Ouch! Privatised rail services....

Today we got our first brush with the sting of privatised rail.  Mark had warned us long ago to buy tickets online, but we had done so well the last few days just rolling up and buying tickets, that we thought going to London would be the same.

At the ticket counter, the price was a shock - THREE times the fare that we paid to get up to Leicester.  But we were in a weak bargaining position, so had to cop it.  Lesson learned.

Otherwise all went well today.  Back to London, checked into our apartment, went looking for lunch, did some shopping, had a rest (getting old).  Then caught a train to Chinatown where we found a lovely Vietnamese restaurant and walked back to our apartment.  But our Aus pho is much cheaper, although this was a more subtle flavour.

Sorry, no pics today.  Still reeling from the privatisation monster.

Last day in Leicester - and visit to Market Harborough

This morning we looked at the parts of Leicester that we had not seen - some miscellaneous shots.

First, the fresh food market.  TWO punnets of raspberries for a pound!.

Don't see many of these shops in Aus.  A very chatty owner who wanted to know about Australia. 

 We looked around what remains of LeicesterCastle.  Some very old houses - what we call "wonky" so must be genuine.

And the usual Roman ruins.  The Jewry wall museum was an excellent presentation of Roman and Saxon Leicester.  We were the only visitors there.

Just one of the many interesting buildings in this town.  It seems as though Leicester has had busier times, or that there is more town than the population needs.  It is neat and tidy and easy to get around.

We found a cantonese restaurant for lunch - with "chao hor fun" - fried rice noodles with gravy.  We ordered beef.  The noodles were very good, but the rest was an English version of beef stew as the gravy.  But still good food.  I enjoyed it.  KM had tripe. Forgot to take a pic - too hungry!

Then we caught a train to Market Harborough to visit two bell-ringers who lived in Sydney.  It was good to catch up with them, and also to see a smaller village.  It was quiet and English and a very pleasant place indeed. KM went bell-ringing, I piked at the stone circular steps that got smaller.  I don't think I could ring in UK.   Below is the railway station

 and this is St Dionysius Church where KM and Mark went bell-ringing.

Coventry - the old

Today we tested the inter-city bus system and caught the X6 to Coventry.  We knew that we would only have three and a half hours there, but thought that was enough to see a bombed out cathedral.  Little did we know.

There has always been a church/cathedral at this sight.  But in  November 1940, it was comprehensively bombed by the Luftwaffe.  The original cathedral has been retained as a ruin.

KM climbed the 180 spiral steps to the top of the remaining tower. It survived the bombers, and so did its bells.  He noticed the disclaimer when he came down, but the ticket seller didn't discourage him.  It was half way up that he began to wonder how many more steps there were.

 The tower

 and KM is somewhere up there.

View from above, looking away from the tower.

And the view from ground level.

Reconciliation statue.  We were told there was only one other - in Hiroshima - but google reveals that since there are a couple of other similar ones around the world.  This one in Coventry has Japanese script on it.

Coventry - the new

The new Coventry Cathedral is built beside the old.  It is magnificent, and an excellent guide helped us appreciate it.  As well there were preparations for (yet another) memorial to 100 years since the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, so we were surrounded by rehearsals of organ music and singing, and for the first time in a long time, a full military rendition of God Save the Queen.

At the altar end of the church (don't know the technical term), there is a tapestry - it weighs a ton. It was woven in France, using French and Australian wool - so we got a bit of a look-in there. Should have checked the proportion of each!

The stained glass can only be seen from the back of the church, as you are leaving after the service.  As you enter, you do not know what is ahead, until you get to the end - oh dear - a bit like life - or walking the camino. 

The pillars were narrower at the base, rising to a wooden ceiling.  Shades of Gaudi's architecture in Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

And you can see the two sets of organ pipes on either side.

And this is the stained glass window beside the font. You can see some of the servicemen waiting/preparing for the Evensong.

There was much more, all presented very well by our guide, John.

It reminded me of St Patrick's, Parramatta.  When the old cathedral burned down, the opportunity was taken to build a bright new church beside the old.

Time to catch our bus back to Leicester.  We could have spent more time in Coventry.

Pennies for heaven - and follow the money

At the new Coventry Cathedral, there are pennies in floor - strategically arranged.  We were told that they were laid in the floor to allow the choir and the clergy to follow in a neat procession.  As KM was heard to say "follow the money".  Those with whom we discuss neo-liberal politics regularly will appreciate the humour.

BTW, apparently they are all for 1962, the year of consecration.   And disclaimer - got this pic from the internet.

Elections - Derby - and food

We woke up this morning, had breakfast and then came back to our room to watch an ABC live stream of election night.  Heard Anthony Green say "Not tonight".  After 9pm your time, we went and caught the train to Derby.

The weather was good, there was the inevitable rain, but it does go away.

Derby is a sprawling city, by UK standards. 

We saw the cathedral, with its ring of 10 bells - the oldest ring of 10 bells in the World (they say).  The first was the tenor (19cwt 1lb) cast in 1520 by Seliok of Nottingham.  The rest were cast one by one between 1607 and up till 1693, by a variety of Nottingham foundries.  They were retuned in 1927 by John Taylor.

Coffee has been a challenge this trip.  Oh well, we are in the land famous for tea drinking.

But there is a wonderful Keralan restaurant in Leicester.  We have been there two nights in a row. it is popular with locals too.

Then we caught up with the final election results for the night - which was no result.  Oh well, the Liberals will tear themselves apart after this result and who knows where it will all end.  Like the UK, we are leaderless for a while.

Richard III - my kingdom for a horse

Tourism in Leicester  has been given a huge boost by the discovery of the bones of Richard III  under a carpark near the Leicester Cathedral in 2012.  After DNA confirmation, he was re-interred in the Cathedral in 2015.  Quite a story.

Just like they do to identify an unknown skull on CSI, this is the facial re-creation of Richard III from the skull discovered in the carpark.  Presumably they took an educated guess at the clothing.

This is his new tomb in  Leicester Cathedral

A bit of an improvement on this:

 Apparently selfies are not suitably solemn.

And a new statue of the man himself.

And even the pubs were getting in on the act.   Richard (a Plantagenet) lost the Battle of Bosworth to Henry VII, the first of the Tudors and the father of Henry VIII.  Anne Boleyn might have wished the outcome was different.

Dinner

A lovely catch-up with bell-ringing friends from CCSL who have returned to UK.  Also good Keralan food.

Bits & pieces

Leicester has their own dollar shops.

And you can buy electronic cigarettes.  You could smell strawberry all down the street! Interesting how the image is the same as the fifties - smoking is sexy!

Another shop - an Australian company.  Apparently the chain was closing down, leading to 200+ redundancies in the UK.  I had not heard of them.

This was for sale outside a bicycle shop.  KM was interested - at least it would keep the rain out!  It did have a windscreen wiper - manually operated I suspect.

Window washing in Leicester

Leicester - and bells

We left for Leicester this morning - one hour from London on another high-speed train.

The highlight of today was not Richard III, but John Taylor Bell Foundry in nearby Loughborough. 

It has a green plaque, not sure how that compares to a blue plaque!

Except that the Government helps pay for the upkeep you can see below.

 And inside were new bells, old bells, about-to-be-made bells.  Some of these below were destined for Margaret River, WA. 

We will do a separate tab about the foundry.  We were with a very large group of local Probus Club people and it seemed that hardly any were ringers.  It was fascinating.  A 2+ hours on our feet.  We saw the moulds, a pour for a headstock, making the wheels, tuning the bells, and lastly the section where they make the ropes and sallies (the fluffy woollen bits on the ropes).  It is not a mass-production facility.