Hiyoshi house update

Starting to prepare the foundation

Bernie, get out your bobcat!

Sent from my Sony Ericsson SO-01C

Ryan at Auskick

Update

Hello every-one
I am using Tom's PC to do this email hoping it will be faster than the
internet cafe and it is definitely more convenient. We are on the boat
now and have been since Monday - it is now Saturday. I will start
where I left off in Verona.
We were up at 4.30 to catch the train at 5.40. We went from Verona to
Milan then to Geneva. This was a great trip through the Alps. The next
legs were Geneva to Marseilles to Aix-en-Provence. There were no
mishaps except at Marseilles where the local train to Aix broke down
and we had to change trains =. There were messages over the
loudspeaker which we couldn't understand so we just kept asking people
using sign language - we must have asked 5 people who all said the
same thing - just stay on the train - but we kept asking anyway. We
arrived in Aix about 6pm and met the owner of the apartment. The
apartment was down a laneway - we were a bit worried about it as we
followed along but it turned out well. The apartment was a 16th
century building and it was just great. There were quite a few stairs
- 2 flights up to the bedroom floors up to the bedrooms - they were
large rooms - one with an ensuite (without the toilet) and another
large bedroom with a separate bathroom. The next floor up was the
kitchen, dining room and lounge room, and the next floor was the
rooftop deck. The rooms were all large with quarry-tiled floors and
white walls. The furniture was an eclectic mix of old style of
furniture. I loved it and am going to change our house to match now….
The Whartons arrived the same night - they had travelled for about 36
hours - from Canberra to Sydney to Singapore to Dubai to London to
Paris and then to Aix by train so they were pretty tired. Tuesday, we
mosied around Aix - great town. Lots of old buildings, pedestrian
streets with shops, the Cours Mirabeau - a boulevard with great shady
plane trees with cafes and people looking smart whilst drinking their
coffee. The women in these towns all have great style  - not that they
are expensivley dressed but they are well groomed and just look great.
Wednesday, Whartons caught the train to Avignon and we had a day in
town again. Dad and I took a walk out of town to see where Cezanne
lived and painted - that is what this town is about - Paul Cezanne was
born here and spent most of his life here so it well publicized. The
walk took us out of town and through a bit of the countryside where we
had great views - very pleasant. Later in the afternoon, I had the
hair done - cheaper and much quicker than Johnnie! Dad shopped for the
ingredients for tea - Risotto!
Thurday we picked up a car and took a drive to Cassis on the coast -
very pretty town with lots of sightseers - glad we are not here in the
high season for the crowds- we had brought a picnic for lunch so we
sat on the quay to have it - everyone else was sitting in the cafes!
Here we took a boat ride around -˜Les Calanquese - very steep cliffs
overlooking the sea - formed by glaciers once upon a time. Pretty
impressive. After this, we took a 16k drive called the Route de
Cretes which was along the top of the cliffs. Again this were
magnificent views all along the way. Then it was back to Aix for tea -
a special Marina cooked by Tom - we had bought all the ingredients at
the market just around the corner from our apartment. The markets
here are just fabulous - the food looks delicious and is delicious.
Friday was a long day - we travelled to Nimes - an old town with a
roman arena and other sights - they were very impressive - one was a
1st century roman temple/library. We had lunch in one of the squares
- very nice too. After this town, we drove on to Pont du Gard, another
roman leftover, but quite magnificent. It is a viaduct built in 19BC
and was part of a 30mile canal - it is very well preserved and looks
marvelous against the backdrop of the countryside. We were home about
9pm so it was leftovers for tea.
Saturday was a little more relaxed starting off so that we could have
a mosy round the Saturday markets - I bought a pair of Birkenstock
scuffs - 35 euros - very cheap. Richard Wharton had been in France
just a few weeks before and had recommended a restaurant outside of
Aix so we went off there for lunch - it was beautifully set in the
country. It was definitely worth making the trip. After that we set
off on our “Pilgrimage”. This was a scenic drive to Mary Magdalene's
cave - this was something featured in the Lonely Planet and was
fabulous. We drove to a town which then took us through the mountains
to a spot called Col D'Espoglieur - about 800m above sea level - I am
not sure how far from the coast we were but there was a point where we
were high enough to see the sea. Superb! The roads were all hairpin
bends and quite narrow but fortunately people seem to be reasonably
cautious with their driving and speed - except for the motorbikes -
but I suppose that is why you drive them! After that, we started to
come down a bit to a place called La-Ste-Baume and this is where Mary
Magdalene lived in a cave. The cave was a 40minute walk up the hill
but it was definitely worth the walk and, apart from the view when you
got there, the grotto was equally impressive. It was huge inside
and now has a chapel there where they hold mass every morning at
10.30am. It is interesting that she decided to live in a cave so far
from anywhere because at that time there wouldn't have been too many
people around anyway. The story is that Mary Magdalene came from
Egypt with Lazarus and Zacharias (and I am not sure whether Martha
came too) to escape persecution from Herod Agrippa. Perhaps someone
would like to google it and send it on for the correct story - I did
read about it somewhere but I am a bit forgetful of the detail. That
night, Jenny and I went to hear the ‘Cologne Chamber Orchestra' in the
cathedral of Sain-Saveur. Very fabulous - the principal violinist was
excellent.
Sunday today and we travelled again to a couple of towns in the
countryside - Joucas and Rousillon. Joucas was a flower town - very
pretty with flowers lining the streets. Rousillon is where they
produce ochre so all the houses are a different colour of the ochre -
this is where you buy your paints and pastels for your art. There was
a great walk through the ochre cliffs. And then home where we went to
mass at the Cathedral - long and cold - all that marble makes a
building very cold and the sermon went for 25 minutes - a bit long
when you don't know what they are saying.
Today is Monday and we were up at 5am to catch the early train to
Rennes where we took a taxi to Dinan to pick up the boat. We took the
early train as it went straight through without changing trains - such
a bonus for us as we worry the train will be late and we will miss our
connection or we wont find the right platform and also what about
hauling the cases on and off the trains!! Oh, it's great to be old!
And now the boat - it is a very flash boat - wider and longer than
what we have had before. It is a relatively new boat so in much
better condition. It also has a 3rd bedroom as the beds were a better
set-up. We had decided to stay in Dinan as it is a great little town
with old stone houses and cobble stoned streets - very scenic-
magnificent cathedral and magnificent ramparts around the town with
great views over the country side. The boat people were very helpful
and took us to a large supermarket to do our shopping and then
collected us. We even bought a little barbecue here! The first night
we ate in the town at a creperie where we had the regional cuisine -
galettes - savory buckwheat crepes - filled with whatever you like -
very delicious.
First thing in the morning I went for a walk into the town to do a bit
of a walk - found the square a joust was held in the 14th century
during the Hundred Years war with England - the Frenchman won and
freed his brother who was held by English - very good way of dealing
with things! There was also a tombstone without a head which is the
town mascot. It is actually pre-fab made during this same war. A
portrait bust would be attached to this generic body for a proper yet
economical, burial. Later we rode into a small town of Lehon which
had a magnificent abbey built in the 9th century, and the town was
pristine with flowery cobbled lanes.
We then started on the boat trip - the countryside was just lovely -
green foliage along the way - we stopped for lunch at a little village
called Evran. Jenny and I then had a bike ride into the next town, St-
Domineuc. We stayed the night here and had a barbecue tea (sausages)
on the bank of the canal. Just lovely!
Next day, Wednesday was an early start - well relatively, as we can''t
start until 9am when the locks open. We lunched at Tinteniac after we
had visited their market and had a bit of a walk around before we
continued on to the next stopover, Montreuil-sur-ille. Before we got
there, there was a bit of the canal which had 11 locks in 2ks - whilst
Tom and Dad negotiated the locks, Jenny and I had a walk into a town,
Hede, where we bought the beer for tea. Our stopover was a little
mixed -it was supposed to have power and water but to get it we needed
to have tokens which were to be purchased from a supermarket in the
town which was a 10minute bike ride away. All of this information was
written in French on the side of this unit. Fortunately a girl runner
stopped and interpreted for us. Dad and I rode into town where the
manager of the store said he had the tokens but he had to ring someone
else for the cost which was 5euro per token. When we got back to the
boat, we found that it only lasted only 30minutes and the cost should
have been 2 euros! But we didn't let us spoil our meal- we had
delicious salmon bought from the market at Tinteniac..
The markets are so good -the french wrap everything so beautifully.
Thursday, we had a few more stops at pretty villages -
St-Merdard-sur-Ille, German-sur-ille, Betton;and the stop for thenight
was St-Gregoire. The towns all have marvelous churches. Tom and Dad
have done all the driving of the boat and locks whilst Jenny and I
have ridden for a while or had a bit of a walk between the towns. At
one spot, we found a chapel on the side of the hill - it was an
open-air chapel. So picturesque!
We started off again to arrive in Rennes about 10.30 - we had to ring
the lockkeeper because she had slept in! Last night we stayed in
Rennes and now that is it for the moment. Tom is going to send this
later for me so will continue later.

Thanks for the updates from everyone¬ - that was just great. I will
try posting this to the journal address as well as to the mcinerney
groups. Love to all …m

(No Subject)

Lovely weather in Yokohama for Mother's Day - off for a picnic : )

Sent from my Sony Ericsson SO-01C

Can I 'tweet' - just had a great belated birthday dinner, and I think they forgot to charge the wine! Thanks circaDaniel McInerneyRoom 4 Level 22 Aickin Chambers(03) 9225 7783

Test pic

Daniel McInerneyRoom 4 Level 22 Aickin Chambers(03) 9225 7783

This is my test post.

Daniel McInerneyRoom 4 Level 22 Aickin Chambers200 Queen StreetMelbourne(03) 9225 77830432 323 671mcinerney@vicbar.com.au

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. This email and any attachments are confidential. They may contain legally privileged information or copyright material. You should not read, copy, use or disclose them without authorisation. If you are not an intended recipient, please delete this message.

Ryan learning to ride his bike

Post test via email

Hi everyone - you can now post to mcinerney.tv via email - will send how in a moment to yahoogroups

Cheers

Paul

Coat of arms!

I just found the McInerney coat of arms on the web - check it out:

Benjamin Walter

Hi all

Benjamin is coming up to his first week and I thought it worth marking the occasion with a short update. 

"Awesome"

Update over.

Dan

ps - sorry, not quite over.  He is sleeping peacefully, feeding well and even being compliant at bath time.  Moreover, he is a beautiful boy.

Update on 2010-06-27 16:45 by Claire Ollason

Sounds like a beautifully behaved baby.  Can you put some photos up for us foreign dwellers please?

Update on 2010-06-28 02:44 by Tina McInerney

I can vouch for that - I have just been to their house and he is very beautiful!

Update on 2010-06-28 12:38 by Matthew McInerney

I've only got one photo, good looking fella.  I've created an album created for some more photos shortly

Update on 2010-06-28 12:41 by matthew-edit

Link to photo

http://mcinerney.squarespace.com/mcinerneytv-photo-gallery/ben-mcinerney/

Collection of Photos

Hi All

I've added a new gallery to the site with some photos from the last six months. Couple of Christmas events, trip to WA with Mum and Dad for Mick Trevethans wedding, Ryan's birthday, My birthday and Sams Christening as well as a whole bunch of Sam putting things in his mouth.

This is mainly for those OS so they can understand how cold they are over there and how warm we are here. I had a look at the weather forecast for the week in England and there was nothing over 5 degree so I feel they really need to understand this.

love Matt

Update on 2010-02-01 07:57 by mcinerneygroups

http://mcinerney.squarespace.com/mcinerneytv-photo-gallery/some-photos-from-the-last-6-months/

Update on 2010-05-16 17:56 by Tina McInerney

hello everyone

here we are in SUNNY Bellagio!! and sitting in a bar which has inernet and sells beer and champagne as well.  What more could you want?

The boat trip was great again except for the weather.  It was pretty cold somedays and not pleasant for Tom and Dad who had to sit up the top in the rain and drive the boat.  There was steering inside but not useful when trying to go through the locks.  The area we drove through was very scenic , beautiful forests and fields.  We also stopped off at some interesting towns such as Strasbourg and Saverne.  <lots of little towns along the way all of which had bakeries selling the most delicious bread.  So we ate well on the boat and had a couple nights where we ate the regional fare at restaurants.

the man in the internet shop has just provided me with a toasted roll with cheese and prosciutto - for free!  Dad is on another computer, drinking beer and eating free food too.

After the boat, we caught the train to Berlin - super place so big although easy to find your way around.  we stayed near Alexander Platz which is in the old East Berlin.  a bit tatty but still good to see how the real people live.  the apartment building was a bit shabby but the apartment was very comfortable and had all we needed.  we were near the train station not that we caught it too much over the 3 days.  Dad and I walked to the Brandenburg Gate from the apartment and it took 40 minutes. We passed all the main museums on the way so there was no need to get the train really. One day we did the red bus thing and hopped on  and off a couple of times.  Another day, we took a train out to Potsdam - this was about 30ks out of town.  The Kaiser had built a castle here 'Schloss San souci". like a holiday home in Sorrento but a bit bigger.   There were lots of other buildings which he had built for his relatives as well as the odd belveder and Chinese House - all in this enormous park.  The old town at Potsdam was very cute too.

and then the long train trip to Bellagio.  we rose at 4.45 for the taxi to come at 5.30 - it didnt turn up so we started to walk to the station and hailed a cab on the way - the taxi man didnt even have his phone turned on - ratbag! we arrived in Bellagio around 9pm so it was a long day. Bellagio is very pretty with lots of narrow streets, cobblestones, shops and restaurants.  Some of the shops are expensive but there are also ordinary shops too.   Dad has even managed to buy a new pair of trackpants! It is very touristy but very convenient for getting around and there are good walks to do out into the countryside.  Our apartment is great - right in town.  We walk down our street to the ferry terminal.  the day after we came we had a relatively quiet day just looking about the town. 

Friday, we went by bus to Como - a hairy ride with the bus driver tooting the horn to let the cars coming the other way know he was coming.  we spent the day in Como just looking around and poking our heads into the odd church; had a ride up the mountain on the funiculare.  I had a list of 6 factory outlets for silk from the tourist office which I chased up - to no avail! Either they werent open, had shut down or had been turned inot a building site so no silk material!  I found a normal shop which sold silk material but that wasnt what I wanted - I can do that at home!

Saturday was the day for the ferry ride.  We bought a day ticket and hopped on and off at different towns in the centre of the lake - great fun.  The towns were very cute.  One stop was  Villa Carlotta - very fabulous.  Some lady gave it to her daughter as a wedding present.  magnificent house and gardens.  Unfortunately, Carlotta died when she was 23 so she didnt get the chance to enjoy it for very long.

Today we started off with mass at the local Chiesa - very beautiful church in Bellagio - so many churches in the area - you look at the hills as you go past the towns and there can beat least 2 in a town, if not more.  we caught the fast ferry to the top of the lake to visit a couple of towns. Quite different to the southern part of the lake.  We lunched at one of the towns - it is supposed to be the town where Mussolini was captured after Italy surrendered - not sure of the actual history - perhaps someone can google it and set me straight.

That is it for now. We are home to watch more of BBC World - that is all we get - that and cnc something or other - Dad hopes they may report Essendons win over St Kilda - what a great game that would have been. Or, perhaps I should say what a great result!

Love to all - mum

I am using the blog as I cant access the webmail - sometime it works and sometimes it doesnt.  I am not sure what the problem is.  It would be useful if you can work something out, Matthew or Paul, as sometimes I want to write to someone else.  I hope it works when we get to England.

looking forward to hearing from all

Christmas

Hi everyone

Hope you had a great Christmas!  Skype didn't work so well but I worked out why the microphone wasn't working - it was on mute ;) 

We had a lovely Christmas, stayed in Romsey which was perfect.  We went out for dinner on Christmas Eve and met up with some friends at the pub, chilly walk home!  We went to see Solomon on Christmas morning, he was all excitable which was sweet.  We had an enormous dinner in our lovely house and seemed to eat anough for about 6.  Teresa bought Solomon round here on Boxing Day morning so wehad a couple of days of Christmas with him.   

Thanks for all the lovely pressies - we got gorgeous Georg Jenson candle sticks from Dan & Dee, the salad servers were perfect mum, and Bernie & camilla's table mats are great - there really isn't much variety over here for entertaining stuff.  Solomon loved the Ben 10 stuff from mum & dad - you obviously know what the kids are into, the Omnitrix was the favourite of all his Christmas presents ;) The Solomon pencil case was brilliant, all his pencils got moved into "his" case straight away.

 We were going to go to Cardiff to meet up with a friend for a couple of days after Christmas but it was really icy and I'd fallen down the stairs (stone cold sober!) and just wanted to wallow at home for a while ;)  So we had a couple of days at home doing not much at all and then Drew (Andy's dad) came down and Solomon stayed with us too for the week.  They make me laugh, neither of them can fully understand what the other is saying (Scottish accent vs 4 yr old talk) but they have a great time anyway. 

We're back at work, which is rubbish - early starts and it is soooo cold.  It hasn't snowed here this week, but it's meant to be heavy snow tonight so hopefully we get snowed in!  But they always say that and it's just enough to be a pain but not enough to stop us getting to work.

Wedding plans are going pretty well - all the main things booked and things to buy pretty much sorted, plus we've booked some entertainment for the kids (anyone for getting their face painted?).  Hopefully it all comes together!  We'll be back at Easter for 2 weeks, and Solomon is coming too!

I put some photos of the house and a few other bits on the photo page, hopefully I've done it right this time.

love Claire & Andy

Update on 2010-01-05 22:35 by mcinerneygroups

Hi Claire

Thanks for the Christmas update, glad you enjoyed the presents. I've updated the email alert so hopefully it now works

Cheers

Matt

ted kennedy

where did my link to the kennedy eulogy get to?

Planning

Hi everyone,

It's been a bit quiet on the family mail lately, how's everyone?  It's miserable and wintery here at the moment, lots of rain and coldness.  But we have a lovely cosy fire which makes it seem better; shame we have to go to work. 

We've been planning our wedding, with the help of Carms, Mon & Mum.  So make sure you're free on 10th April next year!! 

Matt, I was going to put some photos up but I can't remember what I needed to do?!

Cx

A proposal & a house

Hello everyone

Thanks for all your texts and phonecalls in the middle of the night ;) Thursday was an incredible day, getting engaged and getting a house all in a couple of hours! 

I'd picked up the keys to the house late afternoon but had to wait (patience is a virtue?!) until Andy got home from work.  Then we rushed down, because we were late to meet a painter.  So opened up the house and ran about deciding on what we wanted the painter to do before we move in (it is really, really magnolia all over so just want 1 room with some colour in it).  Then he left and we wandered about redoing the bathrooms, painting the walls, fixing all the little bits that need fixing, landscaping the backyard (Bernie, is BMC international?) etc.  Then we popped a bottle of champagne and  Andy popped the question!  I was so surprised I couldn't stop shaking, so happy.  He'd bought a gorgeous ring and it fits perfectly (put me into the shade with my housewarming present to him - a tape dispenser for doing the packing boxes!).  Such an amazing evening.

So it seems the first decision is where to get married, not sure yet. Any ideas? 

The house is lovely, nice and roomy, and doesn't need a whole lot doing to it.  But it'll be good to do things like the bathrooms and the backyard.  If you had of asked me last week I would have said that it didn't really need painting but with the furniture out it seems completely different, so we'll paint gradually.  We got someone to do the first bit before we move in but we'll do the rest.  We move next Wednesday and for the 1st time are using a removalist to do the lifting and shifting.  Then we have another couple of days off to unpack and settle in to the new house and tidy up the old house ready for inspection on Monday. 

We've got Solomon this weekend and there is much excitement about the boxes and packing and things.  We are just going to go down to the new house to show Solomon around (he is packing his toys to take with us) and measure up for curtains and curtain poles (they took the curtain poles - unbelievable). 

We went to Romsey show yesterday - where the town meets the country.  Its a great day out and the weather was fantastic.  It has been fantastic for 4 days in a row, I'm optimistic that we are having the summer they promised ;)

lots of love

Claire & Andy

Update on 2009-09-15 11:42 by mcinerneygroups

Lovely news all round Claire. Not sure why this didn't send an automatic email to everyone. Look forward to seeing some photos of the house

Update on 2009-09-20 06:42 by Matthew McInerney

Hi I think the email updates are now working.

Weekend in Scotland

It is raining again but it has been fine for the whole weekend here in Romsey but we were in Scotland where it rained too.  But we were fortunate as when we were out sightseeing, it didn't rain so we could get about as we wished.  We flew to Scotland on Thursday night from Southampton with Claire, Andy and Solomon. Solomon was so excited about going to see his Grandfather - he kept asking all day, when were we going?  Very cute boy who talks all the time. Friday, we drove down the coast from Wemyss (pronounced wims) Bay which is about 45 mins from Glasgow.  We visited Culzean Castle, then visited Turnberry and Troon Golf courses so Dad could visit the first Tees there.  Saturday we went to Cowal Gathering - took  a ferry across to the peninsula - wonderful with pipe bands, highland dancing, throwing of a heavy weight over a bar, caber tossing, eating and drinking.  The next day, Solomon stayed with Drew, Andy's father, while Andy took us for a drive through the Innellan Peninsula past magnificent scenery and lochs.  We called in to see Hill House which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh - and then home to have tea with Drew, Susan - Andy's sister and her friend and children.  It was a lovely time altogether.  Monday, we were back in Romsey.

Yesterday was a relaxing day - we went for a long walk through the countryside - out for about six hours altogether - had a stop at a couple of pubs along the way but mostly it was over fields and stiles and through woods and it was just great.  And today we pack to come home. 

it is raining!

well, here we are with the first blog - I did laugh at your editing, Matthew, but thought I had best not risk anymore. Although, I was almost inclined to say the same thing in this title - It is raining quite steadily on and off.  We might even have to buy wellies to use in Glasgow.  The weather is supposed to be 'rubbish' here for the next few days - that is what they say here about the weather.  We were having a drink in a pub in Romsey last night and there were these fellows there all saying the same thing about the weather - the pub has a thatched roof and is called 'The House at Home'.  and it is like a home away from home for all these fellows who belong to the Legion - a sort of RSL but very toffy - it seemed so as they spoke in quite toffy voices so it sounded funny to hear 'rubbish, rubbish, rubbish'.

We had a lovely time in London - the weather was perfect for walking about whilst visiting the shops and going to the theatre.  We stayed in a hotel near the British Museum so quite convenient to the theatre district.  We were upgraded to suites as the rooms were not ready at 4pm and they were very posh. The hotel had been refurbished so all was very modern and clean - not to be compared to the supposedly renovated hotel in Brugges which had been done by the home handy man.  I don't mind old but I do like clean as in no balck in the grout in the tiles and the shower curtain was all black down the bottom.  Of course, when we mentioned that we would like a clean one, the man at reception said 'yes' and did nothing and we did nothing!

The play 'The Mousetrap' was a murder mystery by Agatha Christie but very old and dated - it was quite quaint and a bit silly.  We were glad we had seen it - it was played in a beautiful little theatre and it is an institution.  Sunday morning, Dad and I went to Buckingham Palace - another institution - it was magnificent as you can imagine - with a special exhibition of her commonwealth tours. It included lots of the gowns she had worn on special occasions and gifts she had been given by the commonwealth countries- very interesting.  As Dad mentioned, we then met Andy and Claire for lunch and this very old pub 'The Grenadier'.  It was in a little lane and we would never have known about it except Kerrie, my schoolfriend, had just returned from a trip to London and told me about it - it is rather historic as it was the pub used by the Grenadier guards in Wellington's time.  http://www.pubs.com/grensw1.htm

After that we caught the train home - that night we walked to the local - aobut 8 minutes away and had a drink - it is what you do in England.

I must go as I am getting the hair done this morning - love to all mum - is that proper for blogs - Is there an etiquette for blogs and also how are people going to know about this - do they need an email to tell them to check the blog or do some need to change behaviour for this method?

Tina and Tony part 3 - Report 2 from to old dart

Report 2 – Roaming from Romsey

Just to wrap up the coswolds ....I meant to mention some of the creativity that went into naming villages in the Cotswolds....(we seem to have lost our map, but some that come to mind follow ..)

Like Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter....Upper Rissington, Lower Rissington , Wyck Rissington.....Broughton-on-water and Broughton-on-hill....cant think of the others at moment.. 

Brugge...or Brugse....(Belgium)

In a nutshell, Brugge is very old, very beautiful, very clean streets, no graffiti, didn’t see ANY sign of police, (cars or otherwise), no above ground power lines, bikes everywhere....no helmuts to be seem, and the city canals are really great ..

AND a heap of bloody tourists !!

I am sure that the TGE will report in more detail

BEER is a big part of life in Brugge...its almost religious....after all about 90% of the population are RC

There are over 300 beer producers.....said to be over 800 different beers . The Trappist Monks are still the biggest single producer...and most of their beers are between 8 and 12 % !!!

After a lot of research, I decided that Brugse Zot was the best of the local beers ....in fact quite acceptable...

London Town

Last Sunday and again yesterday and today we spend in London.....still a special place for me.

Last Sunday the four of us and Soloman went up and back in the day....met Janine Mitchell and her husband and their two kids....did a Tames river cruise up to Geenwich....the history still amazes....Did you know that St Paul’s is 365 feet tall...one foot for each day of the year...or that the “City of London” is the small capital city in the western world - only one mile square ???...(The city of Westminister must be one of the biggest...)

Yesterday the four of us caught the train up on a special 10 pound deal and stayed the night at a hotel just off Oxford St ...very flash...and not too exie. Last night we went to see “the Mousetrap” (Agatha Christie)....its the longest running show ever....just 60 years. Good fun

Today mum and I did a full tour of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace .....just fantastic . We then had lunch with Claire and Andy at the Grenadeers Pub in the back streets of Knightsbridge...only 400 years old and hasn’t changed too much.

Must finish...tomorrow we are going to Salsbury to meet up with Denis and Trish Cortese for a couple of hours

Done

Dad or Tony

Tina and Tony Part 2 - Brugge is like an f'ing wonderland

Hi everyone

Lovely photos, Matthew - the boys look so cute together! such a handy
thing, this website - we will havve to learn to put some photos up.

We are back in Romsey and having a rest day today - just wandered in
to town and back - dad has gone back to watch the cricket for a while
- it is not on free to air and only one pub has sky channel so what
can one do - he is catching a bus home.

We had a lovely time in Brugge for 3 days - it is very pretty with
canals, churches and cobblestones - and lots of tourists - but still
managed to get about on the walks and look in a lot of lovely old
buildings. We had a bus tour, a boat tour along the canals, a brewery
tour with a free sample at the end, lots of walking; some good meals
too. We also took a boat along the canal to an old town called Damme
- medieval church there.

Thursday, we spent half the day in Brussels - did a small tour and
then just wandered around the centre of town which has a magnificent
square of old buildings plus the famous 'Mannekin Pis' fountain- it is
famous and everyone goes to look at it but it is a bit like the Trevi
fountain - you expect to see it in the middle of this fabulous space
and it is tucked in the corner against the wall - not that it can be
compared in size. We then caught the plane to Southampton.

Tomorrow we are off to London for the night - we are booked to see
'The Mousetrap' an Agatha Christie play which has been running for
60something years.
I love her books so looking forward to seeing the play.

Must be off - love to all. Can we have some updates from everyone please

love...mum

Dad will fill in a bit more detail later