View from my Desk

Been a bit since we posted something, so I thought I'd put this up.



This one is a shot of my desk and the view beyond. The view looks out through the doors to the grounds of the Hall. Very green, quiet, calm and relaxing. I've felt practically no work-related stress since starting here, and this view probably has something to do with it.

There's a fair bit of wildlife around the village. The pheasants have been parading about in the last month or so, and there are plenty of other birds flying about or forraging on the lawn. Apparently there are deer that come and go as well, but I haven't seen them yet.

The squirrels have been very busy in the last couple of weeks, running back and forth, forraging and defending their territory. I think they know that Winter isn't far off, and they are starting to get a little concerned about their preparedness. Regardless, it's fun to watch them scamper back and forth. Especially the way they run, kind of a leaping bouncy gallop, with their tails fluffily flopping around behind them.

This cute little guy popped up onto the porch just outside the door this afternoon.

lovely light from Bathurst

Playing Tourist in Cambridge

We've been to a few places in England and Wales so far. Today we thought we'd finally do some touristy things in our own city. So after breakfast we wandered into town to see Kings College and go for a punt down the Cam.



This is the most recognisable building in Cambridge - Kings College Chapel. The first stone was laid in 1446 under the reign of Henry VI, and the main structure was completed in 1515 under Henry VIII. The windows (26 sets in all) took another 30 years to create and install. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the chapel itself. Suffice to say it's really very big (humongous for a chapel), old and grand.

Eve and I are going to have a go at attending the service of nine lessons and carols (broadcast around the world every year) on Christmas Eve. Apparantly if we start lining up before 7am on the day we have a reasonably good chance of getting in.

Here is a panorama taken in the front court of the College itself.



After we left Kings we stopped for a Coffee then grabbed a seat on a guided punting ride down the Cam. If you ever get to Cambridge I reccommend you either hire a punt yourself or take one of these tours. It is the prettiest part of an already beautiful place. Here are a few assorted pics taken along the way.








This last one is St Johns College. Our guide tells us that the broomstick lesson scenes from Harry Potter were shot here.

Free Fairy Floss!!!

Sunday was the annual Summer party at my new workplace. It was a very big event, with dodgem cars, a cool steel drum band, laser clay pigeon shooting, giant slides, jumping castles, laser tag, a bucking sheep (a little wierd, granted), and as much food/drink as we could take. And of course fairy floss. All for free!

All the folks bought their families and friends and there was a huge turnout. Full credit to those responsible.






TAP corporate management could learn a thing or two about throwing parties from these guys.

Flying High

Greetings All

Here is a cool link, which Ben will add soon to our permit links of Jen and Larry's photos while they are out flying their alterlights (probable not spelt this way). Some great views so check it out.

http://members.optushome.com.au/~flexwing42/TrikingwithJen&Larry/

Misty Morning in the Village

Took this picture earlyish Sunday - it's the first time it's been like this since we arrived here. I guess there will be many more mornings like this over the next six months or so.



Lovely.

After the mist lifted we ended up with a beautiful blue sky day with a top of 27 degrees.

Oxford

Saturday dawned fine and clear so off we went to Oxford. Driving along the motorway we discovered that the road was not too bad as motorways don't have silly round abouts. It took an hour and forty minutes to drive there and then we parked in the free parking outside the town and caught the bus in. Very groovy arrangement as it means you don't have to cope with weird traffic and parking. So our first stop after coffee and a cookie was the Ashmoleon museum. There we saw the Egyptian collection including a mummified kitty, a complete shrine and some amazing jewellery.



The museum also had an excellent collection of very old musical instruments, fine china and silverware.



Of course after all this walking around one has to quench one's thirst and what better way then an ancient and very groovy pub. It is called the Eagle and Child, built in the sixteen hundreds, and was the meeting place of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and C Williams. We had a pint of Adnams, it was ok very hoppy but not great unfortunately. After this brief stop we then headed to the next excellent museums - the Oxford Natural History Museum and the Pitt River Museum, which are in the same building. These places were amazing as they had skeletons of dinosaurs and other extinct animals. They even had some poor animals that, though they had a nice life in zoos and died of natural causes, were now stuffed. Though I must say patting a real cheetah was something. You could touch a number of the exhibits, but none were quite as soft. They also had some gross stuff like real shrunken human heads, which were quite nauseating (along with the children's tribal heads). I guess you can't have everything.

After this it was a walk through the town on to the two of the University colleges. We went through Merton which was lovely though the library was closed, a shame really as it is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom. The college was built in the thirteenth century, and JRR Tokien taught there. We then went to a place that they used for at least two of the Harry Potter movies and it did look like they were filming the day we there - Christ Church college. There was some big fuss at any rate as no one was allowed in the Great Hall!



After this it was time to go home though we did do a quick spin through the covered market place and sad to say it was a bit disappointing. oh well :P

Duxford Air Show

On Sunday we got up bright and early and headed to the Duxford Imperial War Museum, for the Spitfire 70th Anniversary Air Show.

Duxford IWM is a really quite wonderful Museum and Airfield, and worth a look if you ever find yourselves out this way. It's a scant 10 clicks or so south of Cambridge, and has a great collection of military aircraft of practically all types.

We arrived at the airfield at about 9 in the morning or so. The flying displays were not due to begin until 2pm in the Afternoon, so we had some time on our hands. Which was good - at Duxford there are five or six hangars that you can walk through and look at aircraft displays, or watch old military aircraft being restored.

Here are some photos from within the British "AirSpace" Hangar, containing many examples of British military museums.

Firstly, the very famous Harrier jump jet.



This is the back end of the dead impressive English Electric Lightning. It's worth taking a look at the wikipedia page, as this was an amazing aircraft for its time. The new F-35 is named after this plane.



They have one of the Concorde prototypes here. Sandwiched in with the rest of the planes, it was impossible to get a photo of the entire aircraft. Here are a couple of snaps - the cockpit and the business end of the engines.



It's hard taking Photos in these hangars, as they have really cunningly fit them all in together. Other cool machines in the British AirSpace hangar included Jaguars, a Vulcan bomber, and a Lancaster Bomber.

From there we walked past the outdoor exhibits of historic passenger craft to the American Military Museum hangar. This was another very well presented exhibit.

Best of all, they had one of these things:



It was a great surprise to be able to view one of these extremely impressive beasts up close. This of course is the record breaking Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. It flies higher (85,000 feet) and faster (Mach 3.3) than any other plane out there. It can fly between New York and London in under 2 hours.

Plus they let you get pretty close. I managed to bang my head on the port engine inlet cone (sorry!).

In addition to the SR71 they had an F4 Phantom, an enormous B-52 and a U-2 spyplane amongst others. Cool stuff.

In another hangar we eventually found this very nicely turned out spitfire:



After browsing the hangars we wandered back to our chairs to await the start of the flying displays. On the way back we came across this F-15 on display:



And also this - the capsule used by Richard Branson and Steve Fosset to cross the Atlantic by Balloon.



A rather stiff breeze had whipped up by the time we arrived at our chairs, which meant that unfortunately the Battle of Britain memorial Spitfire flight wasn't going to happen. Not to mention that it wasn't that pleasant sitting there in the cold wind. Eve spent the waiting time having a sleep while I watched the various aircraft getting ready.

The first of the flying displays was a pair of F-15's. Neat-o! Very fast and very loud.



These guys were followed soon after by the very graceful Canberra. This early jet bomber was actually named after the national capital. It is a very dignified and majestic plane.



This was followed by two prop driven fighters - an F6F HellCat and a F4U Corsair. These two put on a pretty good aerobatic display, with plenty of rolls and loops.



Later on a rather odd looking Catalina flying boar took off for a spin. Not the easiest of aircraft on the eye.



This entry is already getting a bit long, so I'd better wind it up. Here are a couple of pictures from a Panavia Tornado flyby.



The small jet trainer in the foreground is a Hawk.

Unfortunately we had to leave before the flying displays finished, as Eve was getting too cold in the wind. Never mind! It was still easily worth the price of entry.