Mid way through the conference I’m attending and we had a dinner out this evening Magdelene College taking punts to get there. Quite surreal as I’ve never been to a dinner before which has been so fun to get to.
Monthly Archives: September 2007
Kings Cross – Platform 9 ¾
Passing through King’s Cross station to take the train to Cambridge I was amazed to find that they have actuall installed a sign labelled Platform 9 ¾. What’s more they’ve mounted part of a luggage trolley underneath the sign as if its disappearing into th ewall. I can see in years to come this be a compulsory stop for Harry Potter fans visiting London.
Day 5 Cycling Tour Ireland
The last day of our holiday and our stay at the San Antonia. Up early this morning we had a wander around Kinsale before putting our bikes on the bus to get to the airport. With a plane to catch we didn’t want to miss our flight due to mechanical failure.
Needless to say we ended up arriving there very early and spent quite a while sitting around. Getting our bikes on the plane was much more civilised than Gatwick. The large item check in desk was right at the end of the check ins and all we had to do was let down our tyres a bit. No need to wrap it up like at Gatwick just deflate the tyres.
Arriving at Gatwick wasn’t too much hassle either. We soon had our bikes and were pedalling off to find my father’s car.
Day 4 Ireland Cycle Tour
The last proper day of our cycling holiday unfortunately. We decided to cycle down to the the Old Head of Kinsale and have a look out over the area where the Lustinana was went down.
Again a mix of weather; wind, sun and showers again and again. It explains why the land is so green in this part of the world. My father managed to lose his sweater on our trip down to the Old Head. It was a nice ride, through open country side unfortunately the Old Head is now a golf course so it isn’t possible to get down to the end. We did get to wander round a tower though overlooking the sea which was nice.
On the way back we picked up my father’s jumper and then lunched at Sandy Bay were a party of sea kayakers were also lunching. After lunch a few miles and we were back to the bridge across the bay to Kinsale where we took an excursion to have a look at James Fort and pick blackberries before heading back to Kinsale.
We had hoped to do the Ghost walk this evening but unfortunately at the end of September they stop doing it on a Tuesday night so unfortunately we missed. Anothe early night after a tiring day.
Day 3 Cycle Tour Ireland
Today a much more relaxed day. Off we set along up inland along the Brandon River. Relatively flat with a bit of a breeze. Mix of weather with sunshine, showers and wind one after another but quite pleasent.
When we got back to Kinsale we took a boat ride around the harbour.
Day 2 – Cork, Ireland Cycling Trip – Up and over to Kinsale
The first proper day of our cycling tour. We managed to get be on our way about 9 am having taken breakfast at the youth hostel. The centre of Cork was relatively flat with little traffic being a Sunday. Unfortunately the flat bit ran out rather quickly and we found outselves climbing a first small climb only to find ourselves descending towards a river.
Onwards we pressed following the signs to the airport. We were surprised to find that after only cycling 5 miles we found our turn off to Grange on the N27. If only we realised which would have been the quick route we would have saved ourselves a lot of time. Further onwards and up a side road running parallel to the N27 we found ourselves climbing above it. Very soon it was a first get off and push session up a steep hill with our pannier bags.
Finally the road levelled off with us still above the air port. Then the fun began with our first descent down to another river. By this point I was begining to pick up that the cstate of country roads around Cork is not as good as those in England. Something I was to find the guidebook warned about.
On the climb out of the valley was the first amusing sight of our trip. Someone had taken to painting on some polythene coated bales; “These are serious bales like”. We continued onwards and stopped off at a Statoil Garage for lunch, were I was surprised to find that they served smoothies. Needless to say it featured as part of my lunch along with a couple of Marlow’s Stinger bars.
Sign posts in Ireland appear to be a bit of a rarity and a little confusing. First off there aren’t enough of them to navigate with, a good map is essential to work out which way you should be going given sparsity of signs. It appears to be easier to find a company than it is to find a place. Attached to most of the road signs were signs for B&B’s, garden centres and shops which appeared to better sign posted than places. The other confusing thing was that it appeared that some of the road signs were in km and the older ones I think were in miles. However that was all guessing.
This all explains why the German girl we met on her bike was rather lost as she couldn’t find any signs on where to go. Digging out the map the best directions we could give her was go along the road, turn left where it says golf course, given that her destination wasn’t sign posted, and head straight on.
Carrying on ourselves we came across an old mill with a sign outside with information on the Battle of Kinsale with, a rather mysterious to us, lables of the English Camp and the Irish Camp.
Onwards up another hill and another sign for Battle of Kinsale.  On a bit further and then downhill into Kinsale. Next bit was quite important, finding somewhere to stay the night. Having found somewhere to stay it was off to stop for an afternoon tea whilst we waited for the room to be readied.
No lemonade in stock so it was back to hot chocolate, cream and marshmallows. We had a bit of a wander round the the town before dropping off our bags and then heading up to have a look at Charles Fort.
Charles Fort was quite interesting in that it has a partner fort across the bay up at James Fort. Charles Fort was only stopped being used as a fort when it was blown up by the IRA in the 1920’s so it was full of buildings much like Edinburgh Castle.  Some quite impressive views over the bay from the castle which was lucky enough to have a square rigged sailing ship passing by. After that back to where we were staying and after dinner an early night having a little over 20 miles by bike.
Day 1 – Cork, Ireland Cycling Trip
Well we made it to Ireland in one piece and my bike’s still in working order.
We’ve had some fun and games though. We arrived at the airport, found the check in and wrapped our bikes up and then found they were supposed to go somewhere else. A bike is pretty easy get about on it’s own too wheels but have wrapped it up it becomes a very awkward piece of luggae.
Next I found I found my toiletries are supposed to be in a small clear bag. Amazing I haven’t travelled by plane for two and half years and missed all these fun and games. Not much a problem apart from my King of Shaves Gel. Trust my luck to have something bigger than 100ml.
Off went my sister to find me a bottle from Boots. It’s amazing how much empty bottles at airports cost. Then we found that King Of Shaves Gel doesn’t exactly flow. So we are there standing in the queue trying to squeeze it out into an empty bottle. Normally I have the pleasure of doing it over the course of half a year rather than in the space of 5 minutes but we got most of it. Have to say being three hours early at the airport is cutting things a little fine nowadays. Continue reading Day 1 – Cork, Ireland Cycling Trip
St. Andrews 14-18 September
Having had first class train journey from Leuchars to Edinburgh station I hopped out of the train to find the sky was grey and it was raining again. First stop was the tourist information office to try and find out was on. Unfortunately it was more geared up to the visitor that was going to stay rather than the casual day tripper. Having found this I decided to head straight for the Scottish National Gallery to find out what exhbitions that had on.
Next stop was the exhbition of engravings by William Blake. It was a surprise to find that William Blake, famous for his poetry, was also an accomplished engraver. It always suprises me how detailed engravings are and that it was all done without the aid of modern digitisers.
The previous time I had been up I had managed to catch a very interesting exhibition at the Dean Gallery of Cartier-Bressons’s work. This time I found two exhibitions that caught my eye. The first was the Andy Warhol exibition and the second one of engravings by William Blake.
Two exhbits of the Andy Warhol exhbition really stood out to me. The first was the silver clouds installation. Large silver pillow like helium ballons have ben allowed to room a room aided by a couple of fans. The ballons are of varying bouyancies so some float, others rest on the floor and other hover and are taken by the fans on circuits of the room. It was very interesting seeing the reflections of the room in the ballons as they roamed about. One had managed to escapeto the room next door without the netting to shepherd it. The second exhbit that really caught my eye was the series of Screen Tests that were playing. Watching the slowed up film where a blink of an eyelid was really noticable and the slow change of expression quite easily explains how these might have been mistaken for stills. Others items that I remember are the Pop Art works of Marilyn Moroe produced after her death the sequence of pictures featuring Jackie Kennedy after the assasination of JFKand the series of photographs stiched together like books.
Fopp still exists. I thought they had all disappared but no, at least one still exists up in Edinburgh and parted me from some of my money. Idecided to by Paulo Nuttin’s album (not the one with live from the Isle of Wight seeing as I was there instead), The Editors new album and Emma Pollocks as they were playing it in the shop and it sounded good.
CEX was a quick stop to buy Libery City Stories.
At the Scottish Potrait Gallery I popped into look at in at had a look at the exhbition of Crayon paintings and
Photos of India. I was amazed at the Crayon paintings as at first glance I would have mistaken them for oils with the subtlety of the rendering of the subjects.
The Photos of India were also fascinating with the renditions of India in the 1800’s before the photographic camera became mainstream. The size of the some of the temples was very impressive.
Whilst wandering up the Royal Mile I spotted a sign for an exhbition on Antartica at the Scottish Poetry Library. It was quite strange wandering round a place dedicated to poetry that was so different from the likes of the Poetry Cafe in London with instead of works being read they had been gathered so they could be borrowed.
The exhibition itself was scattered around the library consisting of photos of Antartica with stiched on pieces of paper representing books. On the maps these formed trails perhaps of where the creator had been on her travels in Antartica. It was strange looking at how blue, white and dark the photos were. It is strange to think of a landscape where these are the dominant colours.
I also had a look at the small Police Museum and its story of the Edinburgh police force. Quite surprising the story of the forger who made his own coins.
The Museum On the Mound was a last minute spot of mine before I needed to head for the train station. Certainly it was intriguing to find that HBOShad dedicated a museum to its history. A very different story is told there compared to the Bank of England Museum. There it is much more about what the Bank does today and what money is. The Museum on the Mound I found was much more caught up in how the various banks in Scotland had been involved with the development of the country and its seperate history to that of England despite the Act Of Union.
Whilst taking the train south I glimpsed out of the window the Angel of the North. It was certainly striking seeing it watching those departing the North for the South. Perhaps next time I might visit it and see what vista it gazes out upon.
East End Cycling 9 September
For my birthday my sister booked me onto an East End Cycling tour. So it was on a bright Sunday morning after having gone to Proms In The Park that I set off from my sisters flat in Bayswater on my bike to Islington. The sight of the large number of bikes chained up gave away where we supposed to meet up. After having a cup of tea we set off. Quite a varied bunch of people with a wide range of bicycles including one person who had hired one for the day.
Cycling along the canel path our bikes produed a strange rumbling sound. It took me a while to work out what was causing. What gave it away was the abbreviation CEGB on the concrete slabs making up the nice canel path. Obviously it along the canel are running electricity cables in a conduit under the canel path. A little less exicting than I would have like to have thought.
On our way we passed one of the house used as the home of the Channel 4’s Big Breakfast. Quite strange to think that it was on TV when I was at school over ten years ago but its still a feature. The area behind it has been ear marked for the Olympic games so its rather quiet location may well disappear with all the new development going on.
Arriving in Canary Wharf by bicycle was a novelty as I’ve always turned up there in the past via the tube and the DLR. Got a better feel as to that there is something there =
rather than just offices.
Going past the ExCeL centre was quite interesting for the warships moored up with the sea cadets out in their dinghys sailing past it. Guess it must have been an arms fair =
about to start there.
We had a stop off at 3 Mills Island which is now mainly a television study. Unfortunately whilst we were there one of the group who had popped off to Tesco’s had his bike stolen sadly.
The Lunch stop was at an old American Diner imported from the US at the old Trinity House training and maintenance site. More fascinating than the diner was the homes that had been built out of containers. Quite strange to see containers with windows in them for a change. Some were balanced quite precariously. On the other side of the river had a good look at the Dome at eye level.
Final stop of the day was the The Narrow Boat for a drink before heading back home.
Have to say chatted the most to Sue, an accountant living up in Wandworth and working in Lambeth. Certainly the most interesting of the lot and quite a keen cyclist. Unfortunately for me she’s already got a boyfriend. Ce la vie.
An interesting day revealing parts of London that I didn’t even know about.
Proms In The Park
Dick and Dom seemed very childish with their antics trying to marshall the crowd.
Was quite suprised to find T-Rexstasy playing at Proms In the Park.
 Had a good time and even treated myself to a pair of bunny ears. All I need to do now is to hold of a copy of the photograph from Frances to post.