J9 Blog

Me and the NZ Prime minister

I like Helen Clarke (NZ prime minister). I saw her once, in the flesh, on the shores of Lake Taupo.  According to this bit of meaningless, but amusing, celebrity matching face recognition software,- my facial characteristics most resemble HELEN.  At 71% similarilities.  The program to do it is at www.myheritage.com . The results all depend on the photos you pick. When I did it with Claire in the UK I was mainly found to match male celebrities ! Personally, I think it was the fishermans' friends earrings that swung the results and without them...I would have matched Evangeline Lily much more....HA!

By popular demand- the Mother!

As I visited with friends during my UK/European travels(who had stayed in Perth and thus met Mum and Peter) , they were all interested in knowing how they both were.  Well, while trawling through my photo archives, I  just found some important photos that were meant to be posted some months ago!  Here we all are celebrating Mum's birthday at the Yeppoon (Claire- the Summer Bay town)  ice cream parlour. 

small but important details-look for the Australian flags!; Grant (the brother) look for the date stamp on the photo!

Lunch time here and I want a Paris lunch!

This is the lunch that Claire and I had during our day bike tour.  The setting was the gardens in front of The Lourve. The lunch we shared a salad and Spinach and Ricotta Quiche. Oh My. Quiche on a new level...... 

8 hours cycling the streets of Paris!

As mentioned before Claire and I did two of the Fat Tyres bike tours of Paris. We cannot recommend these English language tours highly enough. At around 24 Euro (we got a discount on the night tour, for doing the day tour...), and 4 hours each, they are great value and a highlight of our Paris visit. The same company also runs them in Barcelona and Berlin.

The brother questioned in a previous post if I meant bicycle tour when I said bike. Yes, indeedy. They are really comfortable (best seat!!), have great gears (3), and Paris in the city centre is delightfully flat.  The tour offers some thrills (no spills!) apart from the glorious scenery too- as with a group of 20 bikes you get away with taking over lanes of traffic etc.

Here is proof I got on the bike...I am in front of a Paris peace memorial (the posts say Peace in most major World languages)...looking inspired as a looked back at Napolean's tomb (the speccy building shown)  which looked glorious on this beautiful autumn sunny day.  We also have a picture of Claire on the night tour. THis is ALL the safety equipment we had. NO bike lights or helmets...just the reflective vest! To be honest my bike riding in Amsterdam was more dangerous. 

Break in Travel Transmission: Overdue Ode to Peter’s specially shaped pieces of wood.

There are important photos from my Family Affair (of which/whom? Peter is the Skipper) sailing sojourn that have not yet been blog-shared.  Peter as inventor of the Langsford SheepCrush ( and accompanying hat range) is known to be the creative/fix it type. One of his specialties is the specially shaped piece of wood. If you can shape a piece of wood to fit flush into its needed place it can achieve much.  For example, said shaped piece of wood could hold very fine muslin cloth in place of the main doors of a boats’cabin to create an elaborate and elegant insect screen, ….or it could allow the ultimate on-board solar shower experience.

The concept of the solar-heated shower while boating is not new.  The power of the Australian sun very quickly heats up a bag of several litres of fresh water.  BUT If the bag (with shower head attachment) is then hung in the right place, AND a specially placed piece of wood holds open the boats main bathroom/heads hatch and holds the shower nozzle in perfect position then it is possible from below deck to turn your hot shower on…..then a real shower of 1-2 minutes can be taken in privacy. The Specially Shaped piece of Wood- I commend  it to you

Good taste photos attached of the shower experience…they show me turning the shower on- with my characteristic arm/hand poses (Grant! The ghost of COCO!!)

 

Bed and Breakfasting in the The Lake District, North England

The Lake District, also known as Cumbria,  is one of the most frequently visited weekender/holiday spots in England. It is picturesque country side, mountains, lakes, streams and walking trails etc. Claire and I visited there for Sat/Sun two weekends ago.

I had heard of the area from former UK residents, and most excitingly...from Elizabeth Bennett's visit their with her Aunt and Uncle in Pride and Prejudice, where she bumped into Mr Darcy! OK, have stopped swooning and am back.

I have photos of the counryside and sights, including churches from the 1500's etc to be posted later but at the moment we have me, with a FULL English breakfast. It was good!

Trucker style hat goes to another international iconic shopping centre

Last year it was the trip to the MALL OF AMERICA with Grant and Sarah....this year its off to Greater Manchester's Trafford Centre with Janine and Claire.

You know that a shopping centre (mall in America) is seriously big, when they have a 'plan your journey' section on their website! Oh and I have just discovered I COULD download a year planner on 2006's activities at the TC....think I might not.

Lets compare some facts:

Trafford Centre- 280 stores, 38 restaurants, 20 screen UCI cinema and fantastis leisure facilities all under one stunning roof!

Mall of America-525 stores- all in one undercover mall (the largest in USA), 40 eating places, and a 15-screen cinema complex, bowling alley, underwater world, and contains an amusement park (Camp Snoopy) at its centre

Oh- Fancy that! the one in the USA is bigger (and scarier!).  The Trafford Centre in its main dome area where the light (even if it is grey outside) filters in, is really quite elegant.

Other thing these photos show: that one year on I still look shocking wearing the cap and Claire continues to look much better in the Langsford SheepCrush Hat than I.

Mobile Blogging 5: Schipol Airport Amsterdam

You have got to love a city that has this level of cheese displays at their airport . The way Europeans buy food before international fights takes a while for a customs -abiding, West Australain to get used to ! They had good samples for tasting in the store too ! I am in transit to Manchester and then stay in UK for a couple of days before heading onto asia. Early next week i start my stay with my singapore family and the good people ,good food, good tea times continue . I am also looking forward to my australian dollar going further and ....warmth . I was very lucky with Amsterdam weather and got to see the lovely canals in grey mist , sunshine and sparkling at night . Ellen was lovely to stay with and thoughtfully considered the type of things i would like to see . She choose well . Bonus of going back to Berry household...internet access . So quality of bloging should improve.

Mobile blogging 4: Amsterdam

More thwarted internet access so more mobile bloging ! What are you thinking with this image ....dutch maybe ? Its the end of my second full day in Amsterdam staying with my friend Ellen . Back to north England Tommorow . Today I went to two of Amsterdam's best art galleries and saw more great art . I was particularly moved by the Van Gogh gallery with hundreds of his works and inscriptions telling his story . I found it very poignant and have bought a book to learn more about his faith , his amazing art and his struggle with his mental health. All topics of interest to me . a beautiful fine day today around 18C, i think.

Mobile Blogging 3: Paris

Ok this is my proof of Lourve visit . People take photos everywhere but this is as dodgy as i was willing to get . So art buffs it is ....the Winged Victory of Samothrace . Stunning . I am mobile bloging this from paris airport . On my way back to liverpool to get on a plane to amsterdam...that was much cheaper, than doing the sensible thing and getting a train (4 hours) to Amsterdam.... . News on that later ! Au revoir