Life In These United Kingdoms

It’s just not cricket. Well, actually, it is.

2011-04-07T00:35:30Z

Some of the people Tim works with in Germany managed to get some cheap(ish £60) tickets to the fourth day of the 1st Pakistan vs England Test Match at Lords. Going to Lords being one of those things one must do while in London I fernangled myself one of the tickets.

Lords Cricket Ground

Since we were picking the tickets up at the ground we organised to meet out the front at 10 (an hour before play started) so we’d have plenty of time to get in. I also had to catch a flight to Berlin at about 7 or so that night (work related) and was going to have to miss the last session so made sure I got there right on time for a change. I was 2 minutes from the ground at about 9:55 when Tim rang saying that they’d just woken up and were still in the outskirts of northern London. Apparantly after we’d left the pub the night before they all went home and polished off a bottle of some form of Japanese moonshine and no one remembered to set an alarm. So I had to hang round outside the ground watching old men scalping for tickets (which was fairly amusing) and listening to the cheers as the final Pakistan wickets fell (which wasn’t) until they dragged their sorry arses over. Finally after about an hour and a half they turned up and we ended up missing the first 45 minutes of play. Bastards.

Anyway… Our seats were actually pretty good as you can see. Good view from the side of the pitch though we were a bit far. What was surprising was that even though there’s all these apartment blocks around the ground with great views of the pitch there was only one balcony with people watching the match. I would have thought they’d be packed. Though since the game was obviously heading for a draw and play was pretty lackluster maybe people just weren’t bothering.

Tim embarassed all of us by insisting on drinking tea rather than beer, making some weak excuse about his head pounding. Luckily he soon got his act together and started sinking down the pints as is expected in England. Had a good day overall despite getting in late and having to leave early. And it was good to see Tim again even though I knew I was seeing him the next weekend in Germany. We seem to always organise things so we’re swapping countries at about the same time. The last time he was coming to the UK I was in Berlin the day before he came over. And this time I was going back over to Berlin just before he went back to Mainz.

Took a whole bunch of photos of course. Wish I’d had my 300mm lens back then though so I could get some better close ups. Still came out pretty well I think. Got some one off photos and a few full ball sequences.

some bowling

some batting

a drive

another drive

fumble

whack

Greenwich

2006-07-05T19:34:19Z

Had Tim come over from Germany for the weekend at the start of June. Spent a lovely early summer sunday down at Greenwich around the Maritime Museum, Old Naval College, Park, Observatory and standing either side of the Prime Meridian going “I’m East!”, “You’re West!”. Hours of fun. And we got to catch the District Light Rail which is really just a glorified tram line, reminded me of home.

We picked a random direction after coming out of the tube station and soon came across the Cutty Sark, yet another old ship which has been preserved. So I had to take a photo.

From there we found some of those useful signs which point the way to where you want to go so were soon heading towards the Greenwich Observatory which was the goal of the trip. On the way we found various items of interest. Outside the Maritime Museum was a Harrier Jump Jet to mark its decommissioning later this year.

Was also various anchors and lifeboats and more maritime stuff. In the background is the Museum itself and The Queen’s House. She doesn’t live there.

You go through the archway and get your first glimpse of Greenwich Park. As it was a lovely summers day all the local lads were out with the shirts off running around and trying to look buff. It doesn’t generally work. You can see the observatory on top of the hill and tell that it’s not 1pm because the ball is at the bottom of the pole. Of course!

Around the corner was a statue of our beloved discoverer (well, if you don’t count the Dutch, or the native inhabitants) posing heroically. This was to prove most inspiring later on.

Up the top of the hill looking back towards the river. This gives one of the best views of London, albeit from quite a distance. You can see the city itself, Canary Wharf (or Torchwood Tower to those in the know) and the Millenium Dome all at once.

And after a long slog we finally had finally found our way to Greenwich Observatory. Here you can find out what the time is, how long things are and how high you are above sea level. Below you can see a small child being measured.

And here we have it, the main attraction, a line in the ground that bisects the hemispheres evenly. On the wall behind you can see a red line which marks where a laser is also shot out of the wall to mark it. On the left is some form of modern art which is there purely for people to queue up in front of and have their photo taken on the line.

However these people don’t seem to notice the fact that the line continues behind the sculpture (as you’d expect) and that there is no line for getting your photo taken behind it.

And here we have it, the climax of the trip.

Young Timothy Heroically bestriding the hemispheres.

And my good self doing the same.

Now we just need to find a way of getting ourselves here or here and get photos with a separate limb in each of the four hemispheres. Shouldn’t be too hard.
The observatory itself was also very interesting. They had the four timekeepers what Harrison made when he was solving the Longitude Problem. Not replicas but the actual clocks he made. There’s also an old observing room which is one of the few remaining internal examples of Christopher Wren architecture in London.

A380

2011-04-07T00:35:19Z

The first Airbus A380 to come to the UK landed in Heathrow today. Where I work at the 10 storey Vista Centre in Hounslow is right under the flightpath so we went up on the roof to watch it come in and take a few photos. It was a typical cloudy and hazy day in London so they’re not necessarily as clear as you’d hope

For those who need to know these things it was 004 F-WWDD, landed on the 18th May 2006 at about 13:18 (depending on the accuracy of the clock in my camera).

Here it comes

With accompanying lear jet

Just flying by

Approaching…

And landing

I don’t usually mention this with photos but in this case these photos are copyright © to Brendan Hack and can’t be used without permission and can’t be linked to from other websites. If you want to use them get in touch.

Hyde Park Pics

2011-04-07T00:35:43Z

Photos I took in Hyde Park with my new camera on the first day of good weather since I got here.

Australia, Australia, Australia, God bless her

2013-09-14T00:44:24Z

Well it’s almost the end of my little holiday back in Oz, well OK, not so little, I’ve been here 5 weeks now so I thought I’d put some pics up for y’all. After working for a week in Melbourne I went up to Canberra to see my friend Paul and get myself an ancestry visa. He’s got himself a small castle on the outskirts with a fantastic view from both the verandha and spa.

He’s also just 5 minutes from the Murrumbidgee River where there’s some great swimming holes for his kids.

After that I worked for another week then spent the last 2 weeks bludging around in Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, Daylesford and my parents house down in Paynesville in the Gippsland Lakes. Spent half an afternoon down at the Mornington Pier.

There’s a group of 7 sting/manta rays that live beneath the pier. They’re fed fresh fish twice a day by the locals so they don’t have to go looking for fish and get caught up in nets and lines. Looks like a lot of fun but I’m sure they wouldn’t let the general public feed them.

The last 4 days I’ve been at Paynesville staying with my parents at their holiday house. Well, technically it’s their full time house now but they split their time pretty much 50/50 between there and Mount Eliza. These are their views, garden, and how the place looks from the water.

Naturally there’s lots of birdlife around.

Black Swans

Sulfur Crested Cockatoos

Galahs

There’s Rainbow Lorikeets too but they’re usually just flying over and you only hear them, not get to take photos.

Spent today out on my parents boat, the Balboa Star

Luckily it’s in better condition than their neighbour’s one…

Heading across the lake to the Bunga Arm

A cormorant drying out on the markers

The Bunga Arm

Danger Will Robinson!

Over the other side of the sanddunes is a surf beach, and in the fine tradition of creative Australian place naming it’s called The Ninety Mile Beach.

After lunch we headed back out and went to Duck Arm and sat on the back of the boat drinking wine, eating cheese and trying to torture fish for the rest of the afternoon…

I’ve now just had one of the biggest t-bone steaks I’ve ever seen for dinner and am on my 3rd glass of wine. Must say I’m not looking forward to heading back to the UK in 3 days time…..

christmassy new year time

2013-09-14T00:40:05Z

It’s been a while since I’ve put anything up, probably cause not much has been going on. Happy New Year to those of you for whom it’s now New Year (most of the people who’d be reading this I assume) and I must say I’m quite happy to be away from the 40 degree + heat you’re all going through right now.

Didn’t have a white christmas over here unless you count the fact that it snowed on the Christmas Day Bank (public) Holiday (27th Dec) so I guess technically it was a white christmas. Christmas Day itself was bright and sunny and not too cold. Spent the day at Graham’s (guy I work with) place with him and some of his housemates eating and drinking. Typical Christmas Day really. Anyway on the snowy day we (me and Graham) went out to Windsor Castle. I had a good look around but didn’t find any evidence of reptilian activity (if you don’t know what I’m talking about there’s a quick summary here (and an interview here) but you should really read more David Icke (and here and here) to find out more about what’s really going on). Anyway the lack of reptiles was made up for with the little crowns hanging off the christmas tree, no photos of that since you can’t photograph inside the buildings which is suspicious in itself….. That and the fire of 1992 which burnt out most of the area where tourists are now allowed to go to. It’s all been remodelled now so it’s probably not suprising that I saw nothing, it all burnt away 13 years ago.

Enough of the conspiracy’s now for some photos

Garden in the castle showing that it really did snow.

It also snowed in Ealing but just as I was leaving so no snow pics from home.

St. George’s Chapel and the Changing of the Guard

The guards take far too long to change. We watched for about 15 minutes then got bored and went through the chapel. By the time we came out they were still changing over.

You’d think they wouldn’t have built one of The Queen’s homes under a flight path

Various castle pics

A big courtyard just outside the state apartments

They claimed there was a moat, there wasn’t. Very disappointing

And the castle from outside, looking back from the Eton side of The Thames.

The day after that I went down to Fareham near Portsmouth to see Matthew who was back from Germany for Christmas. Went out to an aussie pub (you can’t seem to get away from them over here) with him and a whole lot of his friends and spent some of the next day wandering round the docks in Portsmouth. Apparantly it’s the biggest naval port in Europe. They have a big historic section with lots of old boats and history around. Firstly there’s The Warrior which was the first iron clad warship in England. It runs under sail and steam and there’s a cool remote control model of it in the visitors centre, they don’t let you play with it though. Not sure if the real one moves any more or if they’ve concreted it in. They also have The Victory in dry dock which was Nelsons flag ship in the Battle Of Trafalgar. I think this one’s concreted in too pretty much. We didn’t have time to go on board either of them but did have a look at the remains of The Mary Rose which was one of King Henry VIII’s boats and was the first purpose built warship in England. It sank after about 35 years of use and was dug up again in the early 80′s. They’ve been spraying it continuously with water soluable wax for the past 13 years to preserve it and intend to keep spraying for a few more years until it’s air dried for 5 years and ready to be housed in a museum that’s not at 100% humidity. This should be sometime around 2012 which is the 500th anniversary of it’s launch.

Well wasn’t that a lot of boring facts. Only one more. This tower was planned as part of Portsmouth’s millenium celebrations. It only opened this year…..

OK, hope you all had a good Xmas and a fun New Years. Am heading out for mine tonight to some bar in Kensington with my housemate and some of her relatives and friends. Should be fun. Though the Tube staff are currently on strike, isn’t that reasonable of them. Luckily we’ve already booked our cab there and back.

Have fun all….

words of advice for … young people

2013-09-14T00:42:31Z

Lately, I’ve been giving thought to the fact that I’m building up all sorts of useful experiences and knowledge over here which I am duty bound pass on to you, those who will come over after me. I’m sure there’s all sorts of little pitfalls and problems which I could help you avoid. Just picture me in a large wood panelled room, reclining in a huge leather armchair in front of a roaring fire, looking resplendant in my smoking jacket and puffing contentedly on my pipe whilst all you little kiddies sit around my feet absorbing my waves of infinite wisdom. So in ripping of William S. Burroughs I present the first installment of an irregular column entitled:

words of advice for … young people.

Camden Market

Whilst in London you are no doubt going to want to get yourself the latest in leather corsetry or glow in the dark tentacled club wear. The natural place to go to get this is the huge markets in Camden Town. Now there’s all sorts of obvious advice I could give you here: keep a tight hold of your possessions and beware pickpockets; ignore the punks blocking the footpath over the bridge, it’s how they enjoy spending their afternoons so just walk around them, you may even want to give them beer money when they ask but don’t expect them to pose for photos; beware the nefarious gentleman selling smelly cigarettes, his mushrooms won’t go well in the stir fry you’re cooking for granny tonight. But you’re all smart people, you can work all this out for yourselves and this column is all about the things that aren’t obvious. You don’t need me telling you how to suck eggs.

However, if you’re feeling a bit peckish and could go a curry be careful at the market stalls. Whilst the curry itself looks, and is, very tasty, they also sell Naan bread. Now, like most right minded people, when I think of Naan it’s a large flat piece of fluffy, buttery bread. It has a nice crisp thin crust in some places around some nice chewy dough and if you’re lucky there’s some big air bubbles in there. It is most definitely not, and I don’t know how I can be more emphatic about this, not something that resembles a greasy flat croissant in both taste, shape and texture. It was a flat oval of pastry, not bread, pastry that seemed to have been dipped in grease both before and after cooking. More like they’d piled up sheets of filo pastry and deep fried it. If this ‘bread’ had ever been with 5 miles of a Tandoor I’ll go back to Camden and go chest to chest with the aforementioned punks. Absolutely ruined a perfectly good curry completing a meal with something like that. You’d think that in this country it wouldn’t be allowed.

So, when in Camden Town, remember only this mantra, avoid the Naan.

words of advice for … young people

ericle

2005-12-03T13:21:59Z

I miss my little eric so I just had to show her off to you all. Isn’t she cute!

I miss my other birds: barry, jackie and russell too. Hopefully jackie isn’t trying to kill barry any more.

thanks to nads for sending me the pics.

walkabout

2005-12-02T23:32:20Z

Well, finally did it.

You can’t be an Australian in London and not go to the Shepherd’s Bush Walkabout at least once. It’s just one of those things you’ve got to do. Well I’ve been there once, got the t-shirt (didn’t actually, could of, but didn’t). At least I can now go home and not be ridiculed but I’m not going there again unless it’s to take another one of you there. The place is a dive. Obviously they don’t think you can trust Aussies with glass cause everything comes in plastic.

Only got to do The Church one Sunday now. I’m sure it’ll be worse.

And there’s no way you’re getting me to drink a Snakebite.

Barcelona!

2005-12-01T22:01:24Z

Flew over to Barcelona last weekend to catch up with Tim and Jeff who are both now living in Germany. Yeah, I know, it might of been more sensible to go to a country that at least one of us was already in but given how freezing it is here (the week before was frosts every night and it’s snowing for them in Germany now) we thought we’d get together some place ‘warm’. Can’t believe I’m calling 11 degrees warm but even 8 feels warm after a week of around 5. Arrived late Saturday afternoon after a delayed flight then Jeff and I searched for the Hostel by the tried and true method of walking down random streets which looked about right. This almost worked and we only had to midread the directions once to find the place. Stayed at Kabul Hostel on Plaça Reial just off Las Rambala. One of the better hostels I’ve been in, actually has decent security and they serve dinner every night. Well, usually just pasta and cheese but it’s better than nothing before you get something decent (or at least try too). Went and wandered round a bit to find a snack and some coffee (my first decent purchased coffee since coming to this hemisphere!) while waiting for Tim to turn up. Then just went out and wandered round a few bars. Was good to actually be in a bar again as opposed to a pub, felt much more like at home apart from the Euro-Trash music being played. Yay for Plastic Bertrand! Actually the music wasn’t too bad, quite a bit of noise which is always good if you ignore the noise as the crap djs tried to mix between tracks. It seriously sounded like they were pulling leads in and out to mix between laptops.

Was woken up at 8am after about 3 1/2 hours sleep by stupid american women who had to catch a 9 o’clock train. “Wake up”, “What?”, “Wake up it’s 8 o’clock”, “In the morning?”. This from the same idiot who was turning the light on and locking herself out of the room at about 4:30. She eventually convinced her friend to let her sleep another 15 minutes so had to go through it all again then. We eventually got up and navigated the underground system out to the Temple de la Sagrada Família. It’s a new cathedral designed by Gaudí that has been under construction since 1882. It’s full of huge organic pillars and ceilings and some weird mixes of modern and ancient designs. The insides are full of scaffolding so you can’t see much and the outside is surrounded by cranes. There’s 12 huge bell towers but only 8 are finished and of course you can climb all the way up them. Unfortunately there was a lot of people (it was a Sunday) so it was pretty much 3 or 4 steps then wait a minute or 2 to get up there. You’ve also got to be careful going somewhere like this with 2 rockclimbers cause all they want to do is climb up the outside rather than the stairs.

After the Cathedral we went down to the gothic part of town (no goths there though) which was where Barcelona started and was walled in until only a couple of hundred years ago. This where I saw the Barcelona I’d imagined, all narrow streets where there’s never sunlight and people hanging off their balconies talking to people in the street.
At street level though it was mostly roller doors. Was a pretty small area all up and only takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end of it to the other. Finished the day wandering up Las Ramblas looking at the markets and watching people trying to pull the old pea and cup scam on the tourists. It only took about 30 seconds to work out who was in on the scam and didn’t see any marks get sucked in.

Went out for a Tapas crawl on Sunday night and was bitterly disappointed. Tried a tourist restaurant near the hostel which was pretty bad and a local place down in the gothic area which was worse. We weren’t feeling too inspired and the beer wasn’t going down too well so decided to find somewhere to have some tequila. Just around the corner we found a place called (surprisingly) Tequila which advertised itself as a Heavy Metal bar and listed heaps of metal bands on the board. The place was completely empty but we tried it out anyway and had a great time. They had headphones hanging off the bar but the music sounded better through the pa. So we spent the rest of the night drinking tequila shots and gin, requesting bands from the dj and talking with some of the local metal heads as they turned up. Went to sleep at about 4am, woke at 8 to go to the airport, still drunk, and saw some mountains from the plane.

If you’re interested Jeff has some more photos on his website.

Next adventure, going to Oxford next weekend for the work christmas party so will be spending Saturday around there. Then on Monday I’m off to Amsterdam but that’s only for the day, and for work, so I’ll probably only see the airport and inside an office.

have fun!