Marlow and High Wycombe

Today was greeted by a late rise by both of us, it must mean we are getting into the new time zone. It is a good feeling not falling asleep at the dinner table and sleeping in past sunrise.

Today was set aside for visiting Christine and family. We left Molesey and headed on a scenic journey via Runnymede, Windsor and a quick stop off at Marlow.

All Saints Church Marlow was also included on this whistle stop and was very picturesque.

It was then time for lunch and an afternoon with Christine and family in High Wycombe.

Thanks to Christine for a lovely lunch and we hope you had a wonderful night at the Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime.

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Time to sample some British food

This was the day we could have just taken easy, but no, in the spirit of creating good blog content we ventured to London and joined a food tour.

This morning we caught the South West Train from Surbiton to Waterloo station and then the underground to London Bridge staion where our food tour was to start.

The tour consisted of a number of stops the first being a bread roll with bacon and egg, very British, following that was a walk into the Borough Market.

This Market provided a number of items to try however first was a small self tour of the food court, and then fish and chips.  We have agreed that these were the best we have ever had!

Next stop was to sample some Mead which is a fermented drink from honey and at 10%alc had a warming kick. In the medieval times, it was used as a replacement for water as water was often unsafe to drink.

At this same stop outside the specialist butcher, Ginger Pig, we had a sample of sausage roll.

By this time we had noticed the temperature to be quite cold, but we soldiered on with our guide providing information about the wharf area and Southwark Cathedral.  This Cathedral has an in-house cat and a number of children's books with the cat in character. 

Next stop was The Mug House under London Bridge where we sampled some Cider and Cheeses.

By now we were filling up but had a couple of more stops to go. 

Next stop was in front of the Mayor of Londons office and Tower Bridge, to sample some doughnuts filled with a vanilla bean custard. We thought we would need to share the doughnuts but unfortunately were forced to have one each. 

We finished the tour with a cup of tea and a sticky date pudding. 

To get to our next attraction we jumped on the tube again and headed to Westminster station, passed by Big Ben, Parliament and went on a self-tour of Westminster Abbey. I'm sorry I can't show any photos but photography is banned in Westminster Abbey.

Finally, after all that, we couldn't resist a pub close by, The Sanctuary House. 

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Due time for a walk

Well after such a filling Christmas lunch and an evening of more food and wine we retired well stuffed around 10:30pm

It was agreed we would first thing in the morning before breakfast head off for a walk, to help with the overindulgence of the Christmas table.

We rugged up with many layers and headed off.

First stop was along River Ember where we stopped for a couple of photos

Then onward through the common grounds where we crossed the River Mole.

In this part of Molesey, the houses are quite old. 

 The Bell Hotel is from 1460.

 

St Mary's, East Molesey - My Grandparents were wed here in 1932

This morning walk provided a lovely burst of sunshine and blue sky, for the first time since we landed on Saturday afternoon.

We returned for some relaxation and crumpets for Boxing Day breakfast, with others having things like pancakes and toast. 

We then found a copy of Melbournes Carol's By Candlelight on YouTube and were able to stream this and show our relatives.

After getting our Australian Christmas fix we went on another journey this time a walk with Tony where we went in another direction and saw some sights we had not seen before.

Then ended up at the Ice Rink in the forecourt of Hampton Court Palace. 

However this walk was quite tiring and required a stop for a refreshment, Katie asked the barman for a very summery drink, a Pimms. 

After this very necessary stop, we headed back for a Boxing day lunch. 

This afternoon was spent with some neighbours letting off some very big fireworks and a number of people playing 'Cards Against Humanity' and me writing this blog. 

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I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

Last night we attended the Christingle  Service at St Mary's Church in East Molesey with our cousins Lynanne and Yazmin. This service runs every Christmas Eve and is split over two separate services as the church is packed.

We were presented with Mulled wine and
mince tarts. The children were all presented with a Christingle which is an orange that symbolises
Christ and has lollies stuck into it along with a candle.

We managed to get a seat close to the front, unaware of what to expect I was slightly surprised when a man comes up to me and asked me to do a favour. Unwearyingly I said yes as he went on to explain my duties, fire warden!

In the corner close to my seat was a bucket filled with cloths that if in the event I see a child on fire I am to get the bucket and throw it over the child.  Thankfully no child did
catch alight throughout the ceremony and I was not needed to perform my fire warden duties.

Yazmin and her Christingle

Katie leaving the Church

We ended the evening with a meal at a local pub and then returning to see the process of presents being placed under the tree. 

We have dreamt of a white Christmas for the past few months and this morning we were presented with

clouds, a little wind and patches of rain but no snow.

Christmas morning started with a bacon sandwich and then the present opening.  

Lunch was just lovely and much credit should be given to Norma and her helpers for the fantastic feast.

Ross and Yazmin

Jamie and Norma

Stewart, Tony and Lynanne 

It would appear that for one of the helpers, it may have been a little too much!

It was over after not too long and he was back to it with the ceremonial duties of lighting the Christmas pudding, Well done Jamie.

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They must have known we were coming, it was closed.

This morning we woke at 5am, we tried to go back to sleep but with our circadian rhythm not fully in our new time zone, there was no chance of getting back to sleep. We spent some time watching a little tv and then having breakfast.

Sunrise this morning was at just after 8 am and then we were presented with the scurrying squirrels of Norma and Tony's backyard. These joyful animals are
great to watch and are full of energy whilst raiding feed from our host's bird feeders.

For us, it is a very interesting sight but from what we are told they aren't pleasant guests.  They have tendencies to dig up the gardens, dig holes in the grass and eat all the birds feed.

We have also learnt the squirrels in the UK are also mostly a cross breed of the British and North American variants. The British squirrels of past were mostly ginger but now are a grey ginger variant.

After breakfast, we walked to Hampton Court Palace, but there was an issue...

In winter the front of Hampton Court is transformed into an ice skating rink. Our cousin Jamie is currently manning the box office and we were given the task of dropping off his Santa hat.
I mentioned to him that the front gates of the palace were closed, he said, of course, the palace is closed today, tomorrow and boxing day.

After a brief conversation he went back to the box office and we found only the Hampton Court Palace Gift shop was open. I asked the staff member about the closure and was abruptly told 'even we need holidays'. I decided not to push the issue.

The afternoon then needed to be adjusted, we meandered through the bridge road shops and had a pub meal at The Albian.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day.

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MEL - HKG CX178 / HKG - LHR CX257

Our first time on Cathay Pacific.
Travelling halfway around the globe is torturous, however by saving a little here and there allows us to fly business class.

For those who have never been in business class here is my run down, it is more than just a
bigger seat that enhances the journey.

For this leg, we flew Cathay Pacific and these are the business class benefits I noted.

• When we arrived at Melbourne Airport, there were massive queues for what would seem just about all carriers, but with the business class ticket, we were able to pass these queues and check our bags in a matter of minutes.  With over 200 people in the economy line just for our flight, I truly think it would have taken an hour for the end of the line to clear.
• At check-in, we were also presented with fast pass vouchers to skip the line at passport security.  Again these queues were huge, and estimated time saved would have been 30 minutes.
• Next was access to the lounge, here we were able to get some small snacks, hard and soft drinks, free wifi and also a quiet space.
• After counting down a couple of hours we then went to the gate and were able to use the express entry leaving the masses in our dust.
• On the plane is the obvious perks that most will be aware of, these include the extra personal space, personalised service, finer food and a whole above seat luggage locker to yourself!
• Once the plane then arrives at the destination, the journey through customs is once again enhanced with priority disembarkment and a specific express card, to swiftly pass through security.

These items do make the journey much better and do make air travel feel tolerable again.

Smart Passports

Melbourne airport has some really smart technology that can speed up getting through passport control.

The process is, open your passport to your photo page, place it upside down on the scanner, the scanner then sucks it in and process your data, the machine then returns your passport, you then take the passport a little gate opens and you proceed to where your face is photographed and compared with the digital images and your profile.

It can be a little stressful and anxious in these areas of the airport and I'm sure this is why Katie was
distracted and flustered.

I went first and had no issues, thinking in the back of my mind, could get rejected as my passport photo does not have a beard.

I then, as a good husband should, waited just past the screening gate and watched Katie place her passport in the scanner and then wait, she waited for a while, the people behind appeared to get pushy also, but she waited patiently, but the little gate wouldn't open giving her access to the next section.  I wanted to go back through and see what was wrong but, once I had passed my screening I couldn't return. 
There are Border Protection officers who oversee this process and thankfully the lovely girl realised Katie's mistake, she had mistakenly left the passport in the reader, thinking it is like a ticket machine at the train station that would send the passport through as she passed the gate.

Thankfuly after removing her passport the gate opened for Katie and she was able to proceed to the nextion section for facial scanning.

It is little things like this that often get overlooked in testing new systems and often real users, real people with no technical background are used to test. Little things like this could be resolved if the machine simply spoke, or we could even replace the machine with a human simplifying the process further.

(sorry for no pictures, but photography is banned in this section of the airport)