It's the final Throwback

So, I started the throwbacks when we set off in 2015, because I didn't want to just give up on all of the old posts from 2013-14, but at the same time, I wanted to get on with the new journey as well.

Making Tuesday and Thursday posts the throwbacks to the older stuff, and posting about the current travels at weekends, seemed like a good way to achieve this, even if it may sometimes have made you wonder just which country we were in now. Mind you, that happens to us quite a lot too!

But now, we've finally reached the end of 2014, and after making life difficult for ourselves by choosing to have family around for Christmas, and the neighbours around again between then and New Year, we spent the first week of January frantically getting rid of our furniture (again) and packing up the rest of our stuff to go into storage.

We had found tenants for our flat, and they would be moving in before too long, so we were good to go off on our travels again. We had plans to be away for around thirteen months, so we spent a few days down in Kent with family before flying out on 11 January.

So now the throwbacks come to an end. Sadly I haven't managed to keep up to date with our latest adventures - the current posts about Cambodia are last December - but I am gradually catching up, and now that the older posts are finished, I hope to be able to get there a bit sooner.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in London (Throwbacks)

New Year's Eve, London 2014

We have lived in London for years, and have been to Trafalgar Square for New Year's Eve - albeit the easy way by being booked in to a restaurant on the square - but we have never been to watch the fireworks.


To be quite honest, we'd seen the huge crowds that form so early, and really could never be bothered to stand out in the cold, and possibly rain, for that long.

New Year's Eve, London 2014

However in 2014, they started trying to control the crowds by making the main viewing areas ticketed. This was a bit controversial at the time, but it suited us.

The tickets were only £10, and it meant that we could just arrive a couple of hours before to be in a decent position to see, rather than half the day.

We took along a stash of snacks and alcohol, and we settled in to wait for the fireworks. It was a bit nippy, but dry, and with the help of regular sips of brandy and baileys, we lasted through to midnight and those famous bongs.

New Year's Eve, London 2014

The fireworks were certainly very good and we did enjoy them, but in all honesty, I don't think I would bother again. Whilst I do enjoy watching fireworks, I'm not sure I can be bothered in future to wait that long or put up with the crowds on the way home.

Now I could happily watch them from the comfort of a convenient riverside bar or restaurant or something, but I couldn't bring myself to pay those kind of prices even when we were working, so it seems pretty unlikely that we would do it now.

New Year's Eve, London 2014

New Year's Eve, London 2014

New Year's Eve, London 2014

New Year's Eve, London 2014

New Year's Day Parade, London 2015

Another thing that we had never done, was to go along to the New Year's Day Parade.

Partly for the same reasons as the fireworks - couldn't be bothered to wait that long - and partly because we're not early birds anyway, and we'd usually gone to be so late (or is that early?) the night before, that we had no desire to get up as early as was needed.

New Year's Day Parade, London 2015

But this year, we decided that we really ought to make the effort, so dragged ourselves out of bed just about in time to get there for the start of the parade. We knew that would mean being at the back of the crowds, but we were willing to put up with that.

We found a spot close to where the seating area for the Lord Mayor etc, which was good because the parading groups would stop nearby to do their routine, but of course being on the other side of the street, we mostly saw their backs.

New Year's Day Parade, London 2015

There were various bands, as you would expect, but we hadn't thought so many of the participants would be from the USA. Actually, I suspect that this parade may have been modelling itself on the US style of parade, and I found that quite disappointing really.

I don't understand why we would choose to copy their style and tradition, when we could be doing our own thing. I much preferred when we went to the Lord Mayor's Harvest Festival Parade, with all the Pearly Kings and Queens.

New Year's Day Parade, London 2015

Overall, I can't say I was that impressed. Whether that was because we had been spoilt for parades at the New Orleans' Mardi Gras the previous year, or because we had got up earlier than we'd have liked, I'm not sure, but I can't see us bothering with that again.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red (Throwback posts)

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

One of the things that we did whilst in London was to go along to the Tower of London to see the installation of poppies. 2014 was the centenary of the start of the First World War, which started on 28 July 1914, and lasted until 11 November 2018.


From speaking to people before the installation began, I'm not sure that most thought it was a good or worthwhile idea, but as the work progressed, it became clear that this was going to be an incredibly effective and popular tribute.


The artists behind it were Paul Cummins and Tom Piper. Paul was apparently inspired by a line in the will of a man who died at Flanders, which read 'The Blood Swept lands and seas of red, where angels fear to tread.' It provided the name and the vision for the installation.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Between July and Armistice Day, the 11th of November, some 8000 volunteers 'planted' 888,246 handmade ceramic poppies into the moat of the Tower of London. The number was specific, one for each British or colonial military death.

Once the installation ended the day afterwards, the poppies would be removed and sold, to raise money for service charities. Over £15 million was raised.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Many of the flowers were simply placed in the base of the moat, but some were created into sweeping flows. They looked beautiful, but of course the poignancy came from the sheer number of poppies. It is often hard to visualise such high numbers, and this installation truly brought home how many people died.

Of course, simple number is one thing, but showing these as real people is quite another. The official method of doing this was to allow the public to nominate names of those who had died to be remembered.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Every evening at sunset, 180 names were called out in a Roll of Honour, followed by the Ode of Remembrance and The Last Post.

For me though, the more moving aspect was one that hadn't been planned. As we walked along the edge of the moat, we could see that hundreds of individual tributes had been left attached to the railings.

Some were just names, some were standard poppies or poppy crosses, but there were also photos, poems, and stories of loved ones who had died. These impromptu and very personal remembrances made the whole thing more meaningful.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Some 4 million or so people came to visit the poppies, but many more realised too late that this was something worth seeing, leading to many calls for the installation to remain after Armistice Day.

However, the artist strongly resisted this, making the point that the very fact of the installation being temporary, represented transient nature of human beings. Certainly the way that the poppies were taken away before people were ready for it, seemed to be very fitting, given that they were symbolising men whose lives were cut short.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, London

Greenwich - Maritime and Mean time (Throwback post)

Royal Naval College, Greenwich

We moved in to our new flat in Greenwich just before our trip to Svalbard, but it was only really once we got back that we could get our boxes unpacked and settle in.

It was quite strange, knowing that we were only moving in for six months. We had bought a basic set of furniture from IKEA, which was a feat in itself as their delivery arrangements were a real pain. But it arrived, and we assembled it with only relatively few swearwords uttered.

Greenwich Market

Whilst we have got quite used to our life on the road, we were quite looking forward to being able to be in our own home, and to having our own stuff around us for a change.

Because we had got rid of all the basic, practical stuff, and only kept the good things that we had, it was really rather nice to unpack boxes, as everything that we took out was something that made us happy.

Greenwich Market

We were also keen to have the chance to do some real cooking for a change, in a properly stocked kitchen, which wasn't shared with others. Of course I say properly stocked, but there were occasions when, partway through making something, I would suddenly remember that I got rid of 'x' when we left, and hadn't bought a new one.

Sometimes Nic had to do a quick dash to the shop, such as when I realised I no longer had a measuring jug, while other times I could get creative, such as a wine bottle used as a rolling pin, or using the mesh strainer section of our juicer to sieve the blackberries that I was using to make a jelly.

Royal Naval College, Greenwich

It was good to be able to invite some friends and family over to us, and we also decided that, even though we wouldn't be here that long, it would be nice to meet the neighbours, so we invited those on our floor around for drinks and nibbles.

That went well, so we had them around again at Christmas, which I used that as an opportunity to have a go at a recipe for hot buttered cider that I had fancied trying.

The Queen's House, Greenwich

We bought our flat outside of the main centre of Greenwich, because while it is nice there, there are a lot of tourists around for much of the time. Our flat is just far enough away to be cheaper, allow us to escape the bustle, but still close enough to enjoy the opportunities when we want them. One of the places we like to pop along to is the market, which although busy, has some interesting stalls and a variety of food options. We tried an interesting noodle burger, where the bread roll is replaced by noodles.

Tulip Stairs, The Queen's House, Greenwich

Greenwich is one of those places that many people have heard of, just because of Greenwich Meantime. In 1884 Sir Sandford Fleming led delegates from 27 nations to agree a worldwide standard time, with one hour time zone delineations based on the 24 meridians of the longitude lines that run around the earth from pole to pole. The central of these is the prime meridian, from which all time zones are plus or minus up to 12 hours, and it runs through Greenwich. Hence Greenwich Mean Time, or as it is now becoming known, Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

Like so much of London, the area is steeped in history. It was a roman settlement, and it the Royal Palace of Placentia that used to be here was the preferred home of the Tudors, with Elizabeth I having been born there.

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

That palace is fell into disrepair during the English Civil War, and demolished in 1694, but The Queen's House, built for James I's wife, Anne of Denmark is still here, and is a very popular venue for weddings and events.

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

It is the first true renaissance building in England, with an impressive black and white tiled floor and the beautiful Tulip Stairs. This was the first cantilevered (centrally unsupported) staircase in England, and was designed by Inigo Jones.

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

In 1692, Mary II had a naval hospital built on the site, and from 1873 until 1998, it was The Royal Naval College. These days, it is part university buildings, part tourist attraction, and is regularly used for filming; you may remember it being 'destroyed' in Thor: The Dark World.

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

Another maritime attraction here is the famous old clipper, the Cutty Sark, the 6-7 mile mark in the London Marathon. The ship, which cost £16,150 to build, made her first voyage from London to China in 1870, and she was considered one of the fastest ships in the world.

However the opening of the Suez Canal removed the need for these clippers to make the journeys to bring back tea, and she was eventually moved to bringing back wool from Australia.

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

It is an interesting ship to look around, though of course much of it is now a rebuild, since it was largely destroyed by fire.

Tall Ships Festival, London

On the subject of sailing ships, we also went along to see the Tall Ships Festival, where they have a flotilla of sailing ships come up the Thames. It was quite impressive to see so many of them all together.

Tall Ships Festival, London

Tall Ships Festival, London

Tall Ships Festival, London

Tall Ships Festival, London

Svalbard - a hungry polar bear and a fancy dress party (Throwback post)

Ivory Gull, Brepollen, Svalbard

Thursday saw us out on the zodiacs in the aptly named Brepollen (glacier bay).


The bay was beautiful, and we could easily have just spent the time admiring the view, with the little bergs, the ice calving off the edge, and the birds - including the squabbling arctic terns and the snowy white ivory gulls that got our birding contingent so excited again.

Brepollen, Svalbard

Brepollen, Svalbard

Brepollen, Svalbard

Polar Bear, Brepollen, Svalbard

However, our attention was quickly diverted by the sighting of a polar bear on the ice floes. Whilst we were thrilled to see another bear, we were also rather sad to see the state that this one was in.

His coat was dirty, likely from having made a long walk across land, but more importantly, he was very thin and seemed to be injured. He avoided putting one of his paws down, and was regularly licking it, so we assume that it was hurting him somehow.

Polar Bear, Brepollen, Svalbard

It is very sad to watch a creature like this, and not be able to do anything to help. I know that we have to not interfere, but I think many of us would happily have given up some of our dinner that night to give this poor bear a much needed meal. All we can do is hope that he managed to catch something soon, and that his injury healed.

Of course this harsher side of nature is inevitable, but it does seem so much worse when we know that our actions as humans are impacting on the bears' environment, and therefore their feeding grounds. I think that most of us left with a renewed sense that we must do our bit to help reduce climate change.

Brepollen, Svalbard

Polar Bear, Brepollen, Svalbard

Gnalodden, Svalbard

In the afternoon, we landed at Gnalodden, which was a great landing site, as it had a bit of everything.

There was a huge great cliff with more nesting birds, there was an unusual amount of moss and flora, there was a nice little bay (where those who felt so inclined did their polar plunge), and there was an old trapper's hut.

Wanny Woldstad's cabin, Gnalodden, Svalbard

The hut has been used by many people over the years, but its most famous resident was Wanny Woldstad. Wanny was a taxi driver in Tromso, but in 1932 she met and married a man named Anders Saeterdal, and came with him to Svalbard to live as a trapper.

he was the first female trapper to overwinter out here, and she later wrote a book about her experiences over the five years she was here.

Wanny Woldstad's cabin, Gnalodden, Svalbard

Gnalodden, Svalbard

Gnalodden, Svalbard

Still wearing the fancy dress 'beaks', Svalbard

In the evening, it was party time, complete with a fancy dress competition, with an arctic theme. Some of our fellow passengers had been aware of this event before the trip and had come prepared; we didn't know about it, so had to improvise.

Luckily, the sheets and towels in our cabins were all white, and we were able to beg and borrow some red card, scissors and sellotape. The five of us used the card to make ourselves red beaks, and together with white sheets for bodies, white towels for wings and black hats - or in Nic's case black pants - on our heads, we transformed ourselves into arctic terns.

Realising that our costumes weren't exactly fantastic, we decided to inject a bit of humour into the situation. We added to our costumes a clock, a hastily made joke book and halos, and introduced ourselves as an Arctic Tern, Tern Back Time, A Funny Tern, a Good Tern, and another Good Tern, because after all, one Good Tern deserves another! People seemed to like it, and we managed to get second place.

The rest of the evening was spent listening to the ship's staff band, and various passengers who also fancied a singalong.

Swimming polar bear, Svalbard

Friday was our last full day aboard, mostly spent wending our way along the coastline back to Longyearbyen, where we would anchor for the night before disembarking on Saturday morning.

We weren't really expecting to see very much, so we were quite happy to spot some reindeer on the hills, and then one last polar bear. The polar bear walked quite some distance along the shore line and then got into the sea and started swimming along.

Swimming polar bear, Svalbard

Swimming polar bear, Svalbard

Swimming polar bear, Svalbard

Reindeer, Svalbard

Spot the polar bear, Svalbard (right on the shore line, in the middle)

When we reached Longyearbyen, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza was in port, where it was protesting about climate change and against oil drilling in the Barents Sea. Apparently Emma Thompson was on board, supporting them. We did wonder whether we might be about to witness some trouble, as there was also a military looking ship there, but this Kystvakt turned out just to be the Norwegian Coastguard, so all was well.

Last night on ship, Svalbard

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Greenpeace ship Esperanza, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Longyearbyen, Svalbard