Day 10: shades of the past

There exists in our family some iconic photos of several trips to Dudley Zoo. Anne doesn't remember much about the place except for the castle ruins. I have a distinct memory of climbing the stairs to the ramparts one time and someone had left a nice pile of poo in a corner. The memory is quite vivid because Mum thought it was very disgusting and I imagine she probably ran on about it for some time afterwards. It must have been the family outing of choice when we lived in Alvechurch, as it was only 22 miles from the zoo.

The first group of photos are from an outing with Dad when Mum was pregnant with Anne and she was feeling too sick to go anywhere. I would have been two at the time. Here I am, in all my chubby-cheeked glory.

The next sequence of photos is from a trip taken about three years later, it seems. We took my little friend Linda along for the day.

Mum always packed a good picnic.

Look at the lovely tartan trousers and knitted sweaters. 

And the last trip looks like it was a couple of years later. 

Anne and I were always two peas in a pod.

Do you see the castle ruins in the background?

Here is the keep from the other side, fifty years later.

The castle (at least its first incarnation), like many English castles, dates from the time of William the Conqueror, around 1070. It has had some interesting moments in history,  It was quite tied up with the whole Lady Jane Grey, Queen Elizabeth 1 story, as John Dudley, who became Duke of Northumberland, was closely affiliated with Kings Henry VII, VIII, and Edward VI. He was executed for treason during the subsequent struggles for power, but his son, Robert Dudley, later became a favourite of Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth visited Dudley Castle and considered it as a possible place of imprisonment for Mary, Queen of Scots.

And the cannon upon which we were sitting?

Fifty years later, taken from above, because the public is no longer allowed near them.

Dudley Zoological Gardens were opened in 1937, based on an idea by its owner, the third Earl of Dudley. The design of the animal enclosures was very innovative and used a modern structure called tectons. Using reinforced concrete, the architects created buildings that curved around the hill and were aimed to protect the welfare of the animals as well as provide clear and safe viewing for the visitors. If you want to read more about tectons, go here and here. 

I had told Lynne that I wanted to visit the zoo for old times' sake, so on Monday the four of us arrived at the gate, feeling a little like kids, I think. It was a bit of a chilly day in spite of the sun shining, and the zoo was only being enjoyed by a few young families and a few oldies like us. Which suited us just fine.

There are zookeeper talks all day long, so we worked out our day so that we could catch all of the ones that interested us. The first one was up by the castle, with the birds of prey.

We live for this kind of stuff and spent a thoroughly enjoyable half hour with the birds and the keepers. There were several birds that showed off their talents, including this owl.

A red kite, once almost extinct in Great Britain, was brought back from the brink and is now a common sight in the country. 

The peregrine falcon, wearing a hood before its performance in order to keep it calm. 

And its reward for a job well done? A cute little baby chick.

We then attended, in quick succession, the otter talk (they knew it was almost feeding time and were being rather noisy and excitable), the giraffes, and the tigers.  

Yeah, I know, no tiger pics.

There was a little lull in the schedule right then so we got a bite to eat and climbed the ramparts of the castle ruin. You can see for miles.

Next was the Go Wild! show inside the Go Wild Theatre. It was nice to sit down in the warm building and there were only about six of us at the show, so it was up close and personal. The barn owl and the kookaburra were the stars of the show.

Then we dashed off to see the meerkats, the sea lions, and the penguins.

They are standing and anticipating the next handful of mealworms. Yum.

I do adore meerkats.

Mealworms, not so much.

The sentry took up his post again as soon as feeding time was over.

The afternoon was drawing to a close and we had a drive left to do that evening, so we headed to the exit.

We bid a fond and sad farewell to Richard and Lynne, promising to spend more time together in the near future, and drove for about an hour to reach the home of Jan and Steve. Jan, if you remember, is my childhood friend. It was a woefully short visit, less than 24 hours, but we wouldn't have missed it for anything. If you want to know more about Jan, see this post. Funnily enough, I have seen her twice since that post.

Steve has been fighting cancer for a couple of years, but his sense of humour is intact. Jeff gave him his treasured Coastguard cap, which Steve apparently liked! Jeff doesn't give away his Coastguard caps lightly, so it was a sign of his deep regard for Steve.

Jan had been off in Birmingham all day, mentoring cochlear implant recipients, but she cooked us a delicious dinner and we reminisced a bit and discussed the World Series before going to bed. 

Family time

We left our cushy billet in York on Friday morning, another piece of cake and a macaroon in our hungry hands, with the intention of detouring through the Lincolnshire Wolds: designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We headed southeast and crossed the Humber Bridge, the seventh-longest single-span suspension bridge in the world, at 2,220 metres. The toll was one pound and fifty pence, cheap at the price. 

We continued south and as we were passing the outskirts of Lincoln we saw a magnificent cathedral on a hill in the centre of the city. We were drawn to it, so even though we hadn't planned to stop, we followed our nose and found it. The road leading up to it was very narrow and windy, as usual, and when we got within sight of it there was no parking, as usual, so I pulled into a small parking lot that was full and Jeff hopped out of the car and took a few photos. This is considered to be one of the greatest architectural wonders of Great Britain, and it is definitely on our list to visit again.

We drove through the Wolds posthaste, as we were anxious to reach Birmingham before evening. The scenery was beautiful but, to our way of thinking, no more so than all of the other countryside we were enjoying. I slightly regretted the detour, but it was all part of the experience, I suppose, and we arrived at my cousin's house well before dinnertime. Which was the point, of course. Dinner had been promised. 

We took photos before we headed out for dinner. This is my cousin Lynne, the only cousin that my sister and I knew as children (although it turns out that we have a bunch more, as you will see) and her long-time partner, Richard.

We had a lovely dinner at The Boathouse in Sutton Park, and I discovered the pitfall of dubbing Jeff the Photographer-in-Chief. And I may or may not have indulged in a little non-gluten-free brownie for dessert.

We had been true nomads for almost a week and it was so lovely to rest our heads at Lynne and Richard's house for the weekend. My sister and I had no physical contact with extended family after we moved to New Zealand and we both missed it sorely, although more in retrospect than at the time. This weekend would prove to be the favourite part of the trip for both Jeff and me, because my family loves him and he appreciates it. And they are a hoot, besides!

On Saturday, not too early, we headed to the National Memorial Arboretum, one of Birmingham's treasures. It describes itself as "The nation's year-round centre of Remembrance; a spiritually uplifting place which honours the fallen, recognizes service and sacrifice, and fosters pride in our country." Covering 150 acres, with over 300 memorials, 30,000 trees, a visitor's centre, gift shop, restaurant, passenger train, hundreds of benches for sitting and contemplating, and the Millenium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness which holds a daily Act of Remembrance, you could very easily spend all day there. 

The land girls.

Some of the memorials are elegant and magnificent.

Almost every tree is dedicated to someone.

Some of the memorials are small and personal.

The Armed Forces Memorial rises above the rest of the arboretum and honours the 16,000 men and women who have fallen in conflicts and terrorism around the world since 1945. It is sobering.

Dinner was at the Waterfront Pub at the Barton Marina, along with a little shopping for gifts to take home and a little watching of the downy geese who were preening and moulting.

It was a beautiful evening.

Lynne and Richard mentioned that there was an LDS church just a wee walk from their house, so on Sunday morning we headed down the hill. It was a beautiful morning, as was our luck for most of the trip, and it only took us about 30 minutes to get there. After heading down the road for a few minutes, we found the trail through the park. It was such a fun and almost adventurous way to go to church.

Richard had gone to a football game early that morning. When we arrived back at the house, Lynne had set up a veritable feast for the family that was coming over to visit. Trifle, tiny little pork pies and sausage rolls, and lots of other lovely food.

Aunty Connie, Lynne's mum, was already there when we got home, and pretty soon the rest of the gang started to arrive. First it was Aunty Marg, my dad's sister and her husband, Uncle Fred. Then Aunty Pat, my mum''s brother's wife, and Mandy, his daughter. Mandy is one of four children of Uncle Len, but she is the only one I have met. And later on, cousin Dorman and his wife arrived, which was very interesting because I only have a glimmer of a memory of him from when I was small.

Here is my Uncle Fred, who loved Anne and I so much when we were little and whose relentlessly positive and sunny outlook on life does absolutely nothing to counterbalance Aunty Marg's rampant cynicism. He doesn't eat much and is very frail, but still smiles and looks for the good in life.

Aunty Marg, who has always taken care of everyone.

Aunty Con, who has personality in spades and is ever cheerful.

Cousin Dorman on the right, and his wife is talking to Lynne.

Any time conversation lagged, which wasn't often, Aunty Marg whipped a newspaper cutting out of her handbag about something that offended or annoyed her and read it aloud to us. She has a wealth of conversation topics in her handbag. 

And she also had a store of family scandals in her head, ready to be revealed to all who would listen. Cousin Dorman learned some good ones about his family. There were times we we all became quite hysterical, over both the family scandals and the newspaper clippings.

It made me positively giddy to be among so much family, but we all felt the absence of loved ones who were not there. Uncle Dick, Lynne's dad, who was such a gentle and sweet man. My dad, the black sheep of the family, who wandered further than any of the family had ever wandered before or since. Uncle Len, Mum, and all of the other siblings of Dad who have passed on before. We told stories and remembered them well.

And after six hours of reminiscence, we took photos, because everyone was ready to go home.

Aunty Pat and Mandy, such lovely ladies.

Cousins. And the wife of a cousin.

Me with my crazy aunties. If you want to see more crazy aunty pictures, check out the photos from our last trip. And Uncle Fred. He's not an aunty, of course.

I love them so much.

And it was very bittersweet to say goodbye. 

I want to go back tomorrow just to see them again.