Ps to previous post.

Totally over looked the bus loop tour of Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon, with a very knowledgeable older guide. It proved to be an interesting perspective to NY outside of Manhattan Island. The guide’s historical knowledge was informative and interesting.

Friday 10th July

The trip to the airport was an experience in a black (as opposed to the normal yellow) cab. We believe that the doorman called the black cab and then told us a yellow would be hard to get at that hour. The cabbie agreed to take us for the same price (fixed to JFK at $45 from Manhattan). Michele then saw notes change hands through the back window. Boy what a ride, the driver who was from the Dominican Republic, must have been the world champion weaver and mover. Despite the size of his Lincoln Town car, even when the freeway traffic was stopped or at a crawl, he managed to change lanes every few seconds, any available space at any time. Then when the freeway became a car park he left it and rat ran along all sorts of back streets through the suburbs, turning into a new road at the prospect of any blockage. How he knew where he was or more to the point how to get back to where we were going was anybodys guess.

The bonus for us was that we got to see suburbs of NY and a range of houses from very average to very nice.

In the end he got us there on time and we gave him a tip which more than made up for the “discount fare”, it was worth it for the entertainment value and for the geography tour alone.

The flight to London was interesting only for the Z arrangement of the business class full flat seats. Michele and I sat in reverse to each other communicating over a low screen. The full flat arrangement made it easy to sleep and although it was only a 6 hour flight we got about four hours sleep and were reasonably fresh and jet lag free on arrival.

Don’t use Hertz! Firstly we had to queue for the car for over half an hour and then the insurance cost more than the car hire. Tricky buggers, you have to complete the booking over the net before they give you the insurance options and prices. Although the wait was not overly bothersome to us, it was to others on the queue, some who obviously had enjoyed little sleep, it showed a total lack of interest in service. A lengthy queue for pre booked cars but only two staff on duty? Made worse when some of the bookings in front of us apparently had not gone to plan. To top it off, the photocopy plans of how to exit the airport and return the car were well out of date, and the guy had to draw on it to show you where to go. More on Hertz later.

Nottingham

Found the M1 OK but after that it was all downhill. Firstly I had entered the wrong “Woollaton Street into google maps and we ended up in Hucknell or “ooknal” as they call it there.

Finally found the hotel after getting instructions from a parking warden (apparently they have one for each street and they are deadly), but then had trouble finding the “nearby” car park on a one way street and had to do a 1 mile round the block to get back, and then scratched the car door, or more precisely the plastic strip attached to the car door (see also Hertz later), lining up the smallest car spaces I have ever seen. Finally got the car parked only to find I could not get out of it. No joking we had a Merc 180 and there was only 150mm either side, and our mirror clashed with the car next doors mirror. Had to drive out and reverse in to get the mirrors to clear each other just so I could squeeze out of the car.

We went to Nottingham as Michele had based herself there in 75-77 whilst on her European sojourn and has friends there. Some may remember Lee and Rachel who were at her 60th and came to Brisbane again last year. They had a Barrabooka Drive conceived baby three weeks ago so our first objective was to visit said baby. Bloody Nottingham; has no street signs and a maze of one way streets so the three mile journey was a nightmare, but at least we found the house, which was better than we did on our ten mile return journey to the hotel.

Travis is gorgeous with his father’s red hair. Many photos and a walk in the park, then after returning to the hotel (see above), it was decided that Lee would pick us up in the evening to avoid our causing total meltdown on Nottingham Roads. In fact put the car into the car park for 24 hours.

Spent Saturday morning doing the down town, which has changed remarkably since our last visit and is as good as any revitalization scheme I have witnessed. Did not help with the navigation though as we got lost again, walking the 600m back to the hotel. Nottingham has not been one of Geoff’s best efforts! It is howerer a very interesting and historical city, Robin Hood apart, and well worth a visit if you wish to see a good example of a very old English city.

Sunday lunch with the extended Creasey family, where old times were discussed and revisited. The Creasey’s are as close as extended family to Michele as you can get and it was a lovely day topped off by the two of us having dinner at a French cellar restaurant.

The hotel was noisy as it was located right in the middle of the night club district and was 2 star at best. But at least it was central.

Visited Joanne Creasey on Sunday morning and then departed for Oxford to visit Geoff’s niece Rebecca and her husband, Alex who some may remember spent quite a deal of time with us a couple of years ago when completing his PhD.

The main attraction was however their son Mark who is now 14 months old. Surprisingly we found Oxford and the suburb they live in quite easily even if we could not quite find the house. However in this instance we do believe the last ¼ mile was not our fault!

Again we found Oxford fascinating, the river, the town, the history, the university. Good walking town with plenty of interesting pubs, and in our case with a delightful toddler to fuss over. Also a couple of home cooked meals, quite a bonus.

Rebecca and Alex seem well settled.