Irish National STud 22 May 2015

First day in Ireland. I'm staying with a friend in Kildare - home of Irish bloodstock industry. I had a very busy day today so there will be a couple of postings - just to keep them separate.

I started at the Irish National Stud - an absolutely wonderful, immaculately kept stud farm started by Colonel William Hall Walker in 1900. He apparently believed that the foal's futures could be predicted by their astrological signs. Not sure how well that went but it's still going strong 115 years later. The farm was handed over to the Irish Government 1944 so it's really a national treasure.

There's a museum, though I just glanced in, it was much too nice a day to spend inside. 

 Inside the sphere...

There were a couple of busloads of tourists there but they were off in their own groups and I felt I pretty much had the 800 acres to myself most of the time. The sun shone! Apparently for the first time in a while, and I spent a lovely couple of hours meandering down lanes and looking at horses. Very peaceful.

The last picture are the retired horses - they obviously needed the rest - these had all been really big winners in their time. And how are those babies?

There is also St Fiachra's Garden with a stone monk's cell and a statue of him overlooking the lake.

Then on to the Japanese Garden which are also part of the farm. But that's the next post.

Stansted Airport 21 May 2015

Finished at last! And off to Ireland.  I caught a taxi to Saxmundham and then trains from there to Ipswich, London Liverpool and Stansted Airport. What a pleasure it is to hop on and off trains that have so far always been on time and extremely comfortable.

Stansted must be one of the busiest airports I've ever been in - it really is a cattle run. For the first time ever my whole procedure was paper free. I downloaded the airline app on to my i-pad and then just held it under the scanner whenever required - no queues besides the longest queue I've ever seen to go through security. There is a financial incentive to do it this way as they charge you to book in, in person. Mind you, they charge separately for everything - luggage, seat booking, priority loading, refreshments, newspapers, lottery tickets - it's a flying supermarket.

I got there two hours early for my flight and just plonked down on the floor and watched people go by. Quite interest viewing.

Then on to the plane which was jam packed. The airline stewards spent most of the flight walking up and down the aisles selling their wares. The plane was full of businessmen. My fellow passenger did the sign of the cross repeatedly on take off and then drank 2 bottles of wine. He actually was very pleasant company. I thought I'd skip the wine though, not having had any for 3 weeks (!) beforehand, I probably would have fallen down the stairs.

Framlingham town 16 May 2015

I thought I'd better this post done before I leave town! Tomorrow is the end of this 3 week job, it's been loooong. I'm off to Dublin for a week to stay with Belinda, Vanessa's sister. It will be great to have a whole week off and time to explore.

In the meantime, this was last Saturday in Framlingham. I met up with Sue, another South African Carer from Estcourt in KZN to compare notes.

Tuesday and Saturday are market days in Fram. Not quite the Biscuit Mill but it's been around a lot longer.

Here's an excerpt from an article in the Guardian from November 2013 by Tom Dyckhoff who says it better than I can:

  "I wouldn't like to live here in another age. Quite happy with today, with its anaesthetics and diminishing homophobia. Back when East Anglia was Britain's pumping heart, when wool was theOIL of the world's economy, Framlingham was all bloody sieges and tyranny, thanks to the local lords, the Bigods, who built themselves Framlingham's vast castle, with 13-metre-high walls. A century or two later, Mary Tudor gathered tens of thousands of troops here as she declared herself queen. Today, on the grass outside the castle, where once hangings, drawings and quarterings doubtless took place, kids roly-poly down mounds and scoot off for a scoop of ice-cream, and grannies roll round the bowling green. They hold nice concerts of a summer's evening, which perfectly round off an afternoon birdwatching on the Mere. I bought a delicious damson jam from the market, too. And that nice, angst-lite pop star Ed Sheeran comes from here. Yes, Framlingham's a lot nicer today."

I did my induction training with Sue and she has been working in Saxtead which is very close by. It was great to meet up with her and to hear her SA accent. My theory is that your brain has to work harder to understand accents, even if they are ostensibly speaking English! I'm like "enough with the accents already". So it was very relaxing to spend some time with her. This little tea/sweet shop could be a stop off point for Hogwarts pupils.

Time for a stroll around town and then back to work!

  

Framlingham Castle 11 May 2015

Last Monday my client went off for a treatment to Ipswich for the day and I had a few hours free to explore the castle. I'd walked around the outside and viewed it from a distance but it was really exciting to go inside.

The site was first developed in 1148 and used in various guises ever since.  Mary Tudor even had a look in - when she seized power and was proclaimed queen in 1553 she gathered her forces here before successfully marching on London.

The outside walls with their 13 square mural towers are the oldest and really, the most impressive parts of the castle. There is such a sense of age and strength. Even though there were 2 busloads of schoolkids having an outing, it was lovely and peaceful to wander around and check out the surrounding countryside from up top.

The original buildings in the middle of the castle were demolished and a poorhouse built in 1636, in quite a different style.

The chimneys - 13 in total, but ten purely decorative, were added in the Tudor era.

Getting down these spiral stairs was quite vertigo inducing!

I love the exploring and there is so much to see. I'm looking forward to many more spectacular spots. Stay with me!

Framlingham Canola Fields 9 May 2015

I am supposed to get 2 hours off every day - it doesn't always happen for various reasons but when I do, my best thing is to go for a walk. This region farms mainly wheat and canola, so quite familiar. The canola seems to grow about a foot a week.

It's the long slow twilight of summer in England. This area is about a 5 minute walk from my client. Actually a bicycle would be ideal on these roads. Not many inclines. Or a horse! Even in May I still need a beanie - it gets quite chilly, and sometimes wet.

This road ends in a farm with a small manor house with some very sculptural trees. Gardeners seem to cut back a lot of the trees at the end of winter, I don't recall this really happening in SA? Not to this extent. Ian, do you do this in your gardens? (Yes, Green Cat Ian!)

Then back home along another country road. It's so pretty and a walk is the best remedy for stress. This job is considerably more stressful than I had expected. But it's early days.

Just look at this little house. Couldn't resist.

Framlingham 3 May 2015

I'm back. At last. The wifi was installed last week but it's quite slow. Nevertheless, this is what I have been up to.

Framlingham is a small farming town with a castle. I will be here for 3 weeks and I have been doing quite a lot of walking. There is a network of footpaths all around the town, through farms and fields.
From someone who is accustomed to walking up the mountain - I really miss that mountain - this is pretty tame walking but it's easy going and each footpath sign beckons you on to the next one and before you know it, you've walked to the next village!

The castle pretty much dominates that town, which I suppose was the intention. There is a mere - a lake broad in relation to it's depth apparently - that supplies water to the castle. Here are a few pics taken from outside. I'll do an "inside the castle" post later.

This must also be one of the prettiest allotment sites in the UK.

And on home - I usually go for a walk after tea - so these shots are taken at about 7.30 in the evening. At this stage of the year I think the UK is getting approximately 5 hours more daylight than Cape Town. Still not really warm enough for summer clothes yet.