![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curiouswombatI am pic-spamming again – under the cut are more pictures of our trip to London – actually more of Hampton Court, because it is enormous, and beautiful, and we couldn’t resist the gardens.
Firstly a couple more of the actual palace – part of the original Tudor buildings – the clock is on the gateway between an outer and inner courtyard
And this is the later Stuart courtyard.
Now a series of the main formal gardens – these are designed to be viewed from the state apartments in the part of the palace built by William and Mary.
As you can see the weather was dry, but slightly overcast. The yew trees are ancient and wonderful.
This is what the house looks like from the gardens for a change! The scaffolding on the roof is because they had a leak only a couple of weeks before we were there – water came in during a heavy downpour, and soaked the top of one of the great state beds. The ‘emergency team’ had swung into action, the bed was covered then dried out without any sign of damage – but the roof was taking a little longer!
and finally two pictures of the ‘pond gardens’ at the side of the palace, which at one time were used as private gardens by some of the Grace and Favour residents, but have now been restored to something closer to the way they looked in Stuart times.
I do have a few more pictures – they are of lesser known memorials – I will probably put them onto my journal sometime next week – apart from anything else it is a good back-up for me!
In other news, I have bought a car! Currently I use S2C’s Octavia more than he does, for running around, going to work, shopping etc., and have a government owned Corsa which I must use for my work visits. D-d is learning to drive, and is finding the Octavia too big for her, and of course she is not allowed to drive the Corsa – it is actually parked at my work when I come home.
So I decided to buy her and me a little car to share. I can take it to work, so if S2C actually does want to use his car he can, D-d can do ‘learner miles’ between her formal lessons, and when she passes her test she can use it to go visit friends etc.
The plan was to get a Micra, or a Corsa, maybe a Ford Ka, or a Seat Arosa like her instructor’s. But I was passing a local second-hand car dealers on Thursday, and decided to see what he had – and fell in love. We are going to share a cute little white Citroen C3. It is 3 years old, and really has had one lady driver – who only did 17,000 miles in those 3 years! How neat is that? I can bring it home as soon as I can sort out the insurance.
I am warning you – there will be pictures!
Firstly a couple more of the actual palace – part of the original Tudor buildings – the clock is on the gateway between an outer and inner courtyard
And this is the later Stuart courtyard.
Now a series of the main formal gardens – these are designed to be viewed from the state apartments in the part of the palace built by William and Mary.
As you can see the weather was dry, but slightly overcast. The yew trees are ancient and wonderful.
This is what the house looks like from the gardens for a change! The scaffolding on the roof is because they had a leak only a couple of weeks before we were there – water came in during a heavy downpour, and soaked the top of one of the great state beds. The ‘emergency team’ had swung into action, the bed was covered then dried out without any sign of damage – but the roof was taking a little longer!
and finally two pictures of the ‘pond gardens’ at the side of the palace, which at one time were used as private gardens by some of the Grace and Favour residents, but have now been restored to something closer to the way they looked in Stuart times.
I do have a few more pictures – they are of lesser known memorials – I will probably put them onto my journal sometime next week – apart from anything else it is a good back-up for me!
In other news, I have bought a car! Currently I use S2C’s Octavia more than he does, for running around, going to work, shopping etc., and have a government owned Corsa which I must use for my work visits. D-d is learning to drive, and is finding the Octavia too big for her, and of course she is not allowed to drive the Corsa – it is actually parked at my work when I come home.
So I decided to buy her and me a little car to share. I can take it to work, so if S2C actually does want to use his car he can, D-d can do ‘learner miles’ between her formal lessons, and when she passes her test she can use it to go visit friends etc.
The plan was to get a Micra, or a Corsa, maybe a Ford Ka, or a Seat Arosa like her instructor’s. But I was passing a local second-hand car dealers on Thursday, and decided to see what he had – and fell in love. We are going to share a cute little white Citroen C3. It is 3 years old, and really has had one lady driver – who only did 17,000 miles in those 3 years! How neat is that? I can bring it home as soon as I can sort out the insurance.
I am warning you – there will be pictures!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 08:24 pm (UTC)And congratulations on the new car!
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 08:32 pm (UTC)Yay for the new car. Though presumably you'd have to work pretty hard to build up a high mileage on a car that doesn't leave the Island?
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 08:36 pm (UTC)As for mileage - the Corsa is the same age, and has done about 30,000, so 17,000 is still pretty good for age - it still looks and feels almost brand new, although Kat says it smells of 'old lady's scent'! The previous owner may well have been quite old - her address is a sheltered housing complex! I will just have to get a 'young person's air-freshener' of some sort!!
PS - love K9's flashing eyes.
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:49 pm (UTC)Glad you like the eyes. I was quite pleased with them. I love K9 so much.
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 09:37 pm (UTC)Lovely photos btw.
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:11 pm (UTC)I don't think it is quite Giles somehow!
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 09:41 pm (UTC)Closing in on the first year anniversary of getting my 'new' used car. Such a good thing that I had done the amateur film, seen myself in the dailies and gone on a diet or I never would have been able to fit in the darn thing.
pgavigan
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:02 pm (UTC)A lot of the many, MANY people around here who own great big pickups and SUV's are starting to look a little longingly at my little, fuel effecient Nissan ... I have a feeling we're on the verge of a vehicle revolution in the USA. Finally.
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:25 pm (UTC)http://www.tv-pari.ru/images/grandPrix/nissan_micra.jpg
And a pic of the C3 is here -
http://hyperinzerce.cz/inz/197751.jpg
Not dissimilar!
My Vauxhall Corsa looks like this -
http://www.verdictoncars.com/cars/250/vauxhall/corsa5.jpg
A Ka looks like this -
http://www.thefordblog.com/images/ford-ka.gif
Oh, and my husband's Skoda Octavia looks like this -
http://www.polet-press.si/avtofokus/images/66/Skoda-octavia---nosilna-3.jpg
only metalic dark red!
The Octavia averages about 38 mpg.
no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 09:06 am (UTC)In Europe they are made in Sunderland - a former ship-building city in the North East of England, and they are very similar in size, shape etc to out Octavia.
Most American cars look highly inefficient to Europeans - when we see them on TV, or in the flesh, they don't seem to have any more cabin space than our category 'family car' (the Octavia is officially a small family car), nor any more boot (trunk) space - the boot on the Octavia is so big that I can't actually reach the back of it without either a stick in my hand, or my feet off the ground. So all we can assume is that they have lots of spare outside and engine compartment - a sort of phallic thing!
The road tests on the c3 suggest I'll get about 47mpg. Of course we pay something like $8 a gallon for petrol.
Sentra-Primera
Date: 30/04/2006 09:18 am (UTC)Yes, I think "phallic thing" might explain America's love affair with our big, fast, gas guzzling cars. To me a car is just a tool to get from one place to another, but many others would rather lose a limb than part with their baby.
Frankly, I think it's a good thing that the price of gas here is going up. We've needed to get serious about conservation and new technology for a long time, but only some serious pain is going to finally get our attention. (the idea of $8 a gallon would cause some heart attacks around here.)
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:05 pm (UTC)As we are an agricultural state and have traditionally depended on farm children to drive vehicles to the grain elevators, etc., they learn to drive young. Our children got their instruction permits at the tender age of 14 (which allows them to drive with a licensed person 18 years of age or older), their restricted at 15 (which allows them to drive to school or work alone), and their regular license at 16. Our state is spread out with a great deal of distance between destinations, so we rely on our cars to get from place to place. There is practically no public transportation, except in Kansas City and Wichita.
How large is your island? Do you have public transportation?
no subject
Date: 29/04/2006 10:38 pm (UTC)Children could get a provisional licence, to start learning, at 16 until a few weeks ago, when they made it 17. They must be accompanied at all times by an adult who has held a full licence for at least two years. If they pass both their theory test and their driving test (about 45 minutes of driving around the town, doing manoevres etc with an examiner in the car) they get a restricted licence - they must have R plates on the car, may not travel at over 50mph, and I think there are engine size restrictions as well. A year of R plates and you become a fully qualified driver.
You can take your test the day after your 17th birthday if you want - although no-one does, as they would not have had any lessons of course - there is no set age progression, you just have to pass the test. Many people have to try two or three times - it is not easy. Many people don't start lessons until they are in their twenties - this is true across Britain - ours actually start younger on average than most.
Farm kids often start early - they drive tractors and then cars around at home - but they are not allowed on any public roads until they have a provisional licence, and need to take their test just like anyone else.
And aren't those trees wonderful? I don't think our pictures really did them justice.
no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 01:31 am (UTC)And congratulations on the new car. I'm sure you'll both enjoy it!
no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 09:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 09:10 am (UTC)You will think my new car looks like a toy - ozma has just been saying that he has what is considered a small car in the States, and it is at least 2 categories bigger than our new baby!
no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 05:24 pm (UTC)NCAP, which are the European Car Safety people, test all cars available in Europe for occupant safety, and also the safety of children inside the vehicle, and the survival of pedestrians in collision with the vehicle. The best score is 5 stars in any category.
A Chrysler Voyager gets 2 stars for occupants and 1 for pedestrians, the General Motors Sintra the same. The Jeep Cherokee gets 3 and 1, the Grand Cherokee 4 and zero - try not to be hit by one because you'll die is the message there! Our Skoda Octavia gets the same number of stars for occupants as the Grand Cherokkee, but 2 for pedestrians - better be hit by that. Our baby C3 also scores 4 stars for occupants, and two for pedestrians.
So the research shows that in a head on collision you would be safer in our little Citroen than in a Chrysler Voyager or a Jeep Cherokee, and no less safe than if you were in a Grand Cherokee - oh, and the Citroen does better in the tests to see how hard you can swerve before you roll over than the GC. I picked those particular ones because they are some of the few American cars that are sold in Europe - many of yours fail the safety tests totally, and so aren't sold even if anyone would want them!
I think I feel safer letting D-d out in a little European car than I would in an American import for sure!
If you want to be safe - get a small well built European or Japanese car - and then think how much money you'd save getting 45 mpg!
no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 30/04/2006 11:59 pm (UTC)And I've just noticed something called a Chevrolet Aveo only gets one star for occupant safety - but three for pedestrians, so better be walking than in it! I think it is probably not a real Chevy though - probably one of the ones that used to be Daewoos.
NCA~Ps website is here - http://www.euroncap.com/content/safety_ratings/introduction.php
It looks as if a German Merc,or BMW or a French car (Renault, Peugeot or Citroen)or a Swedish Saab might be the best bet, on average!!
no subject
Date: 01/05/2006 07:55 am (UTC)Yay! for your new car. My aunt and cousin both have C3s and love them (in fact they are on their second one each).
no subject
Date: 01/05/2006 08:48 am (UTC)D-d thinks the C3 is funny, the way you can have the seats in a 'sit up & beg' position - she reckons that is for the little old ladies who have osteoporosis and have shrunk so much they need that position to see over the wheel! Not that I am implying for one minute your aunt or your cousin are Little old ladies - or D-d and I would be too!!
no subject
Date: 01/05/2006 02:59 pm (UTC)Wouldn't for one moment have thought you were, but now I have this great picture in my head of them both with old lady curly white hair peering over their steering wheels. *g*
no subject
Date: 01/05/2006 03:59 pm (UTC)As many of the comments from my fellow Americans showed, on this side of the pond small gas-efficient cars are not very much appreciated. May Americans like the vehicles that do 10 miles/gallon, at least until gasoline tops $3.00/gallon. Then there is outrage!
no subject
Date: 05/05/2006 01:02 am (UTC)Looking forward to car photos....