Day 15 - Sunday May 28th - already!

A fairly good night’s sleep but we both fell asleep again when it got light and didn’t surface until 9:40! Whoops.  We managed a wake up coffee at Costa before a bit of visiting, then we picked up Dave and Sue and headed to what we knew as ‘Tree Tops’ when growing up, but is now ‘Eat Inn’, for a 2pm lunch – the earliest we could get a booking.  A busy spot and I eschewed the traditional Sunday lunch in favour of the curry banquet.  How times have changed.

As this place was just across the road from again, what we knew as the Gedling Miners’ Welfare complex, we wandered across and down to the cricket pitch, where there was a match being played.

When I first arrived in NZ in 1983, I remarked in my first letter back home, that many of the older Auckland houses reminded me of the Gedling Miners Welfare cricket pavilion.   From the attached photograph, Kiwis may or may not agree.

The Gedling colliery, as mentioned in my blog a couple of years ago, was often the first pit in the country to mine a million tons of coal.  Needless to say it was a large complex, with mine workings well underground running a fair distance from the pit head.  With so many miners, and such efficiency, one can only presume that it also generated a significant income and the welfare complex then used to have a soccer pitch – which is also still being used, plus two or three well maintained lawn bowling greens and several tennis courts plus a soccer practice pitch where my brothers and I spent many a happy hour, with our friends, developing our soccer skills, rather than being glued to TV screens.  Alas, my two brothers both developed their soccer skills to a much higher level than I, as both went on to play for teams in the Notts Amateur League.

After then going for a stroll and noting the extensive building going on, where grand old houses (or houses on large blocks of land), were being covered in blocks of flats or multiple dwellings.

Back to Dave and Sues to watch the Monaco Grand Prix then to the hotel, with karting to look forward to tomorrow.  We are calling on spec, as we hadn’t booked, but found that there were vacancies.  It is also a Bank Holiday in the UK.

Having retired from circuit racing a year ago, it will be interesting to see how I get on.  It may not be so brilliant for Paula as she may have to look after Noah!