Am now in Christchurch after a couple of long flights and a stopover in Melbourne.
Left London on Saturday night, and flew to Melbourne via Singapore. Flight was good, seemed to pass very quickly even though I didn't seem to get much sleep. Had a window seat which was good for more room, but it did mean that I had to wake my neighbours up when I wanted to get to the toilet!
Arrived in Melbourne early on Monday morning local time and was met by Li-Ann and Karina. As part of the plan to keep me awake all day, we went for some breakfast. We then went back to the apartment Andrew and Li-Ann were renting, and after a catch up and a shower, we went for a walk through the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it was fascinating to see all the different types of birds flying around. There are also quite a few walks to do around the gardens. Went and had some lunch at the Blue Train Cafe on the South Bank - lovely situation, overlooking the Yarra River over to Flinders Station.
After lunch, Li-Ann and I wandered around town - Melbourne has lots of beautiful old shopping arcades to look around. We went to visit Li-Ann's mum who works at the Myer department store, and I bought some sunglasses and nail polish. Had a brief trip out to St Kilda on the tram before catching the train back to the apartment and out to dinner at Li-Ann's aunt's house. Managed to survive dinner (by this time I hadn't slept for about 48 hours!) with a quick snooze on the couch before heading home.
On Tuesday, we headed out to the Yarra Valley for lunch - we stopped in at the Sweetwater Cafe at Yering Station for a lovely lunch and then to St Hubert's for a tasting session. Wish we'd had more time - both places were great! We had dinner with Li-Ann's parents that night at a Chinese restaurant - we had some fantastic Peking Duck.
On Wednesday, we went out to St Kilda and after a walk along the beach and a walk along Acland St, the main shopping street in the area, we had lunch at the Stokehouse restaurant right on the beach. Great location - we were glad to be inside though because the flies were terribly annoying outside! After lunch, we drove around the Albert Park Melbourne Grand Prix circuit, which was surprisingly interesting, mainly because Andrew is such a huge fan! We also visited the Shrine, which is the memorial to the ANZAC soldiers - it was actually quite impressive and gives a great view over the city.
Had to catch my plane to Christchurch that evening - flew with Jetstar, Qantas's budget airline. I'm not that impressed at being downgraded to a budget airline, particularly as I paid over £1250 for my ticket! It was only a three hour flight, but we had to purchase food (and there was no hot food left!), there were no films (you could rent a mini DVD player for $12) and they charged me $35 because my luggage was 6 kg overweight!
Fiona met me at Christchurch airport - there was a huge crowd of people waiting for other travellers, including a bunch of drunken students, one dressed as a lobster. Very amusing.
Today (Thursday), I've been to have a Mole Map done, and been to the hairdresser. Also met some new babies when I had Lisa, Jon and Felix, Sally, Richard, Alexandre and Amelie, Aaron, Andrea, Sam and Ava, and Kelvin around for a barbeque tonight. It was great to see them all, even if they nearly all had to leave by 6pm to prepare for bed etc!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Christmassy!
Loved the Campaign for a Real Office Christmas page on the Guardian blog, especially the desk, computer and chair wrapped in Christmas paper!
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
pre-Christmas dinner, London 2005
Food, food, food! Have just uploaded photos from Saturday's pre-Christmas feast at Casa Helps, and from other parties and celebrations
Friday, November 18, 2005
Mhairi and the Moose
Because you can't ever have enough photos of yourself with giant stuffed animals, here's a photo of me with a Moose in New Hampshire. I'm the one on the right.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
awesome!
Kt sent me through the brilliant Stuff on my Cat website - strangely similar to different feats of loading we used to carry out with Brussell!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
funky little dude
The new Star Wars DVD that's just been released has an Easter Egg hidden on it. Check it out - it's brilliant! If you can, listen to the music to get the full effect.
Kt, Li-Ann, Mhairi and Melissa
Last month, Li-Ann and Andrew hosted a party at Milk & Honey, Andrew's club in Soho. The occasion was to celebrate Li-Ann's three years in London, and was a very enjoyable evening!
Loaded!
All of my USA Trip photos have now been loaded onto Flickr and are available for viewing. It's taking me a little longer to get the entries written up, but I'm getting there...
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
A whole new world...
I think I've found a new set of friends... Occasionally when I'm travelling I'll pick up a pen from a souvenir shop. On returning from this holiday (with a Boston Baked Beans pen and Gone with the Wind pen) I've done a bit of research and found out that these pens are made in Denmark by a company called Eseken and are called Floaty pens. Lots of people like them! Sadly I don't think my collection comes this woman's, but I'm going to do an audit of the pens and see what they're worth!
Fiona and Mhairi, sitting on 'Carrie's stoop', New York
Here's Fiona and I on our 'Sex and the City' bus tour on Sunday. One of the stops was at the location that they use for Carrie's apartment exterior and here's us sitting on the stoop!
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Normal service to resume shortly
If you're reading the blog, you will notice it's looking a little sketchy! I've not been able to track down internet access over the past few days, and where we're staying now in Concord it's limited to 15 minutes, so I've just made some notes now. When I have some time (maybe in New York), I'll spend some time fleshing it out. We're having a great time though - even if the weather is quite different in New England than it was in the deep South!
Thursday, October 13, 2005
USA trip Day Six - Charleston
Had a nice sleep in after a travelling day yesterday. I was staying in a B&B in the historic district of Charleston - the Rutledge Victorian Guesthouse. I was originally meant to have Emilie's room, but I got upgraded to Abigail's room which had a Huge bed! Had breakfast with some fellow guests, including some very religious people who kept on talking about looking for the 'truth' in the media and how the Constitution meant that the country was based on Christian values exclusively and should stay that way. Thankfully they left before I put my 2c in, but I had a chat with a university professor, who was VERY excited to hear that I was from New Zealand and was insanely jealous that Angus had been in the Lord of the Rings films.
Did a walking tour of Charleston in the morning which is the most beautiful place. I loved it. The historic districts have been beautifully restored with many gorgeous houses. The main style of house in Charleston is the 'single house' - a building built at right angles to the road, normally three story with three long porches running along the length of the building. The front door normally opens straight onto the porch or a garden.
Charleston is on a harbour where the Cooper and X rivers meet - there is a new bridge, the Ravenel Bridge, that was opened in July (I saw them blowing up the concrete pylons of the old bridge). I went out on a boat tour to Fort Sumter, where the first shots were fired in the American Civil War (or "the unpleasantness" as it is known in the South). The Fort itself didn't interest me that much but the cruise was interesting and there were loads of dolphins around the fort which was fascinating to watch.
After only eating a hotdog on the train last night, I decided to treat myself to a nice meal and went to Anson which was very nice. I had the local speciality, 'She Crab soup' which was lovely and some fried shrimp. Bizarrely there was a Kiwi working as a waiter (we get everywhere...) but I didn't end up talking to him.
Did a walking tour of Charleston in the morning which is the most beautiful place. I loved it. The historic districts have been beautifully restored with many gorgeous houses. The main style of house in Charleston is the 'single house' - a building built at right angles to the road, normally three story with three long porches running along the length of the building. The front door normally opens straight onto the porch or a garden.
Charleston is on a harbour where the Cooper and X rivers meet - there is a new bridge, the Ravenel Bridge, that was opened in July (I saw them blowing up the concrete pylons of the old bridge). I went out on a boat tour to Fort Sumter, where the first shots were fired in the American Civil War (or "the unpleasantness" as it is known in the South). The Fort itself didn't interest me that much but the cruise was interesting and there were loads of dolphins around the fort which was fascinating to watch.
After only eating a hotdog on the train last night, I decided to treat myself to a nice meal and went to Anson which was very nice. I had the local speciality, 'She Crab soup' which was lovely and some fried shrimp. Bizarrely there was a Kiwi working as a waiter (we get everywhere...) but I didn't end up talking to him.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
USA Trip Day Five - Atlanta - Savannah - Charleston
After checking out of the hotel this morning, I caught the train down to the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site - a fancy title for a museum, church and birthplace. The museum there is quite interesting - a lot of information on the freedom riders and different boycotts and marches that went on during the fight for civil rights. There was a machine in one corner that asked you questions (eg how many jelly beans are there in the jar) to ascertain whether you were eligible to vote. Of course the only important question was "What colour are you?"
I wasn't too fussed on going on the tour of the house where King was born in but I'm really glad I did. Our tour guide, Rev. Williams, a retired preacher, had marched together with . His children were also amongst the first black children to go to an integrated school. As he was a former preacher he had a powerful and emotive delivery when he spoke to us and on a couple of occasions he stopped us and quite sternly reminded us that people, both black and white had been killed fighting for equal rights. What we were learning about was not just history he said, it was real life, and it was painful and dangerous. By the end of the hour-long tour, most of us were in tears. It really was a very powerful experience.
The house itself had four bedrooms, and was very nice. It was owned by King's grandfather, and as the family were middle class, they had a very high standard of living. There were 'shotgun' houses across the road - so-called because if you fired a shotgun through the front door, if no-one were standing in the way, the bullet would leave via the back door. There was a clear line of sight through the house. Many of the houses in the area had been bought by the National Parks Service, restored and rented out. So it's a very nice neighbourhood. The whole area is called 'Sweet Auburn', named after the street.
Travelled out to the airport next to catch my flight to Savannah. Managed to negotiate my way a little more successfully around Atlanta Airport this time! Had a strange experience after checking in. I noticed a large number of soldiers gathering together - they were all in uniform, what looked like desert fatigues. I assumed that they were on their way to Iraq. There were about 200 of them and when they'd formed together, they marched through the concourse to their plane. People went nuts - they were clapping and cheering, going up to the soldiers and saying they were praying for them. I just felt chilled, knowing where they were going and that it was likely some of them weren't coming home.
Caught my flight to Savannah OK. I landed at Savannah at 3.30pm and my train to Charleston wasn't leaving until 6.30. Unfortunately the train station is just as far out of the city as the airport is, and it was closed until 5.30. So I stayed at the airport, reading, and watching a cat in a cat carrier go round and round on the luggage carousel. Then I caught a taxi to the train station where, frustratingly, the train was 2 and a half hours late! It was so frustrating! I had originally wanted to drop my luggage somewhere in Savannah and wander around for a couple of hours but that's not possible. So had a long, hungry wait at Savannah train station. The train, when it finally came, had been travelling from Miami and was on its way to New York. Train was OK, nice big comfy seats.
When I got to Charleston, the train station there is also miles out of town so I caught a cab to my B&B, arriving there about 11!
I wasn't too fussed on going on the tour of the house where King was born in but I'm really glad I did. Our tour guide, Rev. Williams, a retired preacher, had marched together with . His children were also amongst the first black children to go to an integrated school. As he was a former preacher he had a powerful and emotive delivery when he spoke to us and on a couple of occasions he stopped us and quite sternly reminded us that people, both black and white had been killed fighting for equal rights. What we were learning about was not just history he said, it was real life, and it was painful and dangerous. By the end of the hour-long tour, most of us were in tears. It really was a very powerful experience.
The house itself had four bedrooms, and was very nice. It was owned by King's grandfather, and as the family were middle class, they had a very high standard of living. There were 'shotgun' houses across the road - so-called because if you fired a shotgun through the front door, if no-one were standing in the way, the bullet would leave via the back door. There was a clear line of sight through the house. Many of the houses in the area had been bought by the National Parks Service, restored and rented out. So it's a very nice neighbourhood. The whole area is called 'Sweet Auburn', named after the street.
Travelled out to the airport next to catch my flight to Savannah. Managed to negotiate my way a little more successfully around Atlanta Airport this time! Had a strange experience after checking in. I noticed a large number of soldiers gathering together - they were all in uniform, what looked like desert fatigues. I assumed that they were on their way to Iraq. There were about 200 of them and when they'd formed together, they marched through the concourse to their plane. People went nuts - they were clapping and cheering, going up to the soldiers and saying they were praying for them. I just felt chilled, knowing where they were going and that it was likely some of them weren't coming home.
Caught my flight to Savannah OK. I landed at Savannah at 3.30pm and my train to Charleston wasn't leaving until 6.30. Unfortunately the train station is just as far out of the city as the airport is, and it was closed until 5.30. So I stayed at the airport, reading, and watching a cat in a cat carrier go round and round on the luggage carousel. Then I caught a taxi to the train station where, frustratingly, the train was 2 and a half hours late! It was so frustrating! I had originally wanted to drop my luggage somewhere in Savannah and wander around for a couple of hours but that's not possible. So had a long, hungry wait at Savannah train station. The train, when it finally came, had been travelling from Miami and was on its way to New York. Train was OK, nice big comfy seats.
When I got to Charleston, the train station there is also miles out of town so I caught a cab to my B&B, arriving there about 11!
USA trip - Atlanta Day 4
This morning, I went to Atlanta's number one attraction, World of Coca-Cola. Was expecting teeming crowds, but thankfully I arrived before the rush. World of Coca-Cola is basically a big marketing building for Coke - it's full of advertising throughout the ages, and information about how the brand has spread worldwide. There's no information on the secret recipe! It was all very glitzy. At the end are two rooms where you can sample different Coke drinks from around the world - I thought that there would be some variety of different Coke flavours from different locations, but it was actually things like Ginger Beer and Mello Yello. Some of the excitement of unlimited Coke was tempered by the fact that I was on my own, and that it was about 10.30 in the morning! The gift shop downstairs was almost as large as the museum, and I succumbed and bought a Tshirt.
Next, I caught the bus to Athens, Georgia, the home of REM and the B52s. The Greyhound terminal where the bus left from was a little dodgy, but once on the bus, it was fine. Drive down took about an hour and a half, and like a cliche, I listened to REM the whole way! The bus driver gave everyone a strict talking to on the way down, laying out the kind of behaviour he expected. I was fascinated by the Kudzu vines that covered many trees, bushes, power lines and telegraph poles. They looked like they were smothering and taking over the landscape - quite creepy!
Had the afternoon in Athens to have a look around. There isn't actually all that much to do, but it was pleasant to walk around a typical American college town. There was a music heritage walking tour, but many of the buildings marked were old clubs and venues.
Back in Atlanta, it was dog appreciation evening at the hotel! On the front porch, about 30 people were sitting with their (small) dogs, having a drink and buying merchandise.
Walked down to Mary Mac's Tea Room for dinner - this is an Atlanta institution and offers real Southern cooking. They gave me some free collard greens for a starter - can't say I'm a fan! But then I had some delicious southern fried chicken, sweet potato souffle (gorgeous!!) and broccoli. I even had a 'Hurricane' ######## ("reminiscent of New Orleans"). (for some reason, Blogger isn't letting me publish the word '########' - so that you're not kept in suspense, it's a concoction of alcoholic liquor).
Next, I caught the bus to Athens, Georgia, the home of REM and the B52s. The Greyhound terminal where the bus left from was a little dodgy, but once on the bus, it was fine. Drive down took about an hour and a half, and like a cliche, I listened to REM the whole way! The bus driver gave everyone a strict talking to on the way down, laying out the kind of behaviour he expected. I was fascinated by the Kudzu vines that covered many trees, bushes, power lines and telegraph poles. They looked like they were smothering and taking over the landscape - quite creepy!
Had the afternoon in Athens to have a look around. There isn't actually all that much to do, but it was pleasant to walk around a typical American college town. There was a music heritage walking tour, but many of the buildings marked were old clubs and venues.
Back in Atlanta, it was dog appreciation evening at the hotel! On the front porch, about 30 people were sitting with their (small) dogs, having a drink and buying merchandise.
Walked down to Mary Mac's Tea Room for dinner - this is an Atlanta institution and offers real Southern cooking. They gave me some free collard greens for a starter - can't say I'm a fan! But then I had some delicious southern fried chicken, sweet potato souffle (gorgeous!!) and broccoli. I even had a 'Hurricane' ######## ("reminiscent of New Orleans"). (for some reason, Blogger isn't letting me publish the word '########' - so that you're not kept in suspense, it's a concoction of alcoholic liquor).
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
USA Trip - Atlanta Day 3
Luxuriated in my nice hotel room this morning - 78 channels! Not a lot on though, but I did enjoy catching up on ' Live with Regis and Kelly', an early morning chat show that I got addicted to last time I was here.
Went down to the Greyhound station to check out times to Athens for tomorrow - it looks kind of dodgy, but manageable! It only takes an hour or so to get to Athens, so it shouldn't be too bad. Then travelled up to Buckhead, a suburb in the north of Atlanta to visit the Atlanta History Center. Had to catch the train, then catch a bus, then walk about 15 minutes - and this is for the major museum in Atlanta - an example of how reliant Americans are on cars!!
The Atlanta History Center is huge - it's basically a huge park with a museum and two houses to tour. One of the houses, the Tullie Smith house is an example of a plantation house from the mid 19th century. It was very simple, with the kitchen in an adjoining outhouse. They have recreated how the farm would have looked, complete with cornhouse, blacksmith's shop and barns. The land that the farm was on would have been given to the owner following the removal of the Native American inhabitants. There was also another huge house on the grounds from the 1920s. The museum had exhibits on folk craft and the Civil War.
Went and had a wander round one of Atlanta's largest malls, Lenox Square. It's so huge it has a Bloomingdale's, a Macy's and a Nieman Marcus on the premises, as well as a huge array of shops. Decided not to do any shopping, as I'll save that for New York. Had a burger at a restaurant in the mall for dinner - it was a bleu cheese and bacon burger - yummo!
Was going to go and see Liz Phair play that night at a theatre in Buckhead, but in the end I was too worn out from walking round all day. Still haven't adjusted to the new time zone and am waking up at 6am!
Went down to the Greyhound station to check out times to Athens for tomorrow - it looks kind of dodgy, but manageable! It only takes an hour or so to get to Athens, so it shouldn't be too bad. Then travelled up to Buckhead, a suburb in the north of Atlanta to visit the Atlanta History Center. Had to catch the train, then catch a bus, then walk about 15 minutes - and this is for the major museum in Atlanta - an example of how reliant Americans are on cars!!
The Atlanta History Center is huge - it's basically a huge park with a museum and two houses to tour. One of the houses, the Tullie Smith house is an example of a plantation house from the mid 19th century. It was very simple, with the kitchen in an adjoining outhouse. They have recreated how the farm would have looked, complete with cornhouse, blacksmith's shop and barns. The land that the farm was on would have been given to the owner following the removal of the Native American inhabitants. There was also another huge house on the grounds from the 1920s. The museum had exhibits on folk craft and the Civil War.
Went and had a wander round one of Atlanta's largest malls, Lenox Square. It's so huge it has a Bloomingdale's, a Macy's and a Nieman Marcus on the premises, as well as a huge array of shops. Decided not to do any shopping, as I'll save that for New York. Had a burger at a restaurant in the mall for dinner - it was a bleu cheese and bacon burger - yummo!
Was going to go and see Liz Phair play that night at a theatre in Buckhead, but in the end I was too worn out from walking round all day. Still haven't adjusted to the new time zone and am waking up at 6am!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
USA trip - Atlanta day 2
Woke up at about 6.30 this morning which isn't too bad, time changes considering. Realised that even though there are 77 channels on the television in my room, half of them were showing infomercials and half of them were broadcasting church services which was not really that entertaining.
After a breakfast muffin, I set off for the CNN Center and the tour of the studios. It was a very slick operation, much like the station itself. The tour guide did seem to be reeling off the script by memory, but it was very interesting to see how the sequencing of the live feed happened and also to see the main newsroom from above, seeing how the whole operation fitted together. We even got to ride up the world's longest free standing escalator!
Following this, I walked over to the Centennial Olympic Park, which was the park developed to celebrate the 1996 Olympic Games. It's used as a public space now, and has some fantastic circular fountains which despite the cool weather, some children were dancing in.
There was a football game on at the nearby Georgia Dome - Atlanta versus New England. There were loads of people indulging in what I later learnt was called 'tailgating' - this is where people park up in a car park, get out the BBQ and have a few beers before going to watch the game. Virtually everyone I saw had a team shirt on - very colourful!
Caught the train up to the Margaret Mitchell House and took the tour. Mitchell lived and wrote Gone With The Wind in the house, which she referred to as 'The Dump'. She'd been working as a journalist since leaving school, and had taken about nine years to write the book. There was also a small museum with memorabilia from the making of the film.
After this museum and lunch at a cafe, I was picked up by my Atlanta colleague Dave who drove me around a couple of the lovely areas of Atlanta - lots of houses from the 30s designed in lovely open neighbourhoods. I had wondered why, when we flew into Atlanta, why so much of the city was parkland. There are a lot of parks, but also in many areas, people have huge sections with many trees. There doesn't seem to be any kind of building code, and there are a few houses that have been built more recently and really jar. Dave then drove his partner John and I out to his friend Peggy's house - Peggy lives about half an hour out of town and worked as an enamalist most of her life - she still does a little bit today, and gave me a lovely wee plate of a dogwood plant. We had a southern dinner with her and a couple of her neighbours - chicken, sweet potatoes, cornbread, green beans and collared greens. For afters we had pecan pie. It was very enjoyable, and so nice to meet local people and have a chat to them. There were lots of cardinals flying round on the property but sadly we didn't see any of the deer that live on the farm.
After a breakfast muffin, I set off for the CNN Center and the tour of the studios. It was a very slick operation, much like the station itself. The tour guide did seem to be reeling off the script by memory, but it was very interesting to see how the sequencing of the live feed happened and also to see the main newsroom from above, seeing how the whole operation fitted together. We even got to ride up the world's longest free standing escalator!
Following this, I walked over to the Centennial Olympic Park, which was the park developed to celebrate the 1996 Olympic Games. It's used as a public space now, and has some fantastic circular fountains which despite the cool weather, some children were dancing in.
There was a football game on at the nearby Georgia Dome - Atlanta versus New England. There were loads of people indulging in what I later learnt was called 'tailgating' - this is where people park up in a car park, get out the BBQ and have a few beers before going to watch the game. Virtually everyone I saw had a team shirt on - very colourful!
Caught the train up to the Margaret Mitchell House and took the tour. Mitchell lived and wrote Gone With The Wind in the house, which she referred to as 'The Dump'. She'd been working as a journalist since leaving school, and had taken about nine years to write the book. There was also a small museum with memorabilia from the making of the film.
After this museum and lunch at a cafe, I was picked up by my Atlanta colleague Dave who drove me around a couple of the lovely areas of Atlanta - lots of houses from the 30s designed in lovely open neighbourhoods. I had wondered why, when we flew into Atlanta, why so much of the city was parkland. There are a lot of parks, but also in many areas, people have huge sections with many trees. There doesn't seem to be any kind of building code, and there are a few houses that have been built more recently and really jar. Dave then drove his partner John and I out to his friend Peggy's house - Peggy lives about half an hour out of town and worked as an enamalist most of her life - she still does a little bit today, and gave me a lovely wee plate of a dogwood plant. We had a southern dinner with her and a couple of her neighbours - chicken, sweet potatoes, cornbread, green beans and collared greens. For afters we had pecan pie. It was very enjoyable, and so nice to meet local people and have a chat to them. There were lots of cardinals flying round on the property but sadly we didn't see any of the deer that live on the farm.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
lengthy!
Well I'm finally in Atlanta, after a very long day! Flight left Gatwick at 12.20 and it was a direct flight of about nine hours. Very excitingly bought a camera from Duty Free before I left - a Fuji FinePix f10. It's really lovely! Sadly I've had to wait until I got here to play with it as it needed a charge, but tomorrow, I enter the digital world!
Flight was ok - watched War of the World (just ridiculous) and Mother In Law (entertaining enough, was nice to see Jane Fonda on screen again!).
Atlanta Airport is apparently the busiest airport in the world (but don't they all say that?). Anyway, lining up for immigration took forever, we had to get our fingerprints and photos done. There wasn't a major questioning of "what are you doing here?" etc. thank goodness, but I had all my bits of paper printed out if there was. Then after going through customs, and picking up luggage, there was then another security check, our bags were taken off us again, we had to be scanned and take our shoes and belts off to be scanned. After putting shoes and belts back on again, then we had to travel on the transit to the entrance to the airport where we retrieved our luggage again! Rigmarole! I guess the US is on a higher state of alert at the moment though.
Travelled into Atlanta on the metro which is known as the MARTA here. Found the guest house that I had booked, and it was all shut up - I'm really unimpressed! I booked through Opodo, and had confirmed the booking with them. But according to the B&B next door, the guesthouse where I was meant to be staying has turned into an accomodation bookable only by the week. It looks quite dodgy now, and apparently one of the current guests has a pig in his room! The lovely woman at the guesthouse next door recommended the Hotel Indigo nearby, so that's where I am now. It's really lovely! Can't wait to go to sleep in the lovely bed! It's a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay, but when you've been travelling all day, you don't really care!
Needless to say, I've sent Opodo a stroppy message, demanding an immediate refund and an explanation. Not nice being in a strange city, on your own, lugging round a suitcase with nowhere to stay!
Flight was ok - watched War of the World (just ridiculous) and Mother In Law (entertaining enough, was nice to see Jane Fonda on screen again!).
Atlanta Airport is apparently the busiest airport in the world (but don't they all say that?). Anyway, lining up for immigration took forever, we had to get our fingerprints and photos done. There wasn't a major questioning of "what are you doing here?" etc. thank goodness, but I had all my bits of paper printed out if there was. Then after going through customs, and picking up luggage, there was then another security check, our bags were taken off us again, we had to be scanned and take our shoes and belts off to be scanned. After putting shoes and belts back on again, then we had to travel on the transit to the entrance to the airport where we retrieved our luggage again! Rigmarole! I guess the US is on a higher state of alert at the moment though.
Travelled into Atlanta on the metro which is known as the MARTA here. Found the guest house that I had booked, and it was all shut up - I'm really unimpressed! I booked through Opodo, and had confirmed the booking with them. But according to the B&B next door, the guesthouse where I was meant to be staying has turned into an accomodation bookable only by the week. It looks quite dodgy now, and apparently one of the current guests has a pig in his room! The lovely woman at the guesthouse next door recommended the Hotel Indigo nearby, so that's where I am now. It's really lovely! Can't wait to go to sleep in the lovely bed! It's a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay, but when you've been travelling all day, you don't really care!
Needless to say, I've sent Opodo a stroppy message, demanding an immediate refund and an explanation. Not nice being in a strange city, on your own, lugging round a suitcase with nowhere to stay!
Monday, September 19, 2005
Fiona in the snow!
It snowed in Christchurch over the weekend - quite heavily from the looks of it! Some photos on John's Flickr account...
Thursday, September 15, 2005
team blogging!
Following the very successful presentation about blogging that I gave to my department last week, I've set up a team blog for us to use. The CBK blog will give keen people a forum to discuss blogs, RSS, wikis and other exciting technologies! I just hope that I can keep my two blogs separate and don't post messages about some gig or restaurant that all my colleagues can see!
queuing!
As someone who has inadvertently started a queue just by milling around, I loved this article from the Guardian about the appeal of queuing.
Haven't seen any of the famed petrol queues yet though!
Haven't seen any of the famed petrol queues yet though!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
current!
Have been reading about the launch of the new 'Berliner' version of the Guardian over the last couple of days. The new edition was launched yesterday and has had a complete redesign - the size is halfway inbetween a broadsheet and a tabloid (much easier to read on the bus!) and there is a brand new font. I also think it's less inkier on the hands, but apparently that's not consistent. There's an interesting Editor's blog that has blogged all the steps of releasing the new edition (not the whole redesign process though - that's taken about three years!).
One link I found quite useful on the blog was to Newseum, a site which has the front pages of 470 newpapers from 46 countries - it seems very up to date.
One link I found quite useful on the blog was to Newseum, a site which has the front pages of 470 newpapers from 46 countries - it seems very up to date.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
at the Square & Compass, near Swanage
We visited the lovely Square & Compass pub near Swanage last weekend. This is taken at the end of the night so we're looking a bit tired and emotional - from left, Corinna, Will, Sue, Mhairi and Felix.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Dale Chihuly at Kew Gardens
Kt has posted some photos on her Flickr account of the Dale Chihuly 'Gardens of Glass' exhibition we went to a couple of weeks ago at Kew Gardens. Click on the photo to see more!
Mhairi and John in the kitchen
John came round for dinner a couple of weeks ago during his visit to London - here's a photo of us using the self-timer on the camera!
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
learning!
I've volunteered to do a 'Lunch and Learn' session at work next month focusing on blogs, wikis, RSS, and other nifty social computing tools. One of my colleagues suggested that I blog my creation of the presentation, and of course the blog provides a good record of where I've been and what's good!
Have been doing some research today, visiting Headshift, the Guardian Online Blog, BoingBoing and Demystifying Usability.
I went to the City Information Group presentation that David Tebbut gave a few months ago on blogging and social computing - I was up to speed with most of it already, but it was a useful summary.
Will be telling everyone about NewsGator as well which is the RSS tool I use for subscribing to content. Google Talk has just been launched today and I'll touch on that as well as Skype which has been big news recently.
If there's any librarians interested, there is a huge Google Directory page with links to loads of librarian created blogs, including Dispatches from a Public Librarian on old favourite McSweenys.net
On a less serious note, I'm not sure how I found it, but I stumbled across this great table today, plotting Global Average temperature vs number of pirates.
Have been doing some research today, visiting Headshift, the Guardian Online Blog, BoingBoing and Demystifying Usability.
I went to the City Information Group presentation that David Tebbut gave a few months ago on blogging and social computing - I was up to speed with most of it already, but it was a useful summary.
Will be telling everyone about NewsGator as well which is the RSS tool I use for subscribing to content. Google Talk has just been launched today and I'll touch on that as well as Skype which has been big news recently.
If there's any librarians interested, there is a huge Google Directory page with links to loads of librarian created blogs, including Dispatches from a Public Librarian on old favourite McSweenys.net
On a less serious note, I'm not sure how I found it, but I stumbled across this great table today, plotting Global Average temperature vs number of pirates.
Monday, August 22, 2005
stunning!
Kt and I went to Kew Gardens yesterday to see the amazing 'Gardens of Glass' exhibition they've got on there. They have placed glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly around the gardens, both outside, on the lake and in the conservatories. They were just amazing - surprisingly it was sunny yesterday so the coloured glass glistened beautifully in the sun. I especially loved the 'walla wallas' giant pods of glass which were on the lake. A wonderful day out!
Monday, August 15, 2005
even cuter!
Current work obsession is the Polar Cam - the webcam at the Polar Bear plunge pool at San Diego zoo!
Friday, August 12, 2005
Monday, August 08, 2005
chilling!
Had a lovely day at Fruitstock yesterday afternoon. Fruitstock is an free festival that’s held in Regent’s Park every August and is organised by Innocent, a company which makes smoothies and fruitjuices. There are loads of foodstalls, including a very popular stand from our favourite piemakers, Pie.
The DJ tent was fantastic again this year with a good set from Hed Kandi, which saw Andrew grooving along with quite a few babies on shoulders.
Sitting eating Pies are (clockwise from Mhairi in hat) Geraint, Simon, Li-Ann and Melissa.
Monday, August 01, 2005
renovated!
Visited an old Notting Hill favourite, the Hillgate, last night with John. It's just been renovated and is much more minimal inside than it ever was! No nick-nacks or decorations inside. The outside is much the same with hanging baskets and we had a nice sit outside on the picnic benches.
They stock one of my favourite new beers, Kronenbourg Blanc, which is a rival to the Hoegaarden white beer. It's very nice and refreshing - but I guess from reading the summary above, I'm the target audience!!
They stock one of my favourite new beers, Kronenbourg Blanc, which is a rival to the Hoegaarden white beer. It's very nice and refreshing - but I guess from reading the summary above, I'm the target audience!!
dramatic!
Went to Sadlers Wells on Saturday night to see the dance version of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses', which was created and led by Adam Cooper. It was properly a 'dance drama' rather than a ballet, but the staging, although a little melodramatic, was quite enjoyable. The novel, and the film are mostly told through letters, so it must have been a little difficult to translate this to dance, but it all worked quite well.
innovative!
I visited the British Library at the weekend and took a tour (I was the only person on the tour so it was very personal guiding!). It was fascinating and I loved seeing the different parts of the library, especially the King's Library (donated by George III) and behind the scenes, showing the conveyer belt system that distributes the books from the basement up to the different reading rooms. We weren't allowed to go into the reading rooms as it's all very serious, but there were quite a few exhibitions to see as well.
The Turning the Pages room was really cool and is now available online - you can see pages from famous books and recreate the experience of turning the pages. The British Library has pioneered and sold on this technology. There was a very interesting Hans Christian Andersen exhibition with lots of things for children to play with, but also a good examination of his life. Apparently he went to London and stayed with Charles Dickens at one stage and overstayed his welcome!
The Turning the Pages room was really cool and is now available online - you can see pages from famous books and recreate the experience of turning the pages. The British Library has pioneered and sold on this technology. There was a very interesting Hans Christian Andersen exhibition with lots of things for children to play with, but also a good examination of his life. Apparently he went to London and stayed with Charles Dickens at one stage and overstayed his welcome!
musical!
So I'm planning a trip around the South East of the USA for October - my route is from Atlanta, to Savannah then to New Orleans. It's all very exciting and I'm sure a highlight of the holiday will be my visit to Athens, Georgia, home of REM and the B52s!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
ethical!
Really liked the idea of Scarlet Mist, an ethical website where you can exchange concert tickets or sell them for face value - hope it catches on and also hope that some Belle & Sebastian tickets for September come up!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
hungry!
Amongst all the depressing and frankly scary news there is at the moment, I loved this article about the Hungry Caterpillar, and how the book helps children to count as well as think about time.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Congratulations!
Many congratulations to Julia, Craig, Finbarr and Megan who completed the 100 Km Trailwalker event at the weekend - we're still marvelling at the blisters, but more than that, we've admired the strength and fortitude they showed! They've raised about £5000 for Oxfam which is brilliant!
Friday, July 15, 2005
moving
We all stood silent for two minutes in the sunshine at noon yesterday to remember the victims of the bombing last week. Hundreds of people standing in front of City Hall where we were, and then we could see people standing outside on top of buildings on the other side of the river. The huge building site behind our offices fell silent for two minutes as well as the roads around the city.
Two recent articles in the Guardian have resonated with me recently, along with all the coverage of who the bombers were and the aftermath of the attack. The first, an article about the moving speech made by Marie Fatayi-Williams, the mother of one of the victims, shows the anguish and loss of a bereaved and confused mother. And the second is a letter to the terrorists from a young Muslim from Yorkshire, emphasising that the bombers are not representative of their religion or community.
I've also been following this diary on the BBC site written by a survivor of the Piccadilly Line train.
Two recent articles in the Guardian have resonated with me recently, along with all the coverage of who the bombers were and the aftermath of the attack. The first, an article about the moving speech made by Marie Fatayi-Williams, the mother of one of the victims, shows the anguish and loss of a bereaved and confused mother. And the second is a letter to the terrorists from a young Muslim from Yorkshire, emphasising that the bombers are not representative of their religion or community.
I've also been following this diary on the BBC site written by a survivor of the Piccadilly Line train.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The Writer
The Writer is a new sculpture by Giancarlo Neri that has just been installed on Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath. It's huge! Hopefully you'll be able to see from the photo the scale of the table and chair.
Fabienne and I went up to Hampstead for a swim in the Ladies Pond. After such a warm day, it was lovely and cool and relaxing.
Afterwards, we caught the bus down to Kentish Town and bought fish and chips from the Five Star Fish and Chip Bar (this was Fabienne's first fish and chips experience) and went and sat in Charlotte and Annie's garden to eat them. We dodged all the grey haired stetson wearers at the Dwight Yoakam concert at the Forum!
Fabienne and I went up to Hampstead for a swim in the Ladies Pond. After such a warm day, it was lovely and cool and relaxing.
Afterwards, we caught the bus down to Kentish Town and bought fish and chips from the Five Star Fish and Chip Bar (this was Fabienne's first fish and chips experience) and went and sat in Charlotte and Annie's garden to eat them. We dodged all the grey haired stetson wearers at the Dwight Yoakam concert at the Forum!
Monday, July 11, 2005
groovy!
Went along to the very groovy Jazz Cafe Picnic at Kenwood House, Hampstead, last night. It was a gorgeously sunny day, and we sat in the sun and had our picnic, before retiring to the deck chairs for Lemon Jelly.
Unafraid!
Thanks very much for your messages last week – it was so lovely and reassuring to know that you were thinking of me and everyone here.
I normally travel into work (from Caledonian Road tube to London Bridge tube) by bus and it’s only occasionally that I’ll catch the tube to work as it’s normally so crowded and hot! So thankfully I stayed with my normal plan yesterday. Thankfully also Kt, who works in Fulham went to work at her normal time, rather than 20 minutes later when she would potentially have been on one of the tubes that was bombed.
Didn’t really notice anything on the way to work, even though I was travelling above ground at the same time that everything was happening other than quite a few more people walking around, and a few ambulances. My bus takes me past Kings Cross and about 500 meters from where the bus bomb went off. When I got to the office, I noticed that the TV screens in reception were showing a newsflash of ‘Walking Wounded’ and so we checked the internet at our desks.
Realised what was happening and managed to get a text message to family before the phone system overloaded. E-mail was still working so I managed to check that everyone in London was ok. A friend of a friend was on one of the tubes but thankfully managed to get out with only glass scratches and smoke inhalation – she’s very lucky though and the scenes down there must have been horrific. I think people were down there for 30 minutes or more.
Our systems at work are pretty good with coping with an emergency, including cascading communications and contacting everyone. One of my team members, Charles, was AWOL and we had an anxious couple of hours trying to get hold of him. Finally he managed to call in from a phone box.
The transportation system was totally shut down and we were told at work to stay put. Our office building which is right next to Tower Bridge is brand new and pretty bombproof so it was a lot safer to stay inside. By about 4pm though, we were told that we could go home and so I met up with Charlotte and we walked to Angel together (took about an hour) then caught a bus home from there. Many people were walking as there weren’t many buses at that stage, but everyone was quite cheerful and there was none of the anger and annoyance when there’s a tube strike etc.
Unfortunately our section of the Piccadilly line is likely to be out of service for the next few weeks as there is probably quite severe damage to the tracks and tunnel so that’s going to make transport a bit harder than normal. There’s also a sense that we knew this was going to happen at some stage, London’s always going to be a target for this type of thing and has been in the past. So thankfully the emergency services were extremely well prepared and were able to cope with the situation.
I think everything should return to normal pretty quickly but people will be pretty shaky for a wee while which is understandable.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
rockin'!
Went to see fab band Rilo Kiley last night at Koko in Camden. Band were good but I think I overdosed a bit on their CDs a few months ago! Good sound though with small extra horn section. They finished with a cover of Pete Townshend's 'Let My Love Open the Door' which is a bit of a favourite of mine.
Koko is a lovely refurbished old theatre with chandeliers, mirrors and lots of burgundy walls. Very confusing layout - I got lost in the toilet maze! Nice and convenient for us though - I'd in fact got the date of the concert wrong and had to do a dash down there at 9pm.
Koko is a lovely refurbished old theatre with chandeliers, mirrors and lots of burgundy walls. Very confusing layout - I got lost in the toilet maze! Nice and convenient for us though - I'd in fact got the date of the concert wrong and had to do a dash down there at 9pm.
selected!
Big cheer in the building today when it was announced that London had been selected to hold the 2012 Olympic Games. Don't know if I'll still be living here then, but it's a great opportunity to revive part of East London and also an impetus to make the transportation system much better.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Why does it always rain on us?
I went with Kt, Fabienne, and Fabienne's classmate Paul to Wimbledon last week. It rained, but it was quite an experience! We saw about ten minutes of tennis. Probably I'm looking merry because of the prosecco we'd just drunk... Not long after this photo, the heavens truly opened again and we went home for a shower and pizza.
dangerous?
Having been at numerous events where friends have had items confiscated due to a security risk, I thought this article about the decline of the Swiss Army Knife after September 11 interesting.
Monday, July 04, 2005
B - A - N - A - N - A - S
So Dad wants to find out what a Hollaback girl is - don't have any idea from looking at the lyrics. Any suggestions?
marathon!
Well I spent 14 hours watching Live 8 at the weekend! Bit of a marathon effort but I had Charlotte, Kt, some wine and pizzas for company. I really enjoyed it - this review in the Guardian today summarises pretty much what I thought!
Didn't end up buying a white rubber band but I liked PopJustice's suggestions of what to do with the redundant fashion accessories.
Didn't end up buying a white rubber band but I liked PopJustice's suggestions of what to do with the redundant fashion accessories.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Malta photos
The first set of Malta photos are now on Flickr - please click through to see the set! More photos to come next week.
Monday, June 27, 2005
free katie!
We're all fascinated by the creepy relationship between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. This website has some interesting comments on their relationship and the role that Scientology seems to be playing. Apparently Katie, once a strong Catholic, has now been assigned her own Scientology 'minder' who is sheltering her from conversations with family and friends.
The Factnet website, although a bit out of date, has some interesting comments on celebrities and Scientology. Check out point 2 for another view on the Michael Jackson / Lisa Marie Presley marriage!
The Factnet website, although a bit out of date, has some interesting comments on celebrities and Scientology. Check out point 2 for another view on the Michael Jackson / Lisa Marie Presley marriage!
Malta Day Nine
Travelling day today - I caught a couple of buses to Mgarr, then the ferry between Mgarr and Cirkewwa, then a bus back to Valletta and finally the airport bus. Of course I arrived far too early for my plane, but I was a little unsure of the time it would take me and didn't want to be late!
Flight back on Air Malta was fine and made it home in time for Big Brother!
Flight back on Air Malta was fine and made it home in time for Big Brother!
Malta Day Eight
I got friendly with a couple of Italian men, Mauro and Patrizio, who are from Perugia and were staying at the same guest house as me. They had seen most of the island by motor bike, but they decided to come with me to do a tour of the island by boat on the Gozo Princess.
The trip started and ended at Mgarr harbour and we travelled all around the island, making a couple of swimming stops along the way. Spectacular cliffs especially on the south side of the island, and quite a few caves.
The tour took all afternoon, and then I had a final swim in Marsalforn Bay, before dinner. Did my only souvenir shopping of the holiday when I bought myself a model of one of the Malta buses. Didn't really see much else I was interested in!
The trip started and ended at Mgarr harbour and we travelled all around the island, making a couple of swimming stops along the way. Spectacular cliffs especially on the south side of the island, and quite a few caves.
The tour took all afternoon, and then I had a final swim in Marsalforn Bay, before dinner. Did my only souvenir shopping of the holiday when I bought myself a model of one of the Malta buses. Didn't really see much else I was interested in!
Malta Day Seven
After breakfast, I caught the bus from Marsalforn back to Victoria and had a brief look around the Citadella. It was really too hot to do much walking around so I wandered back down to the bus terminus and caught the bus to Dwejra.
Dwejra has a few notable sites, the main one of which is the Azure Window, an arch rock formation. Along the cliffs is also a hidden bay, the 'inland sea' where fishermen shelter to this day. I took a boat trip out from the inland sea though a crack in the cliff and out to the sea proper. The Azure Window is very striking and the diving in this area is meant to be fantastic. Further along the coast is the Fungus Rock, which used to be covered in fungus and mushrooms that were picked by the Knights of St John and used for medicine.
The scenery was quite spectacular but I didn't do any swimming as I couldn't be bothered changing and clambering across the rocks into the water.
Caught the bus back to Victoria and attempted to do some blogging in an internet cafe, but the connections were pretty bad, and I lost a bit of what i was trying to do. Met an Australian woman who was on her first holiday abroad on her own and very keen to talk to people! Her family was originally from Malta so she was interested to see what it was like - surprisingly she didn't have any family left on Malta, they had all immigrated to Australia.
Went back to Marsalforn and had a lovely swim in the bay - the sun was out until about 7.30 so it was wonderful to relax.
Dwejra has a few notable sites, the main one of which is the Azure Window, an arch rock formation. Along the cliffs is also a hidden bay, the 'inland sea' where fishermen shelter to this day. I took a boat trip out from the inland sea though a crack in the cliff and out to the sea proper. The Azure Window is very striking and the diving in this area is meant to be fantastic. Further along the coast is the Fungus Rock, which used to be covered in fungus and mushrooms that were picked by the Knights of St John and used for medicine.
The scenery was quite spectacular but I didn't do any swimming as I couldn't be bothered changing and clambering across the rocks into the water.
Caught the bus back to Victoria and attempted to do some blogging in an internet cafe, but the connections were pretty bad, and I lost a bit of what i was trying to do. Met an Australian woman who was on her first holiday abroad on her own and very keen to talk to people! Her family was originally from Malta so she was interested to see what it was like - surprisingly she didn't have any family left on Malta, they had all immigrated to Australia.
Went back to Marsalforn and had a lovely swim in the bay - the sun was out until about 7.30 so it was wonderful to relax.
Malta Day Six
Decided to do a last swim at the Blue Lagoon this morning but was thwarted by the arrival of hundreds of jellyfish. There had been a couple of jellyfish around at the hotel, and I'd had mild stings from a couple, but they were nowhere near as intense as this morning. So sadly I had to abandon that idea.
After sitting by the pool for a couple of hours, I caught the hotel boat to Mgarr, the harbour town in Gozo. Caught a bus from Mgarr to Victoria / Rabat, the main town on Gozo, and then after waiting for an hour for a connection at a small cafe in the gardens, I caught another bus to Marsalforn. The buses on Gozo are old as well, but grey and red in colour scheme.
Marsalforn is one of the main seaside resorts in Gozo, but is far quieter and low-key than its counterparts on Malta itself. I stayed at a lovely guesthouse right in the centre of town which was beautifully decorated and very comfortable.
After the sub-standard meals on Comino, I was delighted to have a delicious meal of mussels and ravioli filled with Gozo cheese at Il-Kastell restaurant by the sea front. Beautiful!
After sitting by the pool for a couple of hours, I caught the hotel boat to Mgarr, the harbour town in Gozo. Caught a bus from Mgarr to Victoria / Rabat, the main town on Gozo, and then after waiting for an hour for a connection at a small cafe in the gardens, I caught another bus to Marsalforn. The buses on Gozo are old as well, but grey and red in colour scheme.
Marsalforn is one of the main seaside resorts in Gozo, but is far quieter and low-key than its counterparts on Malta itself. I stayed at a lovely guesthouse right in the centre of town which was beautifully decorated and very comfortable.
After the sub-standard meals on Comino, I was delighted to have a delicious meal of mussels and ravioli filled with Gozo cheese at Il-Kastell restaurant by the sea front. Beautiful!
Malta Days Four and Five
Had a lovely few relaxing days on the island of Comino.
Most people in the hotel (a surprising number of Russian children amongst them) were staying on an all-inclusive basis, and I had to stay half-board, which meant breakfast and dinner were included. The food was pretty terrible and the entertainment every night pretty cheesy, but the surroundings were lovely. The hotel had its own pool and a couple of private beaches. There were also water sports you could do - hiring yachts, wind surfers etc.
But the highlight was the ten minute walk around to the famous Blue Lagoon which was one of the most beautiful places I've seen - especially after 4pm when the day-trippers had gone and the residents had the place mostly to ourselves! The water in the lagoon is absolutely turquoise and just stunning - a few fish swimming around and I even saw an octopus one day!
The other benefit of only going to the lagoon in the early morning and late afternoon was that it was much cooler. The heat was intense and at the lagoon especially there was no shade from the sun, apart from hiring a sun umbrella.
Spent quite a bit of time on Comino reading and catching up on new music on my iPod. Really enjoyed the new books by Nick Hornby (A Long Way Down) and Ian McEwan (Saturday), both of which gave different views of London life. Saturday is set on the day of the big Anti War march in February 2003, a day which many people, myself included, remember vividly. So this was quite an interesting concept, showing what happened to one man on that day.
Most people in the hotel (a surprising number of Russian children amongst them) were staying on an all-inclusive basis, and I had to stay half-board, which meant breakfast and dinner were included. The food was pretty terrible and the entertainment every night pretty cheesy, but the surroundings were lovely. The hotel had its own pool and a couple of private beaches. There were also water sports you could do - hiring yachts, wind surfers etc.
But the highlight was the ten minute walk around to the famous Blue Lagoon which was one of the most beautiful places I've seen - especially after 4pm when the day-trippers had gone and the residents had the place mostly to ourselves! The water in the lagoon is absolutely turquoise and just stunning - a few fish swimming around and I even saw an octopus one day!
The other benefit of only going to the lagoon in the early morning and late afternoon was that it was much cooler. The heat was intense and at the lagoon especially there was no shade from the sun, apart from hiring a sun umbrella.
Spent quite a bit of time on Comino reading and catching up on new music on my iPod. Really enjoyed the new books by Nick Hornby (A Long Way Down) and Ian McEwan (Saturday), both of which gave different views of London life. Saturday is set on the day of the big Anti War march in February 2003, a day which many people, myself included, remember vividly. So this was quite an interesting concept, showing what happened to one man on that day.
Malta Day Three
Made a quick visit to St John's Co-Cathedral this morning. Although I've seen enough churches in my travels to last a lifetime, I was glad I made the effort as the interior is truly spectacular. Lots of carved wooden walls and a floor which looked like playing cards all laid out. In a side room there were a couple of Caravaggios, including one of the beheading of St John the Baptist. It's pretty gory, but this guy sidled up to me when I was looking at it and asked whether I'd like to buy a copy of it. I said (in a polite way of course) that I thought it would be a terrible painting to have on your wall!
Caught the bus to the ferry at Cirkewwa next - it's a journey of about 90 minutes and was very hot! But it was really interesting to see the different towns. The buses are really only for local people and tourists doing day trips so it was a bit awkward carting luggage around. Independent travellers are not very common I guess!
At Cirkewwa, I took the Comino Hotel's boat over to the island. I'd booked into the Comino Hotel for three nights - the hotel is virtually the only building on the island so it promised to be nice and relaxing!
Caught the bus to the ferry at Cirkewwa next - it's a journey of about 90 minutes and was very hot! But it was really interesting to see the different towns. The buses are really only for local people and tourists doing day trips so it was a bit awkward carting luggage around. Independent travellers are not very common I guess!
At Cirkewwa, I took the Comino Hotel's boat over to the island. I'd booked into the Comino Hotel for three nights - the hotel is virtually the only building on the island so it promised to be nice and relaxing!
Malta Day Two
Was woken quite early this morning by fireworks - there was a Festa (Maltese festival day) at a town a couple of miles away) that had fireworks going when I arrived in Valletta about 6pm and went on until 11. The fireworks started this morning at about 8 and in fact were still going when I left Valletta on the Monday morning. I can only conclude that the Maltese love fireworks. They were very loud and not particularly spectacular.
After breakfast at the hotel, and looking at the area where the filming had gone on the night before, which was now a normal street, I walked around to the Malta Experience, an audio visual presentation of Maltese history. It was quite cheesey ("10,000 years ago Malta was formed...") and the English voiceover was done by Derek Jacobi, but it gave a good overview of the history of the country. This history consists mainly of getting invaded or attacked every couple of hundred years!
After sitting in the cool of the theatre for an hour, I spend a while walking around the city, vaguely following the Lonely Planet walking tour. Valletta is actually one of the world's first planned cities, overseen by Jean de la Valette, one of the Knights of St John who had settled on the island in the 15th century. He decided that the streets should funnel the sea breezes, that the streets should be relatively wide, and that each building should have a statue on the corner. Most of the buildings today still fit this pattern.
Wandered around for a few hours until I was overcome with the heat, had to sit down and have a couple of drinks and a sandwich, and later a nap!
Decided to go out to Mdina in the late afternoon - although I had told the driver where I wanted to go, the bus seemed to overshoot the town and I ended up a couple of miles down the road, the only passenger on the bus. Thankfully the bus turned around and deposited me at the gates to the city.
Mdina is also a fortified city, although quite a bit smaller than Valletta. It was much nicer in the cool (er) air of the late afternoon and most of the tourists had gone. I wandered around for a bit and took in the view out to Valletta, Sliema and Buggiba - half the island in fact! Had a drink and a cake at the Fontanella Tea Rooms which has the fabulous view, and later some dinner at the Xara Palace Hotel (somewhere I'd have liked to stay...). Caught one of the buses back to Valletta - thankfully it got me to where I needed to go easily!
After breakfast at the hotel, and looking at the area where the filming had gone on the night before, which was now a normal street, I walked around to the Malta Experience, an audio visual presentation of Maltese history. It was quite cheesey ("10,000 years ago Malta was formed...") and the English voiceover was done by Derek Jacobi, but it gave a good overview of the history of the country. This history consists mainly of getting invaded or attacked every couple of hundred years!
After sitting in the cool of the theatre for an hour, I spend a while walking around the city, vaguely following the Lonely Planet walking tour. Valletta is actually one of the world's first planned cities, overseen by Jean de la Valette, one of the Knights of St John who had settled on the island in the 15th century. He decided that the streets should funnel the sea breezes, that the streets should be relatively wide, and that each building should have a statue on the corner. Most of the buildings today still fit this pattern.
Wandered around for a few hours until I was overcome with the heat, had to sit down and have a couple of drinks and a sandwich, and later a nap!
Decided to go out to Mdina in the late afternoon - although I had told the driver where I wanted to go, the bus seemed to overshoot the town and I ended up a couple of miles down the road, the only passenger on the bus. Thankfully the bus turned around and deposited me at the gates to the city.
Mdina is also a fortified city, although quite a bit smaller than Valletta. It was much nicer in the cool (er) air of the late afternoon and most of the tourists had gone. I wandered around for a bit and took in the view out to Valletta, Sliema and Buggiba - half the island in fact! Had a drink and a cake at the Fontanella Tea Rooms which has the fabulous view, and later some dinner at the Xara Palace Hotel (somewhere I'd have liked to stay...). Caught one of the buses back to Valletta - thankfully it got me to where I needed to go easily!
working bee!
Want to see some photos of John and his friends laying a new path and building a deck? Click here for John's photo album on Flickr.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Malta day one
A bit delayed flying into Valletta today, but made it through ok. There's a regular bus service that runs from the airport into the city but it's in no way a shuttle! Many of the buses on Malta and Gozo are old British Leyland buses, yellow on Malta and grey on Gozo. Some are very old and rattly but great characters! Bus into the Valletta terminus took about 40 minutes.
Managed to find my hotel, the British Hotel, without too much trouble - I hadn't realised that Valletta is quite hilly and there are lots of steps! Found out later that it was one of the world's first planned cities - it's specially designed to withstand attack, but also the streets funnel the wind so there's a bit of a cooling breeze! There were meant to be statues on every corner when the city was built, and you can still see some of these today.
Great excitement at the hotel as the new Steven Spielberg film, Vengeance, about the 1972 Munich Olympics and the terrorists, was filming outside. From my perch (about four floors up - jeez I was glad there was a nice man to carry my bags up as there was no lift!) I watched for about an hour. Couldn't recognise anyone from that height, but allegedly Eric Bana and Daniel Craig are in the film. There was just one scene that they were shooting. I got a bit bored after an hour or so. Didn't see Speilberg himself - i guess he must delegate quite a bit of the scenes!
Went and had some pizza and a beer at the Cafe Deux Baronnes which has a fabulous view over the Grand Harbour and to the Three Cities. After dinner had a bit of a wander around, but Valletta gets quite quiet after dark (most people stay in Sliema etc.) so thought I'd be sensible and go back to the hotel.
Managed to find my hotel, the British Hotel, without too much trouble - I hadn't realised that Valletta is quite hilly and there are lots of steps! Found out later that it was one of the world's first planned cities - it's specially designed to withstand attack, but also the streets funnel the wind so there's a bit of a cooling breeze! There were meant to be statues on every corner when the city was built, and you can still see some of these today.
Great excitement at the hotel as the new Steven Spielberg film, Vengeance, about the 1972 Munich Olympics and the terrorists, was filming outside. From my perch (about four floors up - jeez I was glad there was a nice man to carry my bags up as there was no lift!) I watched for about an hour. Couldn't recognise anyone from that height, but allegedly Eric Bana and Daniel Craig are in the film. There was just one scene that they were shooting. I got a bit bored after an hour or so. Didn't see Speilberg himself - i guess he must delegate quite a bit of the scenes!
Went and had some pizza and a beer at the Cafe Deux Baronnes which has a fabulous view over the Grand Harbour and to the Three Cities. After dinner had a bit of a wander around, but Valletta gets quite quiet after dark (most people stay in Sliema etc.) so thought I'd be sensible and go back to the hotel.
Friday, June 17, 2005
sensible!
Bought myself a new hat and a long-sleeved shirt last night from M&S to protect myself from the heat of the Maltese sun. I fly out tomorrow morning from Gatwick on Air Malta and I'm staying for a couple of nights at the British Hotel in Valletta, the capital.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
uploaded!
At Simon's at the moment, uploading some new CDs onto my iPod. Birthday CDs include Fat Freddy's Drop, Belle & Sebastian, Arcade Fire, Tegan & Sarah and Hone Tuwhare. Also am adding on new Coldplay, Kathryn Williams and White Stripes.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
technical!
Today I've had a couple of blog-related successes. One of my colleagues, Megan, is part of a team of people (Nola's Strollers, named after the newborn daughter of one of the walkers) doing the TrailWalker challenge next month. TrailWalker is a 100km (63 mile) walk near Brighton - teams of four people have to walk together round the clock. It's a huge physical challenge and Megan wanted some help setting up the blog. I was happy to help and share my knowledge, which also included Flickr.
I also was able to work out how to set up a Links section (see the permanent section to your left) which involved inputting some HTML code - very technical and I'm delighted it works!
I also was able to work out how to set up a Links section (see the permanent section to your left) which involved inputting some HTML code - very technical and I'm delighted it works!
Friday, June 10, 2005
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Monday, June 06, 2005
te reo!
We have our 'CBK Academy' (basically a corporate-sounding Away Day) at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hampshire on Wednesday and, as part of the multi-cultural nature of our business and our people, I've volunteered to do my introduction on Maori. Had a bit of a hunt around on the net today and as I don't feel comfortable with translating a whole phrase that I've made up into Maori, I thought I'd just read out one nice sounding one to say to everyone. The bulletin board on Maori.org.nz has thrown up some good phrases so I'll be practising these tonight!
cute!
Recommended site from Fiona is Kitten War - not as horrible as it sounds, it pitches kittens against each other to which is the cutest.
spotted!
Helped Rupert Graves and his little boy through the turnstiles at Caledonian Rd tube station on Saturday. Sigh...
Friday, June 03, 2005
arty!
Visited a couple of exhibitions on Sunday. First of all I went to the National Portait Gallery which had an exhibition of the photos of Lee Miller, who seemed to know everyone and had a really interesting life. She was American, but lived in Paris, Egypt and London, becoming an accredited war photographer during WWII. She travelled to Paris and Germany after liberation, taking some chilling photos of Belsen and other concentration camps. After the war, she was friendly with Picasso and took many photos of him.
There was also an exhibition of photos of Frida Kahlo at the NPG, prior to the major exhibition of her work at Tate Modern later this year.
I also visited the Royal Academy and saw the Matisse, His Art and His Textiles exhibition which was very interesting, but very crowded! I think I've been spoilt with all the time I spend at Tate Britain during the Turner Whistler Monet exhibition, having the rooms to myself! But it was fascinating to read about Matisse collecting fabrics throughout his life and having a real knowledge and desire to use different patterns in his work.
There was also an exhibition of photos of Frida Kahlo at the NPG, prior to the major exhibition of her work at Tate Modern later this year.
I also visited the Royal Academy and saw the Matisse, His Art and His Textiles exhibition which was very interesting, but very crowded! I think I've been spoilt with all the time I spend at Tate Britain during the Turner Whistler Monet exhibition, having the rooms to myself! But it was fascinating to read about Matisse collecting fabrics throughout his life and having a real knowledge and desire to use different patterns in his work.
harmonic!
Saw the always great Ben Folds in concert at the Barbican last night. It was a rescheduled concert from last November when Ben had pneumonia and had to cancel the tour. This time he was only suffering from a cracked rib, caused by a freak luggage accident, and the ever-present fragile fingernails which have to be held on by bandaids, due to frenetic piano key pounding.
Here's a review of Tuesday's concert at the Hammersmith Apollo. It was very similar at the Barbican, including the musical version of Dr Dre's Bitches Ain't Shit which was simultaneously amusing and quite chilling as well, when we could hear all the vitriolic lyrics so clearly. The audience also all took part in some very enjoyable three part harmony singing, conducted by Ben.
Here's a review of Tuesday's concert at the Hammersmith Apollo. It was very similar at the Barbican, including the musical version of Dr Dre's Bitches Ain't Shit which was simultaneously amusing and quite chilling as well, when we could hear all the vitriolic lyrics so clearly. The audience also all took part in some very enjoyable three part harmony singing, conducted by Ben.
smouldering!
Kt and I went to see 'Blood Wedding' last night at the Almeida Theatre in Islington. The main attraction was not the Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, but Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal who played the smouldering lover, Leonardo. It was very interesting, quite poetic and symbolic. Here's what Michael Billington thought in the Guardian.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
wishing!
If you were interested, here's a link to my Amazon wishlist...
WARNING - this doesn't take you through to my personal wishlist apparently, so you'll need to search for my name or certain key words.
WARNING - this doesn't take you through to my personal wishlist apparently, so you'll need to search for my name or certain key words.
The photos are here!
I've mastered the technology and my photos are now posted on flickr - so just click on this photo to access them!
Applied Arts Museum, Budapest
Exterior of Applied Arts Museum in Budapest. Sadly it was closed, so I had to content myself with photographing the exterior!
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
The final chapter!
Went to see that final Star Wars Film "Return of the Sith" last night and really enjoyed it. Bits of it were sad as we expected, but we really enjoyed fighting Yoda as well as repeated sightings of the cloned Temuera Morrison!
Slovenia Day 7
After packing up and checking out, headed off to the Modern Galerija Ljubljana, the Slovenian Modern Art Museum. The museum is housed a in a pretty ugly building and the exhibits were kind of mysterious but it was good to see what Slovenian art was like! The main exhibition was a retrospective on Peter Weibel, who had some multi-media displays, moaning rocks and videoes of him getting blood drawn from his arm. Might have meant a bit more if I was Slovenian!
Had a wander around the city - there was some kind of bee festival at Stari Grad with some Slovenian musicians with giant wooden saxophones. So I bought some Slovenian honey!
Headed off to Ljubljana Airport with enough time to check it, sit in the sun and eat a sandwich and an icecream and drink a beer, as well as get a bit sunburnt. Also had a chat with an Australian woman who had been on the bus with me from Bled to Ljubljana.
Arrived back in London to find out that the Stanstead Express wasn't working, but they were charging the same ridiculous amount (£13.40 Stanstead to Tottenham Hale) for a replacement bus service!
Had a wander around the city - there was some kind of bee festival at Stari Grad with some Slovenian musicians with giant wooden saxophones. So I bought some Slovenian honey!
Headed off to Ljubljana Airport with enough time to check it, sit in the sun and eat a sandwich and an icecream and drink a beer, as well as get a bit sunburnt. Also had a chat with an Australian woman who had been on the bus with me from Bled to Ljubljana.
Arrived back in London to find out that the Stanstead Express wasn't working, but they were charging the same ridiculous amount (£13.40 Stanstead to Tottenham Hale) for a replacement bus service!
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