Purupuss's Purrings

“Just like those Thunderbird Men…”

I thought I’d better finish everything from the flight over here. There’s not much point in calling it the “first” or “second” day as it’s all rolled into one and I’m not sure what day it is where.

“Just like those Thunderbird Men…” Why that heading? The first one was “Flying High”, which was the title and first line of the song that was going to be Thunderbirds theme tune, which was fortunately discarded and replaced by the famous Thunderbirds March. “Flying High” appears briefly in one episode.

Los Angles

I sent a Twitter tweet to say I’d made it this far, but I don’t think it connected.

Boy! Do they like checking their security! I don’t know how many times my passport and boarding pass were checked and rechecked and I didn’t even really leave the flight, let alone the airport.

It was easy to negotiate though. Those of us who were only transiting through LA to Heathrow were given Air New Zealand transit cards. And all along the route were Air New Zealand staff members with those same cards to direct you the correct way.

At security we were split into two. Those who were American or had travelled through America before and those who hadn’t.

*hand up*

It’s -42 degrees Celsius outside now.

So I stood in a long queue and waited. At one point I thought I heard an American accent say: “Would the lady with the dog come here please?”

Dog? It can’t have been dog. Not inside an airline terminal.

I looked back a short time later and there was a young lady, in the queue behind me, with what looked like a young bull terrier on a lead. It didn’t have one of those coats on saying it was an assistance dog of some kind, but surely it had to be. Either that or it was going to be processed through customs for the next Air New Zealand flight. I haven’t seen it since so I don’t know if it’s on board.

When I was processed through customs I commented to the man behind the desk that I wasn’t smiling in my passport picture and would he like me to try and stop. He said that he could still recognise me and now he needed to take my fingerprints.

Talk about big brother.

Four fingers of the right hand.
Right thumb.
Four fingers of the left hand.
Left thumb.
Look into the camera.

That’s a camera?

“Do you want me smiling or not smiling?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be selling your picture.”

And I was through.

Then it was walk though “the bowels of the airport” as another lady said to me, until we got to security to let us get on the plane.

We’ve only just got off!

Here was remove your shoes, jacket, laptop and tablets and stick them in a tray for scanning before you’re scanned yourself, so I drunk the last of my anti-jetlag stuff before going through. I didn’t want my bottle confiscated.

I hope the Air New Zealand attendant remembers she was going to refill it with water for me.

I had a quick look around the shopping area, but it all looks like expensive, unwanted stuff. So I went and sat down by gate 155 and tried to find a WiFi link so I could upload what I’d written. That didn’t work, but hopefully you’ve seen a Twitter feed from me that I attempted to send from my phone.

I got a photo of my plane, and that’s the only photo I’ve taken so far.

A photo!

As I checked in the man who examined my documents said that Kally was cute.

We’ve been flying for 57 minutes this time and we’ve still got 8008 km to go. Altitude 10058 m, ground speed 959 km/h, outside air temperature -42 degrees.  ETA 10:27am.

And we’re about to have dinner. Braised beef, red wine sauce, zucchini or something chicken with Moroccan spices and couscous. Veges with both dishes and what appeared to be a type of cheese cake. Better pack this away so I can eat it.

1:45 hours to London.

I think I had a better sleep that time, in that I think I managed to sleep. I got the neck cushion set up comfortably and must have had the seat at the right angle. And Kally didn’t try to do a runner during the night.

Remember how I said that the on screen map showed “Niagara; 1940”? It also shows “Titanic; 1912”. Probably a little more widely known.

I thought of three things I wanted to type up during the night. Of course I can only remember two now.

Breakfast soon. A choice between an omelette and breakfast potatoes and a tomato, or a non-cooked… something. A yoghurt, fruit salad and muffin I think. I’m not sure what I’ll have.

While I’m having breakfast I’ll watch a “Who do you think you are?” about Minnie Driver’s family tree. Yesterday I watch Nigel Havers’ episode while having tea. And tea last night(?) I watched “Pitch Perfect 2”. Not a great movie. May have been better if the sound had been clearer.

1331 km to London. 7546 kilometres travelled from L.A. 17548 km from Auckland. D.C. will be home now.

—F-A-B—

According to my computer it’s been 43 hours since I had any real sleep. No wonder I’m feeling slightly discombobulated.

The landing at Heathrow was fine, and I think I may have even seen the Gherkin through the window on the other side of the cabin. Or it may have been window distortion.

I sent another Tweet here, but I don’t think that one worked either.

Heathrow wasn’t quite as helpful as other locations. Once we were off the plane it was every man (or woman) for him(her)self. I made it through Border Control okay, but then took a wrong turn. Mind you I didn’t see any notification about what the right turn should have been. Like a good New Zealander I followed everyone else like a sheep, and found myself in the international arrivals area, not the domestic departures. I asked several people where to go, all of whom were extremely friendly and helpful, but I still managed to get lost. One guy told me to take the lift to the third level, so I got in a lift. It only went to “level one”. So I ended up on the wrong floor and I had to ask someone else. He suggested going up and around and then taking the green lift. I could see which lift was the green one, but couldn’t see any documentation that actually directed me to the Manchester flight. So I asked someone else and they confirmed that was the lift to take. Get to the top and I still couldn’t see which way to go, so I asked someone else again. They said I had to go through customs – which seemed totally daft, but that’s the way I went. I eventually ended up in the right area: Terminal Five.

Or at least where the bus left for Terminal Five. I got there just as the bus was about to leave, but the driver saw me, came back and unlocked the door so I could get on the bus.

After roughly 24 hours (actually 11+ and 8+) sitting in an aviation fuel aeroplane, I was now riding an electric bus standing up – through a tunnel under Heathrow International Airport, which I’m sure must have almost completed a full circle. We eventually ended up at Terminal Five and the driver unlocked the door so we could go inside.

British Airways had kiosks for signing in, and I managed to negotiate that safely and then decided that I’d better get some “lunch”. There was a place that sold Italian-style lunch food (probably in name only) so I bought a chicken bun thing. As I hadn’t got any cash yet I paid the £4.50 with my travel card…

“Pin incorrect”

But I’m sure that was the pin I used last time. But the ANZ had supplied me with new travel cards from a new company since then…

“Pin incorrect”

I did have a little cash, useless coins that people had given the Thames Historical Museum, but I didn’t have £4.50 worth.

So I had to use my normal, everyday, Kiwi dollar MasterCard… And pay the currency exchange rate. Which is highly annoying as my travel card is loaded with British pounds.

I sat, ate, wondered what I was going to do with my travel card, wondered if Heathrow (struggling to remember that it wasn’t Manchester) had WiFi, and wished I had some company.

It’s now 10:26 pm on whatever day it is – the 24th, I think. According to my computer it’s 9:26 am on the 25th. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to type. I’m tired. But I must at least get yesterday finished… And today’s photos transferred over so I can clear them for tomorrow. I used one and a bit 16GB SD cards today. For those of you who don’t follow computer-speak. I used up a roll of film.

After I’d eaten I gathered everything together and took my boarding card up to the bag deposit, wondering why I had to do that when I didn’t have a bag to deposit. The lady checked me in and said I was fine. I asked her where I had to go and was told security.

After wandering through there and doing the scan your boarding card, stand on the footprints and have your photo taken (again!) bit, I had to go through security proper. Once again it was take off the belt bag, computer, e-book, phone, liquids, shoes, jacket, bag in the trays, traipse through the scanner, and then get redressed again. By the time I’d done all that it was time to approach gate… 15 I think it was. There I joined everyone else sitting there looking bored, and had only just got time to take my tablet out of my bag and attempt to connect to the WiFi, when it was time to board. (And time for yet another boarding pass scan and photograph. I said to the lady at the counter that my photo must be looking more and more dishevelled each time.

The pilot of this British Airways plane (which admittedly is a hang of a lot smaller than the 777-300 I flew here in) lined the plane up with the runway, put his foot to the floor, pulled back on the control yoke, and we were airborne! We had just enough time for a drink of water and a packet of chips, sorry, crisps, when we were landing again.

This time I got my suitcase from the conveyor belt (number four in the queue) and headed for the exit signs, fully expecting to have to go through customs.

I stepped through a set of doors to find Pen waiting to give me a big hug. She could see shapes moving through the opaque glass and when she saw one that was small and pink, knew it had to be me.

We still had to walk through the complex to the railway station and then wait for our train to arrive. When it did I was sitting down again. But at least this time I had scenery to look at.

I’ve come to the conclusion that we have enough English trees on our farms to make that scenery from an English train similar to that from a New Zealand train – until you see the architecture. Then you realise you’re not in the same country anymore.

Plus we don’t have as many black headed sheep.

We changed trains at Crewe. I like Crewe. At least I like the architecture of their station with its brick arches. But I was too tired to think about getting my camera out, so you have to check back on my last trip’s blog to see what I’m talking about.

The final stop on my journey was Wem. From there it was a short walk, pulling my suitcase (which seemed rather heavy), with me. Once we got to Pen’s house we were met by her dog Seth, who was informed that I was a cat person.

We had tea and tried to get Pen’s universal power adaptor working with my plugs. Did I explain about this? Last time I came to England I had an adaptor that allowed my Kiwi charging plugs to tap into the English power.

Do you think I could find it for this trip?

No. (Well it’s been five years and I hadn’t planned on coming back.)

But Pen, having done a world trip four years ago and having a universal power adaptor, said I could use hers.

Sorted!

Except that we can’t work out how to plug New Zealand/Australian power points into what appears to be an adaptor for converting England into any of four other countries. This isn’t a major – yet. I can charge my tablet (slowllllly) by USB charger – and both Pen and I have ones that can plug in to UK power foor that). I can’t have it plugged in and use it, but at least I won’t run out of juice.

It’s my camera batteries that are the problem. I have two, and they do seem to last an age, but they need to be plugged into the power to be charged. It may mean another purchase… When we find somewhere that sells them.

But at least, after a look online and discovering that they’ve allocated a PIN and I can’t use one of my own (where was THAT mentioned in the new literature???) I can now use my travel card. Once I’ve read the written down PIN to remind myself what it was.

Pen then let me phone home. When she did her round the world card she spent £20 and got a telephone number that would allow her to call anywhere in the work up to a certain number of minutes… After getting RSI in her finger from dialling so many numbers first. She still had about 88 minutes remaining – even four years later – so it wasn’t costing her anything for me to talk to D.C.

D.C. (answering the phone): “Good morning.”

Me: “Good evening!”

D.C. (pause to click who it was): “Good evening!”

She’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.

So I went to bed and went to sleep.

Don’t forget that if you want automatic updates of what I’ve done, you can click the “follow” button way at the bottom of the screen. It should get more interesting from here on. There’ll be pictures!

(If my camera doesn’t run out of juice.)

Written literally on the fly.

Well, here we are. Day one.

Or is it day two? I’m not even 100% sure what the time is. I’ve got all sorts of stats scrolling on the screen in front of me, but as yet no times.

We’re due in LA in 1:10hours and it’s 8:07am in Auckland. We’ve travelled 9819km and have 844km to go to LA.

But what about yesterday?

It was the usual get up, get washed, have breakfast, run about like a headless chicken scenario… Well, not really. Everything was pretty well ready, just a few last minute catch ups.

Like, because of a nickel allergy I can’t wear metal, so wearing a standard watch is out of the question. But I do have a nurses style watch that I wear on a lanyard around my neck when travelling.

Not a problem. Hook it out of its box and put it on.

Those little hands weren’t moving.

Bother! The battery’s dead. So I checked Manukau City Shopping Centre’s web site and they’ve got a Michael Hill Jeweller. No problem. I can stop off there and get my free battery.

After a lot of deliberation I’d decided to buy a neck cushion from an Australian company. It had good reviews, and I figured that if I was going to be flying the equivalent of right around the world I wanted to be comfortable and get plenty of sleep.

When I initially went to order this cushion back in July they didn’t have any stock until late August. So I put it on my wishlist and ‘forgot’ about it.

Early September, about the 6th, I realised that I hadn’t had any notification that they were in stock, so went back to the site and ordered one.

And waited…

And waited…

I had received notification that it had been despatched, but there was no tracking number outside of Australia with the delivery, so there wasn’t a lot of point in contacting the company.

I waited.

Last Thursday…

Nothing.

Friday…

Nothing.

Saturday. (I’m an optimist!)

Nothing.

Monday – my last day at work. D.C. lets me know that a parcel has arrived. Maybe….

Nope.

Tuesday. We’re catching the 9.50am bus to Auckland. I’m in the computer room checking out my emails, when I hear a vehicle pull up. I thought it might be Jan, but then I hear a door sliding back…

Is it my cushion?

I dashed outside and intercepted our friendly courier lady. She gave me a (rather large) parcel.

Contents description: cushion

“Yes!”

How was it going to fit into my bag?

This one’s made out of memory foam and I was able to roll it up and slot it into one of the lens compartments in the camera section of my cabin bag.

Whew.

D.C. and I walked down the coastal walkway track to the service lane that goes behind Park and Spend and then over to the Thames i-SITE / Information Centre new location in the Civic Centre/War Memorial Hall. This is a lot quicker than walking all the way to its old location, which was opposite work. Not that I have an issue with walking that distance. I do it every day. Just not towing a large suitcase.

We had a chat with Maureen Sheary and flabbergasted a fellow InterCity coach traveller. I was heading to England and had one suitcase. She was going to Wellington and had three.

We watched as a man nearly missed his bus. He had to bang on the door to get the driver’s attention. D.C. said that he’d been smoking, so it would have served him right if he’d missed it.

We had a good trip up to Auckland. The driver had saved us a front seat and there were no dramas. We got out at Manukau and I left D.C. minding the bags while I went on a hunt for Michael Hill Jewellers.

Of course they could change the battery. Just give them my details and it would be ready for collection in five days.

Five days!!!?!!!

I’d forgotten that they send the watches away, so that the shop staff don’t risk damaging the watch when they replace the battery. Even if I left it with them, it wasn’t convenient because we never go to the Manukau Shopping Centre. So I took the dead watch back with me. And gave it to D.C. She’s going to be in Queen Street (Auckland) tomorrow (today?) and could drop it off, and then we could collect it when I arrive back in Auckland. Not too convenient for England, but at least it’s doable. And I had clipped a “steam punk” watch to my bag and my phone told the time, so I’m not panicking.

I also went on a hunt for some Blackmore’s Vitamin E cream. I like it because it’s a skin healer. Jan’s been trying to get some in, but hasn’t had any luck, so I thought I’d try Manukau’s pharmacy.

They didn’t have any either.

Apparently the Asians buy it up in bulk and every now and then Blackmore’s run out of stock. I don’t know why the Asians are so enamoured with it, but it’s good stuff.

So I haven’t got any of that either.

We waited outside for the Collins (having told them the wrong bus arrival) time and, once they’d arrived and we’d shoved my bag into the boot, we went and had lunch at the Hollywood Café.

Following that Shirley suggested that we head out to the strawberry farm that makes fresh strawberry ice cream. As they’re always raving about how good this is, we were happy to agree. And it was good. We stood outside, looked at the strawberry plants and the lambs eating on the hill, and enjoyed a delicious ice cream.

Then it was back to the Collins to chat and wait until it was time to leave. This we did at about 6.00pm and I checked in my suitcase. They’re trying to make it as simple as possible. But I still had to ask for help.

Put your passport in the scanner.
Check the details.
Press okay.
Out spits your departure ticket and bag receipt.
Take it up to the baggage check in and that’s sorted.

1:41pm in LA
LA 341km to go.
Auckland 10138km away
Temperature outside -47.0 degrees Celsius.

Oddly, when the on screen information was showing New Zealand it had on it geographical points like Auckland, Whangarei, Tauranga… Okay, so that’s not odd, but how about the Kermadec Trench? I’m sure that when flying tens of thousands of metres above the surface of the planet, we don’t really need to know the deeper parts of the ocean. But what was really odd was: “Niagara; 1940”. Why on Earth do they point out a shipwreck? And why that one? (Apart from the fact that it’s been leaking fuel since 1940 and could cause an environmental catastrophe if it all goes at once.)

Then we went in search of something to eat.

8:44am NZ time. Time to pack this away.

10:42 am NZ time. (My tablet hasn’t had the chance to synchronise its clock with local time) Sitting in LA’s transit lounge.

I ended up having a MacDonald’s salad for tea. I thought it would be light. I didn’t think it would be the meal it was. But I quite like MacDonald’s salads. 8.00pm I decided that it was time to start heading to the departure area. Boarding time was 8.40pm with the plane leaving at 9.40pm, but at least you can “relax” once you’re on the other side of border control. So I said goodbye to Alan and Shirley Collins… And D.C.

Because I’ve got an electronic passport, going through security was easy – once I’d had it explained to me. You scan your passport and then look into the camera. Question: Which camera? There were three at different heights, none of which seemed the right height for me.

Next question: Do you smile?

I don’t know the answer, but I did and the gate opened for me, so I must have done something right.

Last time we visited International Departures there was a viewing bay that looked down onto departing passengers so you could give them a final wave. I looked around for it this time, but couldn’t find it. So I’d had my last chance to wave goodbye.

I was determined to get a big bottle of water once I was through security, but there was some “anti-jetlag” liquid for sale, so I bought enough to carry me there and back. Apparently the All Blacks use it. *whoop… de… do*

The pack was a bottle of the liquid – it had apple cider vinegar in it, so that predisposed me to buying it – and tablets that you dissolve in water later on. Of course I’ll have to make sure that there’s no liquid in it when I go through each security system.

Then I went to flight NZ2’s departure gate – gate 10. And just sat there because everyone else was just sitting there. People started arriving and some went up to check in, but because the display said “Premium Boarding” I didn’t.

Then there’s an announcement. Would name, Sereena Burton, and name, please see Air New Zealand staff.

They didn’t like my fancy dress costume!

So I went up to check in and the lady promptly excused herself and went across to the two right-hand lanes where they were loading those in wheelchairs and with children. So I had to wait.

Finally another Air New Zealand rep came up. I said I’d been paged.

“Just wait please.”

So I had to wait until the first lady had come back. I’d pre-booked my seat months ago – taking into account proximity to the toilets so I wouldn’t be disturbed, but could keep an eye on when they were vacant, and they’d moved me. It turned out that the seat I got wasn’t bad. I still only had one person next to me and it was the very back row, which meant that there was no one behind to annoy or be annoyed. I think I’d gone from G55 to B59. Also the toilets were tucked behind us and there was plenty of waiting room.

We settled in for the flight.

I was actually ready to go to sleep then, but I stayed awake to keep track of what was happening. We were fed, a choice between a chicken curry or a beef casserole – I had the beef, which was a little tough, with Kapiti Ice Cream for dessert, and then I attempted sleep.

Fail.

I suppose I should finish typing up what I did this morning. Morning? Is it morning? According to my tablet – “EOS” – it is 12:32pm on the 23rd September. According to LA time it’s… something else. Air New Zealand’s screen’s not telling me at the moment.

Ah! 5.35pm and it’s 1.35am in London.

(Anyway, why is the tablet called EOS? Because I bought one from Dell and decided to call it FAB2 – Lady Penelope’s Rolls Royce in Thunderbirds is FAB1. It didn’t work properly so Dell replaced it with a later model. Also called FAB2. That one didn’t work properly so it was replaced by a later model again – actually two, but they haven’t asked for the other one back yet, which is fair enough as I bought the original Dell because it had replaceable batteries, which I bought for both earlier models, and this one doesn’t. By this point although all the tablets were great to use, I couldn’t quite trust them. At this time the new TV series, Thunderbirds Are Go! screened and one of the “characters” was a computer programme whose principal function was “self preservation”. Once it realised that International Rescue wasn’t a threat it became part of the team. Its name was EOS and it was a great asset to have about, but a real pain when it wanted to be… And that pretty much matched my tablets. So, even though this one’s been flawless – except for not having a spare battery – it’s now called “EOS”.

Right! Sleep, or lack thereof. I tried, using my new, freshly arrived cushion, but it was still impossible to get “sleep” comfortable. I couldn’t stretch out because of the seat in front and couldn’t curl up because they recommend that you keep your safety harness on in case of unexpected turbulence. And with the man in the seat next to me I didn’t want to intrude into his space the way that he was, unwittingly when he was asleep, intruding into mine.

As an aside my seat partner is heading to LA for a couple of days work and is good friends with the boss of Pukeko Pictures. The outfit that made Thunderbirds Are Go!

And Kally didn’t want to stay put and kept on falling onto the floor. My top is an alpaca sleeveless with a cowl neck and I stuck in in the cowl, before finally shoving her down my front.

Note for future travels. Buying a travel cushion with a lot of Velcro doesn’t work well with alpaca tops.

Then after a while my butt became sore. Once again because of the seat belt I couldn’t change position. I could have released the belt, but we did strike a bit of turbulence. Nothing worrying, but enough to make you wary… And tired.

But one good thing about the turbulence; it jogged you about relieving the pressure on your butt.

It was also weird at times when we’d have a period of turbulence and then the plane would go completely still and almost quiet.

Breakfast was a choice between scrambled eggs, baked beans and chicken sausages or Continental – cereal, yoghurt, and fruit salad. I had the Continental.

Now was the time to pull EOS out of the bag and try to remember everything that had happened yesterday, but by that point we were only two hours out of LA and I didn’t have the time to write everything down.

But now I have.

I think.

And now I’m going to go to bed. I haven’t had a lot of sleep over the last 48 hours.

I’m flying out tomorrow. 9.50am the bus leaves. 9.40pm the plane.  I hope I’ve got everything. The last thing I put in my bag was my plane ticket – but I hadn’t forgotten them.

Chat to you next from the other side of the planet? (Or some point along the way?)

FAB

This time next week I’ll be in the plane.

That’s if America lets me continue. I had to fill in a form with things like, my full name, my parents’ names, my employer, and pay US$14 before they’d even consider me. And then you have to answer the eligibility questions…

1) DO YOU HAVE A PHYSICAL OR MENTAL DISORDER; OR ARE YOU A DRUG ABUSER OR ADDICT; OR DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING DISEASES:

• CHANCROID
• GONORRHEA
• GRANULOMA INGUINALE
• LEPROSY, INFECTIOUS
• LYMPHOGRANULOMA VENEREUM
• SYPHILIS, INFECTIOUS
• ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS

I don’t know what half of those are. I can make an intelligent guess though.

2) HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ARRESTED OR CONVICTED FOR A CRIME THAT RESULTED IN SERIOUS DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, OR SERIOUS HARM TO ANOTHER PERSON OR GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY?

No.

3) HAVE YOU EVER VIOLATED ANY LAW RELATED TO POSSESSING, USING, OR DISTRIBUTING ILLEGAL DRUGS?

I don’t even drink coffee… Well, very, very rarely.

4) DO YOU SEEK TO ENGAGE IN OR HAVE YOU EVER ENGAGED IN TERRORIST ACTIVITIES, ESPIONAGE, SABOTAGE, OR GENOCIDE?

Gordon Bennett!!! This is number four!?! Wouldn’t you expect this to be question number one? And in case you’re wondering. The answer is “NO”.

5) HAVE YOU EVER COMMITTED FRAUD OR MISREPRESENTED YOURSELF OR OTHERS TO OBTAIN, OR ASSIST OTHERS TO OBTAIN, A VISA OR ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES?

I tried to avoid the US, not gain entry fraudulently.

6) ARE YOU CURRENTLY SEEKING EMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED STATES OR WERE YOU PREVIOUSLY EMPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION FROM THE U.S. GOVERNMENT?

No, thanks. I’m quite happy with the job I’ve got, working with the people I work with.

7) HAVE YOU EVER BEEN DENIED A U.S. VISA YOU APPLIED FOR WITH YOUR CURRENT OR PREVIOUS PASSPORT, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN REFUSED ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES OR WITHDRAWN YOUR APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION AT A U.S. PORT OF ENTRY?

Nope. Never been anywhere near the US. Last time I went to England I transited through Hong Kong both ways.

Well, they took my money, so I guess I’m going.

Talk to you soon… If I get my bag packed in time.

This is a test run to see if I can upload from EOS. So far, so good.

Watch out…

Kally’s not worried

August 2015

Welcome to my web site.

This has taken a long time to come to fruition, but I think I’m going to be happy with it – except that it’s not pink enough. The WordPress theme I chose will let me change the colours, but only if I fork out more cash, and I’ve done enough of that over the last few months getting ready to go to England. And I’m not going to try another theme. Each time I’ve done that I’ve more or less had to start from scratch.

And I’ll let you into a secret. I much prefer desktop publishing to web publishing. If your desktop publishing programme behaves as it should (which is why I don’t use Word), then once you’ve put a photo or a bit of text in its place it stays in place! Unlike this where you try a new theme and more or less have to start from scratch.

Now… why have I created a web site?

Over the past few years, ever since we went to New Plymouth in 2007, I’ve created a blog to give friends and family the opportunity to experience my travels along with me. This web site is to enable me to link all these blogs into one, easy to find, location. That’s all it does. Don’t expect any more…

At the moment.

(However I have included a quick link to my Thunderbirds’ stories, but if you’re not a Thunderbirds’ fan, you won’t be interested in that.)

You can access my previous blogs through the originally named “Travel Blogs” menu item. I know it makes it tricky, but once there it pays to go to the end of the blog and work your way back (or forward in time since the latest entry is the first one you’ll see). Look on the right side of the screen and you’ll find a table of contents (or a list of dates). Choose the bottom one.

And I suppose I should apologise in advance for any errors in spelling, grammar, or fact. Each of these was produced on the fly, while the events were fresh in my mind, and I was possibly as keen on getting some sleep as writing up the day’s activities! And remember that this was as much a record for me, as it was a communication with you, so some of it will be less interesting than others.

FAB
🙂 Sereena

PS: If you’re thinking of creating a web site of your own and you want some help, then don’t ask me!

Kally. A little bear who’s been on a big journey. And is going on another.

In 2007, after I first decided that I was going to go to the next Fanderson convention (in 2010 as it turned out), I knew I’d be travelling alone. D.C., as much as she’d loved to have joined me, couldn’t afford it. Being the shutterbug that I am, I knew that I’d be taking tons of photographs (especially to show D.C.), but that it was going to be nearly impossible for me to be in any of them.

We were on the train to Wellington, before heading to New Plymouth, when I resolved the problem. Another couple were enjoying the same trip, accompanied by a Furby which they were photographing at each stop. This seemed to be the perfect solution, and so, to show that I had “Been there. Done that.”  I realised that I needed a small photographic model to travel with me.

What followed was three years of checking out various candidates, but none of them were small enough to accompany me halfway around the world. Then, six days before I was due to leave for England, a parcel arrived from my friend in Auckland. Opening it I discovered a little pink bear; the perfect size (and colour) to be my companion on my big adventure. My friend’s name was Karen Hally (Thank you, Karen) and so the bear was named “Kally”.

Going native at Stonehenge

Kally braving the Yorkshire weather

Kally admiring Salisbury Cathedral’s scaffolding

Kally sporting her new woolly hat – which she lost in a Starbucks

New Zealand!

Kally always travels in style – and very snuggly

Kally climbing in National Park

Pleased because she reached base camp

Made it to the top!

Enjoying the view

With her friend Scott in Kaikoura

A little bear in some big mountains

Style

Why is she wearing a multicoloured sash. As this year (2015) I am once again going to a Fanderson convention in England, I wanted her to wear something that said something along the lines of: “If you find me, please let my mum know on purupuss@msn.com.” What not attach it to a sash? The Tracy boys wear sashes when on their International Rescue duties.

But how do you make a sash for a bear that’s about ten centimetres tall?

I thought of using ribbon, but decided that I’d like something with the colour scheme that incorporated the Tracy brothers’ sashes. Do you know how hard it is to find multi-coloured ribbon? Especially ribbon with the colours pale blue, yellow, off-white, orange and lilac? Even a straight forward rainbow ribbon’s hard to find.

What to do?

Make my own sash, of course.

How?

I have plenty of embroidery cottons, so how about an tapestry sash?

But the sash is only about one centimetre wide? How can you keep it together when the edges are fraying?

Answer: With great difficulty and more skill than I’ve got.

Now what?

I’ve got these embroidery cottons, how about a macramé sash?

I knew only one macramé knot; a square knot that formed a flat long “ribbon”. Great!

And it was quite pretty when I finished, but it twisted into a helix, which was effective but didn’t look like a sash.

After consulting Professor Google, I discovered how easy it is to make a friendship bracelet using only slip knots. Slip knots are something that any Girl Guide should be able to do in her sleep – and I probably have. Even better, the pattern created was a chevron shape. Nothing like action arrows to represent the brave and dashing Tracys.

The present problem was that while the knots were easy to do, using multi-threaded embroidery cotton (or “floss” as the Prof. called it), wasn’t. The threads had a tendency to unravel and not sit nicely.

Time to fork out for some proper macramé cord. After a purchase in Poland…

Yes… You read that right. Poland. Europe. Even with the freight it was cheaper than New Zealand and I couldn’t find any here anyway. After a purchase in Poland I whipped up a sash over the course of three nights. The start and the finish aren’t fantastic, and there are a few less than professional looking bits, and the ends are sewn together with blue cotton, and as of writing I STILL haven’t worked out how I’m going to attach the “email me” label, but I’m happy with it.

And as an added bonus, if she ever decides to go skydiving without a parachute again, like she did INTO the field off the fence in the above photos, we can hook her out by her sash.

It’s F-A-B

🙂 Sereena