Cat Panda and Woo Leave The Shire

It has been a traumatic departure from the Shire. The Princess farewelled the sisters Cat and Woo with a perfunctory wave of her regal hand. Cat and Woo had worked very hard to win the  favour of the princess. Yet her heart was captured by the Panda. At his leaving she heaved great swollen tears of sorrow from the bottom of her heart, her lungs burst out a high pitched scream at the loss of her Panda. The Princess was unconsolable left in her gardeners cottage without the Panda to fuss and talk to her. No Panda to read her stories or play games like" this little piggy went to market" or "round and round the garden". No Panda to take her into the garden to pick berries or vegetables to chew on. It took a full half hour after seeing Panda off at the station for her to be distractedand forget him completely. Panda too was sad to leave the princess.

Cat was just happy to be back on the top of the pecking order once more. Cat and Panda had plans to meet with Bob and Marilyn in London. They arranged to meet in Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square

 Cat and Panda were a little late due to the confusion that followed when they asked a man for directions. He seemed quite confident and while a little hard to understand Cat and Panda followed his instructions. They soon discovered they were either heading back to where they had come from or were suffering a very dangerous case of de jevu on the tube.As they arrived a second time at Waterloo they relaised the error of trusting locals for directions.

Cat fumed for it was just the sort of thing she would have done to an unsuspecting tourist and now the laugh was on her. Lucky for the man who gave the information he was no where in sight when they returned to Euston Station. Cat kept thinking she was in the middle of a Monolpy Game. Luckily a strike by the train drivers meant that the adventureres would have to use London Cabs to get around.

Bob and Marilyn took Cat and Panda to the National Art Gallery for lunch and then the friends talked and talked and talked themselves dry. They walked around the gallery until there before Cats eyes was the orignial Van Gogh Sunflowers. Cat sat and stared. The moment was impossible to recaputre. Cat just sat and purred. Magic.
Panda was not impressed.
Six hours flew by and the friends had to say goodbye. Tears were shed. It had been twenty years since their last cup of tea and a chat together.

Cat has had all manner of problems finding web connections wiping photos from her camera and now finding that the spell check no longer "parley vous anglaise". Cat stopped, took a long deep breath and sighed "Merde".

Castles and Chagal

Wednesday in Kent.
A big excitement filled the room, Woo wanted to see a real castle and this was about to become real. Cat wanted to go to a church where windows were crafted by Chagal. Cat's friend Gael the Womble had told her it was a must. Narna called her father Bob Knower of Things and Obscure Meanings and asked for his assistance with the day. SatNav's were organised and the convoy set off. The weather in the Weald had again proved itself to be kind and merciful. A soft sun and a brisk breeze kept the travellers comfy and ready to search and explore.
First stop was the Church - All Saints at Tudley (pronounced Two-dlee)..While Tudley had been occupied well before the Romans the Church had come into during the last years of King Edward the confessor. This dates the site back to 1066
Marc Chagal was commissioned to create a stained glass window to commorate the 1963 death of  Sarah Goldsmid.
The blend of Ancient and Modern in the Church held the trio in awe.
Princess Sia wrote in the visitors book, and they all left, hurridley.
The Weald of Kent was famous for its hops and Oast Barns were everywhere. Fortunately Panda took lots of photos as Cat managed to wipe hers from her camera - modern camera's far to many buttons.

Hever Castle
The home of Anne Bolyn, a magnificent castle with two moats and a a fragrant rose garden that enveloped the senses.
The Castle was all that Woo had hoped the 13th century set in magnificent grounds.
It was at the castle that Woo was embarrassed by a small frightened boy asking his father, in the rich plummy tones of the very British UC, "Where are those people from Father?" "Don't be afraid Tristan they are from Australia".
Not only had the trio acquired accents but apparently they had descended on Hever Castle like a flock of screaming galahs.
That was another thing thought Cat about having acquired an accent, I am finding it very difficult to understand what people are saying.

Panda spent the day chatting to Bob the Knower of Things and was beginning to blend in and look much like a badger.

Apart from the incident involving the purchasing of postcards it was a perfect day.

Cat had decided to purchase a postcard and lined up politely behind a woman involved in the simple task of purchasing a season ticket. The woman began to make the simple task extremely complicated and involved questioning the rather large bored teenager in the booth about all possible permutations
"If my husband doesn't come can I still use .....blah blah blah."

Woo watched in trepidation as she saw Cat, her ears flattening and foot tapping. All the signs were there of a Cat about to explode and rip the booth to shreds.
She whispered as quietly as a an Australian can "DO WE REALLY NEED THESE POSTCARDS?"
Cat placed the postcard on the booth's ledge and with a dark and threatening look towards the oblivious teenager who remained totally disengaged from everyone including the thick woman buying the season ticket.

Cat began a cruel mocking imitation of the woman and Woo listened amused and relieved to have distracted  Cat.

A meal of Fish and Chips. Cod and chips with curry sauce and peas. A very English meal.

High Tea at High Rocks

Princess Sia

Another exceptional day for the Weald, bright and shiny, enough warmth in the sun, just enough chill in the air for a balanced and agreeable day. The routine of things was beginning, Woo curled up on the floor was awakened by Cat rummaging around in the square meter of a kitchen looking for tea and toast. Cat would brew tea and make cheese on toast . Both would sit, Woo on the floor, Cat on a chair and plan the day ahead. What did they want to visit today?. Woo started, “Marks and Sparks.”

“And Tescos,” said Cat, “Postcards.” The list went on until it was whittled back later by Narna the Wise to Victoria Shopping Centre and High Rocks.

Panda snoozed through the deliberations happy to go with whatever was happening. Once the Princess was awake he was on call anyway, he needed his rest.

Victoria Shopping Centre revealed much about the British way of life. Some of which horrified Panda, to park in the shopping centre cost several pounds. No such thing as a free park. Marks and Spencers was a revelation. It seems that the British like all their food pre-cooked and wrapped in plastic. Amazing food from all over the world could be unwrapped, shoved in an oven and Wha-Lah gourmet meal for dinner.

As the Princess demanded the shopping cruise end the next part of the tour began. The journey to High Rocks.

These rocks were named in the 15th century because they were indeed high. Imagination is a highly prized gift in the UK.

The Inn at the High Rocks served a particularly lovely lunch, in a particularly lovely garden. The English knew gardens that was for sure thought Cat as she spied the expanse of green and the ordered rows of flowers. Except for the curios habit of bringing their dogs.

The Princess freed from her perambulator ran her toes through the grass and headed off to explore the garden with Panda a respectful distance behind.

Meals were ordered in the lower front bar. This proved to be an extraordinarily difficult experience for Cat. It appeared that in the process of travelling from Brisbane to Kent Cat had acquired an accent. The Argentinean waiter had difficulty understanding Cat and Cat’s Spanish was limited to Hey Hose and Ariba Ariba , which did not help with ordering the beer at all. It seemed that yes they had no coronas’ and ended with a sliver of lime placed in all beer, cider and Pepsi. Narna came to the rescue and confused the Argentinean even more. Woo and Cat began to softly sing in the background,

Don’t buy for me Argentina, The truth is we don’t understand you
Have you Coronas, have you cider, not to be rude
Can you decipher.

The lunch and the service made up for it all.

After exploring the rocks and the carvings dating back to the 1700’s. “ Graffiti is not new at all,” mused Panda.

The journey home saw an exhausted Panda and Princess doze off. At home Andy Pants was channelling Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and prepared a delicious Thai Green Curry from first principles. Not a plastic wrapper in sight. All the vegetables were from his garden. The chicken may have come hermetically sealed.

Nonetheless the meal was the perfect end to a perfect day.