End of the season....

... is here. NZ Gymsport Nationals started yesterday (Sat Sep 26) with the WAG L4 first up. Nationals is always the marker for the end of the gymnastic year. No competitions now till late April at the earliest, mid-May usual, when the race to qualify and be selected for Nationals starts again (for those L4 and above).
Next term all the gym clubs will be rearranging their gymnasts into who is in what level for the 2010 season, and then starting on the new skills ready to be made into new routines in the term after Christmas.

As a season finale, one last video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnKNWTYLdw

I'll wait while you get a drink and some popcorn...

Yes, I'm back! Two by 24hours of flying and 10 days of UK architecure immersion later, here I am ready to bore y'all with the holiday photos, lol.

While it was a business trip, time zone changes meant several mornings I was awake and walking around Oxford with my trusty camera phone to kill time before breakfast was served in the Hall of New College at 8am (very Hogwarts); plus 3 days with my godmother which allowed me to visit Porchester Castle and Winchester Cathedral.

Also went to Blenheim Palace, but didn't happy snap there, just sent postcards to the girls.

So without further ado:

New College Oxford - outside view of the Hall where a full English breakfast is served every morning 8-9am.

Accommodation at New College, stair 11 Old Building - I was in room 3 which is the window on the 2nd floor on the right (under the open window).

Views of Holywell St, where one of the two entrances for New College is located.

Views of the old city wall. These sections are on Longwall St.

Various views of Oxford, including punts waiting for the students to come back, The Examination Schools, and the Bridge of Sighs replica.

On Sunday, I went to Southampton to stay with my godmother. The following are of Portchester Castle - the best preserved Norman castle in Europe (the walls are Norman, as are parts of the church; the keep is circa Richard II, if not a bit earlier). It was built on the site of a Roman fort.

On the way to Heathrow for my flight home, we stopped in Winchester - the capital of Alfred the Great's England,

and location of the fabulous Winchester Cathedral. The transept of this building is Norman, and rest is C11-13. I'd forgotten how huge English Cathedrals are!

The town itself, like Oxford, has lovely old buildings everywhere you turn.

And then it was time for the flight home.

NZ038 ready for boarding at Heathrow, then refueling (avgas and meals) in Hong Kong.

I used the flights to catch up on LOTS of movies I hadn't seen. Gotta love these new planes with the individual screens and multiple choice of in-flight entertainment!