Fortunately, I know why, and I know how to fix it.
In the meantime, here is a photo of an American Mastodon skull. (It is HUGE).
(photo taken in Dorchester's Dinosaur Museum)
Showing posts with label adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventures. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Oops
I changed some things here and my photos vanished.
Fortunately, I know why, and I know how to fix it.
In the meantime, here is a photo of an American Mastodon skull. (It is HUGE).
Fortunately, I know why, and I know how to fix it.
In the meantime, here is a photo of an American Mastodon skull. (It is HUGE).
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Resolutions
Mostly at the moment I resolve to be warmer. Fortunately I have leg warmers, thermal socks, long-sleeved t-shirts and the fluffiest dressing-gown in existence (which sadly I cannot wear to work).
I make resolutions all the time - after all, an over-optimistic assessment of my capacity for self-improvement, competence and maturity is for life, not just for January. Obviously, as always, I resolve to eat better, drink less, read more, panic less and generally behave more like my aspired-to self, but this year there is also a more measurable target.
Despite the non-completion of last year's task (of which more later) I have high hopes for this one, which started by accident.
I like castles - ideally semi-ruined ones, the kind with no roof, some walls you can clamber over and others with a fireplace 30ft up, but with at least one spriral staircase leading to the top of a crenellated tower. I like exploring them with a map and perhaps the odd artist's impression on a plastic-covered stand. I'm not that keen on audio guides.
I like working out which bits were built when, trying to remember names of architectural features and reading about seiges, battles and Victorian romanticisation. Most of all (when no-one's looking) I like to have fake sword fights in an Errol Flynn sort of a way.
Anyway, in a closing-down sale we bought a book called "Walking the Castles of Sussex". Perfect, we thought: walks, castles, marvellous. When we got home we realised that it is in fact one long 181 mile walk, broken into sections. This is no longer merely a book of walks taking in 20 castles. It is a challenge.
Completing these walks (within the year, not a weekend or anything crazy like that) will tick off several sub-resolutions in one go:
1. Visit more castles
2. Go on walks in the country
3. Spend time with people (at least some people with cars preferably, as the walks are linear)
4. Complete a list-based task
0 walks done
15 to go
To be continued.......
I make resolutions all the time - after all, an over-optimistic assessment of my capacity for self-improvement, competence and maturity is for life, not just for January. Obviously, as always, I resolve to eat better, drink less, read more, panic less and generally behave more like my aspired-to self, but this year there is also a more measurable target.
Despite the non-completion of last year's task (of which more later) I have high hopes for this one, which started by accident.
I like castles - ideally semi-ruined ones, the kind with no roof, some walls you can clamber over and others with a fireplace 30ft up, but with at least one spriral staircase leading to the top of a crenellated tower. I like exploring them with a map and perhaps the odd artist's impression on a plastic-covered stand. I'm not that keen on audio guides.
I like working out which bits were built when, trying to remember names of architectural features and reading about seiges, battles and Victorian romanticisation. Most of all (when no-one's looking) I like to have fake sword fights in an Errol Flynn sort of a way.
Anyway, in a closing-down sale we bought a book called "Walking the Castles of Sussex". Perfect, we thought: walks, castles, marvellous. When we got home we realised that it is in fact one long 181 mile walk, broken into sections. This is no longer merely a book of walks taking in 20 castles. It is a challenge.
Completing these walks (within the year, not a weekend or anything crazy like that) will tick off several sub-resolutions in one go:
1. Visit more castles
2. Go on walks in the country
3. Spend time with people (at least some people with cars preferably, as the walks are linear)
4. Complete a list-based task
0 walks done
15 to go
To be continued.......
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
The Mystery of the Secret Coffee Shop
We went to The Island two weekends ago and last weekend we went to The Forest. Possible suggestions for next weekend's expedition so far include:
1. The Mountain
2. The Castle
A good test I think is whether it can be incorporated into an Enid Blyton style title with the addition of an appropriate adjective, as in "Adventures on the [spooky/old/haunted/mysterious/secret/enchanted/strange] Island" or "Four go to the [as above] Forest".
Sussex isn't known for its mountains, though, and although I could go to a castle, spooky, old, haunted, mysterious, secret, enchanted, strange or otherwise, I suspect that this weekend will be slightly less adventurous. "Adventures in the Mysterious Laundrette" and "Two go to the Enchanted Supermarket" are probably more like it.
How is your weekend looking?
1. The Mountain
2. The Castle
A good test I think is whether it can be incorporated into an Enid Blyton style title with the addition of an appropriate adjective, as in "Adventures on the [spooky/old/haunted/mysterious/secret/enchanted/strange] Island" or "Four go to the [as above] Forest".
Sussex isn't known for its mountains, though, and although I could go to a castle, spooky, old, haunted, mysterious, secret, enchanted, strange or otherwise, I suspect that this weekend will be slightly less adventurous. "Adventures in the Mysterious Laundrette" and "Two go to the Enchanted Supermarket" are probably more like it.
How is your weekend looking?
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