Days 31 & 32: Sunday 27 April 2014 & Monday 28 April 2014

Sunday 27 April 2014

Another grey rainy day in Bath.  I don't have to be at Sutton Veny until about 2.00pm for the Anzac Day church service that starts at 3.00pm, so I have a bit of a late start, leisurely breakfast and walk around the town centre.



Seagull on my windowsill

Even in the rain the drive to SV is very pleasant, the Somerset countryside is very pretty with green rolling hills and small forests.  The wildflowers are just starting to come out with lots of bluebells around.  Some of the real estate ads advertise properties for sale with a bluebell wood as a feature of the property.

 

River Avon (again) - Bath

The church service was held in the same church as the school children's service on Friday.  However this service is much more 'proper', to my mind very English middle class and very Church of England.  But all the same still very well done and very touching.  Again the church is full, men in suits wearing their medals accompanied by their wives, some serving military personnel in uniform, members of the Britain - Australia Society, the local Bishop made an appearance, an Australian Colonel representing the Australian High Commission, a NZ Squadron Leader representing the NZ government and a smattering of Australian and NZ visitors like myself.

I had one moment of concern when I was reading the order of service because at one point amongst the instructions to stand and sit there was also an instruction to kneel.  Crikey, I thought, the old knees have stood up to this trip remarkably well so far but I don't know how they will handle this kneeling bit.  Anyway when we got to the kneeling bit most people sat down and didn't kneel so I did likewise.

The church service started with a procession of banners and flags into the church and a presentation of the flags at the altar. Flashy will appreciate that one of the flag bearers was in full Scottish regalia, including a large sporran.  There was much singing of the fine old C of E hymns such as Onward Christian Soldiers, I Vow to Thee my Country, Jerusalem and the Recessional.  During the Recessional the plate was passed around, luckily I had remembered my old Sunday school days and made sure I had some change for the plate.  The English, Australian & NZ national anthems were played and sung.  The minister gave a fine sermon about the coming and going of empires using Paul's letter to Corinthians as a starting point and talked about why Anzac was so important to the new countries such as Australia and NZ.

The laying of the wreaths, recitation of the ode and playing of the Last Post etc was supposed to be done outside in the churchyard however as it was bucketing down outside this part of the service took place in the Anzac chapel inside the church.  I was doing OK up until now however when they carried out the flags and banners in procession the church organ started playing Waltzing Matilda and that got to me again, does it every time. 

After the service I caught up with Nicki Barnard who co-ordinates the school Anzac day service and gave her some copies of some photos of my grandfather in the hospital in SV and copies of parts of his service record that refers to his time in the hospital there.  She was very appreciative of that as the school has a collection of photos etc relating to the Anzacs who were there.

Monday 28 April 2014

So this is my last day in England and apart from the flight home the last day of my trip.  My flight doesn't leave Heathrow until 10.30pm so I have a full day to fill in so I decide to visit Stonehenge which is on Salisbury plain sort of on the way from Bath to Heathrow.

Last time I was at Stonehenge was in 1986, and in those days it was just a pile of rocks in the middle of a paddock.  Guess what, it is still a pile of rocks in the middle of a paddock, although they have built a new visitor centre about 2 miles away.  When I was there in '86 there was a small visitor centre about 200 metres from the rocks, now there is a large visitor centre about 2 miles from the rocks and you catch a shuttle train thing to and fro, after you hand over your 16 quid of course.

A barrow - burial mound - Stonehenge

Stones - Stonehenge

More stones - Stonehenge

Anyway it filled in a few hours of what is often a wasted day.  The next challenge was finding the Hertz depot at Heathrow and returning the hire car.  Heathrow airport is massive, there are five terminals and I would think that each of the five terminals are bigger than Tullamarine.  However after successfully negotiating what seemed like an endless series of on and off ramps, merging traffic lanes, last minute dashes to get into the correct lane and a series of roundabouts I made it to the Hertz depot.

After dropping the car off I caught the shuttle bus to terminal three and as I was early (again) I had to wait half an hour for the check in to open.  After check in and getting rid of some bags I went through the usual security checks a made my way to the business class lounge for a well earned drink.

The flight home was long and uneventful apart from a delay of about an hour before departure from Heathrow (sitting in the plane) and a further delay of about an hour at Dubai (sitting in the airport).



 

Day 30: Saturday 26 April 2014

Clair, you are right, it rains a lot in Bath!  Even when it is not raining it looks like it is going to.

Today was a day out and about on the Somerset downs and Salisbury Plain.  The first place I drove to was the tiny village of Fovant.  Fovant is famous for the Fovant Badges.  What are the Fovant Badges I hear you say and lucky for you I am full bottle on the Fovant Badges.

The Fovant Badges are large military badges carved into the chalk of one of the hills just outside of the town.  Most of the badges were carved by soldiers who were camped in the area during TGW but some of those have disappeared and some extra ones added.  There are currently 8 badges visible and the largest is the Australian rising sun badge at 51 metres x 32 metres.  (As I still can't post pics if you want to have a look at these badges type Fovant Badges into the google thingymabob and have a look at the website).



Fovant Badges 1917

Fovant Badges 2014

Now here's the thing, in 1917 my grandfather was camped in this area prior to going to France and he sent his mother a post card with a photo of the Fovant Badges on it.  On the reverse he has written, "That Rising Sun and other things are cut in the side of the hill just behind our camp.  The rising sun is over 22 feet wide, from Allan".  The scene from where the post card photo was taken is almost the same now as it was then, very little has changed.



Rising Sun badge on hillside

From Fovant I drove to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain.  During TGW,  Salisbury plain was major concentration point and training area for military units prior to going to the Western Front in France and Belgium.  The 3rd Division AIF including the 40th battalion spent a lot of time in the Larkhill area. Salisbury Plain is still a major military training area Larkhill is still a major depot, camp and ammunition store for British Army artillery units.  I certainly didn't stop and take any photos in this area.  If I had I would still probably be trying to explain to some beefy British military policeman that I am really only an Aussie tourist with an interest in military history.


 The Australians must have found Salisbury plain very bleak, particularly in the winter, it was bleak enough yesterday in spring.

Larkhill is also near Stonehenge so I had lunch at the Stonehenge Inn & Carvery.  Roast beef roll with horseradish sauce, gravy, chips and salad.  I am pleased that I only wanted something light!

Bath - late afternoon sun

I drove back into Bath in time for evening drinks.  All the pubs in the centre of town were very busy so I went to my local just around the corner from where I am staying and had a couple of pints of Amstel.  I also made a new friend, Oscar the black lab who was there with a patron but seemed to have the run of the place.  I not sure if Oscar liked me or the very unlikely chance that I was going to drop my bag of pork scratchings on the floor in front of him. 

The street my hotel is in - Bath

Dinner was at a restaurant called Garfunkels and the less said about that the better!

(PS I thought that I had found a way to post pics, but even if I get a pic into the draft it still won't let me post it to the blog, accursed technology!)

Day 29: Friday 25 April 2014 (Anzac Day)

I have previously mentioned that I was going to attend the Anzac day service at the village of Sutton Veny (SV).  During TGW there was amongst other military installations a military hospital at SV and there are 140 Australians buried in the SV churchyard which is maintained as a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, my grandfather spent 6 months in 1918 in SV recovering firstly from his wound and then peritonitis.  Every year since 1919 the village C of E primary school has held a service commemorating Anzac day and the men buried in their churchyard.  The story is that in 1919 some children wagged school and went and picked wildflowers in the woods, however as they had wagged school they were to scared to take the flowers home, so they put the flowers on the soldiers graves and the tradition has continued.

The church, St John the Evangelist Church, where the service was held, was built around 1850 so it isn't old by English standards but it is old enough to impress me.  The inside of the church has rows of pews divided by a central aisle with aisles on either side and further pews on the other side of the outside aisles, the central pews were set aside for the school children.  Extra seating had been placed across the back of the church to accommodate the crowd expected for the service.  By the time the service started at 1.30pm the place was full, with many parents and grandparents of the children participating in the service, also a smattering of Australians and a couple of servicemen in uniform.

The service began with all the children and their teachers filing in and taking their place in the central block of pews.  (These children range from littlies aged 5 or so up to probably 11 - 12 year olds and all up there was probably about 140 of them).  After everybody was seated a small procession of children walked down the central aisle carrying a British, Australian and New Zealand flag and a slouch hat.  The last child in the procession was dressed in a TGW Australian uniform jacket, some webbing and wearing a steel helmet.  This clothing and equipment was full size so did not fit him at all.  (I later wondered if this was deliberate to emphasize age of some of the men/boys who enlisted).   The boy dressed as a soldier stood on a low table in the central aisle facing the rear of the church, and the audience.

The minister made a short address of welcome and handed the ceremony over to the children.  The children then stood and turned to face the audience and sang a "remembrance song", I don't know what the song was, I haven't heard it before but it was about the "last soldier".

After the song Major Matt Worthington of the Australian Army gave an address providing a bit of historical background to the Anzac story.  Now I don't know who wrote the good Major's speech but there were some historical inaccuracies in it, but it would be churlish of me to go into that here and now.

We all then sang "I vow to thee, my country", and then God Save the Queen.  The Australian and New Zealand national anthems were also sung through the service.

The children presented a "story and drama" abut the Anzac Biscuit.  The story was about a woman and her daughter at home making Anzac biscuits for their husband and father at the front.  Two of the girls read the mother and daughter part, a boy the soldier part and the boy dressed as a soldier acted the soldier part and the rest of the children joined in at certain times. It was beautifully done.  At one stage the mother and daughter were dancing around the kitchen and the entire school started to softly sing Waltzing Matilda, not a dry eye in the house including mine.  Then the soldier was described as looking at the stars and thinking of home and 5 or 6 of the youngest students (5 year olds) dressed as stars skipped around the church while the rest of the children softly la la laed (not sure how to describe this) the tune to waltzing matilda, again very touching.

The play finished with the tin of Anzac biscuits being passed by the students around the church to the soldier with him eventually receiving his tin of Anzac biscuits from home.  The boy dressed as the soldier then sang the last part of "remembrance song" on his own to finish that part of the service.

The children all then filed out of the church, picking up a small posy of flowers as they went and each child went and stood in front of a soldier's grave and then laid their posie on the grave.  One of the children then recited "The Ode", the Last Post was played, a minutes silence was observed and the Rouse was played which finished the service.  This was all done in light drizzling rain.



We then retired to the village hall for tea and Anzac biscuits.  In speaking with the school staff and the main lady who organizes it all they are all very pleased that some Australians went to the effort to be there and they were also very proud of their students and the remembrance service that they presented.

All in all a most touching and memorable Anzac day.

Day 28: Thursday 24 April 2014

Dear reader there have been some comments that I have not been providing enough information about the food I have been eating, so I thought I would start today's blog with a description of today's meals.

Breakfast started with some freshly squeezed orange juice accompanied by home made fruit salad.  This was followed by what is quaintly known around these parts as a full English breakfast.  This comprised of fried eggs happily provided by the contended hens at Speckledy Hens of Southside Farm, the bacon and sausage came from the not so contented pigs at Sandridge Farm, the mushrooms and tomato from Hillside farm and a homemade potato cake.  This was accompanied by toast and fresh plunger coffee.  There is a choice of eight coffees and sixteen teas.  Not a bad start to the day.

Whilst I am talking about food I may as well keep on describe dinner tonight.  I decided I would go to a proper restaurant, one with tablecloths and waiters and chose Browns on the Avon river.  Upon arrival I had a G & T and decided on my entrée of duck terrine.  When I ordered this I asked the waiter  if the duck was wild and he said "it wasn't very happy sir", gosh we laughed at that.  I followed this up with a lobster tagliatelle which included half a lobster tail (small), this was probably one of the most delicious dishes I have had on the trip. This was accompanied by a Rothschild viogner.  To finish off with I spoilt myself with an eton mess.  Eton mess is a traditional English dessert and is comprised of crushed meringue, cream, white chocolate, raspberry sauce and blackcurrents all mixed up together.  It is so delicious that you continue to eat it even after you start to feel sick.

Earlier in the day I drove to the small towns of Sutton Veny (SV) and Frome.  SV has an Anzac Day service there on Anzac day as well as a church service on the following Sunday.  The area was surrounded by military camps, base depots and military hospitals and played host to many Australian and New Zealand units.  My grandfather was in hospital in SV after he became seriously ill with peritonitis.  The churchyard has a civilian cemetery but also has 140 or so Australian soldiers buried there who died at the local military hospital.  Many of these soldiers died of the Spanish flu after the war was over.  The local community have been holding Anzac day services there since 1919.

Cemetery - Sutton Veny

St John's church - Sutton Veny

 Whilst I was there today there was a guy from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and some people from the parish tidying up the cemetery and the churchyard ready for the service tomorrow.

Frome is a larger town and is where some of my ancestors hailed from.  My great great grandparents on my mother's mother's side came from Frome.  Charles Burgess was born in 1850 in Frome, migrated to Australia in 1886 and died in Burnie in 1937.  I visited the churchyard and had a look at the graves but didn't find any dearly departed long lost ancestors. 

High Street - Frome

I drove back into Bath and being thirsty after my adventures I retired to The Volunteer Rifleman Arms for a couple of well earned pints.  Dinner followed, as has been described above.

Day 27: Wednesday 23 April 2014

Time to move on from London today.  So I check out from the hotel and cab it to Paddington Station where I am to catch the train to bath.  Now here is a funny thing, when I booked online the difference between a first class ticket and economy was minimal so I booked first class, and guess what there is a first class lounge at the station like they have at the airport except not as swish.  So I relax in the lounge for half an hour or so waiting for my train, I enjoy some orange juice, coffee and pastries with a complimentary copy of The Times, old chap. Although I must admit that The Times has gone downhill since it went tabloid.

The train trip was a pleasant hour and a half through the very green English countryside, with complimentary refreshments.  Once I arrived in Bath I picked up my hire car which appears to be a larger version of a Fiat bambino, but seems like fun to drive.

The Fiat

I am staying at a hotel in Bath called The Kennard, it is in what was once a Georgian townhouse and is quite elegant but with small rooms again.  My room is in what was probably the attic which means climbing heaps of stairs to get it.  When I checked in the proprietor was showing me to the room and as we walked up the 3 flights of stairs I suggested that next time we use the lift, boy did we laugh about that.  The other good thing about the hotel is that the tariff includes a cooked full English breakfast, so I am looking forward to that.  I will provide a detailed description of that in due course.

As most of you would know, Bath is in the county of Somerset and the folk here really do have a different accent and sound a bit rural.  Imagine a Two Ronnies Sketch with them wearing smocks, straw hats and saying aaaagh a lot. The proprietors of the hotel also sound different but then again they are Italians so they would sound different wouldn't they.

River Avon & bridge - Bath

Was drizzling a bit so donned my coat, down three flights of stairs and a 5 minute walk into the centre of the town.  The whole place is very touristy with the main attractions in town being the Roman baths and the Abbey.  There are also lots of interesting little lanes with shops, restaurants and pubs snuggled away in them.  The bridge across the river near my hotel has shops and restaurants built as part of it like those bridges that you see in Florence. 

When I was in the tourist information centre I asked for a map of the region and explained that I wanted to go to Frome and Sutton Veny (SV).  Now Frome was not a problem as that is in Somerset, the same county.  However the lady in the tourist information office had never heard of SV, she had to look it up on her computer.  SV is in the next county but still less that 20 miles away.   I think she said something along the lines of "aaaaargh, that be on Mars then" although I could have been mistaken given her accent.

Centre of Bath and Bath Abbey

Anyway for something entirely different I had lunch in a pub with a pint of Best bitter. 

Dinner was at the local pub near my hotel, steak and ale pie with mash and gravy, and a couple of pints of cider.  I really must find a decent restaurant for dinner tomorrow night.

Day 26: Tuesday 22 April 2014

Today is my last day in London, I catch the train for Bath tomorrow morning.  As I haven't been into the centre of London yet I decide that will be the starting point for today's adventures.

So, after my complimentary continental breakfast I am off to the station, catch my train on the circle line and change to the Piccadilly line at South Kensington and disembark at Piccadilly Circus.  The statue of Eros is in the middle of Piccadilly Circus and there are many brightly illuminated billboards all around, maybe trying to match Times Square.  It also an incredibly busy traffic intersection with red double decker buses and London cabs whizzing through.  Unfortunately the statue of Eros was covered in scaffolding, obviously having some renovation work being done to it.

A short walk took me from Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square with Nelson's column dominating the square.  After walking around and taking some photos I realized that there was hardly any pigeons there.  Last time I was at Trafalgar Square the pigeons were in plague proportions.  I found out a little later what was going on when I came across the hawk man.  This man was standing near his van with a magnificent Harris Hawk on his arm, this is what they use to keep the pigeons away, and I tell you now, it is working. He also had an owl which he put on his arm.  Each time I tried to take a photo of the owl it spun its head 180 degrees so it was looking away from me, good trick though.  And Leanne, the man told me that he flies the hawks a "bit heavy" so they don't actually catch the pigeons, just scare them away.


Harris's Hawke - Trafalgar Square

Owl - Trafalgar Square

Another short walk down Whitehall, past the Horse Guards and Horse Guards parade with the mounted troopers on their horses on sentry go.  Further on past the cenotaph where the English hold their remembrance day ceremonies and on to Parliament House.  I seem to be doing lots of short walks today but covering a fair bit of territory anyway.  Crossed the river here and walked down past the London Eye and then back across the river and walked through St James park which bought me to Buckingham Palace.

Horse Guards

After standing outside Buckingham Palace with all the other tourists I continued my walk along 'rotten row' to Hyde Park corner where the Australian memorial to TGW and WW2 is. 

All in all I thought this is enough walking for today and being the middle of the afternoon was approaching time for a drink.  So I caught the train back to Kensington High Street and made my way to The Goat for a couple of pints of London Pride.  On the way back to the hotel I called into the station, handed my Oyster card back in, got my $5 deposit and the balance of the funds on the card refunded to me.  It really does work remarkably well!

The blog was prepared late this afternoon in the hotel bar whilst I consumed a couple of pints of cider.  I made a bit of a mistake last night when I was at a pub for dinner when I decided I would have a pint of scrumpy cider.  It was warm, flat, cloudy and had a faintly dishwater taste about it, took me a while to struggle through a pint I tell you now.

I decided to dine in again at one of the hotel restaurants and had salt and pepper ribs and chicken with black bean sauce.  Accompanied by a glass of Proseco (not sure if that is the correct spelling, but it was that Italian pretend champagne, still very nice all the same) and a glass of New Zealand white wine.

If any of the guys at the Shrine are reading this, good luck for Anzac Day, looks like it is going to be a busy one.

Day 25: Monday 21 April 2014

It is Easter bank holiday in London today, so I am expecting lots of people to be out and about, like myself.  I start the morning with the complimentary continental breakfast at the hotel.  When I booked my accommodation at the Copthorn Tara they offered me an upgrade to a "Club" room at the same price.  Included in the Club room package is free wi-fi and free continental breakfast.  Included in the continental breakfast is fruit salad, cereals & yoghurt (if you wish), cold meats, cheeses, toast, jam, pastries and good coffee.

The hotel was probably built in the 60's and is large by London standards.  It is very busy with lots of tour groups and airline crews staying here.  It is sort of like a proper hotel with a concierge, doorman, gift shop, gymnasium (like I am going to use that), bar and restaurants.  The location is great, near Kensington High Street station, shops and pubs.  Given that this weekend was the Easter long weekend it has been particularly busy but is a bit quieter tonight in the bar as I compose today's description of my adventures.

When I was planning this trip and thinking about thing to do in London I realized that I had never visited St Pauls cathedral, probably one of the prime tourist destinations in London.  So once more on the underground, using my Oyster card like a pro, disembark at Mansion House station and I am a 5 minute walk from St Pauls.  St Pauls is the cathedral that was destroyed in the great fire of London and was rebuilt to the design of Christopher Wren.  It really is magnificent and they charge a magnificent price to get in, $16, (remember I am using $ sign instead of pounds, and although Andrew sent me the ASIC code for pounds I can't make it work).  When I was paying my entrance fee I asked the guy if they accepted credit cards in the lord's house and he told me "of course they do". 

St Pauls Cathedral

 It was nearly worth the $16.  The crypt has many great English folk buried in it, including Wellington (who gave Napoleon his come uppance and whose tomb I have also visited on this trip) and Horatio Nelson amongst others.  I also climbed the 300 + steps to the "whispering gallery" in the dome of the cathedral but baulked at going the next 300 or so steps to the next two levels, must be getting old or lazy or something.

After leaving St Pauls I realized I was near the "wibbly wobbly" bridge across the Thames.  This bridge is a pedestrian bridge across the river and its proper name is the Millenium Bridge.  It was designed by the same architect who designed the building in London that the locals have nicknamed the "gherkin".  Anyway, what happened is this, when the bridge was first opened it was discovered that people walking across it caused it to develop a rather alarming swaying movement.  The guy who designed it said that the bridge's swaying was caused by people "not walking on it properly".  It has been redesigned to stop the wibbly wobbly bits.

I crossed the wibbly wobbly bridge safely and ended up on the Southbank near the Globe Theatre.  Apparently today, as well as being the Queen's 88th birthday it is Shakespeare's 450th birthday and the Globe Theatre was open to the public and there was about a million of them lined up to get in.  There was also a 84 gun salute being fired from near the Tower of London in honour of Her Maj's birthday.

White Ensign with Tower of London in background

HMS Belfast

As I thought, lots of people out and about enjoying their long weekend with a bit of sunshine in the afternoon.  I rounded off my day with a visit to HMS Belfast, which is the last WW2 cruiser in existence and is moored on the Thames near Tower Bridge.  I walked across Tower Bridge which took me past the Tower of London.  Crikey, am I pleased that I hadn't decided to visit the Tower, the place looked absolutely packed even at 4.00 in the afternoon.

Tower Bridge

I had three groups of people ask me directions today and two yesterday.  I must look like a local, anyway I was able to help four out of the five.  And today I saw my first gypsy in London, he was doing the ol' pea under the cup routine near the Tower.  Fun watching and trying to work out who his accomplices are and if any punters get caught.  The trick is to let your accomplices win until somebody else gets sucked in and then off course they lose their money. 

Train home and out to a local pub for dinner.