The one on the East Coast

Today is three months since we arrived in the UK (and the date is the 19th August, not the 29th July as indicated as the post date for this post). I've had this half completed blog posting saved here as a draft for the last few weeks (since the 29th July) and been struggling to find the time to update it. Largely due to work (yup, I've got a job... praise the Lord) spare moments are scarce. I started working for an environmental consulting group in London on 24th July. I am now a London commuter. This comes with a whole heap of challenges, of which the commute is probably the biggest. To get to the office involves 1 car trip, 1 train ride, two tube rides and a short walk. It takes me 1h40 to get to the office and another 1h40 home... a round trip of 200km each day. I know...it sounds nuts.... talk about a carbon footprint! I'll tell you more about some of my tube experiences another time. They deserve a page all of their own. Needless to say the tube is a great social equaliser... whether you are a CEO of a major corporation or a street sweeper, you all run the same, you all squash in the same, and you all sweat the same. We are trusting the commute will be temporary until we can move closer. This will depend on where Gaylene gets work. She has been applying for many positions and we are praying something challenging and stimulating will come along soon.

OK, strap yourself in, because with not blogging for so long, you're in for a extra dose this time. Note that despite our camera being broken we have photos. Thanks to Al and Chants for lending us theirs. Footnote: after not wanting to admit it at first, I have now come to grips with the fact that my Canon has gone to the big consumer electronics pile in the sky. After detaching myself emotionally, I've undertaken to dismantle it and try to get to the bottom of the problem. Not to be attempted if you have any aspirations of ever putting it back together again!

We are now expert boerewors makers and last night Al and Chantelle completed our second successful batch.

8kg of wors later!!

22 July saw G and I heading off to Cambridge for the day to do some exploring. Al has very generously put Gaylene and I on his car insurance policy meaning we can drive. Yehaaa!

Punting on the River Cam in Cambridge is a must. This is on our to-do list for when we've got a little extra time.

Love this architectural mix... where East meets West in Cambridge.

One of the highlights of late has been Gaylene's birthday. We splashed out and went out for supper. We had spotted a quaint little Thai (of course) restaurant a while ago and were keen to try it out. Its simply called Aunties Thai Restaurant. It was a winner!! Excellent food, and the fastest and friendliest service ever, although the hosts couldn't speak much English at all. The bill was written up in what looked like Chinese characters so you just smile and pay and trust you're not being ripped off.

A few weekends ago G and I went down to London one Saturday to see Benny Hinn. Having never been to one of his crusades before I was quite curious. Since it was an evening event, we went in early and spent the day walking around the British Museum. Was quite something to stand in front of the Rosetta Stone, ancient Egyptian carsophaguses and some Mesopotamian artifacts dated 5000BC. We learnt loads, most importantly that Gaylene does not share my enthusiasm for old rocks with scribbles on them or statues rescued from the acropolis. She was extremely patient with me though. I will try my lick again in December when the Tutankhamun National Geographic exhibition opens at the Millennium Dome. The Benny Hinn meeting was massive... over 20,000 people, and the Spirit moved. One little kid had been born with a disorder which had left him crippled from birth. By the end of the evening he was running (albeit it somewhat wobbly) and beaming from ear to ear. We felt like we wee back home... the congregation was 90% black which was great but one couldn't but help wonder where the Brits were. We left at 10:45 and spent the next hour literally running from train to tube as we realised we might miss our main overland train back to our village. We came charging into Kings Cross station at the stroke of midnight and (no, didn't turn into pumpkins) but managed to get on the train with 1 minute to spare. The alternative would have been an uncomfortable 4 hour wait for the next morning train. A miracle in itself.

Two weekends ago Patrick and Adrie (friends of Al and Chants) visited and we decided to head to the East coast for the weekend. This was an experience not to be forgotten. I was picturing English sea-side villages to be quite and full of the charm of the typical country-side villages. We ended up at a spot called Great Yarmouth. I think its best described as a hybrid of Las vegas and Mosselbay, a smallish beach town with its main beach road lined with casinos donning great big plastic facades labelled the likes of "Caesars palace" and "the Flamingo". It wasn't our style but the whole experience was quite amusing (unlike the temperature of the North Sea!!!). We spent the night at an interesting B&B where I was woken at 4am by the neighbour shouting death threats at someone who may, or may not have existed (this character was obviously much higher than our second floor apartment).

Roll-up, roll-up to the Hippodrome!!

Patrick attempts to regain his youth.

I'm told Fish and Chips was originally a UK institution but after sampling our first "cod and chips" we reckon they could take a lesson or two from RSA. The less said about the above "scampie" the batter..... errr.... better.

Die manne enjoy the horse 'n carriage ride.

This was impressive; the Scroby sands wind turbine farm just off the coast at Great Yarmouth. These 30 turbines, situated 2.5km off the coast, are 100m from top tip of blade to sea, and produce 2 Megawatts each. Together they power 41,000 homes.

We left Great Yarmouth the following morning. The rest of the gang headed home in Al's car, while G and I took Chantalle's wheels and headed south to do more exploring visiting Lowestoft and Southwold. We ended up at a brilliant nature reserve, Minsmere, renowned for its...... um...... birding. But hang on, in my defence, my wife openly admitted that it was just what the doctor ordered as we had both been missing the bush. The birding was great and highlighted by a sighting of a bittern. For the non-ornithologically inclined, the Bittern is a rare bird of reeds and wetlands and of which there are thought to be about 150 in the UK.

Birding in a hide at Great Yarmouth.

My bird in a hide at Great Yarmouth.

Another wind turbine, this time on land at Lowenstoft. A 3Megawatt, 126m high one.

In a hide at Minsmere, just after seeing my first Bittern.

We took the scenic A1120 home and ended off a great weekend with a poitjie compliments Al and Pat (and I'm sure the ladies had plenty to do with it too :-)

This little guy popped in for a visit.

Sunday 12 August was Chantelle's birthday we went out to celebrate and ended up having supper at ....... Aunties Thai restaurant again. Once again it was great food, even faster service and smiles all round. Sunday night we invited a bunch of folks round from the Open Door Church for pancakes, carrying on the Thompson tradition of Sunday night pancakes. For many of them it was the first time they had and banana pancakes (although they insisted they were actually crepes... pancakes are apparently much thicker!?!?!). We also cooked some boerewors for them. Some were skeptical at first but it wasn't long before some were back for 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths.

This Friday we had the cell group around to watch Faith Like Potatoes. Ester brought her lappy and projector and we had a big screen!! This movie tugs hard when you're far away from Africa and for G and I it was just one more of many confirmations of where our hearts lie. Strange, I'd never noticed before the part where the one character comments on RSA beating the English rugby team. It didn't slip past the rest of the cell :-)

http://www.faithlikepotatoes.com/

This Thursday we will receive our first international visitors. Yup, Mark, Liesel and Levi Roome arrive from Germany for a week-long visit and we get to try our hand at playing UK tour guides. On the draft agenda are London, Windsor Castle and maybe we'll give that Cambridge punting a bash.

Braai, Boerie, Biltong and Bokke

Strange how naked one feels without a camera. I've realised it was my electronic diary in a way in that it provided us with a nice brief summary of our highlight events. Its now up to my memory and a couple of pix we've taken with Al and Chants' camera. On the camera topic, the quotation for fixing my camera is slightly less than a new one, and hence my decision to open it up myself and see what the issue is. I have since removed every visible crew (17 of them) on the casing of the body and still it wont open. Maybe the drop-kick technique is in order.

Life has slowed down since the Switzerland trip as G and I have increased the work-hunting. G has applied for a job in Milton Keynes working for a charity coordinating beauty and wellness initiatives. I went for an interview with an environmental consulting firm yesterday in London. Lets see what happens.

On the church front, we've been visiting the Open Door Church (New Frontiers) and have become part of a twerty-something cell. Great guys and we've being seeing a fair bit of them.

A picnic at a local dam. Who would of thought we would be receiving American Football lessons in the UK. I suppose after exporting Beckham, its the obvious import.

Had a cell braai.. errr.. barbecue last weekend and were introduced to the concept of braaing pork bangers. Obviously its not boerewors but went down surprising well.

The only photo of the event was this cell member (who shall remain nameless) who went to admiral lengths to obtain cellphone reception.

Some more shots of our evening walks in the wheat fields behind the house. They made the wheat look 5 foot tall.

A few nights ago Al and I were reminiscing about our early teenage days when skateboarding like Tony Hawk was all that one aspired to. Soon the talk drifted to skateboard decks, bearings, trucks and eventually..... slammers. As a "lighty" these were just the coolest wheels available because you could slide them so easily. Within no time at all we were searching E-bay for slammers, and sure enough a few days later the 4 bright yellow Slammers arrived. Before you could say ollie-kickflip or no-comply...

On a final note, Al found a gent (Johan) in a neighbouring town who sells South African meat products, so this weekend, for the first time in two months, we watched the bokke on Sky Sports, ate billies, and braaied wors and Chant's home-made sossaties. Shew maar dit was lekker!

Switzerland

Friday we arrived back from 5 days in the Swiss Alps. Shew maar dit was kief! One can't really explain the beauty of the place. The low-lying valleys are green and filled with rivers, waterfalls, pastures, cows, dairies, mountain bikers, hikers and paragliders. The peaks are white with snow and home to some serious glaciers. We were based in a little town called Lauterbrunnen, nestled in a deep valley with waterfalls all around. That whole area is just one giant fairy-land playground. Cog-wheel trains, cable-cars and hiking trails run in all directions and everyone is either hiking, on a mountain-bike, paragliding or base-jumping off the cliffs. Some pics:

Day 1 on our way to Lauterbrunnen:




The Swiss know how to build tunnels. The longest one we went through was about 9km.

Valley created by glacial action.

Imagine building this. I'll pass. (my dad's kind of humour)

Outside the glacier. We entered at the little hole on the left and walked through the heart of the glacier.

Inside the glacier. Eery and blue inside.

Eventually we arrived at our destination, the little village of Lauterbrunnen.

Our house in Lauterbrunnen. Awesome view.

Day 2: We took the gap in the bad weather and headed for the Jungfraujoch, the highest station in Europe. It sits at 3454m asl and terminates within a mountain. From there you take a lift 100m up and pop out at the most amazing view point. Its was -8 and the wind was pumping.

The Jungfraubahn train takes you through some serious tunnels before reaching the top.




At the top - station/restaurant area (bottom right) and observatory (top left).




The view from the observatory. The Aletsch Glacier is the longest glacier in the Alps.



The Ice Palace at the Jungfraujoch.

Massive snowball.

Al and Chants tuck into some Swiss pastry in Wengen on the way back down the mountains.
Day 3: We did a day walk to Murren from Lauterbrunnen, catching two cable cars along the way.

The highlight was passing a huge herd of cows with all their bells clanging away.

It was a slow and wet walk home in the rain.

Day 4: An early morning walk in the hills behind the village revealed what I'd been hoping to see, a Chamois. Thank this little fella for your super soft rags you use to wash your car.

This day, our last full day there, provided the best views. We drove to Grindelwald, took the cable car up to First, hiked to the Buchalpsee and then down to Bort. From Bort we rode trottiebikes (little scooter things) back down the Grindelwald. What a scream!

Trottiebikes. They are cooler than they look.

This was one of the last pix I took before the drive mechanism inside my camera decided it had reached the end of its lifespan. After some grinding and crunching, all went dead. So no more photos for the Fyvies for a while I'm afraid.

Day 5: After a final drive up the Lauterbrunnen valley we headed home via Interlaken and a picnic on the shores of the Thunersee. The gastonomically adventurous members of our party tried horse biltong. Tastes like salami. Our friends Mark and Liesel (and little Levi) Roome traveled all the way from Stuttgart to meet us at Basel airport on our way back to the UK. We were able to spend a few hours catching up. Thanks guys, we felt very privileged that you travelled so far for us.

The Swiss Alps are unbelievable. Only one thing remains... to visit them in mid winter when all the green is white. We'll be back!!