Saturday 31st May - Thursday 12th June.

Gidday everyone, its me here again

Saturday 31st May. We had a delightful sleep in for a change. We phoned Jan Jelfs (kevin's cousin and had a chat).
We headed off to Twickenham for the Guinness Premiership Club Rugby Final being played between London Wasps and Leciester Tigers. The Wasps won 26 - 6. It was an excellent game and day out with a record attendance for a club match of 82000 people.

Sunday 1st June. We had a relaxing morning, kevin went off for a swim for exercise.
Then we took off by train to explore Oxford. Once there we did the Hop on Hop off bus tour as usual to get our bearings. We saw Oxford Castle & the many colleges and universities that make up Oxford. The architecture is amazing here. St John's College is the wealthiest - owning a large amount of land around Oxford. Magdalen College is a very attractive college too. Trinity College, the Queens College, St Peters College, St Hughs, St Hildas, St Edmonds, St Annes & St Catherines College's are all very beautiful with amazing architecture.
There was punting on the river Cherwell, but we didn't do it here this time. We headed home round 6.30pm.

Monday 2nd June- Friday 6th June. A full week of work for both of us. Kevin managed another 2-3 sessions at the swim pool.

Saturday 7th June. We got up early to see the All Blacks play Ireland in Wellington in the Bellerbys Cafe. Gosh what dreadful weather to play the game in. We had brunch in the cafe and went off to downtown London. We visited Trafalger Square and Oxford street. Kevin made some clothing purchases.

Sunday 8 June. We got up early and headed off to Richmond to visit Kew Gardens, Kew Palace, Richmond Park and see the Thames beside Richmond.
Its the year of "The Tree" and they had a festival exploring the often hidden but amazing world of trees. There was an amazing sculpture of a fallen Oak tree near Victoria gate. It explained all the intricate structures within a tree.
Kew Gardens covers 300 acres and its a world class Botanic Garden. The garden is home to more than 40,000 plants. To get our usual over view we hopped on the Kew Explorer (a little carriage touring round the gardens with hop on and hop off at any of the 8 stops within the park).
Next we caught a bus and headed to the walkway alongside the river Thames. We wandered around here and decided to go for a river cruise up to Teddington and back again. It was lovely and relaxing in the warm sunshine.

We stopped off for some German cuizine and tried German sausage and meatloaf with salad, breadroll and a lager at a riverside restaurant.
We continued to walk up to Richmond Park - a wilderness area with deer running wild, long grass, lots of trees, pathways and small lakes dotted about. There were plenty of people out walking dogs, running, cycling, picnicing and sunbathing.
We headed back to Richmond town center and caught the train home.

Monday 9th June- Thursday 12th June. The usual working week for us both again. Today is our son's birthday and we'd like to say "Best Wishes Son". Kevin has had his exams this week with lots of marking and report writing which is all wrapped up now for the term. The term finishes tomorrow ( Friday 13th June ) and Kevins contract finishes at this time although he has agreed to an xtra 4 weeks in a part time capacity until 11 July. After that we will be looking forward to our tours which kick into action mid July. Cheers for now.