Charlie's WorldEaster in England – part 6
Posted on May 9, 2015
The last place we went was pretty unusual
Dungeness. Dungeness is a very odd place.
It’s classified as Britain’s only desert by the Met Office. It’s one of the largest, if not the largest shingle spits in Europe. It has 600 species of plant that grow there – about 30% of the total number of species in the UK.
It’s a site of multiple special scientific interests, a nature reserve and also home to 2 nuclear power stations. It’s also got a load of crazy holiday home shacks (including one owned by the late Derek Jarman) and also wrecked fishing huts and boats. Perfect place to take the kids then 😉 Read More
Summer holiday in England – part 3
Posted on August 30, 2014
The kids were a bit bored and we were struggling to think of something to do. As I was looking at the map I had an idea. I’d been reading Topsy and Tim books to Henry at night (books I and my sisters had as children) and one of them involved boats and locks and stuff.
The river Medway isn’t too far away and I thought a little walk along in the sunshine would be good. The kids were all ‘oh, Daddy, do we have to, it looks rubbish’ – but sometimes as a parent you have to be firm. So that was it – Ella had the map, we had a 20 minute drive to where I wanted to go and we were off. It was a lovely day but rain was forecast in the late afternoon, so I planned it so we should be back in good time before risking getting wet. Read More
Summer holiday in England – part 2
Posted on August 26, 2014
One thing I’ll never tire of is walking around the village where my parents live. The kids were relatively disinterested at first, but they soon got into it and we had a blast walking around, looking at the alpacas in the field (there were there 2 years ago too) and also peering at the posh houses. Read More
Back to England, Summer 2013 – Part 1
Posted on August 13, 2013
So, after 12 months, I’m back in England seeing my children. For reasons I wont go into here, I was unable to get back here in February or Easter as originally planned, so I had to wait until the long English summer school holidays until I could get back here.
I was flying Singapore airlines via, well, Singapore. 5 hours from Perth to Singapore, then 13 hours to London.
Its a long day. Read More
Back to England – part 2
Posted on September 10, 2012
The weather was beautiful, so we made the most of the local parks and my parents garden (which has a teeny freshwater crayfish in the brook that runs through it), playing with the kids and generally having fun. We made good use of the village shop and bought all kinds of yummy treats – thats the one good thing about living in a village – the trusty shop, which sells all kinds of esoteric stuff, including some yummy Kentish beer 🙂 Read More
Trip to the UK – Part 1
Posted on February 14, 2012
And so the time has flown since last summer and it’s time for another trip to England.
No flight photos this time as a) I had a middle centre seat out from Perth and then b) it was dark all the way into London.
I went via Singapore which was cool – I like Changi airport, it’s big and clean and has lots of places to sit down and chill. This time it was full of Japanese schoolgirls, which was really bizarre – it was just like a cliché – all with their knee high socks and giggling – very odd. I would have taken a photo, but I didn’t want to seem like a pervert stalker, so you’ll just have google and imagine it all for yourselves. Read More
Kent
Posted on September 11, 2011
As regular readers would probably recall, I grew up in Kent (south east England) and it’s still a very special place for me, especially in the summer.
You see, I had great summers in Kent.
As a kid, we had endless hot summers, playing in the garden to the smell of freshly cut grass.
As a teenager, I had more freedom and I remember mountain biking down the bridleways and paths, hanging out with my friends in pub beer gardens, walking through hot and dusty fields and generally having a good time.
As an adult – well, I didn’t really live in Kent much, but coming back, I loved walking through the woods with my kids, having pub lunches and visiting the beautiful towns.
flowers
Posted on August 27, 2011
The one good thing about my little LX5 (yes, I’m still harping on about it) is that it has a macro capability, plus you can set it to different aspects on the camera (square, landscape etc) – which is pretty handy for composing flower type pictures.
I’m not really that into taking shots of flowers – they’re pretty enough and close up, they can be interesting I suppose – but I’m just not that good at taking them for the most part. I’ve seen some corking flower photos – some people can just visualise something that the looks good. I’ve also seen black and whites flower shots where the picture is all about form, light and texture – now that I do find genuinely interesting.
Holidays part 2 – family
Posted on August 25, 2011
I gave my kids a massive hug when I got in on Friday – it had been 6 months since I saw them in person – Henry was dancing around in circles he was so excited. Its always so fantastic to see them.
The next day, after a good nights sleep, we went for a walk to the park at the top of the hill – it was a beautiful day too – warm, hot even, sunny, perfect. The kids had loads of fun playing, swinging, sliding, running and making friends.
Holidays, part 1 – Perth to England
Posted on August 21, 2011
So, after a full days work, I hastily packed up and went to the airport to catch the midnight flight, the first leg of my journey, to Hong Kong.
Sadly, Cathay Pacific’s maintenance crews in Hong Kong had forgotten to file some paperwork, so we sat for 2 hours whilst the captain sent several rockets to obtain this before we could depart. 2 hours late was not good, seeing as I only had 2 hours between flights in HK. Read More
Charlie's World 