Hay-on-Wye Dispatch - Tuesday, 9th April, 2013

  

Dear Friends, sorry it has taken me so long to write a Dispatch, but we have been quite occupied since I was last in touch. We spent a very busy Easter Monday driving to Ballarat to buy me a new long raincoat – Myer was the only shop open & we were successful – it matches my golf bag! Then back to Daylesford Clothing where Rodney sold me a good windproof short jacket and a long-sleeved woollen top, which was perfect for the plane & under the coat, as well as a black possum jumper which is unbelievably warm, lightweight & classy to boot. We washed & ironed, finished packing & were feeling ready to go the next day.

 

Bilbo & Frodo had twigged that something was happening, so they got in our way as much as possible on Tuesday morning until we put them in the car, along with their bed & bedding & our suitcases and headed off in the rain to Eureka Kennels. We got to Melbourne Airport via Andrew’s Parking in plenty of time and found ourselves walking into Immigration behind Rhonda Lubin. It was lovely to spend some time together before we headed to our respective airline lounges. We arrived at the Qantas Business Lounge and straight into the arms of our nephew, Shaun Anderson, looking resplendent in his uniform. He took us into the special dining area and fed us smoked salmon on brioche accompanied by Salinger bubbles & a T’Gallant white wine. It was so good to see him & we were very proud as we watched his easy manner with his customers.

We boarded our brand-new A380 Airbus and discovered that our Singapore stopover had disappeared and that we were on a 14.5 hour flight direct to Dubai. Our cabin staff had not flown this leg either, but they were all very good & attentive and we had a comfortable trip. At Dubai we had time to have a shower, which makes such a difference. Then off on another leg to London. This should have been 6.5 hours, but took much longer as we were kept on the runway at Dubai and circled for an hour at Heathrow. Everything went smoothly on arrival and we caught the airport train to Paddington and a taxi to our hotel at Seven Dials just next to Covent Garden.

St Paul's Covent Garden - the Actors' Church

Our room was lovely with lots of modern amenities, free wi-fi, King-sized bed, but nowhere to put anything down. Lots of hanging space but no drawers or shelves to speak of, so we rearranged everything, unpacked and fell asleep for a few hours. That afternoon we walked to Covent Garden and ended up in a delightful little Thai restaurant having an early dinner, before heading back & falling asleep again. We slept until 2am, spent time being wide-awake, then tried to sleep and get up around 7am. I rang Viva for a short call, something I have been doing every day as I think the phone contact is more beneficial to her than anything else and she seems to welcome my calls.

 

Outside the full-scale model of Hogwarts

 

Then off to breakfast where we met up with Leigh and her Indian friend, Aarti, who had just checked into the hotel. Leigh had requested Violet Crumble bars which we duly handed over. After a long, leisurely time with them, we caught a cab to Warner Bros to see the Harry Potter Studios. I had booked the tickets a couple of months ago as you can’t buy tickets there. It was brilliant – we spent 4 hours trying to take it all in, and could easily come back & do it all over again. I finally bought a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans, which I have been dying to try ever since I read the first book. We were so pleased we went and even more so when we came out of J Studio to go to K Studio via Privet Drive and it was snowing. The most amazing thing to me was the short 3-minute video of Daniel Radcliffe’s audition – he was just so perfect for Harry, the director was in no doubt from the moment he delivered his lines. That night we had dinner at Leon’s Mussel Restaurant, which was started in Belgium over 100 years ago and drank prosecco with our yummy mussels.

On Friday after breakfast we headed to Harrods as Smokey, Viva & Leanne’s cat, needed a new pink collar. We were successful in that purchase & today I posted the collar to Smokey as it will be a nice surprise when it arrives in the mail. We also visited Fortnum & Mason; bought Wes a beautiful new leather handbag in a delightful shop off The Strand; picked up a purple vest for me; had a hot drink in the crypt of St Martin’s in the Field, and headed home in preparation for the influx of family that afternoon. Jeff & Kev were first to arrive and we spent a happy hour with them enjoying a drink. We had brought butter menthols and a box of starch as gifts and they were much appreciated. Then Leigh arrived and hosted drinks for family and friends that evening. As it was her birthday, her father, Kev, had arranged a lovely cake for her as a surprise. We had not met Leigh’s brother Mike’s wife, Kelly, before and she is a delight, as are Leigh’s many friends who had come from near and far.

The next morning we had slept well and breakfasted later. We went to Westminster Abbey and walked around St Margaret’s Church before deciding to spend our money on a three-hour cruise on the Thames instead of getting tired walking through the Abbey. The cruise was wonderfully relaxing and took us all the way to the Thames Flood Barrier, with an entertaining commentary on the way. We caught a taxi back to our hotel, dressed in our finery and were downstairs in time to be put into a luxury car to take us to the registry office at Marylebone. Leigh & Simon had opted for a simple ceremony with two readings – the first was a poem on marriage by Simon’s 12-year old daughter, Charlotte, and the second was a beautiful rendition from Wes of Hitched by C J Dennis. Even some of the non-Aussies congratulated him later on his reading. I was so proud of him – he looked magnificent in his kilt and his delivery was faultless, the result of many hours of practice.

Kev, Jeff, Simon, Leigh, Mike & Kelly

Jeff, Leigh & Karen

 

After the wedding we drove to The Ivy and upstairs to their private room for a splendid reception. The meal was exquisite; especially the raspberry Pavlova, the Pol Roger slid down effortlessly and we were treated to three further highlights. Firstly Kev gave a heartfelt speech as father of the bride, in which he expressed his pride and love for Leigh, and her brother, Mike; then Simon delivered an amusing, loving and touching speech, and finally the best man delivered an entertaining and witty speech at the end of which, he told Leigh that he knew what would make her even happier and produced a Shane Warne mask which he put on Simon’s face. That wasn’t all – he then gave her a signed, autographed photo of Shane, where he expressed his disappointment that Leigh chose Simon over him. We later discovered that he had arranged for Shane to pop into the reception as he was due to be dining in The Ivy that night, but on Thursday Shane had been called back to Australia. We slipped away quietly back to our hotel when Wes noticed that the colour had drained from my face…a giveaway that chronic fatigue is setting in and it’s time to go!

Wes & I got up early the next morning to watch the Collingwood vs Carlton game on our big screen. We had bought an AFL package and Wes had discovered how to get it onto our TV. It was a fantastic, close game, which the Pies were lucky to win at the very end. We then joined everyone for breakfast at our hotel, where our jar of Vegemite was passed around and at least two Poms are converted from Marmite. Leigh invited us to see their suite which had been decorated with rose petals and swans. We left them packing to go back home for the night before heading off yesterday for Los Angeles and Tahiti. Jeff & Kev were also going to Balham to spend the night before they were driven home to Torksey Lock in Lincolnshire. Some wedding guests were off to Paris, some were staying in London, and some others were travelling elsewhere, like us.

We walked to the nearest Box Office to see if there was a matinee show that we could catch, although most shows have Sunday off. There was nothing special available but Wes had noticed there was a Tchaikovsky Gala at the Royal Albert Hall, so we bought brilliant seats in a box. As we had 4 hours until it started we decided to walk through the Kensington Gardens, Green Park and finally Hyde Park, which brought us to the Hall in time to have a cream tea in the café. We were able to walk around the Hall to our seats from the café, where we enjoyed 2.5 hours of the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing excerpts from Romeo & Juliet; a piano concerto featuring a dynamic and charismatic young pianist, Freddy Kempf. After interval we heard Marche Slave; excerpts from The Nutcracker Suite (possibly the most beautiful music ever written) and finished with The 1812 Overture with fireworks. It was a perfect afternoon spent in the glorious place that we had somehow never visited before. On our way home we stopped for a Szechuan meal before an early night.

Yesterday it was time to leave the Radisson Blu and pick up our hire car. We got a cab to Tower Bridge, collected a Peugeot manual small car, fitted our luggage in and drove to Hay-on-Wye, where we are spending the next week. Wes did all the driving, and is very tired, especially after getting us out of London. We had decided to download the United Kingdom road maps onto our own Tom Tom, instead of trying to master an unfamiliar system and that has worked brilliantly for us. We found Lower House, on Cusop Dingle, and were shown our little cottage, Plas Bach, in the tapestry garden. It is a little like staying at Gail & Terry’s place as we can’t move for objets d’art, knick knacks, rugs, cushions, and brochures. I have tidied many of these things away and we are starting to feel a little more comfortable, especially now we have found the main light switch, mastered the wood box fire, and worked out how to get in and out of bed, which is in a tiny alcove. We have a stream running outside our bathroom & bed and it is the border between England & Wales….well, part of it!

After we had unpacked the clothes we had room for here, we went for a walk through the sheep paddocks, over stiles, through gates, into more sheep paddocks and finally into town, where we decided to have a drink & early dinner at The Black Lion hotel. Wes tried a local beer and I had a brandy & dry, both of which were lukewarm, and we drank a South African Shiraz with dinner, which was cod fritters for me and lamb shank for him. We got into conversation with a Canadian & English couple who live in Arizona, and this is their favourite place on earth, so they come back every year. We came back to our warm room, watched the last quarter of the Geelong vs North game to see how Geelong managed to come from behind and win, then off to bed.

 

This morning, Wes cooked scrambled eggs (we have been left some lovely organic provisions) on toast; I mastered the shower; I then mastered washing up (anyone who knows Wes will be aware that even a humble breakfast of scrambled eggs will have necessitated, the use of many more items than you or I might use, as well as getting the floor wet, dumping the dishes in the washing bowl instead of the sink, and generally creating mayhem), and banned serious cooking from now on. We then tidied away even more of the stuff before heading into town to find the Laundromat, get some cash, post the parcel, and start the serious business of buying books.

We walked past the Laundromat twice before someone helped by explaining it doesn’t have a sign and is very tiny; the bank & the PO wouldn’t change dollars, so I used an ATM, and we started our assault on the bookstores. We have arrived back this afternoon with 18 books from 2 bookstores; we enjoyed a wonderful lunch of carrot & ginger soup (me) and Welsh rarebit (Wes); we had a delightful encounter with the owners of the Hay Deli, who have sold us cucumber & lemon for our Hendricks gin, three different cheeses, some real Welsh chocolate with lavender, and various bits and pieces to make for a yummy light meal tonight. Wes has fallen asleep while I am writing – I do envy him the ability to go to sleep anywhere at any time.

Before I close, let me say how much we enjoyed rediscovering London, especially as, although it is cold, it is not the bitter chill of our last visit that saw me confined to bed for much of our time. From the minute we set foot in England we have been greeted warmly, we have been given assistance, we have been treated like valued guests in this country, and I guess much of it is down to the Olympics last year. We have really noticed a difference in attitudes, in signage and ease of travel, and tolerance of visitors.