Steve n Jen's UK adventures

UK and European adventures. Read on my pretties, and discover what two stray Aussies can get up to on their travels.......

11 November 2007

Nov 2007 a

Sat 03 Nov 2007
Alarm woke us up today at 4:20am. About 5 hours later we were in the Netherlands. It was only a 40 minute flight, but the cheaper flights meant using Stansted airport. We arrived on-site at an event called Knick Knack. There were about 40 people at the event, almost half of which were toddlers and children.
During the day Steve got out and did some fighting...

Jen played some board games, had a go at Nalbinding, painted a small gameboard, and invited the shire of Polderslot to a game of Tierce... which was fine until two of the kids fell over and started crying. *sigh*

Some of the people at the event:


Sun 04 Nov 2007
In the afternoon after the event, we had a good 6 hours available for sight-seeing in Belgium. When in Belgium, why not have a Belgian Beer? (at Tor Dolen castle, with our guide, Bertrik)

...and sample some Belgian chocolate.


We stoped in to look at some roman ruins and this lovely village centre....



Tomorrow is officially Guy Fawkes night - but many fireworks were let off tonight. It was really the most amazing sight to fly over east England with fireworks going off everywhere, as far as the eye could see, for a good half hour as we flew down to Stansted airport and back home.

Mon 05 Nov 2007
This week we're both working hard and long hours at work. There were loads of fireworks going off tonight (Guy Fawkes night) in every suburb. By the end of this week we're both feeling a bit worse for wear.

Fri 09 Nov 2007
Today Jen files a claim at the small claims court - against our ex-landlord who refuses to return the deposit money (bond). We have nothing to lose doing this, and are expecting our day in court sometime next year, unless he caves in the meantime. On a lighter note, we have Edith and Nick over for dinner and overnight because...

Sat 10 Nov 2007
It's Nick's birthday and we all go to the Re-enactor's fair near Coventry. It was fantastic! Edith and Nick each bought a pair of hand made medieval shoes, and various bits n bobs. The prices were quite reasonable on most items, and completely outrageous on others. We spent just over £100 for all this:

Here are some of the stalls we drooled over:





Next, we drove to nearby Kenilworth to check out the local castle. (Jen stayed warn in the car and had a nap to sleep off a potential migraine)


Finally, we got home and had dinner together and watched "The Matrix". Here's Nick cutting his birthday cake.



Sun 11 Nov 2007
Steve does some hand sewing for Jen, and the dishes (yay!), while she hacks and coughs and tries to get better.

Oct 2007 b

Sat 20 Oct 2007
Hurrah! At long last we have a weekend at home, and are able to arrange a TV aerial man to diagnose our lack of signal. As it turned out, the aerial was fine but the TV point on the wall needed replacing. Glad that didn't cost much. Very happy with the 50 or so free view channels we now receive. Not that it's really free - you still need a TV license in the UK.

Sun 21 Oct 2007
Jen goes work-clothes shopping while Steve catches up on some 'self time'. Jen also discovers the camera is not broken, but needs a new battery. The nice chap in the camera shop lets her put in a battery from one of their display cameras, but won't sell it to her unless "you want to buy this camera that comes with it". Fat chance!

Mon 22 Oct 2007
Hooray!!!!!! Triple hooray!!! We finally have internet at home!
What a relief! :-)

Thu 25 Oct 2007
Jen's workmates go to the nearby pub after work, and celebrate pay day with a few pints.

Fri 26 Oct 2007
Wulfgar (Lauren's ex) stays with us overnight and catches a lift with us the next day...

Sat 27 Oct 2007
Set out very early and arrive at the Viceroy event, half way between London and Bristol. We decided to day trip, arriving on-site at 10am, and getting home at midnight. Our friends Deb and Clancy (from Cambridge) won the tourney and will be Viceroy and Vicereign (of the UK, Ireland and Iceland) for the next 6 months. But more importantly we got to catch up with Wystan!
Here are some photos from the day (thanks to Arianwen):

Above: Wystan, a Bangor squire, doing a great job of heralding court for us, considering the preparation time of 20 seconds (literally!).
Below: one by one the combattants present their consorts to us.


Above: it was a grey old day with a cold and drizzly wind.
Below: we congratulate Ursula (Deb) and Clancy on winning the day.



Sun 28 Oct 2007
A relaxing day unpacking, doing laundry and catching up with a zillion emails.

Tue 30 Oct 2007
Finally - the new camera batteries arrive, and yes the camera works again. Yay!!!

Wed 31 Oct 2007
Halloween. These are the scary kids who live next door..... (below) Their mother bundled them up in the family car and drove to "a richer suburb" for their trick or treating.

Below: more freaky kids at our door.