Great Darkgate Street is effectively the central business district of Aberystwyth, or, if you like, the 'High Street'.
Sam is crossing Alexandra Road, opposite the railway station.
The Vale of Rheidol pub on Alexandra Road
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Around Aberystwyth: town and country
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Stonehenge
We collected Jess and Sam last night from Bristol Airport, and we then all stayed in the 'The Langford at Lower Langford'. This morning, we drove through the gently sloping hills of southern England into scenery offering more distant views. At length, we arrived in the Salisbury Plain, and finally at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre.
It was a freezing, cold day and we wrestled with the choice of going out immediately to the ancient site itself or exploring the Centre. We chose the latter, since it was raining, and studied some of the information there. Harvey enjoyed constantly pressing the button that opened and closed the exit. While he did that, I inspected the three or four reconstructed houses depicting life in the Neolithic era. When the weather began to look a little clearer, we boarded the shuttle bus for the six-minute ride to Stonehenge.
It was no longer raining, but it was freezing. Taking photos required taking off your gloves, which was too cold on the hands. We listened to audio about the history of Stonehenge, dating back some 5,000 years, and a little about the immediate landscape. Five thousand years ago, a circular ditch was dug. Another 500 years would pass before the large Sarsen rocks were delivered to the site. These stones came all the way from South Wales, specifically the Preseli Mountains in Pembrokeshire. How exactly the big boulders were delivered remains a mystery. An experiment was conducted some time ago, bringing a large Sarsen stone from South Wales, but it sank into the sea.
Sam and I studied the landscape around Stonehenge, which included ditches and banks, shaped by humans thousands of years ago, and barrows. The latter were graves for people of the Neolithic.
The biting cold prevented a longer stay at Stonehenge. We headed slowly back to Wales, heading north to the M4, and passing through three snow storms.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
South to Bath
Aberystwyth - Glangrwyney- Bath - Lower Langford
The Bell Inn inGlangrwyney , where we had lunch. Harvey climbed onto a stool at the bar.
We crossed the Severn Bridge into England.
A church in Bath
Bath's Abbey
A Bath street
Harvey and the Abbey
The famous Royal Crescent in Bath
Specsavers came to the rescue for fixing Harvey's glasses this morning. Harvey's type of frames that he ruined in yesterday's accident has been discontinued, but Specsavers had one last pair left and had not yet thrown them away. Lucky for Harvey.
We headed off this morning bound for our hotel near Bristol Airport, specifically a place called Lower Langford. Our route took us through Rhayader to a place near Abergavenny called Glangrwyney where we stopped to have lunch.
We crossed the Severn Bridge and into England, eventually arriving at Bath, a place of old world charm, exceptional architecture, pretty parks, and Roman baths dating back 2,000 years. The actual Roman baths cost £14 each to enter, and, as I recall from the 80s, it's a bath no bigger than a small swimming pool., and not worth the cost. You may as well visit Rome.
We arrived in Lower Langford and checked into our hotel. For dinner tonight, I had Pheasants Casserole. The dish was very satisfactory, apart from the inclusion of a piece of shrapnel from the bullet used to kill the pheasant.
Harvey goes to hospital
Yesterday, our day began quietly but ended with a bit of drama.
All morning, we sat lazily around, enjoying the rural quiet, the occasional lowing of the cows in the fields and the bleating of sheep on the green, green hills. At one point, a cow went 'mooooo', and Harvey mocked it, saying 'whaaaaat?'.
The biggest thing I personally did all morning was visit the Bow Street butcher shop to buy a dozen eggs. At the same time, Mag and Tom had gone to town, so the rest of us were alone for a while.
In the afternoon, we took a sleepy drive, passing through Borth and Clarach, before finally visiting our friend, Alison, at Llanilar. Hannah and her two gorgeous little daughters were there, and Harvey and Emilia enjoyed playing on the stairs for a while, cautioned regularly by various parents to play more safely. Eventually, Emilia came away from the stairs but Harvey was still hanging around the bottom step. All had gone reasonably quiet.
Suddenly, Harvey fell off the bottom step. I heard a smacking of flesh against the hard floor, and tears quickly followed. Harvey was bleeding from above the right eye. Hannah said he'd not actually hit his head but had saved himself with his hands. His glasses leg had snapped off and poked into the side of his head. It was quite a deep cut but he was really good about it. We went to Bronglais Hospital just in case.
The hospital system was very good. We arrived at about 6pm, and left at 7.20pm. We were shown a special waiting room for children, where they could play with some toys, including the digital, interactive kind. The staff allowed me to use their telephone to provide an update to Mag, and they even gave Harvey a nice little teddy bear. I didn't think we'd get any of that in Australia.
It was bizarre in one sense. Twenty years ago, on an earlier visit to Wales, our then two year old daughter, Jess, was playing in the back garden at Alison's house. When a RAF jet suddenly roared over the rooftops, a terrified Jess fled, gashing her eye on a flower pot. She was taken to Bronglais Hospital, and has a scar to this day. Now, 20 years later, another eye injury - at Alison's house! - and another visit to Bronglais.
Monday, 26 January 2015
The polar brrrr
We've now been in Wales for 48 hours. After enjoying a lot of sunshine in London, we had some rain yesterday, which I knew we'd see in Wales (you can't expect it not to rain in Wales). Today, though, the sun pushed through the clouds, and did its level best to warm our shivering joints.
Despite the cold, we've not stayed indoors. Yesterday, Jean and I watched the Bow Street Under 19s draw 3-3 against Machynlleth, just up the road from Jean's parents' house. I felt for the players, running around in low temperatures, some colliding with other players and crashing to the slightly muddy, damp ground. We met Jean's childhood friend, Ann, whose son, Jac, scored a goal to great applause. Afterwards, we spent a couple of hours with Ann and her family.
Today, we were reunited with our friends, Hannah and Moya at Hannah's house. Later, we went with Hannah and her two gorgeous daughters to the playground next to the Aberystwyth Castle. Harvey and two year old Emilia revelled in the delights of the playground, and the rest of us delighted in their youthful pleasure, despite the chilly, damp air. The cold compelled me to suggest hot chocolate, so we all repaired to the nearby Starbucks cafe at the top of Great Darkgate Street.
We're expecting reasonable weather for the immediate future. But the first half of February is meant to be bitterly cold. This is due to the jet stream being further south than normal. This is causing a displaced polar vortex: the frigid atmosphere above the North Pole is being pulled down over Great Britain, bringing strong to gale-force winds and snow in many centres. It will be, as the Daily Mirror put it, 'the polar brrrr'.
Saturday, 24 January 2015
Bye London, hello Wales
After Sophie had been sick for a few days, it was Harvey's turn to be sick this morning, and when I say 'this morning', I mean very early this morning, as in in the wee small hours. At about 3am, I was visiting our hotel Reception, which is actually two streets away, to request a change of bed covering. At that time of day, London is actually not that cold.
We were all completely knackered when we awoke at 6am to get ready to leave London today. Later, we saw Jess and Sam off at St Pancras, where they took the Eurostar through to Paris, just as we did a mere18 months ago. We then hired our silver people mover, and returned to our hotel to collect Sophie and Harvey.
Harvey, who'd been vomiting early this morning, was now very chirpy, as we headed out of London, taking the M40 towards Birmingham. After grabbing something to eat there, our route took us via Shrewsbury, and into Wales, where the windy roads had me begin to worry just a little about Harvey. In the past, Wales' windy roads have made me feel very unwell after the long flight from Australia, and, sure enough, only five minutes from Jean's parents' place, Harvey vomited! Pulling in at the Black Lion at Tal-y-Bont, we fixed Harvey up and got going again, finally arriving in the dark at 5.40pm. Jean's mum and dad, Tom and Mag, were delighted to see us. We sat down to a nice hot bowl of Cawl.
The Tower of London and Westminster Abbey
It's been difficult to write a blog post over the last day or so, with both Sophie and Harvey being sick.
The Tower of London
A Yeoman Warder with Tower Green behind him, the sight of many executions in centuries past.
Currently, there are eight Ravens kept in the Tower.
The White Tower, at right, was the first part of the Tower of London to be built. It was completed near the end of the 11th century, and took 20 years to build. The Crown Jewels are kept in the building at left.
The family with a Yeoman Warder, who must complete 22 years minimum in the British armed forces to qualify for the job.
At right is the Chapel Royal of St Peter Ad Vincula. In front of the chapel is Tower Green.
Tower Bridge
The London Eye, which was not yet built when I lived here in the 80s.
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
A corridor in the Abbey overlooking the cloisters
Our friends, John and Ber.
Yesterday, Sam, Jess, Jean, Harvey and I visited the Tower of London. I've been there many times over the years, but I love the place - its long history, its solid stone walls, its tall towers stretching high overhead, its uneven cobble stones underfoot, its connection to the river Thames, and its essential Ravens, who, according to legend, will hasten the British monarchy's demise if they are ever removed from the Tower of London. And one should not forget to mention the burly Beefeaters or Yeoman Warders with their cheeky humour, their fascinating historical accounts, and stomach-turning stories of hundreds of bodies buried beneath the Chapel Royal of St Peter Ad Vincula and the blood and guts spilled at the scaffold on Tower Green in centuries past.
We pushed Harvey round in his stroller, and took him into the White Tower to see Henry VIII's armour in the world's longest running exhibition. Sam and Jess seemed to like everything they saw. They also enjoyed seeing the Crown Jewels, guarded safely in the vaults of the Tower of London.
Later, we took a boat along the Thames from the Tower of London to the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. We alighted, and strolled to the Abbey. Taking an audio tour inside, we listened to the historical commentary about the many Kings and Queens buried in Westminster Abbey - St. Edward the Confessor, King Henry VII, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary I and Mary, Queen of Scots to name a few. Many other people of non-royal birth are buried in the Abbey, and many merely commemorated here. There were members of the royal household, civil servants, and military officers. Some were former prime ministers like William Ewart Gladstone. Others have gone down in literary history such as the great Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare, buried and commemorated, respectively, in Westminster Abbey. As you pass through the centre, or through the nave, or around the sides of the Abbey, or when visiting the high altar, or when entering a quiet chapel, you inevitably step upon the stone graves of the many buried here, many names meaningless to the casual visitor, but names important enough to be honoured with a burial in such hallowed ground.
Last night, Jean and I, Jess and Sam, and two London friends of ours, John and Ber, followed a tradition we established in the '80s - we had dinner at the Chinese restaurant Wong Kei at Leicester Square.
Thursday, 22 January 2015
Changing of the Guard
This morning, we saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. All except Sophie, who was very unwell today, spending the day indoors. The Changing of the Guard is the same spectacle it always was. But I'm not knocking it. It's still a bit of fun for young and old. A policeman was lapping up the attention paid to him by many tourists who just had to have their photos taken with him, including Jess and Sam. There was a serious aspect to the presence of the police, however. Apart from immediate human traffic control, I heard one of them ask the crowd to inform police if they saw anything suspicious.
We left Jess and Sam shortly before 12, and they spent the afternoon by themselves, visiting attractions like the London Eye and the London Dungeons. Jean and I went to the Bag o' Nails pub in nearby Buckingham Palace Road to have lunch with my colleague, Emma, from Australia. Following an excellent catch-up with her, Jean and I came home to Sophie.
Later, we popped out again to buy a child booster seat for Harvey to sit in in the hire car we're picking up on Saturday. We bought it in the Argos store. At Argos, they have a very large range of products, so large that any one staff member couldn't possibly remember every product. The customer studies a catalogue, chooses an item, punches the product code into a store tablet, which passes to a staff member. The customer then approaches the staff, who disappear momentarily and return with the product.
The Guards arrive at the Palace.
Jean and Harvey. We'd told Harvey he might see the Queen, but it didn't happen.
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