Tim's UK Safari Diary

06th June 2001

Wed, 06 Jun 2001 10:36:12 +0000

Lucy and I were looking for something to do as we had been stuck in the house for a while, so we decided to ask our friends Ross and Claire if they would like to head to Alton Towers with us. I had never been before but had seen the ad's on the TV for a few months now.

As it's just a fun park I won't go into all the details, I'll just leave you with some of the various pictures I took while there....

This is the hole you disappear through on the ride Nemesis (see the track)
Gibbo, Lucy and Ross at Alton Towers
Lucy and Ross on the River Rapids at Alton Towers

16th May 2001

Wed, 16 May 2001 15:29:07 +0000

Lucy's parents had introduced us to a great travel company over here by the name of "Great Escapes" who specialise in small weekend breaks out of the UK. We looked through their brochure and noticed that Bruges was particularly affordable and decided to book for the upcoming long weekend. I didn't think we would be able to get it as the British don't get as many long weekends as we do back in Oz and most people plan their holidays months in advance - as we had decided at very short notice (less than a week) so I wasn't too hopeful. Fortunately, I was requesting the highest class of hotel (as we hadn't been away for quite some time now) so there was no problem getting a room. Great Escapes express mailed us a "holiday pack" that contained a guide book, vouchers for some Belgium chocolates and a brewery visit pass along with all our tickets and hotel details.

This is where I nearly made a fatal mistake, you see I looked through everything that came in our pack except the travel tickets. So when we arrived at Waterloo station on Saturday morning to board the train, we found the ticket machine wouldn't accept our tickets. We asked a member of staff for help and he pointed out what I should have noticed all along, my tickets were for Friday morning!!! Naturally I went into a complete state of panic. Checking the hotel details confirmed my worst fears, the hotel had been booked for Friday and Saturday night instead of Saturday and Sunday night - it was a complete disaster. We quickly dashed into the Eurostar's ticket counter and were extremely lucky as the lady managed to change our tickets for us and also changed our return journey. We then phoned the hotel who told us that we had been listed as a no-show the previous night but would be able to put us up the second night. Although there may be an additional cost.

THE LOWDOWN ON BRUGES

Bruges (Brugge in Flemish) is one of Europe's best-preserved medieval cities and is Belgium's most visited town. It's richly ornate 13th century centre has changed little over the centuries, due largely to the silting of the Zwin River. At that time, Bruges was a prosperous cloth manufacturing town and the centre of Flemish Primitive art. When the river silted, Bruges died, it's wealthy merchants abandoning it for Antwerp.

After checking into our hotel (De Tuilerieen), they took us to a room which to this day remains the most amazing hotel room I have every stayed in. We felt like Royalty! Not wanting to waste a second we quickly showered and got changed into some "summer" clothes before heading out to explore the town. We had decided to follow the walking tour that came with our guide book as it seemed to contain most of what Bruges had to offer (there is no way we could have seen everything in a single weekend). So we set out for stop number one.

I took this photo as I was climbing the final
few meters to the top, look at my shoe to
give an indication of the width of the stairs!
Don't forget there were 366 of these and other
people going up and down them at the same time!

Stop number one was the Markt, this is one of the two main squares within Bruges. On the edge of the Markt is the Belfort-Hallen (Bell Tower and Covered Market) which we decided to tackle first. The Belfort is 90 meters high and has a metre lean to the right. The top can be reached by climbing the 366 incredibly small steps that form it's tight spiral-staircase. I didn't think it would be too hard but boy was I wrong. There were no restrictions on the climb, so once you have paid your money you just climb up. The problem is, people are trying to climb down at the same time. You spend most of the time clinging onto stairs and brushing past people in the most intimate of ways in order to progress up the staircase. The photo on the right gives a good indication as to the condition on the stairs!

Every now and then you stumble on a landing that has a door leading into one of the various rooms of the Bell Tower - although these are few and far between. Lucy didn't make it all the way to the top, she stopped about 10 meters short and waited for me to head to the top with my video camera. Lucy was on the level where all the mechanics for the Bell Tower were locatated. Meanwhile I made it to the top of the Belfry where the physical bells were. Unfortunately I timed my arrival to the exact moment the Bell's struck. I was videoing the view at the time and the footage is hilarious, these things were so loud that I nearly dropped my camera over the side of the tower!!!

Well, we had thought climbing up was difficult, but climbing down was far worse, when we finally made it down (both swearing never to do anything like that again). We decided to have a lunch and a few well deserved beers!!!

This is the view from the top of the Belfort looking down on the Markt.
We headed over to the other side of the Markt and found a nice outdoor restaurant. Now, when it comes to beers Belgium's are probably the most famous on the planet. You see the beer was traditionally popular in Belgium as the drinking-water was of such poor quality - the brewing process meant that impurities in the water were rendered harmless. Nowadays, there is no problem with the water and the beer is drunk only for it's taste. In any bar in Bruges you can be faced with a choice of 100 or more different beers! I decided to jump in the deep end and order a Kwak (a strong blonde beer) that is served in a glass with a spherical base that sits in a wooden stand in order to remain upright. What I didn't plan on was the size of the beer. Lucy took a photos to prove the various quantities that I consumed over the three day weekend.

Over the holiday I consumed quite a few beers,
here you can see the transformation that progressivly came over me.

After lunch we strolled down to a place called the Burg which is considered one of the best medieval squares in Europe. It was named after the castle built by "Baldwin Iron Arm". There was quite a lot to see in this small square, including the Stadhuis (Town Hall) which was built between 1376 and 1420 - it is one of the oldest town halls in Belgium and considered a Gothic masterpiece. Right next door is the small Basiliek van het Helig Bloed (Basilica of the Holy Blood) which was completed in 1534. It is a very impressive church that holds what is said to be the actual blood of Christ. How you ask? According to my guide book, "Flemish Knight Dietrich of Alsace returned from the Second Crusade in the Holy Land in 1149 and brought with him a crystal phial belived to contain some drops of Christ's blood. Soon venerated all over medieval Europe, it is still brought out each Friday for the faithful. The dried blood turned to liquid at regular intervals for many years -- declared to be a miracle by Pope Clement V. The phial is stored in a richly and rather heavily ornate silver tabernacle presented by the archdukes of Spain in 1611." We had a quick look around although I wasn't allowed to video or take any photos inside the Church to post here, so you will just have to take my word for it - very impressive (although you don't get to see any blood - only the container that the phial is supposed to be held in).

We walked around the Burg some more before heading over the small bridge to the Vismarkt (Fishmarket) before heading back to our hotel following the course of the canal. By this time we were completely exhausted so we decided to have a bit of a rest until that evening. Luck was on our side, for that night the town was putting on a festival where they closed the majority of the city to everyone except pedistrians and put on a series of shows that showed the history of the city and the major events that occured there. We could simply walk around from location to location and watch the goings on. Some of these performances were in English but we always seemed to capture the last few words of each, so we contented ourselves with just watching the action. Although I must admit I did find the sequence on spinning-wool quite boring, however, the one with the dragon-type thing that killed everyone was quite cool! After wandering around for a while we went to yet another restaurant for dinner (and beers) before stumbling back to the hotel for some well deserved sleep.

The following morning I woke up with a mission, I wanted to see my first ever Michelangelo. You see Bruges is the home of the famous Madonna and Child by Michelangelo and since finding out it lives in one of Bruges Church's I insisted on seeing it. Before we could do this however, we had decided to queue up for a canal trip, we had noticed the previous day that there were major queues for these so we decided to take one before the queues had an opportunity to build up and before the heat of the afternoon set it, so we crossed over the small bridge from our hotel and joined the small queue to see the city from the canals.

Believe it or not, this is the smallest gothic window in the world, it was pointed out by our guide during our canal trip.
I've enlarged it so you can see more of the detail.
Amazing eh!.

The boat trip was an eye opener as the city had always depended on the canals to bring in supplies and a lot of the city's buildings have impressive canal sided decorations that are not able to be seen from the pediastrian routes. The host also told us about the city's history and explained the reasons behind it being so well preserved today (loss of trade due to the silting up of the canal system made them so poor they couldn't afford to update anything!). He also explained that every five years they have to drain all the canals in order to allow repairs to all the old buildings and bridges. This is done from money collected from tourists (on these boat trips) - so in a way we were helping to preserve Bruges for the future generations. Still this didn't stop him from asking us for all our remaining loose change when we got off the boat in order to help him preserve himself, something I was a little annoyed at, as he basically stood in front of the only exit to the boat with his hand out, so it was either pay up some cash or go swim.

So Lucy and I found ourselves handing over our spare drink money in order to get back on dry land! We now set off to see the Michelangelo, but not before crossing the oldest bridge in Brugge, it took about 30 minutes to get a photo without someone on it, it seems that it is in constant use, I fortunately managed to snap one without too many people on it.

My over-eagerness to see the Michelangello caused me to visit the Gruuthuse Museum(as in the guide book the photo of the Michelangelo was right next to the Museums's entry). While the Michelangelo wasn't at the museum, there were a number of interesting things, including a rather strange painting which Lucy and I thought was very funny. I have included a copy of it on the right hand side here. I'm affraid there was no information around the photo to let us know what it was supposed to mean!

Poor kid! I bet posing for this picture hurt like hell!!

Finally we found the Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk (Church of Our Lady) which has the highest brick tower in Belgium standing at an impressive 122m (400ft), it once served as a kind of inland lighthouse for ships on their way to Bruges. The exterior of the church is a hodge-podge of different styles and slightly forbidding. However the interior is almost a warehouse of religious artworks and treasures. The only one I was interested in however was the Maddona and Child by Michelangelo. I quickly consulted my guide book which pointed out that the statue was originally intended for the cathedral in Siena and was the only one of Michelangelos works to travel outside Italy during his lifetime. It was brought to Bruges by a Flemish merchant named Jan Moscroen.

The statue itself is amazing, I spent several minutes just looking at it from every angle I could manage, you almost get the sense that the Madonna is just about to move. I found my eyes playing tricks on me where I thought I glanced the very slighest of movements, the effect was very similar to the street performers that put white makeup on their faces and stand still imitating a statue. It was definately the most amazing sculpture I have fixed my eyes on. If you ever get the opportunity, don't miss a chance to see it.

After looking around the church we headed outside and plonked outselves down at yet another restaurant and sampled more of the beers on offer. We then walked back to our hotel along the canel before heading back to the hotel. The next morning we quickly set about buying a few sourviners (and I've just remembered I haven't sent them all home yet - sorry). I also brought a selection of beers to take back to the UK. We then checked out of our hotel and caught a taxi to the train-station and began our journey back home.

Bruges is amazing, I would definately love to go back, although I think my next holiday to Belgium would be to Ghent as I have noticed a number of cool looking attractions there, not least of which is the ominous Gravensteen Castle! Perhaps next time we'll have to stay longer and visit both cities as I don't think I could ever tire of Bruges.

6 April 2001

Fri, 06 Apr 2001 16:09:48 +0000
The sixth of April started a minor nightmare that was to continue up until 11th of June. My contract at NEC had finished. I had been lucky in that they had extended it by two months to work on an extra project but it had finally run it's course - that's the problem with contracting, by completing my work on time I had put myself out of a job. The only reason I found this a nightmare was because I found myself jobless at the end of the financial year. This is the time companies are awaiting their budgets and therefore are not hiring new contractors, not to mention the general economic downturn. I rang around the small number of contacts I had made in the industry and the words were always the same. "There's nothing out there yet, it's very slow but it should pick up eventually".. Not exactly music to my ears.

You would think that having a forced holiday would be a good thing. I can assure you, however, that it is not. Simply breathing over here ultimately costs money and being jobless for the first time didn't appeal to me at all. Fortunately I had just put in a large invoice - enough to carry me (on a budget) for two months. So I did what anyone would do in my situation - I went on a holiday.

Actually that makes me sound more reckless than I was, I had some money left over from my last pay and Lucy needed to take some of her annual leave (or else she lost it!) so we decided to head off to Edinburgh in Scotland. My idea of Scotland was largely based on the film Highlander with a bit of Braveheart thrown in for good measure. Just about everyone I spoke to told me the Edinburgh was fantastic but I couldn't help feeling that it would be boring - surely it was just another capital city with the obligatory Marks and Spencer and Boots shops. I couldn't of been more wrong (well they did have a Marks and Spencer and Boots but the city is amazing).

We had booked our train tickets using the rail company's "super friendly online system" (read as incredibly slow and painful electronic pain in the arse). When they finally arrived we set off for Waterloo station to begin the five hour train trip to Edinburgh. I like traveling by train, if you get the right seats it's great. I can read a book without getting that annoying motion-headache and talk to the person next to me without worrying about losing control of a vehicle. In most countries you have a better chance of being killed by lightning than being in a train crash, here in the UK your chances are more like those of being involved in an automobile accident. Still I like to live on the edge...

As I mentioned earlier, I had five hours to do some reading on Edinburgh and figure out what we should see and do whilst there. It had all been such short notice that we didn't really have time to make a plan at all.

We arrived in Edinburgh late in the evening, just after the peak hour traffic had passed. What an amazing city!! As soon as you come out of the train station you are greeted with the Scottish Monument and Edinburgh Castle which is set high up on top of an extinct volcano, it certainly beats Windsor Castle in terms of sheer presence. I would have hated to have been an invading army and trying to climb the cliffs whilst dodging hot tar and arrows. It's amazing that this castle had been captured more than six times during it's active history. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to take all this in at first as we saw all this while riding in a taxi to our hotel. After checking in we immediately walked back to the city centre and up towards Edinburgh Castle.

Looking towards the New Town with the Scottish Monument on the right.

At the bottom of the castle's cliff is a church yard, we poked around there a bit to get a better view of the castle from a "commoner's" perspective - if you're ever visiting Edinburgh, this is probably one of the best places to view it from. We then walked around the base of the mountain and walked up the southern side. The castle is the top end of what is called the Royal Mile a road that is considered the world's best example of the geological feature known as 'crag-and-tail'. It's about 340 million years old. You see, the mountain where the castle now stands is the solidified core of an extinct volcano, the rest of it has been eroded away by glaciers during the last ice age, however the core managed to protect the soil that was immediately behind it - the sloping part now referred to as the Royal Mile. As it was getting late by this time and we were tired from the journey we decided to leave the Royal Mile and tackle it and the castle tour first thing in the morning.

Edinburgh Castle dominates the town, it was the first thing I noticed when coming out of Waverley station!

As we were heading back for dinner (towards what is known as the "New Town"), we noticed a strangely familiar structure on the hill. It appeared to be the ruins of a famous Greek building, Not fully understanding what we were seeing I later turned to the Lonely Planet guide book which explained the phenomena as follows:

"The largest structure on Calton Hill is the National Monument, an over-ambitious attempt to replicate the Parthenon, in honour of Scotland's dead in the Napoleonic Wars. Construction began in 1822, but funds ran dry when only 12 columns were complete."

The following morning we headed out to explore the Royal Mile, we started with the tour of Edinburgh Castle which was amazing. The castle rock was first visited by humans' approximately 3,000 years ago (during the late Bronze Age), it was a thriving hill-top settlement when Roman soldiers marched by in the first century AD. It first became a defensive position in AD 600 when the 'war-band' of the local king 'Mynyddog' pledged themselves to die in the service of their lord. It became an important Royal fortress by the time of Queen Margaret's death there in November 1093 it remained so until the Palace of Holyroodhouse was built in the early sixteenth century. During the castle tour I noticed that there is a small garden called the Dog Cemetery which since the 1840s has been used as a burial place for officers' pet dogs and regimental mascots. It has a curved wall around it which they believe to be a surviving piece of a tower from the original medieval castle.

A photo of me standing in front of the 'New Town' from the top of Edinburgh Castle,
you can see just about all of Edinburgh from up there!

We walked around for some time, making sure we stopped to see the Honours of Scotland. These are the Crown, Sword and Sceptre that were shaped in Italy and Scotland during the reigns of King James IV and King James V and have been used together as coronation regalia from 1543 up until the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1707. After 1707 they had been locked away with walled up doors for 111 years, when Walter Scott with the permission of the Prince Regent (future King George IV) had the room unblocked and the chest forced open.

Also on display was the Stone of Destiny, this was a stone that served as the seat on which the Scottish Kings sat while they have been inaugurated for over 400 years. Stolen by Edward I in 1296 it was incorporated into the Coronation Chair and used for nearly 700 years by the monarchs of England. However, on Christmas Eve 1950, a group of Scottish students drove down from Glasgow, jemmied the door of Westminster Abbey and made off with the Stone. The English were outraged and immediately road blocked all border roads (for the first time in 400 years), however the Scots managed to smuggle the stone back to Scotland. King George VI was 'sorely troubled by the loss', but the students issued a petition affirming their loyalty to him, stating they would give the stone back so long as it could remain on Scottish soil. The authorities refused but despite this the stone turned up three months later on the alter of the ruined Abbey of Arbroath (where the Arbroath Declaration was signed in 1320 - reaffirming the right of Scots to self-rule and independence from England). The stone was returned to Edinburgh castle in 1996 although some people insist that it is a fake, the original being safely hidden somewhere in Scotland having never been returned to the English in the first place. After viewing all this we left the Castle and gradually made our way down the Royal Mile which my guide book explained as:

"... a ridge that runs from Edinburgh Castle Castle to Holyrood Palace, the Royal Mile is one of the world's most fascinating streets. From the west end you can look past craggy Arthur's Seat and over the waters of the Firth of Forth, with tantalising glimpses of the Old and New Towns through the closes (entrances) of wynds (lanes) on either side. Although there are tourists and shops stuffed with tacky Scottish souvenirs aplenty, the street still feels a real part of a thriving city. It's lined with extraordinary buildings, including multistoryed lands (apartment buildings) dating from the 15th century."

A photo of me standing in front Edinburgh Castle, we spent most of the morning in there

Hollyrood Palace; the Palace itself was a little boring but the Abbey next door was fantastic!

We walked down the mile and ended up at the Palace of Holyrood (the Queen's official residence in Scotland). The castle tour wasn't very different from any of the others I have visited but when we finished with the indoor tour we walked out into what was one of the best ruins I have seen to date (well equal to Old Sarum that I spoke about in June last year), the ruins are of the old Holyrood Abbey.

The Abbey was founded by David I in 1128, it was most likely named after a fragment of the Cross (rood is an old word for Cross) that was supposed to have belonged to his mother (St. Margaret). As it was built outside the original city walls it was very vulnerable to English attacks, so every time the English invaded (and they did this relatively often) it had to be rebuilt. This was done until it collapsed in 1768. Most of the ruins that are there now date from the 12th and 13th centuries, although a doorway in the far south-eastern corner survives from the original Norman Church.

The Abbey when viewed from the Royal Gardens

More of the Abbey - taken from my extensive video footage!

It's spooky to think a body was here once...

Showing the inside of the abbey as it is today

It was totally out of this world, the roof was completely gone and most of the floor had been replaced by pebbles, scattered almost randomly were tomb stones that originally formed part of the floor. There were two open granite coffins (obviously without bodies), I found these very interesting as you could see how they had carved out space for the body, leaving a surreal looking granite outline of the original inhabitants - very spooky. We walked around while I took a hefty portion of video and then strolled out through the above mentioned door into the gardens before making the long walk back to the hotel (which was on the other side of the city by now). We did this via the the 'Old Town', you see Edinburgh city is divided into two sections, the 'Old Town' which is the original city from around the 11th Century (although a town has been here pretty much since 850 BC), and the 'New Town' which was created during the population explosion of the 19th Century (where Edinburgh quadrupled in size).

Another shot of the Abbey

Here's one for my older brother.
Proof that his movie advertising made it onto a double decker!

We walked up into an area known as Grassmarket. Today it is one of Edinburgh's main nightlife areas, with heaps of pubs and restaurants. It was named Grassmarket as it was the site of a market that existed from at least 1477 to the start of the 20th century, Grassmarket was always the focal point for the 'Old Town'. However of particular interest to me was the fact that this was the main place for executions and the notorious murders Burke and Hare operated from a now vanished close off the west end (In around 1827 they enticed at least 18 victims here, suffocated them and sold the bodies to Edinburgh's medical schools - sounds like a movie script to me!). We walked around the area and saw the spot where the gallows used to be, today there is a plaque and little monument there to the 100 odd people who lost their lives for the Protestant faith. Like in France it's a little surreal to stand at the spot where all this took place. We stopped off for dinner (after I had staked out at a bus stop trying to take a photo of buses with my brother's movie poster on the side) before walking back to our hotel to get an early night. We had to get up early the next morning as we were due to pick up our hire car. We were about to set off for a place I've always wanted to see since I was a kid - Loch Ness!

Grassmarket looking across the square at the former site of the gallows

A close up of the memorial that is on the site of the former gallows

While heading for Loch Ness, I found myself wondering what I was expecting to find. I had plenty of time to do this as the foot and mouth crisis was in full swing. We had been told by just about every politician that could be jammed on TV that "Scotland was open for business" and that we would only have to take minor precautions when traveling to country areas. What we weren't told is that they would attempt to disinfect every single car traveling though the area. I had never in my life found myself in a eight mile traffic jam before, nor had I ever taken four hours to cover that distance in a car. I could of put the whole experience down to the price we pay to keep the animals healthy had it not been for the fact that by the time we had reached the "decontamination tent" they had decided that they wouldn't wash any more cars. FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC! Not only had they wasted four hours of my life to NOT get my feet washed and our car decontaminated, but they had (by this time) managed a twelve mile queue that would take the better part of the evening to clear!!!

Loch Ness - I had to take four shots to fit it all in, it's that massive!

We didn't get to Fort Augustus until late, so my first glimpse of Loch Ness was disappointingly brief. Fort Augustus is right at the very end of the Loch. We stayed at the Caledonian Hotel which is fantastic and highly recommended if visiting the Loch. The following morning at breakfast we mentioned to the owner of the hotel that we were visiting the Loch for the first time, he suggested we don't drive up the tourist side of the Loch (the north side) but take the southern side instead. He said that you get much better views and only miss out on Urquhart Castle, somthing I normally would not have considered but I was assured that it being restored and so there wasn't much to see that couldn't be seen from the other side of the Loch anyway.

So we set off away from the tourist traffic and indeed saw some amazing views of the Loch (alas no monster) we stopped opposite Urquhart Castle and walked down to the edge of the Loch. I don't think there's a monster but I can see why people believe it. It's quite a scary looking Loch and you wouldn't catch me swimming in it - ever. Although it looks fantastic! We stopped in Inverness and picked up the obligatory Loch Ness Monster souvenirs before heading off to Stirling to catch up on a bit of William Wallace history...

On the way to Stirling we decided to have a look at Moot (or 'Boot') Hill, this was the site of the coronations of the Kings of Scotland and of Scottish Parliaments. It got it's name as it is said it's an artificial mound created by the earth brought in the boots of lords swearing loyalty to their King. At the hill (which is quite large and therefore impressive if created the way the legend says it was) there is a replica of the stone of destiny. We took photos and video's of each of us sitting on it before walking around the grounds, the foot and mouth precautions were in full swing so we had to get our car decontaminated along with our boots before entering and leaving the premises.

The stone of destiny replica at Moot Hill

A shot showing the small church on Moot Hill with the stone in the foreground, this is how it was said to have originally been laid out

On the way into the grounds we needed to have our car and feet cleaned at this decontamination station due to foot and mouth restrictions (note the plastic mats)

Most country property's had something like this set up at the entrances, the straw was full of antiseptic.

Stirling was formerly known as "Central Region", a name appropriate not only for its location but also the role it has played in Scotland's history. It has been Scotlands administrative capital and has a suburb castle at the head of the Firth of Forth and is the main route into the Highlands. In fact Stirling is considered the most strategically important spot in the country, as such there has been a fortress there since prehistoric times. It was said that whoever held Stirling controlled the country. The castle is high up on a rock and it dominates the town. Two miles north of Stirling, and visible for miles around is the Wallace Monument dedicated to William Wallace who was hung, drawn and quartered by the English in 1305. From the top you can see seven battle ground's one of them at Stirling Bridge, where Wallace defeated the English in 1297.

We didn't make it to Stirling until late in the afternoon, this was a shame as I was very keen to see two things, the first being the Wallace Monument, the other being the castle. As the first turn off was for the Wallace Monument we headed there. The Monument was erected in 1869 using stone from the Abbey Craig's own quarries and occupies the former site of a Pictish hill fort. Raised by public subscription it commemorates Sir William Wallace. Inside the monument is the massive sword that the real William Wallace used, the whole structure is really impressive! Perhaps the only thing that lets it down is the statue in the car park, it's of Mel Gibson in his Braveheart gear, it's been protected by fencing (my guess is the locals are keen to smash it to bits). I felt it really doesn't have a reason to be here, it should be displayed in the local shopping Mall not put out the front of a massive shrine to a real national hero. The plaque in front of it says it was carved by a guy who overcame his illness after being inspired by the movie Braveheart - which is great and all, but it doesn't justify placing the statue here.

The Wallace Monument at Stirling

Stirling Bridge, where Wallace defeated the English in 1297 (Wallace Monument in the background)

Great - Statue of William Wallace on Wallace Monument

Crap - Statue of Mel Gibson pretending to be William Wallace

We didn't get to go inside the second thing I was keen to see (Stirling Castle) due to the lateness of our arrival, so we had to make do looking at it from the outside, as luck would have it the souvenir shop was open so I managed to grab a copy of the souvenir book so I could at least read a little about it. We walked around the castle forecourt before having to head back to Edinburgh, we were due to return the hire car and get the train back to London early the following morning so we needed to get a hotel as close to the station as we could. In the end we stayed at the Travel Lodge at the very end of the Royal Mile, a much, much better hotel then the original hotel we stayed in a few days earlier. As we boarded the train back to London I couldn't help feeling like I would be back before too long.

19th March 2001

Mon, 19 Mar 2001 10:00:10 +0000

Well, I've been fairly busy since the last update. I managed to get three trips in! The first (as I mentioned in my last safari journal) was to LA / Vancouver to catch up with my family, see my brothers new film and celebrate Mum's 50th birthday. The second was a weekend trip to the town of Bath in the UK and finally the third trip was a weeks-skiing holiday in France.

First of all let me answer the question I haven't heard the end of since I got back from the states. The film was fantastic, it was the first time I've watched a Jamie Blanks film without being privy to it's creation. There are two amazing shots in this film that I think you could call signature "Jamie Blanks".

I won't be drawn into an argument about which film is better, both this and Urban Legend are great films yet they are very different, once you've seen it I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

So it was that on the 31st of January at 11pm Lucy and I left the UK for the eight-hour journey to Los Angeles. Due to that freaky time-travel phenomenon that occurs when flying internationally, we arrived an hour later at Los Angeles airport. We weren't lucky enough to simply breeze through customs as I had made the fatal mistake of not knowing the address of the hotel where we were staying. This meant we were redirected to the "sin-bin" customs queue where I had to explain to the surprisingly understanding lady that we did in fact have somewhere to stay but simply didn't know where it was. She immediately told us to lie and put down the address of a random hotel for us. I should of lied in the first place!!

After re-presenting our forms with the blatant un-truth upon them to the customs official we were freed to collect our bags and go and reunite with my parents. Only thing was my parents weren't there! We were looking around the airport and there was no sign of them. Thinking that they may have left a message we presented ourselves to the arrivals information desk. Just then I saw them walk in - they had been given the wrong details by the airline. Fortunately they had been given the right date!!

We drove from the airport to our apartment and immediately went to Jamie's room to see my brothers. For the first time in over a year my entire family was in the same room at the same time! It was a little surreal at first. We had a few drinks and caught up on all the required information - I even had some of my mail from Australia handed to me before Lucy and I left to drop our gear in our room and freshen up. We then met up once again in Jamie's room before heading out to a Chinese restaurant - just like old times.

The entire family in the one place!

The next morning, Lucy, Ben, Jade, my parents and I went to Farmers Market for breakfast. This is fast becoming a custom as we've done it every time we've visited LA. For those of you who don't know what Farmers Market is, it's a weird collection of touristy shops which would probably be best avoided unless you're going for breakfast - you see, they have the best pancakes and waffles there. I'm not sure how we first got onto it, but ever since our first trip for Urban Legend we've been regulars whilst in LA.

Dad, Mum, Jade and Ben at Farmers Market

Ben and Jamie at Johnny Rockets

We then went to Melrose Ave to do some shopping, afterwards, we met up at my favourite place in LA, Johnny Rockets on Melrose. Jamie's house used to be around the corner when he was doing post-production on Urban Legend so Ben and I would often stroll down to have a burger and Coke watching the strange people that walk along Melrose. For some reason I associate this restaurant with good weather, there is nothing more relaxing than sitting under the umbrellas at Johnny Rockets in the sunshine (especially after coming from England's winter). We all had something to eat before once again splitting into two groups, I went with Jamie to check out the promotional posters for Valentine, and the girls went shopping. There were hundreds of Valentine posters all over town and I found it pretty amazing to see my brother's name plastered on the side of buildings and bus stops throughout Hollywood. One of the actresses (Marley Shelton) turned up while we were looking at a poster that covered the side of an entire building presumably to show what a small town it really is.

My favourite place in Hollywood - Johnny Rockets on Melrose	Marley Shelton and her friend stopped when they saw us looking at posters [Marley is in the green top]
This Valentine poster covered the side of an entire building!

Anyway I won't bore you with all the details (that's what my video is for). Needless to say we saw quite a few posters before heading back to shower, change and head out for the premiere.

Before heading out we met in Jamie's room for a few drinks, a welcome addition to the party was Michael Rosenbaum (one of the actors from Urban Legend) I hadn't seen Michael since the UL premiere so it was great to have the opportunity to catch up with him again.

After drinks we all jumped into the Limo and took off for the Mann's Chinese Theatre. This is quite a famous theatre in LA (it was the theatre that the original Star Wars premiere was held), in its forecourt there are impressions of many famous actor's hands and feet that have been set into the concrete. We got out of the Limo and took in the atmosphere before heading up the red carpet. I was amazed to see that there were hundreds of photographers cramming the barriers to get their photos - I wasn't expecting anything on this scale! Lucy and I were right behind David Boreanaz. It was actually quite funny as when David stopped for photographs Lucy was stuck right next to him. I imagine her photo appeared in tabloid papers all over the world. The film itself was great; Jamie made me feel especially special by asking me to sit next to him during the screening, talk about a great experience.

Lucy - stuck behind David Boreanaz and the tabloids

Ben with two of his Hollywood pals, Don Coscarelli and Michael Rosenbaum

Afterwards we waited for most of the crowd to disappear before we walked out and had a chat outside the cinema. My brother Ben was really excited to finally meet Don Coscarelli the director of the Phantasm movies. There was an autograph frenzy when someone recognised Michael Rosenbaum from his TV series 'Zoe Bean' - suddenly a thousand teenage girls asking for photographs and/or autographs set upon him. I suspected most of these people didn't actually know who he was, I was sure that if I asked Lucy to come up to me and ask for my autograph they all would have followed suit. My suspicions were confirmed when a girl asked him "You're in the new season of Angel aren't you?" to this he replied "no", she then apologetically added, "Oh sorry, I meant Buffy"... I couldn't stop laughing!

In what was probably Jamie's worst nightmare, he was pointed out as the director of the film by Michael (who was desperate to flee the constant requests for autographs) and was promptly set upon. I've included two photo's I'm quite proud of, my brother signing autographs for his fans b-). I can't think of anyone who deserves his success more.

Jamie signing his autograph

... and now how about a photograph?

We then headed out to the after-party that was held in a War Memorial of some sort. It was actually quite impressive "Maxim Magazine" had put it on so there were girls dancing in cages, lights, video projections and a fair contingent of celebrities. At first we went into the VIP room where Lucy and I were about one foot away from all the cast! We looked around a bit, before deciding to leave as it was far too crowded and headed out to the main hall, not before spotting Denise Richards (high five Stu!!)

Big Star - Rachel Hunter was at the premiere

We went out into the main dance floor bit and was surprised to see Rachel Hunter with her friends. Jamie's agent Simon offered to introduce me so I jumped at the chance, she was just about ready to leave so he asked her if I could possibly have a photo, she kindly agreed and posed with me as Simon took the photo. I thanked her and she replied "you're so welcome" before heading off - now although our conversation was brief I found her to be a genuinely nice person!

We stayed at the party until all the VIP's had left then we headed off home. It was certainly different to the Urban Legend premiere!

Jamie Blanks & Steve Mirkovich with chicks

We left early the next morning for the airport, as we were going back to Jamie's flat in Vancouver to celebrate Mum's 50th Birthday, we were all leaving on different flights so Lucy and I went by ourselves. The schedule was such that Mum, Ben and Jade would fly up shortly after us on another flight with Dad, Jamie and Simon following on the final plane.

Lucy and I arrived in Vancouver late due to problems on the plane, we actually zoomed down the runway twice but the pilot was getting an abort light every time he was about to lift off (he stopped with just enough runway to go). It's quite scary being told by your pilot that the plane has flashing warning lights, we went back to the terminal but had to stay on the plane, when we finally went (third attempt at takeoff) I was a little apprehensive. Fortunately we arrived safely - albeit late.

Since we had taken so long to get to Vancouver we decided to wait at the airport for Mum, Ben and Jade. Thinking they were only 30 minutes behind us. We brought ourselves a beer and kept an eye on the arrival queue. We waited a good hour before I spotted Dad, Jamie and Simone. My first thought was that Mum, Ben and Jade had been held up in customs, only later did I find out they had missed their plane and had to take a last minute detour - to Denver. We headed back to Jamie's flat and were joined by our missing party later that night. Jamie's flat was fantastic, I could understand why he wanted to get back to it. I made a very brief visit into Vancouver itself to drop off some photos with Jamie but most of that day was spent waiting for Mum, Ben and Jade to arrive.

The view from Jamie's Balcony in Vancouver

The view from Vancouver's Prospect Point.

The next day I woke up to the sound of Jamie sneaking out of the house to buy the papers to see how his film had gone (it was the opening weekend). He managed to get the number two film for the weekend which was very good (especially considering it was a horror). The main celebrations for the day, however were reserved for Mum, this was her birthday. We took a trip into town to do a bit of shopping before heading out that night to a Chinese restaurant (I guess you can tell what type of food my family prefers by now).

The main reason we were in Vancouver was to celebrate Mum's birthday.	At Prospect point I saw my first Racoon.
Another picture of the Racoon, you're lucky I've contained myself - I have thousands of these that I could unleash upon you.	Final meal with the family before we had to go our seperate ways.

Unfortunately Lucy and I had to fly back to the UK (and our jobs) the following day. Mum and Dad drove us to the airport and I found myself once again having to say goodbye - something that doesn't get easier, I was comforted by the fact that I would be back in Australia for a visit later in the year.

10th March 2001

Sat, 10 Mar 2001 15:58:46 +0000

One of the places I've always been keen to visit is the Georgian City of Bath. Most people know the city from the famous Roman Bath's but not many people realise that the buildings that are there today bear no relation to the Roman remains which lie six meters below them. The only feature common to both periods is the hot springs in King's Bath; which has been in continuous use for over 2,000 years. There is archaeological evidence that occupation based around the hot springs on which the City of Bath is built began at least 8,000 years B.C. Coins thrown by Celts into the water, probably as offerings to their God, Sul were found during excavations of the King.s Bath

Still, to be honest, I was one of many only going to see the Roman Baths - being more or less ignorant of the existence of the remainder of the city - was I in for a shock. We set out on the 10th of February for the three hour drive to Bath and only managed a quick drive through town before heading to our B&B to check in. We could have made it to the B&B without having to go through the centre of town if it was not for the fact that I was navigating. Once I managed to turn the map up the right way I found the B&B in no time, although getting out of the rather peculiar situation I had put our car into was another matter. I think ours was the first ever car to drive in certain sections of Bath.

We checked into a guest house and I found it a little too weird for my comfort, from the outside it looked like a normal hotel/guest house but once inside it was like staying in someone's bedroom, we were literally shown to a bedroom which had the walk in robe that had been converted to a toilet and shower - honestly. That's one of the things I don't like about B&B's you never know what you're going to get until it's all too late. Despite this we quickly made use of our "walk in robe" before stepping outside and catching a bus into town.

The B&B we stayed in while in Bath

Bath is fantastic! It's worth the trip as you could cover most of it in a day, although you would want two to take it all in. As it was getting late we decided just to walk around the very center of town and then get some dinner. We were looking around a church (which I later found out was called "Bath Abbey") when I came across what I really wanted to see, on a carved plaque was a sign that read:

ARISTON MEN UDWR

THESE
HOT SPRINGS
WERE USED BY THE ROMANS
AS EARLY AS
THE FIRST CENTURY
-----
IN AREA
IN GRANDEUR
IN COMPLETENESS
THE BATHS AT AQUAE SULIS
WERE UNEQUALLED
-----
THE REMAINS
OF THEIR MAGNIFICENCE
ARE HERE DISCLOSED
-----

Behind the wall to which it was attached we could just see light green light reflecting off the columns that raised above it. The reflection had that shimmering property that appeared like a pool light - talk about mysterious! We walked around to try and get a better vantage point but couldn't see the source of the green light. Clearly though this was the site of the Roman complex, walking around the other side of the building we were able to confirm this by the big sign that said "Roman Baths" in a tacky tourist way - I'm glad we caught it from the other side! Accepting that this would be all we could see today we took note of the opening time for the next day and set off to have dinner - at Pizza Hut no less.

The next day we set off early as we wanted to see as much of Bath as we could. In what was perhaps the best decision we could have made, we went to see the Baths early, there was a minor queue already (and it had just opened) but we were in and walking around with our electronic tour guide blasting in our ears before we knew it. Almost immediately we could confirm that the green light we saw the previous night was coming from the water in the Bath, it was from the "Great Bath" to be precise, as I had just learned that although there was one spring from which all the warm water was drawn there were a number of baths on the site. Nobody bathed in the spring directly as it was considered sacred - although people would often throw offerings and requests for the gods into the spring (requests were inscribed on sheets of lead or pieces of pewter). A number of these messages have since been recovered from the spring and were on display in the complex, along with what must be the largest collection of Roman coins in the world!

It's an amazing feeling to walk on a floor that hasn't changed for 2,000 years! The whole complex is remarkably open, you can put your hand in the water to feel the temperature yourself, you walk down the original stairs and onto the original pavement, you can even touch the columns and walls that have been in the same place since they were built. Never before have I been to a "museum" which allows this level of freedom to explore. I can't describe how cool it was to walk around this site. I have included a few photographs below to give you an idea of what it was like. As with most places I have visited whilst on my safari, I have more than enough video footage of the event which is available on request but I suggest if you ever have the chance to visit, do it!

The Great Bath

The Great Bath looking towards the corner from which it is filled
The Cold Plunge Pool - Cold water was ducted in from springs or wells elsewhere as there was no cold water on site.

I could of stayed all day but decided to leave when I noticed that the complex was filling up quickly and it wasn't as easy to look around. When we left our planning proved it's value, while we had been in the complex the queue had grown out of the foyer and well onto the street, I would guess that the wait was somewhere around an hour. I had to laugh when we walked passed a queuing couple and heard the (American) man tell his wife, "I can smell the chlorine!". I didn't have the heart to tell him it was a natural spring that was 2,000 years old and chlorine wasn't required nor used.

We had decided to follow a pre-planned route that would take us around Bath and show us all the attractions we had found this walk in a book from the tourist office titled "A Jarrold Guide to the Georgian City of Bath" - at £2.50 it's definitely worth buying if you're planning a visit. Our second stop was right outside the exit, the Bath Abbey that we had seen the previous night, it was built in 1499 apparently several previous Abbey's had stood on the site prior to that time and Edward (the first King of England) had been crowned in an earlier Saxon Abbey on this site.

Standing out the front of the Bath Abbey on what was once the site of a Roman Temple.
Surviving piece of the Bath city wall.

The impressive Bath Abbey.

Our next stop was to see the only surviving sections of the ancient city walls. I was amazed to see they were still in good condition. We walked on to see the Royal Crescent and the Circus. These are two collections of buildings that were designed by a father-son architect team (both of whom shared the name "John Wood"). They were designed to give Bath a great Roman-style look complete with forum, circus and gymnasium. Sadly his plans were modified and all that remains are the North and South Parades as part of his scheme for an imperial forum (or place of assembly) and the circus - which looks like the Colosseum turned inside outwards. Still it is very impressive - the design only included the front facade of the building, the houses themselves were left to the individual builders to design, probably the best way to describe the circus is to say that you are completely surrounded by a circle of multiple buildings but it is impossible to say where one starts and ends, each building is three stories high and identical, in the middle is a lawn area and there are three breaks in the buildings to allow cars to enter and exit. It was very impressive.

The Royal Crescent.
We skipped the next stop which was the Museum of Costume as that didn't really appeal to us, we moved on to Pulteney Bridge. Pulteney Bridge crosses the River Avon, it's the only bridge in England completely lined with shops. We walked along the river and back by Sally Lunn's House which claims to be the oldest house in Bath. We then walked down to the "Cross Bath" which was undergoing restoration, strangely I could find no information on this bath in Bath itself, I later found out that this was a bath formed from another spring known as the "Cross Spring" this work was done at the same time as the Aquae Sulis baths (approx 70 AD).

After that we headed back to our car and home, I wouldn't mind coming back to see more of the Roman complexes but not on a weekend, next time I may try to make a visit during a weekday when the crowds should be lower.

3rd March 2001

Sat, 03 Mar 2001 15:51:29 +0000
On Saturday 3rd March we set off to Le Menuires in France for a weeks skiing holiday. The flight wasn't much of a problem and after arriving at Chambery airport we took a two hour bus trip to the resort. Lucy's brother-in-law Darren managed to organise a chalet through a friend at work. It could not of been situated in a better spot. It looks out over the ski slope and is on top of the hill. In order to go skiing all you had to do is go to the equipment room take your gear out of your locker, put it on and head out the side door. Once outside you start skiing as you're on the slope.

Darren and I had never skied before so we decided to take "gimp" ski classes. We had six lessons starting at 9:15 in the morning going until 12:15 in the afternoon. I imagined we would be wearing bibs and practicing our snow plows on the children's runs. The first day seemed to confirm this as that's pretty much all we did. Fortunately on the second day we headed right up the mountain and found ourselves doing blue and red runs. I wouldn't say I'm a great skier, in fact I'd have to say I'm the worst skier to ever hit the slopes, if you need an example of this I ask you to simply click here (Note: if it's too slow for you to watch, or you want to look at it often, try right clicking and selecting "save target as" to save it to your harddrive you can then watch it locally - it's only a 1.3 meg download!).

As you would expect there isn't all that much to say about this holiday, we spent every morning skiing and every evening drinking and/or resting. I think you've had to read enough for one day so I'll leave this now. I'll simply show some photos. I've already started my next update which so far includes a trip to Edinburgh Scotland and Loch Ness, plus a trip to the biggest UK theme park Alton Towers. I'm just waiting some photos from the developers before that goes live, so until then - bye!

The view out the window of our chalet.

Our chalet is the one at the very back (end of the road).
Lucy and I waiting for the bus.

Lucy and her sister Clare.

14th January 2001

Sun, 14 Jan 2001 15:40:51 +0000
First off I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I've just been going over my last homepage entries (JULY!!) and must apologise for being so slack with updates! In order to make up for the lack of news, this will be a major update. The only question is where to start...

Well I guess the biggest news is I'm no longer with Planetel. I looked around and noticed that I could be earning far more by working for a UK based company (due to exchange rates and all) so I've managed to get myself a job working as the Webmaster at NEC Europe. I'm based in a department known as CNAD-E (Could they have possibly thought of a worse department name??). Basically we look after NEC's Internet links for all of Europe. It pays well and the department is full of good people so I'm very happy with it. Lately I've been developing the European Intranet site, administrating the 28 odd NEC web servers and basically keeping busy. Originally I was contracted to until the 2nd of February but they have already extended it until the 2nd of April so all is well on that front.

Wedding Bells:
On the 26^th Aug 2000 Lucy's sister Clare married her long term boyfriend Darren and I was fortunate enough to be invited, but before I go into that I want to give you a run down of the Bucks weekend (which I was also invited to). You will note there are no pictures accompanying this section of the text (thankfully, I forgot my camera). I was a bit apprehensive about going, as I only knew Darren and one or two of his friends. I was also a little concerned, as I had seen first hand the amazing ability English drinkers possess when it comes to downing a pint. I couldn't afford to be seen as a lightweight. I should explain - over here the bars stop serving alcohol at 10:30-11:00pm (bars closing altogether half an hour after this). So the English basically have a compressed period of time during which to consume all their alcohol for the evening, back home (as most of you know) we could carry on to 3am if we want (even later at some venues).

What this boils down to is Australian's drink over a longer period of time whereas the English drink the same amount much quicker. Unfortunately I needed to adapt - quickly, you're probably expecting to hear a tale of my rigorous training programme that commenced three weeks prior to the bucks-weekend. The truth is I managed to get myself so side tracked in the run up to the weekend that I didn't touch a drop of booze. It was only after my fourth or fifth pint that I realised my mistake. My system (having been starved of alcohol for three of four weeks) just couldn't handle it. Before you start calling me a wus I should point out my predicament...

Darren's best man had decided that we would be playing "pub golf". For the uninitiated, this involves visiting nine different "holes" (ie: pubs) and for each "gulp" you would register one stroke. (ie: sculling the entire pint in one gulp would be a "hole in one"; if you took two gulps to finish the pint it would be a hole in two, etc). Now each "hole" had a "par" and I don't remember it ever being over par 3 on any hole. There were numerous other rules to complicate the matter but I won't delve into them now.

Before we "teed off" we had had a few "warm up" drinks, thus making the experience all the more painful. So now I found myself on hole 4, knowing full well I had to complete a further five holes before the end of the game. I was feeling as sick as a dog. However, National pride kicked in (I didn't want to let down all the Australian Drinkers during what I considered an "international" game of pub golf) and I managed to complete the remaining four holes without major incident. Actually there was a strange one on the seventh hole involving the removal of my underwear - but my mother may be reading this so I'll skip it.

As for the actual wedding, Lucy was chief bridesmaid and looked amazing (her mum made the bridesmaid dresses). I can honestly say I can't remember ever having so much fun at a wedding - whilst not being in the physical wedding party! The wedding was at the All Saints Church in Stamford and the reception was at the impressive Stoke-Rochford hall (pictured below). The reception was absolutely classic, the wedding speeches right on the money and I had an absolutely fantastic time, thats the problem with weddings though, you can only do them once..
Darren and Clare Ketteringham
Out the front of the All Saints Church in Stamford.

Lucy and I in front of the Stoke-Rochford hall, this place is unbelieveable,
the photo only shows half the building - it's huge!!!
Lucy and her Mum Diane, out the front of the All Saints Church in Stamford

Babies, Babies, Babies:
A lot of babies have been born lately. First of all, my good friends Brad and Brigitte have a new healthy baby boy (born on the 13th December 2000), they've decided to call him Riley - congratulations again guys, hope to see you both soon!! Lucy's friends Kathy and Karl also had a baby girl this year - Rebecca, and just last week Jacky and Ralph gave birth to a baby girl - Anna. Congrats everyone!

Winter Sun:
Since July I've managed to have two trips outside of the UK, the first was for a week and we were lucky enough to go to Gran Canaria (in the Canary Islands) which was fantastic. I didn't know what to expect as Lucy arranged all travel through her company (they're a large travel company over here) as it turned out we managed to get a very generous staff discount! Due to the fact that we were travelling as company staff we were forced to switch hotels mid-week. This turned out to be great as we got to stay at two different (and expensive) hotels that were on different parts of the island. We therefore managed to see much more of the island than we would have if we had just stayed in one hotel.

First Hotel in Gran Canaria The first hotel was great; we stayed a place called the "Santa Barbara Bungalows". I didn't realise until we got in that we were staying in a bungalow, as it turned out ours had two bedrooms, a kitchen, medium-sized lounge area, shower/toilet, veranda and a fenced front/back garden. I was really impressed with this place as there wasn't all that many kids running around and they had four swimming pools not to mention their own pub!! I suspect we had the better of the bungalows as the others didn't look as impressive from the outside.

The new climate was a welcome break from the dreary weather in the UK, not a single drop of rain!! The trip even paid off as we also managed to snag ourselves a digital video camera (all these photos were captured on it). The purchase of this camera is an interesting story, basically we didn't intend on buying one, but being me I couldn't resist asking when I walked past a camera shop (there are millions of these over the island). The man told me a ridiculously low price (about £390) and ushered me into his shop.

Suddenly he became concerned that the camera wouldn't be right for me, I'm not an idiot and was right onto his tactic. Very quickly he attempted to distract me by plugging the camera into a small TV screen he had on the desk, while he did this he turned the brightness control on the camera down with his other hand (I was looking right at his hand as he did it). He then tried to explain to me that the camera was not good for indoor work as I could now see on the TV screen. I asked if I could have a look thorough the viewfinder (so that I could hold the camera and put the brightness back up) but he wouldn't let me. Before I could do anything he put the camera away and pulled out a JVC camera that (as it happens) I had been looking at back in the UK.

He told me he was prepared to sell it to me for £800 pounds, still a good price, but more than I was prepared to pay and I told him "no-thanks" and turned to leave. "£700, this is my cheapest price!" he blurted out. Still not interested I headed towards the door; the funny thing was by the time I was opening the door his "cheapest price" had dropped back to "£390". I was intrigued as to how much I could get it for and turned to speak to him again. Lucy on the other hand wasn't having any of it and pulled at my arm to leave. Seeing this he immediately threw in a travel bag.

"Ok, £390 pounds then" I said, he took my credit card and swiped it though, (I triple checked the docket before signing). He then tried to sell me every possible attachment (lens filters, spare battery packs, video lights, videotapes) all at unbelievably high prices (for example, for a digital videotape he was asking for £80 pounds, over here you can get five for £30). Every time I responded "no". He then (to my amazement) started screaming at us, "You're a greedy man, you greedy people" he was hissing. I was laughing and packing the video unit (after removing all the attachments he had madly screwed on) into the box. He then snatched the video bag away telling us "you cannot have this, it costs "£30". Lucy got stuck straight into him, saying "You can't do that, you've sold us that already!!" I personally didn't care, the bag wasn't what I was interested in (I later brought one for £8 at another shop).

During this time the other assistant had shut the door to the shop, which I found very funny. If he didn't let us out I was quite prepared to shove him though the glass door (I'm told Spaniards don't weigh much). Fortunately, I think the assistant had the same thought as he opened the door pretty quickly when I approached and we were away - with our new digital JVC video camera. Only later did I realise what Lucy had done. She had managed to pack away not only the manual for our camera but every manual on the desk!!
The Beach at Gran Canaria - Nice and warm.

We stopped off and had a quick beer. Deciding to play it safe, we moved all money from that account over to Lucy's personal account (always pays to be safe). So there it is, we purchased a camera that works perfectly, retails in the UK for around £900-£1200 and has more manuals than we need for only £390! Not a bad days shopping if I do say so myself!!

It was only about an hour later we stopped off at a cash machine to get some money that we had our second adventure. When we had finished with the machine a man approached us; he presented us with free scratchy cards, I won nothing but Lucy won the grand prize (I can't remember what it was, something about a holiday, car and/or video recorder). All we had to do was jump in a taxi with him and go to the centre - right.

We told him we were very busy but would consider it tomorrow (only to be polite), he told us he is there all day, every day (presumably he's never managed to get someone in his taxi) and that we should keep our lucky ticket for tomorrow when we come back. We walked up the street and were laughing about it when a younger guy approached offering us the same type of tickets, we scratched them and Lucy lost - but this time I won!! I wasn't all that excited (after all collectively we had now won two grand prizes) but the guy was over the moon.

Tim enjoying the sun at Gran Canaria.
If I look in pain it's due to the fact that I'm walking over the dunes and they were very hot. All we had to do was go with him in a taxi to their offices and claim our grand prize. We suggested he give us the address and we would go ourselves, but he calmly explained that it was very difficult to find and he would need to guide us. Ha! Lucy said that she was quite competent with a map and I would be able to find any destination with a street name and number to which he replied that it was not on any maps as it was brand new. He clearly had that one covered. He then pulled his mate over and told him we one the grand prize. His mate was more excited than he was. I would of loved to seen it from the outside, the two promoters on the sidewalk jumping around hugging each other while we (the winners of the prize) looked on in bemusement.

Sensing we weren't taking the bait they flashed a card in our face, pointing out that the logo on the card also appeared on most taxi's!? Lucy felt she should point out that the expiry date alongside the logo was, in fact, from last year. They tried to tell us that the cards never expire and the date under the word "expiry" actually is the date the card was issued. Strange system eh?.

They told us we had to claim the prize today, as it was the last day of the promotion. I then told them Lucy had just five minutes ago won the grand prize down the street and that we were told we could claim it tomorrow. They immediately got huffy and snatched back my wining ticket before storming off. Again Lucy and I could only laugh as we continued down the street. We saw more people handing out tickets at the next intersection. Unfortunately we weren't offered one as they were busy jumping up and down and hugging each other while a bemused couple looked on.

It seems that in Gran Canaria you can't walk three steps in a shopping centre without someone trying to grab your attention, it's either "come into my restaurant" or "can you buy this". You end up getting so used to it that you don't give it another thought. The other interesting thing is the number of stray cats on the island, when you're having dinner there's normally ten to fifteen cats hanging around. I didn't mind a bit as I'm a bit of a cat lover, but it breaks your heart to see Burmese cats that would be worth an absolute mint back home scavenging around for food while you eat.
Just one of the million odd cats at Gran Canaria

These were the only real negative things that happened on the trip, the rest was fantastic. We sat on the beach reading, sunbathed by the pool, went out for dinner, and generally had one of the most relaxing holidays I can remember. Lucy asked me if I would go back again and I said yes - but only with a larger group of people, it's not the place you could visit again and again by yourselves. The time we were there was absolutely fantastic but I think I would have been climbing the walls if I stayed much longer.

Bon Anniversaire:
Not long after this trip my Birthday arrived, I had no idea what Lucy had planned but was surprised to be woken at 4am to open my presents. When I opened them I found a Lonely Planet guide to Paris and two tickets for the EuroStar (train that runs from London to Brussels/Paris). So I found myself at 7am at Waterloo station getting on the train to Paris for a weekend with my girlfriend.

The journey to Paris only took three hours, once we arrived at Gare du Nord station we were suprised to find how easy it all was, no passport checks, no customs clearing, we just stepped off the train as if we were at any London tube station. We walked from the station to Rue d'Amsterdam where our hotel was located, dumped our stuff and headed out to explore Paris.

La Madeleine Church We headed off towards Place de la Concorde on the way passing La Madeleine a huge church consecrated in 1842. The next stop was the Place de la Concorde (having nothing to do with the airplane by the same name). My newly aquired copy of the Lonely Planet to Paris mentioned:

"Place de la Concorde was laid out between 1755 and 1775. The 3300-year-old pink granite obelisk in the middle was given to France in 1831. In 1793, Louis XVI's head was lopped off by guillotine set up in the north-west corner of the square. During the next two years, another guillotine - this one near the enterance to the Jardin des Tuileries - was used to behead 1343 more people, including Marie-Antoinette and, six months later, the Revolutionary Leader Danton. Shortly thereafter, Robespierre lost his head here too. The square was given its present name after the Reign or Terror had come to an end in the hope that it would be a place of peace and harmony."
Sounds funny doesn't it, 1344 people get beheaded in an area to the cheers of a crowd, they've finally put an end to it, how do they wipe the slate clean? Easy, just change the name of the place.

We crossed the River Seine over one of Paris' many fantastic bridges and walked towards the Cour d'Honneur this is the building where Napoleon's remains are kept. From there it was a short walk to the Eiffel Tower which is amazing. I've seen this a thousand times in photographs and documentry's so I was expecting not to be all that impressed, however, when I rounded the corner and saw it for the first time it completely blew me away. It's massive! Apparently it was built in 1889 for a world fair, they fully intended to pull it down after the fair but it was saved as the French people thought it would make a good radio antenna!! The queues to travel up in the elevator were massive so Lucy and I decided to walk up the stairs ourselves - bad move. I can't remember the number of stairs but I felt I had just run a marathon!
The Eiffel Tower

We made it to the second of the three levels before we couldn't go any further. You can see the entire city from the tower and there were boards to show the various landmarks which made for about 30 minutes of video footage. By this time it was starting to get dark so we decided to walk up to the Arc de Triomphe (after walking down all the stairs of the tower). When we arrived there was a big Remembrance Service being held to commemorate the end of the Second World War. The Arc is also the shrine to the Unknown Soldier where the eternal flame burns. The body of a soldier whose name is unknown was buried here after being recovered from the battlefields in Northern France, it must bring a lot of comfort to those families who lost relatives in the war, to think that their son could be the one buried in the heart of Paris. The procession of servicemen and military bands in all their uniforms was very impressive, there were also some French politicians there but we didn't recognise any!!

The Arc de Triomphe The only problem with the position of the Arc is that there is one of the biggest roundabouts in Europe surrounding it. French drivers are not known for their road sense and Lucy and I spent about 20 minutes watching the mayhem. It makes for a great rest stop! We had dinner on the Champs Elysees and then made our way (with very aching feet) back to the hotel.

The next day we started off with the Sacre Coeur, a huge white Catholic basilica which is set on top of a hill. It is stunning in the sunshine as you can see from the photos. We were very lucky with the weather all weekend. The Basilica was built as an act of contrition after the humiliating Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. Construction began in 1873, but the Basilica was not consecrated until 1919. Nearby is Montmatre which is the artists quarter. There is a tiny little square full of brilliant pavement artists painting portraits for all the tourists. I tried to persuade Lucy to have hers done but she wouldn't, even though her mum and sister have both had theirs done in the past - just one of the many reasons I intend to go back!

These pictures of the Sacre Coeur don't do it justice, it's so bright it almost hurts your eyes.
We walked down the red light district - but only to see the Moulin Rouge! This is a famous old nightclub known for its 'scantily clad' chorus girls who do the can-can. Unfortunately none of these girls were on display so we set off to the Louvre. The walk up to the Louvre is through the Jardin des Tuileries (gardens) which were laid out in the mid-1600s. This was originally the most fashionable spot in Paris to parade around with the latest fashions. I felt like I was contributing by wearing my Urban Legend jacket!

The Louvre is a huge art gallery which houses the Mona Lisa but it used to be a royal palace and is very impressive. As I walked up, I couldn't help feeling sorry for any foreign royal visiting for the first time. I don't think any royal palaces of the time would have been anywhere near as impressive - it would have been very humbling.

The Moulin Rouge
The Louvre

Next on our whistle stop tour of Paris was Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite. This is a small island in the middle of the Seine. I was suprised and somewhat disappointed to learn that the hunchback does not and has not lived there. He was a fictional character created by Victor Hugo - the name Quasimodo comes from a Latin inscription in the inside of the cathedral. The church is impressive and very gothic compared to the Sacre Coeur with lots of ugly and quite scary gargoyles on the outside which made up for my disappointment. After this we had a coffee in little French cafe before heading back to the station and England.

I thought Paris was fantastic, you've probably heard the saying that France is wonderful except for the French and I can only second that opinion. The waiters were rude, only foreigners were helpful but the city was magical. I would love to return with an invading force and liberate it from the peasants!!

Visits from Friends:
I've had two different friends visit me from back home, the first being Tony who was over in Brussels for work and managed to score a weekend in the UK. We only managed a quick tour of London and a movie before he had to head off, still is was great to catch up with him and he brought me up to date with the goings on back home - even managed to hear a very interesting story about a conversation between a friend of his and someone I thought was a friend of mine. Pays to know what people are saying about you B-).

Two weeks after Tony left I received a phone call from Fabian who told me he was heading over to the UK as well. He was going to be over for three days and more importantly New Years. Unfortunately for Fabian (and everyone in London) the government decided that it was not going to have any function in the city for New Years Eve and the transport system (always on the lookout for opportunities to cause disruption) decided no trains would run after 9pm. So a big party in the city was off the books so we decided to head for the local pub instead.

Sounds pathetic right? Actually it was pretty cool, by the end of the night Lucy and I headed home and left Fabian with the keys to our house and the company of TWO women. As you might have guessed Fabian didn't turn up the next morning. I wasn't worried as I assumed he was having the time of his life, the afternoon arrived and I started to get a little concerned, it was not like Fabian to be out that late [I'm sounding like his mother...], by mid-afternoon I went down to the pub and asked the owner if;

a) he remembered Fabian and
b) he left the pub with the two women.

Fortunately, he did remember Fabian chatting to him as he left, the pub owner was able to tell me that Fabian was from Melbourne, Australia, he was visiting friends and even the date he was flying back to Oz. Given that this was the first time Fabs had ever set foot in the pub I was impressed!! The owner also confirmed that Fabian had left in the company of the two women. - Lucky sod.

Evening arrived and I was really quite concerned, we were supposed to have spent the day touring London and Fabs still hadn't turned up, not even a phone call. I was back on my way to the pub (just about ready to start looking in dumpsters etc) when a car pulled up, Fabs jumped out, two girls started waving and blowing kisses and the car took off. I sat there looking stunned, as for Fabian, he looked pretty happy with himself. I won't go into the story of what happened as it's his story and he should explain it.. You wouldn't believe me anyway. Lets just say I'm sure Fabian really enjoyed his brief stay and the UK.

Well that's about it for now, sorry about this being too long, I know it goes on a bit but some people really wanted to know what I was doing, I'll try and keep the updates brief and frequent in the future.

22nd July 2000

Sat, 22 Jul 2000 15:22:01 +0000

Since arriving in the UK I have been particulary looking forward to catching up with William and Nicola. I first met them (briefly) in January whilst spending my two weeks over here. As it turned out we were invited up along with Gibbo and her boyfriend Ross for the weekend, meeting us there a day later would be Lucy's school friend Jackie and her husband Ralph. We arrived late on Friday night and had a few drinks before heading to bed, the next morning we decided to take a trip to Dartmouth. Dartmouth is located on the River Dart estuary. It's deep natural harbour has sheltered trading vessels since Norman times, fishing boats for many more centuries.

A sample of the 17th century houses in Dartmouth A large number of 17th century timber-framed houses can be found along the narrow streets that wind through the town. Unfortunately, like most of the places we have dropped in on, our visit was all too short. We had to head back to meet Jackie and Ralph who were due to arrive from London - thus making another destination I must try to see again at a later stage.

We headed back to William and Nicola's house and I was personally pleased to note that William is (like myself) under his better halfs thumb - it's always nice to know you're not alone!! We opened a few beers and set in for the evening.

All in all, a fantastic weekend..

William, Myself, Ralph, Ross
Nicola, Jackie, Lucy, Gibbo

15th July 2000

Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:15:53 +0000

What a night! Yesterday we headed out to the RAF Annual Ball, this is a function that Lucy's Father's Airforce Base put on once a year. Since I started seeing Lucy I've heard quite a lot about this function, and was really looking forward to going. It was a black tie afair so I had to hire a suit (a story in itself!). When it comes to putting on a party it would appear that the RAF spares no expense, there was an open bar, live bands, dodgem cars, circus "sideshow" games, bucking-bronko and even a mini millenium-wheel! I'd like to give you an in depth account of what went on but I appear to have had a little too much to drink and the evening seemed to fly by far to quickly. Ah well, perhaps next time...

25th June 2000

Sun, 25 Jun 2000 14:56:43 +0000

Yesterday (Saturday) Lucy and I decided to go shopping. By chance, we walked into a bookshop where I decided to head first for the computer books and then to the history/archeology section. It didn't take me too long to realise that the books on offer were far too expensive to purchase on a whim. Lucy met me at this history section after picking up a few books for herself, she noticed a book on the history "discount table" that she thought I would like. It was titled Longitude - "The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time". Seeing as the book looked interesting and was only £3.50 I thought I could do no worse and purchased the book.

I started reading it that night and couldn't put it down until I had finished it, I found it to be an amazing story and certainly gave me a perspective of just how clever this guy was.

Without going to far into the problem, Longitude was causing a huge problem for ships and their captains, a method for determining Latitude by use of the stars had already been figured out, but Longitude was proving to be a problem. Essentially to figure out Longitude you needed to know the time at a known longitude and the difference in time for yourself. This required clocks, good clocks, the error of most timepieces at the time was anywhere up to 15 minutes a day. The rotation of Jupiter's moon was one possible solution put forward but was difficult as jupiter's moons were not all that easy to track all the time.

At this point we welcome to history Mr. John Harrison a self taught Yorkshire clockmaker who over forty years of his life devoted himself to making the perfect timekeeper, which he managed to do and earned himself the £20,000 reward. Most of this story is centered in Greenwich where John Harrison spent a large number of his years. Also at Greenwich are the four Harrison timepieces kept at the Greenwich Royal Observatory.

As such, it came as a complete surprise to me when Lucy suggested we take a day trip out to Greenwich. I naturally agreed - thinking how great it would be to see the Harrison clocks (named H1 to H4). It took us a little over an hour to make our way out there by train. Unfortunately my digital camera batteries dies on me, so I feel a little guilty about not posting that many pictures...

This red ball on top of the observatory rises up then drops down at midday every day, this was how ships in the harbour set their clocks before setting out
The Cutty Sark, sits in dry dock.

What was funny for me was walking around a town I had never been too but recognising street names, building names and understanding the layout of the town all from a £3.50 book. I had my photo taken (on my "normal" camera) standing over the international date line before touring the observatory. It a very interesting place but I felt that my enjoyment of it was mainly due to the fact that I had some knowledge of it's history. Unfortunately we had to leave all too soon but this is another thumbs up! It's a shame that we didn't get longer to look around and I don't think I'll be heading back this way during the rest of my trip. Still, if your ever in the area I urge you to seriosly consider dropping in and having a look around.

17th June 2000

Sat, 17 Jun 2000 14:19:38 +0000

Today was fantastic! We headed out to visit Stonehenge and a few other historical sites that lie nearby. First we headed for Salisbury, originally known as New Sarum, apparently the story goes that Old Sarum was occupied up to five thousand years ago before being developed into an Iron Age fort, it was settled by Romans and Saxons before the Norman bishopric of Sherbourne was moved there in the 1070s. Within a couple of decades a new Cathedral had been consecrated and a large religious community was living alongside the soldiers in the central castle. Apparently Old Sarum was an uncomfortable place for the clergy both due to the high winds and problems with the neighboring castle occupants. In 1220 they appealed to the Pope for permission to decamp to New Sarum (Salisbury). When permission was granted they left and the kind castle occupants quickly ripped apart the monastery to use the stones/materials to improve their own buildings.

On the way out of Salisbury we noticed a signpost pointing us to the original Old Sarum Castle, we decided it would be an interesting place to visit. We weren.t disappointed; there are essentially two ruins here the first being the hilltop fort and the second being the cathedral which is on the lower plain.

There.s not much left of the cathedral as you could imagine, the destruction by the castle occupants was quite comprehensive. What remains, however, is still interesting; it.s pretty much what we would describe as the foundations although a cellar still exists.
On the right you can see a photo of the remains of the Cathedral, this photo was taken from the castle at the top of the hill, there.s essentially a hill within a hill, offering the castle two protective barriers from possible attacks.

The Castle/Royal palace ruins were far more impressive, although about 80% of the original structure is gone (removed to Salisbury for building material when the Castle was finally abandoned). The Castle was protected by a moat that is still there; naturally a new (safe) bridge has been constructed on the east side of the moat (originally there was a second bridge on the west side).

In the photo on the left I.m standing in front of the ruins of the Royal Palace at Old Sarum. The palace consisted of four ranges around a central courtyard and contained royal apartments and two chapels. I found it totally amazing to think that this ruin dates back to the Iron Age! It.s exciting to look around the place then compare the ruins to the drawings of how the place originally looked. It really makes you appreciate just how huge the place was. I couldn.t shake the feeling that hundreds of people lived their entire lives within this single area.

After Old Sarum we headed out to Stonehenge. I.ve always wanted to visit this place although I had read enough to be prepared for a crappy tourist attraction. How wrong I was, there were hundreds of people around but hats-off to the operators of the place, they have managed the site very well, nobody is able to walk between the stones as a small rope fence keeps you away from it. But you do get close enough for the stones to completely fill your viewfinder on your camera, an added advantage of not allowing people to walk through the stones is that your photos are of Stonehenge by itself, it.s extremely easy to take a photo the makes you look like you were the only one there.

The operators also provide you with a free audio device that allows you to learn about the history of the place (albeit they admit they don.t really know what it.s was for). For the three to four pounds we paid to get in, I have no complaints what so ever. In future they are going to move the highway that is close-by to further enhance the site. What I didn.t realize was there are hundreds of burial mounds all around the site; in fact the horizon is dotted with them.

This was a big buzz for me, I.ve always wanted to see the stones but didn.t really know what they were about, after we left Lucy and I tried to put our own thoughts together. Lucy felt that it was definitely a calander, whereas I believed that it must have a religious connection. Then presto, the Blanks theory was developed, my theory is it.s a device that marks the day and month that a person died, when the morning of the day occurs, the stones point to the burial mound of the person who died. Naturally, I have no facts to back this up, but that.s what I believe anyway.

After Stonehenge, we headed up the road to visit Woodhenge, this is a site similar to Stonehenge, but was built out of wood (the original Stonehenge was also constructed this way before being "upgraded" to stone). This site is a little more tourist friendly as you can actually walk among the concrete markers signifying where the original posts were.
In the middle there is a Childs grave, my guidebook explained that the Childs skull had been split in two signifying a ritual sacrifice! Fortunately we were the only two people there, so we had a chance to look around without being bothered. Well worth a look-see if you.re in the area and have time but nowhere near as impressive as Stonehenge.

We then headed off towards Avebury as my guidebook pointed out that it "stands in the midst of a stone circle that rivals Stonehenge". Whilst on the way I noticed a large crop circle in the field on our left, I asked (pleaded) with Lucy to pull over and proceeded to drag her up the hill and into the field.

This was my first crop circle and I have to admit that although I believe they are (more than likely) fakes. I still find the whole thing extremely interesting. In the photo on the right you can see Lucy in the middle of the crop circle with Silbury Hill in the background, it.s man made and is 130ft tall, constructed totally by hand in approximately 2600 BC. Nobody knows what it.s for or why it.s there - freaky.

On the other side of the hill (away from the road), I noticed a number of Stonehenge type rocks, in fact, what we had stumbled across was the "West Kennet Long Barrow" - a barrow (burial mound/cave) that was built approximately 2300 BC and held up to 51 bodies at one time (they now have been removed to a museum).

You can actually walk inside the barrow for about 15 meters or so (which we did). It.s kind of freaky as you are literally walking in one of the world.s oldest crypts

We then headed off to our original destination Avebury unfortunately my digital camera packed in at this stage due to bad batteries (will bring more next time). But I did get some photos with my normal camera, when developed I.ll post one up here. The stone circle was impressive, but nowhere near as exciting as everything else we.ve seen today. I have to disagree with the Rough Guide on this one. The Avebury circles are pretty boring and resemble a large garden border, albeit the stones are huge!

We headed home after this, but today was a fantastic day, I highly recommend this trip to anyone who finds himself or herself over this way!

12th June 2000

Mon, 12 Jun 2000 14:03:42 +0000

Greetings from the UK, I've been absolutely hammered for not getting any information up here earlier, allow me to explain... Getting a phone line connected has been an absolute nightmare, I only managed to get it connected last Friday!! So for all you who think I have been avoiding you (Biz and Stu) relax, I can communicate now. We moved into our flat on the 3rd and have got it how we want it finally.

Most of the past week has involved trying to get online and catching up with some work for Planetel along with dealing with the various government agencies that want money from us. I can't get over the tax's you have to pay here -- council tax is fair enough (although extremly excessive). However, what I couldn't get over is the £120 odd tax for, wait for it, a TV licence! I asked what the licence entitles us to, apparently "it's too allow the BBC to provide us with their high quality programming.." HA! Have you ever seen East Enders!?!? Who do they think they are kidding??

Perhaps it went into making the program I saw the other night, it was aptly titled "Naked Jungle" -- a gameshow which has a bunch of (horrible) middle-aged men and women nudists running around a fake jungle collecting fig-leafs, the couple with the most lig-leafs wins, high quality programming my ass.

Enough of that, yesterday Lucy and I drove out to a place known as The New Forest (not to be confused with the Naked Forest). I took along my (now loved) England - The Rough Guide, this book is great, if it comes along a town or place that is crappy, it tells you so, unlike the Lonely Planet that looks for good things, this one focuses on what you'll actually get. Neither of us knew exatly how to get to the New Forest so we headed down the M4 and hopped for the best, as you would expect we got a little lost and decided to pull into Southampton. Before I continue with my experiences of Southampton, I'll quote a passage from the Rough Guide.

..unfortunately, since it's pummelling by the Luftwaffe and some disastrous post-war planning, the thousand-year-old city has changed beyond reconition. Now a sprawling conurbation easily bypassed by motorways, it'll be pretty low on your list of places to visit in Southern England..

Joy! Actually, to be honest it was nice to see the place where the Titanic left for her maiden voyage, and the Mayflower set sail for America, but the place was a hole. There was a chance for it as the ruins of the original city walls are there, but they have done very little to show them off or to develop the area properly. I have to agree with the Rough guide on this one, a big thumbs down.

After downing a beer in the local we headed off to find the heart of the New Forest, a town known as Lyndhurst I was actually looking forward to seeing the place as it got a good write up in the guide, I decided to look up lyndhurst and see what they had to say about it;

LYNDHURST, its town centre skewered by an agonizing one-way system, isn't a particularly interesting place ... it's mainly valuable for the resources of the New Forest Museum & Visitor Centre in the central car park off the High Street...

I put the book away for the rest of the day... Funny thing is I noticed it's not available in any of the local bookshops in these small towns. Lyndhurst was disappointing, although the surrounding area is very nice. I wouldn't exactly call it a forest, it actually looks like a scrubb area. The amount of wildlife needs to be seen to be believed. They have wild horses all over the place, and you need to be careful when driving as they are always on the side (or middle) of the road eating the grass/shrubs.

We're planning on coming back here for a weekend to do some walking or riding as it looks like a good place to get away from it all. We also toured though Beaulieu and Lymington on the way back. Lymington is the town that saved the trip it has a fantastic harbour that has the original town right on the edge, complete with the cobbled streets and Georgian houses. We had a Devonshire Tea here which was nice as they used real cream for once!! We set off back home after this. We're hoping to visit Stonehenge next weekend.

Thats it for now, will make another update shortly. Take care!

28th May 2000

Sun, 28 May 2000 11:06:33 +0000

I had my Grandmothers 90th birthday today so it was a great chance to see all the extended family for the last time before I head off on my safari. I went around the room with my digital camera and will be posting the photo's here tonight. I find myself constantly thinking, this is the last time I'll do this, and this is the last time I'll see this person for a year - it's quite a strange feeling. One person who I'm really going to miss is Stu who is currently overseas crusing through the US on his holiday. Unfortunately he gets back after I leave, so Stu, if you're reading this. See ya mate! I hope you get a chance to drop over and have a beer or four. Last night I headed over to Biz's place and watched the mighty Tigers defeat Brisbane, this is the last game of footy I'll see for a while so thank christ we had a win!! I told him that if Richmond make the Final and I have enough money, I might come back to see them play. It's gotta be that way as I know he'll never get off his arse and save to head over there - will 'ya mate?? Anyway enough for today I'll have some interesting news if all goes well tomorrow.

27th May 2000

Sat, 27 May 2000 15:11:29 +0000

I heard from Lucy last night that we were successful in getting the flat, we'll be picking up the keys next Saturday, it seems strange that I'll be there this time next week, my safari will have started. I don't know how many of you have experienced the "list" phenomenon, (where you realise you must get organised but all you can do is start writing "to-do" lists). To date, I have twenty four things to do before I leave next Wednesday and have completed only two in the last two days (pay a bill and cancel a subscription). So I better get cracking. I'll write more tomorrow as I'm updating a Web site at the moment for a customer and need to get it finished quickly. This isn't even an item on my to-do list!

23rd May 2000

Tue, 23 May 2000 15:14:25 +0000

What a morning! I was starting to think I'd never get there and POW! My VISA arrived and I have my flight booked! My official departure date is the 31^stof May 2000. Now I have a mad panic while I try and organise finishing off my work commitments and packing. Meanwhile Lucy has been busy looking for a place for us to live, she believes she has found somewhere and has put an application in. She will be visiting it again tonight to figure out what will be there and what we will need to buy (it's a furnished flat). She even managed to talk them down from £800 to £775 per month - every cent counts. Looks like everything is beginning to fall together - finally. My biggest worry now is finding a job. Planetel are going to allow me to do some project work and they suggested that it may be possible for me to work for them from the UK. I'm just waiting on their final ok. If this goes ahead theres not much that can bother me apart from being away from my family and friends for a year.



Edinburgh Castle dominates the town, it was the first thing I noticed when coming out of Waverley station!

The Abbey when viewed from the Royal Gardens	More of the Abbey - taken from my extensive video footage!
It's spooky to think a body was here once...	Showing the inside of the abbey as it is today

The stone of destiny replica at Moot Hill	A shot showing the small church on Moot Hill with the stone in the foreground, this is how it was said to have originally been laid out
On the way into the grounds we needed to have our car and feet cleaned at this decontamination station due to foot and mouth restrictions (note the plastic mats)	Most country property's had something like this set up at the entrances, the straw was full of antiseptic.

The Wallace Monument at Stirling	Stirling Bridge, where Wallace defeated the English in 1297 (Wallace Monument in the background)
Great - Statue of William Wallace on Wallace Monument	Crap - Statue of Mel Gibson pretending to be William Wallace

Standing out the front of the Bath Abbey on what was once the site of a Roman Temple.	Surviving piece of the Bath city wall.
	The impressive Bath Abbey.

Our chalet is the one at the very back (end of the road).	Lucy and I waiting for the bus.
Lucy and her sister Clare.