One of the great things about travelling apart from meeting new people and observing other cultures, is re-visiting the places where you grew up.

While Wal was in England he went to visit the family home in Hilperton, Wiltshire where Paula was born. 

Paula is the youngest of 5 children  so by the time she came along her mother had this baby birthing process off pat so she decided to have Paula at home.  This was quite common in the past. 

Paula has 3 brothers and a sister, all of whom live in Australia. The family came to Australia when Paula was a baby.

Hilperton is an ancient parish that is part of the West Wiltshire district ward of Avonside in the county of Wiltshire.

It appears that Hilperton came into existence during the bronze age and there is evidence of Roman-British farming and some industrial use.

If you are going on holiday to Hilperton or to nearby Trowbridge why not consider hiring a narrowboat and taking a cruise.  Boats are available for parties of 2 up to 12 people. 

 Some of the places you can cruise to are:

• The world heritage city of Bath and visit the historic Roman Baths
• The medieval town of Bradford on Avon which is only an hour from Hilperton
• The Dundas and Avoncliff Aqueducts which take the canal over the River Avon
• The pumping station and the American museum at Claverton
• The spectacular Pulteney Weir and Bridge

Its been a little while since I read David’s blog ‘Very Short Novels’ and as always once I started I kept going.

Each story is exactly 299 words long, no more-no less. Just the ideal length to fill in breaks during the day. 

I have passed the link to all those I will enjoy the stories. They are varied in emotion and sometimes they set off a distant memory of similar situations experienced in the past.

My daughter was talking last night at dinner about one of the stories she read called Circle the World and said I had to read this, so this morning I sat down at the computer with a cup of tea and did just that.

But of course I didn’t stop there, once you start it is very hard to stop reading the next and then the next story. I particularly liked Bridge Toll, the kid could be my grandson, the other Truth at War .

Thank you David for your entertaining Very Short Novels.

Paula’s brother Wal has just returned from Europe where he went to see the World Rugby Cup played in various venues around France and the UK.

I haven’t caught up with him to hear all his tales as yet so will just put up the pictures that Paula has sent through and I will give you all an updated view of his trip in future posts.

I do know that he travelled with Ryan Air and as we are all aware, their airfares are very cheap.

This group of photos are :

Stonehenge, Banyuls-Sur-Mer, Edinburgh Castle and Westbury White Horse

A bit of background:
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Our lovely niece Jenny has just emailed through some family photos and amongst them is  of Val and I when we were married and another one of us at Roy and Kays wedding a couple of years later.

This is so fantastic for us as  all our photos were lost years ago and we have no photos of when we were young. This photo was taken at the arbor at the Auckland Domain.

Because of family reasons we were married in the Auckland Registry Office and our witnesses were Val’s nephew Roy and niece Marilyn.  No one attended from my family but a number of my friends from work came.

Val didn’t turn 21 until the following day so he had to have his parents authorisation to get married. We had a small family dinner that  night  and the next night at Val’s 21st, he introduced me as his wife.  We hadn’t told anyone that we were getting married, so it was a surprise for everyone. 

This photo was taken a couple of years later at Roy and Kays wedding.