Hockley Heights Gazette

A few years ago we took the boys to DreamWorld on the Gold Coast. Wait in line, shuffle along, hours of tedium punctuated by moments of sheer terror - the kids loved it. With two days of work to go, I took part in a school trip today to Thorpe Park. Same deal, same rides, different names. The weird thing was the huge amount of security, warnings about eviction for "queue-jumping" and bad behaviour, beefy guards, cctv installations and all manner of other counter indicators to the concept of a "fun park". Very strange! More evidence (as if we need it) that England exists in a type of "Bizarro world". The most unusual part of the day was seeing a rocket on the M-25 from the bus window on the way home (see pic). Maybe I am in a long running Twilight Zone episode...
In the evening we met up as a family at the local cricket club for an exhibition 20-20 game between Wickford and Shenfield. Warm sun, cold beer, sausages in a bun, loud music and fast and furious cricket - excellent stuff.
Monday is the scheduled day for pickup of our household items and car (yes, we are attempting the impossible - bringing a car into Australia). So we anticipate a busy few days ahead. The computer will be packed up and sent home as well, so the blogs might be a little less frequent and perhaps a bit odder than usual in the next couple of months! The tiscali email addresses cease next week as well, so those in our "contacts" list should expect an email with the new addresses shortly.
Cheers,
Ant.