Canada is cool..

This is the sort of thing that would happen if you left me in charge of town planning! Good old Ottawa.. check it out on Google street view =)

Royal Wedding preparations

Outside Buckingham Palace, a photo by kipperfrog on Flickr.

I love all the flowers and flags the royals have wheeled out for the wedding next week - this is what the pavement in front of Buckingham Palace looks like at the moment.. hmm.. I wonder what their colour scheme is going to be..

They've also built some temporary studios outside the palace for all the international press to use:

It's a shame none of the Americans will actually be able to use the palace as a backdrop in their live broadcasts though.. lights out at 12.30am UK time, just before the evening news in the US!

Pumpkin Plants

Pumpkin plants, a photo by kipperfrog on Flickr.

It's time to try again with the pumpkin plants! Hopefully they'll actually do something this year before being eaten by slugs. I have actually managed to plant them in April rather than September this time, so there is at least a glimmer of hope we will have a pumpkin in time for halloween!

Centre Pompidou

In my previous post I mentioned the Richard Rogers, the architect behind the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyds Building in London. I thought I'd post a couple of pictures from our visit to Paris in February for comparison.

Here's the Pompidou, I absolutely love it! I can't decide if it looks like a scaffolded hamster cage or a chocolate factory, but either way, it's very cool! =)

The City

I was up in London on a course for 3 days this week, that's the second one up there in a month! I actually quite like having to go to "The City", it's a bit of London we never usually see when we go up there for day trips. My course was on New Broad Street, which is just around the corner from Liverpool Street tube station, so the first day, I braved the tube all the way, not nice! The Northern line was absolutely rammed, and I ended up watching train after train go by, people squeezing themselves in, and ducking their heads to avoid the doors. My elbows are evidently not honed for city travel. After finding out everyone else on my course had walked from London Bridge - in half the time it took me to catch the tube, I decided to give it a go on the way home. It's a great walk!

Here are some photos I took on my way in the following morning.

The Shard is coming on nicely, it's going to be enormous when it's finished! This one was taken just outside London Bridge station, as you can see I was nearly stampeded by commuters when I stopped to take the picture.

The Shard, a photo by kipperfrog on Flickr.

Here's the view of it from half way across the bridge:

Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast:


The Monument:


Leadenhall Market:


I made a slight detour to take a look at one of my most favourite buildings ever, the inside out building, Lloyds of London (by Richard Rogers of Pompidou Centre fame):


and The Gherkin:


The Heron Tower is nearly finished now. Last time I saw it, there were only foundations!


There was a great cut-through to get from Bishopsgate through to New Broad Street, by walking down by St Botolph. In the churchyard there is, what looks like, the tiniest restaurant in the world. Apparently it started its life as a Victorian Turkish Bathhouse, modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Reading up about it, it turns out the building you can see is just the entrance, with the main area spreading out under the ground:

Walks in and around Horsham

I spotted a reference to http://www.horshamhealthwalks.co.uk in the Parish Council Newsletter today. Apparently the Horsham District council runs guided walks in and around the town, ranging from short ones for beginners, up to all day walks for the hardcore! It looks very good, I might raid their website later for some walk ideas!

Boyzone Brother Tour 2011 @ The O2

Laura and I went up to see Boyzone at the O2 on Tuesday! For the encore, they actually ran through the audience to a mini stage just a few rows behind us, and I managed to film a bit! Very cool..

The 2012 Olympics come to Dorking!

Well, it'll be an interesting day in the office when the Olympics comes to town! I found out today on one of the Surrey Life blogs that the cycling event is rumoured to include an ascent of Box Hill, and will then progress through Dorking town to Shere. It would be great if it's true, I should have a brilliant vantage point! The traffic is going to be a complete snarl up though, I know that for sure..

My Little Trojan Pony goes to LA!

My Little Trojan Pony goes to LA!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I was very excited to receive a package through the post from LA today. A few months ago, I was approached by a graphic artist who was designing an advertising postcard for a production of Mark Shultz' 'Everything Will Be Different: A Brief History of Helen of Troy' by the echo theatre company in LA. He'd seen the My Little Trojan Pony I made on flickr, and wanted to use it in his design. He said he'd have to run it past the producers of the play, but if all was OK, he'd send me a copy of the finished article! Well, it seems the producers liked it, because it the post came 4 postcards, and a lovely note saying the response had been "overwhelmingly positive"! Hooray! I do absolutely love them, I think he's done a brilliant job! I've even got a sculpture credit on the back! =)

I accept your challenge, Øyvind!

So, I woke up this morning to find I have been set a challenge by Øyvind, and I do love a challenge! It comes originally from the Norwegian blog Åpent hus.. Here's how it goes..

“Present something that has a high immaterial value for you. (Something that you valuate more than it really cost) and explain why. Then link to the lottery-post and forward the challenge to two blogs. Earlier posts can also be used. Remember to forward your challenge to two new blogs”.

I must admit, this is not much of a challenge, I am a total hoarder! The real difficulty here was to choose just one thing..





Here is my choice - my Polish dagger! I don't think this thing was very expensive at all.. I bought it on my first visit to Poland when I was around 10 years old, at a time when the value of the Polish zloty was extremly low, it was around a million zloty to the pound! It was very confusing with so many zeros - the country was full of poor millionaires! This dagger reminds me of the beautiful town of Zakopane in the Tatra mountains, the farmers with their pitchforks in the fields, the amazing markets selling amber, wooden carvings and painted eggs, Russian boxes, nesting dolls, and army gear, the little old ladies selling sheep cheese in the shape of animals, everyone mistaking me for Polish - and my Dad as German, mashed potato with dill, wild bears and wolves in the woods, rationed toilet paper, stern police with guns, and rafting through the mountains! It was very different to any country I had ever been to before. It felt very adventurous, eastern Europe was not a place that many English people visited, so we were very rare in those days (not the case any more I imagine)! This was my first road trip across Europe, and it was probably partially responsible for my incurable love of road trips today. It is definitely the best way to see the world, seeing the gradual transitions between countries and cultures that you just miss when you take the plane!

Anyway, I love my dagger, I always wanted some kind of sword, and this thing is beautiful! I also felt very clever not getting it confiscated going through any of the border controls on the way home, despite many people's bags being emptied out and checked at each border!

As an aside, I also just remembered one guy asking the coach to stop by a gnome stall right by the Polish border, and then proceded to buy the biggest garden gnome I have ever seen, and then he had to travel all the way back to England with it sitting on his lap!

I love London :D

Supercool t-shirts!

I found the most brilliant t-shirt shop for geeks today.. take a look here.

I think these are my favourite ones..

BBC Stargazing Live - Local Event

I was looking up local stargazing events on the BBC earlier, after those brilliant Stargazing Live shows last week, and I was very pleased to find that the Herstmonceux observatory is opening to visitors next Saturday evening! Hooray! We went to the castle there in 2009 for the Medieval festival, and when I saw the observatory, I was desperate to have a go. Now it looks like I might be able to! =) Fingers crossed for a clear night!

mOON, STARS AND JUPITER OPEN EVENING

Dates: 15 January, 6:30pm-11:00pm

Herstmonceux, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 1RN

Looking at the Moon, Jupiter and deep sky objects through 3 large historic telescopes & through smaller modern telescopes as well as helping people to recognise constellations. No pre-booking required. Suitable for all ages. While the Centre is accessible to wheelchairs the historic telescopes are only accessed via narrow steep stairs. Special offer price of £4 per person.

Contact: 01323 832731| s.voss@the-observatory.org

Website: The Observatory Science Centre

2010 in photos

January

Kew Gardens:


Snow:




Climbing @ K2:


Brooklands:




February

Valentines day:


Family gathering:


Stonehenge:


Avebury:





March

Bouldering @ K2:


Reigate:


Brighton:


Garden:


Denne Hill, Horsham:


Jack the Ripper tour of London:


Herons Nursery:




April

Easter:


Thomas' Christening:


Painshill Park:




Guildford mount:


Southwater:


Brighton:


New Forest:






Beaulieu, New Forest:










Garden:


Volcanic sunset in Broadbridge Heath:


Leonardslee Gardens:








May

London:
















Collectormania 16, Milton Keynes:


Watlington, Oxfordshire:


Oxford:


Garden:




June

Oxted flowers:


Garden:


Dorking:


Claudia's visit:


Jack & Jill Windmills, Clayton:




Devil's Dyke:


Newquay, Cornwall:




Eden Project, Cornwall:


Haytor, Devon:












July

Tennis in the park:


Mark & Lisa's Wedding:



August

Skandinavia road trip
Dover:


Amsterdam, The Netherlands:




Hengelo, The Netherlands:


Hamburg, Germany:










Copenhagen, Denmark:


















Jönköping, Sweden:


Stockholm, Sweden:






Karlstad,Sweden:


On the road to Ramstad, Norway:


Oslo, Norway:










On the road from Oslo to Flåm, Norway:










Flåm, Norway:






Bergen, Norway:






On the road from Bergen to Flåm, Norway:




Flåm, Norway:




Hardangerjøkulen glacier, Norway:


Driving through Norway:






Bremen, Germany:






Amsterdam, The Netherlands:




Bruges, Belgium:



September

Wakehurst Place:






Winkworth Arboretum:


Fishbourne Roman Palace:






New pet fish:





October

Pumpkin pie:


Clay pigeon shooting:


Bathgates:


Walk in Leechpool Woods:


New neon tetras:


Hampton Court Palace:


Nyman's Gardens:


Windsor Castle:


Tulley's Farm:


Cambridge:




National Space Centre, Leicester:






York:






Halloween:









November

FP fireworks from Box Hill:


London:




Yummy Starbucks:




December

Horsham snow:




Bear Grylls at the Apple Store, London


Christmas:


Leith Hill:




London:




Port Lympne, Kent - African Safari