West Midlands
Today we drove out to Worcester (a bit south-east of Birmingham) to interview Paul, a 3rd-year music student who wrote a score for my video project. As part of the grade for the film archiving course, we have to put together a 20-30 minute piece incorporating archive film. My project is about the effect music has on silent films. Two different composers are writing a score to the same 5-minute film. As a part of the project, I am interviewing both of them about their approach to writing the score.
Anyway, Paul lives out in Worcester; about a 3.5 hour drive from Norwich. K and I made a bit of a road-trip out of it. She hasn't really been out of Norwich much since we got here, so she was happy to come along. But I also enlisted her as the interviewer as she's much better at that kind of thing than I am. It was almost like our days at CMN "back in '99/'00" (we did a few infommercials together).
The drive out there was nice, once we got out of the snow in East Anglia. Still haven't fixed my windshield sprayers, so we had to stop a couple of times to pour water on the windshield while the wipers were on. The spray from the salted roads plays havoc on visibility!
Over on the east side of England, spring has already sprung. The sun was shining, the trees blooming, and the daffodils unfurled. We couldn't believe it. Worcester is a nice little city, though it suffers from the same problem as most cities in England: sparse street-signage and house-numbering. Makes it very easy to get lost when you're looking for a specific address. I still think it's because when they took down the signs during WWII to fool the Germans, they never put them back up afterwards. After circling around for about 20 minutes, I parked at a supermarket and went inside to ask for directions. No one seemed to know where it was I was trying to go, so I was forced to use one of the ever-more-scummy pay-phones (which since the advent of the cell-phone have fallen more and more into disuse and disrepair). Paul came out to meet us and directed us to where to park.
The score he had written is fantastic! Really happy with it. He will undoubtedly go far if he gets exposed to the right people. The interview went well, though he was very nervous about being on camera. His girlfriend said he had been fretting about it all week. We did our best to make him feel comfortable. Afterwards, we took him and his girlfriend, Leela for a pint at a local pub. Had a nice chat.
It was about 15:30 when we started our return to Norwich. To make a little more of the trip, we decided to drive through "Shakespeare's" Stratford-on-Avon. Just as touristy as we thought it would be. We did not stop there. Instead we meandered up to Coventry (an armpit of a city) and nearly got lost in a dizzying network of over/underpasses and roundabouts. By this time we had gotten a feverish craving for an traditional English Sunday Roast so our goal was to find a suitable pub restaurant. Just outside of Coventry, we passed several enticing ones but we decided they were on the wrong side of the road and thusly not worth the trouble of a u-turn. Then lo-and-behold, around a corner and just ahead of us was a large gleaming white, red, and gold building called Toby Carvery. This was undoubtedly the reason why we ended up in Coventry. Ravenous, we pulled into their parking lot immediately.
What a feast! Choice of gammon steak (roast ham), roast turkey, or beef and then all the traditional "fixins" (Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, roast or mashed potatoes, savoy cabbage, "Swede", cooked carrots, gravy, cauliflower au gratin, etc. etc. etc.) you could fit on your plate for £7.99. You are allowed to go back for seconds on the side-dishes, but we were both about to explode after devouring our first round. If we didn't have to continue our long drive back to Norwich, we'd have taken a nap.
Made it back to Norwich by 19:45. Encountered a miniscule blizzard just south of the city, but strangely, there was no snow in Norwich.
Still full from dinner!
-RP-
Sunday, February 27
Friday, February 25
Monday, February 21
Buss in Brushels
I bet he doesn't even appreciate the beer or the chocolate... silly Texan...
"BRUSSELS - On Sunday United States President George W. Bush began a five-day European tour. He arrived at Melsbroek military airport outside Brussels at 9 pm, where he was welcomed by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. This morning the President and his wife were received by King Albert II and Queen Paola at the Royal Palace in Brussels. He then moved on to Verhofstadt's residence, where the two leaders were joined by Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A possible cooperation between the two countries with regard to Iraq, Iran and Congo was on the main agenda.
Later on today Bush will meet with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. He will also give a speech at the prestigious Concert Noble hall in Brussels. Excerpts of the speech have already been released to the press. The tone is conciliatory, with the President calling for the beginning of a new era of transatlantic unity. Bush is also expected to urge the European nations to give greater support to the new Iraqi government.
Finally, tonight Bush will host a private dinner with French President Jacques Chirac, one of the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq.
A huge security operation has been put in place for Bush's visit with 2,500 police and 250 U.S. Secret Service agents on duty in Brussels. On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators rallied at the Brussels Stock Exchange to make it clear that the President is not welcome. The Socialist parties of the ruling federal majority, the Flemish SP.A and the French-language PS, gave their support to an anti-Bush demonstration scheduled for this evening which will include around one hundred peace, environment and human rights organisations. A spokesman for Verhofstadt questioned the presence of government coalition parties in the rally." (Source:RVI)
(snipped from www.xpats.com)
I bet he doesn't even appreciate the beer or the chocolate... silly Texan...
"BRUSSELS - On Sunday United States President George W. Bush began a five-day European tour. He arrived at Melsbroek military airport outside Brussels at 9 pm, where he was welcomed by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. This morning the President and his wife were received by King Albert II and Queen Paola at the Royal Palace in Brussels. He then moved on to Verhofstadt's residence, where the two leaders were joined by Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A possible cooperation between the two countries with regard to Iraq, Iran and Congo was on the main agenda.
Later on today Bush will meet with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. He will also give a speech at the prestigious Concert Noble hall in Brussels. Excerpts of the speech have already been released to the press. The tone is conciliatory, with the President calling for the beginning of a new era of transatlantic unity. Bush is also expected to urge the European nations to give greater support to the new Iraqi government.
Finally, tonight Bush will host a private dinner with French President Jacques Chirac, one of the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq.
A huge security operation has been put in place for Bush's visit with 2,500 police and 250 U.S. Secret Service agents on duty in Brussels. On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators rallied at the Brussels Stock Exchange to make it clear that the President is not welcome. The Socialist parties of the ruling federal majority, the Flemish SP.A and the French-language PS, gave their support to an anti-Bush demonstration scheduled for this evening which will include around one hundred peace, environment and human rights organisations. A spokesman for Verhofstadt questioned the presence of government coalition parties in the rally." (Source:RVI)
(snipped from www.xpats.com)
Saturday, February 19
Mixed Bag
The weather has been very temperamental today. Started out raining, then a bit of snow, then some hail, then another flurry of snow, then hail, then sunshine. Later some more hail and just ten minutes ago, another short-lived flurry. I can see a pitiful sprinkling of snow on the sidewalk across the street, but it just looks like someone threw a handful of shredded paper on the ground.
All-in-all very noncommital. It'd be nice to get a decent layer of snow, enough so that you can hear the crunching when you walk. Maybe enough to throw a couple of snowballs.
-RP-
The weather has been very temperamental today. Started out raining, then a bit of snow, then some hail, then another flurry of snow, then hail, then sunshine. Later some more hail and just ten minutes ago, another short-lived flurry. I can see a pitiful sprinkling of snow on the sidewalk across the street, but it just looks like someone threw a handful of shredded paper on the ground.
All-in-all very noncommital. It'd be nice to get a decent layer of snow, enough so that you can hear the crunching when you walk. Maybe enough to throw a couple of snowballs.
-RP-
Thursday, February 17
The Moist British Landscape
The UK is a moist place. More moist than most places we've lived (with the exception of Florida, I suppose), our moldy bedroom situation is just one piece of evidence in this regard. We've never had a moldy bedroom before. It's a little bit unnerving. I usually wake up with slight congestion which disappears pretty much immediately after my morning shower.
Kristen has yet another cold. Probably the 4th or 5th since we've been here. It's most likely a sinus infection actually. One of the main causes of this is poor air quality. We're 99% sure that this has to do with the bedroom. I suppose all of these old "listed" historical buildings have problems like this. It's not good. We need to get the hell out of here. Kristen is not going to have any sinuses left soon!
But is it the mold? Or is it something else? She works directly with the public when she's at the theatre. A lot of sick people coming through there. Not only that, half of her coworkers always seem to be sick. Are there just more sick people in the UK than other places we've lived? It wasn't like this in most of the other places we've lived. So what is it? Is it the moisture? It can't just be that. So what is it about this island that promotes sickness?
The UK is a moist place. More moist than most places we've lived (with the exception of Florida, I suppose), our moldy bedroom situation is just one piece of evidence in this regard. We've never had a moldy bedroom before. It's a little bit unnerving. I usually wake up with slight congestion which disappears pretty much immediately after my morning shower.
Kristen has yet another cold. Probably the 4th or 5th since we've been here. It's most likely a sinus infection actually. One of the main causes of this is poor air quality. We're 99% sure that this has to do with the bedroom. I suppose all of these old "listed" historical buildings have problems like this. It's not good. We need to get the hell out of here. Kristen is not going to have any sinuses left soon!
But is it the mold? Or is it something else? She works directly with the public when she's at the theatre. A lot of sick people coming through there. Not only that, half of her coworkers always seem to be sick. Are there just more sick people in the UK than other places we've lived? It wasn't like this in most of the other places we've lived. So what is it? Is it the moisture? It can't just be that. So what is it about this island that promotes sickness?
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