Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Full Circle

Friday 4/6
The long awaited, & and much imagined, day.  One week after the bus trip to Adelaide, catch the bus to St Davids.  Cynthia had booked for us prior.  John and Cynthia drove us to Reading - waited at Sainsburys.  Caught bus at 1 pm - little spat with the driver.  Lady from Monastery at Milford.  Beautiful drive to Haverfordwest via Chepstow (?), Swansea, Cross Hands, Port Talbot and Milford.  Mum and I last on the bus.  Waited at bus station in H/west from 7.10 - 8.05pm - not very cheerful.  'Shiloh' sheepdog on bus - very comforting.  Lots of surfers and campers at Newgale.  Shiloh and family got off after Solva.  Frances and Paul waiting for us at bustop - short walk to their house.  Huge pile of ham sandwiches.  Still light at 10.00pm.
So began the magic 6 weeks.  I can never thank Frances, David, Mark, Paul and Cairo enough for their hospitality - they made everything so easy for us.  I still see so clearly Frances and Paul waiting for us in St Davids that I think I must have a photograph of them - but I don't.
 Our home for 6 weeks
St David's Cathedral photographed from 'the best spot' divulged to us by our favourite bus driver, Jo.
Looking up to The Refectory from 'our secret garden'.
The grating we stepped over many times as we passed from our secret garden to the Refectory for lunch or a coffee.  I think this is what rekindled my interest in crochet.

The doors to the Cathedral from the sensitively constructed new link between the Refectory and Cathedral.
Bizarre, I know, but I loved this sign on the toilets at the ford behind the Cathedral.
The singing bins of Whitesands - a much loved joke shared by Mum, Georgia and me.
2 doorways we loved.
'The Cross', social hub of St Davids.
My favourite school gates in the world.
On the wall leading back to David and Frances'.

David gave me the CD 'The Boy with a Note:  An Evocation of the Life of Dylan Thomas in Words & Music', by Ralph McTell.  It is played frequently...  I love the lines '...to wake up at home in the house on the shore with you by my side in Wales'.
And I love that Georgia loves this place too.


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Maybe I lied...

Maybe there'll be 2 more posts.  Yesterday marked the anniversary of arriving in England last year, so I started to read my journal:
'Thursday 1/6/10
Finally I get to write in this beautiful book.  Bought, I think, in Armidale many years ago to be used on our next o/seas visit.
And here I am, at the attic window in Cynthia's, overlooking a muted morning and gardens of lilac, rhododendrons and a huge magnolia, and green, green trees.
Cynthia &John picked us up from Heathrow in the late afternoon.  Mum and I had been up since 5.30 am KL time.  The drive to their home was perfect.  They saw the new 4 lane highway in progress but I saw soft rolling greeness, cow parsley, rogue poppies.  It is a muted canvas, beautiful, like a well worn shawl or throw.  And now a blackbird sits on a drooping pine.  And now he's gone!  But the link to my blackbird family at home is made.
It has been light for hours.  I got up thinking the others must have given up on me & gone out without me.  I made a cup of tea in the kitchen - just past 6 am.  And last night it was still light at 9.30pm.  It is dreamlike.
I have a room perfect for me.  Another eyrie.  This one filled with Enid Blighton books &books on Wales.
I travelled to Mum's (W/W to Adelaide) last Friday by bus.  My jottings:
  • wheeling pelicans @ Renmark
  • sedate pace - snail's pace - but good speed & I recognise the country well
  • fellow passengers always smell of chow mein noodles
 I had seen Lucky the Pelican and my blackbird during the week, so the omens were good.  It had also rained for about a week & I'd realised how I take dust dry weather for granted.  I had not smelled 'damp' for a long time.
At Mum's I walked in spitting rain to the Sushi Bar in Marden & we had sushi rolls for tea.
The flight to KL was good.  The Melia Hotel excellent - and outdoor lift to view Times Square - and Mum had her first paella.  We caught the monorail for a glimpse of the city.  We return to this hotel on the way back - we like everything about it except the location is not best for us - we don't need to be in the Golden Triangle shopping area.  We don't go into any stores, I get ringotts from the Seven 11.  The footpaths are narrow and uneven.  Mum is hesitant to cross the roads.  It was Sunday and the money changers & reflexologists were either having a day off or sleeping in.  Parum, the driver, talked nonstop to the airport on the Monday morning.  The flight was long but just bearable.  Mum told me about cycling around the area as the plane touched down.  The Immigration official noted Mum was born in Hayes & Mum repeated the cycling story.  He said she should write a book...
The blackbird returned to its pine perch while I was writing this but now is gone again.
And the pigeons coo like at Mum's.
Birdsong in the morning & at night.'

It was to be such a magic holiday.  Couldn't blog this yesterday cos the modem packed it in and Steve had to buy another one today.