On of my good friends has just been putting the finishing touches on the second series of the cult engineering show ‘Mega Moves’ (‘Monster Moves’ in the UK). The series will be showing on National Geographic in the States and Channel Five in the UK. Checkout the trailer below – pretty cool eh?
View at youTube here
A rather blustery and wet evening led to the cancellation of the main Hogmanay Celebrations for 2006, but by the time midnight came the weather had calmed and the piper was able to play in the New Year.
By the morning of the second, the sky was as blue as could be out across the Firth of Fourth and our hangovers had just about receeded (though maybe not quite enough for a run on the beach…)
Categories: hogmanay, edinburgh, photography
The First of December and the tree has gone up in Bath. The Christmas Market by the Abbey is already doing a roaring trade too…
This week I´ve been in Madrid doing the final fieldwork for my PhD. On our Quixotic travels to interview local stakeholders about the credibility of the output from my model (more on that another time), we came across el Toros de Guisando. These guys have been here for over 2,500 years (though moved from their original scattered locations by the Romans) and have been characters in many a contested story…
CHAPTER XIV
WHEREIN IS CONTINUED THE ADVENTURE OF THE KNIGHT OF THE GROVE
Among the things that passed between Don Quixote and the Knight of the Wood, the history tells us he of the Grove said to Don Quixote, “In fine, sir knight, I would have you know that my destiny, or, more properly speaking, my choice led me to fall in love with the peerless Casildea de Vandalia. I call her peerless because she has no peer, whether it be in bodily stature or in the supremacy of rank and beauty.
…
Another time I was ordered to lift those ancient stones, the mighty bulls of Guisando, an enterprise that might more fitly be entrusted to porters than to knights. Again, she bade me fling myself into the cavern of Cabra – an unparalleled and awful peril – and bring her a minute account of all that is concealed in those gloomy depths. I stopped the motion of the Giralda, I lifted the bulls of Guisando, I flung myself into the cavern and brought to light the secrets of its abyss; and my hopes are as dead as dead can be, and her scorn and her commands as lively as ever.
To be brief, last of all she has commanded me to go through all the provinces of Spain and compel all the knights-errant wandering therein to confess that she surpasses all women alive to-day in beauty, and that I am the most valiant and the most deeply enamoured knight on earth; in support of which claim I have already travelled over the greater part of Spain, and have there vanquished several knights who have dared to contradict me; but what I most plume and pride myself upon is having vanquished in single combat that so famous knight Don Quixote of La Mancha, and made him confess that my Casildea is more beautiful than his Dulcinea
…
Don Quixote was amazed when he heard the Knight of the Grove, and was a thousand times on the point of telling him he lied, and had the lie direct already on the tip of his tongue; but he restrained himself as well as he could, in order to force him to confess the lie with his own lips; so he said to him quietly, “As to what you say, sir knight, about having vanquished most of the knights of Spain, or even of the whole world, I say nothing; but that you have vanquished Don Quixote of La Mancha I consider doubtful; it may have been some other that resembled him, although there are few like him.”
Categories: Madrid, Quixote, story, photography, Spain
I’ve finally got round to tidying up and completing the photos page of my website. Click on the map markers and photos taken at those locations will appear below the map. Use the links above the map to navigate. It may take a while to load first time (so be patient) and you will need JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It took a little while to get to grips with the Google Maps API, but by viewing and ‘borrowing’ code from other websites (London Satellite Photo Map was particularly helpful) I got there in the end! Go check it out! Comments? – leave them here by clicking below.
Categories: photos, photography, googlemaps
Bristol 15-9 Sale
I finally made it to my first Bristol Rugby game of the season last night. It was pretty old-school affair against Sale – the rain persisted down all game making handling tricky, confining the ball to the forwards which worked to Bris’ benefit in the end. Plenty of catching and driving from lineouts. Not a try in sight – though Bris’ should have scored during a period of extended possession and territory soon after half-time. In the end it was a battle of the kickers, and our new Kiwi man (after a dodgy start) kicked us to victory!
So then it was off to the pub to dry off with a couple of pints of Badger and Fursty Ferret in the excellent Upton Inn… Quality.
England’s loss to the All Blacks on Saturday reminded me of an email I sent over a year ago from New Zealand, detailing my adventures on the day after the Lions first crushing defeat of their tour. I’ve posted it here for posterity…
Sunday 26th June 2005
Hi Guys! Only me. I know what you’re thinking; “Oh No, it’s that boring bloke on the other side of the world with another email the length of my arm rambling and ranting about rubbish…”. Don’t worry this one’s shorter (maybe) but definitely has more pictures.
The Skytower: Auckland’s newest landmark and the tallest human-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere (does that make it the shortest in the Northern Hemisphere?). The Skytower is your point of reference for navigating this city, you can see it from pretty much everywhere and it always seems to be lurking in the background somewhere. Look at the first pic of the University of Auckland Clock Tower.
Quite nice eh? But there’s the Skytower loitering in the background trying to steal some of the limelight. And then here’s me, an honest Geographer trying to improve my botanical knowledge of the local flora and there’s the lanky thing looming in the wings again.
So nursing my Sunday hangover (I had a lot of sorrows to drown on Saturday evening – but let’s not talk about the Rugby, I’ve heard enough already) and seeing from under the covers that it was a nice day I thought I’d go and see what the view was like. As with all really-tall-landmarks-in-big-cities-that-you-have-to-go-up-to-see-what-the-view-is-like, and because you’re always noting it from afar, when you get to the bottom you HAVE to look UP. Case in point;
As you’ve paid your money and climbed all the way to the top (well actually you took the lift didn’t you?) you may as well check out the view. A prime here, as Auckland’s Harbour bridge basks in the evening sun and a flotilla of sailing boats bob in the foreground (Auckland is the “city of sails” doncha know?). Very pretty.
Then you think, “Doesn’t Auckland sprawl an awful lot” (sorry to go on about it). The harbour’s nice, you can see for miles ‘cos its a nice day and you can see a couple of old volcanoes hanging out in the background. Then you start daydreaming ‘cos you really can’t think straight after last night and you try to take some fancy reflexive-type photos to reflect how really spaced out everything feels. But there’s something missing…
No matter, lets mess aroung taking some night shots. You’re no Hannes Opelz; but who’d want to be? you chuckle to yourself.
Jeez this is a bad hangover. Not as bad as we played last night though. What are those people doing in that window?
So in the lift on way back down I got chatting to the girl who clearly saw my photographic prowes when she asked me to take her photo with Auckland as backdrop (“OK, where’s the loser wandering aimlessly around in a daze and won’t mind taking my photo” she was more likely to be thinking to herself; she knew she’d struck gold when she saw me). She asked me what I thought of the view; the sound of cogs grinding echoed around the lift as I struggled to string a sentence together (we really did play badly didn’t we? But those sorrows didn’t have an chance even in the “city of sails” and its many life-bouys). And then it dawned. It’s a good view from the top. Auckland looks nice in the sunset on a nice day. And the city-scape at night is cool.
But the thing that is missing is the thing you’re stood in. The Skytower is nowhere to be seen and you’re free of that feeling that there’s someone looking over your shoulder. At least that’s what I thought. I’m not sure what the noises coming out of my mouth sounded like…
Categories: NewZealand, Auckland, skytower, photos, rugby,
So I’ve finally finished this summer’s compilation, the fourth in a growing series. Music I was listening to and a reflection what the summer was like for me. The subtitle? That’s due to a summer spent in isolation trying to break the back of a PhD thesis whilst trying not think about people a long way away… How was it for you?
Here’s the tracklist for those of you lucky enough to receive a copy.
| # | Artist | Title | Length |
| 1 | Blowers | LovelyDay | 0:21 |
| 2 | Grandaddy | Underneath the Weeping Willow | 2:40 |
| 3 | Jack Johnson | Better Together | 3:27 |
| 4 | Black Eyed Peas Ft. Jack Johnson | Gone Going | 3:13 |
| 5 | Blowers | MontyPython | 0:18 |
| 6 | Devendra Banhart | At The Hop | 2:14 |
| 7 | Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly | Once More With Feeling | 2:04 |
| 8 | Jose Gonzalez/Massive Attack | Teardrop | 8:23 |
| 9 | Hot Chip | Crap Kraft Dinner | 6:34 |
| 10 | Faithless | Crazy English Summer (Brothers On High Remix) | 6:24 |
| 11 | Blowers | Wicket | 0:27 |
| 12 | Maxence Cyrin/Felix | Don’t You Want Me | 2:51 |
| 13 | Diplo | Sonar 2006 Mix | 6:31 |
| 14 | NERD | Rockstar (Jason Nevins Remix) | 3:49 |
| 15 | Blowers | AssemblingForBattle | 0:05 |
| 16 | Pendulum | Masochist | 4:56 |
| 17 | Blowers | Pigeon | 0:44 |
| 18 | Aspects | We Get Fowl | 3:17 |
| 19 | Queen | I’m Going Slightly Mad | 4:22 |
| 20 | Blowers | WalkingOnWater | 0:30 |
| 21 | Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly | The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager Pt 1 | 4:06 |
| 22 | Israel Kamakawiwo’ole | Somewhere Over The Rainbow | 4:49 |
| Total Tracks: 22 | Generated by MediaMonkey |
[If you want a copy email me]
Categories: music, summer, tracklist, direction_not_destination, crazy, 2006
Arsenal 2 – 0 Porto
I went to the Arsenal vs. Porto Champions League game on Tuesday (tickets courtesy of Mark; cheers mate!) at the spanking new Emirates Stadium. Our view (top) was similar to that of the game I managed to get to at the Bernabau in Madrid a few years ago (bottom), but dare I say we weren’t quite as close to the action (the seats in Spanish stadium sit almost vertically on top of one another).
As for the football, it felt all very ‘continental’ and refined — a little different from the standard fare I was brought up on at Ashton Gate. Considering there wasn’t a single English player on the pitch until the last 5 minutes that’s not really suprising though I suppose. Good game, but it’s just not the same emotional experience as going to see your own team play. For one, you can look at the game more objectively; Mark with his rose-tinted Arsenal glasses on was not impressed by some of my analysis…
Categories: Arsenal, Porto, Emirates, Stadium, Bernebau, football, soccer, photos
Polish admirers of Banksy [who has been getting up to more of his antics, this time in LA. Pictures here]
Direction not Destination 