More From England trip

Near my parents' house in England there is a nice country park where we took Jake to see the birds.Last year he was scared of the geese but this year he was fine.
We went to an outlet mall near Wookey Hole where Jake was very happy to find this merry-go-round.We bought some nice cups and saucers for half price.We could have spent a lot of money there as some of the stuff was genuinely cheap.
Finally, near my sister's house,in Southend on Sea ,there is an amusement park where the parent accompanying a child can ride for free.A very good arrangement I think.Of course Jake wanted to ride everything but in the end we ran out of time.Mainly because he made me ride the roller coaster with him 5 times! Tjis is Jake and Nat on a sideways Ferris wheel.

England Trip August 10 to 19 2009

This is Jake with his cousin Tom in the hall of mirrors at Wookey Hole in Somerset, England.
I found the mirror thing very unsettling.Guess I'm not cut out to be a narcissist.
This is a view from the car park at Wookey Hole.We enjoyed a picnic nearby as we were very hungry after walking round the cave and other attractions ( including a kids' circus)

This is a very pretty house in the same village as the pub where we had lunch.

This is the pub where we had lunch one day. It was very tasty! I had sausage and mash.Yum!
It was a very old pub with very low ceilings and a very nice fireplace.I really miss these old country pubs living outside England.One of the best things about the Sceptred Isle I think.

BY ANY MEANS

I and Humphrey and Nick went down to Kumamoto station on Thursday July 30th to meet up with Charley Boorman and his camera crew.
They are filming a new series of 'By Any Means' , a travel show for the BBC.
This time they were travelling from Australia up through S/E Asia to finish up in Tokyo.
We went with them from Kumamoto across to Beppu.
I was driving the van carrying the crew and Humphrey and Nick were lucky enough to be riding along with Charley.
Halfway up Mt. Aso we stopped for some cornering shots.
On the other side of Aso we stopped for some drinks as it was very hot and muggy.
Everyone had a good time.Charley and his crew were a good laugh.They put us up in a hotel in Beppu where we all had dinner together.The next morning we rode to the port and waved them off on a small fishing boat bound for Shikoku.