Clouds Over Holkham Beach July 2009

Direct Action

I really don't like First Captial Connect. Many people don't. Here is someone who clearly doesn't. Yesterday they were queues outside the station as people waited for the service to be resumed after a problem with the overhead cable. Today, it was a cracked line at Farringdon. So I turned around, went home, and tried again an hour later. I got on a train and the journey seemed to be going smoothly until we stopped outside St. Pancras. The driver told us we would have to back up to the last station as St. Pancras had too many trains in it. Great! I was going to be late for work, two hours late, for the second day running. I was annoyed. Whilst in the train, I found, and called, the complaints line for First Capital Connect (at least they have one) and got through to a very pleasant chap. I told him he was very nice but I hoped he was able to move job very soon as it was a dreadful company. I also told him the service was a shambles and then asked my fellow passengers to shout "shambles" into the phone. It was a little hit and miss; some people shouted quite forecfully, others looked on quizzically. But he got the message, and it cheered the passengers up a little, at least those who understood what I was doing. Next time I will orchestrate it better by informing my fellow passengers what I am planning to do, then get a much heartier and full response.

The Best Place To Work

Le Chateau de Touffou is one of the best places to work I know. I have had the good fortune to go there twice to work and both times have been magical. It is not the grounds and the magnificent architecture and art or the sense of history, but the long meals (4 course lunch and dinner, with wine that go against modern day work practices) and most importantly Madame Ogilvy who has lived in the chateau for almost 40 years. It is her home and that it is a home makes all the difference to people's ability to get on with one another and to work productively, at least in my experience. Every company should have one (or for smaller companies, a slightly less grand one).

For the full set of pics, click here, and go for the slideshow in the upper right.

The Signalbox Experience

Just to complete the trio of 'experience' posts, here is the St. Albans signal box. Apparently, it is the only restored signal box (in England) that is still on its original site. It is being restored by a group of local enthusiasts and it is open for the second and fourth Sundays of each month. We went in and got a very enthusiastic volunteer show us how all levers work: 

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to control the real trains on the real track so we had settle for a pretend scenario of a pretend train coming down the track in order to press buzzer, ping bells and pull and push levers. Perhaps that was a little virtual after all!

For more details on the St. Albans signal box click here. 

You'll Never Know What You'll Find In The Park

Demonstration of the Roman army's tortoise formation during the Roman Museum's 70th birthday celebration in Verulamium Park.  We also saw Roman surgeons, potters, surveyors, gladiators, weavers, and some fearsome cavalry:

The point is, if there needs to be one, similar to my previous post about the power of getting out and experiencing stuff first hand being such a good thing, especially for kids. 

Authentic Aircraft

In an increasingly viral, on-line, digital world, it was great to see our boy's reactions to a trip to the Hendon air museum. We could have left them there for weeks. There is something so imposing and impressive about seeing the real thing.  Especially the big planes like the Sutherland, the Lancaster (above) and the Vulcan. But also the fighter planes like the Lightening and the Phantom which resemble a man sitting on top of an almighty rocket with a load of explosives hanging from the wings and fuselage. The pictures below feature the ME 262, the world's first turbojet plane used in WWII.

It sounds a cliche to say it is 'living history' but that is a pretty good description.

Foot and Cycle Paths

One of the good things about Britain is the amount of public paths, short cuts and through ways. Invariably they are a function of history, whether the paths mark ancient cattle tracks or disused railway lines. Even when they go over private property, English law gives a right to use the pathway, which makes for some lovely walks over farmland. In towns and cities it has resulted in lots of short cuts, back alleys and a maze of little discoveries. And St. Albans, as a town with at least a couple of thousand years history, has many of these little paths. Generally towns which grew up before the car have more of them than planned towns or towns that have grown after the car. The one above is a little backcut which gets me to Ramsbury Rd much quicker than going around the roads. 

The one below, is called the Alban Way. It is a cycle path that runs from the Roman site at Verulamium to Hatfield along the route of an old railway line. More details, here. I cycled to Hatfield on it yesterday. The photo below is when the path runs through open countryside.

It also runs through St. Albans very close to where we live. In fact Charlie and Ollie use it everyday to get to school, here. 

I also found some lovely pictures of the Alban Way on flickr, courtesy of phatcontroller: 

I also took a couple of pictures of the flora. This is a bluebell, I think! 

This time of year is lovely in Britain. Spring doesn't exist in quite the same way in the States, where it seems to go from winter to summer remarkably quickly. The English spring looks lovely as everything becomes green and the flowers bloom. Birdsong fills the air and the days are getting longer. 

Glaspaleis

Heerlen, where I have been visiting a lot recently, isn't the most inspiring or beautiful town I have visited. That said, the centre does have some nice bits and one wonderful building, the Glaspaleis.  Even my trusty blackberry camera couldn't destroy its looks, though next time I am taking my 'real' camera and try to do it justice. 

The Glaspaleis ('The Glass Palace') is an example of early modernist architecture. Designed by Fritz Peutz and commissioned by Peter Schunck, it was completed in 1935, to be used as a department store. As well as the architecture being leading edge for its time, the lack of back room storage, meaning that the stock would essentially be on display as well, was new. The intent was to give the atmosphere of a market. It is now used as a library, an art house cinema, an art gallery and architectural centre. It is lovely inside. 

In 1999 it was put on the list of the 1000 most important buildings of the 20th century by The International Union of Architects. For more information, click here. 

Baby Dump

Spotted in Heerlen, Holland.

Moon

After the post about long shadows it didn't feel wrong to post a night shot. This shot of the moon was taken almost a month ago (11/11) with my 'real' camera, not the trusty blackberry. The definition in this shot is a nice complement to the 'inexactness' of my previous moon post, here. Another time I shall take two shots of moon at same time with different cameras and post both for a true comparison.

Long Shadows

This picture was taken at 12.24 p.m yesterday (with trusty blackberry camera). The long shadows - and low sun - so soon after noon got me thinking about the the length of the day at various latitudes. Here are some comparisons (for 6th Dec):

Reykjavik: 64 Lat, Sunrise 11.06 am, Sunset 3.30 pm, Daylight 4hrs 24 mins
London: 51 Lat, Sunrise 7.53 am, Sunset 3.49 pm, Daylight 7 hrs 56 mins
New York: 41 Lat, Sunrise 07.07 am, Sunset 4.26 pm, Daylight 9 hrs 19 mins
Singapore: 1 Lat, Sunrise 05.54 am, Sunset 5.57 pm, Daylight 12 hrs 3 mins

Hammerfest, at 70 Latitude, in Norway, didn't have sunrise and sunset times for 6th December. I can only presume the sun didn't officially rise yesterday.

Brussels Building

This is a cool building in Brussels, opposite the Sheraton hotel. Click to see the light show.

It is the lights moving, not the camera! There were also had multicolour displays as well. But by then I was off in a cab. This was filmed with trusty old blackberryvision.

Molecular Boardroom

Having posted yesterday, here, about looking at the world in detail, it was a wonderful coincidence that I was lucky enough to see a boardroom that does just that earlier this week. This is the boardroom at DSM in the Netherlands:

The idea was to signal a more creative environment. The company understands the world at a molecular level and used that as an inspiration for the room. As well as the amazing walls, the room has a glass ceiling as well; and effect that makes it even more extraordinary. Below is a good example of how the ceiling amplifies the effect:
The company also has a history of buying art from local artists and employes a curator full time to run the collection. I couldn't resist putting some more shots of the boardroom walls in my 'Artzy Surfaces' flickr collection, here .

A Good Thing About Europe

One of the best things about Europe is the old and the new sit (mostly) happily side by side. Perhaps the most famous example is the Louvre in Paris. When it is done well it really works. I had a mini-example of this in Maastricht earlier this week. We ate in a simple, traditionally Dutch bar, the Poshoorn, with is dark wooden interior and intimate warm atmosphere (excuse the trusty Blackberry camera):And we stayed in a decent modern hotel called, perhaps a little self-consciously, The Design Hotel with its minimal chic:This is a shot of the lobby. Neither of the two places were particularly expensive, or out of the ordinary, which is just the point. They co-exist happily and many people, including myself, can no doubt enjoy each one for what it does well. In fact walking directly from one to the other only heightens the effect.

Afternoon in St. Albans

That lovely time in the afternoon, when the sun is making its way toward the earth, casting long shadows over a crisp Autumn day. This was taken at 2.34 pm on the trusty Blackberry camera.

The Native American and The 15th Century Clock Tower

Native American pan-piper plays in front of 15th Century English church. One for the cultural benefits of our globalised era then.

This clock tower had a mechanical clock from the beginning, a great rarity at the time. It also was used by the Admiralty as a semaphore station in the Napoleonic wars. It only took 5 minutes to relay a message to, or from, Yamounth. Faster than a slow email then! I wonder if the Native Americans could send smoke signals that quickly. Perhaps there is a kindship between the Native Americans and the Clock Tower in St. Albans after all, with early long distance messaging being the common thread.

By the way, as lovely as pan-pipes may be in the Andes, I have a particular loathing for them when accompanied by a pre-recorded backing track of AOR.

The Romance of British Train Travel ll

This shot was also taken on 26th September 2008 using the blackberry camera. It is of St. Albans station taken through the scratched window of the train I was sitting in.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Madonna and Guy Ritchie are to divorce.

The Romance of British Train Travel

This picture was taken with a blackberry camera on 26th Sept 2008 on a First Capital Connect train from St. Albans to London.
- - - - - - - - -
Today, the US government agreed to use some of the $700bn bail out money to buy equity in the major banks, following the UK model.

Full Moon

I like the 'inexactness' that a Blackberry camera sometimes brings to a photo.

Small Pleasures

In amongst a day of overcrowded trains, grumpy gym staff with bad attitutude (why do Brits have to be so difficult sometimes, though I guess that is a case of the pot calling the kettle black) and a day long meeting on a subject that could, in the right hands be wonderful and amazing, but barely got above dull, was a little bit of walking through London. It is such a interesting place to walk. The light was good, making nice-looking buildings look even nicer. Below, as an example, is a view from where I was working. There are more views from places I have worked or stayed here.The UK govt. are suspending the practice of 'selling short'. The GB paralympics team returned home, second in the medals table at Bejing games.