England... and a massive change of pace.

Getting on the plane in Tokyo , I was in various states of mind ...

Anxiousness
Excitement
Wonderment
Drunkenness

For those who aren't totally aware of my family , I'll try and explain.

Many years ago , my fathers parents came to NZ with him and his brother. My father grew up , met my mother , and got married...

Soon after this , my Uncle moved back to the UK , leaving my dad and my Grandparents. Over the years , my sister was born , and both my paternal Grandparents passed away.

Long story short... as it stood at the beginning of this year, I was THE LAST remaining member of my family to go back to the "Mother Land". It would be here , that I would finally meet some of my family that I'd never met in 30 years of life. I'd spent many a Christmas Evening yelling "Merry Xmas" down the phone , but never face to face.

It was with this in mind , that I was both very nervous , but very excited.

The flight to London was to be a long one, only to be broken up by a brief stop-over in Frankfurt, Germany.

Now , if you track the flight path from Tokyo to Frankfurt , it's not as you'd first expect... it's a straight line , around a curved sphere ( the Earth... it's not flat ya know! ). So we actually got very close to the Arctic Circle in relative speaking...

I was lucky enough once again to be able to secure a window seat with a spare seat next to me, looking out the window I was lucky enough to grab a couple of shots...







Now , the next bit , I am SURE will make some of you laugh quite considerably.
The flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt is around 11hours , so there's PLENTY of time to amuse yourself. It wasn't long into the flight that I came to be browsing the movie and TV shows on the Entertainment Centre. It wasn't long before I was throroughly transfixed by a re-watching of "Platoon" , a bit of comic relief with "Confessions of a Shopaholic".
What's this I spy!? 6 episodes of "Two and a half men" !!! Lovely...

Then...

I saw it...

I had been avoiding this moment so hard , but ... there it was...

This movie was one that cause SO much hype , so much hysteria... specifically from the female gender. I had refused to watch it , but now... 30,000ft in the air... it was the only thing left.

What do I do ... do I continue playing Minesweeper on the Laptop , Bejewelled on the planes "Games" console...

or...

Watch the movie... "Twilight"

Needless to say... for the next 122minutes I was hooked. I take back every bad thing I said.

Yes, it's a chick flick.

Yes, it's a very tame take on "Vampire" movies

Yes, it's got a complete lack of decent sex scenes and nudity

Yes, I loved it

I'll hand my man card in next time I'm passing. I'll freely admit it. There were even moments in the movie that had tears welling in my eyes. Very cool movie. Enjoyed... can we forget this and move on? Yes, thanks.

We land in Frankfurt , and wow... what a change. No more dark haired midgets speaking Japanese. We know rather attractive airport staff speaking German.




I was warned about Frankfurt Airport about just how large it was , and that I had to make double sure I made the connecting flight on time. To be honest , I needn't have worried, I had a 3 hour wait between flights. Which I utilised by sitting in the TMI Travel Lounge and drinking some much needed fluids ( Hangover much? )

Over the Intercom I hear my flight is boarding and off I go. We hop aboard the bus that takes you to your plan. Once a small flight of stairs is conquered, we're strapped in and off. In just over an hour , I'll be in England...

Now , some of you have been wondering why the blogs have stopped... The reason, I'm in England.

But not just ANY part of England. I'm in the sleepy hollow of England. I needed a bit of R&R , and also so much needed clearing of the head. To do this , I decided that once I left Tokyo and arrived in England I would go and stay at my Uncle and Aunties ( John and Glenys ) , who live in "The Cotswolds".

Now, to explain a little further as to where I've been for the last week. They live in a village called "Teddington" , which is within the Gloucestershire area.. under the "Tewkesbury" area name. Teddington is a village... oh yes , is it ever.

Welcome to Teddington... this is the Village sign.



And this , is the street map of Teddington... don't worry, you won't find it hard to navigate.

I promise...




As you can see , Teddington is small. It is the quintessential little English village.

Refer - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddington,_Gloucestershire )

Basically speaking Teddington , and it's nearest village Alstone ( About 20mins walk ) have a COMBINED population of less than 300 people.

I now know how Postman Pat felt. It was awfully quaint , very picturesque , but also very very remote. Just walking around Teddington , you start to feel how remote we are. Everything is so picture postcard , but so very far from everything...


















Luckily though , I was living in a house that had everything I needed.

So, as I mentioned , I've been staying here for the last week , I decided to not do a day by day blog of the goings on for now , simply due to the fact that a lot of it is taking up relaxing and just soaking up life. And being in the middle of nowhere.

Over the last couple of days though , I have been taken around some of the nearby villages and shown just what English country side looks like.

Here's just some of the pics that have been taken over the past week , in a number of various villages surrounding us...

Winchcombe
Bourton-on-the-Water
Overbury
Upper Slaughter
Lower Slaughter
Stow-On-The-Wold
Broadway

It's an odd thing when you step inside an old house , maybe 100 years old , its odd when you see old people... just trying to comprehend time of that length is hard...

When you're then walking amongst whole protected villages of 17th and 18th century, so suddenly get strong images of a Robin Hood-esque time.





















The shops , the house , the churches , everything around us , is as if time stood still for a while. Many villages have an almost uncanny mystical feel about them. My Aunty and Uncle , both very old and traditional , fit right in here. I have even had my token visit to TRUE Sunday Cricket. Set amongst the fields and the stone walls , in a teeny tiny village. Two teams dressed in their perfect whites , fighting it out with with and ball.

To take the traditional theme one step further , my cousin David has taken up "Real Tennis". Basically , the origin of "Lawn Tennis" that we of today. "Real Tennis" has many similarities , but also , many differences...

refer - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_tennis )

One thing that blatantly catches your eye... is the court.



Take notice of the "Galleries" ... or , holes in the wall!

And , as for the Racquets...



Looks like it needs some Viagra... droop anyone?

So yes, this area is simply dripping in old age history , family heritage , and old crap...

It's been an outstanding week here , of living and learning. I spent an afternoon with my Aunty going over letters that were written by my Great Great Great Grandfather in the early 1800's. I honestly can't explain the sensation I had reading something that someone DIRECTLY related to me, had hand written 200 years ago.

It's from here , that I am coordinating with family, to travel West and stay with them.

It's all a little frantic and up in the air... but , I have more than enough time , and the world is my oyster.


I'll close this blog by saying , I've come to realise lately , that we seem to be so intent on rushing things , as if life is too short... it's not , it's the longest thing we'll ever do.

Standing amongst fields and churches , houses and shops that have stood for over two centuries makes you think how young we all really are...


Scary thought really...