Mr X factor 3: 7 July 2005 - day of the London bombings
Well, I’m safe from the terrorist attacks, and so is my sister, but sadly many others are not. Found out mid-morning & have been watching it unfold on TV today. Being so close to it changes your perception of it quite a lot – am sure the buses & tubes will have many nervous travellers for the next months – but then again nowhere is safe, really, although NZ is probably a good bet.
What a 6 weeks or so since I last emailed! Have been on a canal boat in the West Midlands with my parents for the last month, which has been thoroughly relaxing & enjoyable.
More about that soon, but first, a couple of things to clear up:
I am NOT married (see last blog), as some people have been thinking - Gretna Green was a place where people did get married about 2 centuries ago, and probably still now, but my 'wedding' was a fake/role play one. Besides, me marrying an Australian!!? Unlikely, but odds significantly higher if her family has land in Bathurst!
Also, re getting a job. Have had a deliberate jobless 10 weeks looking around & without a job, so I'm just about to start looking now. Went to a recruitment group called the ‘Kiwi Agency’ on Wednesday - and they've hopefully got me a brainless admin job for 10 days starting next week. It's a quiet time now with summer slowdown, and uni students out working too means excess supply & little demand, so I'll take what I can get. Job market apparently goes ballistic in October, but I've got a few other contacts & angles to work still, so we shall see... Am sure there’s a job which suits me well out there – I’ve just got to find it. Hopefully I'll be inundated with offers!
Forgot to mention in my last email a trip I did to Dover. I went there on a lovely Sunday with Rebekah Dennison (ex-Tawa neighbour!) & her boyfriend, Mark. Had 'sandwiches in Sandwich' - obligatory! Then hit Dover Castle, which was a really interesting afternoon's viewing - medieval & WWII history to it, great views of Dover harbour, and saw France for the first time (quite hazy!), then visited the famous white cliffs. A great day out finished with a noodle takeaway eaten in Greenwich Park on lovely spring evening & fantastic (like stunning vista) views ofEast London, Canary Wharf, Cutty Sark, Millenium Dome.
Now, the canalling! Summary: 269 miles, 170 locks, 28 days.
Started on 4 June (seems an awfully long time ago now) in Rugby, finished back there on 1 July. Travelled on a wide and pretty rural anticlockwise trip around the tourist mecca that is Birmingham. Canalling is a visit back to past times when things were a lot slower. FYI: Canals were made during the Industrial Revolution to transport lots of coal! Now they are a pretty busy tourist attraction (well at least in summer).
It took a couple of days to slowdown to the pace of it (3 miles per hour), but then you really enjoy the slowness of it. Although, it is a bit disconcerting to think you've been travelling all day and then glance at a map to find you have only gone from the equivalent of Tawa to Pukerua Bay, or perhaps not even that far!
Canal boating life consisted of just steering the boat for the first week or so - we had no locks (used by canal boats to go up/down hills) to do. I felt a bit like Russell Coutts looking ahead for obstacles & other boats, hanging onto the tiller, except, when I glanced behind me there was no Team NZ Black Magic NZL20 either stranded, sinking or de-masted anywhere in sight.
Although...there was some brief chaos from time to time: Here's an excerpt from my diary about a week into it: 'Mum and Dad went shopping for groceries, leaving me in charge of the boat, for an hour or so. This was when I had my ‘adrift & out of control’ moment. We were moored partly in a winding (u turn bay) – perhaps we shouldn’t have been there? A guy in a 60 foot boat wanted to turn around, so I cast off and motored forward only to find that the only thing resembling a brake is the reverse gear, and then the boat easily gets out of shape & drifts a lot - like a V8 Holden in the wet! I soon realised that stopping, docking & mooring up by one's self was going to be pretty difficult. I was just going to gently motor forward a bit but before I knew it the bow was heading towards the reeds on the other bank of the canal. Switching the motor into reverse & trying to stop simply left me drifting towards the bank & grounding it, so I puttered up to the next mooring spot (it turned out to be the last one available) & in mild panic glanced round to see a friendly wave from ‘Mr Experienced, I own a 60-foot boat' man. I slowed and docked to the side (gently!) then reversed to a stand still (pretty essential with a 2 tonne boat), then leapt off the boat in a hurry to hammer in mooring pins at both ends & tying the ropes from the boat to the new anchor points on the side. At one stage the stern was anchored but the bow was not and was once more drifting towards the reeds on the other side - and the bow rope wouldn't reach the shore. My saviour was the middle rope which I grabbed in the nick of time, leapt for shore again & hauled the boat in - the Dover was safe! Finally secured at both ends I texted Mum & Dad with a less dramatic summary, explaining I had had to moor a little further up the canal!'
It wasn't like that all the time! Overall, I was well and truly pampered on the canals - it has been pretty leisurely - life consisted of sitting up the front sun bathing, admiring the beautiful English countryside, reading, listening to CDs & the radio, thinking about lots of stuff. This has been punctuated with lock opening & steering the boat (when I could prise the tiller out of Dad's hand), as well as superb & plentiful salad lunches (brilliant Mum!), pub meals & drinks, then back to the same relaxing routine in the afternoon.
My sister Nicola joined us for 3 days over one of the weekends, which coincided with Dad’s birthday. He got lots of canal souvenirs as presents, while Nicola also managed to find some canal badges, which cleverly summarised our respective roles on the boat:
Dad - Admiral,
Mum – Galley Slave,
Nics –Miss Chief,
Me – Cabin Boy.
I think we mostly remembered to take them off when we went ashore!
The evening routine was as follows: a lovely meal onboard or in another canal side pub - they are everywhere – often called ‘The Swan’ or The King’s Head’ etc... Meals were regularly followed by in the evening by the much anticipated & highly competitive Scrabble battle - we probably played every second night - honours shared pretty evenly - and disappointingly, no 7 letter words, worth a bonus 50 points, were put down at all, in one month.
Our TV worked for the first week then lost reception, so I tuned into ‘BBC Radio 5 Live’ quite a lot, which was really enjoyable - the big sports events get a lot of radio coverage over here - in particular the Lions tour (listened to the first test on radio - bit of a non-event in terms of closeness, what was Tana doing??), Formula 1 - with Alonso doing so well, interesting for the first time in 7 yrs (though some of you would disagree!), the Wimbledon fortnight & the new ‘Murray-mania’, the Aussie cricket team in town (I was listening with joyful disbelief when they lost to Bangladesh), pre-Ashes talk - England being talked up all over the place. Also an unforgettable late night was spent listening to commentary of Michael Campbell holding off Tiger Woods to win the US Open - pretty special - I imagine that got some good coverage back home. Good on him! Would have loved to have watched those approachshots & massive putts he sank.
I met some Birmingham locals in nearby ‘Hopwas’ one night. We had moored up near this town, so I went to the local pub & started talking to a guy with an England rugby top on (Trev). He used to paint the F1 cars for the Jordan team, so there was plenty of sports chat. When we got onto football his mate (Todd) asked what team I supported. I replied with Aston Villa - Birmingham team my Dad grew up supporting - pretty much an unfashionable, mid-table premier league team who hasn't won anything since 1982 (European Cup!!). Hardly anyone in NZ supports them, so it was a pretty cool thing when Todd's eyes lit up and he showed me his tattoo on his neck saying A.V.F.C. & said he had been a season ticket holder for ages. We celebrated with another round!
We had a day exploring Worcester after about 2 wks. I hired a bike, cycled around the city & went to Worcestershire Cricket ground – where NZ players Glenn Turner & John Parker used to play county cricket. Checked out the massive Cathedral, and Commandery – scene of a battle between Cromwell & Charles II that the King lost a few centuries ago. Met up with some other canallers from Oxford in the evening – went out for a meal & drinks rather impromptu – was really good fun.
With time on my side on the canal boat, in Worcester, I bought a couple of photo albums with the card pages & tissue paper in between each page. So I have started my trip album - a combo of photos, postcard & various souvenirs I have picked up - a pretty slow process – perfect activity while canalling! I 'd rather do it now than whenever I get home and have 2000 photos to organise.
Made it to Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare terrritory, towards the end, which was alive with tourists – moored up in the basin adjacent to the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatres – went and saw ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, which was really enjoyable.
By now the hot, fine weather was pretty consistent, locals calling it a heat wave, although I wouldn’t go that far! When we finished canal trip 1 July I caught a bus (called coaches over here!) back to London....
And that is where I’ll leave things for now. There were plenty of more anecdotes, but I can’t include everything –otherwise you wouldn’t do any work! More later!
Happy holidays Tawa College staff! I hope any family, friends, colleagues you know in London are safe.
Dave :)
Well, I’m safe from the terrorist attacks, and so is my sister, but sadly many others are not. Found out mid-morning & have been watching it unfold on TV today. Being so close to it changes your perception of it quite a lot – am sure the buses & tubes will have many nervous travellers for the next months – but then again nowhere is safe, really, although NZ is probably a good bet.
What a 6 weeks or so since I last emailed! Have been on a canal boat in the West Midlands with my parents for the last month, which has been thoroughly relaxing & enjoyable.
More about that soon, but first, a couple of things to clear up:
I am NOT married (see last blog), as some people have been thinking - Gretna Green was a place where people did get married about 2 centuries ago, and probably still now, but my 'wedding' was a fake/role play one. Besides, me marrying an Australian!!? Unlikely, but odds significantly higher if her family has land in Bathurst!
Also, re getting a job. Have had a deliberate jobless 10 weeks looking around & without a job, so I'm just about to start looking now. Went to a recruitment group called the ‘Kiwi Agency’ on Wednesday - and they've hopefully got me a brainless admin job for 10 days starting next week. It's a quiet time now with summer slowdown, and uni students out working too means excess supply & little demand, so I'll take what I can get. Job market apparently goes ballistic in October, but I've got a few other contacts & angles to work still, so we shall see... Am sure there’s a job which suits me well out there – I’ve just got to find it. Hopefully I'll be inundated with offers!
Forgot to mention in my last email a trip I did to Dover. I went there on a lovely Sunday with Rebekah Dennison (ex-Tawa neighbour!) & her boyfriend, Mark. Had 'sandwiches in Sandwich' - obligatory! Then hit Dover Castle, which was a really interesting afternoon's viewing - medieval & WWII history to it, great views of Dover harbour, and saw France for the first time (quite hazy!), then visited the famous white cliffs. A great day out finished with a noodle takeaway eaten in Greenwich Park on lovely spring evening & fantastic (like stunning vista) views ofEast London, Canary Wharf, Cutty Sark, Millenium Dome.
Now, the canalling! Summary: 269 miles, 170 locks, 28 days.
Started on 4 June (seems an awfully long time ago now) in Rugby, finished back there on 1 July. Travelled on a wide and pretty rural anticlockwise trip around the tourist mecca that is Birmingham. Canalling is a visit back to past times when things were a lot slower. FYI: Canals were made during the Industrial Revolution to transport lots of coal! Now they are a pretty busy tourist attraction (well at least in summer).
It took a couple of days to slowdown to the pace of it (3 miles per hour), but then you really enjoy the slowness of it. Although, it is a bit disconcerting to think you've been travelling all day and then glance at a map to find you have only gone from the equivalent of Tawa to Pukerua Bay, or perhaps not even that far!
Canal boating life consisted of just steering the boat for the first week or so - we had no locks (used by canal boats to go up/down hills) to do. I felt a bit like Russell Coutts looking ahead for obstacles & other boats, hanging onto the tiller, except, when I glanced behind me there was no Team NZ Black Magic NZL20 either stranded, sinking or de-masted anywhere in sight.
Although...there was some brief chaos from time to time: Here's an excerpt from my diary about a week into it: 'Mum and Dad went shopping for groceries, leaving me in charge of the boat, for an hour or so. This was when I had my ‘adrift & out of control’ moment. We were moored partly in a winding (u turn bay) – perhaps we shouldn’t have been there? A guy in a 60 foot boat wanted to turn around, so I cast off and motored forward only to find that the only thing resembling a brake is the reverse gear, and then the boat easily gets out of shape & drifts a lot - like a V8 Holden in the wet! I soon realised that stopping, docking & mooring up by one's self was going to be pretty difficult. I was just going to gently motor forward a bit but before I knew it the bow was heading towards the reeds on the other bank of the canal. Switching the motor into reverse & trying to stop simply left me drifting towards the bank & grounding it, so I puttered up to the next mooring spot (it turned out to be the last one available) & in mild panic glanced round to see a friendly wave from ‘Mr Experienced, I own a 60-foot boat' man. I slowed and docked to the side (gently!) then reversed to a stand still (pretty essential with a 2 tonne boat), then leapt off the boat in a hurry to hammer in mooring pins at both ends & tying the ropes from the boat to the new anchor points on the side. At one stage the stern was anchored but the bow was not and was once more drifting towards the reeds on the other side - and the bow rope wouldn't reach the shore. My saviour was the middle rope which I grabbed in the nick of time, leapt for shore again & hauled the boat in - the Dover was safe! Finally secured at both ends I texted Mum & Dad with a less dramatic summary, explaining I had had to moor a little further up the canal!'
It wasn't like that all the time! Overall, I was well and truly pampered on the canals - it has been pretty leisurely - life consisted of sitting up the front sun bathing, admiring the beautiful English countryside, reading, listening to CDs & the radio, thinking about lots of stuff. This has been punctuated with lock opening & steering the boat (when I could prise the tiller out of Dad's hand), as well as superb & plentiful salad lunches (brilliant Mum!), pub meals & drinks, then back to the same relaxing routine in the afternoon.
My sister Nicola joined us for 3 days over one of the weekends, which coincided with Dad’s birthday. He got lots of canal souvenirs as presents, while Nicola also managed to find some canal badges, which cleverly summarised our respective roles on the boat:
Dad - Admiral,
Mum – Galley Slave,
Nics –Miss Chief,
Me – Cabin Boy.
I think we mostly remembered to take them off when we went ashore!
The evening routine was as follows: a lovely meal onboard or in another canal side pub - they are everywhere – often called ‘The Swan’ or The King’s Head’ etc... Meals were regularly followed by in the evening by the much anticipated & highly competitive Scrabble battle - we probably played every second night - honours shared pretty evenly - and disappointingly, no 7 letter words, worth a bonus 50 points, were put down at all, in one month.
Our TV worked for the first week then lost reception, so I tuned into ‘BBC Radio 5 Live’ quite a lot, which was really enjoyable - the big sports events get a lot of radio coverage over here - in particular the Lions tour (listened to the first test on radio - bit of a non-event in terms of closeness, what was Tana doing??), Formula 1 - with Alonso doing so well, interesting for the first time in 7 yrs (though some of you would disagree!), the Wimbledon fortnight & the new ‘Murray-mania’, the Aussie cricket team in town (I was listening with joyful disbelief when they lost to Bangladesh), pre-Ashes talk - England being talked up all over the place. Also an unforgettable late night was spent listening to commentary of Michael Campbell holding off Tiger Woods to win the US Open - pretty special - I imagine that got some good coverage back home. Good on him! Would have loved to have watched those approachshots & massive putts he sank.
I met some Birmingham locals in nearby ‘Hopwas’ one night. We had moored up near this town, so I went to the local pub & started talking to a guy with an England rugby top on (Trev). He used to paint the F1 cars for the Jordan team, so there was plenty of sports chat. When we got onto football his mate (Todd) asked what team I supported. I replied with Aston Villa - Birmingham team my Dad grew up supporting - pretty much an unfashionable, mid-table premier league team who hasn't won anything since 1982 (European Cup!!). Hardly anyone in NZ supports them, so it was a pretty cool thing when Todd's eyes lit up and he showed me his tattoo on his neck saying A.V.F.C. & said he had been a season ticket holder for ages. We celebrated with another round!
We had a day exploring Worcester after about 2 wks. I hired a bike, cycled around the city & went to Worcestershire Cricket ground – where NZ players Glenn Turner & John Parker used to play county cricket. Checked out the massive Cathedral, and Commandery – scene of a battle between Cromwell & Charles II that the King lost a few centuries ago. Met up with some other canallers from Oxford in the evening – went out for a meal & drinks rather impromptu – was really good fun.
With time on my side on the canal boat, in Worcester, I bought a couple of photo albums with the card pages & tissue paper in between each page. So I have started my trip album - a combo of photos, postcard & various souvenirs I have picked up - a pretty slow process – perfect activity while canalling! I 'd rather do it now than whenever I get home and have 2000 photos to organise.
Made it to Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare terrritory, towards the end, which was alive with tourists – moored up in the basin adjacent to the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatres – went and saw ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, which was really enjoyable.
By now the hot, fine weather was pretty consistent, locals calling it a heat wave, although I wouldn’t go that far! When we finished canal trip 1 July I caught a bus (called coaches over here!) back to London....
And that is where I’ll leave things for now. There were plenty of more anecdotes, but I can’t include everything –otherwise you wouldn’t do any work! More later!
Happy holidays Tawa College staff! I hope any family, friends, colleagues you know in London are safe.
Dave :)
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10:58 AM
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