A Work in Progress

3am fire alarm footwear

The coolest tree in Windsor.

Coventry's 3rd spire.

Poppies, poppies!

I was reviewing some old times I've had with the blog this evening. I was prompted to reminisce by my friends' interest in the blog. (I'm glad to know that I'll sell at least one book to the international market.) The blog is a great thing to have, and I've remembered calls through it that I most definitely would have forgotten otherwise. But it's frustrating also. I've hinted at a few interesting calls, and then I've never fulfilled the promise to write about them! And, in the subsequent 3-4 years, have forgotten the calls completely. It's scary what makes a memorable call after answering hundreds. One particular 'lost call' interests me though. I really want to know what prompted me to write: "I’ll spare the details of the most disgusting call I’ve ever been on. I pretty much hope that I never have a more revolting, horrid call. That’s all really. It’ll be a hard call to trump." How will I ever know if I've tr...

Messing about in the dark on my favorite street in Coventry

Sorry I'm a few days behind. Turns out that research and procrastination are not very interesting photo subjects. But here's one of my building.

Well, they saved the best class for last. We finished up our last classes learning about natual and environmental hazards and laughing off the sheer terror that climate change fills us with. The lectures were interesting, engaging, and I learned stuff that I will remember for more than five minutes, which is more than I can say for a few of the other classes. We took a field trip to Ironbridge to learn about um, kind of how that whole town has the potential to slide into the river. To prevent that, we saw their multi million pound anti erosion project. They also have multiple seasonal flooding problems which were interesting to learn about and on top of these problems Ironbridge is a world heritage site and relies totally on tourism for its income, and is home to the worlds first iron bridge (as mentioned at Christmas) . They have good reason to prevent the town from sliding into the river. It was a very worthwhile outing and I was happy to see Ironbridge in the spring when it was...

The next day started off a little rainy, but it was out of its system by the time we reached Tintagel (pronounce that yanks!). This is the alleged site of King Arthurs conception and birth. And after the introduction video, the mystery and uncertainty of it was only worsened. The long and short of it was that even the experts aren't sure, but the potential brings tourists, so, go with it. But after my visit, I found that I didn't really care if King Arthur had been there or not, it was cool either way. And old! Settlement on the strange peninsula (at least some old pots found there) date back to Roman times. It was also apparently a kind of Celtic stronghold, and what historians know for sure is that Richard, the Earl of Cornwall built a castle there in 1233. That's still pretty old by my standards, and it falling to ruin since then only makes it look more legendary and mysterious. Plus a healthy dose of fog helps. I would have been happy to jog around clapping co...

I've discovered the New England of England. It's Cornwall. And I say this because after spending a few days here, like New England, I wondered why any English person would live anywhere else in the country. It is simply amazing. Now, I recognize that I may be influenced by perfect weather an a convertible '71 MG. But I think Cornwall would still be amazing without them. With some 400 miles of coastline, how could it go wrong? We started out with the unveiling of the MG, which, well into the day of riding around in it, I believed to be a joke. The epitome of coastline viewing transportation. We started by driving through Falmouth and Pendennis , which was only the beginning. We stopped at Gunwalloe where there is a cute little church and, well, beautiful coastline. I worry I'll be saying that too much in this post. We headed to the most southerly point in England, the Lizard peninsula . We didn't figure out why it was called Lizard, but who cares? It wa...

Pimp.

Yeah, I kind of forgot. And yeah, more plants.

Things are looking up. Can anyone ID this awesome flower?

I know, the project has peaked for this year, and the rest of the months pictures may be quite boring compared to the last four days. Such is life. Yeah, recycle bins in a basement don't come close to yesterdays pic. But it is an exciting development for my building! And the bike has some company.

St. Ives

St. Agnes head sunset.

Just a little post to say that I'm increasingly sure that Cornwall is the greatest county in England. I may be influenced at the moment by fantastic hosts and spending the day riding all over the coast in a classic MG convertable. Not to mention the unbelievable views. I mean, wow. Sign me up. Now I really know where to retire. Anyway, I kind of wanted to test this tiny iPod Internet and see if I could post to the old blog. So far, so good. Pictures will resume in Wednesday and I hope will be worth the wait.

A bit of the coolest pub in Cov. By far.

Yeah, it's a bridge. Ironbridge Gorge

Um...class week does not make for good photo taking opportunities. Until tomorrow.

During class week, what really matters.

13th centry building, found after the bombings in 1940

What part of the gym looks like today. Suddenly I'm really glad that all of my assessments are based on coursework.

Writing and going to the gym. See? I told you it was boring.

A man at work, or a man struggling with an umbrella?

St. Mary's Guildhall, Coventry

Glass recovered from the cathedral in 1940

Since I already had the tickets, I headed down to London on Monday. I kind of forgot, but Monday here was a bank holiday. Which meant two things to me. One, the museum I had hoped to visit that is free on Mondays, was not actually free, and even though I was right there, my frugality made me wait until I am there again on a non-holiday Monday. Secondly, it meant that tons of people were out and about. So, I just kind of wandered. I got some fancy cupcakes near Covent Garden, and gave their market a second chance. It being a holiday, there were far more interesting vendors, and I got myself a WWII British Army issue field dressing. Nerdy, I know. But awesome. I visited my old stand by, the National Gallery. Even with 5 million other people there, it was enjoyable as ever, and is always bigger than I remember it. I had a lovely walk back to the hostel through St. James park, fast becoming my favorite green space in London. On Tuesday, my plan was a little more clear and led m...

The Old Operating Theatre

Early attempts to make up for the lateness of this post. I owe you an explaination. It'll come. I'm tired.

Cheating already! So, this was last week, because today was boring, and all I did was write sentences and go to the gym, neither of which make good photo subjects. And it was cloudy. But the daffodils cheered me up. Don't worry, tomorrows picture will be better. I'm back to the big city. Although I won't be able to post it until the next day. This project is fraught with complication. Or laziness. Or cheapness. Something like that.

Welcome to the annual 'photo a day thing' for 2010. In the past two years, I've had fun with this project, and especially this year: it continues! Thinking a lot about my upcoming June, the project is probably better suited for that month this year, but hey, the blog says May, so May it is. I spent most of the day booking and re-booking for upcoming visits. I'm glaring menacingly at you, Iceland. This evening, I went to a really nice barbeque which allowed me to get my monthly requirement of shop talk out of the way. Ah, blood and gore from across the pond. As for the pic o' the day, some Coventrian rooftops.