Introducing the cell

Thought this would be good opportunity to introduce you to some of the members of our cell which met this Wednesday at Al and Chant's house.


Standing behind Al and Chants is Jules, who does the best singing Kermit the Frog impersonation I've heard. All the more interesting when he does it on Karaoke night in front of a packed pub.

Tying his laces is Dan, and the ladies behind him are (from left to right) Beckie (inspecting her watch), Ros (aka The Rosser) holding up the wall, Karren, and Hannah in green.

Craig found an alternative use for the fluffy cushions and started a trend...

To explore, or not to explore.....

....it was a question which didn't need much deliberation, as we decided to pack our bags last weekend and head for Warwick and Stratford Upon Avon. We headed for Warwick, just SE of Birmingham, to see Warwick Castle which Chants and Al had recommended. We packed an overnight bag just in case one day wasn't enough. It wasn't. Warwick Castle is an entire day event. The history in this country is mind blowing! It's weekends like these that make the time here worth all the effort! One can't wait for good weather...you have to seize the moment and just do it. So we did...

The castle is a brilliant medieval fortress, but what makes it all the more interesting is that its owned by the Tussuad's group and is full of wax models which really brings it to life. More than that, they have lives displays of jousting, longbow archery, falconry etc.

Unfortunately there was not jousting or falconry when we were there but the archery was good and the trebuchet was brilliant. Its the biggest trebuchet in the world! As Walter says, 'Every boy should have one of those in their back yard!' It was used in war time and the entire contraption weights 22 tones. The whole thing dismantles and has not held together with glue or nails. It all fits together like a puzzle using wooden pins to lock it in place. In the demo, they flung a 15 kg rock into the air which must have gone 150m. Apparently it can fling objects weighing up to 150kg. In war time they would use not only chunks of rocks but flaming balls of pitch, bee hives and more would all be flung into the enemies camp. Dead animals also. Apparently pigs were favoured (as they are the right size and aerodynamic). The flesh would burst open spreading disease, especially if it gets into their water supply, forcing them to eventually surrender. The bees would get in behind their armour, forcing them to disarmour themselves making them vulnerable. That's when they would strike with arrows killing hundreds!

Loading the trebuchet! The system is wound up by men running in the giant hamster wheels on the side.

The Great Hall is full of rare pieces of armour.

Down in the basements, the Blacksmith's helper keeps the coals hot!

My favourite part is seeing how they lived in those days. With the wax models, it really does bring the Castle to life. Pure opulence!

This is the river Avon, flowing down beside the castle. In the pic you can see a little room on the right of the castle...that's the power room, where the water wheel turned turbines which powered the castle.

My Prince Charming!

After a hard day of castle exploring, we pulled into a quaint little B&B and collapsed. Later we hit a Chinese restaurant in town, and then collapsed properly. (The Fyvie's know how to act!)

Sunday we did Stratford Upon Avon. It's is only 15min south of Warwick so we simply had to include another trip down history lane and see who this William Shakespeare we all were forced to study about in English class was. A chilly day didn't deter the tourists of which there were many.

Stratford is a beautiful little place, full of the most amazing architecture, wonky houses, and vibrant flower beds.

We were fortunate to see how the locks work. Quite interesting actually. There are many of these long boats on the rivers and canals in the UK. Some people live on them, some use them just over weekends and we even saw one turned into a restaurant. Tourist even rent them to tour from one place to another! Below is William Shakespeare place of birth. One can go on a paid tour through is house. You can see somebody in the middle window, posing as him. I thought it was a wax model from outside until he started to move...I had to take a second look.

This is the church in which Shakespeare was buried. He earned the hot spot right upfront of the church where he, his wife, his son in law and another family member were buried.

Amazing how much you can see in a weekend. After and lunch of fish and chips (a significant improvement on the Great Yarmouth lunch) we headed home.

We heard this week that our car back in RSA was broken into last weekend and the radio was stolen. One can only but smile. "The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief" (Othello, W. Shakespeare).

Something we strive for and hope we never lose...the spirit of adventure!

Tour guide Fyvies

Well, can you believe a quickly time goes! So much we've done and so much we've seen since the last time you logged on! For a change, Mrs Fyvie has scripted this page.

We have had our first International visitors come to stay on 23 August for a few days. Mark and Liesel Roome, with their 14 month old baby Levi, popped over from Germany to see how much greener the pastures were on this side of the Ocean. Not too much I reckon. It was now time to play tour guide and put into practice all we have learnt. They missed their flight from Germany and had to spend an entire day at the Stuttgart airport so it was 3 very weary travellers whom we fetched from Stansted airport. We would spend the next 5 days with them, bonding again and exploring the sights. It was a great combination!

Our first spot on our agenda was Windsor Castle to visit the Queen, the castle she calls home. Its a place oozing with history, a huge castle fit for a King.

The place is a maze, one receiving room after another, dining rooms fitted with exquisite chandelier's dripping with gold. Paintings dating back to the 1500's. We were all given hand sets which would tell us by pressing a button what we were looking at and the history behind. Very organised! We had pic's taken with the guardsmen who actually do go and fight in Iraq. So they are not just show pieces - they know what they are doing!

We think the Roome's brought their weather with them, cos it was probably the hottest day we've encountered since we've been here. Must have been upper 20's.

We spent the afternoon lazing on the grass along the looooong road leading to the castle. Experienced tourists that we are....we packed in our own lunch and chilled.
On our way home we popped into Milton Keynes (that's were they grow roundabouts - the place is infested with them!) Milton Keynes, home to the X-treme sports centre - housing an indoor ski slope and and wind tunnel if you want to experience sky-diving at a price! Great fun to watch, very entertaining! Levi did well to keep up with the adults who decided upon a late-night meal at an Italian restaurant.

What to do on a sunny Sunday afternoon? No not a Sunday afternoon drive around the Marine Drive!....PUNTING!!! It was off to Cambridge about half and hour east of our home. 2 Things one needs to succeed at this: balance and navigation skills as was demonstrated by Alan, Chant's and Walter. The rest of us were either too comfy or just not worth the risk of looking like an idiot, well that was my excuse anyway. Sunny day = punting. Too much river traffic if you ask me! Maybe next time when there's no one else around to collide in to!

At times you can't but help feel a little awed as you punt past Kings College....

...and other times you just can't help feel someones oar in the chaos!

There is a trick to getting Levi to smile like this every time. You wouldn't believe us if we told you!

Monday was a bank holiday and the fact that we already had two days of hard sight-seeing didn't stop us from heading to London to see the sights. With Chantelle's great directions in hand we decided to drive there. Except for us missing one small junction, all went well and we found our way to our regular car park just near the houses of Parliament. We then headed straight for the London eye. It rocked. (No it didn't rock, it went round and round - Sorry, that's just me G checking Walt's draft! :-)

On our way to Madam Tussuad's we passed loads of street artists all along the Thames. Weird and wonderful, including some who took "the blues" just a little too far!

We then introduced the Roome's to the underground. We're still amazed at how easy it is to get around such a huge city like London!

First stop - Madam Tussuad's. This is definitely well worth the money...we were very impressed! The way it's all been presented was very good. The first room was so funny. You step out of the lift into a hallway where there are loads of camera's flashing at you held by cardboard Paparazzi. This leads into a huge nightclub, where the lighting is dim with and loads of people standing around chatting etc. The catch here is, you don't realise who is real and who's not! So one ends up walking past people trying to have pics taken with these wax models, only you don't realise they are wax models. Most were brilliant and other's with shinny skin were a give away! We finally got to have our pics taken with Brad Pitt and Angelina....this one is for Walt's mom Carol! (We were staying just next to them in Namibia when they were there having their baby - so close but yet so far).

There were the famous.....

and the infamous......

The powerful.....

and those who aspire to power.....

"Is this where I sign up for president"

Next stop was Harrods! A must see for any first time London visitors! I thinks it's more of a tourist attraction than anything else. Only the rich can actually afford to shop there! One really needs a good couple of hours to browse as there are so many floors and so many rooms, you can really get lost in there. By this stage it was getting late and our feet were hurting - I suggested to Levi we take turns in the pram or buggy as the English call it, but he didn't buy into that idea! Well, it was off home for the weary tourists and happy to be off our feet!

One day in London was not enough for Mark, so he went into London with Walt on Tue morning to roam the place and take pics while us ladies chilled at home with a lazy morning. Long chats, slept, watch movies and kept Levi entertained between his naps. The perfect rest after a long day in London.

Thursday we dropped the Roomes off at Standsted airport at sparrows as Walt needed to be back in time to catch his train at 7:43am. A wonderful time was had by all. A real breath of fresh air! Hopefully we'll see the Roome's in Germany early next year for some skiing!!

Since then, we have really just been chilling and enjoying our weekends which we try use wisely.

There are farm lands all around our area and decided to take a walk alone the River Ouse which flows through the town. There are public foot paths through most of the farms here, which allows one to walk almost anywhere.

A lovely escape... we have a sheltered little spot in a close-by wheat field which is perfect for the occasional fish n chips picnic.

Its not called a kissing gate for nothing.

Church has been going well. We were asked to take cell 2 weeks ago which went well with great discussion. It's great being used and stretched. The Alpha coarse will be starting soon and have also been asked to help lead. Alpha takes on a slightly different approach here. It will be hosted by the cell groups.

I have gotten involved with an outreach run by the church, called 'Making Links'. It's an outreach programme for foreign women in the community to help draw them in and build relationships. It's every Thur morning for 2 hours. We've had 3 Indian's, 1 Chinese and me South African. This week we should have a Polish woman too. Most of these ladies have no friends and very broken English! It's a time where they can meet new people and we do arts and crafts with them. It's really great and sure it will snowball in time. I'll continue to go until I find work - I have been for a couple of interviews, so please keep me in your prayers! Bye for now.