Tony and Philippa's Golden Wedding

Congratulations and mazel tov to Tony and Philippa on the occasion of their Golden Wedding anniversary. Anna and I were honoured to take part, and to represent the NZ charter of Travises. We enjoyed meeting many of the extended again, and some for the first time. I now have a 40 page genealogy chart from Sandy to wrap my head around.

Tony and Dr Marko Koscak, Slovenia:



Birmingham synagogue:

Inside the sukkah - Tony and Philippa:

Sandy with Theo's son, Sam:

Me and Sandy:

Tony, Philippa, Anna and myself:

Tony and his family:

Theo and Sam, with Abby's sons Stuart and Edward:

We sat with Philip and Pamela Glynn, Adam and Elishka Sapera, and Beryl and Cherry Travis. This is Cherry:

Theo treating us to some of his famous tenor sax:

Cherry, Abigail and myself:

Sam running off with some balloons:

Sandy working on his flower arrangements:

The whole extended family!

Birmingham

To be honest, we didn't really manage to do a whole lot in Birmingham on this trip. We both needed to buy some nice clothes for the Tony and Philippa's Golden Wedding celebration, so we spent the first few hours shopping. Having said that, Birmingham is wonderfully pedestrianised city, and shopping seems to be a big focus for the locals. There are a number of extremely large, and impressively designed, malls that either connect or are otherwise very close to each other.

It took a while for each of us to find what we were after - pants for me, and a new top for Anna. We also found a threading display, and stopped to try it out. It's kind of fun!

Panorama of the Selfridges building, St. Martin's Church and the "Bullring" shopping complex:

We watched an interesting parkour demonstration outside the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, though it turns out they were just advertising a cellphone or something...

Another Antony Gormley statue:

Birmingham has an extensive and rather pretty canal network, which they've since taken the time to integrate into the pedestrianism of the city - to great effect.

War memorial:

Chamberlain Square:

After exploring the city on foot, we retired pretty early to our hotel room to watch another World Cup game. We intend to come back and check out the Pre Raphaelite collection at the Art Gallery...

Susanna Clarke and Neil Gaiman in conversation (Bloomsbury Theatre) 25/09/07

There is always so much happening in London, that I often find myself discovering that I've just missed a concert by a favourite band or the like. Well on the way back from Edinburgh, I was reading a free newspaper where I spotted an ad for this event.


In case you don't know, Susanna Clarke is the author of the superlatively wonderful Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The novel is set in an alternative 19th C Britain, during a revival of English magic during the Napoleonic Wars. It is a work of what is now popularly called 'magical realism', and it has an incredible level of detail married to a period-style vocabulary.

Neil Gaiman is a very famous comic book writer, best known for his Sandman series. He is also a novelist and all-round prolific author.

Anyway, the interplay between the two was lovely. It was effectively a promo junket for Susanna's new book, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, from which she did some reading. A really great event, the magic of which not even the false fire alarm and attendant hour long wait in the London cold could dispel.

Edinburgh - Day 3

Time to bid farewell to the Scots, but not without a quick morning trip to Edinburgh Castle! This is an ancient fortress looming over Edinburgh. It stands upon the basalt plug of an extinct volcano, 120m above sea level. Other than the East side entry, the castle is surrounded by sheer 80m cliffs.

Human habitation of the site dates as far back as the 9th C, though the castle's structures are mostly from the 16th C. It is one of the few ancient fortresses that still has a military garrison, albeit for ceremonial purposes, and is the official headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and 52 Infantry Brigade, as well as home to the regimental museum of the Royal Scots and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

There's a great view from the ramparts:

The One O'Clock Gun is fired every day (except Sunday) at precisely 13:00, allowing citizens to check their clocks. Originally to provide sailing ships in the Firth of Forth with a reliable means to check their marine chronometers, the ceremony has become a popular tourist attraction. We crowded around the rain to watch it go off - and you can certainly both hear and feel it.

Gardening of the cliffsides.

The oldest building in Edinburgh is the small St. Margaret's Chapel, from the 12th C. King David I built it as a private chapel for the royal family and dedicated it to his mother, Margaret, who died in the castle in 1093.

This is Connor freezing his nipples off in Crown Square, while we queued to visit the Honours of Scotland. The crown dates from 1540, and is made of Scottish gold set with 94 pearls, 10 diamonds and 33 other precious gemstones. The most treasured possession of Scotland is also located here - the Stone of Destiny (or the Stone of Scone), upon which the monarchs of Scotland are traditionally crowned. It is on permanent loan from Westminster Abbey (except when needed for a coronation). By the time we got in, Connor's nipple was the size of the large Rock Crystal that adorns the top of the sceptre.

I will miss the lovely Scottish food. I never did get to try the battered hamburger patties, frankfurters etc.

Edinburgh - Day 2

We decided to visit the recommended attraction of the Royal Yacht Britannia. It was a little out of the city centre, so we caught a tourist bus that told us interesting things on the way. We drove past Robert Louis Stevenson's birthplace and the Royal Botanic Garden with their impressive domed glasshouses. We could also see Fettes College where James Bond was educated.

Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia was the 83rd Royal Yacht since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. She was commissioned in 1954 and retired in 1997, and is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship. The interior is very impressive, and it was nice that Queen Elizabeth II had shown some taste in scaling back on the overblown decorations that normally accompany any royal space. It was also curiously dated. That is, not old enough to look antique, but old enough to look out place. Witness in particular this officer's room, with its old Pentium computer and tape-deck stereo.

View from on deck:

So they couldn't resist some obscenely baroque flourishes, such as this fancy-pants compass holder:

The dining room had interesting displays gifted to the royals from its various destinations, such as a narwhal tusk, and this mere from New Zealand:

The spotless engine room. Visting US General Norman Schwarzkopf famously commented: "Well, I've now seen the museum pieces. Where are the real engines?"

I have to say, as interesting as all this was, it just stoked my anger over the concept of monarchy. Quite apart from the ridiculous ceremonial aspects we learned about (such as on board staff having to wear a different uniform for each function they performed, requiring up to 8 changes of clothing in one day), the fact that this amount of money was spent by people that didn't earn it, but were born to it thanks to an out-dated and undemocratic system, really made me chafe.

Anyway, came back to our room for a wee rest before heading out with the assembled hordes to catch the game that we were there for. Here are some of the 60,000+ assembled hordes:

Anna and Terry, just before we parted ways. (We had managed to pick up an extra ticket for Terry, but alas, not seated with us. I think it was better seat though!)

We had a pretty good vanatge point, as you can see:

We've all "got our black on" for All Black fever!

Sadly our boys weren't allow to wear their traditional black uniforms, as this would apparently be confusingly similar to the Scots' all blue. Except the fact that both teams had little strips on them was actually more confusing! Anyway, we're in the grey...

After celebrating our successful game with a few pints, Anna and I did a ghost tour with my old school chum Richard Cotman. From the tour page:

By day Edinburgh is a bustling metropolis – but at night the old buildings and narrow closes take on a more sinister air…A long history of murder, torture, hangings and plague has left a haunting legacy on the city's Old Town and ghostly apparitions now walk its streets.

Enter the underground vaults whose walls, it is said, have absorbed the memories of those who once lived and worked there. This part of the tour is not for the faint-hearted. Cling tightly to the person beside you: we try to leave with the same number as we had on going in!

Choose the extended tour and end your experience with a complimentary drink in the atmospheric Megget’s Cellar, a candlelit nook located above the Underground Vaults, where the guide will continue to entertain you with eerie tales from Edinburgh’s past.

Richard posing with a serial killer's death mask. Creepy!

Trying Scotland's other culinary accomplishment, the deep-fried pizza. This is also very nice, as the frying makes the pizza crust nice and crispy and somewhat salty-tasting. Mmm!