Happy Birthday Jack!
I hope you had a really good time today. Finally the summer has arrived after a long period of rainy days, just in time for your special day. And also the Olympics. Did you get to see the opening ceremony the night before last? It really was properly amazing. Maybe you are even going to see some events, perhaps as a birthday treat.
Whatever you are doing and wherever you are, I hope this finds you happy, healthy and having fun.
With all my love, Andrew xx
Spent a week down in Haverford West. Where is that I hear you ask? It’s in Wales, right down in the bottom left corner. By the sea, obviously. Actually, what a coastline! It’s GORGEOUS!! Miles of cliff top walks overlooking big jaggedy cliffs and quiet little coves. Even the sun came out to play sometimes.
It reminded me of that Famous Five adventure we read when we went camping in the Forest of Dean (do you remember putting up the big tent in the wind and rain? Blimey, that was an adventure all on its own). Anyway, the coastline down in that part of Wales, which is called Pembrokeshire, was used by all sorts of dodgy types for smuggling. Sometimes they would light fires at night to guide ships the wrong way and onto the rocks, where they would be wrecked. Then the “wreckers”, as they were known, plundered the wreckage for treasure and anything worth stealing. Not nice people, then.
Today, it is just endless loveliness, although on one day it grew misty and quite mysterious. I walked passed a lighthouse which was using its foghorn to warn ships off the rocks. The mournful sound of a foghorn in the mist made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, yet in a nice, exciting way. Each turn of the coastal path reveals yet another picturesque cove with a secret beach. Amazingly, there weren’t many people there at all and often you had the beach to yourself, except for Oscar and Garfield of course. Garfield was none to keen about the sea, he thought it a bit wet, whereas Oscar quite fancied a swim!
Talking of swimming, some nutty people got all dressed up in wet suits, life jackets and cash helmets and went jumping off rocks on the coast. They finished at an old slate quarry which is now flooded by the sea. If you look very closely at the “Coasteering” picture below, you will see them about to jump off what were tall buildings into the deep blue lagoon that was the old mine. It is about 14 meters from the top of the tallest jump, that’s about twice the height of a house. They made a huge bang of a splash when they hit the water. Bonkers! FUN!!!
We also stopped by the Forest of Dean on the way back. Well, it would be rude not to really! See the view from the top of Symonds Yat Rock. We saw Kestrels hunting for prey too. And then time for an ice cream down by the rapids on the River Wye. Lovey!
Here are a few piccies…
Went walkabout just outside Holwell village, only two villages away from Hickling. What a discovery! Gosh, I wish I had known about it when you used to stay. It’s a lovely nature walk along the old railtrack that used to serve an old quarry long since closed. These days Mother Nature has taken the area back and it really is a little treasure. There is plenty of wildlife to see and we had a good time looking at buzzards circling the skies for prey. A little mouse or rat was probably lunch that day! We also saw a great big badger set; the holes were huge so it was definitely a badger set. Unless it was for a Wererabbit!
Down in the old quarry it was very sheltered from the wind and an ideal place for a picnic. The old entrance to the mine was closed off but that’s probably just as well, it would be pretty dangerous now in an Indians Jones kind of way. Anyway, a nice place to wander about.
Hiya!
Mad busy recently. Lots of work with the RICS (I am a property management surveyor and the RICS is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Basically, they make the rules that surveyors work to); I have been to London about 20 times already this year and also done talks at RICS Roadshows in Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Cambridge. In between times, I have been twice to Scotland. The first time to see my Godfather, Gordon, who was very poorly and the second time sadly to his funeral. In one week, I did over 2,000 miles. My feet haven’t touched the ground! All that and running my business, Bulmer Estates, too.
In between all that, I had a weekend away in North Shields. Oscar and Garfield came along too and we went for a walk along the seaside. We found some great big old cannons by a monument to Admiral Lord Collingwood. Who he, I hear you ask? Well Admiral Collingwood had a warship called the HMS Royal Sovereign and he was the first ship into battle at Trafalgar. He must have been very brave; he sailed his ship into battle against the French alone ( I mean the ship was alone, obviously he had other sailors on his ship, DOH!) and it was an hour of close fighting with cannons before Lord Nelson (on HMS Victory) managed to catch up, get within range of the French ships and join in the fight. We won the Battle of Trafalgar but Lord Nelson was shot during the battle and died. So, a great naval victory for England but a sad end for poor Nelson. If you haven’t already, you will do this stuff at school. It’s quite exciting.
HMS Victory is now moored at Portsmouth, on the south coast. She is a ownderful old ship and you can climb on board and have a really good look around. I recommend you go as soon as possible. Do you remember going to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight for a summer holiday? You would have been about 5 years old. We stayed a night at my friend Brian Fowler’s house. You might remember we went fishing for crabs by a little harbour. Also, Brian had a huge trampoline in his back garden that we played on.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the monument, some cannons and of course Oscar and Garfield. Enjoy!
I gave blood today, for the very first time. A bit scary as I don’t like needles much (but then, who does?)
As it turned out, it was perfectly fine and I hardly felt a thing. It felt good to do something good; I wonder who will get my pint? There is an old joke that goes
“how much do they take?
“About a pint”
“Blimey, that’s nearly an armful!”
Anyway, felt fine, had my biscuit and left. No worries at all. What was nice is I bumped into an old friend. My nurse, Carol, was one of a group of friends from about 13 years ago. So that was nice.
Here’s a piccie of my badge. Hey that reminds me. Do you remember hitting your head on the playground gate? I still have your “I am brave” badge in my wallet, where it lives. It reminds me of you.
Bye for now!
The song goes “you take the High Road and I’ll take the Low, and I’ll be in Scotland before you”. But there was only one road to the very north of Scotland where I went last weekend. My Godfather, Gordon, is poorly in Hospital. Gordon is a lovely man. You never got to meet him, which is a shame. He is great fun. Although a clever man who has made lots of money in business, he is really good at silly fun.
Anyway, I went to see him at the weekend. He lives in Elgin, which is in the very north of Scotland. It is 461 miles from my house to his, so it takes a day to drive there and another to drive back. I took Oscar and Garfield for company and we stopped for a photo in the mountains.
I stayed the night at my friend’s house. Vinnie has three great boys. Vinnie and I have been friends from school days; we met when we were just 11 years old. I still have some great friends from school, even though they live all over the country these days. His oldest son, Calvin, is a few days older than you. Vinnie is very tall and his boys are going to be tall as well. Just like you I think.
Vinnie, Calvin, Lucas and Rowan