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The BIG UK trip.......... on Feb 28th 2004 I left Singapore for 8+ weeks in Europe - trying to see all my long lost mates, friends etc.. - but they kept moving away!! (Brittsy moved, the Stoates moved, the Hirds went to South Africa, the Kunheims went skiing etc..)
More details at http://mikecurley.simoncjwalker.net/mjc/Papsy-Lived/200402-UK-Holiday.htm
Here's a first view of the 99 piccies I took during the trip - these are not enlargeable - with appropriate comments. Many thanks to everybody for being so welcoming (even though you did keep moving away from me!!), and making the whole trip so memorable:
Good old Brian Stoate (Stoatey) met me at Terminal 3 Heathrow on a bleak and cheerless 28th Feb - and it was cold!! Mayhem inside and outside Term 3 - then onto M4 (first impressions - everybody is driving too fast - crazy!! - we got overtaken by a Smart car (fabulous) - and we were doing 70+mph), then the M25 round to Kent to Andrea and Marc's house where Vonnie and Brian were staying because they'd sold their old house (and the new one wasn't available just yet) - well done Andy & Marc for putting up with yet another lodger!!
Next morning your Ace Photographer (me) was up bright and early to snap Von attending to Amelie's every need
Whilst everybody else got ready for a super Sunday Lunch - Tabitha, James and Poppy came round (suitably armed with booze)
this is Amelie with
Mum (suitably armed) looking on
Had James had some
before arriving (Poppy too by the look of things!!)??
Now I cannot remember if this is preparing our feast, or clearing up afterwards, but Marc, Andy and Brian don't appear to be doing much more than your Ace Photographer.
Monday morning arrives..... snow had fallen overnight - and again - it was cold!! Amelie is OK - warm inside with dad
but Brian and I had to
trudge out into that lot and commute up to London
Search Keywords for the preceding - Vonnie Stoate, Brian Stoate, Andrea Austin, Marc Austin, Amelie Austin, Tabitha, James and Poppy (sorry didn't get the surname!!)
Across to Victoria Coach Station, and onto the mid-morning bus to Taunton - off to see Brittsy and Mattie!! Now this is where they lived - right in the centre of Taunton (nice town)
see the little
white Peugeot (furthest away), to the left of the "this is a pay and display Car
Park" sign?? looks as though its nose is parked in some bushes?? Well the ground
floor 3 windows of the white house to the left of that car are what comprised
"the Taunton pad". Never went into the Kings Arms pub!!
Ah-ha - a closer view
Brittsy with little Zini (the
Gatekeeper)
Brittsy said we had to do an Exmoor walk, the first bit was fine - bit cold and windy, but soon got down into a small river valley - and after an hour or so right down into the bottom of the valley where we had a lovely pub lunch (in Brendon) and dried out/warmed up.
but after all that
we had to walk back up to the top of the moors and find our little car - it was
blowing a gale and sleety/rain was almost horizontal. We eventually found "White
Thunder" - took off all our wet clothes - jumped in - up with the heater - and
zoomed off home - feeling as though we'd survived an Arctic winter.
On another day Brittsy and I drove to (firstly see Tumbleweed - where she first lived) then Dunster village (castle etc..), (great place - lovely houses, pubs, cafes - very picturesque) and then Porlock for tea.
Search Keywords for the preceding - Britta Curley, Mathew John, Zini, Dunster, Taunton, Tumbleweed, Porlock
Then I was off again - by National Express coach to see Inga in Doncaster... 7 hours later, there she was.... raced me off to see Hanah and where they both lived in Austerfield, then took me round to my Hotel for the night - The Crown at Bawtry.
drinks in the bar first, then walk along to "Zini's" Italian
restaurant - excellent!!
Next morning Ace Photographer is out walking Bawtry - misty/cold, Crown Hotel is far down on the left in the mist
- waiting for
Roger & Elaine to drive over from Barnsley.
'Bout bloody time - where had you been?? (No, no - they were on-time in the punchy Mondeo) - back to their place via supermarkets etc... then down to visit friends JR & Cynthia (hello!!) and then Inga comes over for the evening and next couple of days. Did I not take any pics of the dogs?? (Charlie and Calley).
At Rog & Elaine's -
chitty-chatting.
Inga drove us over to Leeds - and she and I spent a cold day seeing the sights of that fair city - where she had gone to Uni years before
Cold hey??
Back to Rog & Elaine's - where mine host (was cooking a great dinner), but looks as though he's been caught out doing something he shouldn't!!
and next day he's
in 't office - installing a Golf game.
Now - would you believe it?? I'm on holiday, and very casually Elaine says "I don't really like the terracotta colour of our fences and shed etc.. in the back garden......... do you??". In truth, I'd though it was a bit of a "striking" colour, but then I heard myself suggesting "if you've got some creosote or whatever, I'll paint them for you" - silly sod - I'd been suckered into it..... "Ah- yes" she says "we've got 10 gallons of the stuff in the garage - can you start today??"
before and after
shots - but more coats were needed after this.....
Search Keywords for the preceding - Inga Curley, Roger Fieldhouse, Elaine Fieldhouse, Bawtry, JR & Cynthia, Doncaster, Barnsley, Austerfield, Charlie, Calley, Leeds, Zini's
Off to London by bus again - to see Maggie Leng in Woodford, she picks me up at the tube station - a quick run to her house, and off out to dinner at an Italian restaurant, then next day a bit of sightseeing in London, St Pauls, Tate Modern, The new bridge over the river, The Globe Theatre, The London Eye, Churchill's Bunker at Downing St, lunch in Covent Garden etc..
this is Creed Lane
- the first office I ever worked in - the IBM Department at the Times Newspaper
- all the first floor windows.
St Paul's being
cleaned again - so the frontage is a painting/picture - put up to hide the
cleaning process and to provide an idea of what the real thing looks like.
Maggie on that new
bridge
and then back home for a chitty
chat....
Search Keywords for the preceding - Margaret Charles, Maggie Leng, Creed Lane, Times Newspaper, Woodford
And then back to Brian and Vonnies (new house - but no furniture), and then off in the punchy Jaguar X-Type to La Plagne in France for a week's skiing (Brian & I).. fabulous weather, just about "not a cloud in the sky", great skiing..
morning
evening
next morning
next evening - all from the balcony,
with the chair-lift going right over the top.
himself with the "greatest G & T -
ever!!" 
evening mogul races.
Search Keywords for the preceding - La Plagne, Bob Morris and Maureen also Nobby, Lee, Richard and Nin
On returning to the UK, a day or so with Brian & Vonnie (helping prop up a smashed fence - from the gales earlier in the week) - also try to sort out boxes not yet unpacked in the garage - rent a car - and off to Bucks - and Eric and Jan Richford..
They're all Mercedes
Benz now with flash special number plates - had a great visit - many thanks,
good luck with all the house building etc... Eric!!
Search Keywords for the preceding - Jan Richford, Eric Richford, Jason Richford, Mickey Richford
Decided to go and see where my Mum was "buried" - Amersham Crematorium - Plot 1 in the trees behind the bench
Search Keywords for the preceding - Lily Curley, Amersham Crematorium
Then off to see BLewis in Wheatley - had a good chat with him in the "local" - but didn't meet Helen
Search Keywords for the preceding - Brian Lewis, Wheatley
After Blewis I had some time to see what had happened to the Hicks'. I'd tried phoning - to no avail - but knew exactly where they used to live - so off to Sonning I trot - and Hooray!! There was Camilla offering a cuppa tea, and Maureen came back from Waitrose soon after. We started drinking and by the time Roger got home, I was over the limit - so couldn't get back to my Hotel near Wheatley and had to stay the night
domestic bliss in the kitchen - and Rog
reckons that is his modle of boat which he keeps down on the Hamble. I didn't
count that one unexpected evening/night - as a proper visit - and promised (nay
threatened) to return.
Search Keywords for the preceding - Maureen Hicks, Roger Hicks, Sonning
But for now... a quick race back to my hotel - to checkout before they charge me for an extra day and on down into (not) deepest Wiltshire to see Throsstle!!
Malcolm Shuttleworth - as I live and
breathe - here, posing next to some "test patches" of grey paint, one of which
will be selected to adorn all areas of Throsstle Towers
Search Keywords for the preceding - Throsstle, Malcolm Shuttleworth
And then it was off over to Littlehampton (no disparaging remarks please) to see Wally Pears (Spares).
Spares in telly position and in the middle of his vast back garden. We
even had a round of pitch and putt (which I lost - he didn't win - I allowed the
host to win!!).
Search Keywords for the preceding - Spares, Wally Pears, Walford Pears
At this point, I didn't know if I was going to get shown where Inga had worked/volunteered for the National Trust in The Lizard in Cornwall. So rather than never see it - I took myself off there... brilliant day for driving, and what a nookie-nookie-noo place Poltesco and around is - fabulous.
The punchy Vauxhall Corsa (1.0 litres
and about 60 mpg!!) in the National Trust Car Park.
walk from the car park over a bridge to
Carleon House - that's the bridge coming up on the left
the track to Carleon House (that's it
on the left (note the sea in the distance))
Carleon House front door
and then a bit further
along - looking back - well buried!!
bit further along, only brambles and
the sea 
and the
beach
Back inside the National Trust Office/Display Room....
it turned out that Inga had made this
display board - but the reason I took the photie was because of the piccie at
middle to bottom right...
this is it - and I thought the lady on the rotavator was Inga -
apparently not - shame!!
Search Keywords for the preceding - Inga Curley, NT, National Trust, Carleon House, The Lizard, Poltesco, Eula Hardy, Serpentine,
Back to Taunton - Brittsy and Matt
first day was a quiet one - Brittsy
working on her Interior Design Project
me - off for a walk near Klivey - cliff
top walk then on the beach
Search Keywords for the preceding - Britta Curley, Mathew John, Klivey
Back to Barnsley and Rog & Elaine - only piccies I took were of this "artistic scene" - where I'm not sure whether I was trying to capture the raindrop/diamonds glittering away there, or the Voddie and Orange at bottom left...??
Suffice to say - there
was more fence-painting during this visit - maybe that's why my Ace Photographer
artistic zeal was ebbing...??
Bugger this I thought - 10 Gallons of Creosote will go a long way - and so I'd better go visit my mate Ken Johnston... in Suffolk
here is mine host, behind the bar of
the Sorrel Horse in Shottisham 
and here am I trying to imitate
Ken asked one of his clients (Charles and Charlotte) if I could B & B with them, which I did for one night, and on the morrow I was taking piccies of their fabulous house and location - Shingle Street
the house is the building at centre
and again
Coast Guard cottages
Janet & Ken just before another busy
lunchtime. NB, NB - please note!! (difficult to see) between Janet and Ken's
heads - hanging from the door-jamb (is that the thing that goes across the top
of a doorway??) is a plastic
bag just about filled with water. There is one at every outside doorway.
Please email me if you know why this occurs (no its not another of Johnston's
mad ideas!!). Oh - OK - I cannot contain myself any longer.... apparently (says
Our Beloved Landlord - OBL) - they keep the flies out!! Because they're a pub -
doors are left open quite a lot, and the plastic and the water serve to mess up
the flies' optical abilities - and so they don't fly in - clever hey??
the restaurant.
Search Keywords for the preceding - Ken Johnston, Janet Johnston, The Sorrel Horse, Shottisham, Shingle Street
Back via Norfolk (Chris Ward) - no piccies, and an overnight Hotel near Milden Hall - to Taunton where Brittsy insists that a Quantocks walk is called for. Inga and Florian are there by now, so off we trample...
we had a lovely lunch in ??? and set
off up the Quantock hills,
along a medieval "road"
across the moors
and down to Inga's car... brilliant day!!
Search Keywords for the preceding - Quantock Hills, Florian Stuertz
Next day could have been a moving day - but it wasn't - and it was sunny/hot - so we had lunch outside - great!!
For some reason - like she may have to teach school there - Inga wanted to visit various towns - and Dartmouth was one of them - so off we went... Ben had arrived by this time... welcome!!
Search Keywords for the preceding - Dartmouth, Florian, Ben, , Florian Stuertz
Now it was off to the "near London lot" - and the Hirds were first...
Great views out their back-garden
Search Keywords for the preceding - June Hird, Tony Hird
And then it was the Tucker's turn - why should they be let off??
lovely stay - I'm sure I won the snooker by more than that!!
Search Keywords for the preceding - Paul Tucker, Dorothy Tucker, David Tucker, Simon Tucker, Philip Tucker
Lucky Hicks' - a return visit - told you "I'd be back!!"
first shock was this scene - as I awoke
one morning - there were Camilla, Charlotte and Claire (Oliver's lady) all down
there - on the patio - studying (each with a laptop PC) BUT the
reason I took the photie was.... it was 16 degrees Celcius.... excuse me!!
You'll all catch pneumonia!!
Well - this is what Hicks Hundreds
looks like from the bottom of the garden - most impressive
and this is the whole family at
breakfast on the patio (l to r) - Camilla, Maureen, Roger, Charlotte, Oliver -
many thanks!!
A day or so later I zoomed back to Singapore where Janet had organised this "reception" for me at "bedside".
Basically, the nearest objects were thrown by me as I arrived (backpack and Mobile Phone).
Then we have the DHL Pillow, my second pillow, and on top of it - a new pair of trainers (thanks Bubsy!!).
BUT!! - Mama Gore has her feet in
them!! And Baby Gore (to her left) seems to be OK'ing the whole arrangement!!
I should never have gone away!!