Victoria and Albert museum London. June 2013

The museum is a huge place full of treasures and "ooohhs and ahhhhhs" of disbelief and amazement. Of course we saw only a smidgen of the exhibitions as we spent time lunching and afternoon tea.. Ing! Then of course there was the shop full of exquisite goodies and fine handcrafted products. Glenn told me to point out the things I really liked and then he went back in and bought me all of them (almost) for my birthday two days later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met our friend Barbara at the museum and had the day together. We had lunch in the cafeteria, said to be the most elegant dining area in London.

 

The exhibition of glassware was totally amazing and the piece below was made by Dale Chihuly, the same glassmaker who was commissioned to do a series of works for Floriade in Canberra when I went about 20 years ago with Suzie Cliff, Paula and a few others.

 

 

This work was called "Guts". .. How beautiful it is and how aptly named!!

 

More ancient treasures!

 

These were in the cafeteria and were about the size of a large grapefruit. Edible.

 

We said goodbye to Barbara at the end of the day and we went our separate ways after a great day.Baraba had two weeks in London and we were at the end of two weeks and were off to Bedford and the narrowboat adventure.

Bus trip home in peak traffic. There were at least seven buses one behind the other .. A very tight fit at times when there were diversions down one way streets due to construction works. Good view from the top deck though and the bus dropped us at the end of our street in Queens park which was convenient.

 

Crouchers Farm Crowhurst Sussex

We caught the train to Crowhurst on the Hastings Line from London, to visit long-time friends Diane and Alan who live in their wonderful 14th. century home Crouchers Farm. (Diane is twin sister of our friend Terry Minton of Lorraine and Terry fame!). After coffee and a long chat Diane, Glenn and I headed out the back gate at the bottom of the garden for a long walk with the dogs. The fields of Rape were an intense yellow, contrasting with the rich green spring grasses on the hills and the dogs chased each other through the fields and the streams while Diane explained what we were seeing.

We love their beautiful garden, lush and green with the early spring flowers adding bright colour. There is vegie garden, a swing for the children and a traditional herb garden. There are lots of birds and, alas, the badgers which dig up the lawn. Two cats and two dogs complete the picture!

 

On the second day we drove to Beechy Head on the southern coast of England to the vertical white cliffs of chalk and flint which plunge dramatically down to the sea below. Alan is part of a community suicide watch team which patrols this section of cliff which, sadly, is popular with people planning to jump to their death.

The views along the coast are stunning and expand inland as far as the eye can see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This recently erected memorial marks the coast of England seen last by the British airmen as they flew over on bombing raids during World War 11.

 

Pevensey Castle.

 

 

A beer at the local pub ..'The Plough'.

We had a great few days catching up with Diane and Alan, son Jonathon and grand kids Tudor and Kitty and meeting some of their friends. They have an interesting life and are always generous and entertaining hosts and we love to see them.

On our last day we lounged around in the sun, enjoying the tranquility of this place. After lunch Diane drove us to London and dropped us at the tube station nearest her son Mathew's house and we made our way back to our house exchange in Queens Park.