Captain Pugwash?

Saturday was the initiation of the new captains at the golf club... we played a competition first, then had the 'Drive in'

Seemed appropriate - borrowed from Tim!

The aim is to raise money for the charity that we have selected for the year, which for Trace and I is the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Trace, Ryan and Yours Truly!

Suitably kitted out (and joined by the Juniors' Captain) we each hit a drive as far as possible... with fellow golfers having guessed where our tee shots may end up, with prizes for the closest. At a pound a square this is a good fund raiser :-)

But the Drive is not without its distractions!

Welcome Lady Captain!

Buckets of water scooped from the nearby pond... leaves and all... are used to make you feel at home!

It was actually great fun... we raised over £300 on the day, and the best bit? I hit my drive further than the men!  (Mind you... they did have rather more water thrown at them!)

So all is done and dusted now and we can get on with the year proper... it looks very busy on the calendar... and hopefully will be full of golfing fun!

Catching up!

:-)

Some catch up pictures...

Holywell

                                                                       

Perran

                                                                   

A Hedgehog - Cornish ice-cream, clotted cream... hazlenuts... 

                     

Carvoza Rd

                                                                   

Carvoza Rd

                                                                     

 Bridgie on her roof terrace -  central Manchester beyond 

                                                       

A place for parties I think...

                                                             

  Sunrise at Caswell

                                                             

Sunrise from the flat

                                                           

I had a few days in Cornwall when it was blowing a gale and the sea was magnificent :-)
The house in Carvoza road looked squashed and cramped... not so much the old one.. but the new one... odd to see it so changed!

This was followed by a visit to Manchester and Bridgie's lovely flat... she loves the city and  her roof terrace is amazing... I see lots of fun there. I doubt if it is visible in the pic but there was snow on the Pennines that day..

And then down to the flat at Caswell for a final few days before all the business of the golfing year!
 It was wonderful.      Each morning I sat in the flat doorway wrapped in a sleeping bag watching the sun rise...

:-)

..Korea cont..

The Trip to Suwon on the bus gave us great confidence in getting around and the next day Bridgie went exploring on her own. I was very tired and had to rest so Bridgie caught a taxi to Suwon station where the big shops were. She was fascinated by these aquariums...

Bridgie spotted Nemo in top left!

I felt a bit guilty leaving her on her own to explore but she was very happy and the rest did me good. When she got back she visited our favourite little eatery...

Bridgie's favourite snack :-)

We met up with Phil in the evenings, about 10pm and would go out for a meal together with his mates, before returning to the hotel any time between 1am and 5! It worked really well as it was sort of in keeping with our body clocks!
Bridgie and I ventured into Seoul on the bus - the buses were brilliant, inexpensive and frequent, though some of the driving was 'interesting'. The bus lane was the fast lane of the motorway so when a bus joined or left the motorway it just headed straight across the 5 or 6 lanes seemingly ignoring everyone else - it took a little getting used to.

Seoul was lovely, we both found it a fascinating place and easy to get round. Phil leant us a lonely planet guide and we did a walking tour which took in some lovely sights. The Hammering Man was fascinating... though I decided it might be a woman...

Here are some pictures from that day...

There was an amazing display at the entrance to one of the palaces..

 More soon :-)

Phil sets off today to Buenos Aires for his 6month adventure travelling S America :-)  He's hoping to write a blog.. if he does I'll send the link

...Suwon fortress

Continuing the story... this was a wonderful day, the fortress wall encircles the old town and we were able to walk the whole distance. You can see we had lovely weather and the chance to strike the huge bell, you could strike it three times, each one a prayer, for family, friends and the world.

The prayer areas were beautiful, though I managed to clobber my head on the low lintel on this one and saw a few stars!

Looking out from the walls, Suwon was spread below us, and high rise as far as the eye could see.

This chilli shop was amazing...

and this hat museum

..Bridgie was a lovely companion on the trip, she put up with my foibles very well, and she was great fun to be around :-) and she loved these signs... the other pics are self explantory...

...more..

...the first full day we spent with Phil we joined him at his football match. He helped manage the team and they are very skillful -

                                      Phil overseeing the match!
 - it was an amazing match but we didn't bring any luck unfortunately - a 3-2 loss! After the match we met up with his mates at the park, and then went for a pork galbi. This is a traditional Korean way of eating and it was so sociable. We were all (about 14 of us) sat around two big tables with a hot cooking plate in the middle

there are many side dishes and an abundance of meat. There was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and despite our jetlag, it was a lovely experience.

Some of Phil's footy mates, Alec on the left is travelling S America with Phil.

 We found that a routine soon emerged. We slept late each morning getting up about 11am, and then staying up till late at night, with me going to bed about 1.30 and Bridgie following about 4am! Once we were up, one of us would go and visit the local bakery "Paris Baguette" and buy a croissant or similar, and then we would set off exploring.

Gun mandu

There were several places we enjoyed eating, and this particular place was a real favourite where we were made very welcome. Gun mandu was delicious and if all else failed we would revert to this tasty bite!

This became one of our favourite watering holes.

One of our earliest days was spent in Suwon walking the fortress walls. Nick, one of Phil's good mates, offered to take us there on the bus which was brilliant and gave us confidence to get about on our own afterwards.

The Hwaseong Fortress Wall

...more soon :-)

Haven't got used to the new Blogger layout and tools so bear with me - I've added a jump break by mistake! Sorry! 

Korea - a taster!

Well... here you are.. first some pictures from the flight which was amazing - flying over the Himalayas. I was fascinated that on the screen in front of me I could see a map of where we were;
views forwards and down... and then I would go wandering from our seat and peek views through the little porthole windows at the back. Bridgie was in the window seat and in fairness, there was limit to the number of times I could lean across to look out!
The flight went via Abu Dhabi, which made it a little long, but it all went smoothly and Phil was there to meet us at the airport. Despite it being very late at night the place was alive and vibrant, with neon light everywhere. After a longish taxi ride we put our stuff down in the hotel and went out to meet Phil's friends in a local bar.
View from hotel window.
It was brilliant to see Phil and meet his friends and feel so welcome.
Here is an assortment of pics including an evening view over Yeongtong where we were staying, a wonderful cake-shop, and Phil and Bridgie chilling with all his mates in the park. It was the place to go after their football matches and many a happy hour was spent sitting chatting here.
More soon I hope ...

Christmas

Hello!

Such a long time since I wrote and I haven't written about Korea or Slovenia... I will but thought you'd like this little update.

Phil arrived safely back in UK on Friday afternoon, he will be home for 3 weeks and is then off travelling in S America, probably about 6 months then home for a bit and a possible return to Korea.

In fact, Friday 17th was such a lovely day - Bridgie and Tim have both had temporary jobs..
... first Tim heard he has got a job with Hy-pro a sports franchising company in Dunsatble. He has a few weeks trial and then if all goes well it will be permanent.

Within 15 minutes Bridgie received a phonecall from the CEO of a company (in Manchester) who she had contacted and had had an interview with the previous week... and they offered her a job too!

So we were almost walking on air!
Bridgie is now flat hunting; Tim will stay here for a bit longer; they both start at the beginning of January - can't think of a better Christmas present for them!

keith and I are fine, Meriel came down on Sunday so we now have a house full!

All for the moment...

home

:-)

Home again...

I've just sorted through the pics of S Korea...

about to go and play golf...

post coming soon!

:-)

Travels

We have had some wild weather recently... one day cool and wet, the next hot and windy.. weird combinations, seems totally unsettled! Golf has been demanding but good fun and quite successful. We have won the league - unofficial at the moment - also, we won a team competition in another tournament... the shield was enormous! This was a county competition which began in 1927 so we are very happy!

Bridgie and I are getting excited, we will be setting off for our visit to see Phil soon :-) Just getting things organised ready for packing. Will be lovely to see him, meet his friends and see where he's been living this past year. Will take pictures and will blog on return...