It did not rain today !

That may not be a big deal to you but it since I came here in the "summer" it is for me.
So today more therapy. Walking therapy. I am recovering from the Airline flu ...at last.
I walked about 15 miles today and the knee continues to improve. My general health improves and overall I am getting fitter and better.
Tomorrow will be a test I think as it may be further.  The maps are none too reliable.
But I walked and it was great.
And thats about it really.
Unless I change plans and going to France is on the cards.  I think the weather is better there generally and I wish to visit the Loire Valley.
So maybe after tomorrow, vive la France ?
I read an article that may provide a solution for the pictures, so will try

Woohoo this is a fantastic Bodiam Castle built around 1200 by a local MP as his show home. Ostensibly to defend against the French.
The guides told me that it was to show the locals who is boss as well because the people that worked for him were "owned" by him as well. He totally controlled their lives.
It was a cracker of a castle, and I was blown away. It was a hard life back then.
I visited the Castle and then walked on a Historic Places marked route that none of the people I met along the way could find. I ended up no where near where I expected..but the invading forces can not find their way if there are no signs on the walkways.  Now that is pretty advanced Council thinking !

Being removed

I enjoy traveling. The unusual the wonderful the fascinating.
Not much of that in the last few days but it distracts as well so blogs get forgotten.
I figured out that a great grandfather of mine, the one that became a remittance man, would have been walking in the places I am walking 150 years ago.
He was sadly a rather indigent chap who loved to gamble all night and walk in the summer holidays and no doubt was totally shocked when hi father said, be gone to the colonies ! And he was gone lock stock and barrel with wife and kids.
My Grandfather, Francis Kent, was at the time articled to a Lawyer with Chambers in Lincolns Inn. I envisage Chambers was pretty much a Rumpole type of affair. What I did not know was the apprentice Lawyer PAID for his tuition from his boss. I guess that was just one more cost that his grandfather preferred not to have to meet.
He the family head was as I am informed a merchant in south London.
So off they went on ship complete with furniture to New Zealand. So to have that memory of the old chap wandering Britain and some of the best walk in Europe challenged my imagination.
I only hope that if he did walk the South Downs Way which has been a walkway for 8000 years that it was in better condition than it is now and the weather was better than rain every day.
The walk starts in what was once the Capital of England, Winchester, which also has a fine Cathedral and an organ that I love to hear played, even poorly as it was on Thursday.
So I find myself in a place called East Meon which is so bereft of about everything except I hasten to add an old and admired Church. They date back to the 1600's round here. Why then I do not yet understand.  After Henry went about dismantling distributing and even dismembering the churches and occupants. I found a place where I stayed last year with an extraordinary history of monarchs Churches and insurrection. 
All jolly good fun. 
What is not good fun is the state of the English walkways. Bloody terrible. Unemployed locals unemployed immigrants, homeless people that may as well be homeless doing something in preference to sleeping in doorways, should all be out there cutting the grass and weeds and doing them selves and the walkers a great favour. 
To add insult to injury the signage is abysmal. The signs say, Bridalpath, Walkway, even a named Walkway like South Downs Way but do not say to where or how far it is !  So it is a matter of good fortune where you end up unless one has an electronic map.  
However whether I am walking Greatgrandfathers journeys or not I am doing it and slowly recovering from the carnage caused to my poor old body by a surgeon replacing a knee after being struck by a Ram. Of course as ACC pays less this was degeneration and therefore not ACC. 
It is a damn shame that professional morals are determined by financial considerations. And they are. 
So I can not report on the state of the nation. I don't see TV and when I last did it was preoccupied by the tweets of DT and the length and cost of Mrs Mays dress. All vital stuff. 
But otherwise 2 Men and a Boy, the same US comedy NZ gets, plus the Chase, and the one with the sliding tokens,  in fact I wondered if we just rebroadcast UK re-runs. Seems like it. 
Well I walked yesterday from Winchester for about 11miles, and today from East Peon, for about 8 miles and it feels like it as I sit on the couch with my feet up. 
Having a good run with Air BnB people. Air BnB actually sucks, greedy US financial model that makes communication like a contest in obscurity. Anyway the people are good. So many of them it is a very significant economy.
Sorry no pictures, thanks google ! I wanted to show some shots of a concert site for the "Boomtown" open air concert. Good luck with the weather. But the site is huge. Massive structures stages Marquees, walls fences and rows and rows of multi coloured dunnys. Fact of life I guess. I spoke to a guy that has been working it for 5 years. He reckons it doubles each year. Must be the best business in England!
Back to Google I guess it is my fault trusting them to provide a service free, when if they mess with the users, they will pay. I guess they will too, but why should I pay when they Google  are giving away (or selling) my uploaded photo's.
I am upset because nothing in the clever tech business that I invested in  ever paid me a cent !
So that is the story of Thursday spent on the road from Lewes to East Meon and two days walking in the rain and I do not feel very Fred Astair at all.

Lewes 26 July

Lewes is a apparently an old town in the South of England famous for what I do not know but it does have a bell tower somewhere near where i am Air BnBing and I love it. Reminds me of a visit to Colchester (I think) and the ABnB I stayed at the hostess took me to watch the bell ringing practice. Wonderful. Not as many bells I expect as Lewes. I do like bells and organs and I hope to hear more soon.
So it still rains in the summertime or was that a different song.
England is a land of dogs. They are everywhere and as I sat in the Green Man having a pint this pm I was not pleased to have one barkingbin the Pub.
But my Landlady tonight has a daughter in Waiheke Island. That was a surprise.
So why am I in Lewes ? Good question. I hope tomorrow to start on my journey along the South Down Way. It runs across the South Downs a name recognised in NZ through a breed of sheep but I read somewhere this has been a passage for travellers for thousands of years. Lots of history and not all good, a bit of spooky stuff here and there.
The bells are still ringing and it is just great.
And the rain is still raining not so great.
The bike is still going but the chap from Munich BMW told me the part number and a man I met and like immensely that runs a parts business, Kaspar, in Holland can source the part, but may know of a machanic in Kent that may be able to fix mine but certainly fit a new part if not.
This is the EEC. The reason Britain wanted out was because the old people (and they voted)  were convinced EU law would harm them, and they hated the deluge of immigrants. That was it. Nothing else.  What a misread of the greens as they say but the 'greens' are a misread ! They will mess up the NZ elections as well. I wish they would stick to conservation and ecology. Politics is for grown ups, or should be.
The bells still ring.
No pictures sorry. Blogger has sold out and will only download from the cloud and you have to pay for that. Once we were able to post pics from the phone or pc...... I believe there is a word for it called monetarising, or maybe oppressive financial conduct. But Mr Trump like the media.
Still widespread debate here over his election, and Mrs May. I see even she abandons the UK and takes her holiday in Italy. But Roger Moore died. Lot of celebs dying, even Mrs Frank Sinatra. Who next I ask ?
The UK is no different than any other economy that I can see, living on borrowed time and money and  no way to sustain house prices. Or wages paid to people in public roles. In the face of massive homelessness and unemployment coupled with intergenerational state welfare dependency, I heard of three generations of unmarried wonen with a child on welfare in a state it council provided house.
The countryside however is magnificent. The tree lined lanes are a joy. The quaint homes, even the farmyards look like they did in the kids books I remember. The villages with the front door on the narrow footpath rather in danger of being flattened by an 18 wheeler delivering verges to the supermarket. I asked a French stall holder in the Rye market why he was there and he said when I came 20 years ago they want to run me out but now they ask me to stay because I bring French cheese. The English are not able to make. Well that was his story.
The bells still ring and it is nearly 9 pm.

England jolly England

Could equally be NZ. 

The headlines are the same. Sport is right up there along with serious concern over disconnected politicians particularly as they scramble to understand Brexit. 

Still not understood. Brexit according to the locals was about EU imposed law ( we will not have them telling us what to do) and immigration. We have too many immigrants already that are creating a housing crisis. Homeless people are apparently at crisis level and yet the immigration continues. 

Same thing in NZ. 

Then the Council selling assets to pay their staff.  Ratepayers are at the end of tolerance so in order to  get my wage increase superannuation paid leave etcetera the answer is simple glogboff what they paid for. Nothing new there. Aucklands boating community is paying to use assets they paid for and morally own. Not the Maori. 

And on and on it goes. The obscenity of what we call resource consents instead read exploitation for reward  for council incompetence exists here also. 

A mate I know wants to build a barn. Unbelievable that a council could consider it was their obligation to charge a ratepayer to do something on his land which was totally consistent with surrounding land use. The excuse it is a little taller than "we would like".....

Let's not mention the BBC. It is amusing to me that overpaid male TV presenters should be the excuse that women presenters should also be overpaid. 

Elitism is rampant. The pigs are in control. Too many heads in the trough. 

No one gives a hoot what I think but I saw Brexit and I saw Trump so I am a smart arse, actually no I am unusual in that I listen. 

I hear the world is falling apart and I interpret inadequate politicians. Greed. Self interest. In the face of expanding social issues with no solution other then keep them away from my place ! 

But it is raining. I am trying to walk off Airline Flu, still after 14 days and since this is about biking now hear this. 

I had my bike serviced by the BMW agent. Oh dear they said we have to replace the tyres "getting worn" and the battery  "getting on", and we did a full service and test drive. 

Interesting that the BMW agent sent the bike back with a warning light showing on my first start up. 

I rode it back and the service person took it away from my ability to observe to return and say terminal problem with brake servo. It will still work but will cost £1500 to replace. 

They were the last to run it and yet it was not evident. 

What am I saying ? I believe commercial immorality is endemic. We are here to get your money the best way we can. Maybe the servo is not the problem ? Maybe meeting the sales budget is the problem. 

Just like being at home ! 

People with "luxury" items bikes boats and flash cars are targets.  How about land owners that want to develop their land, no difference. 

Insurance is another confusing case. Only residents can buy vehicle insurance in the UK and only for a year not less. I do not understand that strategy. So a non resident can not technically own and use a vehicle ! I would like that to be implemented in NZ. Get rid of the freedom campers. Make them hire a van. 

Yet in NZ there is a charge on all vehicle owners that relates to nothing. It is called ACC levies but if you are unlucky enough to need cover as result of an accident (not just a vehicle accident) hard luck if you are over 50. So what's the game in my view it's all ways undue enrichment. In the UK, the probably same answer but can't work out how? 

So the weather is bad. Wet and wetter. Autumn has come half way through summer. 

  

Schoolhouse Air BnB

What a very comfortable home and a nice couple with kids.
New comers to Air BB but as to why the money, as an afterthought to introduce the boys to other lives.
I sense a bit of quiet separation in the UK.
The chap next to me in the Pub was going down the road to the pub frequented by homosexuals because there are no fights. That shook me but there in the pub was a large steady truck driver in a singlet shots and tattoos. Same objectionable looking person sweaty single yes tattoos at the pub round the corner.
Is the population of rural U.K. all over 60 ?seems like it.
And what is on the news apart from Brexit sport and overpaid TV people, hugely overpaid. Hugely overpaid, but I guess the same pigs trough applies in New Zealand.
What I was heading toward was the next crisis. Same here as everywhere no doubt, housing.
There is a real crisis in housing. Of course it all comes back to the privilege afforded to the few. The Council staff that determine what we can and can not do on the land we own. I stayed with a couple caught up in a rather sad row over a section they own that they want to build a shed on. It's a semi rural area and the council objrct because the barn is too big. They want it smaller and more rustic. Well it is next to a power station where no one actually walks or rides or drives or visits.
Meanwhile housing costs a fortune and a pursuit for the fortunate.
There is a serious social problem racing at us. Here it is not just unemployed it is across the board of the lower income sector. And it will not stop.
There is a reassessment in rewards coming. The commercial thieves ie overpaid lawyers doctors council staff, broadcasters. The list is long. The cost to society is unsustainable and the lack of housing will cause a very serious problem.
The difference here is the lack of reporting of home invasion. Maybe it is a New Zealand practice where we have to lock up and barricade ourselves from criminal invasion.
But frankly the difference in culture is significant. But the same overall image is similar "go home and lock the door".
What is ahead for society ?
Overall the state is misalocating resources overpaying "staff" and not managing but one area of crisis surely has to be those that get supannuation on top of their wages. They may well be the coming priveledged if the super funds have been properly managed and there is a question.
Sorry no pictures.
Google want to use the images and charge us for doing so. Classic US commercial exploitation.  We want your images and we want you to pay us to steal them. Not a bad economic model.
So to use images I must upload to Google and pay them to allow them access, then I can get to use my photos on my blog.
What's the matter with this ?

Tenderden

I spent last night in Maidstone.
A fairly ordinary town but I had a night a costly one at the liacal hotel chain and found my way to the bus station. It was late but happily chatted until it arrived.
Finally on the road to Tentetden. A very English villiage town with a market that sold a nice Rye bread a pate and a cheese so off I went to the White Lion for a pint and a snack in the English sunshine.
The social climate is such that it would be pleasant to live. Loft knows what anyone does. I expect retired.
Brexit is all over the news ! This will be a Repeat of Dunkirk if they get out of this one in one piece.
I would be happy if blogger and  iPhone did not hate each other because whereas once photos were easy to post now it seems they are restricting them to iCloud.
These gadgets that make life easier do not ! The money is on selling more gadget not selling a better gadget.
But good to be in rural England which is slightly different from rural Wales.
Either way more amiable than rural NZ.

Brecon in the Beacons

This is the interior of the Welsh hall built in 1400 and suffered many incarnations and indignities. 

It was stripped with the panels on the interior walls being sold as antiques to the US and the after effects being water entry and damage but finally the sound parts were restored and the building rebuilt. New walls roof interior and slate floors but now boasting underfloor heating. 

Nice enough now in fact a delightful moody old hall. 

Wonderful wood working and building skills. 

No doubt many of them immigrants as they were that rebuilt the stone buildings in London using European tradesmen 

Funny old world. 

Wales

I am attempting to find a way to fast post to the blog.

Let's see if it works. This is a book devoted to historic houses and their part in history. Fascinating. 

Brecon

A small town in central Wales.
What did surprise me was a statue of Duke of Wellington in the Main Street.
It was not striking enough to even photograph, but it has left me now wondering why he was there on his plinth at all.
Perhaps because it was a British Army base.

Milford Haven

Out on the wild end of Wales.

Beautiful countryside not as dramatic as NZ but cleaner tidier and prettier.  No wrecks in the yard !

I love the tranquility and the fact that people have been here 3000 years.
I enjoy Wales but of course like every socialist country and Wales and New Zealand both are,
the youth in the main have no moral obligation  to the rest of society.
That's a pity. So we have here the same stupid youthful driving public behaviour and attitudes.
Boys do it in cars and girls by behaving badly.
The history is what is great.
Up the road from my friends house is Artilery road built to service the fortress on the hill and to allow
Reinforcements to rush down to defend the coast during the Napoleonic wars. Yes Napoleonic wars !!
That is the sort of history that we know nothing about. Not ever taught about it and only find out by going and looking.
Terrific really.

17 July moving at ladt

I was most grateful to a chap and his wife that are now true friends. We met while out walking in west Wales Saint Davids, last year. He was there in a  heritage house for the annual holiday and I was visiting. We met in the street then the pub then in London more than once and had dinner with Gordon and Martine in their flat. Martine is a hot shot in commerce and Gordon her mate.  She is astonishingly academic and Gordon I put in the category of too smart to have an ordinary job. Some people are just too clever for a common life. Gordon is one of them I reckon.
But we are now mates. We dined we drank we walked and chatted to each other and anyone else that happened to encounter us. Great fun.
So when I got the Shanghai Flu, the nastiest thing you can encounter on holiday, I was just delighted to be invited to Wales where they were again holidaying in Natiinal Heritage home. You know the sort of humble flat built in 1400 and done up like it was recently made. Lots of character and delightful architecture complete with rabbit pheasants cattle over the fence and total quiet.
So was I lucky you bet.
So as luck would have it Martine has to go back to being a London hot shot executive and I to get on my way.
So here I am in Brecon famous for the Brecon Beacons a bunch of steep hills wonderful for motor biking, hiking, and farming yes welsh sheep.
I did get a picture but of course I have a newer iPhone so what once worked is probably now superseded as Apple seek to control every aspect and charge for it.  Ooh progress well ???

London 11 July

It has been a tough journey so far and it has not started yet.
A day in Shanghai getting the fly.
A day in bed in Amsterdam
Asleep ons train to Paris
A day in bed in Paris.
A walk in the Paris streets in a light humid rain. Followed by another sleep on a train
Then I took a wrong turn on the embankment and another long walk to the digs onbankside.
Followed by a long sleep and up at 4 to do the laundry.
Now it's breakfast time hardly looking foreward to that but I have no
Appetite.
The I go to Headcorn to pick up the bike and frankly iWork dethowsmart that is. Iamnotfit emough.
The butcher of Nelson that left me with a half useless knee so i need a serious rethink.
So what is the favourite plan. Sell the bike and buys sports car or camper.
I like that idea. So much time is lost finding booking and getting to a bed.  It is great to meet people but it looses  lot  of the day. .
Watch this space.

Trip 2017

Not an auspicious start.
Finally enough strength to pick up the phone and send a message.
Shanghai flu. Compliments of China Eastern.
Lowest price is not a way to buy travel perhaps ?
So far Shanghai where I could still get about. Interesting city but no place to want to go back to.
Then Amsterdam. Saw a little of the canals and a lot of bed.
Slept on the train to Paris and the most memorable experience there was paying 7 euro for a pee.
So in a cab and off to Air BnB. This is a wonderful concept being screwed by the system.
It is not possible to communicate with the host so the shitty directions and inability to get advice means taxis.  They are so flat out protecting the income stream they make travel very frustrating. The map provided is a cut down version and not possible to navigate by.
Never mind thems the breaks.
So in bed in Paris is not the way I planned it would be.
It will get better for sure.
Hooroo

Greeting folks from Auckland

Let the fun begin.
I had a great day today loosing things and finding them.
I hate the thought of getting old and really forgetting things that matter.
So I am sitting in a cafe with a Rioja well why it and contemplating 6 weeks trying to stay upright on two wheels.
Can't wait.
I hope I can make it interesting dnough to bring you along for the ride.
Nzl07

Biking Europe 2017

NZL07 is about to take the road again.
The bike is serviced.
The bag is packed and the itinerary broadly in mind.
I want to pay a farewell to Scotland so will head North.
Then it is back down to the ferry and over to Ireland.
From Ireland to Wales.
Wales to southern England and a ferry to France.  I wanted to ride the Loire Valley but have not managed it yet. Then hopefully back to Monaco and on to Italy.
Then to choose south through Florence and a ferry to Split or just head East.
After that the plan becomes less clear
But I do have a plan, go slow, stop more often and talk more.  I discovered last year that Air BnB was a great way to meet people and experience their lives.  For example going to bell ringing was a new experience.  There were more like that.
I was really defriended by a couple in Milford Haven.  I was so fortunate and was taken on a "family" outing on the sailing boat they had just restored and we went up the river to a pub for dinner.
I do not have a family and to share that event with that lovely group of people was a tremendous thrill.
It was two years ago that I stayed with a couple in a pub in Miltenberg in Germany. The husband and wife team were truly so kind I wanted to stay. Incidentally Miltenberg has a plaque in the street near their hotel that signified "a" start of the Paco Camino, the  St James way.  Doubt it could have got much further, but do recall a book I read that had the start in Switzerland.. fascinating.
I found that I only find those things out by going slowly, looking and talking......
So I am looking forward to talking my way round Europe in 2017.
I have "found" Facebook, maybe i will try that as well.