It's been a while since I've posted, and this post was originally typed onto Blogger for the first time ever from my mobile phone, while sitting in the Anchor Bar in Cambridge with a pint of Greene King Abbot ale on the table in front of me having just finished a tasty meal of whitebait followed by a bacon & cheese burger. That said, for some reason I couldn’t get the caps lock off, so I just saved it as a draft until such times as I could get home and edit it properly. This then is the edited version.
I’ve been in Cambridge for two weeks, on a training course, and I've enjoyed it all. Being a techno-anorak the fact that it was a database course didn’t trouble me, the first week being the user course, the second being the designer course. I managed to catch up with friends who live there, attend a recital by the world class Trinity College Chapel Choir (in which one of said friends sings and which two days later set off for a month long tour of Australia), try out quite a few bars and restaurants, and do a load of walking around the city every evening.
That was all in the first week, and the high spot of the fortnight was undoubtedly RE coming down for the weekend which was the best couple of days I've had for a while. All the touristy stuff including Kings, Trinity, St John's and Sidney Sussex colleges (the latter being choral evensong by an adequate but uninspiring choir made up of that college's chapel choir alumni, including a schadenfreude moment when the soprano soloist screwed up the top note in the Bob Chilcott anthem Be Thou my Vision which coincidentally I knew was being broadcast on BBC Songs of Praise the following evening performed much better by the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow (i.e. including me) when it was recorded some four years earlier and featuring a beautiful solo by said friend who now sings in Trinity College Choir!), and punting on the river Cam, or rather sitting back while the hired help punted and we made the effort to look right and left while lifting our cameras to our faces!
So on the first week the course attendees were a mixed bunch, mostly doing a similar job to me. We socialised a bit together, although understandably not everyone every night. The second week saw only two of us who were there on the first week, plus 8 new people, and there was almost no socialising done and no suggestion from anyone that we might eat or drink together, and I include myself in that. My excuse was that amongst others there was one guy who happens to be from the USA (that's not the issue, I have American friends) but the fact he said he works for the State Department, is currently working in Afghanistan, and was doing the course during his annual leave and paying for it himself rightly rang an alarm bell. On day one, as an intro to how databases are constructed we were designing, on paper, a basic one relating to user requirements to track their friends' contact details. That's contacts as in the well known terminology used in Microsoft Office to denote how one would contact someone. Simple, eh? During this session we were told to collaborate with the person next to us to come up with what entities we would need together with the links between them. When the instructor went round the room looking for input after the exercise, this fine chap admitted that he had problems understanding the concept of contacts as meant in this instance, as contact to him only meant engagement with the enemy followed closely by bringing in an air strike. He actually seemed slightly distressed that he couldn’t get his head around this seemingly new interpretation of the word, and he went on to say that he had problems with people. I personally thought at first he meant people as database entities, but when he went on to expand that he was happy looking at people through a scope but had problems otherwise I had the sudden, shocking realisation that he actually meant he was happy looking at people through the sights of a firearm but was uncomfortable interacting with others! Thankfully I wasn’t the one sitting next to this apparent 100% fruitloop, but unfortunately a former colleague, Rozie who now works in Birmingham (small world!) was. In any case, I decided that I wasn’t going to suggest out loud that we all meet to socialise, just in case this fuckwit decided to come too! But on day two there was, unnoticed by me, some interaction between fruitloop and a couple of others on the course concerning the room temperature, which developed into criticism of Europe and Europeans, and the voiced opinion that democracy was a bad thing! After lunch, the instructor announced that fruitloop had decided to quit the course and wouldn’t be returning. So being the grown ups we all are, he became a figure of fun for the rest of the week!
So that's what's been happening in my very recent life. I'll try to get back into the habit of posting more regularly again soon. Honest! Oh, and the title of this post is a very old joke along the lines of watching the stunts of the cunts on the punts, which is what I've been doing a bit of lately!
Showing posts with label usa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usa. Show all posts
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 28, 2009
Jaywalking
Jay Leno is an American TV legend, and a very clever and funny man.
A very similar video was sent to me by email recently (8Mb!) but the versions below are on Youtube.
Enjoy the rank stupidity on offer! Oh, and I should say I'm not for a moment suggesting all Americans are like these guys!
A very similar video was sent to me by email recently (8Mb!) but the versions below are on Youtube.
Enjoy the rank stupidity on offer! Oh, and I should say I'm not for a moment suggesting all Americans are like these guys!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Review of 2008
It's that time of year again when the TV, Radio and newspapers are full of their reviews of the activity and stories of the previous 12 months. Well I'm not going to be outdone! For your delectation (well, OK, it's actually totally for me as a cathartic exercise) here is how 2008 went for me. Not everything I'm going to mention has already been Blogged about, but some has.
Looking back at the review of 2007 I posted a year ago, I can see there have been some changes to my life in the past year. Almost exclusively these have been changes for the better.
The year 2007 ended with me having rejoined Glasgow Chamber Choir, and continuing to enjoy the experience. This coincided with me coming to the end of a difficult and sometimes turbulent relationship which had been going on for a bit over a year. I pride myself on being easy going and hopefully pretty calm much of the time, but my stress levels were through the roof for a significant chunk of the latter part of 2007. I didn't really Blog about this much at the time, it wouldn't have been right, but I can say now with the clarity of hindsight that this was a relationship I shouldn't have been in, and having been in it, it shouldn't have dragged on as long as it did. It did neither of us any good. And in fact it affected my friendship with other, better, friends too. Another pride I take is that I am still on good speaking terms with everyone (there are not all that many!) with whom I have had a significant relationship, whatever form that took, but this particular relationship having finished part way through the year and changed into a tentative, or possibly even tenuous, friendship, in January something happened which caused the other person to cut off all contact with me, despite my efforts to try to remain friends. I gave it a few weeks though, and after all calls had gone unanswered, including calls being rejected, I gave up and haven't thought about contacting her again. So another dark chapter passes!
The thing that happened in January was that I started a new relationship with RE, a member of Glasgow Chamber Choir. She had joined in September 2007 on the same evening I had rejoined, and over the next weeks and months we seemed to hit it off and seemed to enjoy one another's company, albeit always in a larger group, and so we eventually started dating. And we are still doing so, I'm very glad to say! It wouldn't be right for me to describe RE, or our relationship, or how I felt, or anything like that. So I won't. But she knows, I hope, and that's what matters.
In January, sadly, my gran died after a short illness but a long life. Needless to say I miss her. It was largely for her that I started tracing my family tree a few years ago (I currently have it traced back to the late 17th century in one of the strands) and since her death I haven't put any real effort into researching anything further. I fully intend getting back into it in the new year though.
Also in January I sat and passed my Institute of Advanced Motorists Advanced Driving test, adding that qualification to the Advanced Motorcycling one I passed the previous month. Since then I haven't felt the urge to become a Qualified Car Observer, but I persevered with the motorcycling training and in September 2008 I successfully passed the written and practical tests which make me a Qualified Motorcycle Observer, able to accompany and assist associates who are undertaking training to pass their own Advanced test. The season's finished just now of course, but I'm looking forward to carrying on with helping associates next year.
In March I spent a tremendously enjoyable long weekend in Marseilles with Glasgow Chamber Choir, where we sang in a couple of concerts (pretty stress free) and ate, drank and socialised a lot. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it was that it was my first trip abroad for ages, apart from the trip to Belgium in 2007 when I was in a plaster cast, and the first time away with RE. In fact up to that point our relationship was known only to a very small handful of people, but we had to come out the closet, so to speak, for the trip away so it was nice not to have to hide it from our friends any longer!
I've made my personal peace with St Mary's Cathedral. For a while I had no intention of ever going back, but I have and I'm very happy to have done so. My absence from the choir, and from the building generally, started with my achilles tendon injury when I couldn't walk or even stand without crutches, but it then developed into a wider problem connected with the relationship I was in. I should never have let that happen, but I did, but I'm glad to say that I'm back. I'm not singing in the choir full time at the moment, because they rehearse on the same evening as Glasgow Chamber Choir does, but I am for the moment one of the "occasional extra" singers drafted in when they need tenors. The other side of that coin is that if I see anything coming up on the music list which I'd like to sing, then I just contact FW, the director of music, and he's happy for me to come and join in, even if that means the choir has a boatload of tenors that evening! And in fact the choir is well blessed for tenors at the moment, there are I think about five of them, so I'm not really needed just now. But RE and I do attend Evensong most weeks, which is very enjoyable only not quite so enjoyable as actually singing in it!
This year, and I actually can't remember when it was apart from early summer or before, St Mary's Cathedral played host to a big Evensong service for the organist emeritus, Bernard Porter, who was celebrating a significant birthday. Lots of former choir members, including me, joined the current choir and made a spectacular sound. Some travelled from as far afield as the south of England, the north of Scotland, and New York to join the singing! And the socialising, funnily enough, was great!
In the summer, together with various friends including RE, I joined the newly formed Royal School of Church Music Scottish Voices choir. The initial meeting was a residential weekend at Strathallan School in Perthshire, which seemed to go well, not least because FW, from St Mary's Cathedral, is also the conductor of RSCM Scottish Voices. I should explain that the RSCM choir is not to be confused with Scottish Voices, which is a different choir. Apparently RSCM Scottish Voices is the equivalent of the RSCM Cathedral Singers in England, but they decided not to use that name in Scotland lest it offended Presbyterians and others who have no cathedrals! Political correctness strikes again! So they chose the name RSCM Scottish Voices instead, and presumably either didn't realise there is already a choir called Scottish Voices, or didn't care. Superb!
Anyway, next year's dates have recently been circulated, and it looks like it'll be a busy and enjoyable year.
In September my little cat Ernie fell ill, and after a short illness sadly died. I Blogged about that extensively at the time and have no intentions of reliving it here, since it was an intensely painful experience. I miss him greatly, as does Elmo, his wee pal.
One of the high spots of the year undoubtedly was my visit to San Diego, Califonia to visit my brother and his family. Made even better by RE joining me for the last few days when she was enroute back to Glasgow from New Zealand and made a stopover. I've Blogged a fair bit about the holiday, but I'm conscious that I still haven't told the full story yet and I owe this Blog the final installment, so I'll try to get to that as soon as possible!
I discovered in 2008, or it might have been late 2007, that my blood pressure had climbed alarmingly. It's now down to a better level, and I'm trying to get my act together to get to my local gym regularly in an effort to keep it down, lose a bit of weight, and get fit enough to do the things I want to do, which are many and varied! I've decided against taking up badminton again though, as I don't relish the idea of fucking up my achilles tendon again! Watch this space for details of my progress, if indeed I make any progress!
As ever, I make it my rule not to Blog about work. Suffice to say I'm still enjoying being in the particular department I'm in, doing the things I do, and tempting as it is to go looking for more money elsewhere, and it IS available, I'd rather stay where I am. For the moment anyway!
So, to sum up, 2008 has been a good year for me, not only on the relationship front but also as regards St Mary's Cathedral and trips abroad to sunny places. On the extreme down side, I lost both my gran and my faithful companion Ernie, but such is the way of life.
I've just re-read all of the above and realised it's a bit more of a random stream of consciousness than usual, so apologies for that. If I could be arsed I'd edit it into some better chronological, or at least logical, order, but I can't!
Anyway, Happy Christmas and a successful 2009 to you all, and I refuse to go down the political correctness route and use weasel words detracting from Christmas. If you are offended by my wishing you a Happy Christmas rather than Happy Holidays or similar, then perhaps you're reading the wrong Blog and I invite you never to darken my URL again!
Looking back at the review of 2007 I posted a year ago, I can see there have been some changes to my life in the past year. Almost exclusively these have been changes for the better.
The year 2007 ended with me having rejoined Glasgow Chamber Choir, and continuing to enjoy the experience. This coincided with me coming to the end of a difficult and sometimes turbulent relationship which had been going on for a bit over a year. I pride myself on being easy going and hopefully pretty calm much of the time, but my stress levels were through the roof for a significant chunk of the latter part of 2007. I didn't really Blog about this much at the time, it wouldn't have been right, but I can say now with the clarity of hindsight that this was a relationship I shouldn't have been in, and having been in it, it shouldn't have dragged on as long as it did. It did neither of us any good. And in fact it affected my friendship with other, better, friends too. Another pride I take is that I am still on good speaking terms with everyone (there are not all that many!) with whom I have had a significant relationship, whatever form that took, but this particular relationship having finished part way through the year and changed into a tentative, or possibly even tenuous, friendship, in January something happened which caused the other person to cut off all contact with me, despite my efforts to try to remain friends. I gave it a few weeks though, and after all calls had gone unanswered, including calls being rejected, I gave up and haven't thought about contacting her again. So another dark chapter passes!
The thing that happened in January was that I started a new relationship with RE, a member of Glasgow Chamber Choir. She had joined in September 2007 on the same evening I had rejoined, and over the next weeks and months we seemed to hit it off and seemed to enjoy one another's company, albeit always in a larger group, and so we eventually started dating. And we are still doing so, I'm very glad to say! It wouldn't be right for me to describe RE, or our relationship, or how I felt, or anything like that. So I won't. But she knows, I hope, and that's what matters.
In January, sadly, my gran died after a short illness but a long life. Needless to say I miss her. It was largely for her that I started tracing my family tree a few years ago (I currently have it traced back to the late 17th century in one of the strands) and since her death I haven't put any real effort into researching anything further. I fully intend getting back into it in the new year though.
Also in January I sat and passed my Institute of Advanced Motorists Advanced Driving test, adding that qualification to the Advanced Motorcycling one I passed the previous month. Since then I haven't felt the urge to become a Qualified Car Observer, but I persevered with the motorcycling training and in September 2008 I successfully passed the written and practical tests which make me a Qualified Motorcycle Observer, able to accompany and assist associates who are undertaking training to pass their own Advanced test. The season's finished just now of course, but I'm looking forward to carrying on with helping associates next year.
In March I spent a tremendously enjoyable long weekend in Marseilles with Glasgow Chamber Choir, where we sang in a couple of concerts (pretty stress free) and ate, drank and socialised a lot. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it was that it was my first trip abroad for ages, apart from the trip to Belgium in 2007 when I was in a plaster cast, and the first time away with RE. In fact up to that point our relationship was known only to a very small handful of people, but we had to come out the closet, so to speak, for the trip away so it was nice not to have to hide it from our friends any longer!
I've made my personal peace with St Mary's Cathedral. For a while I had no intention of ever going back, but I have and I'm very happy to have done so. My absence from the choir, and from the building generally, started with my achilles tendon injury when I couldn't walk or even stand without crutches, but it then developed into a wider problem connected with the relationship I was in. I should never have let that happen, but I did, but I'm glad to say that I'm back. I'm not singing in the choir full time at the moment, because they rehearse on the same evening as Glasgow Chamber Choir does, but I am for the moment one of the "occasional extra" singers drafted in when they need tenors. The other side of that coin is that if I see anything coming up on the music list which I'd like to sing, then I just contact FW, the director of music, and he's happy for me to come and join in, even if that means the choir has a boatload of tenors that evening! And in fact the choir is well blessed for tenors at the moment, there are I think about five of them, so I'm not really needed just now. But RE and I do attend Evensong most weeks, which is very enjoyable only not quite so enjoyable as actually singing in it!
This year, and I actually can't remember when it was apart from early summer or before, St Mary's Cathedral played host to a big Evensong service for the organist emeritus, Bernard Porter, who was celebrating a significant birthday. Lots of former choir members, including me, joined the current choir and made a spectacular sound. Some travelled from as far afield as the south of England, the north of Scotland, and New York to join the singing! And the socialising, funnily enough, was great!
In the summer, together with various friends including RE, I joined the newly formed Royal School of Church Music Scottish Voices choir. The initial meeting was a residential weekend at Strathallan School in Perthshire, which seemed to go well, not least because FW, from St Mary's Cathedral, is also the conductor of RSCM Scottish Voices. I should explain that the RSCM choir is not to be confused with Scottish Voices, which is a different choir. Apparently RSCM Scottish Voices is the equivalent of the RSCM Cathedral Singers in England, but they decided not to use that name in Scotland lest it offended Presbyterians and others who have no cathedrals! Political correctness strikes again! So they chose the name RSCM Scottish Voices instead, and presumably either didn't realise there is already a choir called Scottish Voices, or didn't care. Superb!
Anyway, next year's dates have recently been circulated, and it looks like it'll be a busy and enjoyable year.
In September my little cat Ernie fell ill, and after a short illness sadly died. I Blogged about that extensively at the time and have no intentions of reliving it here, since it was an intensely painful experience. I miss him greatly, as does Elmo, his wee pal.
One of the high spots of the year undoubtedly was my visit to San Diego, Califonia to visit my brother and his family. Made even better by RE joining me for the last few days when she was enroute back to Glasgow from New Zealand and made a stopover. I've Blogged a fair bit about the holiday, but I'm conscious that I still haven't told the full story yet and I owe this Blog the final installment, so I'll try to get to that as soon as possible!
I discovered in 2008, or it might have been late 2007, that my blood pressure had climbed alarmingly. It's now down to a better level, and I'm trying to get my act together to get to my local gym regularly in an effort to keep it down, lose a bit of weight, and get fit enough to do the things I want to do, which are many and varied! I've decided against taking up badminton again though, as I don't relish the idea of fucking up my achilles tendon again! Watch this space for details of my progress, if indeed I make any progress!
As ever, I make it my rule not to Blog about work. Suffice to say I'm still enjoying being in the particular department I'm in, doing the things I do, and tempting as it is to go looking for more money elsewhere, and it IS available, I'd rather stay where I am. For the moment anyway!
So, to sum up, 2008 has been a good year for me, not only on the relationship front but also as regards St Mary's Cathedral and trips abroad to sunny places. On the extreme down side, I lost both my gran and my faithful companion Ernie, but such is the way of life.
I've just re-read all of the above and realised it's a bit more of a random stream of consciousness than usual, so apologies for that. If I could be arsed I'd edit it into some better chronological, or at least logical, order, but I can't!
Anyway, Happy Christmas and a successful 2009 to you all, and I refuse to go down the political correctness route and use weasel words detracting from Christmas. If you are offended by my wishing you a Happy Christmas rather than Happy Holidays or similar, then perhaps you're reading the wrong Blog and I invite you never to darken my URL again!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Stuff your friend
I realise that it's been a while now since I was in San Diego, and it seems almost like a distant memory, but I haven't forgotten that I still have a few days of travel log to catch up with (or should that be "up with which to catch"?). I have the bare bones of it saved as a draft post and I'll get to it as soon as I can.
In the meantime, the image above is of a small billboard in San Diego Zoo. I think it's connected with a teddy bear manufacturing retail outlet.
Or is it?
You decide!
On a slightly related note, but only slightly, earlier in the year I was in Marseilles for a very enjoyable long weekend of socialising and singing with Glasgow Chamber Choir, while we were visiting our twin choir La Maîtrise Gabriel Fauré and during the early part of the weekend we were treated to a reception by the French choir.
During the socialising I noticed a poster advertising some sort of ice lolly, for licking, obviously, which I couldn't resist photographing, and which is reproduced on the right.
I make no further comment apart from the observation that it might sell well if it were available in the UK!
Monday, November 10, 2008
San Diego catch up #2
So what else happened in San Diego, I hear you ask. Well all, or some anyway, will be revealed in due course, but first I'd like to mention that after Evensong yesterday I was very glad to hear that AC has enjoyed my various holiday posts. I mostly write this Blog for myself, but it's always nice to hear of someone who has enjoyed some of what I wrote, and especially so when it's someone I know in real life and even more so when it's someone who's been a friend for such a long long time.
Wednesday 29th October
This was the first full day of being together with RE in San Diego, and my brother, possibly glad to get some respite from being with me all day every day, gave us the keys to his Ford Focus (a bit easier to park than his Chevrolet Trailblazer!) and his SatNav, and left us to our own devices, so we initially went shopping to Seaport Village, which is pretty much an outdoor mall right on San Diego Bay, and near to the USS Midway aircraft carrier I mentioned on 25th October's post.
The weather, as ever in southern California by all accounts and by my limited experience, was bloody hot! Their website carries the tagline "everything under the sun" which is pretty clever and even if the "everything" bit isn't 100% accurate, the "sun" bit certainly is!
As we strolled around popping in and out of shops, one of our popping out moments coincided with a fair sized naval ship leaving San Diego Bay and passing Seaport Village. The top image on the right shows it with the Coronado Bridge in the background (which is apparently the third deadliest suicide bridge in the United States although why anyone would feel like suicide in the glorious weather of San Diego is beyond me. In Glasgow, fair enough, but in that sunshine?).
The bottom image was taken using the full zoom of my Fujifilm Finepix S5700. It has 10x optical zoom, which is pretty impressive on its own, but also has 4.8x digital zoom too. I've never been all that keen on using digital zoom, since my limited understanding of it is that all it does is artificially compensate for the reduced picture quality of the extra zoom by the simple expedient of "making up" the image by adding pixels. OK, I didn't explain that very well, so read this instead.
Anyway, the bottom image of the ship was taken using full digital zoom, and I have to confess that I'm quite pleased with the results of my first try at it.
One good find, bizarrely, in Seaport Village was a New Zealand shop, The Cabbage Tree, which RE naturally had to look round. We spent quite a while browsing and RE spent a while chatting to her fellow Kiwi who was behind the counter. Strange to think that RE had just travelled half way round the world from New Zealand, only to find reminders of her homeland at her destination!
We decided to head to the Old Town next, to soak up some history. I'd really enjoyed it when I'd been there with my brother the previous week, and enjoyed it again with RE.
We'd found out that my brother and his wife really liked a restaurant called Shogun which was about a twenty minute drive from their house, so we booked a table there and all headed off for what was going to be, for me anyway, a brand new experience. Teppanyaki. Ever tried it? I'd barely even heard of it. It's essentially a table round three sides of which the diners sit, and at the other side a chef prepares your food for you using the centre of the table which is a very very hot metal griddle.
But that's oversimplifying it a bit. It's an art. The chef doesn't just prepare your food, he entertains you while doing so, with flashy juggling of knives and spatulas and food bowls full of food, and with spectacular displays of flaming oils making flames shoot from the griddle up into the metal extractor hood above the table.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole shooting match, the food, the sounds, the smells, the sights, and if you get a chance to try Teppanyaki, then do so.
I've just discovered there's a Teppanyaki restaurant in Glasgow, in the North Rotunda, so I'm looking forward to trying it again.
Wednesday 29th October
This was the first full day of being together with RE in San Diego, and my brother, possibly glad to get some respite from being with me all day every day, gave us the keys to his Ford Focus (a bit easier to park than his Chevrolet Trailblazer!) and his SatNav, and left us to our own devices, so we initially went shopping to Seaport Village, which is pretty much an outdoor mall right on San Diego Bay, and near to the USS Midway aircraft carrier I mentioned on 25th October's post.
The weather, as ever in southern California by all accounts and by my limited experience, was bloody hot! Their website carries the tagline "everything under the sun" which is pretty clever and even if the "everything" bit isn't 100% accurate, the "sun" bit certainly is!
As we strolled around popping in and out of shops, one of our popping out moments coincided with a fair sized naval ship leaving San Diego Bay and passing Seaport Village. The top image on the right shows it with the Coronado Bridge in the background (which is apparently the third deadliest suicide bridge in the United States although why anyone would feel like suicide in the glorious weather of San Diego is beyond me. In Glasgow, fair enough, but in that sunshine?).
The bottom image was taken using the full zoom of my Fujifilm Finepix S5700. It has 10x optical zoom, which is pretty impressive on its own, but also has 4.8x digital zoom too. I've never been all that keen on using digital zoom, since my limited understanding of it is that all it does is artificially compensate for the reduced picture quality of the extra zoom by the simple expedient of "making up" the image by adding pixels. OK, I didn't explain that very well, so read this instead.
Anyway, the bottom image of the ship was taken using full digital zoom, and I have to confess that I'm quite pleased with the results of my first try at it.
One good find, bizarrely, in Seaport Village was a New Zealand shop, The Cabbage Tree, which RE naturally had to look round. We spent quite a while browsing and RE spent a while chatting to her fellow Kiwi who was behind the counter. Strange to think that RE had just travelled half way round the world from New Zealand, only to find reminders of her homeland at her destination!
We decided to head to the Old Town next, to soak up some history. I'd really enjoyed it when I'd been there with my brother the previous week, and enjoyed it again with RE.
We'd found out that my brother and his wife really liked a restaurant called Shogun which was about a twenty minute drive from their house, so we booked a table there and all headed off for what was going to be, for me anyway, a brand new experience. Teppanyaki. Ever tried it? I'd barely even heard of it. It's essentially a table round three sides of which the diners sit, and at the other side a chef prepares your food for you using the centre of the table which is a very very hot metal griddle.
But that's oversimplifying it a bit. It's an art. The chef doesn't just prepare your food, he entertains you while doing so, with flashy juggling of knives and spatulas and food bowls full of food, and with spectacular displays of flaming oils making flames shoot from the griddle up into the metal extractor hood above the table.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole shooting match, the food, the sounds, the smells, the sights, and if you get a chance to try Teppanyaki, then do so.
I've just discovered there's a Teppanyaki restaurant in Glasgow, in the North Rotunda, so I'm looking forward to trying it again.
Monday, November 03, 2008
The party's over: catch up #1
OK, you can now accept the date and time of this post as correct, because I'm home!
The previous post was about a week ago, just before RE arrived in San Diego, so I've a bit of catching up to do. I've decided to do the updates in several shorter boring posts rather than a huge long boring one!
Here goes with the first:
Monday 27th October
We didn't play golf. Instead, we had a look round some motorcycle shops, and then drove up to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument which overlooks San Diego and the entrance to the bay. In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the USA, and the view from the National Monument which honours him is bloody good, to say the least! Great view over San Diego Bay, and the military establishments there, including a nuclear submarine base.
The rest of the day was spent chilling!
Tuesday 28th October
RE was due into LAX at around 11.15am, so my brother, D, and I headed north up Interstate 5 and on the way to the airport we headed first to Long Beach and to RMS Queen Mary, or rather the Hotel Queen Mary, which was built close to my house in the John Brown shipyard on the river Clyde, sailed the high seas for a long number of years, and is now an hotel. I can't vouch for what the hotel is like inside, but the outside isn't much to look at, covered as it is by a fair amount of wooden hoardings painted grey. Not all the way up, obviously, but high enough to detract from the lines of the ship. We had 30 minutes free parking before having to pay, so we didn't hang around for all that long, and we certainly didn't spend money going onto her.
Next stop, breakfast. Needing to find a petrol, sorry, gas station, the SatNav directed us a mile or two from the Queen Mary and once that was completed we set it for the nearest Starbucks which was pretty close. So far, so normal. But other than the identical menu it was rather different from the ones we had been frequenting in San Diego. For a start it was in what looked to be a bus station, or at a major bus exchange anyway, and it smelt a bit funny. Nothing you could pinpoint, but just a bit odd.
As we were standing at the counter being served, there was a man sitting very nearby next to an electric wheelchair which was plugged into the wall being recharged. The man was sitting with what looked like a sketch book, and he suddenly, loudly, said something which appeared aimed in our general direction. I looked round and made eye contact, but nothing more was forthcoming so I looked away again. We sat down, a bit further away from him but still in line of sight, and earshot. As an aside, while we were passing I glanced at the sketchbook. It looked like a primary school pupil had drawn Mr Potato Head badly!
A middle aged, hippy-looking woman came in, laden with bags which she dumped on a table across from us, but she didn't sit down. After fussing around, huffing and puffing and muttering to no one in particular, she suddenly leaned towards the counter, which was right next to the table, and demanded "I need water". The assistant replied that they sold bottled water which was in the chiller against the wall, but the woman, raising her voice slightly, declined this and again asked for water. The assistant politely told her that it was company policy not to supply free tap water when they sold bottled. The woman, clearly becoming argumentative and therefore much louder, demanded water again. And so on for a moment or two, until she agreed to buy a bottle from the chiller but suddenly changed her mind and announced (loudly) to everyone that she had always fucking hated the fucking way fucking Starbucks fucking did their fucking business, and she would fucking go elsewhere! She gathered up her belongings and flounced out. Oh, and she may have sworn a bit too. D and I could only look and laugh.
A minute later another, younger and more respectable, woman was at the counter. Wheelchair man had by now struggled to his feet and made it back into the wheelchair. He said something to the young woman, but she didn't quite hear him, having earphones in her ears listening to an iPod, but she was aware that he was speaking to her so took them out her ears and turned to him. Wheelchair man shouted at her that she should fucking listen better, then told her to help him out the door. She said OK, but told him he didn't need to be so rude about it, and she walked to the door next to our table and held it open. He shouted even louder for her to wait a fucking minute because the wheelchair wasn't fucking unplugged yet, and she'd better fucking do that right now. She told him just to forget it and walked back to her place at the counter. Much more reserved than I'd have been, I think.
Another young male in the queue stepped forward and unplugged the chair from the wall socket, the chair sprang into life, and wheelchair man started moving towards the door, which was now being held open by the young man. As he glided across the floor, a torrent of abuse was directed at all and sundry, including D and me who were apparently motherfuckers who would get their asses kicked by wheelchair man just shortly! All we could do was laugh at him, and of course tell him to fuck off in no uncertain terms.
Now I have no problem with helping those less fortunate, and will in fact go out my way to hold open doors, or whatever is necessary, but while I don't expect those seeking my assistance to grovel, I particularly don't expect them to ask for help by shouting, swearing, and demanding assistance, and by giving foul mouthed abuse when that assistance is not immediately forthcoming in the way expected! The guy was clearly a prick, and I trust at some point someone will object to his lack of manners in a more physical way than just telling him to fuck off. It will be deserved!
So, who'd have believed we'd have seen mad people in LA!
We then quit this Starbucks, which when I think about it was maybe an homage to the bar in Star Wars, and headed to the airport to collect RE, who was looking surprisingly awake after being on the go for about 24 hours!
Heading back south down Interstate 5, we diverted to North Beach, so that RE could chill out by the Pacific Ocean for a while to try to delay the jetlag. While she and I walked a short distance along the beautiful golden sand, RE with shoes removed and splashing around happily, D sat on a rocky outcrop and enjoyed the scenery. But while he was looking at the ocean he suddenly noticed a small furry head with whiskers sticking out, popping up in front of him and looking around. D glanced away, and by the time he looked back it was gone. We couldn't figure out what it had been, but our suggestion of an effect of being out in the sun for too long was rejected by D!
The evening was spent doing more chilling around the barbecue.
The previous post was about a week ago, just before RE arrived in San Diego, so I've a bit of catching up to do. I've decided to do the updates in several shorter boring posts rather than a huge long boring one!
Here goes with the first:
Monday 27th October
We didn't play golf. Instead, we had a look round some motorcycle shops, and then drove up to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument which overlooks San Diego and the entrance to the bay. In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the USA, and the view from the National Monument which honours him is bloody good, to say the least! Great view over San Diego Bay, and the military establishments there, including a nuclear submarine base.
The rest of the day was spent chilling!
Tuesday 28th October
RE was due into LAX at around 11.15am, so my brother, D, and I headed north up Interstate 5 and on the way to the airport we headed first to Long Beach and to RMS Queen Mary, or rather the Hotel Queen Mary, which was built close to my house in the John Brown shipyard on the river Clyde, sailed the high seas for a long number of years, and is now an hotel. I can't vouch for what the hotel is like inside, but the outside isn't much to look at, covered as it is by a fair amount of wooden hoardings painted grey. Not all the way up, obviously, but high enough to detract from the lines of the ship. We had 30 minutes free parking before having to pay, so we didn't hang around for all that long, and we certainly didn't spend money going onto her.
Next stop, breakfast. Needing to find a petrol, sorry, gas station, the SatNav directed us a mile or two from the Queen Mary and once that was completed we set it for the nearest Starbucks which was pretty close. So far, so normal. But other than the identical menu it was rather different from the ones we had been frequenting in San Diego. For a start it was in what looked to be a bus station, or at a major bus exchange anyway, and it smelt a bit funny. Nothing you could pinpoint, but just a bit odd.
As we were standing at the counter being served, there was a man sitting very nearby next to an electric wheelchair which was plugged into the wall being recharged. The man was sitting with what looked like a sketch book, and he suddenly, loudly, said something which appeared aimed in our general direction. I looked round and made eye contact, but nothing more was forthcoming so I looked away again. We sat down, a bit further away from him but still in line of sight, and earshot. As an aside, while we were passing I glanced at the sketchbook. It looked like a primary school pupil had drawn Mr Potato Head badly!
A middle aged, hippy-looking woman came in, laden with bags which she dumped on a table across from us, but she didn't sit down. After fussing around, huffing and puffing and muttering to no one in particular, she suddenly leaned towards the counter, which was right next to the table, and demanded "I need water". The assistant replied that they sold bottled water which was in the chiller against the wall, but the woman, raising her voice slightly, declined this and again asked for water. The assistant politely told her that it was company policy not to supply free tap water when they sold bottled. The woman, clearly becoming argumentative and therefore much louder, demanded water again. And so on for a moment or two, until she agreed to buy a bottle from the chiller but suddenly changed her mind and announced (loudly) to everyone that she had always fucking hated the fucking way fucking Starbucks fucking did their fucking business, and she would fucking go elsewhere! She gathered up her belongings and flounced out. Oh, and she may have sworn a bit too. D and I could only look and laugh.
A minute later another, younger and more respectable, woman was at the counter. Wheelchair man had by now struggled to his feet and made it back into the wheelchair. He said something to the young woman, but she didn't quite hear him, having earphones in her ears listening to an iPod, but she was aware that he was speaking to her so took them out her ears and turned to him. Wheelchair man shouted at her that she should fucking listen better, then told her to help him out the door. She said OK, but told him he didn't need to be so rude about it, and she walked to the door next to our table and held it open. He shouted even louder for her to wait a fucking minute because the wheelchair wasn't fucking unplugged yet, and she'd better fucking do that right now. She told him just to forget it and walked back to her place at the counter. Much more reserved than I'd have been, I think.
Another young male in the queue stepped forward and unplugged the chair from the wall socket, the chair sprang into life, and wheelchair man started moving towards the door, which was now being held open by the young man. As he glided across the floor, a torrent of abuse was directed at all and sundry, including D and me who were apparently motherfuckers who would get their asses kicked by wheelchair man just shortly! All we could do was laugh at him, and of course tell him to fuck off in no uncertain terms.
Now I have no problem with helping those less fortunate, and will in fact go out my way to hold open doors, or whatever is necessary, but while I don't expect those seeking my assistance to grovel, I particularly don't expect them to ask for help by shouting, swearing, and demanding assistance, and by giving foul mouthed abuse when that assistance is not immediately forthcoming in the way expected! The guy was clearly a prick, and I trust at some point someone will object to his lack of manners in a more physical way than just telling him to fuck off. It will be deserved!
So, who'd have believed we'd have seen mad people in LA!
We then quit this Starbucks, which when I think about it was maybe an homage to the bar in Star Wars, and headed to the airport to collect RE, who was looking surprisingly awake after being on the go for about 24 hours!
Heading back south down Interstate 5, we diverted to North Beach, so that RE could chill out by the Pacific Ocean for a while to try to delay the jetlag. While she and I walked a short distance along the beautiful golden sand, RE with shoes removed and splashing around happily, D sat on a rocky outcrop and enjoyed the scenery. But while he was looking at the ocean he suddenly noticed a small furry head with whiskers sticking out, popping up in front of him and looking around. D glanced away, and by the time he looked back it was gone. We couldn't figure out what it had been, but our suggestion of an effect of being out in the sun for too long was rejected by D!
The evening was spent doing more chilling around the barbecue.
Monday, October 27, 2008
In vino veritas
Ah, wine. The very lifeblood of civilisation.
Today, Sunday 26th October (ignore the "official" post date and time recorded here which is in GMT, or in fact probably BST, it's a little after 10.30pm on Sunday here in San Diego, Southern California, as I start to type this) we visited the Callaway Winery near Temecula. Took the (free) tour and heard the story of how the wine is produced, and how Ely Callaway founded the vineyard in 1969 before becoming even more famous as a maker of expensive golf bats (a good walk spoiled, some say). And sampled 6 different wines ranging from pretty good to very good!
Before hitting the winery though we stopped in the town of Temecula. Actually I think it's a city, but it didn't seem all that big so looked more like a town. Didn't stay for all that long, and didn't do much except have breakfast (crepes and coffee) and visit an antiques centre where plaster representations of Winnie the Pooh and the late Emperor Julius Caesar (or G. Cesare as the inscription says, which means Guilio Cesare we have worked out by means of research on t'InterWeb) were procured. The crepes and coffee were good, but served a bit randomly one plate at a time with a gap of a few minutes between each.
Next, and final, stop was a picnic area at Lake Wohlford, where chicken bits and tuna sandwiches were consumed, and a football (of the American version) was thrown around for a while.
This evening I had a long overdue, and very welcome Skype conversation with RE who is in New Zealand. She will be arriving in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing her again and spending some touristy time together.
While in Temecula today, and on all the roads round about here, huge numbers of Harley Davidson motorcycles have been very much in evidence, and to be truthful the more of them I've seen, the more I've realised that I don't buy into the culture of that particular make of machine. I've no problem with anyone who does, and I still think they sound great (although apparently they handle like shit on anything except a straight road), but I've never had a desire to ride one in the UK and have felt pressure to hire one while here only because it's probably The Thing To Do, so over the course of today I've pretty much come to the decision that I'm not going to bother hiring one while I'm here. Sure, it's great biking weather, and if I had a BMW like my own at home (the link isn't to my actual bike, incidentally, just to the same model) then I'd happily head out there, but the San Diego BMW Motorrad dealer doesn't advertise rentals on their Website, and when I did some research before coming out here I saw some BMW's for hire at a price far above what I'd deem reasonable, so to Hell with that!
So tomorrow, we haven't quite decided what to do. Golf has been mentioned, but it remains to be seen whether my brother will put up with a non-player accompanying him and hacking his way round the course to everyone's amusement and probably irritation. Also, I don't look good wearing Pringle sweaters.
Did I mention that last night we ate at Joe's Crab Shack? Very nice too. Almost bought a tee shirt proclaiming My waitress gave me crabs, but didn't!
Today, Sunday 26th October (ignore the "official" post date and time recorded here which is in GMT, or in fact probably BST, it's a little after 10.30pm on Sunday here in San Diego, Southern California, as I start to type this) we visited the Callaway Winery near Temecula. Took the (free) tour and heard the story of how the wine is produced, and how Ely Callaway founded the vineyard in 1969 before becoming even more famous as a maker of expensive golf bats (a good walk spoiled, some say). And sampled 6 different wines ranging from pretty good to very good!
Before hitting the winery though we stopped in the town of Temecula. Actually I think it's a city, but it didn't seem all that big so looked more like a town. Didn't stay for all that long, and didn't do much except have breakfast (crepes and coffee) and visit an antiques centre where plaster representations of Winnie the Pooh and the late Emperor Julius Caesar (or G. Cesare as the inscription says, which means Guilio Cesare we have worked out by means of research on t'InterWeb) were procured. The crepes and coffee were good, but served a bit randomly one plate at a time with a gap of a few minutes between each.
Next, and final, stop was a picnic area at Lake Wohlford, where chicken bits and tuna sandwiches were consumed, and a football (of the American version) was thrown around for a while.
This evening I had a long overdue, and very welcome Skype conversation with RE who is in New Zealand. She will be arriving in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing her again and spending some touristy time together.
While in Temecula today, and on all the roads round about here, huge numbers of Harley Davidson motorcycles have been very much in evidence, and to be truthful the more of them I've seen, the more I've realised that I don't buy into the culture of that particular make of machine. I've no problem with anyone who does, and I still think they sound great (although apparently they handle like shit on anything except a straight road), but I've never had a desire to ride one in the UK and have felt pressure to hire one while here only because it's probably The Thing To Do, so over the course of today I've pretty much come to the decision that I'm not going to bother hiring one while I'm here. Sure, it's great biking weather, and if I had a BMW like my own at home (the link isn't to my actual bike, incidentally, just to the same model) then I'd happily head out there, but the San Diego BMW Motorrad dealer doesn't advertise rentals on their Website, and when I did some research before coming out here I saw some BMW's for hire at a price far above what I'd deem reasonable, so to Hell with that!
So tomorrow, we haven't quite decided what to do. Golf has been mentioned, but it remains to be seen whether my brother will put up with a non-player accompanying him and hacking his way round the course to everyone's amusement and probably irritation. Also, I don't look good wearing Pringle sweaters.
Did I mention that last night we ate at Joe's Crab Shack? Very nice too. Almost bought a tee shirt proclaiming My waitress gave me crabs, but didn't!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Hi tech stuff
It's a little after 3pm on Saturday 25th October. So what have I been up to here in still very sunny and unseasonably hot San Diego since my previous post on Wednesday afternoon?
On Thursday my brother, D, took me for a whistlestop tour of the place he works, Solar Turbines, in the centre of San Diego right next to the airport. What struck me most in the assembly area was, considering this is engineering on a big scale, it was really really clean. I'm not an engineer myself, and my previous limited experience of it was a week of work experience in my last years at school, probably around 1978, which I spent at the Terex earth moving equipment manufacturer near my hometown, and various short visits to collect my dad from his work when that was at a steelworks. All very noisy, dirty environments. But not Solar, it was all very clean, very hi-tech, pretty quiet, and very impressive.
Thursday evening saw us eating at the Fish Market at Del Mar/Solano Beach. An interesting if unsurprisingly fishy menu full of things of which I'd never heard before, let alone tried! And some beer too. Wouldn't necessarily recommend you try it, but it was OK.
On Friday we set off slightly north of the city, and finding the beach near Carlsbad we followed the coast south again, largely on the historic Route 101, aka the Pacific Highway, seeing groups of surfers on the way. Through a mixture of towns like Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and La Jolla (pronounced Hoya apparently), which varied from what looked like not much more than beach huts perhaps occupied by people who moved to California in the 1960's and never left (the area or the 60's for that matter!) and huge multi million dollar properties, probably occupied for a small percentage of the year by film stars and other such celebs.
We'll go back to that area next week though, to explore a bit more when RE gets here. On Friday we were headed somewhere specific, not just Pacific. Our destination was the rather large and exceptionally impressive USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier berthed in San Diego Bay just along from the Maritime Museum we visited earlier in the week. When she was launched in 1945 and for the following ten years, Midway was the largest ship in the world, and she is big! Lots to see, and one refreshing thing was that many of the aircraft on the flight deck have bits sticking out of them at body or head height (edges of wings and suchlike) yet there are very few roped off or protected areas so it would be easy to walk into something slightly painful. The authorities who run the ship as a museum have obviously trusted the intelligence of their visitors enough not to have felt the need to over protect them. I genuinely thought that was a nice touch, and perhaps all the more surprising in the notoriously litigious USA.
After leaving the Midway, we visited Beverages and More, which if it were in Glasgow would be a very regular haunt for me. I got some Gordons Gin and some Pastis, and D got various Belgian and UK beers and some wine. Great store!
So that was us all set for Tapas type starters followed by Jambalaya, sitting outside in the still warm evening, with large glasses of Pastis for me, and red wine for everyone else (except my niece J, who had Sprite!). A good evening, yet again, of good food and drink and company.
This morning, Saturday, and my sister in law and niece, C and J, available to join us since it's the weekend, we all set off to San Diego Wild Animal Park, a few miles north of San Diego. Something like 1800 acres of wilderness tamed and filled with a variety of exotic animals and boutiques selling the usual touristy tat. It's part of San Diego Zoo, which is in Balboa Park in the city and which we'll visit next week, and by all accounts it isn't quite as good as the zoo itself.
Now it's chill out time, because it's too hot to wander about outside, so I've copied all the photos I've taken so far from my camera onto a flash drive pen, just in case. I'd post more of the images here, but I've got the camera settings such that my images are roughly 3Mb each, and while if I was at home I'd use the Microsoft PowerToys image resizer to easily and quickly make small copies with just a right click of the mouse, D's laptop runs Windows Vista and the resizer only works with XP, so I don't want to upload too many big images. I'll upload smaller ones to my Flickr account after I return home, and provide a link to them from this Blog, in the unlikely event anyone wants to see them.
On Thursday my brother, D, took me for a whistlestop tour of the place he works, Solar Turbines, in the centre of San Diego right next to the airport. What struck me most in the assembly area was, considering this is engineering on a big scale, it was really really clean. I'm not an engineer myself, and my previous limited experience of it was a week of work experience in my last years at school, probably around 1978, which I spent at the Terex earth moving equipment manufacturer near my hometown, and various short visits to collect my dad from his work when that was at a steelworks. All very noisy, dirty environments. But not Solar, it was all very clean, very hi-tech, pretty quiet, and very impressive.
Thursday evening saw us eating at the Fish Market at Del Mar/Solano Beach. An interesting if unsurprisingly fishy menu full of things of which I'd never heard before, let alone tried! And some beer too. Wouldn't necessarily recommend you try it, but it was OK.
On Friday we set off slightly north of the city, and finding the beach near Carlsbad we followed the coast south again, largely on the historic Route 101, aka the Pacific Highway, seeing groups of surfers on the way. Through a mixture of towns like Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and La Jolla (pronounced Hoya apparently), which varied from what looked like not much more than beach huts perhaps occupied by people who moved to California in the 1960's and never left (the area or the 60's for that matter!) and huge multi million dollar properties, probably occupied for a small percentage of the year by film stars and other such celebs.
We'll go back to that area next week though, to explore a bit more when RE gets here. On Friday we were headed somewhere specific, not just Pacific. Our destination was the rather large and exceptionally impressive USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier berthed in San Diego Bay just along from the Maritime Museum we visited earlier in the week. When she was launched in 1945 and for the following ten years, Midway was the largest ship in the world, and she is big! Lots to see, and one refreshing thing was that many of the aircraft on the flight deck have bits sticking out of them at body or head height (edges of wings and suchlike) yet there are very few roped off or protected areas so it would be easy to walk into something slightly painful. The authorities who run the ship as a museum have obviously trusted the intelligence of their visitors enough not to have felt the need to over protect them. I genuinely thought that was a nice touch, and perhaps all the more surprising in the notoriously litigious USA.
After leaving the Midway, we visited Beverages and More, which if it were in Glasgow would be a very regular haunt for me. I got some Gordons Gin and some Pastis, and D got various Belgian and UK beers and some wine. Great store!
So that was us all set for Tapas type starters followed by Jambalaya, sitting outside in the still warm evening, with large glasses of Pastis for me, and red wine for everyone else (except my niece J, who had Sprite!). A good evening, yet again, of good food and drink and company.
This morning, Saturday, and my sister in law and niece, C and J, available to join us since it's the weekend, we all set off to San Diego Wild Animal Park, a few miles north of San Diego. Something like 1800 acres of wilderness tamed and filled with a variety of exotic animals and boutiques selling the usual touristy tat. It's part of San Diego Zoo, which is in Balboa Park in the city and which we'll visit next week, and by all accounts it isn't quite as good as the zoo itself.
Now it's chill out time, because it's too hot to wander about outside, so I've copied all the photos I've taken so far from my camera onto a flash drive pen, just in case. I'd post more of the images here, but I've got the camera settings such that my images are roughly 3Mb each, and while if I was at home I'd use the Microsoft PowerToys image resizer to easily and quickly make small copies with just a right click of the mouse, D's laptop runs Windows Vista and the resizer only works with XP, so I don't want to upload too many big images. I'll upload smaller ones to my Flickr account after I return home, and provide a link to them from this Blog, in the unlikely event anyone wants to see them.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
It's hot hot hot
As I start to write this it's now half past four in the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd October here in very sunny and very warm San Diego, southern California. The temperature today down at the water was forecast for about 78deg and inland was to be about 98deg. That's almost 26 degrees and almost 37 degrees Centigrade, for those who like me work in those figures and for whom Fahrenheit means nothing! It's bloody hot anyway! And I forgot to put on sun screen this morning. Oh well. RE will kill me!
In my last post I mentioned what we did on Sunday morning, and on Monday.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we headed a little further afield, to the Mount Palomar Observatory in fact. Operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which coincidentally is who our friend MB, recently formerly of Glasgow Chamber Choir, is now employed by, but in LA (or somewhere nearby) not at Mount Palomar. He's a physicist, and at his leaving party in Glasgow a few months ago (he had been working at Glasgow University) I asked him, as someone who has passed Higher Physics and who has a keen albeit passing interest in "popular" science, what he actually did. Ten minutes or so later, MB had explained to me in really simple terms how he was involved in a world wide experiment relating to gravity waves, and I understood not one word! RE and I are visiting him at the end of next week on our way back home. Oh, did I mention that RE, who is currently in New Zealand, is making a stopover for a few days and joining me in San Diego?
Anyway, the observatory is at the top of a mountain. Mount Palomar in fact, funnily enough. It was a spectacular drive up an extremely twist road, and I took over at the wheel of D's Chevrolet Trailblazer with its 4.2 litre engine and automatic gearbox, part way up the mountain. An interesting experience, not being at all used to left hand drive vehicles (although I have driven them a few times in the past) and not being familiar with the US system of road markings and the rules of the road.
There's not a great deal to see at the observatory, apart from a single room museum nearby (fairly small but quite interesting), and of course the 200 inch Hale telescope, which is HUGE! Well worth the trip though.
Coming back down the mountain, we took a different route part way, and headed to the traditional western town of Julian, which is an historic gold rush town, now famous for its apples and the pies and cider therefrom! We sampled neither, but my brother told me of a previous visit with a couple of friends from Scotland, D & L, when D was horrified to discover that the cider he'd just bought and drank was in fact alcohol free!
Julian is a lovely wee town, and there are some good shops too. Next time I might try an apple pie! And the roads round it are really good, and would be excellent for biking on.
I forgot to mention, at breakfast yesterday we tried Einstein Brothers Bagels instead of Starbucks. The bagels were great (Egg sandwich with bacon and cheese, on an onion bagel) and the orange juice was exceptional, but don't believe their website when it claims darn good coffee. The coffee wasn't great. While sitting outside waiting for my brother to come out with the Bagels, I overheard half of a telephone conversation which made me glad to live in the United Kingdom, and very appreciative of the National Health Service, with all its faults.
The phrase I overheard, which requires no further comment from me, was:
".......I'm not having the heart procedure, because it costs way too much money......."
We rounded off yesterday by having a bit of a barbecue and then watching a DVD, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum, which if you haven't seen it I would suggest not to go out your way to do so. Harmless and inoffensive, but not the best! I enjoyed the company though.
This morning, Wednesday 22nd October, we mixed and matched at breakfast, finding an Einstein Brothers Bagels next door to a Starbucks, so we had orange juice and bagels from one and coffee from the other, and sat outside in the shade.
Off then to Balboa Park and to the museums. Specifically to the Air and Space Museum and the Automotive one. The Air and Space one has loads of interesting stuff including the Apollo 9 command module, and the Automotive museum has a large collection of Ferrari cars. Again, both well worth a visit. It was $15 each to get into the Air and Space Museum, and $8 each for the Automotive one, although D received a $4 discount to that one for being a member of AAA.
One of the things I experienced in the Air & Space museum was a flight simulator of a fighter aircraft, an F-18 I think it might have been. Let's just say that after my first barrel roll and loop the loop, I was glad I hadn't been to the diner this morning for the size of breakfast I'd had on Sunday! Very exciting though, particularly the upside down bits! Made me glad of the time I've spent in the past using Microsoft Flight Simulator, because at least I knew which way to move the stick!
Leaving Balboa Park, we headed for the Old Town of San Diego, which was fantastic. Lots of history, and lots of shops with the staff dressed in traditional costume. Certainly worth another visit and we'll go when RE is here.
Lastly, for the out and about stuff anyway, we found a Harley Davidson motorcycle dealer, and went in for a look round. More chrome, leather and tassles than you can shake a stick at! Just like the H-D dealer in Glasgow, in fact, only much much bigger.
Before coming here on holiday, I had considered hiring a Harley Davidson for a few days and riding part of the Pacific Coast Highway, but when I started to look online at prices I realised that I wasn't all that bothered! However, when I was engaged in conversation with one of the dealer's staff this afternoon, he mentioned hiring a bike for 8 hours, and it turns out this only costs $59 (plus maybe $20 insurance and the cost of fuel too) and for that I can choose any bike. It also includes helmets, although no other protective gear is supplied. Watch this space!
So that was today. I'm currently relaxing in preparation for some nice steak tonight, and maybe some beer or some wine.
In my last post I mentioned what we did on Sunday morning, and on Monday.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we headed a little further afield, to the Mount Palomar Observatory in fact. Operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which coincidentally is who our friend MB, recently formerly of Glasgow Chamber Choir, is now employed by, but in LA (or somewhere nearby) not at Mount Palomar. He's a physicist, and at his leaving party in Glasgow a few months ago (he had been working at Glasgow University) I asked him, as someone who has passed Higher Physics and who has a keen albeit passing interest in "popular" science, what he actually did. Ten minutes or so later, MB had explained to me in really simple terms how he was involved in a world wide experiment relating to gravity waves, and I understood not one word! RE and I are visiting him at the end of next week on our way back home. Oh, did I mention that RE, who is currently in New Zealand, is making a stopover for a few days and joining me in San Diego?
Anyway, the observatory is at the top of a mountain. Mount Palomar in fact, funnily enough. It was a spectacular drive up an extremely twist road, and I took over at the wheel of D's Chevrolet Trailblazer with its 4.2 litre engine and automatic gearbox, part way up the mountain. An interesting experience, not being at all used to left hand drive vehicles (although I have driven them a few times in the past) and not being familiar with the US system of road markings and the rules of the road.
There's not a great deal to see at the observatory, apart from a single room museum nearby (fairly small but quite interesting), and of course the 200 inch Hale telescope, which is HUGE! Well worth the trip though.
Coming back down the mountain, we took a different route part way, and headed to the traditional western town of Julian, which is an historic gold rush town, now famous for its apples and the pies and cider therefrom! We sampled neither, but my brother told me of a previous visit with a couple of friends from Scotland, D & L, when D was horrified to discover that the cider he'd just bought and drank was in fact alcohol free!
Julian is a lovely wee town, and there are some good shops too. Next time I might try an apple pie! And the roads round it are really good, and would be excellent for biking on.
I forgot to mention, at breakfast yesterday we tried Einstein Brothers Bagels instead of Starbucks. The bagels were great (Egg sandwich with bacon and cheese, on an onion bagel) and the orange juice was exceptional, but don't believe their website when it claims darn good coffee. The coffee wasn't great. While sitting outside waiting for my brother to come out with the Bagels, I overheard half of a telephone conversation which made me glad to live in the United Kingdom, and very appreciative of the National Health Service, with all its faults.
The phrase I overheard, which requires no further comment from me, was:
".......I'm not having the heart procedure, because it costs way too much money......."
We rounded off yesterday by having a bit of a barbecue and then watching a DVD, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum, which if you haven't seen it I would suggest not to go out your way to do so. Harmless and inoffensive, but not the best! I enjoyed the company though.
This morning, Wednesday 22nd October, we mixed and matched at breakfast, finding an Einstein Brothers Bagels next door to a Starbucks, so we had orange juice and bagels from one and coffee from the other, and sat outside in the shade.
Off then to Balboa Park and to the museums. Specifically to the Air and Space Museum and the Automotive one. The Air and Space one has loads of interesting stuff including the Apollo 9 command module, and the Automotive museum has a large collection of Ferrari cars. Again, both well worth a visit. It was $15 each to get into the Air and Space Museum, and $8 each for the Automotive one, although D received a $4 discount to that one for being a member of AAA.
One of the things I experienced in the Air & Space museum was a flight simulator of a fighter aircraft, an F-18 I think it might have been. Let's just say that after my first barrel roll and loop the loop, I was glad I hadn't been to the diner this morning for the size of breakfast I'd had on Sunday! Very exciting though, particularly the upside down bits! Made me glad of the time I've spent in the past using Microsoft Flight Simulator, because at least I knew which way to move the stick!
Leaving Balboa Park, we headed for the Old Town of San Diego, which was fantastic. Lots of history, and lots of shops with the staff dressed in traditional costume. Certainly worth another visit and we'll go when RE is here.
Lastly, for the out and about stuff anyway, we found a Harley Davidson motorcycle dealer, and went in for a look round. More chrome, leather and tassles than you can shake a stick at! Just like the H-D dealer in Glasgow, in fact, only much much bigger.
Before coming here on holiday, I had considered hiring a Harley Davidson for a few days and riding part of the Pacific Coast Highway, but when I started to look online at prices I realised that I wasn't all that bothered! However, when I was engaged in conversation with one of the dealer's staff this afternoon, he mentioned hiring a bike for 8 hours, and it turns out this only costs $59 (plus maybe $20 insurance and the cost of fuel too) and for that I can choose any bike. It also includes helmets, although no other protective gear is supplied. Watch this space!
So that was today. I'm currently relaxing in preparation for some nice steak tonight, and maybe some beer or some wine.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I see no ships
It's Tuesday morning, 21st October, at a little before 8am in San Diego and thankfully it seems my body clock is managing to right itself. More or less anyway. I stayed up until about 10pm last night before I had to sleepily make my way to bed!
Yesterday my brother, D, and I started off at one of the ubiquitous Starbucks where we had coffee and something to eat for a bit of breakfast. My Superman teeshirt apparently caused a bit of a stir as two people, including a down and out, commented on it on the way into Starbucks, and the server inside just wrote "Superman" on the cup before passing it to someone who was going to prepare the latte. Thankfully no one else during the day had anything to say, otherwise it would have become fairly tiresome I guess, so maybe it's just at that particular Starbucks no one had ever seen one before! Or maybe they thought I was actually Superman instead of a Scottish bloke wearing it ironically! It is California after all and I understand that mind altering substances have been used here in the past!
I forgot to mention that on Sunday morning we went to a traditional diner where I had my first experience of pancakes and syrup for breakfast. And eggs benedict with what was essentially a slab of gammon steak, and eggs benedict with crab cakes. And orange juice. And more coffee than you could shake a stick at. Fantastic. And the pancakes were a surprise to me, since I didn't think I'd like them but did! Can't imagine ever doing that sort of thing more than very occasionally though, and indeed D & C confirmed that they do it very rarely.
So back to yesterday then. After breakfast we went to downtown San Diego, next to San Diego Bay, where we parked and bought tickets for the Maritime Museum. They have six ships listed on their brochure, but there were only five there, plus a former Soviet submarine which wasn't in the brochure so we didn't feel short changed at all.
The ships they have are:
- Star of India, the world's oldest active ship, built in the Isle of Man in 1863 and originally called Euterpe. She has been used for various things, including transporting emigrants from the UK to New Zealand, and in the Alaskan salmon packing industry.
- Berkeley, an 1898 steam ferryboat that operated for 60 years in San Francisco Bay.
- Medea, a 1904 steam yacht built at Linthouse on the River Clyde in Glasgow (roughly 3 miles from my house!) for a rich guy from Argyll.
- Pilot, a 1914 harbour pilot boat which for 82 years was San Diego Bay's official pilot boat.
- Californian, a replica 19th century revenue cutter, which wasn't there.
- HMS Surprise, a replica 18th century Royal Navy Frigate which featured in the 2003 Russell Crowe film Master and Commander: The far side of the world, which I haven't seen but will do so at the earliest opportunity.
- B-39 Soviet attack submarine which was launched in 1972, and carried nuclear (or should that be Nucular since I'm here in the states?) weapons.
The top photo, taken from Berkeley, shows the stern of HMS Surprise, the bow of B-39, and most of Star of India. The bottom photo shows the saloon of Berkeley.
They were all really interesting, and for only $14 for a ticket which allowed unlimited repeated access to all of them for a day, it was really good value too.
After leaving the downtown area we went to a Mexican food place, Baja Fresh, for lunch, and had fish tacos. An interesting experience! Stopping at a huge, and I mean huge, electronic warehouse called Frys, which sold pretty much everything gadget related and was decribed beforehand by D as being Toys R Us for men, and then at another smaller one called Best Buy, we collected my niece J from school, and pausing momentarily at a local Baskin & Robbins for some ice cream, we headed home.
A good day, well spent.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Body clocks
Here I am in Sunny San Diego. Well I say sunny, but since it's a little after half past four in the morning that would be pushing it!
It's a long way from Glasgow! A good trip though, and the flight connections were absolutely fine. My first full day was spent having a bit of a look around, and chilling with my brother and his family. Today his wife and daughter are at work/school respectively, so D & I will head back into the city for more of a wander around, and maybe a look on the historic ships in the bay.
My body clock still hasn't reset itself, obviously, having hit the sleepyness wall a little after 9 last night, and as I said I'm now pretty much awake. Hopefully that'll all sort itself out shortly though.
This is just a quick post, as I'm trying not to bash the keys too noisily in case I wake the household.
More later, and probably some photos, if I can source either a card reader or mini USB connector, having not thought to pack them with the camera!
It's a long way from Glasgow! A good trip though, and the flight connections were absolutely fine. My first full day was spent having a bit of a look around, and chilling with my brother and his family. Today his wife and daughter are at work/school respectively, so D & I will head back into the city for more of a wander around, and maybe a look on the historic ships in the bay.
My body clock still hasn't reset itself, obviously, having hit the sleepyness wall a little after 9 last night, and as I said I'm now pretty much awake. Hopefully that'll all sort itself out shortly though.
This is just a quick post, as I'm trying not to bash the keys too noisily in case I wake the household.
More later, and probably some photos, if I can source either a card reader or mini USB connector, having not thought to pack them with the camera!
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