Day 43 - Linslade - London

Up early to finish packing my bag and a then breakfast and a read of the paper filled in the morning until Doreen took me back to the train station for my trip back to London. I thanked Doreen so much for putting me up for the few nights and for running me around whilst I was there. I do not know when I will be able to get back to England so it was good to be able to catch up with relatives and have some relaxing time between all my other travels.

I said goodbye to Doreen and had about ten minutes to wait for my train so I got a drink and a snack from the kiosk and waited till the train came in. I am luckier that Sunday as I only need to get two trains today to get back to Morden and then a bus trip back to Stewart and Jeanette’s.

I rang Stewart to see what he was doing and he was busy until late with work so I told him I would go back to North Cheam and sit in the local pub for some lunch and use their free Wi-Fi and he said he would ring me when he was free.

The train is a quick commuter train that does not stop at any stations between Leighton Buzzard and Euston, which is the end of the line for that train. From there I was able to go down underground to the Tube and Euston is also on the Tube Northern Line near the centre of London whilst Morden which is the last stop at the southern end of the line.

I only had to wait a few minutes and I was on a train about 1.30pm and as the train went through various stops near the city the train filled right up to overflowing. Luckily we then got south of the city the people were getting off regularly and by the time we got to Morden there were only a handful of people left to get off as it terminated.

I walked up through the ticket barrier and out onto the street and walked over towards the bus stop but stopped at the local Irish Pub called The Ganley. I got a drink and sat and watched some football repeat as I drank it. There were some Carlings coasters on the bar so I grabbed a few of them to go with my collection.

From there I caught the Bus back to the end of Stewart’s street so I could actually go to the home and get rid of my bag before going to the pub as I did not want to be carrying the bags with me all afternoon. Walked up to the house got in without setting off the Alarm this time and deposited all my bags.

I then went back down to the main road and jumped on the next bus that came along. This was my next mistake. I thought that all buses that came along the road in this direction went up to the shopping centre about a mile up the road, seams though that they don’t. I got the bus that turns left half way along the road and heads in a completely different direction. I knew roughly where I was going so I stayed on the bus until I saw a train station and I knew that there would be a bus stop heading back in the direction I came from so I got off and crossed the road and waited for a bus to come. It was about 10 minutes and soon I was back to where I started and got on the correct bus this time.

I travelled up to the shopping centre and went firstly to Sainsbury’s and checked out their beer section and picked up a couple of cans of Guinness. Then I checked out their Pringles and picked up 5 tubes that I did not have. I paid for them and then walked up to the local pub to have a quick drink and some lunch before crossing the road and going to the newsagent to top up the Oyster card for Stewart and Jeanette. I then caught a bus back to Stewart’s and walked back to the house again not setting off the alarm.

I then checked some emails and looked at the television. After a while I started to pack my bags for tomorrow’s flight to Singapore. I weighed things as I was putting them into my case and had to rearrange a few things around so I did not have too much in the main case. Once sorted it meant that I will be able get everything home without having to send a parcel of leftover clothing.

Later in the early evening Stewart arrived home and we walked around to the local shops to get some dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The food was quite good and we both ate our fair share of different foods.

Following dinner we walked back and picked the car up and drove to Morden Station as we had to pick up Jeanette who had been at a work function in the city and was coming home on the Tube. We did not have long to wait and were soon home again. As it had been a long day I soon was off to bed and did not take any time at all to fall asleep.

Day 42 - Linslade

I had a slow start to the day with a lazy morning reading the papers. Today both Doreen and I were to go to another of my Father’s cousin’s home for lunch. Claude and Diane live in the next village to Doreen which is called Wing. This will be the fourth time I have been to their home as I visited them on each of my previous trips to England.

We left for their home at 11.30 am and it only takes fifteen minutes to get there. It was good to see them both again, Claude has retired since I had been there last and we talked about the holidays they had been on this year. They book a home in the country for a week and travel with their two daughters and their husbands and grand children. We looked at some photos and the area they stayed in looked very picturesque with a lovely stream and some fields nearby.

On my last visit three years ago Claude showed me his tractor which he has rebuilt and used to display at fairs and village shows. Well this year he won the best tractor in the show and was presented with a large trophy that he keeps for the year and also a trophy that he gets to keep.

Diane then presented us with a baked dinner of chicken and vegetables that was delicious. We also had some desert and then sat back in the lounge and talked about our families and also about a letter we both received from a firm called Frazer & Frazer who look for people who are descendants of people who have passed away and not left a will.

It seems one of my Grandmother’s cousins in England, Ivy Piper died in 2007 and she left an estate but did not have any direct descendants. Frazer & Frazer are looking for all descendants of her by going back up to her parent’s brothers and sisters and then coming back down the line to find their next generation of living descendants.

In Claude’s case it is the generation before mine but from my Grandmother’s family all her children have passed away and the grandchildren are the descendants. So both Claude, myself and my siblings as well as a lot of other cousins are in for a windfall. We do not know much about Ivy and it will be interesting in the near future how much money might be coming although we expect it will not be a great amount cause there will be quite a few people involved.

We had to leave Claude and Diane just on four o’clock to return to Doreen’s as her other son Paul was coming to visit to see me whilst I was staying there. We had met on my previous trip and Paul had given me a tour of some of the surrounding area back then and was keen to catch up on my travels and we talked for quite awhile until he had to leave to travel home.

Afterwards we had a light supper after the big lunch we had been given and then watched some more television before bedtime and I also had to pack my bag ready to leave for London tomorrow.

Day 41 – Linslade

This morning was a slow start catching up on emails etc, before Stephen came around to pick me up at 11am. He had arranged to have the day off work and to drive me around sightseeing for a few hours. We drove into Leighton Buzzard and went through to a village called Aldbury. The village is only small with a grass common and small lake in the centre of it. Next to the lake is an old set of stocks that were used in the old days of the town. I was also told there was a dunking chair there also for dunking witches.

The buildings in the village are beautiful, old style brickwork and timber beams and old slate roofs. We went into a pub called The Greyhound for a look and a cool drink and Stephen asked the barmaid if they had any different styles of coasters as well of the ones on the bar and he mentioned I was over visiting from Australia and I collect them. She replied that she is from Adelaide in South Australia and that she was on a working holiday. She had only been in the village for two weeks.

As she went to get me some coasters we looked around the pub a bit and it is a really old pub and I read that it was used in the movie Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason. I was able to get 6 different coasters from the Barmaid and after thanking her we left to move on to our next stop.

The roads surrounding the village are all narrow and winding and quite often you have to pull up to let other cars pass by you. Also today there seems to be a lot of people bicycling around as well which added to the slow trip. We headed through a few other villages and then stopped in the city of St Albans.

St Albans is a city that can be traced back to before Roman Times and was called Verulam by its original Celtic inhabitants. It became a major city in the Roman occupation when it was renamed Verulamium and was the second largest Roman city behind London. The roman ruins date back to approx. 275AD and are on the outskirts of the current city.

Stephen and I walked around the city including some narrow lane ways with buildings dating back to the 1500’s and visited the St Albans Cathedral and I took some photos of the exterior of the building. We then walked back up into the city area and stopped at a pub for some lunch before driving around some more of the city and then out into the countryside again.

We drove up to the highest point in the county and looked out over the countryside and a lot of the local villages. There were people flying in hang gliders from this point as well. We then went back to the house and I thanked Stephen for taking the time to show me some more of the local area and taking me to some places that I had not been to before.

Back at Doreen’s home we had a drink and then Stephen had to go. During the late afternoon I was able to catch up on some writing and sorting out my luggage. Doreen has given me some items to take home for my mother and I needed to safely pack them into my bags.

Doreen then made some dinner and we sat and ate before watching some television till about 10pm.  By this time I was getting tired and I was off to bed for the night.

Day 40 - London - Linslade

I was up at 7.15 this morning but Stewart and Jeanette had already gone off to a client and will be out all day. I had breakfast while watching the England V’s Georgia World Cup game.

I left the house setting the alarm and then walked to the bus stop at the end the street and travelled to the Morden South Railway Station. This station is part of the National Rail network and not part of the Underground network. I had pre purchased my tickets via the Internet and when I arrived at the station I had to stick my credit card I had purchased the tickets with and then enter some information into the touch screen pad and out pop the outbound and return tickets plus a receipt.

I had twelve minutes till the train arrived and went up to the platform and sat to wait. I had only been sitting for a few minutes and an announcement came over the speakers that the train was going to be ten minutes due to staffing issues. This caused some issues for me as today being Sunday the trains do not run so often and the route I have to take includes going on four trains.

The train eventually arrived and it was fourteen minutes late so I was going to arrive at Wimbledon right as it was time for the next train to leave there. I missed the train but was quickly on the right platform and the next train was only ten minutes later. The big problem was that the next train I had to get at Clapham Junction was obviously gone by the time I got there and the next train from Clapham Junction to Watford Junction only run every half hour and I had just missed the train I was meant to get.

I rang Doreen in Linslade to tell her I was going to be late so she would not leave home to be there for the original train. I told her I would have to ring her when I knew what time the train would be leaving Watford Junction and therefore what time I would be at Leighton Buzzard station for her to pick me up.

I had a snack while I was waiting for the train and then was able to get a seat on the next train which was quite packed with people. The train trip was about thirty five minutes and when I arrived at Watford Junction I went down to the exit and looked at the timetable and made my way back up to the correct platform.

The train was the next one to leave and I had a quick trip to Leighton Buzzard arriving about fifty minutes after the original train I was due to be on. Doreen was waiting at the station and after I packed my luggage into the back of the car we got in and I was greeted by her dog Bo who I had met last trip three years ago. It is a very friendly dog and is no problem at all.

We arrived back to Doreen’s home and she had made some lunch so we sat and ate a good hot meal. During the afternoon her grandson Harry came to visit, I had met him three years ago and in the meantime he had grown a lot. He is 15 at the end of the month and is very good help for Doreen around her home. He is very handy with fixing things and also grows some vegetables in her garden. His father Stephen is a film cameraman and has arranged for Harry to film the local football teams home games, Harry showed he the filming he had done yesterday of their FA Cup first round match. The club won the game 4:1 to progress to the next round.

Later in the afternoon Stephen came around and we went for a drive to the local section of the Grand Union Canal which goes from Birmingham to London. Doreen took Bo for a walk along the canal edge and Stephen, Harry and I sat and had a drink at the outdoor tables of the Globe Hotel looking over the canals edge. A while later we dropped Doreen and Bo back home and then drove to another pub called the Grand Union at Stoke Hammond further along the canal for dinner. We sat inside the pub for dinner and whilst we were eating there was a huge rain storm that fell.

Back at Doreen’s I said my thanks to Stephen for taking me out for the afternoon and he arranged to take me out again for a few hours tomorrow to visit some of the local villages. I then sat and talked to Doreen whilst we watched some television for the evening. I went off to bed about 10pm due to being tired and was asleep very quickly.

Day 39 – London

I was up a bit later this morning after yesterday’s late night. Stewart is again on-call for work but was not required for most of the day so we again spent a lazy Saturday watching the football, both Rugby Union and Aussie Rules. It was not a good start to the day with the Wallabies going down to Ireland. They were outplayed by a more determined team.

I spent some of the day reorganising my clothes to take with me to Linslade tomorrow. Like Ireland I will not take my large suitcase with me, it will make everything a lot easier to carry and roll around.

We did basically the same in the afternoon just watching some T.V. and catching up before dinner and then after dinner we went to Stewart’s office to drop off some paperwork and Stewart had to pick up some items for a job he has on tomorrow.

Not much else to write about today as it was truly a recharge the batteries day. I even had an early night’s sleep in preparation for my four train trips tomorrow.

Day 38 – London

Stewart and Jeanette had left for work by the time I rose today. I sat and had some breakfast whilst watching some World Cup Rugby and then looked at the computer. I am out today to meet up with two collecting friends.

Peter lives up in Milton Keynes and collects beer logo playing cards. He has travelled to Australia many times with his wife Joyce as they have a daughter and grand children on the Gold Coast in Queensland. He has also been to one of our Canathon’s and also comes every couple of years to our meeting in Ballina whilst he visits his daughter. I also went to visit Peter and Joyce last time I was in England.

Also in town is Bruce who is a great mate from Brisbane who is the Editor of our Beer Can Collectors magazine. I talk with Bruce all the time on the phone and see his at least two or three times a year at collector meetings. He is in London for two days before going on a European trip.

I had to check timetables and train and bus connections before I left to make sure I would not get lost. I left the house before noon and walked up the road to get the bus. I am going first to the Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising in Notting Hill. I have to go by tube and change trains at Bank station. The museum is about a 15 minute walk from Notting Hill station.

The museum is the collection of one man Robert Opie, it contains over 12,000 pieces of memorabilia on all types of brands and advertising from Edwardian time up to the current day. As it says on the website;

It’s all here...the brands and packs, posters and adverts, fads and fashions, toys and games. Evocative and inspiring, it’s a kaleidoscope of images and iconic brands.

It costs six pound fifty to enter and you go through a tunnel of advertising showing all the different periods up to today. You are asked not to take photos whilst walking around but I turned off my flash and took some anyway. Towards the end of the display there is a selection of brands showing the packaging all in one line from start till today. Johnson's Baby Powder, Heinz Soups etc, there is also a lot of original Guinness posters and memorabilia around the displays. Plus Guinness has a large display at the end of the walk of advertising from the 1930’s till the 1970’s.

After I left the museum I made my way three streets over to a bus stop so I could catch the number 27 bus across town to Euston. This is where we had decided to meet up for the afternoon, Peter is able to get a direct train down from Milton Keynes and Bruce and I could get there quite easy.

We met at the Bree Louise pub in Coburg Street. It is a free house hotel meaning it can sell any beers. A lot of pubs are signed up to a particular brewery or breweries and can only sell particular brands of beer. They are a real ale hotel as well and sell 11 gravity ales (poured straight from the barrel), and 6 more ales on the pump. This is on top of some regular gas fed lines with the popular mainstream brands available.

We met just after 3pm and sat outside at a table in the nice weather right through till when we left just on nine o’clock. The pub is on a quiet street corner and people we walking past doing business and then later heading for home along the street. A lot of business people stopped after work and stood on the street side and drank whilst chatting with the others in the now ever increasing crowd. We had a great get together and a good chat about our collecting and what we had been up to since our last meeting. Peter has had a knee replacement and has another one still to be done.

We had some food during the night, they make their own homemade pies and there are 7 varieties to choose from. They are made in ceramic pots and tasted wonderful. We continued chatting until Bruce had to leave; he has a plane to catch in the morning and wanted to get some good rest before he starts his trip on the continent.

We all made our way back to the Euston Station and I caught the tube back to Mordon Station. The Northern Line train goes direct from Euston to Morden so I did not even have to change trains on the way home. After getting off the train I had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus back to Stewart's and then walked up the street to his home.

Jeanette was already home when I arrived but Stewart was still out working. I went to bed straight away and was asleep very quickly after my long day’s outing.

Day 37 - Dublin - London

I was up early to finish packing and down to reception to ensure my account was paid up. Then back to the room to get my bags. I ended up with my pilot’s case and my laptop bag full and I managed to get all the other things into the Guinness Brewery bag that you get when you purchase anything from the brewery. It is a big bag and it works good for plane flights cause it is seen by airlines as a duty free shopping bag. I had it half full of beer coasters and then my purchases from the brewery shop on top.

I went down to Dame Street and waited for the airport bus. It was only a 50 metre walk from the front of the hotel. I waited 15 minutes for the bus and there were a lot of others waiting for it also. The bus was quite full by the time we got on it and it still has more places to stop to pick up passengers before we go off to the airport.

They managed to fit everyone on but there were suitcases everywhere on the bus as we left the city via the tollway tunnel for the airport. It is about a fifteen minute ride from the start of the tunnel so it was not long and we were at Terminal 2 and I was inside at the self serve check-in screen printing my ticket.

From there I went up to the second level where there is a food court before you go through the customs check. I grabbed some breakfast before I headed through the Customs and luggage screening. I then sat in the open area inside the terminal proper and they are advertising that during September they are offering free Wi-Fi inside the terminal. I sat for about an hour and a half checking emails and writing some up some of my blog posts. There was a constant stream of people walking past as well to keep me entertained.

Just before the time came to go to the gate for the plane I went and did a bit of shopping at the duty free. They were selling Guinness items and also had some sale items available so I spent up the rest of my Euro’s before heading back to England.

Boarding the plane I was surprised that it was full for a lunchtime flight on a Thursday. So there were no spare seats on the plane. It was once again a non eventful flight and we arrived at Gatwick Airport without any problems. It was a quick trip through the customs area as they were not stamping passports for people coming in from the Republic of Ireland, they were just checking your boarding pass and letting you straight through.

I was looking for Stewart when I came through the arrives area but he is off working with on of his main clients so one of his other drivers picked me up and drove me back to Stewart and Jeanette’s home. I got in this time without setting of the alarm and text Stewart to let him know I was home.

I again checked some emails and the news from home before watching some Rugby World Cup highlights on the television. Stewart came in latter on and we caught up on my travels in Dublin and everything else. Jeanette came in a bit later and spoilt us both with a lovely dinner.

After dinner we went out to Stewart's work office to drop off some boxes that had been delivered to the house and he was able to catch up on a bit of office work while we were there. From there it was back home and by this time it was time for bed.

Day 36 - Dublin

I woke early to the alarm and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, it was not included in the price of the room, but I had had it last time I was here and it was just the same, a full plate of breakfast that tasted very good.

I went up back up to the room and got my laptop bag and came back down and jumped into a taxi to go back to the brewery. I went into the reception area and spoke to the man there to ask to go to the Archive area. The person was Nick who was the guide that took us around the brewery tour in May. He remembered me from then and we had a chat for a while before he phoned up to the Archive to check and I was allowed to go up to the Archive area.

Once there Deidre had available the extra papers I asked for last night and also the other books I looked through last visit. She also provided another book that she said might be interesting for me, but I was able to tell her I actually had a copy of the book at home so I could look at it there.

She left me to go through the papers at my leisure and I completed looking through them and took my notes as I went. I then went through the books I looked at last time and checked off the questions I had from my notes last time. When I had finished looking through everything, I spoke with Deidre and asked her to photocopy a couple of the papers so I could take them with me. She did this and I told her I was finished with all the papers and books and thanked her for all the help she provided to me over the two days.

I had also asked if the Archive would provide me with a letter of introduction from the Guinness Archive stating my name and that I am an independent researcher and have spent time in 2008 and this year in the Archive researching the History of Guinness Beer in Australia. I asked for this so I could use it as support as I ask other businesses or archives in Australia if I can do research with their company into their involvement with the Guinness Company in Australia.

I walked back to the hotel and wandered into all the pubs on the way back looking for new coasters. I was only successful in two of the pubs as the others had coasters I had already picked up already. I also stopped at a couple of supermarkets to look for Pringles cans and found two types I did not have as well.

Back at the hotel I sorted out all my new items that I had acquired and started thinking how I was going to get everything back onto the plane in my hand luggage. It should all fit as I have a large Guinness bag to use as well which I can say holds my duty free shopping.

After dropping the laptop bag and my bits and pieces I had picked up into the room I went back down and hailed a taxi and went to the Woolshed Baa for some lunch. They were showing some World Cup Rugby highlights so I ordered some lunch and sat and watched the games. When I had finished the lunch I went off for a walk.

I walked in a direction that I had not been before to see if I could find any more interesting places. It seems that in the inner suburbs of Dublin there is a church on every second street corner. I walked into an area that seemed quite poor as there we bordered up buildings and quite a bit of used items that looked broken in doorways and porches of the houses. It was an eye opener as the rest of Dublin is quite well kept. I continued walking and found a pub with a different coaster available so I got some off the barmaid and sat and had a drink for a while.

Leaving there I walked back down another street and then turned back towards the city. I got back to an area I knew and walked amongst the shops, stopping at a book store where they were having a sale I was able to pick up three books at a very good price. From there I walked into a Tesco supermarket and picked up one each of the current Guinness cans and a Heineken World Cup Rugby 2011 can to bring home.

I then walked back to the Woolshed Baa as they were showing more games in the European Champions League soccer games tonight. In the bar I managed to catch up with Paul who is one of the Barmen I had met last time. He is a very funny man and I sat at the bar talking with him until the soccer games started on the television. Just before the games kicked off, I finally caught up with Emma who we met in May. She is from down near Wollongong and has been over here for 4 years.

She asked me to say hi to the others who were with me in May and and we caught up on what we both had been doing since. She is married to a Frenchman and her parents came over to France and they had a family reunion there with her other sister as well. She was working on a different floor of the Baa that night so I did not get to spend much time with her but it was good to catch up.

I ordered some dinner as the place was starting to really get packed with people coming in to watch the different soccer games. There are four champions league games on at the same time and the pub is showing them all on different screens on different floods of the pub. My dinner arrived just before the games started. I at dinner and watched the first half of the games but it was so busy in the pub it was hard to concentrate on anything. So at half time I decided to go back to my own hotel to watch the rest of the game.

I said goodbye to Emma and Paul and hopped into a taxi and went back to the Harding Hotel. Dropped the shopping bags in my room I went down to the bar and got an orange juice and watched the last 30 minutes of the football. I then went back to the room and emptied out the four cans of beer, washed out the cans and dried them off before packing them into my luggage for tomorrow’s flight back to London.

Day 35 - Dublin

I slept late today and stayed in the room till just on twelve and then got a taxi back over to the Woolshed Baa for lunch. I still have not been able to catch up with Emma who works there and we met in May. She was not on today either but I stayed and had lunch and watched some replays of a couple of World Cup Rugby matches form earlier today.

By the time I had finished lunch it was time I had to go to the brewery for my research so I jumped into another Taxi and went to the Storehouse entrance at the Brewery. The Storehouse is the building the Guinness museum is in and it also houses the archive area. I went to the reception at the entry and said I was going to the Archive and the lady phoned through and then told me to go on through to the rooms.

They have moved the entry to the Archives since I was last there and I was lucky that someone saw me and pointed me in the right direction. Entering the Archive I was met by Deidre who was the Archivist I worked with last time I was there in 2008. She was off on maternity leave when I was there in May and has just come back to work. I had asked for some documents that I had referenced before to get some more information plus they had some additional information that they had catalogued since I was last there. They still have a lot of items to catalogue from the archive so there would be information that will become available later in the years to come.

I spent the next three hours looking through the paperwork that was given to me and wrote down many notes from the paperwork. The new papers that they have catalogued are from 1930 and are meeting minute notes from meetings between Guinness and the Bottling Companies that were bottling the barrels of Guinness and then exporting them around the world.

The sections of the notes on Australia were of interest to me and the different bottling companies’ shared similar thoughts and it was interesting reading. At the end of the day I still had more papers to read through plus I also asked for some of the books I read through on my previous visit to check some of my notes I wrote last time.

When I came out of the brewery it was raining so I got a taxi back to hotel and checked my notes in case I had to double check them tomorrow.

Just on seven o’clock I went out for a walk, it had stopped raining by now so I went down Dame Street back towards the city and stopped for dinner at one of the food shops. Then I walked through a few pubs double checking for more coasters and then I crossed the road and went down some of the side roads to the south of Dame Street where I had not gone last night.

I was also watching parts of soccer games as I was travelling along. It is the first night of The European Champions League tonight. There were four games on the television to choose from and different pubs had different games to choose from. I ended back at the pub below the hotel I am staying at. They had two games showing and about 20 people were in the bar watching them.

Once the games finished it was getting late and I had to be at the brewery again in the morning so I went up to the room and watched a bit of TV before getting some sleep.

Day 34 - Dublin

I had a quiet start to the morning and I went down to breakfast which was included in the room cost for the night. I then checked out of the hotel and ordered a taxi to take me to my accommodation for the next three nights. I was not able to get a room yet as none were ready but I was able to leave my bag in storage freeing me up to move around for the day. I then went back out to the street to get another taxi to go to the National Library of Ireland.

I am following up on some family history for my mother. When I was on my trip in May I visited the town of Baltinglass where my great, great, great grandparents on my mother’s side Patrick Hogarty and Elizabeth Nowlan were married in 1828. We knew there was a record of this marriage in the National Library and I wanted to see if it provided any further information on them or any other people in the family.

Entering the Library I had to put my laptop case and other papers into a free locker before I entered. It also said to leave your jackets in the locker as well but I saw others wearing them so I kept mine on as well because I had so many things in the pockets. I had to register to get a readers card, this meant I was able to ask for books, records and micro film from the archive to be bought out from storage for me to inspect. I needed to show my passport to prove who I was before I received my reader’s card.

Once I had this card I was able to go to the genealogy room and start my search. I had spent some time on Sunday looking at the National Library website and had found a catalogue number that the micro film record was contained on. So when I got into the room I was able to get one of the staff to show me the how to load the film and I was able to find the record within about five minutes.

The record was from the parish marriage register and I was hoping that it might show the parents names of both Patrick and Elizabeth but it only included the two witnesses to their marriage. I was able to get a photo of the record plus order a certificate from the Library detailing the extract from the record which will be emailed to me.

From there I went back to a room that was staffed by a genealogist who was available to help people with tips on how to search using the computers in the room. I was able to search on the computers for any information on Patrick and Elizabeth using various programs they have available. After about three hours looking on the computers I could not find any more information on either of them and I decided that I was not going to get any further in my search unfortunately so I decided to call it a day on the research.

I picked my laptop bag from the lockers and left the library deciding to walk back to the hotel which is about miles from the Library. I know the way from all my other visits to Dublin and worked a route that will take me via the most pubs so I could look for beer coasters on the way. I stopped at a couple of pubs and got three different coasters before I stopped at O’Donoghue’s in Suffolk Street and ordered a late lunch.

From there I continued working my way back towards the hotel via Dame Street crossing the road many times to go into different pubs. Dame Street also has a lot of interesting old architectural buildings including the Bank of Ireland Building, Dublin Town Hall and Dublin Castle. Stopping at the pubs produced mixed results but I managed to pick up at least 6 different coasters plus also some extra ones of some of the ones I got in May when I was last here.

Finally by just after five o’clock I got to the Harding Hotel and was able to check into my room. I had asked for a single room with a double bed in it and was surprised when I got the same room as I did four years ago, Room 102. It is now a room with three single beds in it, so they obviously did not have any rooms with double beds available. The room is basic but good in that it has plenty of desk space and a big bathroom space. There is only a small television but I do not think I will be spending much time looking at it any way as I will be out quite a bit.

I checked my emails as I was waiting on a reply from the Archivist at the Guinness Archive to see if it was O.K. for me to visit tomorrow. I had spoken to her in May when I was at the brewery but had only sent her an email last week saying that I would like to be able to use the archive for some research whilst I was here now. I did indeed have a reply and it said that I could come in tomorrow after 2pm and all day Wednesday if I needed. That suits me fine as I intended to have a late night tonight wandering around the Temple Bar region in Dublin. This is the main nightlife area in Dublin with many pubs and clubs mixed into old streetscapes and there is always some live music being played by buskers or in one of the many hotels.

I had a bit of rest and caught up on my emails and just after seven thirty I headed off to walk around the streets. I walked down to the River Liffey again but this time stayed on the south side of it and walked all the way down Aston Quay back towards O’Connell Street Bridge. There were four pubs along the way and I stopped in a few of them for a soft drink and to watch some of the US Open Men’s Tennis Final

I walked down as far as the bridge and crossed over the main road and continued along the river edge to an area I had not been into before. It is an area still with older style buildings but large office areas and I stopped at some pubs and then headed south and came back to the Doyles Hotel where we had been in May. I sat and watched some more of the tennis of the US Open Men’s Tennis Final and then turned right back towards Temple Bar and entered the area from the eastern end.

By now my jacket pockets were already just about full of coasters but I continued on and stopped in some more pubs and also had some dinner in a restaurant. I sat and listened to some more Irish music in one of the pubs then continued on.

It was about twelve thirty in the morning by the time I got back to the room. I had my jacket pockets absolutely full to the brim with coasters by this stage as well. I sorted them all out and now have 23 different new coasters for the collection and I would guess about 1000 of these 23 types in total for swaps.

Day 33 – London – Dublin

I was up early this morning as I needed to be ready to go to the airport. Stewart and Jeanette took me to Gatwick airport and showed me the right way to get in as there is a lot of work being done to the terminal buildings in preparation to next year’s London Olympics.

I had a couple of hours before the flight so I cleared customs and sat down with a drink and a cake to fill in some time. I also did some puzzles from the book I bought in New York.

When it was time to board the plane it was less than half full and I had all three seats to myself for the flight. It was only an hour and the plane was getting ready to land in Dublin. On arrival it was straight through the customs area and I went down to get a taxi. I had decided against getting the Airbus shuttle to the city as it was quite overcast and I thought it would rain and there is a walk from the shuttle stop to the hotel.

On the way to get the taxi I saw that the local bus service had a bus that went to the city with no stops until you were in the city and it was only 10 euro return. It was run number 747. So I bought a ticket off the ticket seller and had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. It was a quick trip into the city and I jumped off the bus and straight in to Madigan’s Pub which was one of the hotels that we went to in May when we were in Dublin. Whilst I was there I was able to get a new coaster from the pub.

I then walked the short distance to my hotel for the night The Castle Hotel. This was where we stayed in Dublin in May. I wanted to stay the 4 nights in Dublin at the Harding Hotel where I stayed in 2008 as it is on the same side of the city as the Guinness Brewery and easy to get to everywhere else in the city. Unfortunately the Harding had no vacancies on the Sunday night so I got a bed at The Castle Hotel. I booked in and found that I had a room on the first floor, it had a double bed in it and the bathroom was 6 times the size of the bathroom the four of us shared in May.

I had a quick nap for an hour and then got ready and went to the Woolshed Baa. It was the hotel we spent a bit of time in last trip in May and I was able to get some food and spent some time watching the Carlton semi final of the AFL.

From there I walked towards the River Liffey which is about 6 blocks and wandered into a variety of pubs along the way picking up handfuls of coasters if I saw that they were new ones or different from the last trip. I walked through five pubs before I came to the river and then walked back towards O’Connell Street and into the Arlington Hotel. This was where we had a dinner and saw an Irish show in May. I sat at the bar and got a class of coke.

It was about 8pm and the show does not start till 9pm so I was just sitting there when the manager walked behind the bar. I said hello to him and he recognised me as being from the group of Aussies that were collectors that were in the pub in May. We talked for a while before he had to go off and do some of his duties.

I was still sitting at the bar when the show started. It was a different group of musicians to the ones we saw last trip, it seems that there are different people on some different nights. They were a four piece group, two men and two women called The Voyagers’. They were quite entertaining but I preferred the band we saw in May.

When they had a break from playing there were a group Irish dancers on stage to entertain the crowd. They were also very good. Once they finished I listened to a few more songs from the band and then I left the hotel to head back to my lodgings. As I left the pub it was raining and I hailed a taxi and made my way back to the Castle Hotel. I checked emails and watched some television and then it was light out again.

Day 32 – London

Today was a rest day. I was able to just sit around the house with Stewart most of the day. He had some of his drivers doing various jobs and they were coming and going changing cars and they even had to do one up with all the ribbons etc as there was a wedding amongst the jobs for the day.

We just sat and talked and watched some replays of the Rugby World Cup and Stewart’s recorded games of Aussie Rules from this weekend’s Semi Finals. He is a rabid Geelong fan and we watched them have a good win and also Collingwood’s win. Unfortunately we also found out that my team St Kilda were defeated today.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Dublin so I also spent a far bit of time packing for the four day trip. I am not taking my large suitcase so have to fit everything I take into my pilot’s case and my laptop bag. I managed to do it but hope I do not purchase too much in Dublin or I will have to post it home. I decided to do this because the airline wanted twenty pound each way for a checked in suitcase.

After a hard day sitting on the lounge chatting with Stewart we were rewarded by Jeanette who cooked up a wonderful baked Chicken Dinner for us all. It tasted wonderful. We talked some more with Jeanette before I had an early night in preparation for tomorrows‘s flight.

Day 31 – Cliffs End - London

Today I am returning to London after my time here with Mel & Jim. They have to go to London to pick up their new car. They purchased a new car a while ago and have taken it to London to get a gas tank put in to it so they have an alternative to the high price of petrol.

Anyway they offered to take me back to London instead of having to go by train. I gladly accepted this offer and we took off early in the morning as we were going to be stopping on the way up to London. I actually slept half the way up the M20 and M25.

On the way to London we went to visit the Royal Horticultural Gardens at Wisley. The annual Wisley Garden Show is on this week. Mel & Jim are members of the Royal Horticultural Society and visit gardens at various times during the year.

There was a long queue of cars waiting to go to the show as we got closer to the gardens and it took quite a while until we were able to park the car in a designated parking area and that area was the size of about 5 rugby fields and it was nearly full of cars as we entered the area. We entered from the rear of the gardens and had to walk through all the forest areas of the gardens before we reached the actual area where the show was being held. These forest areas we walked through have many different varieties of trees and they look amazing with plenty of areas for people to sit with a picnic and look out onto the luscious green areas around them.

We stopped and had an early lunch at one of the cafeterias before walking into the Glasshouse buildings to look at the floral arrangements that had been judged in competition for the show. There were many great displays and I took a lot of photos of them. The Glasshouse area is set up with a lot of tropical plants and vines and therefore is very warm inside. There are many Australian plants in the area and a lot of varieties of orchids and other colourful plants.

Following this we walked through the gardens to an area where different retailers were showing their products, such as, garden furniture, tools, plant pots, watering systems, ponds, timber and concrete edgings etc. There was a lot of different ideas on display and it seemed that quite a few of the items were being sold as a lot of people were carrying bags of bits and pieces around whilst they were looking about.

We walked through some more of the gardens and then came across an area where plant sellers were displaying their plants for sale. Mel took quite an interest in this area and actually bought some young plants to take home for the garden. We then walked back through the forest area to the car and left for London.

We headed for the garage where Jim was getting the car worked on but the installer said the car would not be ready for another 2 hours so it was decided that they would drive over to North Cheam and drop me off near Stewart's and then come back. When we got to North Cheam Jim wanted to get some petrol for this car so pulled into the petrol station at Sainsbury’s supermarket where they were going to drop me off. Just then they spotted a Starbucks and decided to get a coffee so after filling up with petrol we sat and spent some time in the cafe chatting. Finally they had to go back to get the other car so we said goodbye for now, knowing we would see each other in Sydney in three and a half months.

From there I went and sat in the local hotel the Nosuch Inn. It is part of a chain of hotels and has free Wi-Fi so I was able to sit and have a drink and catch up on my Internet pages. I left there about 6pm and went back to Stewart’s home. Both he and Jeanette were at work but they had told me the code to the security system so I could get in. I had some trouble with the front door and was talking to Stewart as I punched in the code; unfortunately I did not have my glasses on and hit a wrong button. Luckily I was talking to Stewart on the phone and I was able to hit a button to turn off the alarm that had started screeching outside the house.

Stewart then had to ring the security company as the alarm is set to go to the police if no one rings to tell them it was accidentally started. So I was lucky I did not have a visit from the police that afternoon.

Jeanette had left some steak for me to cook for dinner so I did that and had it with some salad whilst watching some television. There were some game shows on plus highlights of the Rugby Union World Cup. Later Jeanette came home and I was able to help her in with the weekly shopping before we sat and talked for a while. Stewart came in and we talked some more before it was time for bed.

Day 30 - Cliffs End

Today we went to look at The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum next to the Kent International Airport. The memorial is free to enter and shows the region of Kent’s involvement with the Royal Air Force during WW2. The county of Kent actually had more bombs dropped on it than London by the German planes.

There are a lot of personnel items donated by local Kent people to the museum and there are many interesting stories of people’s involvement and memories of WW2. We spent quite a while at the museum looking at all the interesting exhibits and a bought a few mementoes of the exibits.

Following that we went back to the house and had some lunch and then spent time talking about Mel & Jim’s trip to Australia in January. We looked at the Internet and I showed them some sites that might help them with their planning closer to the trip time.

I then rearranged my luggage for the trip back to London tomorrow before we went out for dinner. After dinner we did some more talking about Australia and then watched some television before I went off to bed.

Day 29 – Cliffs End

After breakfast Mel and Jim asked what I would like to do and suggested some local places to go. The first time I visited them Mel took me to Canterbury and we walked around the Cathedral and the local area where they were doing an archaeological dig in an area that was going to be a shopping centre. That was in August 1991. So we decided to go to Canterbury and have another walk around.

Jim drove us up the highway to Canterbury and we parked outside the city walls and walked in going down the underpass to go under the main road going through the wall opening and then walking into the shopping centre that was built over the archaeological dig area that I saw last time. We walked amongst the new shops that are well set out with large open walkways between them. Further down we entered the older shopping precinct and stopped at a coffee shop for some morning tea.

Walking further along St Peters Street which is an open plaza we looked at a few shops and Mel bought some items before we walked down to the Western Gate tower and into the parkland next to it called Westgate Grove. The grove provides plenty of parkland and a riverside walk with many colourful flowers and bird life including ducks that float along the River Stour which borders the grove. You can even go for a river punt ride with a person guiding the punt for you.

Following the walk we went back into the shopping area to have some lunch at The West Cornish Pasty Co. Shop. I had a Cornish Steak and Onion Pasty and a small sausage roll and they both were very good. After lunch we continued walking back up the shopping area and back through the city gates and back to the car. Jim then drove to the coast and went to Samphire Hoe. This is an area of reclaimed land which is where they deposited the earth drilled out when the built the Cross Channel Tunnel to France. IT is to the south of the city of Dover and one of the only areas where you can stand at the bottom of the Cliffs of Dover and look up at the huge cliffs. To get to the area you have to drive through a tunnel that is drilled through the cliff. The area has been set up as an environmental research at information area as well as providing an area to walk along under the cliffs.

Leaving there we along the motorway to go to turn around at the next exit and saw a sign for the Battle of Britain Memorial site. We then followed the signs and visited the memorial. It is a well set out memorial looking over the cliffs and out to the English Channel. At the memorial there are a couple of aircraft, a Hawker Hurricane Mk1 and a Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1 replica. Also an area is set with an inscription of all the flyer's that lost their lives during the Battle of Britain. While we were there it started to rain but it only lasted five minutes.

Leaving the memorial we drove through Dover and north along the coast to the town of Deal. In 1539 the then King Henry the 8th ordered that a castle be built in Deal during the war with France. Following the castle being built a small fishing village was formed there that turned the current town. We walked along the foreshore of the pebble stone beach and into the narrow streets of the village before returning down the main shopping street and into a plaza area. The school had just finished for the day and there were school children everywhere in the shops. We then went back to the car and went back to Cliffs End for the afternoon.

That evening we went for dinner in Broadstairs which I had visited on my previous visit to England in 2008. We went to a very good Italian Restaurant called Presso. We had a real nice meal overlooking the beach and watched ships go past the windows as we ate.

After the meal we headed home for the night and sat talking about Mel & Jim’s trip to Australia that they are planning for January & February. We finally called it a night and I went off to bed.

Day 28 – London – Cliffs End

This morning I was on the go early but both Stewart & Jeanette had both gone off to work by the time I was out of bed. I had some toast and sorted out the rest of the items I needed to take with me before heading out the door.

It was raining as I left the house and I walked up to the shops so I could put some money on the Oyster travel card Stewart & Jeanette had loaned me. The Oyster card is a card that you swipe as you get onto government transport to save having to hand over money each time you travel.

At the shops I was able to get a Pringles can I did not have and then waited at the bus stop until my bus came along. I only had to travel about 8 stops along the route before I got off at Morden South train station.

I had to get my ticket I had pre-purchased on last week. The station is un-manned and has a ticket machine at the entrance to the station. You are required to put the credit card you used to buy the ticket into a slot in the machine and then type in your booking reference. The machine checks that the card and the booking number match and then prints out the ticket/s you require.

I had ten minutes to wait before the train arrived. Then it was thirteen stops before I arrived at St Pancreas Station to change to get the train to Ramsgate. The train I took four years ago for the run to Ramsgate left from a different station and was a lot slower train than this one. St Pancreas Station is the start – finish point for the Eurostar Rail in London and the train I was taking this time was a lot better service stopping at only selected stations and it took only one hour twenty minutes to get to Ramsgate.

As I got off the train Mel was waiting for me to come off the platform and we drove around the town to pick up Jim who was doing some business in Ramsgate. We drove back to their home and talked for most of the afternoon catching up on the last four years. We speak every couple of months on the phone but it is not the same as being able to talk in person.

I went and laid down for a while and had a nap in the late afternoon before we went out for dinner to a new pub that is built next to a hotel near where they live. It was a good meal I had a steak and onion pie that was lovely with mashed potato.

After dinner we went back home and talked some more before watching the late news before I went to bed

Day 27 – London

I woke up after 5 hours sleep and there was a little over 90 minutes left to go before we touched down in London.

It was a good sleep and I woke up to a light breakfast of fruit salad and an orange juice. I then started to watch an hour long show on players in minor league baseball in the USA and what it takes to make the Majors. Unfortunately BA turns off its entertainment package about 20 minutes before the plane lands. So I did not get to see the end of the show.

I had been corresponding via text with Stewart about him picking me up from the airport. He has a client to drive around in the morning and will be late picking me up. I had told him I would just sit at the airport and wait for him. That was before I realised again about the business class seat. So when I landed at Heathrow and cleared Customs and Immigration I text Stewart and told him I would be up in the BA lounge. So I went up to the BA lounge and had a good breakfast while I waited for him.

Once he arrived we made our way to his new office space and he did some work whilst I sat in a chair and dozed on and off while he was busy. Once he had finished his work we left so Stewart could run some errands and then we went to his home in Morden. We sat and talked during the afternoon while Stewart answered phone calls and did some work via his smart phone. I managed to doze off again at one stage only to wake to find Stewart had done the same thing.

By this time it was getting dark and Jeanette came home from her work. It was great to see her again. She is a great friend to me and someone I care a great deal about. We all sat and talked for a while before going out to dinner at a nice restaurant called Jimmy Spices World Buffet on The Broadway in Wimbledon. The restaurant provides Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican and Italian food, served as a buffet that you can keep going back to until you are full. I was able to get through some Chinese and Italian food before I was full. Stewart and Janette managed to get a desert in as well before they were also full.

We left there and had to go back to the office to get some paperwork Stewart needs for tomorrow. That done it was back home for a quick chat before I headed for bed. Again after what seemed a long day.

Day 26 – Covington – Charlotte – New York

Well it was an early start; I was packed and ready to go at 6.00am. I was checked out at reception and into a taxi straight away and at the airport in 25 minutes. At the airport I had time to get some breakfast at a diner and run into a fellow collector and his father who were on their way home to California from the show.

After breakfast I went through security and then caught up with another collector who was sitting there using the Internet. We said our goodbyes and I went and waited for my plane. The plane was full of people travelling on the holiday weekend and we were in the air and at Charlotte in no time as I slept most of the way.

At Charlotte I had a wait of 2 hours for my plane to New York and I did some reading and bought two M & M figures dressed as Star Wars characters. This plane was also full but once again it was a short flight so it was not a problem.

Landing at JFK airport in New York I walked off the plane and immediately realised I was already in the same terminal that I had to leave from in 7 hours time. That was a bonus as I would not have to find my way around. I went down to the baggage claim and waited for my bag to come around then walked out into the entry of the terminal and found the British Airways check in and proceeded to check in my luggage.

I had forgotten that this leg of my trip was a business class seat and checked in at the normal counter with all the other people. The attendant told me I should have gone to the other counter and apologised for me having to wait in a queue to check in. Not that it bothered me. She also told me that this was a sleeper flight and that I could get dinner any time after 6pm in the British Airways lounge. Another thing I did not think of was having access to the lounge.

So after checking in the luggage – only 18.4kg (I think the lightest suitcase I have ever taken onto an international flight) I went through the Customs check and the security screening and then up the escalators to the BA lounge. Never having done this before I checked with the lady at reception and she said yes I was o.k. to go in. I walked straight to the business area and fired up their free computer and accessed the Internet. Did some emails, checked on and typed to some message boards and looked at a YouTube video of a television news story of our Canvention, of course I was on the video as the token international person they interviewed.

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

After spending some time there I walked around to the area that they have snacks available to the people and grabbed a couple of sandwiches and a can of coke and sat and read a UK newspaper for a while. I then went back and did some work on my blog on my computer before going to the dining room for my free dinner. I have to show my boarding pass and was then able to go and serve myself to a variety of hot or cold food followed by some cheese from a cheese board. It was quite a good meal and just what I needed after a long day so far.

There is also a bar area where you can help yourself to drinks and snacks and sit and lounge with other passengers although I went to another area that was just lounge chairs that was a lot quieter to sit and relax. I then did a final check of my emails and newspapers from home before heading out into the main part of the terminal about an hour before boarding my flight. I wanted to get a puzzle book and a bottle of water before the flight.

When boarding was called I was able to get on first in business class and the seats were fully reclining that turned into a bed. My seat faced backwards on the plane and I had a slide up high panel to the seat next to me that was facing forward. If you were travelling with another person you would be sitting in opposite directions but be able to look at each other to talk during the flight. I kept my panel up the whole flight.

As we got on the steward took my jacket and offered me a glass of Champagne but I settled for an orange juice. After takeoff they immediately gave us a snack to eat and then turned off the lights in the cabin. You could then push the button for your seat to fully recline and go to sleep. I did this and was out like a light almost straight away. So much for watching some movies on this flight!

Day 25 - Covington

Again I was up early as I needed to sort out and parcel up all my items to post. There were some added items as I needed to pack the trophy plaques and cans from last year’s attendees from Australia. The club did not have enough trophies to cover everyone last year and also the can that was not made then was available for pick up this year. I had by the time I finished three parcels of Clothes, Cans, Pringles chips containers, paperwork, glasses, books etc.

By this time it was opening time for the final day of the official Canvention floor trading in the Convention Center. I made my way over and I had duty on the Rusty Bunch table at 9.00am. When I got there the table had to be set up, so I started on that and was half done by the time others arrived to help at the table. We had a good hour with people joining up to the chapter, people renewing memberships, selling shirts and raffle tickets.

After my hour was up I was able to borrow a wheeled trolley from one of the members and went back across to the hotel to get my parcels to post. It was very hot at this time and I went to the valet parking area and asked him to get me a taxi. I would have been a mess if I tried to walk the distance to the post office.

There was no queue at the post office and I had prefilled in all the forms required so I was straight into weighing the parcels and the lady was quick processing them. She mentioned that she had done some earlier that morning to Australia, I am sure that would either have been Ray or Barry. The three parcels to post cost just over $400, which is a very expensive cost. They do not offer sea mail anymore and everything has to go Airmail rates.

I did walk back to the venue from the post office unloaded of my boxes it was still very hot and humid but I kept to the shady side of the street and I got back in one piece but needed to sit down and cool off in the air-conditioning of the venue. After returning the trolley to its owner I had to go back to my room as I had left my name badge there and I could not get into the venue without it.

Once again back at the venue I had some lunch and did a final lap of the venue taking some photos and looking for last minute bargains, which unfortunately I could not find. By this time it was time to draw a couple of the chapter raffles and during the drawing of the Rusty Bunch raffle I had my ticket pulled out and I won a Sierra Beer Cone Top beer can which will be a great addition to my collection.

That done it was time for the trade floor to close and another years fun is coming to an end. I finally got rid of the tent, sleeping bag, cooler, tarp etc, to Chris as we helped load his wagon with some of the Rusty Bunch gear we had left over from the trade table. We loaded the rest of the gear in Gary’s car and the Canvention trade floor closed soon after.

It was then back to the hotel where I stopped at the bar and got a glass of coke. It was the first time I had done this the whole week I was there and only then found out you only pay for the first soda and then they refill the glass for free. What a waste of a week’s soda or perhaps it was better because I mainly drank water.

Following the few glasses of drink and some chat with some of the other collectors I went to the laundry room and did a final wash and dry of the clothes before starting to pack for my trip over to England.

It was then time to get ready for the Canvention banquet that is held on the Saturday night of the show as a farewell event.

There were about 400 people at the banquet and it was a good night. There was a nice dinner and desert and free beer and soda for all. Harder drinks were available at a cost. The outgoing president said a few words and handed over the presidential gavel to the new president.

Following this some awards were presented to the display winners and some presentations to others plus the drawing of a major raffle that was being conducted over the past few months. I had bought some tickets but they were just a donation to the club as I did not win anything.

At the end of the official part of the function I moved around saying goodbye to all i knew before making an exit because I had an early start in the morning off to the airport. It was only about 11pm by the time it was lights out in the room.

What a trip in the USA I was looked after by so many people and had such a great time meeting people again and also meeting some great new friends during the 25 days I was here.

Lets hope the rest of my trip goes as well.

Day 24 - Covington

This morning started early with a wake up call so I could be ready for the AGM of the BCCA in the main conference room in the hotel. The meeting is a chance for me to hear all about the back room workings of the club and to find out how the club has gone over the past twelve months in many areas including financial, membership, marketing etc.

The meeting runs for just over two hours and also handles voting in of new board members, news on future Canventions, award winners for magazine presentation and awards to the international attendees, which I received personally and also for the people who attended last year’s Canvention when they ran out of plaques to present to the international attendees.

At the end of the meeting I had to pay the chapter fees for the Kangaroo Chapter which I am the president, this saves me having to pay them by post later in the year.

Once the meeting was completed it was again time to head over to the main convention center for more walking around to try to find some more good buys for my collection. This is not as easy as it sounds as people do not have many Guinness items available.

I did not find anything in the next two hours but did as always get to spend time with many collectors who wanted to talk about the hobby and as they all do talk about Australia. I think we should get some help from the tourism board for all the promoting we do.

By this time it was lunch hour so a quick trip to the concession stand was taken before I took my turn helping to look after the Aluminum Bottle Chapters’ information table. The table has information about the chapter, chapter merchandise for sale, takes membership applications/renewals and sells raffle tickets in the big chapter raffle that has over 50 prizes. People are rostered on to man the table for one hour periods in pairs to assist in promoting the chapter and raise monies to keep it running.

After my hour was over it was back to walking around the trade floor before I ducked off an hour before it closed to go back to the room to try to get some sleep and rest up my legs which have become very sore from walking around so much on concrete floors and from the rash on my legs from the campground at Bristol. I managed to get my head down after setting my alarm for two hours time.

Woke up and got ready for another Chapter meeting, this time for the Rusty Bunch Chapter which is the group I spend time on their message board reading and corresponding about beer cans and other things. These guys are great for information on everything. I told them about my trip this year and 5 or 6 guys offered to help me out by arranging accommodation, visiting their homes, information on cities and information on my Nascar experience.

As you walked into the room there was a giveaway of a free chapter glass and also a ticket in the lucky draw for attending the meeting. Although I did not win either of the two draws it was a great incentive to attend the meeting. The actual meeting kicked off at 6pm and was a nice quick one, new officers were elected and everyone introduced themselves to the meeting. We also had to mention our website ID names and it was good to put faces to names you talk with on the message board.

The chapter offered free bottled beer to those present; luckily I knew this so I bought some soda for myself. At the end of the meeting dinner was provided in the form of pizza and chicken wings, which there was more than enough off.

Following the meeting I went up to my room to drop off the glass and take a shower before preparing for the evenings events. There are two parties on the Friday night; one hosted by the Jersey Shore Chapter is always a themed night, with this year’s theme being a pirate night. There were some great costumes amongst the crowd. The Jersey Boys dress the room up appropriately and provide free drinks and finger food for the masses and a disco DJ provides the music.

The other party is put on by the Rusty Bunch chapter and is a rock night. Quite a few of the members are really good musicians and they play rock music all night. This year was very well organised and the play list was very good. There is enough musicians present that they can sub in and out during the night so that we get different players and they all get a good break from playing.

It was a fantastic night of entertainment and when I left for bed at 12.30 both parties were still going strong.

Day 23 – Covington

Up early to start getting ready for the first day on the trade floor at the North Kentucky Convention Center. I had some breakfast and needed to sort out some things at reception before I went across to the trade floor. I do not have a table in my name this year as Ray has booked the table for the three of us to share. I will be using it to put items under the table as I am able to get them.

There are more people registered this year than any of the previous three Canvention’s I have been to so there should be plenty of tables to look through to get some interesting items. I had only walked past about ten tables before I was able to purchase a set of four Guinness cans from the USA that were about 5 years old. I have them but this set is bottom opened and the set I originally have is top opened so I should be able to trade them off in the future.

There is a lot of good USA cans available on the tables and a few of the collectors are selling off various parts of their collections to make way for more cans so there are a lot of bargains for the American collectors. At the show there are some dealers that sell at these shows and they also had some good items available and some of them are also at reduced prices so they can move some stock. It seems that there are always collectors selling off good cans to the dealers who are then able to bring them to a lot more shows over a wider area of the USA for sale.

Some lunch was available at the venue and I stopped for a while to sit with some people to eat. After lunch I went back to my room to take some items back for packaging and to pick up some things I had for other collectors that I had forgotten to take over earlier in the day. During the afternoon I continued to walk the floor and by the end of the trading session I still had only seen half of the items displayed.

After we had finished on the trade floor I walked back to my room and dropped off my gains and then went to a meeting of one of the Club Chapters I belong to. At 5pm the Aluminum Bottle Collectors chapter had our meeting. As this chapter consists of members from all around the world it only has a few formal meetings a year where any rule changes can be made. It is also where I can pay my chapter dues without having to worry about sending them off by post. There was a decision made that cause we run a raffle each year and that the monies collected from that raffle exceed the costs of running the chapter that from this year onwards all existing members would pay this year and that would be a lifetime membership payment. Any new members would pay a once off joining fee and then also become lifetime members of the chapter.

This meeting went for about one hour and I stopped off at the bar and had a soda before I had to attend another meeting of the One Can One Country Chapter. This is also a world-wide chapter with more members from overseas than in the USA. This chapter encourages members to get one can from each country that has produced beer cans. There are over 200 listed in the clubs records but I only have about 135 so far. At the end of the meeting there is a lucky door raffle where donated prizes are given away. My number came out quite late in the order and I was able to pick up some bottles and a tee shirt for my prize.

Following on from this meeting there was a function for all members where the committee of the BCCA has arranged for local microbreweries to donate kegs of beer for the members to taste. It is done in a large function area with plenty of seating and people just mingle with each other for a relaxing social evening. It is a great night and I got to talk with many of the various people that are present and we talked late into the night before I headed off to bed.

Day 22 – Covington

Waking up this morning and as I had no milk so I went for a walk and found a local diner that services the office blocks in the area. I had some breakfast there and met some more of the other collectors that have arrived for the show.

Coming back from breakfast I walked into the hotel straight into more new arrivals. Today is the final day before the official functions start. I went back to the room and did some arranging of the items I have bought over the past three weeks. I have been picking up Pringles Chips containers while I have been travelling around and I need to start emptying them so I can use them to put cans and bottles into for shipping in the boxes I picked up from the post office.

During the morning I met up with Barry and Leanne and Rod from South Africa and we arranged to have lunch together at the restaurant in the hotel. It is at the rear of the property but overlooks the Ohio River and across to Cincinnati. You can see the city skyline and the Cincinnati Bengals NFL Stadium from the outdoor seating area where we had lunch. We had a good long chat about what has been happening to us all over the past year and we are trying to talk Rod into coming over to Australia to one of our annual can meetings.

Lunch and then split off to go check out the various rooms that were open to look at more of the collectibles that are being unpacked from boxes all the time. I had a quick sleep during the afternoon and on getting up went out for a walk alongside the river where there is a pathway to follow. Coming back towards the hotel I then went to Subway and picked up a couple of rolls for dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Once at the hotel it was another round of room to room trading plus catching up with more of the members that are still arriving for the show. I spent some time in my room watching some television and then walked around some more picking up some cards and tops for my collection. Around 11pm I headed off to the room and sorted out what I wanted to take with me tomorrow across to the venue before heading to sleep just on 12.30am.

Day 21 – Covington

Up at a reasonable time and as Leanne had bought some milk last night I was able to have some cereal for breakfast. I then checked the tent hanging up in the bathroom and it had dried out so I was able to fold it up correctly and place it back into its cover so I can hand it over later this week.

I am developing a rash on both my legs, only above the sock line and below the knees where my shorts would have come to. So I assume that I rubbed up against something at Bristol in the campground that did not like me and I am allergic to something. It is providing a hot sensation on my legs but not too bad. I have got some cream to rub into it.

Today will be basically walking around the hotel catching up with all the other collectors as they start making their way to the hotel. I met up with my South African friend Rod, whom I reminded about the Rugby Tri-Nations tournament that Australia just one. He of course then reminded me that we had not won it for 10 years and were lucky to do so!!

There were people arriving from everywhere to say hello to plus I spent most of the day walking from room to room looking at everyone’s items they had for sale or trade. A couple of people had items for me that they had found during the year and I was able to purchase them for my collection. It is always good to get some Guinness memorabilia that is for the USA market. The oldest piece I got today was a TOC (Tin Over Cardboard) sign from a New York distributor.

In the afternoon I walked out into the local shops looking for the post office. I knew which direction it was in so was able to find it relatively easily. It is four long blocks from our hotel. I will need to go there on Saturday to post the items I am getting home at the end of the show.

It was very warm whilst I was out walking and it is expected to be averaging in the high 90’s in temperature for the rest of the week. I stopped at the local pizza shop on the way back to the hotel and picked up the menu as we are going to have buy in pizza for dinner tonight. The pizza shop also has for sale a Coke and a Sprite aluminium bottle and I was able to get them for my collection.

Back at the hotel it was more walking around and more meeting old friends, the convention committee had arranged for local micro brewers to donate kegs of beer for the members to try and they were available from designated Beer Stations around the hotel.

Finally it was time for some food and a group of us ordered pizza and waited for it to be delivered. We set up a table and ate in the landing outside of the rooms. We had plenty of offers from people wanting to help us eat it.

Then it was just more walking rooms and meeting people before I headed off to bed a little after 11pm.

Day 20 – Cincinnati - Covington

I had taken everything out of the car last night and bought up to the room at sort out this morning when I woke up. As I am moving into the Canvention hotel today before I take back the rental car back to the depot at the airport.

I had also to take down the tent I had airing in the bathroom; it is still not dry so I will need to string it out again today. Everything packed quite well into all my bags so I loaded up the car and set the GPS to find a Post Office so I could get some postal boxes to pack items I will have collected before leaving the USA.

I drove over to the Covington Marriott and pulled into the concierge to unload the car. I had requested an early check in at the hotel when I booked the accommodation so I went up to reception and was given a room on the third level. The hotel has an atrium going up the centre of the whole hotel and the rooms are around the outside with the corridor opening onto the atrium side.

I put my luggage into the room and went back down to the car. I still had 90 minutes before the car was due back and it was only 25 minutes to the airport so I drove around the local area to get some bearings and saw a Irish Pub called Molly Malone's, I went in and checked that they had t-shirts with a Guinness pint on them so I bought one for $15. They also had some Guinness coasters from last year’s Soccer World Cup sitting on the bar. I had never seen them so I picked up all I could see even thought they had been well used.

After this I went to the Rental company and dropped the car off before going to the airport and getting a taxi back to the hotel. I walked along the road from the hotel and found a diner and bought some lunch before going back to the hotel and re-hung the tent up to hopefully dry it out properly tonight.

I also ran into my first collectors of the Canvention. Jim Friesen is a good friend from previous shows and collects One Can One Country. This means he collects cans from worldwide and tries to get a can from each country that has produced cans. Jim also had a parcel for me that I had won on eBay but the seller would not send to Australia so Jim generously offered to hold it for me until the show.

After this I ran into Ed and Larry form Canada. These two blokes have also become good friends over the four shows I have been to and we sat talking for quite awhile. Next I ran into Barry & Leanne my friends from home. (Barry went with me to Ireland earlier this year.)

They have been in the USA for two weeks and we have been corresponding via text messaging. Leanne had their hire car until tomorrow so we went out for a while to Newport on the Levee. It is a building just up river from Covington that is set up over 4 levels with a group of shops, movie cinemas, galleries and bars. We went to a bar and sat outside looking over the river towards Cincinnati. We had a meal whilst there and enjoyed the sunny day catching up on what we had been doing for the last few weeks.

From there we went back to the hotel and I caught up with a lot more collectors who are starting to arrive from all over the USA.

We spent a lot of time catching up with them all before I headed off to my room about midnight to get some rest.

Day 19 – Bristol – Cincinnati

This morning when I woke up it was quite cool and there was dew on the tent. I had my breakfast and started to think about packing everything up. Both the tent and the fly cover were wet so I would have to hang them out tonight when I get to my accommodation. I cleaned out the tent and also cleaned up the trunk of the car before packing all my camping gear into the car.

Saying goodbye to my camping neighbours I jumped into the car only to find I had a flat battery. I checked with the people next to me but they did not have any jumper leads so I thought I would need to walk around the campsite looking for a set of leads and I’m thinking this could take a long time. As I am trying to think where to start the people from the next campsite asked the people next to them and they had some, thank goodness for that. So I was on my way quickly, thankfully.

Driving off a lot of tents and some of the Recreational Vehicles had already left and I drove up to the shower block and there was only two people waiting in line so leaving the engine running in the car, I stood behind them and waited my turn.

Showered I then jumped into the car and drove out the campground only to drive straight into a traffic jamb. I suppose that was to be expected as 40,000 vehicles were at the various campgrounds for the weekend. It was about 5 or 6 miles and just on 30 minutes before the traffic started flowing freely.

I was driving back over the roads I came down on Wednesday heading back to Kentucky and I knew I was in for some spectacular scenery again. I stopped at a historic marker site which recorded the influence of country music starting in this area and the way the early pioneers had to travel through this remote area and cross wild rivers and the bridges that were built for train transport.

I stopped for lunch just off the freeway near Berea and then headed up to Lexington Kentucky to meet up with another of my Beer Can Collecting friends, Jim Blackersby. Jim is on the Board of Directors of the BCCA and I have met him at Canventions and we correspond via the internet. Jim was worried I might not be able to find his home but the GPS got me directly to his front door and it was good to meet up again and to meet his wife and three sons. We chatted for a few hours about beer cans etc. It was great to catch up with Jim again. I am hoping also he gets better soon as he is struggling with a virus and might not be able to get up to the Canvention this week.

Leaving Lexington before dark I headed north to Cincinnati where I have booked into a hotel for the night. By the time I drove into Covington on the south side of the Ohio River that separates it from Cincinnati it was dark. The south side of Covington is quite a lot higher than the business area and you come down a long escarpment which provides a view of Covington and the skyline of Cincinnati with all their lights was a wonderful view.

I arrived at the hotel and unpacked the tent and hung it up in the bathroom to continue drying out before heading to bed.

Day 18 - Bristol

Today is the day for the NASCAR race. It does not start till 7.30pm so it is a long day waiting for the action to start.

I was up about 7.30am and it was overcast and a bit cooler than previous mornings. I had some cereal and again jumped in the car and headed into Bristol to go to the Starbucks to use the Internet. I checked the queue at the shower block on the way out and it was again quite long. So I just kept going.

Driving up to the Starbucks store I was able to see that the main area around the front of the speedway was full of people wandering around the merchandising stands that have been set up. Today there will be around 150,000 people at the event.

Arriving at Starbucks I was able to get some of the blog written up and catch up on some news from home via the Sydney newspapers. I also caught up on some emails and was able to put some more photos up on the blog.

I left the cafe and drove to Walmart to grab some food and also got some money from the ATM. By then it was just after noon and I started back towards the campground. I was obviously held up in traffic when I got back closer to the speedway and it took about 1.5 hours to get through and back to the campground. The state police were at all the intersections near the speedway to keep the flow of traffic moving. They really are organised well and doing a great job.

Back at the campground and the crowded line waiting to use the shower block had gone so I jumped in and cleaned up getting ready for the day’s festivities. I went back to my tent site and had the lunch I had bought and sat with the neighbouring people and chatted for a few hours.

Finally about 4pm I decided to head off for the track walking down to the bridge leading from the campground to the speedway area. It was quite warm by this stage with the sun really biting as it shone down. I decided to wait for the tractor shuttle to get me up the hill to the track as I wanted to go further around than the gate I needed to enter the track from.

I wanted to get some Marcos Ambrose merchandise from the Nascar merchandise area so I wandered into this sea of people wandering around looking at all the transporters that are set up for sales of official merchandise and also some of the drivers were signing autographs at their transporters so people were lined up in the hundreds for them.

Marcos Ambrose and another driver A J Allmendinger race for Richard Petty Racing and the transporter is set up with their merchandise either side if a lot of Richard Petty items. I was able to get a cap, a stubbie holder and a T-Shirt which celebrates Marcos’ first Nascar win two weeks ago at Watkins Glen racetrack.

Once I had purchased the items I joined the queue waiting for the tractor shuttle so I could continue around the rest of the outside of the speedway. I had not been around to this side of the track and I saw a stage setup with some musicians playing to a large audience and further around was a 4WD tack set up for people to do some all terrain test driving and then a large simulator and fairground area was set up to entertain the crowds.

I finally arrived back to the entry I needed and entered the area behind the seating and purchased some food and drink for dinner. Although it was still about 1.5 hours before the race I went to my seat and ate my food. There is activity around the track so there is plenty to watch plus others were also coming to sit down and I was able to chat with them whilst waiting. They were surprised that I had travelled from Australia and was at the races.

About one hour before the race all the official activities started and the drivers were introduced to the crowd and driven on a lap around the track on the back of Ford pickup trucks.

Then a US army officer read the USA Pledge of Allegiance the national anthem was sung by a group of local school children who had been dressed in period clothing.

Finally the cars were on the track for the race and the within minutes the race was underway. I still had the headphones and scanner from the other day so listened to the commentary which helped keep up with what was going on. Marcos Ambrose started in 11th position but dropped back a few spots in the first few laps. He was able to get some room to move though and worked his way up to 8th spot by the first yellow flag caution.

Every time there was a caution from then on Ambrose would get away slowly on the restart and drop back a few spots before gradually work his way back up to 9th or 8th. There were not many yellow flag cautions as normal at Bristol and they actually set a record for the most laps without a yellow for the track during the race of 162 laps.

By the end of the race Marcos Ambrose was in 10th place which was good as by having another top 10 finish and his first race win it makes it his best year yet in the USA with still another three races to go.

The race winner Brad Keslowski is the up and coming star of the Nascar and this was his third win of the season.

I waited for the final celebrations in the middle of the track and there we some fireworks over the track while I was making my way back to the campsite. I sat up talking with the other campers for about two hours before heading off to bed for the night.

Spending the four days at the race meeting, seeing the races, camping and meeting some great fellow campers was really good, I don’t think I will ever get to do it again so it was a fantastic experience to have.

Day 17 - Bristol

Another decent nights sleep in the tent and up for breakfast about 6am. Was going to shower then head off to Starbucks again to upload the blog page to the free WiFi, however there was a 30 metre queue waiting at the door of the shower room. So I decided to just drive to Starbucks and take my chances when I got back to the campground.

Stayed at Starbucks for about 3 hours, hopefully if you look backwards at some of the previous pages you will see that I have added photos from present back to Day 11. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some more of them tomorrow.

I went to a local diner to get lunch and then headed back to the campground, the traffic slowed up about 2 miles from the track and it took about 20 minutes to go the last two miles. I assume it will be even worse tomorrow.

There was no queue for the showers so I got straight in and cleaned up. Driving back to my tent there was quite a few extra people at the campground and a lot more tents up. I think a lot of people have the Friday off work and are coming for the two nights of racing.

By now it was about 4pm so I grabbed my backpack and headed for the track. I had to pick up my tickets for both nights racing and was able to do this quite easily at a ticket window. On entering the track I got some drinks and made my way up to the seat. I had booked a seat in the Junior Johnson Stand. All the areas are named after Nascar drivers. I picked this area to sit in after reading reports of other peoples experiences at the track. It is an individual plastic seat with a back and with metal arm dividers between the seats. Also it is on the western side of the track so the sun is behind and blocked by the roof of the stand while it is still daylight.

By the time I got in they were running the final qualifying for the Nationalwide series was being conducted. This is the main support race for the Nascar race and will run later tonight.

Following this was the final qualifying for the Nascar race. Cars come out onto the track individually and have two timed laps to qualify their best time. Marcos Ambrose, the Australian who races in the series, did his two laps and posted the fastest time until then. The photo below is of him qualifying.

Unfortunately there were still about 14 cars to qualify after him and he ended up qualifying 11th. His time was one tenth of a second slower than the pole position winner Ryan Newman.

That meant 9 other drivers qualified within that one tenth of a second gap. How close is that. In fact all 46 qualifiers finished within eight tenths of a second of the pole.

Following this was the running of the Nationwide Race. All the drivers were introduced to the crowd and driven around the track in pickup trucks. After the national Anthem was sung the race got underway

and there were only 4 yellow flag stoppages during the 250 laps of the race. One of them was caused by this spin out on the start of the main straight.

The lead changed I think about 5 times with the eventual winner Kyle Busch won by 0.019 seconds from his team mate Joey Logarno. It was neck and neck racing for the last 10 laps between these two and the crowd were really into the racing. It was Kyle Busch 50th win in Nationwide Cup racing taking ahead of another driver Mark Martin who has 49 wins.

I really enjoyed the racing and it was good to be able to listen to different perspectives on the scanner I had hired for the weekend.

As the crowd left the track it was very packed heading for the exits but the people moved along o.k. and it was a quick walk back to the campsite. I have a new neighbour as the spare space next to my tent was filled when I got back. I met the two people staying there they live about a 2 hour drive from the track in Virginia. We sat talking for about an hour before I went off to the tent about midnight to get to sleep.