On the last Saturday in August we were up bright and early to catch the open top bus from Bournemouth town centre to Lymington, a small harbour town about an hour and a half away. It was great being able to enjoy the journey out in the open and quite amusing watching everybody fix their hair every time the bus came to a halt, only for the wind to whip it back out of place seconds later!
Lymington was a really nice little place to visit, although a little too busy for my liking. Cobble stoned streets, a typical English market on offer down the High Street and lots of pubs. One in particular caught our eye - The Ship Inn. We sat down and had lunch and a bottle of good old New Zealand wine (Spy Valley Riesling '06).
Lymington was a really nice little place to visit, although a little too busy for my liking. Cobble stoned streets, a typical English market on offer down the High Street and lots of pubs. One in particular caught our eye - The Ship Inn. We sat down and had lunch and a bottle of good old New Zealand wine (Spy Valley Riesling '06).
It was actually in the newspaper this week that the Tongan rugby team has been in Lymington training before the World Cup. They scoffed down slightly more than we did in a sitting - 30 chickens, 60lbs lamb, 60lbs beef, 30lbs pasta and 40 litres of orange juice. Oh, and they ran out of chips and had to pop down the Chip shop for more!
It was a Bank Holiday weekend that weekend and on the Sunday John and Ange took us out to Durdle Door - a very scenic part of the Dorset coastline. We packed some kai and ate it on the cliff top before taking on some very steep hills after. We forgot to take our camera that day but I'll try and get some of their photos as it was quite a view from up there.
Last Sunday me, Sheryl, John, Ange, Mark, Jenny, Nan and Gramp took the 40 minute train journey out to Weymouth. I guess you could say Weymouth is pretty much a typical British sea side town, but unlike some it has managed to keep an element of class about itself. It actually reminded me a little of our visit to Whitby, on the north-east coastline, last summer.
The beach is still packed with the kiddies rides, the Punch & Judy shows and the donkey rides, and the promenade is still scattered with fish and chip shops and amusement arcades. But it's still a really pleasant place to visit and recommended for any of you based in London - the South-West trains run from Waterloo all the way to Weymouth at the end of the line.
We've been at Barclays for nearly three weeks now and it's been going really well for us. We completed the training, passed the tests and got put on the computers where we've been slowly but surely picking it up.
The World Cup starts tomorrow and no doubt over the coming six weeks or so I'm going to get a bit of a ribbing for backing both England and the ABs. I'll put my neck on the line right here and now and pick an All Blacks v France final, with the AB's to win. But still, it's gotta be good being on this side of the world watching the games at a sociable hour!
(The open top bus and the busy Lymington back streets)
(The Ship Inn and some tasty white mice for the ride home!)
