Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Owl and the Pussycat
One of the side-effects of getting an SCA award has been to spur me on to try to improve both my calligraphy and my illumination. This has mainly been due to the fact that the scroll presented to me is a work of art that makes the stuff I generally do look, well, primitive.
Mainly, but not entirely. One of the other things with which I returned from Raglan was a large number of sheets of pergamenta, a gift from T, the signet clerk. I'd not used pergamenta before, but had rather used standard calligraphy paper because I could get it out here. After much pondering I decided that I'd not only have a go with the pergamenta but would also try using a dip pen instead of my normal Lamy Safari. The Lamy has a 1.5mm nib, but this seems to be a bit on the wide side compared to the work of the other scribes. I've tried the 1.1mm version as well, but even that is too wide, so I broke out a size 4 dip nib instead and started on a test piece.
Hmm... the dip nib has reminded me how much I appreciate the smooth, regular ink flow of the modern fountain pen. :) Nevertheless, I eventually managed to get the ink running without too much overflow, and I do like how the ink seems to sit more solidly on the pergamenta's surface than it does on paper. T said that once I'd tried pergamenta that I'd never want to go back to paper, and I think that she might be right.
The illuminations are based on the owl and one of the cats from the Aberdeen Bestiary. I'm quite pleased at how they came out, given that I am not one of the world's great artists. What I have realised is that I need an exceedingly fine drawing nib to do the details on the illuminations in appropriate colours of ink rather than using the fine black pen I'd generally use. Fortunately I have quite a decent range of the Windsor and Newton coloured inks that I'll be able to use in future. Still, the piece isn't too bad for a first attempt.
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Mainly, but not entirely. One of the other things with which I returned from Raglan was a large number of sheets of pergamenta, a gift from T, the signet clerk. I'd not used pergamenta before, but had rather used standard calligraphy paper because I could get it out here. After much pondering I decided that I'd not only have a go with the pergamenta but would also try using a dip pen instead of my normal Lamy Safari. The Lamy has a 1.5mm nib, but this seems to be a bit on the wide side compared to the work of the other scribes. I've tried the 1.1mm version as well, but even that is too wide, so I broke out a size 4 dip nib instead and started on a test piece.
Hmm... the dip nib has reminded me how much I appreciate the smooth, regular ink flow of the modern fountain pen. :) Nevertheless, I eventually managed to get the ink running without too much overflow, and I do like how the ink seems to sit more solidly on the pergamenta's surface than it does on paper. T said that once I'd tried pergamenta that I'd never want to go back to paper, and I think that she might be right.
The illuminations are based on the owl and one of the cats from the Aberdeen Bestiary. I'm quite pleased at how they came out, given that I am not one of the world's great artists. What I have realised is that I need an exceedingly fine drawing nib to do the details on the illuminations in appropriate colours of ink rather than using the fine black pen I'd generally use. Fortunately I have quite a decent range of the Windsor and Newton coloured inks that I'll be able to use in future. Still, the piece isn't too bad for a first attempt.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Raglan 2009
In spite of my travel hassles - and the fact that I'm certainly going to avoid using Gatwick in future if at all possible - I finally made it to Raglan castle for Ffair Rhaglen late on Friday afternoon. Gatwick not only has a generally miserable ambience, but its car hire concessions are a long walk from the terminal, difficult to find and understaffed. Oh yes, and then there's the matter of having to crawl along the M25 in order to reach the M4...
But I got there in the end, and threw myself into the weekend's activities starting with G's provost prize playing. Sadly I wasn't fencing this weekend, but I did marshal for it instead. This was followed by the first of many courts scattered across the weekend, thus giving him a bit of a breather between the initial bouts and the half-hour free-for-all later on. Oh yes, and I sat with with the Queen and the rest of her ladies deciding who should win the torchlit pas de armes. We eventually decided that although broad shoulders and pert behinds both had their charms, chivalrous behaviour in dedicating victories to his lady was definitely a winning strategy.
I'd been on the go since 04:00, so by the time I got to bed at D&C's place at almost 01:00 I was certainly ready to sleep... but not for long enough, as we needed to be up at 06:00 in order to make sure that we got back onto site in plenty of time for court at 09:00. Except, of course, court didn't start at 09:00, did it? :) There had been a lot of discussion the previous evening about whether there would be any peerages bestowed this year, and had got it down to two possible candidates with one clear favourite. Sure enough, M was called up to sit vigil to consider joining the Order of the Pelican, into which she will be inducted at Twelfth Night Coronation. All the more reason to attend, I think! A very well-deserved award, it was agreed.
This was followed by the main event of the day, the final viceregal tournament. I had the honour of being fought for by E, who looked absolutely stunning in his fantastic Japanese armour. In keeping with this theme I too wore Japanese formal garb, and we were 'attended' by K:
More photos are also online in this album. Unfortunately I wasn't sufficiently inspiring for him to win but I thought that he acquitted himself honourably and, more importantly, looked superb whilst doing so. Once the tournament was over I wandered over to help out handing out tokens for the nine lives tournament at troll and ended up sitting there nattering to C for a while. We'd decided to go off back to the Beaufort Arms for dinner that evening and clearly news of that had spread, as HM Gerhardt came over to inform C that she really ought to attend court as T would be receiving an award. Fair enough, we wandered over to the fountain courtyard to see him being inducted into the Order of the Dragon's Steel, Drachenwald's most prestigious fencing award. Hurrah! Another 'about time too' award.
It was at that point that I was 'got' and received a Grant of Arms. I wasn't expecting that, particularly as GoAs are not often awarded in Drachenwald. The scroll is gorgeous, and will be appearing on my wall shortly. You know you're a scribe when you get an award scroll and your first thought is oh, that's how you get the shading to work!.
Needless to say, T and I were both feeling quite pleased with ourselves over dinner. :)
Later I wandered back to site, but made it back to bed before midnight, thus allowing myself a sensible amount of sleep before the next morning's start.
Sunday was quieter, and started off with a marvellous class on making girdle books. It was so nice to do another A&S class, as over the last few years I've spent rather more time fencing and marshalling at events rather than taking classes. This was great fun, and I've now got all sorts of ideas for bookbinding. I'm also quite tempted to offer a similar class myself, possibly at Alfadans, because it's such a simple but fun thing to make. I've been pondering giving bookbinding a try for some time now, so it was perfect timing from my point of view.
After this there was much sitting and chatting with G and M. I might be a little more involved in helping out running of things next year. By this time people were beginning to strike camp, as although the site wasn't due to close until Monday lunchtime, many folks had to get back home ready for work next day (including me). As things were getting busy I volunteered to run HM Gerhardt back to the airport (which we found even though the satnav insisted that the fastest route was along all of the back roads behind the caravan convoys).
Then it was back to site for a final round of goodbyes and the drive back to London. There'd been an accident on the M4 which closed the motorway, forcing me to divert along the A34 and the M3. This did, at least, cut out most of the M25, although it did mean that I was later arriving at my hotel than I'd originally planned. Ah well, at least I got a decent night's sleep before the flight and drive north the following day.
Overall I had a very good weekend. It was nice to be able to relax, chat to people and do a bit of A&S again. Even if the stresses of the day before travel meant that I forgot all sorts of stuff I'd meant to bring with me. And I don't mind not being Vicereine. After all, there will be more tournaments in future, and I'm sure that E will eventually make me Infanta instead...
2 comments
But I got there in the end, and threw myself into the weekend's activities starting with G's provost prize playing. Sadly I wasn't fencing this weekend, but I did marshal for it instead. This was followed by the first of many courts scattered across the weekend, thus giving him a bit of a breather between the initial bouts and the half-hour free-for-all later on. Oh yes, and I sat with with the Queen and the rest of her ladies deciding who should win the torchlit pas de armes. We eventually decided that although broad shoulders and pert behinds both had their charms, chivalrous behaviour in dedicating victories to his lady was definitely a winning strategy.
I'd been on the go since 04:00, so by the time I got to bed at D&C's place at almost 01:00 I was certainly ready to sleep... but not for long enough, as we needed to be up at 06:00 in order to make sure that we got back onto site in plenty of time for court at 09:00. Except, of course, court didn't start at 09:00, did it? :) There had been a lot of discussion the previous evening about whether there would be any peerages bestowed this year, and had got it down to two possible candidates with one clear favourite. Sure enough, M was called up to sit vigil to consider joining the Order of the Pelican, into which she will be inducted at Twelfth Night Coronation. All the more reason to attend, I think! A very well-deserved award, it was agreed.
This was followed by the main event of the day, the final viceregal tournament. I had the honour of being fought for by E, who looked absolutely stunning in his fantastic Japanese armour. In keeping with this theme I too wore Japanese formal garb, and we were 'attended' by K:
More photos are also online in this album. Unfortunately I wasn't sufficiently inspiring for him to win but I thought that he acquitted himself honourably and, more importantly, looked superb whilst doing so. Once the tournament was over I wandered over to help out handing out tokens for the nine lives tournament at troll and ended up sitting there nattering to C for a while. We'd decided to go off back to the Beaufort Arms for dinner that evening and clearly news of that had spread, as HM Gerhardt came over to inform C that she really ought to attend court as T would be receiving an award. Fair enough, we wandered over to the fountain courtyard to see him being inducted into the Order of the Dragon's Steel, Drachenwald's most prestigious fencing award. Hurrah! Another 'about time too' award.
It was at that point that I was 'got' and received a Grant of Arms. I wasn't expecting that, particularly as GoAs are not often awarded in Drachenwald. The scroll is gorgeous, and will be appearing on my wall shortly. You know you're a scribe when you get an award scroll and your first thought is oh, that's how you get the shading to work!.
Needless to say, T and I were both feeling quite pleased with ourselves over dinner. :)
Later I wandered back to site, but made it back to bed before midnight, thus allowing myself a sensible amount of sleep before the next morning's start.
Sunday was quieter, and started off with a marvellous class on making girdle books. It was so nice to do another A&S class, as over the last few years I've spent rather more time fencing and marshalling at events rather than taking classes. This was great fun, and I've now got all sorts of ideas for bookbinding. I'm also quite tempted to offer a similar class myself, possibly at Alfadans, because it's such a simple but fun thing to make. I've been pondering giving bookbinding a try for some time now, so it was perfect timing from my point of view.
After this there was much sitting and chatting with G and M. I might be a little more involved in helping out running of things next year. By this time people were beginning to strike camp, as although the site wasn't due to close until Monday lunchtime, many folks had to get back home ready for work next day (including me). As things were getting busy I volunteered to run HM Gerhardt back to the airport (which we found even though the satnav insisted that the fastest route was along all of the back roads behind the caravan convoys).
Then it was back to site for a final round of goodbyes and the drive back to London. There'd been an accident on the M4 which closed the motorway, forcing me to divert along the A34 and the M3. This did, at least, cut out most of the M25, although it did mean that I was later arriving at my hotel than I'd originally planned. Ah well, at least I got a decent night's sleep before the flight and drive north the following day.
Overall I had a very good weekend. It was nice to be able to relax, chat to people and do a bit of A&S again. Even if the stresses of the day before travel meant that I forgot all sorts of stuff I'd meant to bring with me. And I don't mind not being Vicereine. After all, there will be more tournaments in future, and I'm sure that E will eventually make me Infanta instead...
2 comments
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Driving down the country
It's a bit later than planned, and I'm sure I've left some stuff at home, but I'm now sitting in the restaurant at Hotel Keflavík.
I gad planned to pack last night and then leave the office a bit early so I could be down here at 8ish to grab a meal in town. Instead I spent the evening wrestling with a spreadsheet for a meeting this afternoon - with about 24 hours notice.
So instead I ended up packing this morning and as a result I'm sure I've left some stuff behind, which annoys me.
The meeting went as expected, but I didn't manage to get away early after all. I then had the 400km drive south to a hotel close to the airport. This was complicated by the Reykjavík road system, which is a strange thing; many of the turnings are only one or side of the road, so if you miss one you can't just take the next turning, do a U-turn and go back to the turning. Instead to have to take the next turning and navigate by dead reckoning through the residential areas to try to rejoin the road before the turning you missed. Not one of my favourite passtimes.
Eventually I made it to the hotel. I was actually booked into the B&B run by the same chain across the road but thay've moved me into a single in the more expensive main hotel instead of a twin in the B&B, presumeably so they could charge double for the twin.
As I was running late I ended up eating in the hotel restaurant. Um. Very limited menu, and while the chap on duty was pleasant enough he wasn't particularly organised (and therefore slooooow). The lamb fillet was quite nice, served with potato gratin and a 'wild' sauce. Wild what, the waiter had no idea, but I think it might have been mushroom.
I'm now tucked up in bed hoping to get some sleep before my 04:30 tomorrow morning...
Sent með Blackberry frá Vodafone
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I gad planned to pack last night and then leave the office a bit early so I could be down here at 8ish to grab a meal in town. Instead I spent the evening wrestling with a spreadsheet for a meeting this afternoon - with about 24 hours notice.
So instead I ended up packing this morning and as a result I'm sure I've left some stuff behind, which annoys me.
The meeting went as expected, but I didn't manage to get away early after all. I then had the 400km drive south to a hotel close to the airport. This was complicated by the Reykjavík road system, which is a strange thing; many of the turnings are only one or side of the road, so if you miss one you can't just take the next turning, do a U-turn and go back to the turning. Instead to have to take the next turning and navigate by dead reckoning through the residential areas to try to rejoin the road before the turning you missed. Not one of my favourite passtimes.
Eventually I made it to the hotel. I was actually booked into the B&B run by the same chain across the road but thay've moved me into a single in the more expensive main hotel instead of a twin in the B&B, presumeably so they could charge double for the twin.
As I was running late I ended up eating in the hotel restaurant. Um. Very limited menu, and while the chap on duty was pleasant enough he wasn't particularly organised (and therefore slooooow). The lamb fillet was quite nice, served with potato gratin and a 'wild' sauce. Wild what, the waiter had no idea, but I think it might have been mushroom.
I'm now tucked up in bed hoping to get some sleep before my 04:30 tomorrow morning...
Sent með Blackberry frá Vodafone
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Now wait an hour.
Well, strictly speaking it's only 'wait for 40-45 minutes', but my hair is that long that the dye is more thinly spread and I have to leave it for longer to get the same depth of colour.
Yes, I am sufficiently embarrassed by the inch-and-a-half of yucky brown-and-silver roots that I decided it needed another coat of dye before Raglan this weekend. It's not that the roots are a different colour to the rest of my hair, it's that the colour of the roots is utterly horrible. There's so much silver in it now that it's just awful. The worst thing about it is that three years ago before I took on the departmental management job it was doing pretty well - a few silver hairs here and there - but the stress of the last three years has absolutely murdered it. Bah.
Preparations for Raglan continue apace. I now have a formal white kosode which should look okay under my heavy silkdressing gown uchikake, although I haven't had time to do more than one and so will have to cheat with an eri sugata. Fortunately I do have some cotton in an appropriate colour that can be put to use until I get around to making a second kosode. The same fabric might even end up being used for an obi, although I may have a little of the heavy silk left that I could piece together for that - I'll have to check my fabric stock tomorrow. I've ended up using a completely different fabric to the one I originally bought, as when I came to cut it out I realised that I was definitely going to have to line it, which would be a pain. I managed to find a cotton/linen blend that I was going to use as a lining but eventually just made a semi-lined one from that instead of faffing about with the original fabric.
I wasn't planning to develop a whole Japanese persona for Raglan; it just sort of happened. I now find myself looking at things like long black wigs and so forth... but I can't realistically do much more while I'm out here as it's difficult (i.e. expensive) to get the appropriate materials.
Right. Time to go and have a long shower to clear off the rest of the hair goop. So much easier than trying to just rinse it off over the sink. Of course it does mean that I have to clean the shower immediately afterwards but I'd have to clean the sink anyway. Here goes...
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Yes, I am sufficiently embarrassed by the inch-and-a-half of yucky brown-and-silver roots that I decided it needed another coat of dye before Raglan this weekend. It's not that the roots are a different colour to the rest of my hair, it's that the colour of the roots is utterly horrible. There's so much silver in it now that it's just awful. The worst thing about it is that three years ago before I took on the departmental management job it was doing pretty well - a few silver hairs here and there - but the stress of the last three years has absolutely murdered it. Bah.
Preparations for Raglan continue apace. I now have a formal white kosode which should look okay under my heavy silk
I wasn't planning to develop a whole Japanese persona for Raglan; it just sort of happened. I now find myself looking at things like long black wigs and so forth... but I can't realistically do much more while I'm out here as it's difficult (i.e. expensive) to get the appropriate materials.
Right. Time to go and have a long shower to clear off the rest of the hair goop. So much easier than trying to just rinse it off over the sink. Of course it does mean that I have to clean the shower immediately afterwards but I'd have to clean the sink anyway. Here goes...
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Saturday, August 15, 2009
Making things
It's been a fairly productive weekend so far, with two projects completed.
Last year I bought a portable DVD player with the intention of being able to watch episodes of various things before falling asleep in bed at night. This worked extremely well until I was distracted by the purchase of my eReader, which allows me to read without the need for a bedside light - necessary as my alarm clock automatically turns the light on and off gradually, thus limiting the amount of time I could actually see to read using it. This, of course, left the DVD player with rather less to do.
A couple of days ago I decided to bring the DVD player upstairs to the dining room, there to amuse me as I sit at the dining table doing craft stuff (there is only so much BBC News 24 that even I can take). So last night I found myself sort-of-watching The Goodies whilst making my first attempts at a Japanese paper fan. Not just because it's an essential accessory for the well-dressed samurai at court, but also in case it gets a bit hot at Raglan next weekend.
I'd picked up some thin wood strips and cut them to size while in the UK, but as I couldn't find any large origami paper (which seems to be the recommended material for paper fans) ended up buying vellum instead, on the grounds that it is both strong and decorative.
Bad idea. It may be strong and decorative, but the transparency that gives it its beauty makes the supporting vanes very visible. Even if I hadn't decided that the vanes would be black (I was hoping to use enamel paint so that they looked lacquered but didn't have time) I'm pretty sure they'd be visible:
So I tore that up and started again with some craft paper I'd picked up yesterday just in case something went wrong (and discovered that AB Búðin, the main craft shop in town, is indeed closing down). Unfortunately there wasn't much choice in terms of design, but I managed to find something that'll do for now. Version two is far more pleasing, although a bit uneven as I couldn't find a small protractor and had to use the one built into the drawing board, which proved rather trickier to maniuplate than a standard semicircular one.
The hinge is a thick cord with a button knot at each end. It'll do for the weekend. I'll have a look around for more suitable paper on my travels to make a version that not only folds and unfolds more easily, but also allows me to get a larger angle on the paper... although I could just shorten the vanes, but then the whole thing would shrink. No, I think that larger pieces of paper are what's needed here.
The fans are not the only thing I've been making this weekend though. After the trials and tribulations of having my Galileoscope delivered to the university in case it came while I was away, I finally picked it up yesterday. This morning, to the accompaniment of Saturday Kitchen Choice Cuts, I opened it up.
It's a lot larger than I was expecting; fully assembled it's about 70cm long extending to about 85 with the focussing piece fully extended. The assembly process is straightforward, although the instructions that come with it could do with rather more illustrations to make them foolproof. It has a total of seven lenses, six of which are in the two eyepieces: an 18x Galilean configuration and a 25x normal one, both of which can be slotted together to form a 50x Barlow eyepiece.
It being the middle of the day I tested it by focussing on a farm on the other side of the valley. It was surprisingly clear, both at 18x and 25x. I couldn't get the 50x to focus, but I'll have another play with it when the moon comes out. Which might be days away, of course. This afternoon it was clear, bright and sunny. This evening, of course, we're back to ten tenths obscuring. Bah. Never mind - I've realised that I could transport it in my arrow carrier (sans arrows, of course) so I'm planning to take it to Raglan as well. Hmm... I suppose I could run an impromtu A&S class one evening on Galilean astronomy, assuming the skies are clear enough. It could be quite fun.
Right. Two projects down, one to go. Next stop: making a kosode.
0 comments
Last year I bought a portable DVD player with the intention of being able to watch episodes of various things before falling asleep in bed at night. This worked extremely well until I was distracted by the purchase of my eReader, which allows me to read without the need for a bedside light - necessary as my alarm clock automatically turns the light on and off gradually, thus limiting the amount of time I could actually see to read using it. This, of course, left the DVD player with rather less to do.
A couple of days ago I decided to bring the DVD player upstairs to the dining room, there to amuse me as I sit at the dining table doing craft stuff (there is only so much BBC News 24 that even I can take). So last night I found myself sort-of-watching The Goodies whilst making my first attempts at a Japanese paper fan. Not just because it's an essential accessory for the well-dressed samurai at court, but also in case it gets a bit hot at Raglan next weekend.
I'd picked up some thin wood strips and cut them to size while in the UK, but as I couldn't find any large origami paper (which seems to be the recommended material for paper fans) ended up buying vellum instead, on the grounds that it is both strong and decorative.
Bad idea. It may be strong and decorative, but the transparency that gives it its beauty makes the supporting vanes very visible. Even if I hadn't decided that the vanes would be black (I was hoping to use enamel paint so that they looked lacquered but didn't have time) I'm pretty sure they'd be visible:
So I tore that up and started again with some craft paper I'd picked up yesterday just in case something went wrong (and discovered that AB Búðin, the main craft shop in town, is indeed closing down). Unfortunately there wasn't much choice in terms of design, but I managed to find something that'll do for now. Version two is far more pleasing, although a bit uneven as I couldn't find a small protractor and had to use the one built into the drawing board, which proved rather trickier to maniuplate than a standard semicircular one.
The hinge is a thick cord with a button knot at each end. It'll do for the weekend. I'll have a look around for more suitable paper on my travels to make a version that not only folds and unfolds more easily, but also allows me to get a larger angle on the paper... although I could just shorten the vanes, but then the whole thing would shrink. No, I think that larger pieces of paper are what's needed here.
The fans are not the only thing I've been making this weekend though. After the trials and tribulations of having my Galileoscope delivered to the university in case it came while I was away, I finally picked it up yesterday. This morning, to the accompaniment of Saturday Kitchen Choice Cuts, I opened it up.
It's a lot larger than I was expecting; fully assembled it's about 70cm long extending to about 85 with the focussing piece fully extended. The assembly process is straightforward, although the instructions that come with it could do with rather more illustrations to make them foolproof. It has a total of seven lenses, six of which are in the two eyepieces: an 18x Galilean configuration and a 25x normal one, both of which can be slotted together to form a 50x Barlow eyepiece.
It being the middle of the day I tested it by focussing on a farm on the other side of the valley. It was surprisingly clear, both at 18x and 25x. I couldn't get the 50x to focus, but I'll have another play with it when the moon comes out. Which might be days away, of course. This afternoon it was clear, bright and sunny. This evening, of course, we're back to ten tenths obscuring. Bah. Never mind - I've realised that I could transport it in my arrow carrier (sans arrows, of course) so I'm planning to take it to Raglan as well. Hmm... I suppose I could run an impromtu A&S class one evening on Galilean astronomy, assuming the skies are clear enough. It could be quite fun.
Right. Two projects down, one to go. Next stop: making a kosode.
0 comments
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Five years
It is, to the day, five years since I arrived to live and work in Iceland.
Life here has had its ups and downs, but even with the current stresses I don't regret coming out here - although sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed out here for so long.
To celebrate this occasion I thought I'd share with you my ten best experiences of the past five years. In no particular order:
I would certainly recommend to anyone to work abroad for a while, both for the experiences and for the way it changes your view of the world. It has made me realise that 'normal' is such a relative term.
7 comments
Life here has had its ups and downs, but even with the current stresses I don't regret coming out here - although sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed out here for so long.
To celebrate this occasion I thought I'd share with you my ten best experiences of the past five years. In no particular order:
- Sitting in a hot tub drinking wine and watching the skies dance.
- The view from the top of Öxi heading south to the coast.
- Watching the blue mud bubbling away at the hverir at Námaflall
- Snowboarding down one of the non-nursery slopes at Hlíðafjall
- Signing the collaboration agreement between the university and NASA for work on the Search for Life programme.
- Walking on the ice of the frozen Lake Mývatn.
- Sailing amongst the icebergs at Jókulsarlón.
- Seeing and hearing the reactions of visiting friends and they step into Jarðboðin at Mývatn.
- The genteel riot after the arrival of mini sausage rolls at the Embassy Christmas reception.
- Forging my own small knife on the final evening of a blacksmithing course.
I would certainly recommend to anyone to work abroad for a while, both for the experiences and for the way it changes your view of the world. It has made me realise that 'normal' is such a relative term.
7 comments
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Last day of freedom
I return to work tomorrow.
During the holiday I've been pondering the whole blogging thing. You may have noticed that I haven't written much over the past month. A lot of this is because I haven't done anything worth talking about, and I don't expect I'll be doing much worth blogging about in the near future. I don't just want to whine and moan about how miserable life is out here and I'm sure that you certainly don't want to read me going on about it. So I've decided that I'm only going to write when I have something useful or interesting to say. I'll still be reading and commenting on friends' entries, but please don't expect daily updates in future. At the very least I'll aim for a weekly update on what's going on here, and if anything interesting does happen I'll let you know, but I'm not going to feel guilty if I don't update every day any longer.
So what has been going on this week? Not a lot, to be honest. Other than two brief shopping trips into town I've been reading, doing embroidery and very little else. Highlights have included unpacking, sorting out the mail, getting my R4 to work with my DS Lite and managing to find BBC3 and BBC4 amongst the incorrectly-named satellite channels.
Yes, life has been busy. :)
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During the holiday I've been pondering the whole blogging thing. You may have noticed that I haven't written much over the past month. A lot of this is because I haven't done anything worth talking about, and I don't expect I'll be doing much worth blogging about in the near future. I don't just want to whine and moan about how miserable life is out here and I'm sure that you certainly don't want to read me going on about it. So I've decided that I'm only going to write when I have something useful or interesting to say. I'll still be reading and commenting on friends' entries, but please don't expect daily updates in future. At the very least I'll aim for a weekly update on what's going on here, and if anything interesting does happen I'll let you know, but I'm not going to feel guilty if I don't update every day any longer.
So what has been going on this week? Not a lot, to be honest. Other than two brief shopping trips into town I've been reading, doing embroidery and very little else. Highlights have included unpacking, sorting out the mail, getting my R4 to work with my DS Lite and managing to find BBC3 and BBC4 amongst the incorrectly-named satellite channels.
Yes, life has been busy. :)
0 comments
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Exotic ices
I live next door to an ice cream parlour.
Yes, I know I've previously said that I live out in the country, but G at Holtsel (the farm next door) decided to diversify and put 3% of the milk output of his cows into producing a wide variety of ice creams. The result was that he won prizes and I started to get people knocking at my door asking where to buy ice cream. Fortunately for me, G now has some very good signage so my door remains silent once more. Well, silent unless anyone comes to visit, which was what happened earlier this afternoon. E, Ö and B arrived and invited me to join them for an ice cream. Which I duly did.
The range of flavours available is, ah, unusual. In fact I think that chocolate is the only normal flavour we saw. Between the three of us we tried ten of the two dozen different flavours: peach, licquorice, apple & cinnamon, beer, orange marmalade & whisky, rum truffle, chocolate, blueberry ice skyr, strawberry ice yoghurt and cranachan ice cream.
Yes, cranachan ice cream. I'm not sure whether my Scots friends will find the concept heavenly or heretical, but I must say that it does taste very pleasant indeed. The ice skyr was a lot sharper than even the ice yoghurt, but that's not entirely surprising - imagine frozen blueberry cheesecake and you're beginning to get close to the taste.
One of the reasons I hadn't been up there already was that I suspected that once I'd visited the place I'd end up going back regularly, and there is definitely a danger of this. I'll have to be careful about my timing though, as it does seem to be quite popular; while we were there the little cafe section remained full most of the time.
Hmm... I've just had this mental image of baked cranachan alaska. Now there's an idea to serve as a dessert...
2 comments
Yes, I know I've previously said that I live out in the country, but G at Holtsel (the farm next door) decided to diversify and put 3% of the milk output of his cows into producing a wide variety of ice creams. The result was that he won prizes and I started to get people knocking at my door asking where to buy ice cream. Fortunately for me, G now has some very good signage so my door remains silent once more. Well, silent unless anyone comes to visit, which was what happened earlier this afternoon. E, Ö and B arrived and invited me to join them for an ice cream. Which I duly did.
The range of flavours available is, ah, unusual. In fact I think that chocolate is the only normal flavour we saw. Between the three of us we tried ten of the two dozen different flavours: peach, licquorice, apple & cinnamon, beer, orange marmalade & whisky, rum truffle, chocolate, blueberry ice skyr, strawberry ice yoghurt and cranachan ice cream.
Yes, cranachan ice cream. I'm not sure whether my Scots friends will find the concept heavenly or heretical, but I must say that it does taste very pleasant indeed. The ice skyr was a lot sharper than even the ice yoghurt, but that's not entirely surprising - imagine frozen blueberry cheesecake and you're beginning to get close to the taste.
One of the reasons I hadn't been up there already was that I suspected that once I'd visited the place I'd end up going back regularly, and there is definitely a danger of this. I'll have to be careful about my timing though, as it does seem to be quite popular; while we were there the little cafe section remained full most of the time.
Hmm... I've just had this mental image of baked cranachan alaska. Now there's an idea to serve as a dessert...
2 comments
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Curious flying
I am back in Iceland, back in Akureyri, back on my sofa.
It has been a journey of curious incidents. Firstly I arrived at Manchester Airport with luggage that was, I suspected, about 4-5kg over the limit. Naturally I told this to the chap at check-in and didn't quibble the excess luggage charge (even if £9 a kilo is a bit on the steep side). When it came to actually boarding the plane I discovered that he'd bumped me up to Saga Class, which was a nice surprise. I therefore decided to view the charge not so much as excess luggage but more as an upgrade. It was worth it too - the flight was considerably less stressful than usual. Unfortunately I can't afford to do it more often.
Another curiousity was as we came in to land. We were just coming past Grindavik on the south coast when I saw a large red-orange glow in the landscape, roughly K0-coloured and far brighter than the lights of the town itself. It looked to me as if it might be a lava lake, but when I asked as the tourist information at the airport the woman said there had been a small quake recently but nothing about any new lava lakes. I can see that I'll have to ask one of the geologists when I get back to work.
Next was the FlyBus to the city centre. Driven by a chap with an East Lancs accent. Even when speaking in Icelandic, he was clearly from my side of the Pennines. It was quite surreal.
I was in a new hotel this time. My normal (i.e. cheaper) hotel, the Hotel Cabin, was full so I ended up at CentreHotel Plaza instead. It's right in the middle of town so it charges rather more than (for instance) the Glasgow Campanile but has rather fewer facilities. The bed was comfy enough though, and I did get a decent amount of sleep before meeting up with M for lunch (a very good omelette followed by a banana split) and then heading to the airport for the internal flight.
When my flight landed in Akureyri there was something rather unusual on the runway:
C-17As are not the sort of thing you normally see in Akureyri. There did seem to be a couple of guys and their luggage beside the downed cargo ramp, but certainly not enough to need the ramp to be lowered in the first place. I am (justifiably, I think) curious as to why a USAF cargo plane would be visiting us. A little googling later I've identified it as being from the 437th/315th Airlift Wing based in Charleston (easy enough) but that doesn't make its presence here any more explicable. Curiouser and curiouser.
1 comments
It has been a journey of curious incidents. Firstly I arrived at Manchester Airport with luggage that was, I suspected, about 4-5kg over the limit. Naturally I told this to the chap at check-in and didn't quibble the excess luggage charge (even if £9 a kilo is a bit on the steep side). When it came to actually boarding the plane I discovered that he'd bumped me up to Saga Class, which was a nice surprise. I therefore decided to view the charge not so much as excess luggage but more as an upgrade. It was worth it too - the flight was considerably less stressful than usual. Unfortunately I can't afford to do it more often.
Another curiousity was as we came in to land. We were just coming past Grindavik on the south coast when I saw a large red-orange glow in the landscape, roughly K0-coloured and far brighter than the lights of the town itself. It looked to me as if it might be a lava lake, but when I asked as the tourist information at the airport the woman said there had been a small quake recently but nothing about any new lava lakes. I can see that I'll have to ask one of the geologists when I get back to work.
Next was the FlyBus to the city centre. Driven by a chap with an East Lancs accent. Even when speaking in Icelandic, he was clearly from my side of the Pennines. It was quite surreal.
I was in a new hotel this time. My normal (i.e. cheaper) hotel, the Hotel Cabin, was full so I ended up at CentreHotel Plaza instead. It's right in the middle of town so it charges rather more than (for instance) the Glasgow Campanile but has rather fewer facilities. The bed was comfy enough though, and I did get a decent amount of sleep before meeting up with M for lunch (a very good omelette followed by a banana split) and then heading to the airport for the internal flight.
When my flight landed in Akureyri there was something rather unusual on the runway:
C-17As are not the sort of thing you normally see in Akureyri. There did seem to be a couple of guys and their luggage beside the downed cargo ramp, but certainly not enough to need the ramp to be lowered in the first place. I am (justifiably, I think) curious as to why a USAF cargo plane would be visiting us. A little googling later I've identified it as being from the 437th/315th Airlift Wing based in Charleston (easy enough) but that doesn't make its presence here any more explicable. Curiouser and curiouser.
1 comments