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UNITED
KINGDOM TRAVELS, JULY AND AUGUST 2002
A VISIT WITH HELEN’S MUM 
Wednesday we decided it was time to go into Llandrindod to check out the
town. We wanted to see the National Cycle Museum, and then we had a
ride planned. It took a bit to find the museum, but we did find a bike
shop. It turned out the museum was in the same building, but it was
such a large exhibit we decided to return another day.Off we rode out of the town on another 
excellent bike ride. We went over and up and down the rolling hills,
with the goal of getting to the town called Hundred House. There were
a few steep climbs, but we are getting in better shape every day, so no problem.
The next morning Reg stopped by to find out how we are getting on, and when we told him our route through Hundred House he said, “Oh! You were just near Helen’s mum’s farm!” So he called her up, and made arrangements for us to stop in for tea on our planned ride. Once again the ride was good, weather was ok, and as we pulled in to the farmyard we saw a friendly wave from the door. We stopped and enjoyed the magnificent view while we drank our tea, had a lovely chat and admired the grandchildren’s photos. Then it was time to move on, down a patchy little lane through the field. The last part of the ride included a long, but manageable climb, up to the top of the world, where we sat with the sheep and admired the view of 
town. That evening we took wine and hors d’oeuvres over to Helen
and Reg’s house and told all about the visit and the ride.The next day it rained and Don used this time to do some work on his photos. I started to watch TV, and found a cable channel called UK Style and just got hooked. This station has home improvement programs, but not like This Old House. I spent the whole day watching this channel, except when we went to the cycle museum. One of the programs has a decorator and her team come in to the house, the homeowner talks about what they don’t like about the house, and the decorator redecorates, using only materials found at the home, and some paint. Another of the programs has someone who is looking to buy a home and they describe what they are looking for, location, style and price. Then the team goes out searching. Once a property is identified, the team works with the home seller to fix up the property, using the seller’s budget. Then they bring the potential buyer to look. A third program is set at an antique fair, where two teams of amateurs are given 200 pounds and they go out to buy items. They get to have an expert go along to help. We get to see them shopping, bargaining, explaining their choices. Then a week later these items are sold at auction, and the auctioneer evaluates the items before auction and tells what he thinks they will sell for, compared to what the buyers paid. Whichever buyer makes the most profit wins the game and gets to keep their profits. 
Well, we did take a break and go to the cycle museum. The curator
there is very proud of his collection. He has an enormous collection
of old bicycles, and they are presented chronologically, from the earliest
bike up through modern day bikes. He supports the bicycles with vintage
signs, photos, advertisements from old catalogues, models with vintage clothing,
bicycle components and tools. We spent several hours there, with the
gentleman giving us many personal commentaries and insights. He says
he has 5 times more bicycles in storage, and just doesn’t have the room to
display them. |
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