Christmas family get togethers

Why is it that within a few days of Christmas, it all feels a long time ago, and we are now gearing up for the New Year? We have spent much of the last week on the road, travelling back and forth to London and the M40 has become very familiar to us. But we have also had some lovely times with both sides of our family.

Early on Christmas Day, five of us, plus presents, squashed into the car and headed down to Chalfont St Peter to spend the day with Andy's sister and family. Their spacious bungalow was beautifully decorated for the festive season:

They also had three different trees, spread around the house:

The table was fabulously set for 12 people with gold and red crackers:

And we ate a traditional Christmas lunch of roast turkey with all the usual trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding:

But as often happens on Christmas Day, when we have enjoyed a large dinner, the creatively decorated Christmas cake, wasn't cut into, that day:

Even the Tibetan Terrier, Archie, joined in the fun:

We had previously planned to stay in London at Adam's flat for a few days, but due to some of us having colds we decided to return to Walsall the same day, leaving Andy's mum at his sister's for a few days.

It was lovely to spend a couple of days with just the boys, catching up with all their news. My mum came over for dinner one day and then on Friday we had my extended family gathering, over at my younger sister's house in Chase Terrace. Although it was overcast, the rain held off and we wrapped up against the biting wind as we walked round Chasewater, a large reservoir used for watersports. Andy missed the walk, as he had had a very early start to pick up his mum and return her to Walsall.

We then watched a slide show of my neice's round the world trip, earlier this year, exchanged gifts, shared a meal and played a very complicated game - a modern version of the detective game Cluedo. We were able to take our dog, Lady, with us and she really enjoyed the long walk, plus another short walk 'round the block'.

It had been my older sister 's birthday the day before, so she blew out one candle...

...and Andy blew out the other one. (I was amazed that I managed to catch the action!)

Then yesterday (Saturday) we took Adam back to London, calling at his previous flat to pick up several items that he couldn't carry on the underground.

On our journey through Central London we passed Nelson's Column...

...with South Africa House behind it.

We then passed the end of Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives...

...and saw Big Ben in the distance:

Part of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben is actually one of the bells, but most people think it is the name of the clock tower.

The Houses of Parliament are huge ornate buildings, also known as the Palace of Westminster.




Our route then followed the River Thames...




...crossing the Vauxhall Bridge, with the modern MI6 building on the left (home of fictitious character James Bond):




This strange piece of modern architecture, in Vauxhall, which represents a launching pad, reminds me of the unfinished elevated road in Cape Town:


When Adam first moved to London three years ago he lived in a first floor flat, in Stanmore, which is the last station on the Northern Line (Black line of London Underground map). After a year he moved closer to the city, to Highbury, into a shared house overlooking the Arsenal Football Club stadium.

The next move was only a short distance away, to Islington High Street. This is just outside the Congestion Zone for vehicles driving into Central London who have to pay a fee. This second floor flat was above a shop and Adam's room was on the third floor. Then in July he moved south of the River Thames, over the Vauxhall Bridge, to a spacious ex-council flat, on the third floor. Again, this is just outside the Congestion Zone.




He certainly keeps fit carrying his bike up and down four flights of stairs every day, not to mention the cycling around London, which is free!

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS!"

On this Christmas morning, I want to send greetings to anyone 'logging on'. I don't think I have ever been on-line before on Christmas Day, so this is another first, for me.

It is still dark in Walsall, UK, and the weather forecaste for today is rain - no 'White Christmas' for us, this year. In fact on Sunday I learnt that Birmingham has only had nine 'white christmases' since 1945. However, this was sunrise two days ago, on a frosty morning:

Amid all the festivities, family gatherings, food and friendship, it is good to remind ourselves that this is the day set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who came as the gift of a baby and 33 years later gave mankind to the greatest gift of all - His life!

On Sunday the children at our church in Birmingham presented a informal tableau of the Nativity story.

Andy's birthday journey

Last Thursday, (20th) we travelled to the UK from Cape Town. It was a 12-hour day flight, which some people would find too long and boring. But I much prefer it as I can read, write, enjoy the view, and so on, without my sleep pattern being disturbed. When we finally arrive at our destination I can go to bed and enjoy a good night's sleep.

So our journey home last week, which also coincided with Andy's birthday was quite enjoyable. With our frequent flier points we can now go into the BA lounge before the flight, where complimentary drinks and snacks, papers and magazines are provided, in pleasant surroundings. I mentioned at the lounge reception, that it was Andy's birthday, wondering if they could do anything special for him. When we were settled with our drinks and papers, suddenly over the microphone a voice sang "Happy Birthday Mr Andy James..." and fellow travellers gave him greetings. Then, on the plane, when our breakfast arrived, the flight attendant offered Andy a glass of champagne, normally only offered to Business and First Class travellers.

As you can see there were quite a few empty seats in our section, so we had excellent service throughout the flight. Finally, when we came through Passport Control at Heathrow, the officer, noticing his date of birth, wished Andy a 'Happy Birthday'!

When we took off from Cape Town the plane headed south, over the coastline and I managed to capture this shot of our shaddow:

Then it leveled out and the seat belt sign went off, so I quickly moved to the other side to take a photo of the peninsula, down to Cape Point:

As the plane circled round, heading north, I went back to my seat on the right side to take some aerial shots of Table Mountain.

This is about half way down the peninsula, with Hout Bay on the foreground. Although you can't get a very clear photo through a plane window, I hope you can see how extensive and flat the Mountain is, forming a letter 'n'. The little peak to the left is Lion's Head.

This is Robben Island, looking back across the Northern Suburbs (our apartment is situated in there somewhere!) Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela, and other political prisoners were imprisoned for many years, during the South African Aparteid years.

Our plane followed the West Coast of South Africa, as it headed north, and I thought this cloud formation over the land looked really pretty - like snow!

Finally, after flying over the sea for several hours, we then crossed over the coastline of Nigeria, to continue over North Africa:

All in all, a very interesting flight!

Longest - shortest days of the year

As we approach the longest day of the year, in the southern hemisphere, we head for the northern hemisphere, where it will be the shortest day of year, and also Andy's Birthday.

I cannot think of a more fitting way to celebrate his special day, than to share some more spectacular sunrise/sunset photos taken recently.

Enjoy!

We're not often up at 5.30am, but this was a morning I took Andy to the airport.

Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean, with a container ship, in silhouette.

Sunset behind Table Mountain, making it look on fire.

These last three were taken last Saturday evening, within a few minutes of each other.

Happy Brithday, Andy!

Out and about in December

Recently I visited two small towns near to Cape Town. Both are situated in beautiful countryside, with high Mountains and on the Wine Route.

People driving along the N1 (the national highway, which eventually reaches Johannesburg) see the massive granite boulders of Paarl high up on the hillside.

Paarl is Afrikaans for 'pearl' and the town really fits it's name. In the town centre, this large Dutch Reformed church is an example of the beautiful buildings found there:

But our main reason for visiting Paarl was to see the Afrikaans Taal Monument situated on Paarl rock. It is one of the most famous Afrikaans monuments erected in South Africa and dedicated to the Afrikaans language. The monument is shaped in several tall obelisk-style columns and is visible a great distance from Paarl.

When you approach the monument you realise that it is most unusual. It is impossible to take one single photo, which encompasses the whole monument, so here are a few of its different aspects:

There is a graph-like quality to the monument, with the heights of the different sections representing different contributions to the Afrikaans language. The columns here represent Western European languages and the humps represent Africa's indigienous languages and cultures. The curves of these two elements form a bridge which is the base of the main column...

... which represents the origin and development of Afrikaans and the shorter one the Republic of South Africa.

It stands in water to signify that the language needs care to grow...

...and is open ended to indicate that the growth of Afrikaans is a continuing process. It is 57m high.

This is looking out from the base towards the indigenous language 'humps'...

...and this is looking towards the base from those 'humps'.

There are also two small columns, representing the contribution from the Malay language and culture, but I don't have a photo of them.

These words sum up the attitude towards the Afrikaans language by many South Africans:

'It is our pride'.

From Paarl we travelled to Franschhoek (which means French Corner). The Huguenot memorial Museum is dedicated to French protestant refugees who fled France in the early 18th century, following persecution for their faith.

This is the Huguenot Memorial set against the craggy mountains...

...and this represents the French bringing their culture to the tip of Africa. (A lake stood between the scupture and the grass, so it was very difficult to take this photo.)

The gardens had some enormous protea flowers...

...and nearby is the Museum, which sadly we had to dash round.

On our journey home we passed a garden centre with seasonal advertising...

...which initially I thought was to act as scarecrows!

Then, another day I took Helena and Jaco to the Castle of Good Hope, in Cape Town.

This is the main entrance with bell tower above - the oldest bell in South Africa.

This ancient omnibus wasn't just for decoration. Later on two magnificent horses were harnessed to it, exiting the castle to travel round the Cape Town streets - for an extra fee.

The horses performed another function: demonstrating the quiet effect of a wooden road, constructed specificially for the Governor who slept directly above it.

This is the original road, the sleepers placed vertically and embedded in tar, and it really was a lot quieter than the other paving surrounding it.

We watched an old ceremony for opening the castle doors...

... and had a guided tour of the dungeons and torture chambers.

This is the story of the Three Guns:

Great-big Gun...

...Middle-sized Gun...

and Tiny-little Gun...

But like all other guns, it can make a lot of noise, when fired!

To round off our day in the city, I had booked a high-tea at the opulent Mount Nelson Hotel, a colonial establishment, famous for its afternoon delights:

We could return to the table as many times as we liked and we nearly rolled out of there, such were the wonderful cakes and pastries.