Basking in Bath

Did I say 'basking'??? Hardly! This is the coldest weather we have experienced yet! I would tell ou to grab a cup of steaming hot chocolate and settle in for a nice cosy read, but you are probably all doing the exact opposite and trying to cool down - well, most of you anyway!

We woke yesterday in Bath to a lovely sunny day. Central heating has the uncanny knack of lulling one into a false sense of security, and of course the minute you step outside the door you are faced with a rude shock and sharply return to your senses! Double layers of everything, including socks and underwear required here.

The house we are staying in is one of the loveliest I have ever seen. I'm not sure how old it is, but it has been recently renovated and is spacious, welcoming and comfortable. As part of the renovations a conservatory was added to the back of the house, and sitting in it with a good book looking out to the sunny garden is incredibly relaxing. Unfortunately, there hasn't been time for that. With only two full days here, we have had to pack everything in and it's been early rising and out the door fairly promptly - well, as promptly as can be expected with two teenagers tagging along!

Yesterday we walked into the centre of Bath - a 5 minute, very brisk walk through lovely gardens towards the Pultney bridge. This bridge is gorgeous - small shops and restaurants are built onto it, and the weir gushes below it. I spent ages watching the ducks paddling around close to the edge of the weir, wondering how on earth they stop themselves plummeting over the edge. There is a memorial plaque on the pavement to someone who died while trying to canoe over the weir...must have been a madman! One of the shops on the bridge is the official Bath Rugby shop, so of course we had to visit and check out the goods for the sake of the rugby fans in the family. Then the terrible teenagers spotted a music store, so we had to wait around while they tested drum kits, guitars and pianos for a short time before continuing on our walk.

I had a mission to fulfil in Bath before we could start sightseeing. I have been having the most horrendous problems with the ACT Nurses Board trying to sort out my initial registration. For those of you who don't know the story, I will tell it briefly here....for the others, sorry, but you can skip this para if you are bored! Before the semester ended, I printed out all the forms required for nursing registration and had them all filled in ready to send off when my results came through. As part of the process, one needs to provide 100 points of identification that has been certified. So I dutifully copied my passport, driver's licence, birth certificate and marriage certificate (to prove change of name) as my ID. This all added up to well over 150 points, but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry! I sent it all off in the first week of December as soon as the results were published. A week before graduation I got a call from the Board to say that there was a problem with my application. All my ID had the surname 'Samara-Wickrama' on it, and I had enrolled at uni with the surname Samara, so the results transcript did not match the ID! I spent half an hour arguing that the surname is not different, but is the common name I am known by. This was not good enough, and I was told to change the enrolment at uni to match my formal ID. With only days until graduation I knew that the degrees would be printed, so there was no way I was going to do that. Instead, they agreed to let me submit further proof of ID in the name Samara. I did this, providing my medicare card, uni ID and credit union debit card. I was told over the phone that these, combined with my birth certificate, would be more than enough. In the days before we left Australia I tried three times to call and make sure it was all ok, and that registration would proceed in time for me to start work on the 5th February. The Board meets on the 1st to approve the registrations, and we don't arrive back until the 31st in the evening. Each time I was only able to reach an answering machine, but since I had a receipt for the registration fee and an official RN number, I thought everything was under control.

To cut a long story short, of course there was a problem and the Board have been trying to contact me. They decided that my birth certificate was not good enough as a form of ID, because I have changed my name and the marriage certificate has Samara-Wickrama, it can't be used to identify me as 'Samara'! So, I have had to photocopy credit cards, and needed to get them signed by a doctor, lawyer, bank manager police officer or registered nurse, and fax them to the Board asap. So, my mission in Bath was a) to find a photocopier (thank goodness for public libraries!) and b) to get the copy certified. Herein lies the rub... I went to a bank and asked the Bank Manager to certify the copies. 20 minutes later, I was told that they would not do it, as the credit card was not from their institution! Off I trotted to the police station, but the police officer on duty told me that they couldn't certify the copy either, as they had not known me for two years and I hadn't proven residency in Bath! She suggested I pop into my doctor's surgery and ask the doctor! I very politely pointed out that my doctor resides in Australia, and I needed this done urgently, but still they refused! By this stage I was really angry - I'd spent an hour of precious daylight trying to sort it all out to no avail. I gave up thinking I would sort it out later, and off we went sightseeing!

First stop, the Roman Baths. As I said when we returned from Rome, those Romans were very clever guys! They managed to find a hot spring, build a temple next to it, put in a complex plumbing network with lead pipes, a hipocaust [ for the uninitiated, here's the definition: Hyp"o*caust, n. - A furnace, esp. one connected with a series of small chambers and flues of tiles or other masonry through which the heat of a fire was distributed to rooms above. This contrivance, first used in bath, was afterwards adopted in private houses.] and have separate bathing rooms, saunas and change rooms for the royalty and the plebs! This is one ancient attraction that is well worth a visit, and very well set up for tourists. There's a free audioguide, and you can listen to a complete history from the building of the baths, to the beliefs of the Romans (which Gods they were trying to please etc) and also a commentary from Bill Bryson with his view on the Baths (a bit boring and too American for my taste!).

After the baths we visited the Abbey, which is an amazingly beautiful church, again with so much stained glass you just can't take it all in. In contrast to the dull Liverpool cathedral, this abbey is built from almost white stone, and is light and airy. There are memorial and tomb stones covering almost every inch of the walls and floor, some so worn out you can hardly read them. By this stage the teenagers were bored, so I set them a challenge to find the oldest date on a tombstone that they could. I had already seen what I thought was the oldest, from 1687, but they managed to find one thirty years older! It also kept them occupied and out of mischief for about 40 minutes...this is my new strategy for cathedral tours from now on!

Next stop, the Circus...a wonderful round street lined with beautiful houses in a perfect circle (http://www.bath.co.uk/_code/sections/whattoseeanddo/walkquick.asp). Many famous people have lived here, and you can see the stones set into the walls above the doors with their names on. After that the Royal crescent, and down to the gardens at the bottom of it where you can see a huge urn that was a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to the Empress Josephine.

By this time we were bitterly cold and tired, so headed 'home' to Stableford house armed with red wine, cambembert and chocolate. All the essentials for a relaxing evening, and Nola's lovely company into the bargain. After a relaxing couple of hours we defrosted the car, and ventured out into the cold to a wonderful english pub for dinner. The pub was amazing with lots of rooms and a great menu, and a fantastic atmosphere. We returned home well and truly full and ready
for bed!

So, there you have the boring basics of basking in Bath. Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter...