12February2008
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source; Travel & Leisure.
Richard Hawley provided entertainment on Friday night. Think Morrissey blended with Edwyn Collins - great voice and if he hadn’t gone into music he would’ve been a good stand-up comedian.
The Hacienda was a nightclub in Manchester and is spoken about in oft-reverent terms by those who attended it and even by those who never did. The girl and I visited an exhibition detailing the club and its history at the impressive Urbis on Saturday. Its difficult to see what all the fuss was about though the interior was pretty radical and it attracted a number of famous faces, seemingly on numerous occasions.
Back in the land of geekdom and not one but two Fedora wiki upgrades have taken place. The current wiki has been upgraded to Moin 1.6 and at the same time has been converted to Mediawiki. This is great news - I was whinging about the speed of the wiki yet again on IRC last week as it took about one minute for a small page edit to update. I can’t emphasise this enough - moin sucks harder than a whole cluster of black holes.
Lastly an email from my brother entitled “Look what [I] just installed”:
…Ubuntu Linux…
I have found the way out of The Matrix.
Will let you know how I get on.
It brought a tear to my eye…
17December2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
I’ve dispensed with the music titles. Topical ones are punchier and drop you head-first into the blog of the moment.
So to the Canary Islands. We arrived and within half-an-hour of docking were standing on our heads drinking beer upside down. The spanish soon realised the British had arrived. The evening slowly descended into chaos as I stood out as the only sober person in a group of 50 british sailors. However we ended up after a fairly intensive search of Las Palmas in a restaurant which featured an organist playing covers of all the classics. A group of germans in one corner frowned their intense disapproval as we sang God Save The Queen on exiting.
The next day was something of a come-down. I met Shaun on the dockside and we departed, having said our goodbyes to our companions of the last ten days. Almost to a man, everyone was flying that day or staying on the boat. Stavros was departing for a week-long sail around the islands and although we would see it over the next day or so as we walked about Las Palmas by Thursday it had gone.
Its hard to write kind words about Gran Canaria. The good parts were the constant warm weather and … thats pretty much it. If ever there was a case of utter destruction through rampant tourism I believe this is it. The place must have been kind of interesting before it became a seedy tourist hell-hole. It is supposed to be the island of four seasons. Sometimes the volcano peak is snow-capped, the north has rain and rainforests to match and the south is year-round sunshine. It even has its own mini-desert next to one of the beaches. Instead after stepping off the boat we were immediately greeted with a six lane motorway and a McDonalds - nice.
We did what we could when we quickly realised we had made a mistake booking our flight four days afterwards. We went sailing (twice) and even found one of the island’s better resorts - Puerto de Mogan (twice). The best experience on the island was the ferry trip (twice) where you are given Sangria and taken in close to the shore to watch schools of fish feeding through the glass-bottom boat. We also found a good curry house (twice).
Other than that my best advice is steer well clear. I have never been more amazed that an entire tourist destination could do the job of tourism so badly and have never been more glad to be home. Maybe I’m becoming less of a traveller than I used to be or just get cranker, quicker. Maybe I’m turning into the whinging pom those Aussies warned me about. All I know is that I’m probably never going to go back to the canaries and I really don’t care. Which I never thought I would ever say.
11December2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Manchester Airport at any time isn’t pretty and two salty sea dogs (okay, one salty sea dog and me a dachshund tasting a bit briny) were sat waiting for the gate to be called. I am as yet unable to comprehend the sheep mentality of people who form an orderly but lengthy queue to board the plane and then cant wait to be off when it lands. Thankfully Shaun felt the same way and we sat until every other person had boarded then calmly handed over our boarding passes. The flight gave us chance to digest the breakfast that we had purchased and instantly regretted at the airport and after a couple of hours the Mediterranean drifted into view and we touched down in Malaga.
Its not a bad spot despite being the arrival point for the Costa del Whatever and we had a good tour of the harbour, excitedly pointing out channel markers and ships that had failed to appropriately communicate their status and intentions. This after checking into the hotel of course. We headed back to our lodgings for an early night due to the long bus ride to Gibraltar the next morning but not before taking in the delights of the roof-top spa and sauna. The chance to self-flagellate with birch branches was sadly lacking.
I’m not a fan of buses but the trip to Gibraltar was one of the better ones. A coastal route took us past the places famous from guide book including the dreaded Torremolinos and we arrived at La Linea bang on time. We took morning coffee in a cafe where a backpacker was doing likewise and eyeing us up suspiciously. As we crossed the border and once more gazed upon all things British he sidled up and queried as to whether we were also headed to the good ship Stavros S. Niarchos. We confirmed we were and Rob introduced himself to us. Although Shaun and I were split into separate watches, I had the good fortune to have Rob on my watch. Check out his pictures of the voyage here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.fuller1/Stavros/
Gibraltar was very different from the one I visited a few years ago. Much building work down by the port made the place ring non-stop with hammer drills and heavy plant machinery. We spent the afternoon on board the ship undergoing instruction on climbing the rigging, how to set the sails, where to go, what to do and generally being ordered around. I was glad when we slipped out moorings in the dark dawn and headed out to sea. I woke to find The Rock receding from the stern as I helped make breakfast for the 40-odd crew.
Everything was going great until we found out the ship had a hole in it and was letting in water. We diverted to Cadiz where we had divers down to plug the hole in the prop shaft with a giant rubber band. As you do. We spent the night in Cadiz and left once the work was completed.
At this point I could give a blow by blow account of life on board a brig. Except it isn’t really all that interesting so here is a typical day instead.
0000hrs Wake for watch, gaze at stars, say wow a few times as shooting stars streak overhead
0400hrs Finish watch, go to bed
0415hrs Wake as someone starts snoring, scrabble round for earplugs, end up putting wet toilet roll in ears instead
0730hrs Wake tired and fed up as chef on tannoy announces breakfast and blasts through wierd dream about having rock band for dinner
0800hrs Happy hour - It isn’t happy and lasts over an hour. Basically cleaning things that don’t need cleaning. Mutterings about mutiny start.
1030hrs Hide in bunk, fall asleep, beautiful sleep
1200hrs Lunch, get told off about wearing hat at table, complain about being treated like a child
1230hrs Go on watch. Look for ships. See none. No hang on there’s one! No, its a coke bottle.
1600hrs Go to bunk exhausted from looking at big blue things like sky and sea. Realise bunk is blue. Dream of magenta
1625hrs Woken by bosun (boatswain) on tannoy explaining there will be a talk on sails in the mess in 5 minutes.
1630hrs Attend talk. Bosun awes everyone with complete knowledge of pretty much everything that has ever touched the ocean ever.
1730hrs Dinner. Late. Get told off for being late. Ask jokingly if I may use the toilet. No response.
1800hrs Read book. ‘Fatherland’ by Robert Harris. Very good.
2000hrs Go on watch. Discover radar on bridge. Play about with buttons and probably make some dolphins deaf in the process.
0000hrs. Go to bed, exhausted. Dream of standing still and not swaying about all the time like a drunk tramp in a bouncy castle.
Repeat until Gran Canaria, which will be written about later this week. Oh yes.
24November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
I’m putting to sea for a week or so. Incommunicado as from Monday and very much looking forward to it. I’m taking a raft of books and as much music as my techno-wizzy-phone can handle. I’m returning to Gibraltar on Monday which fills me with a total lack of excitement but then sailing out the next morning round the coast of Morocco. If you live in Tangiers keep an eye out for a big ship with lots of sails. I’ll be the chap at the back the colour of algae. I have been tasked with trying to catch scurvy and filming a modern day version of ‘Rio’ by DuranDuran. WARNING: Those of a sensitive disposition should not click the link - its a bit racy! Also Simon Le Bon doesn’t wear a life jacket at any point which is simply bad practice.
See you in a week or so…
22November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Family & Friends; House; Travel & Leisure.
Its Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. today so I guess I’ll join with the thousands of other bloggers in mentioning what I’m giving thanks for in 2007, in no particular order.
The New Passions - Sailing & Mountain Biking
Brothers who give me a lift at the end of a long trip/day
The ability to fly the world over
The house in which I live and the people I share it with
Log fires on dark winter nights
Things that give me hope because they don’t sell out.
12November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Farewells are a necessary evil but I keep them as short as possible. Having been through a few of them in the past few days I’m glad they are over. Of course, the farewells tend to get balanced out by re-unions at the other end and few of them were more welcome than the sight of my youngest brother waiting at the airport at 6:30am to pick me up after 20-odd hours of long-haul. Paul wins the 2007 Can’t Stop Fiddling Altruism award.
Of course, one of the many questions people ask on returning is “So, where next?”. I’m happy to report I’m sailing from Gibraltar to the Canary islands on board the tall ship Stavros S. Niarchos in two weeks time, subject to confirmation by the organisation running it, The Tall Ships Youth Trust.
10November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
I bade farewell to Sydney with Flic down at Mrs Macquaries Chair, washed my hands on the Pacific and then headed for the airport. I arrived through customs to find a flight attendant doing a good headless-chicken impersonation shouting “Last Call for Etihad to Abu Dhabi” which can usually be translated as “Its leaving in a bit.” True to form we sat around for 20 minutes before pushing back from the gate at Kingsford-Smith.
14 hours later and Abu Dhabi once again emerged out of the inky blackness - its just gone midnight here and as I went to buy a coffee in $AUD at the airport’s costa coffee the till crashed, much to my amusement. I stopped smiling when I calculated how much the coffee had cost after the exchange rate calcs.
Finally saw Transformers on the plane and it wins the prestigious Golden Dungheap award for 2007 for being by far and away the worst film so far. Shocking acting, atrocious plot, product placement advertising so overt it was almost a 2 hour commercial. I have lost total respect for Optimus Prime - he’s a sellout. I feel like I’ve been decepti-conned! The Simpsons movie on the other hand was excellent, though I think some of the voice actors may be past it.
Anyway, according to my body clock its something like 50:96pm on the 80th day of April 2012 so I’m going to see if I can perform some ablutions in some good old desalinated water to try and correct matters. Crazy people even drink carrot juice…
9November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
There is a chocolate shop just round the corner from where Flic lives and the madam that runs it is truly the purveyor of doucets and sweetmeats. Espresso coffee and orange peel chocolates at Bondi - not half bad.
A couple of decades ago someone decided to create a replica of James Cook’s Endeavour - the replica seems faithful enough though I doubt he had to put up with his crew’s nokia ringtone breaking the briny silence at random intervals. I toured round and came out with a new appreciation for 150 years of evolution in marine lavatories. I then walked across the city to Circular Quay, remembered I’d forgotten by bag at the Endeavour and walked back again. Then caught the train back to Circular Quay.
When I lived here I commuted across the harbour bridge and considered it possibly the best commute of any white collar worker in the world. I was wrong. The ferry to Manly is used perhaps more by commuters than tourists and wins hands down over a quick rattle across “The Old Coat Hanger”. There is even a brief nod to the Tasman Sea as you pass the entrance to Port Jackson and feel but a brief hint of the full force of the South Pacific.
The Sculpture by the Sea festival is on display - over 100 works of art positioned all over the Bondi - Tamarama ocean walk. My favourite is probably the huge plaster slapped on a patch of grass overlooking Bondi called She’ll Be Right - “Man’s attempt to use band-aid solutions to the growing environmental crisis”. Speaking of which Australia is still miles ahead of the U.K. in recycling - shame on you Britain.
A few old friends over this evening and then tomorrow is the last morning in Sydney before I’m pidgeon-holed into a big aluminium tube for the trip home.
6November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Sydney re-reloaded. Flic has got a swish pad in Bondi where I’m typing this from, although she does still have a Mac. I gambled and lost on the Melbourne Cup - where were you Dolphin Jo - and fell asleep on the flight back to Sydney where a racy redhead picked me up from the gate. Dinner last night on King Street and a movie about Jesse James getting shot. Not great, very slow, would rather have seen the one about Laos bombs (Bomb Harvest) which was also showing. No matter.
Woken up with tea this morning so am being well looked after. I’m off to tread some serious miles around this wonderful city I once called home.
6November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Rob and Karen are now Mr & Mrs Brangwin and I smell of fish. The two are not related.
The ceremony went off pretty much without a hitch. A bridesmaid’s fiance broke their arm the morning of the big day but other than that it all went off on time and to plan. Karen looked fantastic, people were kind enough to laugh at my speech and most people got suitably trashed afterwards. Photos of the happy couple to follow shortly.
Since the big day things have become even more relaxed, though I didn’t think that was possible. Yesterday the remaining people headed out into the Tasman Sea to do a bit of whale-watching, specifically humpback whales on their southern migration. One whale was sighted being very energetic but disappeared as we approached. On out return we were joined by some common dolphins, very highly strung animals that die in captivity. Afterwards Rob and I rode some sweet singletrack in the rainforest. I rode a purish 23″ Giant which sealed my mind on frame size when it comes to my next bike purchase - 23″ rocks.
Today is Melbourne Cup day with The Race That Stops The Nation. Prior to this however we have been to Coffs Harbour Pet Porpoise Pool - see below. I was jumped on by a lovely New Zealand Fur Seal called Lucy, saved from fishing nets and blind in one eye from a fishing hook. Anyway, I’m off to have a flutter on some fine phillies but will blast off shortly afterwards as today I return to dear old Sydney.
Lucy and me at the Pet Porpoise Pool
