We are a retired couple who after living abroad for 5 years are now living in Levin, New Zealand. From October 2006 we cruised the inland waterways of Britain. We sold Narrowboat Gypsy Rover in July 2010 and continued our travels around the UK in our new Motorhome. In August 2011 we returned to New Zealand ahead of our motorhome which arrived in October. Although now land based we will be continuing our travels throughout New Zealand when time allows.
To all you lovely people out there who have sent Dot their best wishes please accept this as a BIG thank you. I have received so many emails this is the quickest way to reply to you all. As I write this she should be about to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand.
May I also take this opportunity to thank you all for your Christmas wishes. Bless you all.
Despite there being 2 opposing factions having a protest march in Peterborough today we managed to get to the railway station with time to spare. The Queensgate shopping centre was not as busy as we would have expected being only 14 days out from Christmas but the public had obviously opted to stay away from the city. What was obvious was a very large contingent of Police even on the railway station.
A sign placed in the station foyer by East Coast trains warned that there was a total alcohol ban in place for the day and Transport Police would be riding the trains. Inebriated travellers would be barred from travelling and any trouble makers would be removed forthwith. Hooray for East Coast Trains, a pity more companies don’t follow suit.
By the time I arrived back at the apartment I received a text message to say Dot had arrived at Heathrow and an hour later she rang to say she was through Customs. As I write this she is probably hurtling down the runway bound for the first stop, Hong Kong.
The postman bought us lot’s of goodies this morning and one of them was my drivers licence from the DVLA. It just shows you have to stand up and be counted occasionally. Next job will be to sort out something with the HGV driving school even though I have been driving HGV’s for 25 years.
In the meantime I will have to make do with driving the radio controlled motorhome we found on the internet from Brownhills Motorhomes Ltd. I thought they only dealt with the real thing but they also pander to the kid’s and I’m just a big kid at heart. Right on!
Derek will have to make do driving this until next March.
Due to Dot’s fathers failing health she has made rather rapid travel arrangements to fly back to NZ. Unfortunately we cannot both go due to various commitments so the blog may be few and far between for a while but we will attempt to keep people updated when possible.
To all our Continuous Cruiser friends where ever you are, we are thinking of you all. Winter was always our favourite time living aboard but we were fortunate not to have had such a severe winter as this. While we are tucked up in a nice warm home we are continually keeping up with all your news and photos.
Well my husband never said anything so I have to say it to myself. Thank you for all the lovely wishes I have received in the last few hours.
The Heinzelmännchen and the tailor's wife, a fairy mythology in Cologne.
During our visit to Cologne we came across this statue of a woman and what appeared to be Gnomes or Elves. A Google search found the following information. The Heinzelmännchen (Dwarves or Elves) are a race of creatures appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne.
Underneath the statue you can see the Gnomes working hard in the workshop.
The story of the Heinzelmännchen is celebrated in the Heinzelmännchenbrunnen (fountain). The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during the night so that the inhabitants of Cologne could be very lazy during the day. According to the legend, this went on until a tailor's wife got so curious to see the gnomes that she scattered peas onto the floor of the workshop to make the gnomes slip and fall. The gnomes, being infuriated, disappeared and never returned. From that time on, the citizens of Cologne had to do all their work by themselves.
This legend was first written down by the Cologne teacher Ernst Weyden (1805-1869) in 1826. It was translated into English by Thomas Keightley and published 1828 in his book "The Fairy Mythology".In 1836 the painter and poet August Kopich published a famous poem beginning with the words:
Courtesy of Wikipedia.
It is now 3 weeks since my doctor finally received the paperwork so I thought it time to once again ring the DVLA. Once again I was given the usual story that they had received the information from my doctor and that my file was being processed. I was getting rather annoyed at this stage and demanded, very nicely, to speak to a manager which the operator was initially reluctant to do. After some insistence I was finally put through to a manager who after listening to my complaint assured me that he would bring my case forward and it would be dealt with in the next 24 – 48 hours. So watch this space!
