. We had our hotel booked in the centre of town which turned out to be just a 10 minute walk from the train station to the hotel.

We arrived early afternoon and after checking into our hotel we relaxed for the rest of the day and had an early night ready for a few days of exploring. Well, we have been rather busy the past few days.

View of the River Wear looking toward the Framwellgate arched bridge which dates from around 1400AD.

Durham is a very old city, it can trace its history back to 2000BC. There are remains of Roman occupation all around with some good displays in the museums. The cathedral and castle were both built in the 11th Century and are predominant on the skyline, it’s a very pretty city with old buildings sitting alongside newer builds. We found it a very pleasant city and it was easy to get around. The people are extremely friendly and helpful, the old adage that the further north you go, the friendlier the folk, is very true.

Monday morning (12th September) and we were met by Harry, Kim, Estella and Ruben….regular readers will know we met up with them earlier in July in Newcastle. It’s so lovely to be able to connect with these lovely NZ folk that we’ve known for a few years, and we thank them for putting up with theses oldies!!!

Off for a day of exploring we wandered through the the market building into the town square, stopping briefly at the sweet shop, yes, some more liquorice products may have been purchased. We then made our way through the narrow cobbled streets to a fabulous café Harry & Kim had previously discovered called Flat White Kitchen. We had to join the queue to get in, apparently there is a queue every day, fortunately we didn’t have to wait for too long today. And yes, they do make really good coffee as well as fabulous food.

Clockwise from top left: yes, I ordered two coffees! A selection of some of the food …Corn fritters & chipotle mayo, morello cherry pancakes with chocolate crumb, vegan lasagne & fried potatoes

It was a fabulous meal so much so that we shall endeavour to get back here before we leave.

Kim & Estella in the road and Harry & Ruben on the path lead the way through the narrow cobbled street up to the cathedral. Note the width of the street, a few days later we went up this street in a small bus and met a delivery truck coming the opposite way….yes, it was a very, very, tight squeeze, with less than an inch between the vehicles at times. Pedestrians scarpered, the vehicle were up against the buildings and painstakingly inched their way past each other, we held our breath. Words were exchanged between drivers!

We wandered up the road toward the cathedral to take in the architecture and surrounds. We first visited the museum where we happily spent a good amount of time looking through the varied displays before venturing into the cathedral itself.

Clockwise from top left: topiary crosses outside the museum, the cathedral, some of the amazing embroidered kneelers in church, the main rose stained glass window.

We spent a lovely afternoon wandering around, talking non-stop as well as being entertained by Estella & Ruben. Time was ticking by and it was soon time for a very late afternoon tea, we sauntered back into town where along the way a few book stores may have been perused – — Durham is a University town with lots of good book shops. It reminded us a lot of Dunedin in many respects having a lovely lively feel to it.

We found a warm little cafe where we enjoyed a cuppa, although I’m not sure that Ruben and Estella thought the following sign was funny!

I’ve mentioned previously how in Yorkshire small alleyways are called Ginnels or snickets, well, in Durham they are called Vennels.

At the end of the day we slowly headed back to our hotel whilst looking in shops, reading information boards and gazing at the architecture. We talked non stop all day about everything and anything, including the family’s plans and hearing about their epic cycling trips. Did I ever tell you that this family set out for over a year of cycling around the world with a toddler and a baby? In 2015 this adventurous family set off cycling most of the way around the world, taking them on adventures, meeting people from all walks of life, dealing with issues that arose, not to mention the fact that they had two little ones in tow, how amazing is that? Yes, I am in awe of their ‘get up and go’ attitude, their resilience and all the while wearing a smile on their faces. These days the children have their own bikes and bike along on their cycling adventures (the kids are now aged 9 and 7). Puts these oldies to shame!

Back to Durham, arrangements were made to meet up with the family tomorrow for another day of oldie friendly adventures.

Pontefract

Saturday 10th September: We had a couple to hours to spare after breakfast before we were due at the reunion so with the ever patient Martin at the wheel we were back into Pontefract to search for yet another flag. You see I had messaged John to say we had been successful on our search as we had the blue flags with the white Yorkshire rose on them, and he messaged back to say could I find him as West Yorkshire flag!

Top: Yorkshire flag, Bottom: West Riding Yorkshire flag

I know what you are thinking, what a sucker you are Bernice! He even told me the shop to go to that sells them. Just as well I like to take on a challenge. We headed into Pontefract but unfortunately the shop he directed us to is no longer in existence but not to be put off, we went on a mission into the main market square to see what we could find.

After an extensive search I had no luck finding flags, however I did find Pontefract cakes. Pontefract cakes (also known as Pomfret cakes and Pomfrey cakes) are a type of small, roughly circular liquorice sweet stamped with an image of Pontefract Castle. These sweets are a family favourite, we all enjoy a bit of liquorice, the said brother in particular likes them a LOT! I may have also purchased a quantity of them but I will make sure I ration them and give him just a few at a time! Liquorice Root was grown all around this region for many centuries however over the years most of the farms have disappeared although I understand one farmer is growing it again to reintroduce the farming of liquorice back into the region.

Whilst wandering the town trying to find out where we could find a flag or two, visiting the museum, town council, and numerous shops before deciding I would forget this mission, we came across Pontefract flags being flown. Apparently they were made by the local chamber of commerce but were not for sale.

Salter Row in Pontefract, first recorded as a street in 1368.

There is plenty of history in this area but with a reunion to get to, there wasn’t any time to dilly dally. Back to the hotel where we bade fond farewells to Sue & Martin with promises made to plan another Yorkshire trip on our next visit to the UK.