2005 is getting ever nearer. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, so I'm giving the town's pubs a miss and trying to get into the spirit of things at home. As I've done in the past, I've used to the net to tune into radio stations around the world as New Year arrives in the various timezones. No great celebrations hear from Kyrgyzstan, Reunion or Russia's radio stations, although a couple of Russian stations played the Kremlin Chimes and the full national anthem, although I think this is fairly standard practice.
Coming up next in GMT+2 countries are central African states, Israel, Finland, the Baltic states and Cyprus.
20041231
New look Channel 4
Judging from today's redesigned Channel 4 news and the new station idents that followed it, Channel 4 is heading back to the segmented "4" so familiar to us during the 80s and much of the 90s. They have of course given it a 21st century spin, but some of idents are clear replicas of those from years ago, when the various fragments would come together to form the "4". My favourite variation was shown prior to Channel 4's then NFL coverage, which was an American football helmet on top of the channel 4 logo...
The best bit of course was when the helmet snorts blasts of air into the (supposedly) cold morning air.
Fair Isle, Viking, Forties
I was surprised to see a book today in Waterstones that shares the name of this blog. Apparently it's all about the shipping forecast, as is this blog of course :)
20041229
Following events around the Indian Ocean
Living in something of a communications black hole in the rural North of England, I've been in search of more in-depth coverage of the Indian Ocean disaster than the reduced-length Christmastime TV news programmes have allowed. The BBC World Service has been the best source I've come across so far, with extensive coverage, interviews, discussion and analysis offered on a regularly basis. The World Service also takes a wider interest in events, beyond the national focus generally pursued by domestic media outlets, and is really worth a listen. Tune in on DAB, digital TV, MW 648 in North West Europe or Worldwide on Shortwave and satellite.
I'm surprised that there are not more missing Britons in the area. The BBC say there are "dozens" still missing in Thailand, but if correct, it's a great deal less than the many, many hundreds of missing from Sweden, German, Switerland and elsewhere. However our focus must be now on the millions living in the region affected without homes and basic amenities. With this in mind, an appeal website has been set up by the Disasters Emergency Committee which is something of an umbrella organisation for a number of charities. Alternatively it is possible to donate to a specific charity such the British Red Cross (link below) or Oxfam.
I'm surprised that there are not more missing Britons in the area. The BBC say there are "dozens" still missing in Thailand, but if correct, it's a great deal less than the many, many hundreds of missing from Sweden, German, Switerland and elsewhere. However our focus must be now on the millions living in the region affected without homes and basic amenities. With this in mind, an appeal website has been set up by the Disasters Emergency Committee which is something of an umbrella organisation for a number of charities. Alternatively it is possible to donate to a specific charity such the British Red Cross (link below) or Oxfam.
20041228
Illness and Earthquakes
Sorry about the lack of updates over the past few days; I've been laid low with a nasty bug and am only just and so getting over it now. Not the making of the best Christmas ever, but at least it helped limit my food intake. I did promise some White Christmas photos, so here's one taken in the Lake District on Boxing day. Oddly, there was actually more snow on the low-lying areas around here than in the lakes. I'll add some local wintry shots when I get the chance. The snow lasted fairly well for this country - only yesterday's rain saw off the last of it.
I think it's fair to say that the festive spirit was given a considerable dampener by the devastation caused around the Indian Ocean by Sunday morning's massive earthquake and resultant tsunamis. The death toll, number of injuries and amount of damaged caused it already astronomical and is certainly set to rise. I was shocked this evening to read that 1,500 Swedish tourists are currently missing in Thailand.
I'm not entirely sure what to do as regards helping the relief effort. Normally after such events you see these appeals on TV with a number to call, but in this case there's nothing so clear, and with revelations always being published about how little money given to charities actually reaches the intended party, i.e. those in need, it's not exactly encouraging to make the effort.
The British Red Cross strikes me as as good a start as any though, and they've already got systems set up for donating on-line and through other means. They're encouraging people to give "just one hour", i.e. one hour's salary, preferably each month or as a one off payment. I'm rather leaning towards giving a one off payment for now, but giving rather more than just an hour's salary.
I think it's fair to say that the festive spirit was given a considerable dampener by the devastation caused around the Indian Ocean by Sunday morning's massive earthquake and resultant tsunamis. The death toll, number of injuries and amount of damaged caused it already astronomical and is certainly set to rise. I was shocked this evening to read that 1,500 Swedish tourists are currently missing in Thailand.
I'm not entirely sure what to do as regards helping the relief effort. Normally after such events you see these appeals on TV with a number to call, but in this case there's nothing so clear, and with revelations always being published about how little money given to charities actually reaches the intended party, i.e. those in need, it's not exactly encouraging to make the effort.
The British Red Cross strikes me as as good a start as any though, and they've already got systems set up for donating on-line and through other means. They're encouraging people to give "just one hour", i.e. one hour's salary, preferably each month or as a one off payment. I'm rather leaning towards giving a one off payment for now, but giving rather more than just an hour's salary.
20041225
White Christmas!
That rarest of event has occured: a White Christmas! Maybe not on the Met Office roof, but here in the North West of England there's snow a plenty on the hills and underfoot. Photos to follow!
Bed time
Another fine Christmas Eve comes to an end.
Norad shows Santa as having reached Brazil.
Still no White Christmas yet...but who knows what might transpire between now and Christmas morning.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and goodnight!
Norad shows Santa as having reached Brazil.
Still no White Christmas yet...but who knows what might transpire between now and Christmas morning.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and goodnight!
20041224
The sleigh's progress...
...currently passing over the Himalayas
No sign of snow yet. The bookies might get to keep their money. They'd lose £1 million if it was officially a white christmas, but then that's based on a snowflake landing on the Met Office roof in London, so don't hold you breath on that one. However surely a White Christmas for most people is if you get snow lying where-ever you may be, so keep your fingers crossed, unless you're needing to travel across country tomorrow...
No sign of snow yet. The bookies might get to keep their money. They'd lose £1 million if it was officially a white christmas, but then that's based on a snowflake landing on the Met Office roof in London, so don't hold you breath on that one. However surely a White Christmas for most people is if you get snow lying where-ever you may be, so keep your fingers crossed, unless you're needing to travel across country tomorrow...
The new scourge of long-distance journeys
Just when we thought long train rides wouldn't get any more noisy and disturbed than crap mobile ring-tones playing at top volume and mis-behaving children ignored by their scumbag parents, we have a new crowned monarch of irritation on public-transport. It is the portable-DVD player. I had seen this coming, with laptops on earlier journeys I've taken being used to play DVDs, but now the affordability of portable-DVDs allows the same scumbag parents with their loud mobiles and screaming kids to ensure not a moment's peace is had by anyone around them, by playing a DVD throughout the journey....through the speakers. You see, playing a DVD wouldn't cause much if any disturbance when used with the headphones as they are intended, but to play the film's audio loudly, through the speaker, on confined public transport...
T'is grumpy old men season again!
T'is grumpy old men season again!
White Christmas?
Well it's officially a torrential downpour so far here at home in North West England. Will it turn into a white one? Stay tuned for updates.
Father Christmas/Santa/Tomte/Der Weihnachtsmann is on his way
Visit the Norad Santa website to track his progress. Currently he's visited New Zealand and is making his way over the Pacific.
20041220
French blog
I came across an interesting French blog over the weekend. I don't recall how exactly, but then that's how the internet should work: links to links to links and before you know it you've come across something new, interesting and quite possible completely unrelated to the original site you were looking at.
Now I'm the first to admit that my French is rusty; the last French I spoke in any amount was during my GCSEs, taken 10 years ago next summer. Fortunately French is one of those languages where enough of the words are similar to English that you can get a pretty decent idea of what's being said, although I'll have to add something to my Christmas list: "Father Christmas, je voudrais un dictionnaire français. Merci".
Anyway, the blog in question is 'Heures Creuses', which if Babelfish is to be believe translates as 'Off-peak hours', which sounds as if it could make a good title for a shift worker's blog, or as an off-shoot of the London Underground blog.
You may be wondering what the blog's about. Well my rusty French doesn't allow for such a comprehensive analysis, but there's certainly a media theme running through it, and it's content heavy with various sections and photo galleries, which is a big plus in my book.
All I need to do now is learn some French and I'm away!
Now I'm the first to admit that my French is rusty; the last French I spoke in any amount was during my GCSEs, taken 10 years ago next summer. Fortunately French is one of those languages where enough of the words are similar to English that you can get a pretty decent idea of what's being said, although I'll have to add something to my Christmas list: "Father Christmas, je voudrais un dictionnaire français. Merci".
Anyway, the blog in question is 'Heures Creuses', which if Babelfish is to be believe translates as 'Off-peak hours', which sounds as if it could make a good title for a shift worker's blog, or as an off-shoot of the London Underground blog.
You may be wondering what the blog's about. Well my rusty French doesn't allow for such a comprehensive analysis, but there's certainly a media theme running through it, and it's content heavy with various sections and photo galleries, which is a big plus in my book.
All I need to do now is learn some French and I'm away!
20041219
Electiontime....hopefully not just yet
A leaflet from the local Conservative Party candidate arrived the other week, which set me off wondering if this is the first, albeit unofficial, sign of the election campaign ahead. Fortunately it's not been followed up by bumpf from any other party, so hopefully it was just an early attempt to put the party in play in the local area. I must admit I don't know who the local MP, although I believe he/she/it is Labour, which is surprising as I would imagine this area would normally be pretty blue on the political map, and I believe it was until quite recently.
The leaflet that arrived was hardly a representation of 21st century Conservative Party ideology and thinking. Rather it was a moan about how terrible the District Line is. I don't personally have a problem with the old green line, and of all the weeks it's taken me to my evening class I've never been late. That's not to say it's never had to stop along the way, but it's yet to seriously inconvenience me. I don't generally take the District line that much though, as I prefer the addition impression of speed that the mainline trains have. If anything the line into Waterloo stops and starts as much as anything, especially on weekends.
However on the whole I'm a bit disappointed that a more substantial topic wasn't chosen to take on the government. Perhaps the District line is worse than I think, or maybe everything is generally rosey and the Tories are pushed for cause to complain, yet I think the absence of ideology in modern politics plays no small part. The parties seem to all too often bicker in an attempt to point-score as there is otherwise an absence of a broader idea. Perhaps we are better without the big ideologies of old. Let's face it, it doesn't often seem to have done the world as a whole a lot of good, but now with moving to the other extreme of reactionary and uncoordinated spur-of-the-moment ideas, there seems to be a general lack of direction. Having some dreams can't be bad, can it?
The leaflet that arrived was hardly a representation of 21st century Conservative Party ideology and thinking. Rather it was a moan about how terrible the District Line is. I don't personally have a problem with the old green line, and of all the weeks it's taken me to my evening class I've never been late. That's not to say it's never had to stop along the way, but it's yet to seriously inconvenience me. I don't generally take the District line that much though, as I prefer the addition impression of speed that the mainline trains have. If anything the line into Waterloo stops and starts as much as anything, especially on weekends.
However on the whole I'm a bit disappointed that a more substantial topic wasn't chosen to take on the government. Perhaps the District line is worse than I think, or maybe everything is generally rosey and the Tories are pushed for cause to complain, yet I think the absence of ideology in modern politics plays no small part. The parties seem to all too often bicker in an attempt to point-score as there is otherwise an absence of a broader idea. Perhaps we are better without the big ideologies of old. Let's face it, it doesn't often seem to have done the world as a whole a lot of good, but now with moving to the other extreme of reactionary and uncoordinated spur-of-the-moment ideas, there seems to be a general lack of direction. Having some dreams can't be bad, can it?
Sun is shining, weather is cool
Despite the best predictions of BBC Weather Online (which has a firm reputation nationwide for being wildly innaccurate even for same day forcasts) that cloud and drizzle was the best to expect today we were (finally) treated to a full winter's day of sunshine and blue skies. Fantastic! I fortunately woke up fairly early so set off for a day with the camera. It was I'm about to download the results and am expecting better things than yesterday! It's been cold though: a proper winter's day, and a stiff breeze by the Thames. I was about nithered! (Not that any Londoner would know what that meant if I told them.)
20041218
Busiest shopping day
Despite warnings that today is the busiest shopping day of the year, I nevertheless headed into central London to finishing off my Christmas buying. The key I've found is to get to the shops early; it's amazing how quiet the city's main shopping areas can be shortly after opening time. I don't even mean that early; I arrived a little before 10am, and I got around without and hustle, bustle or hassle.
I even headed back into the city later in the day as part of my obligatory weekly attempt to do some photography. "Attempt" has been the word of late with the weather being so uniformly great and uninspiring. There was actually some sunshine this morning, but typically when I head out with the camera it's back to overcase skies once more. Although I'm getting to grips with the D70, I still haven't worked out a definite checklist to ensure all settings are correct before setting off. Today it was only on getting back and downloading the photos did I notice rather a lot of noise and on checking found that the ISO was set to 640. I must have been playing with it during the week to see how much it affected exposure. Hey-ho, at least I didn't mess up any groundbreaking photography. The weather largely put pay to that, but I got around and found some diverse views of the city. Being urban as they are I may well try making them negative and using the grain to my advantage in adding effect to the images.
I even headed back into the city later in the day as part of my obligatory weekly attempt to do some photography. "Attempt" has been the word of late with the weather being so uniformly great and uninspiring. There was actually some sunshine this morning, but typically when I head out with the camera it's back to overcase skies once more. Although I'm getting to grips with the D70, I still haven't worked out a definite checklist to ensure all settings are correct before setting off. Today it was only on getting back and downloading the photos did I notice rather a lot of noise and on checking found that the ISO was set to 640. I must have been playing with it during the week to see how much it affected exposure. Hey-ho, at least I didn't mess up any groundbreaking photography. The weather largely put pay to that, but I got around and found some diverse views of the city. Being urban as they are I may well try making them negative and using the grain to my advantage in adding effect to the images.
20041214
News on the website
Well it's official, the website will be moving from it's current home at www.eurobahn.co.uk to it's new permanent home at www.danielatkinson.co.uk. In fact it's moved already, but the site at eurobahn will remain live for a little while longer before it becomes just a forwarding address to the main site. If you've currently got any pages in your browser favourites or linked to on your own website you'll need to update them.
The change in URL reflects a shift in the site from the travel section to being a more general personal site, with a ever growing photography section.
Some things are winding down a bit for Christmas, but both at work and on the streets people are getting wound up with the approach of the festive season, and the pressure to get those pressies bought. Updates to the site will be made when possible. I've a good few photos taken during December to go on the gallery, in spite of the overcast weather that has hung over us for so long.
Hopefully there'll be a good few more sunny winter days to come!
The change in URL reflects a shift in the site from the travel section to being a more general personal site, with a ever growing photography section.
Some things are winding down a bit for Christmas, but both at work and on the streets people are getting wound up with the approach of the festive season, and the pressure to get those pressies bought. Updates to the site will be made when possible. I've a good few photos taken during December to go on the gallery, in spite of the overcast weather that has hung over us for so long.
Hopefully there'll be a good few more sunny winter days to come!
20041212
Winter Sun
After what is feels like weeks of grey weather, a mixture of overcast skies and fog, today finally saw some sun and with it an opportunity to get outside for some photography. Otherwise it's been a very normal week or so. The highstreets are bustling with Christmas just 2 weeks away. It'll be nice to get away from it all for a few days.
Website news: Links to the website will soon have to be updated as the main domain name will be changing. More on that soon.
Website news: Links to the website will soon have to be updated as the main domain name will be changing. More on that soon.
20041201
Dying days of autumn
Well December is here, and the real countdown to Christmas begins in ernest. Leaves remaining on the trees are few in number, and I wonder if the leaf-blower train that has been knocking around the local station in recent weeks is finding much left to do.
I'm still hoping to get a few days out later this week to snap what remains of the autumn colours. The generally grey, albeit dry, weather that we've been encountering for most of November hasn't been helpful for photography, but if the forecast is right, and it seldom seems to be, the weekend is looking bright in prospect.
This is also the time of year when almost everyone does some shopping, even those who normally avoid going to the shops, such as myself, who aside from the weekly food shop and visits to a few select places are generally uninspired by the high-street offerings. All across Christendom, or should that be commercedom, the big rush is on to buy buy buy!
I'm still hoping to get a few days out later this week to snap what remains of the autumn colours. The generally grey, albeit dry, weather that we've been encountering for most of November hasn't been helpful for photography, but if the forecast is right, and it seldom seems to be, the weekend is looking bright in prospect.
This is also the time of year when almost everyone does some shopping, even those who normally avoid going to the shops, such as myself, who aside from the weekly food shop and visits to a few select places are generally uninspired by the high-street offerings. All across Christendom, or should that be commercedom, the big rush is on to buy buy buy!
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