England - London and Leighton Buzzard

London

After backpacking around for a while, the novelty of being picked up at the airport and chaffeured to a serviced appartment was rather nice! (Thanks Wendy and company) And realising that we understand all the radio, all the signs etc because everything is in English is good, while doing mental conversions from pounds to AUD$ is definitely not a good idea!

We admired the view from Wendy's 9th floor apartment in Chelsea (St Pauls Cathedral, The Eye, and the Gerkin) We dined out in a Thai restaurant which was the first Asian food we've had for months. And went for a wander round the area, visiting Harrods and Hyde park.

Then it was time to say goodbye - leaving Wendy to go househunting, while I caught a train out to visit Tim and Nat in Leighton Buzzard.

Leighton Buzzard

Whats with the wierd name huh? Well I had to look it up on the Web...

There are a number of theories about its curious name but the most likely is that "Leighton" is an Old English language term meaning a clearing in the woods. The "Buzzard" was added by the Dean of Lincoln in whose diocese the town was in the 12th century. He had two communities called "Leighton" and in order to differentiate them he added the name of his local Prebendary or representative to that of the town. At that time it was a Theobald de Busar and so over the years the town became known as Leighton Buzzard. The other Leighton became Leighton Bromswold.

One other snippet of info... its quarry was apparently used for filming of The Mummy, and more recently The Da Vinci Code!

Now on to the important stuff... Tim and Nat are fine, busy with work of course, but enjoying the town and the convenience of having everything you need nearby (and a very handy mini tesco and chinese takeaway just down the road) while also being able to go for a short walk through fields or paddocks.

Tims a proud gardener - check out the sweetpeas! And over the weekend I've been taken out for Thai dinner with Tim's workmates in Bedford, and also taken on some lovely drives through the countryside... up to hills where they fly remote control gliders, past many thatched roofed cottages, to a national trust country estate, along canals with boats and locks and even to an english pub. Its all very english with small towns, hedge lined fields, and rain... yeah flooding in England if you haven't heard, but we're ok here. Its lovely being able to relax, cook again, and even watch crappy day time TV too!