Bruges and the battlefields

We spent a weekend in Bruges in September and were spoiled with amazing sunshine the whole time. We’d booked a day trip to see the battlefields of WW1 and were not disappointed. The tour was based around the area of Flanders which saw some pretty intense fighting throughout the war. Amazingly each year over 200 tonnes of old munitions come to the surface in the farms of Flanders. When farmers find them they just leave them on the side of the road and wait for the Army to come to destroy them. We visited a number of different grave areas, including the largest Commonwealth cemetery at Tyne Cot, some incredible museums, one of which recreated the feeling of being in a trench (almost too realistic at times), and the Menin gate in the town of Ypres.

Inside one of the museums was an installation by the NZ artist Helen Pollock, created with clay from the Coromandel. Quite a moving experience as it was placed in an area where many New Zealanders fought and died.

Bruges itself while very pretty was a bit ho-hum and really expensive, although we did enjoy a few fabulous beers. We were glad we did the tour for a whole day otherwise we would have got a bit bored (only so much ‘wandering the pretty cobbled streets’ you can handle in one year). Stopped into Brussels on the way home on the Eurostar and scoffed some frittes with mayo and a couple of waffles cause you have to if you’re in Belgium. It’s the rules.

Last night of the Proms

Going to the last night of the Proms was high on our agenda, something Dean in particular had always wanted to do. Having attended a few proms concerts in 2008 we sussed out how to get tickets to the last night in 2009. Doing so was actually very easy, we just needed to buy 5 tickets for other proms concerts to have the option to purchase for the last night. We loved the more classical proms this year, especially ones featuring Finzi, Elgar, Saint-Saëns, Bartók and Dvořák and were not so huge on Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Patience”. We’ve also learnt that visiting orchestras have a lot more spark than local ones (we were blown away by the New York Philharmonic last year and the Budapest Festival Orchestra this year were amazing).
We were all set for the last night concert, with our big NZ flag to wave, and Dean sporting his All Blacks jersey. It was a wonderful sunny September day so we enjoyed a picnic dinner across the road in Hyde Park before entering the party atmosphere.

We sang with gusto, loving “Rule Britannia” in particular. A fantastic experience, really glad we made the effort. Looking forward to going to a few more next year, but don't know if we'll get to a last night again!

Bath - August Bank Holiday

We had a great relaxing long weekend in Bath.

The highlights of our trip were the Ancient Roman Baths, the free walking tour, a visit to the Abbey and scoffing a couple of buns at the famous Sally Lunn's. Tried the water in the pump rooms too, tasted like warm disprin - don't know how the old folk used to drink litres of it a day!

We also went to the new Thermae Bath Spa which was relaxing but the price was pretty steep at 22 pounds each when Hanmer Springs in NZ costs around 6 pounds!

A lovely way to spend the long weekend.

Dean outside the Abbey

Lou by the Royal Crescent

Inside the Roman baths

Us at the Roman baths

Amsterdam July 2009

When Dean finally returned to the UK after what might have been the longest wait a UK spouse has ever had for a visa, the newly-reunited von Yarralls paid a visit to Amsterdam. The weather was amazing so we had a great time wandering the streets, eating and drinking (which we seem to do a lot of on holidays!). Highly recommend Amsterdam as a weekend destination, plenty to do and the place is small enough to walk around.

Here's Lou strategically placed in front of a park sign

Dean by a canal

And the canals by night. Aw how romantic!

von Yarralls get hitched

Returned to NZ in March 09 to get married. A wonderful trip, the most fantastic day, and the most luxurious honeymoon in Langkawi, a Malaysian island, afterwards. We recommend 5 star living! Have included some favourite pics from the wedding and honeymoon here.
















Westin Langkawi - highly recommended. Spent a week lazing in the sun and drinking cocktails!

Snow day!!

In early February England was hit by a huge snow storm and Louvaine Rd in Clapham Junction was not spared! Monday morning arrived and we had a good amount of snow outside the flat. Dean's work sent out a message telling people not to come in, and while Lou's work was open (and transport was running albeit sporadically) she didn't have any proper gear to brave the weather.
So we worked as much as we could from home and ventured out a bit later on in the day when the streets were passable. Lots of fun for the little kiwis!!
Here are some snaps from the day:

Here is Dean in his expensive woollen coat, rolling around in the snow



There was so much snow that people had made huge snowmen! Dean, watch the ball!

A cute bunny

A romantic snowman

Our front steps when the snow started the night before

The Bees - #1

The quest for football around London continued with a trip to Barnet. The current precarious nature of Barnet's league position of 2 places above relegation from the football league meant I should try and get there before the season was out. Had a small connection to them via Sarah, whose flatmate used to be their physiotherapist. Free tickets were offered but Joe Devera (right back) snaked them from us on the day.

The ground is located quite close to the last stop on the Northern Line, so a reasonable trip of about 90 mins from home. Went up there with Josh Wright - his introduction to English league football. Certainly the club was more grassroots (great call by Josh) than others I have experienced, with portacabins housing the ticket office, clup shop etc. Club shop had less extensive offerings, but contained all the essentials, a blessing was the lack of crush of punters looking for memoriabilla.

We ended up standing in the covered terrace for a reasonable sum of £15. Very close to the action, and the home crowd didn't waste the opportunity to undertake friendly banter with the opposition players. The atmosphere in the terrace was some of the best, punctuated with a well drilled drummer setting the beat for the chants. Barnet are known as the Bees, simple chants included drum beat… Beeees, or Oh when the Bees go Stinging in to the tune of Oh when the Saints. Away supporters were not treated to the same home comforts, with a couple of open stands and an uncovered terrace more accurately described as a concrete slope.

To the game, the style of game was more hoof and hope than pass and move, with the midfielders not creating rather looking to pick up the loose scraps. The opposition Dagenham and Redbridge were placed in the promotion place-offs, about 17 places higher than Barnet. Not really a lot to tell the two teams apart, but D and R were probably slightly more organised and better on the break. However, I was convinced that I could play at this level when the Barnet goalkeeper went to challenge from a long punt from the other GK, and fumbled under pressure to give a soft goal. That is something I had done a number of times, so no real difference there. Impressive players for Barnet were Michael Leary and Kenny Gillett.

Food options were not too varied, but just what you needed, burgers and hotdogs, cups of tea and coffee, but no Bovril. With only a small crowd, clearing the ground didn't take any time at all.

That makes the grounds attended: Millwall, Charlton, Fulham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barnet. Remaining are: Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Watford, Leyton Orient, Brentford, Dagenham & Redbridge.