The Adventures of Bear and Butterfly

(Tuesday 8th September)

I’m in Knutsford!  I’ve spontaneously joined Bodra on his business trip, leaping at the mention of a jacuzzi.  It’s actually just a regular bath with jets installed down the long sides, but still, it will be fun to enjoy that later.  We’re staying at Mere Court, in the elegantly decorated Chatsworth room.  From the windows I can see a tree-lined pond which looks like it has been fed with charcoal.  A fairly serene vista…

There has recently been a really strong wind, drying and blowing off many green Maple leaves on the trees around Caversham.  As I was fighting the wind on my way back home last week, I realised that this meant Summer was really coming to an end.  We’ve nearly had all the Summer festivals- Glastonbury in June, The Secret Garden in July, and August completely crammed with them!  The Big Chill at the beginning, One Love in the middle, V Festival just after, the Reading and Leeds Carling Weekend Festivals at the end of August, as well as the Notting Hill Carnival!  Just Bestival to go this weekend.  Of course, Bodra and I didn’t attend any of these- I’m afraid I’m not really up with the play with music these days but I don’t feel like we missed out on anything.

Just this weekend I noticed the leaves on the maples outside our apartment taking on an orange hue and becoming rather limp.  It’s a little bit depressing when these changes happen, because you know it could only be a matter of weeks and then the leaves will let go of their birth place, releasing to the ground and the wind.  Soon we will be left with skeleton trees and the overwhelming presence of the continuously grey and cloudy sky.  But at least we get to enjoy the colourful changes in the foliage.

SO!  With Winter on the way, you have to work that much harder at ensuring you have things to look forward to!  Of course, we have plenty of those, the top one being our wee visit to NZ in Feb/Mar.  A new event has appeared on my calendar this morning in the form of a visit from my friend Logan in October.  We may be able to join him in a trip to Paris- yahoo!!

Presently Bodra and I are hunting for a new abode.  A change of scenery will be refreshing, especially if we find a place that is quiet.  I have been looking for the past two weeks- we have two months to go before we need to leave our current apartment.  Thus far we have found a pretty great place- it has a small private yard, large bathroom and two double bedrooms- and we have asked the Landlord to make some changes and received a positive response.  My only issue is the location as it is near a main road, but it may be far enough down the road that this isn’t a noisy issue.  If we end up at this place we will have crossed off each area of Reading, as it is in the South, about a two mile walk from where we now live.

Since my last entry there has been a fair bit of tripping about.  We went to a HOMmega dance event at Matter and saw Astrix and Xerox and Illumination.  Matter is a great venue, quick coat check, clean loos, generally smoke free, and from the balcony I had heaps of room to dance and still see everything that was going on.  Would definitely like to go there again- hopefully when they have the Sky Bridge open.

The following Monday I joined my friend David in Dublin.  We first visited St Stephen’s Green and Trinity College, and in the evening we moseyed around Temple.  We perused the many bars and pubs, like the Leftbank Bar and Porterhouse, giving attention to our aural and taste senses.  It didn’t take me long to tire of Guinness, so I tried some Wrasslers and discovered I am neither keen on stout.  The Irish music wasn’t really doing it for me either, nor the covers band.  Luckily I had great company and (not so luckily) in the morning a great hangover…

Late on Tuesday morning we stumbled out of our bunks and caught a long, rattly bus ride to Powerscourt Gardens.  We had an average lunch in Enniskerry where the bus had dropped us off (cold quiche and flacid salad), then walked up to the gardens which are situated with Sugar Loaf mountain in the background.

My guidebook had suggested it was a not-to-miss attraction and I was quite intrigued by the story of the architect who in the 1840’s created the Italian Garden.  Daniel Robertson suffered from gout so whilst directing the work he got about the gardens in a wheelbarrow, fueling himself with a bottle of sherry.  Once the bottle was drained, work would be finished for the day.  The gardens didn’t show any sign of inebriation- a series of pristine terraces, marble and bronze statues including winged horses by the Triton Lake, and lots of flower beds.  David and I inhaled the scents in the rose garden, then wandered through the walled herbaceous gardens.  We soon found ourselves at the pets cemetery, a large slope bedecked with dozens of formal headstones, marking the resting place of the Wingfield and Slazenger families loved pets.  I didn’t think it was appropriate to take pictures but it did seem like a bit of an oddity.  Around the next corner came the Japanese Gardens which included a beautiful moss-covered grotto.

That evening Paul and Bodra enjoyed rocking out to Pearl Jam at the O2 arena (jealous!).  David and I tried to visit the Guinness Storehouse but they were closed for a private event.  Luckily we scored free tickets so we returned the next morning, quickly scampering up the seven floors to enjoy the view and our pint of Guinness (kak).  We had clear skys and a beautiful view of Dublin.

Next stop was the airport where we picked up a car.  David drove us up to Northern Ireland where we discovered the currency changes back to British Pounds.  Our afternoon bar man in Dundrum conveyed this to us with a pinch of attitude, but how were we to know?  They must get this mistake quite a bit from tourists, which I guess could make a Northern Irish person feel somewhat insignificant.

Belfast didn’t impress us all too much.  The weather was rubbish, we struck one way roads in our search for backpackers (we begrudgingly ended up at the somewhat unsavoury Linen House) when David made the unpleasant discovery that his passport wasn’t where it should be (he may still be in Ireland as I type this).  Luckily we only needed one passport to check in to a room, so we ditched our bags and began assaulting Belfasts pubs.

We first tackled David’s passport sorrow in a skoddy bar showing horse races on the telly.  There was a very drunk New Zealander at the bar there, talking to anyone who met his eye and making very cringe-worthy conversation.  Fearing that he would zone in on our accents, we silently downed our drinks like our life depended on it, then swiftly made our way to the next watering hole.  Fibber Magees, “a spit and sawdust bar, packed to the rafters with old Irish artefacts” where I tried some Powers whiskey; not bad given that I care not for spirits.  Then David and I journeyed upstairs to Robinson’s Bistro for dinner and chardonnay.  We found one more pub after that, down a pedestrian only alleyway, and inside all the walls were covered with memorabilia.  The seats seemed tiny to me and the pub was very crowded so we stayed for one drink then returned to our bunks.

I had a horrific time trying to sleep.  David soared off into a sozzled dream of blissful ignorance.  There were half a dozen people in the dormitory.  A few moments into my rest, a man in another bunk at the opposite corner of the room started to snore ferociously.  It began sporadically, with a rhythm that would maliciously mislead you into thinking he’d stopped, only to start up again as soon as you had found your peace once more.  This soon built up into a routine including thrashing about in his bed and speaking/shouting in tongues.  I listened to meditation tracks on my mp3 player for a few hours, but they were unable to dominate over his night terrors.  Someone in the dorm next door began thumping the wall- they must’ve been lying right on the other side of his bed- so I diligently got out of my bed and tiptoed over to the guy to sharply prod him out of his nightmares.  He stirred quickly and found my face peering at him.  I pressed my hands together in prayer and begged him, “I can’t sleep-” he started to pull back his sheets and shuffle over in his single bed murmuring that I could sleep with him- in his dreams!!  (On second thought, not, as I wouldn’t want to hear about that!)  “No, you are snoring!  Please, lie on your side and close your mouth.”  He complied and I didn’t hear another peep out of him.  All was quiet and soon I found a restful space again… until David let out a snort…

We were out of the backpackers and on the road by 8am.  Heading for the coast, we travelled for fifty miles or so to reach Cushendall where we stopped for a measly breakfast of tea, scones and latte.  Then back in the car for thirty miles until we were at the Causeway Centre.  We walked down a steep path towards the coast, and soon found the hexagonal basalt columns, “Clochán na bhFómharach”. I was really thrilled to be by the sea again, the salty spray, the sound of the waves rolling in and crashing into the rocks and looking out to where the sky meets the sea… all very uplifting for the soul!

We headed back to Dublin, me navigating, Dave trying to re-interpret my instructions.  I had thought we’d have plenty of time spare but, after much frustration and confusion with trying to follow their directions to the centre, we only just got to the car hire centre in time.  Luckily David kept his cool (I was explosivio) and figured out that actually, we were heading from the North, and their directions applied if you were coming from the South.  Or something like that.  Unfortunately, Dave’s passport failed to reappear so I left him to tackle the administration woes on his own.  & no, I have not heard from him… where are you Dave?

Dublin pics

(I just filled my belly with cuisine from the Arboreum Restaurant- Beetroot and Walnut Risotto with Blue Cheese Fritter and Rocket Oil, Curly Kale and Potato Cake with Chive Oil and Parmesan and for dessert, Ginger Nut, Malteaser and Banana Parfait with Banana Crisp.  I am disgusted by how distended my belly is, and now I have a headache…)

(Thursday 10th September)

The weekend following my trip to Ireland, Rachael, Bodra and I saw the Peter Pan production at Kensington Gardens.  They had set up a Theatre Pavilion and the main stage was in the centre.  Visuals were displayed on the tent walls a full 360 degrees, so it felt like we were immersed in the scenery too.  When the scene changed, the display would change also.  During the flying scenes, the Darling children, Tinkerbell and Peter would attach wires to their waist and be lifted into the air.  As they flew from the Darling home to Neverland, the visualisations showed the landmarks of London city, and then crossing the sky until Neverland drew near.  They also used a number of puppets, one for Nanna and a few birds which were mostly made of draped cloth, and a gigantic, skeletal Crocodile puppet, whose body was framed with coasthangers and mouth was all covered with wooden pegs for the teeth.  It required two puppeteers to operate who scooted on the skateboards which were a part of it’s body.  Overall, the production was a really unique experience and very exciting to see how much more can be packed into a play.

After Peter Pan, we joined Paul in the park for a delicious picnic, then travelled over to Kim and Ezra’s.  We needed to borrow their tent for the following weekend, and ended up joining them in a nearby pub to celebrate Reuben’s 30th.

The following week started with a wander in Tilehurst with my friend Gavin and his two doggies, and then on Tuesday a dental appointment where I found out that actually, I do have wisdom teeth!  Just two so far, but I will be looking into having them removed.  People also began arriving for the Reading Festival, there began a steady stream of backpackers wandering past the apartment, multiple boxes of beer in tow.  Bodra had a work trip to Sweden, so I escaped into London on Wednesday to view the the Garden & Cosmos Royal Indian art of Jodphur exhibition at the British National Museum.  The collection encompassed 54 paintings created between the 17th and 19th centuries, which had never been displayed in Europe until now, as they were mostly created for the personal pleasure of the rulers of Jodhpur.  The art showed the activities between Bakat Singh (the Maharaja) and his royal court, in the lush scenery of the flowering gardens at his desert palace in Nagaur.  Further paintings illustrated the great Indian epic poem Ramayana, and the final section attempted to explain metaphysical concepts of the Nath yogis.  Kim and Rachael joined me for that and we had quite a relaxing time together, soaking in the lavish and verdant colours of the gardens and meditating on the final paintings.

Then we went over to the Southbank Centre to view another exhibition- Walking In My Mind.  It was a complete contrast to the Garden & Cosmos experience.  From paintings, we entered ten large scale installations all attempting to give us a walk through of a particular artists imagination.  Some were quite phenomenal, one artist (Thomas Hirschhorn) had constructed a cave made of brown packing tape and cardboard which we could walk through.  It sprawled into a complex of caves and linking tunnels, where we met piles of soft drink cans, bodies wrapped up in tin foil with wires and simulated dynamite attached, pages of text and stacks of books.  Another artist (Yoshitomo Nara) had created a Wendy House which we were able to peek through the windows to see what went on in there- papers covered with cute doodles of cartoons.  A few of the other installations were a bit too perverse and self-indulgent so we scooted through those until we came to the top level where Yayoi Kusama had made Mr Blobby-like sculptures covered in red polka dots.  Apparently Yayoi has a recurring hallucination of these dots, where she has found herself and all her surroundings covered in them.  It was much more soothing than some of the installations we had already seen, but it didn’t surprise me to read later on that Yayoi had chosen to permanently settle in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo.  One of the last installations we viewed, Chiharu Shiota’s, was a room covered with a dense web of threads.  We were in awe at the obvious patience this artist has to create this.

We picked Alanna up and then Rachael drove the four of us to my home.  Rachael whipped up a delicious taco feast and we spent the evening chatting.  The following day we went for a walk to Moor Copse which wasn’t all that exciting, but still nice to be out in nature together!

Moor Copse pics

Bodra returned from Sweden that evening and on Friday morning we escaped from the Reading Festival.  Bodra had hired a car and so we had decided to drive up to York, then to the Peak District for a wander and lastly Stockport.  On the way North we stopped in a place called Warwick, where we found a gorgeous tea shop, so we bought some yummy tea and a tea set too!

York was ok, we wandered around the wall and into the centre on Saturday.  We were a bit disappointed by the Monks chocolate we purchased there, as it had been advertised as award winning, but compared to Puccini’s it was utter rubbish.  The Shambles was an interesting street, but there were loads of people around, being Bank weekend, so not much fun being amongst all the shoppers and tourists.

York Pics

We got to the Peak District that afternoon, set up our tent in this farmers field (£3 per person per night- sweet as!), and then set up a picnic, went for a wander through Youlgreave, then to bed as soon as it was dark- we didn’t have a torch.

Bodra and I spent the Sunday walking a circular track from Youlgrave through to Birchover and Stanton-in-Peak.  We used Mark Reid’s book “Walking Weekends Peak District”.  It was a fantastic walk as it included areas of interest like stone circles, a hermits cave and Rowtor Rock- another collection of gritstone rocks which had been carved into steps, caves, passageways, seats, rooms and a three seater armchair by Druids.  The Hermit’s Cave is about 700 yrs old and has a carving of Jesus on the Tree of Life.  It was really cool and beautiful thinking about being back in those times, walking through the countryside where this random monk would pop out of the bushes to preach to you.   Mystical Majickal!

Peak District pics

We woke early on Monday morning and drove to Stockport.  Being a Bank Holiday a couple of the places I wanted to go into- St. Mary’s Church, the Town Hall & the market hall- were all closed for the holiday- d’oh! But I saw my mum’s old street, Carlton Crescent and where her school used to be on Bateson Street, also where her friend Susanne lived at number 24.  Bodra and I walked down through Underbank and the town centre and over to the Town Hall.  We drove down Lowfield Road and I snapped a picture of 23 where Grandma had lived with her paternal Aunty, and 31 where she had been born in her grandparents home.  Lastly we had a grumpy wander through Stockpot Cemetery, grumpy because I wanted to find Jessica Lowe’s headstone for mum, but we couldn’t figure out how the graves had been laid.  I will have to revisit one day so I can visit her.

Stockport pics

September is the month of birthdays!!  On Thursday 3rd September Kowhai turned 13 and Bodra turned 30.  To celebrate I bought Bodra some L&P which he was very delighted with.  The previous day I had made the pleasant discovery that Reading now has a supplier of Tim tams, Rashuns, L&P and Peppermint Chews.  Very exciting!  There is a fantastic lolly shop in Harrison Arcade which stocks these treats, as well as loads of gelatine free sweeties.  The proprietor is a very conscientious vegetarian.  The sweetie shop happens to be directly opposite the rental agency who we have been having pleasing results with, so sweeties and good tenancy services is a happy combination for us!

On Friday 4th September my brother Shannon turned 34 so I had a lovely chat with him that morning.  he gave me some good advice with my wisdom teeth issue- if I’m not feeling any pain, why worry? 

This past Saturday Bodra and I journeyed into London to see Tony and Liz.  They drove us to Hilary and Martin’s home where we met their baby boy Alexander, he is a gorgeous drooler.  I still don’t really know what to do with a baby though- hold them, smile and gaze all google-eyed in adoration!  Roger was also there so we had a great time catching up with family.

Later that evening we went out for Bodra’s birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Abeno where they serve Okonomi-Yaki, a pancake styled dish which is prepared and cooked on a hot plate at your table.  It was a very delicious meal.  Rachael and Paul bought Bodra an “Attack of the Clones” styled birthday cake, decorated with a Storm Trooper.

Okonomi-Yaki pics

On Sunday we went out to the movies to see District 9.  Bodra and I are in agreement in that this is our top movie so far this year.  The effects were absolutely brilliant and the story was fast-paced and enthralling.  I just love going to a movie where you don’t recognise any of the actors or actresses too, everyone just seems to be so much more believeable.

Yesterday, on our way back from Knutsford, we stopped in the walled city of Chester for a half an hour wander around.  We were suitably impressed by the architecture and the multi-levelled shopping galleries.  Not impressed with the yucky pea-infested pasty however…

Chester pics

Mum and Dad will be having their wedding anniversary on Saturday, not sure what number they are up to, maybe 39?  Hemi and Te Aue will be 12 on Monday, and Bodra’s daddy Michael will be 71 on Tuesday.  A couple of my friends will also be having their 30th birthdays this month too- Jen and Ben!

A look into our future activities: thanks to a couple experience vouchers which Bodra received for his birthday, Bodra will be having a go at Falconry (thanks Kim and Ez!) and also driving a TVR (thanks Paul and Rach!).  Very exciting!  On Saturday the 26th, Dewi will be taking Kim, Ez and us for a coastal walk along the white cliffs of Dorset where we will see Durdle Door, a limestone arch, and White Nothe a white headland where we may find a fossil.

In October on the 2nd we will be seeing The Black Seeds (yay!) and on the second weekend of October I will be joining Kim, Nik and Dawn on a Glass Blowing course.  On the same weekend, Logan will be joining our land for a few weeks and hopefully Bodra and I will be able to join him on a swift trip to Paris.

Today I’m home alone. Bodra is in Fulham with Paul watching a football game. It’s a superb day for it, very sunny. I have been watching from our lounge window the many people walking by in summer attire- there is a canoe race happening across the road. Definitely a welcome change as just last week I saw people going to work in their long thick coats, and I didn’t believe for a minute we would get a taste of Summer this year. I should be out in it, but I’m still down with the flu, and I can see loads of pollen floating in the air too. So this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on our activities!

I recently turned 30 and to celebrate the occasion I met with a group of friends in London- Dawn, Kim, Ez, Nik, Ross, Jono, Cat, Alanna, Russell, Dewi, Waty, Cam, Rueben, Ela, Steph- to partake in the Jack the Ripper Tour from Tower Hill, led by Donald Rumbelow. I was still recovering from the flu which we’d picked up along our travels in Egypt, so I missed out on some of the commentary due to being at the back of the crowd, attempting to contain my bugs. But from what I picked up, the Ripper was a very violent killer with the throat-cutting and body mutilation. I never really contemplated the meaning of his name, as I’ve always heard it in that sequence and accepted it. However, Donald went into quite graphic detail with what he did to his victims and I was appalled at how blood-thirsty his actions were. He was very crafty as he knew to commit his crimes in ill-lit areas. He even managed to murder one of his victims in a square where every few minutes a policeman was doing the beat, and all his victims were prostitutes. I was surprised to hear they never caught the Ripper, but hopefully that’s because he died falling into the Thames one night, or contracting syphilis.

After the tour we had an interesting dinner at the Lahore Kebab House. It was a crazy atmosphere, basically a hall with dozens of long tables and chairs, a couple of screens showing cricket and BYOB. Most of the restaurant was filled with men and they were all getting their Friday drink on. We had a few issues getting the food ordered but in the end everyone seemed pleased with their super spicy meals and enjoyed the boisterous energy coming from all the super drunk men.

We were meant to go to the Callooh Callay Bar for a delicious cocktail afterwards, but it had become quite late and Bo and I still needed to make our way back to Reading. So hopefully one day in the near future I will be able to do that.

On Easter Sunday, Dewi and her siblings- Waty and Martin- took us to Monkey World in Dorset as a surprise birthday treat. Monkey World is a 65 acre park set up in 1987 by Jim Cronin for providing a home for rescued primates. They have over 160 apes and monkeys- Gibbons (Siamang, Golden-Cheeked, Mueller’s, Agile and Lar Gibbons), Chimpanzees, Bornean Orang-utans, Capuchins (rescued from a laboratory in Chile), Lemurs, Woolly Monkeys (part of the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme), Marmosets, Squirrel Monkeys (rescued from a Dutch laboratory) and Stump-tailed Macaques (rescued from a British laboratory where they were used for Asthma research). We had a wonderful time watching the primates play, but definitely felt saddened at seeing some of the unusual behaviour being displayed, due to the trauma that some of the primates had suffered before they came to the park.  Monkey World pics and vids.

During the following week, Bodra went to Finland for work to visit clients in Helsinki & Jyvaskyla. The landscape had many lakes and forested areas. In Jyvaskyla it snowed.

When Bodra returned we went for a lovely 8 Mile walk from Aldermaston to Mortimer. It was a real animal fest as we saw cats, dogs, donkeys, horses, and a deer, super friendly sheep & goats, cows, birds and lambs. Bodra almost got a kiss from a sheep; we were so surprised at how tame the animals were! Perhaps it is a Spring thing. We also found a 300 year old Yew tree outside Padworth Church which was a very special experience.  Pics and vids.

I took a big step the next week as I signed up to do some supply teaching with Select Education. The week afterwards I had my first day of teaching at St Martin’s Primary School where I was with year 3 & 4 students. It was a really stressful experience, not so much the actual teaching, but just all the mental processing beforehand and during. I’ve realised now that I’m not prepared to put myself in that space any longer. So for now I’m just a trophy wife, staying at home until we get back from our June/July adventures. Hopefully afterwards I’ll be able to find some work until we head back home in November. I’m quite worried about what I will do for a career when I get home, but there is a lot of time in between now and then so fingers-crossed that I’ll attract some answers to that one!

David O’Leary has returned to the UK so we met him and Paul and Rachael at a vegetarian restaurant in Camden called the Green Note. It was really good catching up with all of them, and David has started working in Frome, Somerset just out of Bath so I will be able to visit him one day soon.  (We tried visiting him today but the train tickets were £70 for the both of us, so we figure it’d be better to hire a car.)

That night Bo & I went to a party at Scala with Kim, Ez, Russ and Alanna, where Protoculture and Rinkadink were playing. We managed to get in for free, as we had previously attempted to attend a party at the same venue, but due to a poorly managed door check we had been kept waiting outside the club for over an hour, thus we missed the performances that we had intended on seeing. It was November so the temperature was freezing, and as the queue had only moved about five metres we decided to forgo the party and send in written complaints. This evenings party was much different as the attendance wasn’t as high- Bodra and I got in without queuing at all. There was heaps of space to dance, the only thing was as the night progressed and people’s buzzes began to wear off, I noticed the conviviality wane and more and more people began to bump into me without even an apologetic glance. I had heaps of energy for dancing and kept on my feet for most of night, but as soon as Protoculture began his set (around 5am) all my energy was zapped. We had really enjoyed Rinkadinks set so we chose to leave before we had no energy to get home.

The next day we spent some well-deserved relax time in Paul and Rachael’s backyard. It was a mostly sunny day, so I rested in Paul’s chair-hammock, reading and dozing in the sun. Back home at the end of the month, Danijel & Inas welcomed their daughter, Violetta, into the world.

The beginning of May gifted a Bank weekend, so Bodra, Ezra, Kim and I went to the Isle of Wight for one night. Saturday found us in Primrose field in Whippingham with three others- Chuck, Gemma and Paul. Paul was our guide from the Good Leaf Tree Climbing Company, previously an arborist who had decided to share his passion for climbing trees. Within the field were a few large trees and one of the Oak trees had six ropes dangling from it. Paul taught us the techniques for pulling ourselves up the tree and soon we were all away, scaling the tree and perching on branches while taking in the view. It was quite a simple skill and we all got it immediately. After the climbing we were rewarded with homemade flapjacks and a cup of tea.

In the afternoon we found ourselves at an Ale Festival on the grounds of a Rail museum. None of us were particularly impressed with our Ales (I tipped mine out part way through) so we’re mostly sworn off Ale now. After that we journeyed into Ryde to find our accommodation at the Kasbah. This was a pub with rooms above. As we were on a budget we had booked the family room which was directly above the main drinking area. There was a private party going on that evening so we resolved to get ourselves more than tiddly to enable an ignorant sleep. We downed a shot of Gold Schlager (very delicious) then went for an amble around Ryde, out to the Pier and then to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and jugs of cocktails.

We spent the majority of Sunday driving around the Isle of White, as hundreds of others did using all manners of transport. There seemed to be some kind of cycling convention that weekend as we shared the roads with dozens of people on a variety of recumbent and modified trikes, as well as hundreds on the usual bicycles. We took in the Garlic Farm- where Bodra and Ezra tasted the super fiery Dragons Blood sauce, the Isle of Wight Studio Glass- where I fell in love with a vase from the Undercliff Collection that was outrageously expensive, the Wisteria laden cottage (aptly named Wisteria Cottage), Compton Bay- where we stopped for ice-cream and a wander along the coast, and finally Alum Bay to see the famed Needles. My Mum turned 60 on the Sunday so I enjoyed photographing the Wisteria as a way of connecting in with her energy on her special day.

The next week I had some unsettling news. Luke Deveraux, one of my old friends from the days I had spent in Christchurch, had taken his life. I hadn’t been in contact with him for quite some time; friendships often become quite strained when there is distance. I had tried to reach him when we first got to the UK but the email address I had for him was no longer valid. It just makes me angry with myself, like I should’ve tried harder to reach him, I knew he was struggling. But a person is always free to make this decision; obviously it is the right one for them when confronted with a space they cannot cope with. A friend, David Colyer, is organising a garden in his memory, so I look forward to visiting it and sharing some peace there.

We were back in London the following weekend. We saw Baka Beyond perform on the Friday night, and then on Saturday we watched Star Trek with Paul at the Wimbledon Odeon Cinema. I had a little girly time with Rachael wandering around the shops, while Bodra and Paul went looking at shirts for their upcoming wedding in February. Rachael showed me one of the dresses she had in mind so I was very privileged to see her in that! Then we met the boys back at Paul & Rachael’s place and spent the afternoon and evening playing Guitar Hero World Tour.

Bodra started coming down with flu symptoms the next week so he had four days off from work. He had to endure my infatuation with “The L Word” (which was encouraged by Lauren) series, but luckily I have finished that now. Bodra has decided to take on a new diet in order to address his skin and energy issues. This involves omitting processed food, fungi, mould, yeast, sugar, dairy, gluten, wheat, additives and any food containing these substances. It’s a very challenging diet, especially as it rules out fruit and mushrooms. I’m kind of doing the diet with Bodra, but first someone has to eat all the foods in our pantry which are not safe to eat… I polished off a bag of ‘crisps’ today for lunch- heehee! It will be an adventure as I’m sure we will discover new foods- for example these tortilla chips by R.W. Garcia which are made from veges- spinach and garlic, red beetroot and onion, tomato and sesame. Anyway, Bodra intends to keep the diet up until we go on our trip to Canada- he had a bit of a crash on Friday but hopefully he will adjust soon.

Yesterday we went for a wander around Kew Gardens. We started off in the Princess of Wales Conservatory where we took in the Cacti, Orchids, Ferns, Carnivorous Plants and the Titan Arum. Then we walked through the Rose Pergola (we’ve decided we would like a rose pergola to go down the length of our driveway) towards the Bonsai House. We found a gazebo wrapped in Wisteria next to a Ginkgo tree. Then we took the Princess Walk over to the Rhizotron and Xstrata Treetop Walkway. It was a perfect afternoon for the gardens and I hope we can go there again one day.

Last night we saw Deva Premal, Miten and Manrose perform at the Union Chapel in Islington. There were loads of New Age types there, wearing their serene garments, bedecked with crystals and mandala symbols. Bodra and I seated ourselves in the centre of the back row. They performed mantras and Miten’s songs and we were encouraged to sing along. I quite enjoyed the concert although I would’ve preferred just to hear the mantras as the songs were a bit cheesy. Deva taught us a mantra for compassion and the Goddess Tara which I really enjoyed. Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha.

This week I will be journeying to Ludlow, Stockport and the Peak District with Dewi. I’ll be seeing an old school friend, Jenny Chandler, in Church Stretton too, and Dewi’s friend, Dan O’Neill, will be joining us for some tramping. Then the following weekend we will be going to New Forest for a celebratory cycle for Kim’s 30^th. Lauren will be joining us for a few days in the second week of June and Bodra will be going to Amsterdam for work. Then on the 14^th of June we will be making our way to Calgary. It’s hard to believe how quickly the time has passed, before we know it we will be homeward bound!