Bath

I began my stay in England with a visit to my eldest sister Clare who lives in Somerset. The train stopped in Bath, and I could see some of the lovely old buildings. I commented on this to Clare and Pete, and that I'd never been there, so the next day we took a trip there. I don't know so much of the history, but the romans built a city there, and the baths they built are still intact. It was fashionable in Regency times to visit Bath to "take the waters" and Jane Austen refers to this in several of her novels. You could feel the atmostphere of history in the streets, mainly because things have not been allowed to change too much. There was a shopping precinct built in the sixties, but this has been pulled down, and a new one built in its place in lovely golden bath stone, with very discreet signing. MacDonalds have to make do with a wooden sign with foot-high orange "golden arches" carved into the wood. We found the city's oldest house, from 1482,(eat your heart out americans!) which is still a bakery/cafe, and still sells "Sally Lunns" - a cake that has been eaten for hundreds of years.
An elegant city, situated on the river, with a lovely public park (unfortunately closed and locked the day we were there ) I had a very enjoyable day there and hope to go back there again one day.

My trip to England 9 - 18 October

My main reason for travelling to England was that my brother-in-law David was marrying Pat, the new love of his life. Earlier this year his daughter Susie (left) married her Steve, and in June his son Robert (right ) married Claire. Their daughter Sophie was bridesmaid in all three weddings! Susie's wedding was in Cuba, but she had a family party in England later, which Jeremy and I went to. Reidar, Tamsin, Nick, Espen and I all went to Robert's wedding. This time I went alone, and thouroughly enjoyed a very relaxed wedding with a fun reception in a pub. Lots of lovely food and drink, and a good jazz trio that played music to dance to, so a good time was had by all.

Firewood

I feel so rich! We have five giant sacks of lovely dry birch-wood, safely stored under tarpaulins near the back door, then Reidar's friend Arild came the other day with this and dumped it in the middle of the drive. We've enjoyed three days of lovely hot sunny weather, but today was forecast rain ( and rain it did!) so yesterday Mia and I tackled it. She loaded the wheelbarrow with logs and wheeled them round the house and tipped them on the lawn. I stacked them on the veranda. Easy to say, but a lot of work. I was so pleased and proud when we were finished, and I feel so rich with such a lot of lovely dry wood.