Time to move again. but this time it's not just to fill in time. We're taking our holiday back.
We'll shortly be saying adieu to Paul and Alan and gorgeous Little Venice for a couple of weeks and taking an overnight boat to Caen. Actually, it's a train from London to Portsmouth, a ferry to Caen, and then we're hired a car for a week to head to a little hideaway called Villers-sur-Mer in Normandy.
Thanks to Airbnb we've rented the top floor of this little Chateau. (Follow the link and check out the view. Seriously!)
In other news, my shoulder is much improved, Ive a lot of movement back and it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much. The scans in Chesterfield showed no serious damage and the doctor has advised our insurance company that traveling again is fine.
In fact in a couple of weeks riding shouldn't be a problem, if only we were taking the riding gear. No room in the luggage I'm afraid. Probably a good thing cause I'd certainly be tempted to sneak over to Nurburgring.
Anyway, we're not sure of the internet availability on the train or ferry, so might not be able to update this till we're lying on the beach in northern France. Hey, someone has to do it.
Our Abbey Road experience turned out to be a little more special than we expected, thanks to the sudden appearance of the sun and a random meeting with 3 young Germans, in particular, Klara the violin girl.
We arrived about 20 minutes before the appointed time, so had plenty of opportunity to take in the rather crowded atmosphere and finish our coffee. This is a very popular place.
So Kevin
came out to play, we put our "spot the aussie" hats on, and brought out
the flag. Then Janelle did a
quick preliminary safety check to dispose of her empty coffee cup.
Now right at the end of this clip you might have noticed Janelle walk past a couple of young girls who had just turned up. Well, we didn't really think anything of it until just a few minutes later, and completely without warning, we saw this... (so glad I had the camera ready).
So, not being one to miss an chance, a deal was quickly struck. Yep, you guessed it. Violin Girl Klara Tihomirov ended up walking across and back quite a few times. First with her friends, and a random who happened along behind. (I bet he never expected to be on youtube by days end).
Then the return trip. Traffic got in the way making for a much longer then expected delay.
And then it was our turn with one of Klara's friends driving the camera. The vid didn't work first time but we got it fired up for the return trip and she captured the clip below. Janelle and I, Kevin, the aussie flag, and all of us led by our own personal Minstrel.
I really don't have words to describe it. Seriously, how awesome it this!
And then to top it all off, a few minutes later Rho posted this screenshot of our first crossing on Facebook. You can just make out the flag and Klara half obscured by the motorcycle.
So...
Thanks to an amazingly sunny London day, which meant we had a reason to wear our hats.
Thanks to all the drivers who we delayed, but I figure you must be used to it all by now.
Thanks to everyone at home who took the time to share a very special moment with us, even if you didn't quite know what was happening on the webcam.
Huge thanks to Rho for snapping the screenshot off the internet from 20,000 kms away!
And a very special thank you to Violin Girl Klara and your friends. You ladies were in the perfect place at the perfect time and you really did make our silly little game so very, very much more.
Oh, and why is the camera facing the wrong way?
Because it's mounted in the front lawn of Abbey Road Studios, so it's on their property. Simple as that.
We're back safe and sound in London after a very relaxing train journey. It's actually really nice to not have to think too hard about the future for a day or two.
After all the hassles and drama's that have happened in the last couple of weeks, we think it's time for a little bit of silliness. Don't you?
So we all know the most famous zebra crossing in the world, don't we? Yes you guessed it... that one outside Abbey Road Studios in London. Where the Beatles album cover of the same name was photographed.
Now it turns out there's a webcam there. Here's the link... Abbey Road Crossing although for some reason it's facing the other way. Silly Abbey Road!
So, assuming we get back to London tomorrow, at 7pm Friday night Australian time (10am Friday morning here) we're going to make our best Beatle impersonation and strut across that crossing. We may even stop in the middle and wave. Whatever we decide you wont miss us, I promise!
It would be a really great way to connect with everyone cause we really do miss you all. Screenshots and emails please.
Probably best to check back here this time tomorrow to make sure we're still on, and we'll also post an hour or so before to confirm, but at this stage, we're committed.
We know it's Friday evening at home, and you may have other things on, so if that time really doesn't suit, let us know and we'll see what we can do.
Shoulder scan today indicated no muscle or tendon separation, so that means no surgery. The general feeling is I hyper-extended my left arm at the shoulder, while saving my neck... literally!
Ill be seeing the surgeon on Thursday to work out what's next, but we're hopeful insurance will let us go to France and I'll just need some fairly intense physio when we get back.
And we figured we can't stay at the top joint in town and not stir them up a little, like any Aussie should when abroad. Can you spot us in the pic below?
We're relocating to Buckingham's Hotel tomorrow as it's time for the Powerhouse Peugeot to go back and we'll need to walk everywhere then. This place is too far out of town.
So 2 more nights in Chesterfield (including tonight), then train back to Serenity Base in London on Thursday to await the decisions.
We decided to treat ourselves again and we're spending the next 2 nights at the Casa We suspect this is quite probably the best joint in town. Nice!
Before leaving the Liverpool area this morning we dropped by the ferry port on the Mersey river (well you just have to don't you). Also checked out a genuine German U-Boat. Didn't pay out the 6 pound entry fee though. A quick look on Trip Advisor told us to not bother.
I've got to say Liverpool, well Birkenhead to be exact, struck us as similar to the Dover area. Old and tired. Rusty, dirty and just generally falling down. And very few of their younger generation. The kids have gone and no one really seems to care. It's really very alarming, but I don't know if they notice. Sad.
Anyway, shoulder scan tomorrow and we expect back to London on Wednesday to plan next moves.
Hello again everyone. Because I behaved myself at Stonehenge yesterday, they let me out to play again today. It might be a bit longer again now though cause I'm afraid I wasn't a very good Koala.
See Koalas's can't read, so I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to play with all the cool Dr Who stuff. The nice girl got quite upset when I tried to climb up the Cyberman. Luckily I'd already had a play on most of the other awesome things before I got busted. :)
And Terry got to play with the Tardis and show off with a Dalek, while Janelle almost got caught by the scary Cyberman.
I totally geeked out. It was so much fun! Cardiff is a long way to come, but it was worth it!
There's roman ruins only a few hundred meters from here. The streets carry the original stones in places, there's arches and... well... it's just lovely. We're staying at The Priory and here is a little more about Caerleon from Wikipedia
And the people here seem so friendly and happy. We told one couple over dinner that we went to Dover and she looked at us like we were mad. I think we probably were too.
The drive here though, that's another story. The road system in UK is largely beyond coping. Too many cars, not enough bitumen. Simple equation really. You have been warned.
Anyway, here's some random pics from todays adventures. Video to follow, but my wine and my girl are waiting for me.
It's fair to say that last night in Dover was without doubt the lowest point of our adventure. What a sad, lonely, broken town! And it really made us question why we are staying here instead of packing up and running for home.
Well that may still be what happens if our travel insurance requires it after the scans next Tuesday. But for now we got as far away from Dodgy Depressing Dover as we could and have treated ourselves to a night in the Marriott at Swindon on the way to Wales.
What a world of difference. Words simply cannot describe it. And not a shifty East European accent anywhere.
Excuse me while I order another Jack Daniels...
... I think the jacuzzi is a tad too warm, don't you?
I've been playing with my toy. Here's some vids that we've taken over the last few days.
Following request from Rho, here is the street we now call our London base. Westbourne Terrace Road, Little Venice, near Paddington. And again, we cant thank Paul and Alan enough for everything they've done for us..
Yesterday (Thursday) I was filming the Spitfire and Hurricane at the Battle of Britain Memorial, when I heard the unmistakable sound of a Merlin engine overhead. Sorry for the dodgy camera work, but how amazing it this?
And the Memorial itself. Sorry about the shaky zooming, but you'll get the idea.
The motorsport fans will surely know of the sentimental home of British motorsport, Donington Park. We arrived during a Ron Haslam training day. My camera work leaves a lot to be desired, but you'll get the idea.
And finally, a little sample of the M40 Motorway during quiet time. Today this road was so congested traffic simply stopped. Really.
