Towards the End of June.

Saturday 14th June. Up early and watched the All Blacks play England in Auckland. Then we went off to Reading to meet up with Jan Jelfs (kevins cousin from Gisborne). We met Jan at 1pm and caught a bus to Henley - on-Thames and had a walk around the little village. It sits on the banks of the Thames and is a very attractive spot.

We stopped at the " Catherine's Wheel" ( A witherspoon pub ) for some lunch and had a nice time together. Jan had to head back to her client by 4.30pm, she is doing Oxford Aunts here for 5 months. Kevin and I stayed in Reading and had a good look around. We visited the "Oracle"- a large shopping complex. Kevin had been here when he was in the U.K. with the NPBHS rugby team. The very first Oxford v Cambridge boat race was held at Henley - on - Thames in 1839.

Sunday 15th June. We got up early and headed off to visit Murray and Gillian Grimwood in Brentwood. (ex NPBHS teacher). He picked us up from Stratford as they have a car and took us back to see his village and school and a cuppa tea at their apartment. It was lovely to have a chat and a get together.

We went out for tea at " The Carvery Inn" ( a smorgasbord type meal of roast meat and several vegies incl a large piece of Yorkshire pudding ) with them and then they dropped us off at the Upminster train station and we found our way home ok.

Monday 16- Friday 20th June. Usual working week for June. Kevin has 2 days of work in a part time capacity for the next 4 weeks at Bellerbys College on Mon - Tues. I was busy all week at work while Kevin had some free time. He did some swimming and had an interview for a teaching position for Oct - Nov. We will wait and see what happens about this.

Saturday 21st June. We got up to watch the second game between the All Blacks v England, but only the first 1/2 because we were heading off to Waterloo station to get the train to Ascot for the Royal Ascot Races.
It was the final day of the Royal Ascot Meeting for the year ( This event is held June 17 -21 with major races each day and a Ladies day on Thurs.) I didnt attend this ladies day cause we had booked our ticket for the Saturday event.

The days feature race was the Golden Jubilee Stakes and they welcomed NZ's champion sprinter " Seachange". ( first time for a NZ horse at Ascot). We bet on him but he was not placed, the race was won by an Irish horse. The Queen owns a horse which raced in the first race and won, much to the delight of Her Majesty.

At Waterloo station as we were getting our train tickets, kev recognised a NZer and went over to chat. It was Jed and Jill Boyce who used to live in New Plymouth but now live in Taupo. We had a good ol chat on the train but we couldn't meet up once there, because we had General Admission tickets and they were in the silver ring section which was further away from us.

We saw the Queen and Duke go by in their carriage at 2pm prior to the commencing of the racing. The racing finished around 6pm with singing around the bandstand. All good British songs so we had a good singalong with the crowd. We had a good day out and it was also the longest day over here.

It was a change from New Plymouths race meetings to see everyone ( well not quite everyone ) dressed in formal clothing incl us, although those lucky enough to get into the Royal Enclosure had to wear Top hats and tails ( morning suits ) with women in hats and dresses. What an occassion.

Sunday 22nd June. We decided to go and see Hampton Court Palace and Gardens. There were 2 Palaces ( Tudor home for Henry v111 and the Baroque palace built for William 111 ) We wandered through the amazing gardens and took some good photos. We went through the Maze and saw the Worlds largest and oldest single grapevine planted in 1768 and still producing a good crop each year. There were many different theme gardens on show ( 2oth Century garden, The Privy Garden, The Knot garden, The Pond gardens, The Rose Garden and the Tilt yard gardens to keep us busy ) It was a good day out n about on a fine British summers day.

Mon - Thurs ( 23 -26 th June ) First week of Wimbledon but we aren't likely to attend although Kevin says he is interested in seeing if this is possible. You have to spend hours waiting in lines so it may not happen. I have been working all week and Kevin did his Mon - Tues teaching stint as well as spending a day in the sun on Wed at the ODI cricket match ( NZ V England ) at the Oval.

NZ won this match on the last ball by a run and it was certainly a thrilling match with some controversey as well with a run out decision against NZ. Justice was eventually delivered with NZ winning the game.

Thursday saw Kevin arrange a game of bowls at the Blackheath Bowling club which he was keen to tick off his list of things to do over here and he had a good roll up with some local bowlers. The bowls here are called woods and Kevin enjoyed his match. Kevin informs me he has had 3 swim sessions at the pool this week clocking up 2000m each session without flippers !!

This weekend we are heading off to Brussels and Bruges on the Eurostar for a nice change of scenery and some relaxation in Belgium. We leave on Sat morning at 7 am and will have 2 full days returning late on Sun evening.

Regards to you all. Will update again next week. We are still finding lots of things to do over here as we near the half way mark of our year away.