It's been a while

I see that my last post was about my trip to Adelaide.

I have been quiet since then but have been on a few visits.

On the banks of the River Severn in Worcester when I spent a weekend at my daughters Malvern house.

I took the dog for a walk in Woking.

It was sunny for a trip to Guildford Market

A visit to Much Hadham provided some nice country walks

A trip to London

I went on a watercolour painting holiday to Saragano in Italy

We had a trip to Perugia

The local Bisley Strawberry Fayre was a must.

The RHS at Wisley was visited and I took my mum.

Another trip to Malvern for house/pet sitting provided the opportunity to walk in the Malvern Hills and attend some cricket matches.

The Malvern Beacon

I walked by the River Severn to Worcester to watch some cricket.

Worcester Rapids take on Northamptonshire Steelbacks in an ODI at New Road.

WorcsCCC got a hat-trick off the first three balls of the match

Soon after a swan held up play for several minutes while it did half a dozen sedate laps of the ground.
It eventually gained altitude and flew off to the river with encouraging cheers from the large crowd.

The ice cream van in the background makes for an iconic picture.

Somehow, after such a good start, Worcestershire CCC contrived to still lose the game.
It was time for me to walk back alongside the Severn to where I had parked my car.

I could be heading back to Oz in November.

Peewit

Can't complain about the British Summer

No, I can't complain, because having got back to the UK in mid May, it is true to say that the summer in England has been good with lots of sunshine.
I took a trip up to Lords to watch the Womens International match between the MCC Women and The Rest of the World Women.
It was a beautiful sunny day and Charlotte Edwards was interviewed on the field of play.

The ground was looking good

Suzie Bates won the toss and chose take her ROW team in to bat first.

There is nothing nicer than sitting in the sunshine and watching a quality game of cricket.

The ROW were batting well

At the end of 50 overs there was a healthy score on the board

MCC Women were scoring runs but not enough

Charlotte Edwards top scored as usual

However, the MCC Women could not reach the required total.

 The final scorecard shows a well earned win for the ROW women

Early in June I went on a steam train trip from Woking to Swanage.

At Swanage I made the mistake of having a largish pub lunch and then walking up the very steep climb to the Durlston County Park. The view from the castle made it worth it. I took the bus back down the hill to the station.

 Black 5 was ready to take us back up towards London

 One of the old semaphore signals at Swanage

Later in June there was cycle racing around the streets of Woking town centre.
Here are the pits.

Ride for the Elite Cycle Team and get a pink bike

A bit of a lead but still an hour of racing ahead

 

Hard work under sunny skies.

Eileen Roe won the ladies race and Tom Stewart won the men's.

 

In July I went to see my youngest daughter who lives in Malvern. We went for a walk across the Malvern Hills.

 

Malvern bloom

My eldest daughter has temporarily moved back to the UK from Sydney. Later in July I visited her new home near Much Hadham. We went for a walk through the local cornfields.

This Green Tye is a village and not a curry. It was a great place to stop for refreshment at the local pub.

 

In August I caught up with my daughter again and she works at a well known bank just across the road from the Royal Exchange.

  

I visited a museum and got to lift this gold bar weighing 28 lbs

 

 St Pauls was on my walk back towards Waterloo Station

 

I took this photo from the Wibbly Wobbly bridge.

 The South Bank featuring the recently opened Shard

Another trip to Malvern and here is the village of Powick in the distance. 

Ok, so the summer is over now and the weather in England is not so nice. The need to get back to sunshine has become overwhelming so in January I will be off to Adelaide for a month. It will probably be damn hot there, but I plan do some cycling, watch cricket and visit some of the Tour Down Under events. No doubt I will also be seeking out the source of most of the red wines that fill my local Woking supermarket shelves. ie McLaren Vale, Barossa, Adelaide Hills, etc.

Until the next time

Peewit