Monthly Archives: September 2014

Clare and Paulio had talked so fondly of the lovely birthplace of Puccini it was on my must do list. From Pisa, a really simple 20-minute train trip to the beautiful walled town. Being Sunday, mass was on in full and the singing as I walked through the walls was just beautiful. There was something just so peaceful wandering around the inner walls of the gorgeous Tuscan town. Sitting drinking coffee along a small street with many ageing grandpapas pushing their precious cargo in strollers was lovely. I thought of Clare as the petalon of eager cyclists pulled up for their morning espresso. The promenade around the outer walls was lovely. Andrew, a planner at work had asked me to take some photos of the ramparts for his classes and it was a totally enjoyable thing to do as I strolled the perimeter of this lovely town.

The flight from Gatwick to Pisa was so easy. We arrived in Pisa at about 9.30pm and the transfer from the airport to the city was a few minutes on a bus. Quite surreal to think you can just nick off to Italy for a weekend. Decided to grab a hotel really close to the station just because it was late. Was a comfortable business hotel and would have been just fine but they had limited vacancies for the next few days. Had decided just to stay in Pisa to save the constant packing and unpacking and train it from there. My last visit to Pisa had been a quick one with Al so thought it would be also nice to spend a few days just wandering. Whilst the tower is spectacular, the surrounding streets are lovely and peaceful, not surrounded by the young Japanese girls with their phones attached to long poles taking endless selfies.

Booking.com showed what looked like a lovely hotel with vacancies for a really reasonable price. The Hotel Bologna was a lovely find in a gorgeous street and very close to everything. I had read that Pisa has the best food in Tuscany and what I have eaten has been fantastic. Sitting in the piazza eating assorted meats and cheese in the Italian sun is just as close to perfect as one can get. It is not as hot as when Al and I were here so much more pleasant. The sun, however, has done what it should with the magnificent pomodoro and I have eaten the gorgeous Tuscan fruits at almost every meal.

The drive to the home of the Old Bard was pretty easy and wandered through the lamplit town in search of a good English pub meal. The drive the next day through the pretty town of Bourton on the Water was long but lovely. A stop in Bath was an enjoyable break and I once again enjoyed the visit to the Roman baths – felt like I was getting ready for the Italian escape

I had been reading in the English and Aus papers of the sonar work around the Henge. Since my last visit to the monolith rocks a whole new visitor centre had opened and the landscape was being redeveloped so the feeling of the place would not be interrupted by a dirty great big highway through the middle. You could still see the highway in the distance but the trip to Stonehenge was now via a bus. Obama had visited a few days before and it was lovely to have the place with far less visitors. It was late in the day so we wandered in the waning light and drunk in the magnificence of the rocks.

There was a moment’s temptation as we passed the tunnel to take the turn to Paris but work called the next morning. I had read reports of Gravesend being one of the worst places to live in the UK but it was seriously fine. A great days work and then the drive to Gatwick for the Italian escape.

I had a totally wonderful dinner with my friend Fiona who lives about 30 minutes from Leeds. Fiona and Simon, and their delightful girls, live in the small village of Otley. Cobbled streets, four story Georgian houses and pubs covered in ivy reminded me that I was in England. The Chevons behind and the moors in front reminded me that I was in Yorkshire. They cooked a seriously great meal and it was just so lovely to sit in someone’s kitchen. Fiona had stayed with me in Bendigo so it felt rather fitting to now spend time in her kitchen. The wonderful stone flags on the floor in front of the Aga type cooker, and the great night sitting around the country style table, was a welcome reprieve from restaurants and hotels. Poor Simon, Fiona and I didn’t draw breath for the first hour.

I found my way back to the Leeds hotel with reasonable ease with a list of where to go the next day on the way South. With the GPS set, the first stop was the home of the Bronte’s. A gorgeous, picture perfect steep village. The walk up, and the moors behind, provided the perfect backdrop to the four Bronte’s amazing literary prowess – well climbing those hills would give one plenty of thinking time and stories of Heathcliff surely would take your mind off the puffing as you trooped up the cobblestone hill.

The Parsonage was unbelievably gorgeous. The tiny furniture reminded me of how damn mammoth we must seem to the ghosts hiding in the corners. I did have to bob my head a few times. I often think houses have feelings deep within their walls and this one just had the most peaceful feeling. I really could picture the girls sitting sharing their stories in the tiny living room by the glow of candlelight.

From the Brontes to Salt Mill. My friend Fiona thought I would love the art of David Hockney. She met my girls (Juno and Hebes that is) in Bendigo and thought I would rather like the galleries of a fellow daschund lover. In true Peter Alexander style the touches of daxies were everywhere. Salt Mills is amazing and across each floor were the most tasteful galleries. Amazing Danish designers – Oh the chairs I would have easily packed a whole container and shipped home.

I wandered around the homewares and had great lunch in the Salt Mills diner – with the theme of daschunds I expected hot dogs (and I think they were on the menu) but had gorgeous lunch. I stood for ages trying to figure out whether I could fit in one of David’s prints – I really couldn’t resist and thought I can always post it home. It fitted perfectly in the suitcase so Hebe and Juno asleep on an English armchair are coming home with me.

Had a great day of contrasts. Travelled by bike throughout London. Went to Brixton market on the recommendation of my friend Fiona and had a great wander through very multicultural London. I could have been anywhere in the world and I found the contrasts between what seemed the long term residents of Brixton, and the new outer London gentrifiers, totally fascinating. The mixture of great multicultural food and then the women in their neatly ironed chinos, liberty shirts and blonde ponytails was fantastic. The very well behaved dogs trotting along past ‘cool’ looking hoody wearing dudes. I left Brixton on the trusty bike back through oh so chic Kensington and Chelsea and loved my ride down small streets with very James Bond type men lurking around in front of Bentley’s with ear pieces in their ears outside rather swish inner London abodes. I wandered through very gorgeous furniture stores around Sloane Square and had the very best of weekends.

Just synced my pedometer and it seems I have walked 26000 steps today – no wonder my feet are damn sore. I worked for the morning – well a full day really as I have been waking up so early – and then headed off from North Bloomsbury toward the West End. I walked down to see my friends the mummies at the British Museum. I couldn’t visit London without calling in. I had a lovely time. The beautiful carved walrus ivory of the Lewis Chessman reminded me that I really must learn how to play chess. I was thinking about the ruling British Empire as I wandered through the rooms of Ancient Persia. The amazing Oxus treasure had me thinking about the arrogance of the British in having all of these treasures – often stolen from their countries of origin. But then I guess the other side of that is that at least they are protected. The Great Court of the British Museum is pretty impressive and as I wandered through the lower halls the stark modern architecture seemed perfectly fitting as I stood and attempted to decipher the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta Stone.

I headed further down through Covent Garden toward the massive structure that is Nelson’s column. It was exceptionally colorful tonight in Trafalgar Square. The four lions were covered in clambering children with the most enormous blue chicken roosting over the city. There was spider man, various star wars characters and very cool young trendy rappers entertaining the thousands of people in the English sunshine. I visited the BP portrait prize and had a lovely time listening to gorgeous music amongst the Tudor kings. Da Vinci and Monet had me heading for home through the millions of British lads having a great time with their Friday night drinks. Oh I do love London.

Had a lovely time in Cambridge. The conference was really good. About 350 delegates from every imaginable country. Churchill College was a lovely place to stay. Had a great room with a King size bed overlooking a central courtyard garden and it was gorgeous in the morning with the mist over the green Cambridge countryside.

It was really busy. We presented on the first day and really enjoyed all of the presentations. I chaired sessions all day Wednesday and Thursday and ran a workshop with Annie from Qatar on Thursday afternoon. Annie had me in stitches telling me about her Zumba classes in Qatar. The windows are all blocked out so the women won’t be seen but the instructor is a male – she amused me no end demonstrating her Zumba moves on the floor of Churchill College. Zumba in Qatar led us in to an English barbeque for dinner – really struggled to get my head around that one as well. It was a lovely setting on the lawns of Churchill but the poms really should stick to high tea.

Wednesday night, sitting at long tables in the stunning Harry Potter hall of Caius College, I was definitely waiting for the howlers to fly in. Caius was founded in 1348 and has produced thirteen Nobel Laureates. The dining room was amazing with long tables set with candles, the choir singing above us and hundreds of years of senior fellows watching us from the walls. The stain glass windows included one honoring John Venn, the inventor of the Venn diagram.

We organized to meet Tom from Adelaide, and Benny from Plymouth, for a quiet one at the Eagle pub on the way home. A 14^th century drinking house, it has a ceiling that has signatures of RAF pilots from all over the world who returned from the Second World War and signed their names on the ceiling using cigarette lighters, candle smoke and lip stick. After the biggest pot of cidre ever, we staggered home in the dark across cobblestones and Roman streets and came across a bus heading to Churchill.

Went on a walking tour of Cambridge before returning to London, which was lovely. We visited St Catharine’s College with its beautiful gardens. The 31 colleges that make up the University of Cambridge are all stunningly beautiful, with King’s College chapel the centerpiece of a stunning medieval city.

Notes to self:

1. Buy new lovely little MAC computer at least two weeks before one leaves the country
2. Always set up new computer before you leave the country
3. Don’t lose hard drive on the plane with all of your work on it including presentations
4. If you are going to lose hard drive lose it on Heathrow leg not Dubai so can easily be retrieved
5. Remember to send nice email to Dubai QANTAS man to thank him for looking after hard drive at QANTAS Club
6. Take screen shot and send details of server log on to one self
7. Don’t eat College food
8. If you do eat College food make sure nice English loo is close 
9. Have good son at home who is not a mac user but is a good computer hacker to find all work 
10. Remind oneself why one really had children – one is an ATM so children should be computer hackers
11. Do have dropbox set up for emergency loading of presentations