To the “manor borne”……….

 
 
 
 

…….we had to hire a van. Where did all the stuff come from? Seventeen months ago we arrived at Mill Green Park with a suitcase each. 24 hours ago we left with our suitcases and a dozen or so boxes. Since arriving in our new place we have managed to put together at least 3 boxes of gear and deposited them at one of the local charity shops. Our “rubbish” did not fit into our new surroundings. Everything we need is here and is of the most elegant style and best quality. We are now 5* servants with 5* accommodation to match. However, the down side of that (as in the best of hotels) is, we are short of cupboards, we are having trouble controlling the temperature and in every room there is a security system with a flashing light. We went to bed last night, at 11.30pm and I said to Rod “we can’t possibly sleep with that, you’ll have to cover it up”!!! The consequence was, within a few minutes we had triggered the alarm system and of course the accompanying security firm! We have since learned that the light only flashes when there is a lot of movement in the room, once you settle into bed it all slows down (if you’re lucky and seriously restrict late night activity). However, we are very pleased to be here. It is what we said we would do. Although our employers are absent for most of the year, the estate is coming to the end of a 2 year refit and so there are lots of ‘state of the art’ systems to come to terms with, schedules and staffing to be implemented as well as networks to be established and routines to put into place. In the meantime we are off to Berlin to see Hattie for a few days before Christmas and then after spending Christmas with ‘whanau’ in London we’ll head for somewhere warm for a few days before returning to the Cotswolds at the beginning of the year……...have a very happy Christmas and all the very best for 2009………we hope to see you…..much love xxx

Another day in London…….

 
 
 
 

….our next job will see us 1 ½ hours from London instead of ½ hour. We are making the most of our proximity before we leave and yesterday headed up to London to check out the Christmas vibe. Maybe it’s us, maybe it’s the recession, maybe it’s a bit early in the month……but it just wasn’t going “off” like we remembered it last year. London was wearing it’s party clothes, and the while the shops were practically giving away their stock, having “pre” instead of “post” Christmas sales (maybe they’ll do both!), it was unseasonally quiet. We had to see someone in Chelsea, so as we wandered down Sloane St two things stood out for us. The first was the wonderful ‘cabbage trees’ growing on the roof of an apartment block – “yay! we thought…….a Kiwi rooftop garden…brilliant!”
The second thing was…. an unnamed park opposite the said apartment block, a locked unnamed park. This is for the sole use of residents around the area whom we can only assume purchase the rights to ‘hang out’ there. I bet the “Kiwi rooftop garden” people don’t!!!!
We decided to head for Leicester Square and popped out of the tube in Picadilly Circus. With the temperature plummeting to about -2º, there was photo shoot with brave young things trying to look zany and unfreezing….
We gave thanks for our gloves, scarves and warm jackets and headed off to a nice warm supper and show……London is great, one more commute next week before it becomes a mission……..ahhhh! the price one is prepared to pay to live in the Cotswolds………
Loads of love xxxxxxx

As the year draws to an end......

 
 
 

…….so does our time in Essex. We previously mentioned that our life here is changing and after a stressful few months, right out of the blue, we have secured our “dream job”. Before we left NZ we jokingly said that we were coming to look after some ‘rich dudes’ place in their absence.
We have been lucky enough to be gifted with realizing that dream. We leave here on the 18th to our next job which is situated in the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds.
We are to be looking after a Manor House, set in luxurious gardens in a beautiful little English village. Our employers, Sir M & Lady K, the most gracious and charming of people, live overseas and only come to stay in their completely refurbished country home for about 6-8 weeks of each year. The rest of the year we are responsible for the security, maintenance and staff supervision of this beautiful, gracious 16th century Grade II listed manor and grounds, including a brand new swimming pool and tennis court. Our employers have homes in many other parts of the world and we may be required at various times to travel to and work in these.
We have learned a lot in our current job and it has certainly stood us in very good stead for our next one.
Our employers are very happy for us to have friends and family come to stay, with the proviso that when they are in residence, they have our full and undivided attention…we are happy with that, given that gives you the opportunity to visit and stay for the other 48 weeks of the year!!
In the meantime we are off somewhere exotic for a (we think!) well earned break before we start our new position…..Christmas cards will not be sent from our end, but we are thinking of you all and miss you especially at this time of the year.
Much love and seasons greetings…..xxxxx

“And a time for every purpose under heaven”……….

….”there is a season, turn, turn turn”……we are very much reminded of this Yardbird’s song of the 60’s at the moment. It is nearing the end of autumn and as the days get shorter and the tree’s lose more of their leaves we are forced to again ponder upon life and it’s meaning. We have always known that our job here depended on the extent of “the autumn of our employers lives”…..but we are never quite ready for the eventual outcome. Mr N. passed away suddenly last week in the early hours of the morning. We hadn’t really expected that as the focus was on Mrs N. who now has 24 hour care and is completely bedridden. It seems to have come about very quickly and yet as we look at the rapidly changing season we can’t help make comparisons. The only constant is that nothing ever stays the same and so as we deal with what we have to do here, we are also thinking about what is next for us, not knowing quite when, but in all probability sooner rather than later.
Today we are heading up to London to catch up with darling Kiwi friends Wayne and Eve and looking forward to them coming back here for the night for some good Kiwi conversation, some good French wine and a few laughs. Tomorrow Aunty Patty returns from her adventures in Manchester, Liverpool and Paris before she heads back to NZ on Sunday………much love xxxxx

We went to London…….

…….the other day and decided to go to the Saatchi Art Gallery. We wanted to see the new exhibition, which has been very controversial. I really wanted to try and get my head around Charles Saatchi, who owns the Gallery. The reason….? The man has just been on a diet for 6 months eating nothing but 9 hard boiled eggs a day!!! He lost about 5 stone, ……I imagine he also lost a lot of friends – sulphurous eggs??? And he’s married to none other than the “Domestic Goddess” – Nigella Lawson – now surely if you are a successful foodie………. ???????? Anyway folks, please do NOT try this diet at home.
The new Saatchi Gallery is magnificent and we have nothing but admiration for a man who is so dedicated to art that he makes such fantastic exhibitions available at no charge to the public.
The current exhibition is called “The Revolution Continues” and is a collection of contemporary Chinese works. The first photo is an installation of iconic buildings which form a cityscape made out of ‘dog chews’ (You know, the things you can buy in the pet section of your local super market, usually made out of re-constituted pigs ears and such). We wandered through the galleries for several hours and when we came to the last one – gallery 13 – it was filled with lifelike replicas of notable past world figures in wheelchairs randomly moving slowly around the room, sort of dodgem like but more gently………
For us this created a sense of poignancy…..at the moment we are in a very sad work situation as our aged employers are nearing the end of their lives – the thing that struck me was that the wax figures looked rather too healthy.
The other thing was……. how come such a wealthy philanthropic man can’t find a decent dietician………..?????????

Autumn is beautiful in England……..

…….the seasons here are amazing and now as we approach our second autumn, we are more prepared for the rapidity with which the seasons change and so are making the most of it. Today we went for a ‘ramble’. There is a walkway which goes through our place and meanders over the countryside for 10 miles called St Peter’s Way, we have only ever done bits of it. Today we decided, armed with our ordinance map, to go for it – 4 hours they reckon. Well, the first thing we came across was the big haystack in one of our fields. The other day there were two big machines in the paddock, one sweeping all the hay into rows and the other driving over the rows and spitting bales of hay out the back, terribly efficient – today a huge haystack – just like days of yore – no polythene wrapped monstrosities’ here! On we went, following the discreet signs. We came across a field of horses – they were so friendly and decided to follow us, but alas they weren’t up for climbing over a style – pity, we really liked them.
On we went and then as always happens in our experience of England, without warning, the signs ran out. “Not to worry” said we, “we have our trusty ordinance map”! But, with no idea of where we actually were it was a bit tricky, so we pressed on. Lovely autumn day, lots of blackberries to sustain us and then all of a sudden things started to look horribly familiar, instead of doing a lovely 4 hour loop, we had managed an hour loop….never mind ….we went back to our pond and talked to the geese while we ate our bread and cheese and drank our ales. Must get better at map reading………..miss you all AGAIN…..lots of love xxxxxxx

He aha te mea nui? He tangata. He tangata. He tangata. What is the most important thing? It is people, it is people, ...

………it is people. We can’t begin to say how important this was to us on our recent trip home. It was a very brief visit and we only caught up with a few of our nearest and dearest, but those we did manage to see, thank-you. Being in NZ filled our hearts and minds with aroha and now it is back to “Te aro Anglia” – “the way of the English”!!!! “Life as a servant” hit us with all it’s harsh reality on our return, intensified by the joys of jet lag. It has been ‘full on’….the class system and it’s ensuing stratification causes some people to try to establish their place in the hierarchy as soon as an opportunity presents itself. When we left for 14 days it would appear it kicked in immediately and there was a bit of a scramble. The interim carer took it upon herself to create all manner of “rotas” (English word for “rosters”) for extra staff for weird times of the day. It’s taken a few days to sort out the lack of mandate and now we are struggling to get everyone back in their rightful place – as Rod says “it’s like herding chickens” – one of his jobs that nobody else wants! Any how we are back. The leaves are beginning to turn, swimming in the “heated pool” first thing in the morning is bloody cold and we are looking forward to the arrival of our grand daughter from Norway and Patty from NZ – yay! Miss you all even more now….get over here…….much love xxxxxx

Barb's Birthday in Bath.........

……..we had a long weekend and as we’d been promising ourselves a visit to Bath for sometime we decided to hop in the car and do it. It’s so easy here to get on the Eurostar or a plane and go to Europe for a mini-break…..but there are many places in England we still have to ‘do’!
The motorway system is great, although you have to share it with millions of other cars as well as huge road trains, but with our trusty ‘satnav’ it makes what used to be stressful and confusing much easier. We don’t know how England does it – 80,000,000 people with masses and masses of countryside and green belt areas……fantastic town planning? Anyway, there we were, blatting down a 6 lane motorway and all of a sudden …. signs (couldn’t stop to photograph them!) “Deer next 41 Miles”….we didn’t see any, but…?
Another sign that took our fancy was……”For the Oracle leave at Junction 11”. We didn’t have any good questions to ask so we just kept going.
Anyway – Bath – the name doesn’t really do it….it doesn’t seem right that such a beautiful town should have such a utilitarian name. However, it does have hot springs (the only ones in Britain) and at the end of the day it would be no more romantic if it was called Rotorua. Beautiful Georgian buildings made from local sandstone, create a sense of lightness and coherent style that the Romans would have been proud off. The River Avon flows right through the town centre which adds to the atmosphere of graciousness. Lots of fabulous restaurants and shops, the perfect place to have a birthday……..to be continued……..
In the meantime this time next week we’ll be seeing a lot of you AND we can’t wait….much love xxxxxx

Rivenhall.....

……..we have some Kiwi friends who work on an Estate in Rivenhall, about ½ an hour from here. I thought I’d just give you a very small glimpse of how the other 1% live!!!!!! Our friend’s accommodation is the first photo, their place is attached to ‘the big house’ (see second photo). The lake is part of the ‘front lawn’ of the big house.
Ho! Hum!.......we are totally used to it. Anyway we had a great evening and decided to head for Mersea today to feast on oysters. Not as in “Ferry Across the Mersea”.Mersea is an island attached to the Essex Coast by a single road across a causeway. We headed off early afternoon, all starving hungry, boys in the front, girls in the back…….sign-”Road Closed Ahead” ….”not so” decided the boys and around the sign we went and continued several miles down the road. We came upon a gang of workmen tarsealing the road……whoops, we had to do a U turn on the fresh tarseal with a huge roller bearing down on us. Didn’t faze the Kiwis! On we went (by another route) to the only road onto Mersea. There was a sailing dinghy race around the island with the boats having to be carried over the road during the race (duh…how does that work!)??????? The police had the cars backed up for miles and as it turned out hours. Not for us hungry Kiwis, being practiced at U turns, around we went and back to the nearest place that was still serving food. Most pubs have a strange practice of closing their kitchens at 2pm until 6pm…..considering that this is the most popular form of ‘eating out’ here, we find it unusual. There are some that serve food all day but these are few and far between and the food is usually not that good - today was no exception. But we were so hungry by the time we found one, that we weren’t that fussed. We had even considered going into a cattery and eating a cat. It’s fun spending time with Kiwis AND we will have 10 days of doing just that in 2 weeks time……can’t wait……until then, lots of love xxxxxxxx

From smugglers to Shakespeare…..

…we recently visited Hastings on the coast of Sussex, we were guests of extended ‘whanau’ – not only did we love being with whanau, we loved the sense of ‘things of yore’. Hastings is one of the closest points of England to France and so has long been a smuggler’s town. Apparently the cliffs are dotted with caves and tunnels and the old town has little alleyways and secret places. Oh! and of course there is The Battle of Hastings, 1066 and all that. We are looking forward to going back. this is a very beautiful country.
Last Thursday it was off to London and we went to a performance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The Globe is a very authentic reconstruction of the open-air playhouse designed in 1599, where Shakespeare worked and wrote. Camera's (and cell phones) weren't an Elizabethan option! The friends that we were with insisted that we stand in the yard just as they would have done 400 years ago. Insightfully they did suggest we bring raincoats!!!! As I’m sure they did 400 years ago, we got wet….it was truly brilliant tho’ and added to the experience. But, after standing for several hours - I think I’d opt for a dry seat in the gallery next time and have a different ‘authentic experience’. The play was “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and the players were fast, funny and we were enthralled from start to finish despite getting wet!!!
Have been a slack on the blog front recently…sorry…..not from lack of thinking of everyone…just a spate of ‘writers block’ for goodness sake.. how pathetic! Time to come home for a little ‘catch up’ with everyone……….so with that in mind we will be in Auckland for 10 days from the 5th September until the 15th….can’t wait!!!!!

From smugglers to Shakespeare…..

Bats…badgers and things that buzz…..

…..all in the same night! We are under siege at the moment from wasps….there are quite a few nests in our roof and the roof of the Big House, so the gardener has been clambering around spraying stuff into any hole where he sees activity in the hope he kills them. Two things here – a) he has a major allergy to wasps……b) it brasses the wasps off big time and so we have hords of dopey, cross wasps lurching all around the place.
‘Elf & safety’ says I…get an expert, but it hasn’t happened yet……So, we have to walk around very carefully in our house as there are writhing wasps on the carpet waiting to be flushed!
We had a day off yesterday and Rod (who is VERY bantam conscious!)….went out last night just after dark to make sure the bantams had been locked up for the night. There was a HUGE badger trying the door of the bantam house. It never ceases to amaze us that in the midst of such peace and tranquility there is always killers and carnage waiting just below the surface!
Then…..as we settle down for a read in bed before lights out – a bat wandered into our bedroom….it was like a large black moth, about the size of a fantail… we got over the shock and were trying to figure out how to remove it…and it disappeared!
We have been at Mill Green Park just on a year now, having gone through all the seasons we are back where we started, mid summer, …we know now how quickly the seasons come and go and so are scoffing and freezing the fruit and berries as fast as we can this year and making the most of the abundance in the garden, we know now that when it’s over, it’s really over and even the most hardy veges struggle in winter. Meanwhile it’s lovely long swims in the pool, the odd game of tennis and of course we do work really hard in our role as ‘servants’……it’s been a good year….still miss you all and hopefully we can see you before too long……..lots of love xx

Last word on Paris……..

………. Paris has to be the most beautiful city we have visited to date. It has so many faces and each one of them has its own charm – even the homeless with their makeshift living arrangements do it with Parisian style – pets, wine in glasses and other little refinements. A makeshift hovel at the edge of the marina would have washing out each day to dry……. There weren’t huge amounts of graffiti, but even the graffiti expressed an urban ‘edginess’ that didn’t invoke the rage that so much graffiti does. There is a ‘joie de vie’ in Paris that seems to over ride the constant presence of armed gendarme, but I don’t think we’d ever get used to seeing ‘youth’ fully armed. Modern buildings snuggle amongst their gracious forebears…….I’ll admit that when on holiday one has rose tinted glasses…but Paris…..aaahhhhhh……….meanwhile life ‘as a servant’ continues…..more about that later………… …we’ve had lots of visitors which always brings us in touch with home and who we are…….lots of love xxxxxxx