Global Ecological Footprint

Nice succinct graphs of our global ecological foot. Particularly like this one showing countries in proportion to the resources they use:

Notting Hill Carnival 2006

The weekend after I got back from sailing was the August bank holiday weekend. Every year, we're usually away but as I was home this year, I managed to get down to the Notting Hill Carnival. It's one of the largest street parties in the world with about half-a-million people attending that Monday. Honestly, I've never seen so many people in one place before. Check out the official website.

It was relatively easy to get to. My buddy David and I took the train down to Paddington and then the Hammersmith & City tube line right to where the action was. To get home, we simply walked back to Paddingtion. Once in Nottinghill, we just walked around a lot shuffling along with the crowd. It's fabulous for people watching and a gold mine for photography. I found shooting with a small compact camera was rather difficult in this situation. The sun was too bright for the LCD monitor and the eyepiece too small for someone who wears glasses. Generally, you just shoot tons of pictures and hope a few come out. Here's a  superb gallery of carnival photo's.

Despite the huge crowds, we managed to see some of the parade which is good fun. Not particularly slick or anything but good fun. I have no complaints about watching scantily clad girls dancing along the street.  There's tons of ethnic street food and plenty of beer too. We even ran into a break dancing show in the park. The only difficult thing with the Carnival is the lack of toilets. Residents take advantage of it to offer their own for £1 a go.

If I was around each August bank holiday, I'd go every year.

Sailing the Channel Islands

I went sailing to the Channel Islands for a week last August. Originally, I was booked to go with the Hamble School of Yachting but they didn't have enough participants so they transferred me to the British Offshore Sailing School at no extra cost. This was an excellent deal since BOSS charges more and my impression is that BOSS is a bit more "hard-core".

The odd thing with this kind of holiday is that you never know who you're going to end up sailing with and a yacht is a rather intimate environment. Turned out John Williams was our skipper - nice bloke. There were two university students - Yeet from Turkey and Will, a history student going on law student, from Cambridge. There was also Giovanni, a somewhat eccentric Swiss pensioner who was not the easiest chap to get along with.

We got delayed leaving Hamble Friday morning as we were hemmed in by another learning yacht but we eventually got out past the Needles before the tide turned. Our goal was Alderney but we were head to wind and had to make our bearing Cherbourg. It took us 18 hours to cross the channel arriving at 2am! It taught me that I have no interest in long distance passages. I didn't mind the rain, night sailing or force 5 sailing but it's just not pleasant sailing for that long.

It was an easy sail to Aldernery the next day and the day after, I got to navigate us down to Guernsey. We had good wind with dashes of rain all the way. The area has wicked tides - third in the world for the tidal range. If you get your timing wrong, you can get in big trouble. Even an engine won't help.

After three days of intense sailing, the crew voted to take the fourth day off. John, Yeet and myself hired motor scooters and toured around Guernsey. It's a pretty island and would be a nice place to spend a week for a holiday. Lots of beaches. Plenty of old WWII installations. Quaint. It's how you might imagine England fifty years ago. People still sell flowers and vegetables on the roadside with a just a tin to accept payment. The seafood is excellent. The picture above is St. Peter Port where we were moored. 

The next day we sailed back to Cherbourg where I stocked up on a case of wine and we had a great night out drinking and playing pool. We had quite a bit of time ashore as the plan was to do a night passage across the Channel. Didn't manage to get a lot of rest in the day and we left the harbour around 8pm. Luckily it was a beam reach all the way back. It's a little scarey crossing the channel at night since shipping freighters do come up quickly and can pass you quite close by. They wouldn't even notice if they hit you.

I was too tired after my watch and fell asleep in the cabin. Missed the dawn but it turned out to be a lovely sunny day as we made our way back to Hamble, cleaned up the yacht and went our seperate ways.

It was a good trip and I'd be happy to do one again. I wouldn't cross the channel though. I'd like to try cruising around Brittany. It's great how sailing pulls together a bunch of strangers and makes you work as a team. It could be a nightmare but I think it turns out to be fun more often than not.

Upgrade

I've upgrade my blogging software to Subtext 1.9 after having some posting troubles. Links aren't working properly but I seem to be up and running again. Got a lot to catch-up on.

Gone To Berlin

Almost caught up but I've run out of time. I'm off to Berlin this weekend with a couple of mates - the guys I usually go skiing with. I've still got to tell you about sailing to the Channel Islands and I also went to the Nottinghill Carnival last Monday.

My flight with easyJet leaves at 6:30am which means I'm leaving the house at 3am! Arrgghh.

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2006

Our last little excursion before Jenny took the kids to Malaysia was a drive to see the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

I had first heard about this a few years ago and always thought it would be interesting to see. It's Europe's largest simultaneous launch of hot air balloons. Great photo opportunity. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong on the day so the launch was cancelled. And worse, my camera battery died so this is my only balloon picture! There's some more pictures on the fiesta gallery website.

What I didn't realise was that the fiesta is also a massive funfair. The kids went on a few rides and insisted on getting fake tatoo's. There was also a parachuting display and a stunt motorcycle display in the main field. Definitely a good day of entertaintment.

It was only a two hour trip each way with no major traffic queues. Might try again next year and I'll remember to charge my batteries!

Bekonscot Model Village

With R* busy on her watersports week, I took K* over to see the Bekonscot Model Village one afternoon. He's getting a bit old for this kind of stuff but he still seemed to enjoy it. We took R* years ago when she was small and you tend to forget about taking your second child to all the places you took the first one. It blurs together doesn't it?

Bekonscot is the world's very first model village and it still is a superb place to take a young child. I would recommend it for three to six year olds.

Watersports Week

R* has been doing very well with her swimming this year. At the beginning of August, we sent her to a watersports week at a local lake.

She tried out dinghy sailing, wind surfing and kayaking. She enjoyed the sailing and felt she was good at wind surfing.

Of course, you can see my cunning plan here, can't you? Get the family sailing, one at a time.

West Wittering Beach

A few Saturdays ago, we decided to do a day trip to the beach. What should have been only about a 90 minute drive turned into a 3 hour slog to get to West Wittering Beach. Driving anywhere in the UK during the summer can be a nightmare.

It was great once we got there and settled down. Had our picnic and sploshed about in the tidal pool. We had bought some proper beach spades this time so we set about digging as usual. The weather wasn't great and later in the afternoon we lost the sun completely and left to go find a nearby pub before heading home.

Marvellous In The Park 2006

Marvellous In The Park held at Wellington Country Park last July was as good as usual this year. Our only mistake was leaving too late and getting caught in the massive traffic queues to get in.

Nevertheless, we found a good spot not far from the stage and watched the cover bands of Santana, Fleetwood Mac and Queen. The Queen cover band was very good and had the sound and vocals just perfect.

It ended with a decent fireworks display and we hung about afterwards drinking coffee and hot chocolate waiting for the traffic to clear. Always a good day out.

Summer 2006

Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been doing stuff but I haven't got around to blogging about it. I'll have to do a big catch-up later. Right now Jenny is in Malaysia with the kids and tomorrow I'm off to sail around the Channel Islands for a week. Tell you about it when I get back.

Sailing Weekend

We went sailing last weekend with some sailing friends of ours. We stayed overnight on the yacht moored in Gosport (Portsmouth), got up early on Saturday and then sailed up to Yarmouth via Newtown on Saturday. Sunny and lots of wind. Excellent sailing! Woke in the middle of the Sunday night to what sounded like a raging storm. In the morning, I briefly considered getting Jenny to take the kids home on a bus but we dropped our mooring lines with all onboard. It sounded worse than it was. The rain cleared up by the time we stopped in Cowes for lunch. The afternoon was brilliant for a gorgeous run back across the Solent home. The picture was taken just on our way into Cowes.

The yacht was an aging Sigma 33. A bit old and tired but it handled very well. First time using a tiller for me. It some ways it's better than a wheel since you always know the rudder position.  Can't say the yacht was very comfortable to sleep on but it was ok for two nights. Cheap and cheerful.

I was happy to be out on the water again trying to remember all the stuff from last year. Jenny still isn't too convinced about sailing but is a good sport about it. Didn't get sick this time! The kids tolerate it well but it does seem a bit boring for them and they often get lulled to sleep waking up when we stop somewhere.

I've got a sailing trip planned for just myself in August to get more experience with the vague hope of doing another flotilla next year. Always looking for fellow crew members!

Hyde Park Calling: Roger Water plays Dark Side of the Moon

Last Saturday Jenny and I headed down to Hyde Park and caught the Roger Waters concert. It was just too irresistable with the promise that he was going to play the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon.

It was excellent and we managed to stand up close to the stage for a great view.

The day was stonkingly hot so we got there late missing a few bands that played in the afternoon. We did get to see Texas though. She had a difficult time because they were also showing the England vs Portugal game at the same time on a large screen nearby so half the guys in the audience weren't watching her performance and she stopped during the penalty shootout. However she was there to provide some cheer after England crashed out of the World Cup.

Roger Waters opened with "In The Flesh" - great start! - and played many Pink Floyd classics. Surprisingly, he also played Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun early in the first set too - you could tell most of the audience weren't fans of old Floyd. That was the only pre-Dark Side song. It was followed by the likes of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, Have A Cigar and Sheep. Noticed many pictures of Syd Barrett. Much of the concert was a sing-a-long. Many refrains of "you can't have your pudding if you don't eat your meat" could be heard.

He also did some post-Floyd songs I didn't know. And he played a very recent single of his called Leaving Beruit accompained with comic book style illustrations with lyrics projected onto the stage screens. Very anti-war, anti-Bush & Blair. Roger wears his politics and I like that.

I didn't take my camera for fear of getting it taken away but it turned out that lots of people had cameras and video recorders going all through the concert. I wish I had some pictures for you but you can find some on the 'net.

After a short break, he began the second set introducing Nick Mason - huge cheer. And they proceeded to play all of Dark Side of the Moon. Some of it obviously came from the original recordings - with the addition of a rushing train mixed into On The Run. I didn't catch her name but they had a superb black female singer do the scat singing to The Great Gig In The Sky (originally done by Clare Torry). She was spot on. Absolutely stunning.

Dark Side of the Moon still remains one of my all time favourite albums. I can hear every note in my head so it was immensely satisfying to hear it live. I heard Roger Waters back in 1986 and I've been to a post-split Pink Floyd concert. I still hope to one day to hear a reunited Pink Floyd.

The encore started with The Happiest Days Of Our Lives / Another Brick in the Wall (part 2) followed by Vera / Bring the Boys Back Home and Comfortably Numb for an excellent concert close.

The Independent: Blair laid bare

There's an excellent article in today's Independent by Henry Porter. The intro blurb is:

In the guise of fighting terrorism and maintaining public order, Tony Blair's Government has quietly and systematically taken power from Parliament and the British people. The author charts a nine-year assault on civil liberties that reveals the danger of trading freedom for security - and must have Churchill spinning in his grave.

For example, here's an interesting extract:

"For instance, the law banning people from demonstrating within one kilometre of Parliament is contained in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005. The right to protest freely has been affected by the Terrorism Act of 2000, which allows police to stop and search people in a designated area - which can be anywhere - and by antisocial behaviour laws, which allow police to issue an order banning someone from a particular activity, waving a banner, for instance. If a person breaks that order, he or she risks a prison sentence of up to five years. Likewise, the Protection from Harassment Act of 1997 - designed to combat stalkers and campaigns of intimidation - is being used to control protest. A woman who sent two e-mails to a pharmaceutical company politely asking a member of the staff not to work with a company that did testing on animals was prosecuted for "repeated conduct" in sending an e-mail twice, which the Act defines as harassment."

And so it goes on. It gets worse. Your right to trial by jury doesn't apply in some cases. You can now be tried twice for the same offence. Hearsay is acceptable evidence for ASBO orders. Ministers now get complete control over goverment inquiries rather than Parliament.

If the Tories campaigned to address this imbalance, they might just get my vote in the next election.