"In your hands, the birth of a new day... " (Limahl)

30 October 2008

Demob happy


"Student Land" (Trad. cache)


"Cardiff Rivers #3: Bute Park"


Popped out of a series of dull meetings to pick up two caches in my old stomping ground of central Cardiff. A new multi-cache in Bute Park, and a micro cache in a residential area of Cathays. Good to see Cafe Mina still going strong in Cathays, likewise the carved animal in Bute Park (pics below).












Elgano


A nod in the direction of Elgano B&B, where I stayed the other night. Elgano (established by Elgan Davies, a Welsh speaker from Ceredigion) are already a well established catering business in Cardiff, and have now opened a very comfortable B&B in Cathedral Road in the capital.

Then there was one...


There used to be two long-haired ginger cats living next door. Unfortunately, one got run over, and this poor soul now has to fend for itself without its companion.

Birdsong radio

Last month, I brought a new digital radio. THIS station is proving to be a hit with me, especially at night. Birdsong radio must stay!

Aberystwyth 2050?


This was the dramatic scene at the football pitches at Blaendolau, Aberystwyth last weekend. It was bizarrely sci-fi, and gave an indication of how things would look if the Rheidol valley were flooded.

25 October 2008

Last match at Stradey Park


I celebrated the last match at Stradey Park by getting some Chinese food for the other Dr. T., from "Ming's Garden". While I was waiting, I went up to the hill above Stradey Park and took this photo of a momentous event.

22 October 2008

Swansea City 0-0 QPR

Popped down to the Liberty Stadium last night to watch Swansea v QPR. Although the score ended 0-0, it was one of the most eventful games I've seen in 26 years of attending football matches of different teams.

The game sparked into life midway through the first half, when a crunching challenge by QPR's Martin Rowlands knocked the Swansea keeper, Dorus De Vries, unconscious. The horrific thud of the impact was audiable even though I was sitting high up in the stands. Aparently he has been diagnosed with a broken jaw and will be out for a couple of months. I'm not a fan of dragging the police into on-the-field matters, but in my opinion. Martin Rowlands deliberately set out to injure the Swansea keeper and should be charged with assault.

Swansea had not started with a substitute goalkeeper, and so it was left to the stalwart defender, Alan Tate, to go between the sticks. As it turns out, Swans could have put a Subbuteo keeper in goal, as I don't recall QPR having a single shot on target for the rest of the game. Apparently Swansea had 25 shots all told, including a late shot off the outside of the post.

QPR had 6 players booked - and were extremely fortunate to end with 11 men (Rowlands should have gone, for starters). I was surprised at how negative and cynically QPR played - they failed to test Alan Tate's handling at all. Until yesterday I was a big fan of Ian Dowie and his "bouncebackability" attitude. But if that's how his sides play, I'm not so sure.

Dorus De Vries receives treatment on the field

















Sub "keeper" Alan Tate goes walkabout outside the penalty box.


18 October 2008

To the very endz

As an erstwhile human geographer, I had to blog this article and this set of maps which I read in the paper. I had already been thinking about this sort of stuff and how territoriality will affect my own child - but I hadn't realised quite how salient an issue territory really is.

Autumn in London


After 3 years without a trip to London, I was suddenly faced with two trips in the space of a fortnight.
In geocaching terms, 16 caches were found. Remarkably, this makes London the same dark blue colour as Powys and Gwynedd on my map of geocaching counties!
The Regents Park / Marylebone area proved to be a particularly good geocaching stronghold - along with 3 quick caches (2 virtuals) in the St Paul's area, including a trip up to the top of the Cathedral
Otherwise, my usual personal London rituals were observed. Covent Garden Market, Westminster, the London Underground and an interesting ride on the Docklands Light Railway.
Another significant lanmark was St. Pancras station, which used to be my point of arrival in London as a child, travelling from Leicester. It is now a sparkling terminus with a nice array of my favourite shops, and is likely to make it into my regular London haunts in future.

Picadilly Line iconography



Expect more tube iconography in the next few months...this one is a homage to my favourite spot of central London.

Paddington's footsteps!


Spotted on floor of Paddington station...

St. Pancras arch


Circle line architecture and iconography


Sir John Betjeman


The statue of Sir John Betjeman - which I think should be in a more prominent position.

Threesome



Interesting photo - two liveries of East Midlands Trains are on show here (the new livery iis the train in the middle). Skulking in the background is the Eurostar.

Platform 9 3/4


Went on a brief reccie to King's Cross to locate this hallowed spot for all Harry Potter fans. It may come in handy one day...

The blue wall of London


During my latest trip to London, I ventured out to Stratford in Zone 3 in order to grab a ride on the Docklands Light Railway. By doing so, I not only got an idea of the vast scale of the 2012 Olympic developments, I also caught a glimpse (I think!) of the 11-mile blue wall which surrounds the Olympic Park. I just about managed to capture it in a photo from a moving train, it can be seen if the photo is enlarged.
Some better photos can be found in this superb blog post about the wall. The I first read about the blue wall in this article last year. The article is not dissimilar to the themes in a book called London Orbital, which - purely through observation of the most banal spatial developments - says much about our times.

London scenes: "Feed the Birds"

Early each day to the steps of St. Paul's The little old bird woman comes,
In her own special way to the people she calls, "Come, buy my bags full of crumbs..."
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bagTuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag
Feed the birds," that's what she cries. While overhead, her birds fill the skies"
"All around the cathedral the saints and apostles Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can't see it, You know they are smiling Each time someone shows that he cares"
(Lyrics by P.L. Travers (Mary Poppins))

St. Paul's letter to the Groundspeakians

Traditional cache




"Last Delivery"



Virtual caches


"Golden Gallery Virtual Cache"




"TechnOLOGY"




"Palace of Westminster"


Prior to when I started geocaching, there was a type of cache called the "virtual". This consisted of a landmark (usually with a small information-gathering task to prove that you had visited the site) rather than a physical cache with a logbook. Around the end of 2005, Groundspeak (who organise geocaching) decided not to accept new virtual caches (but allowed existing virtuals to remain). This decision remains a topic of some discussion, as this thread on the Groundspeak forums demonstrates.
Pic 1: "Golden Gallery" virtual, which required proof of a visit to the top of St Paul's Cathedral.

On my recent visits to London, I have bagged 4 virtual caches. Each of these caches has been fun and even educational. It is my opinion that Virtual caches should be reinstated in major metropolitan areas. In recent months, many geocaches in London have been removed on the pretext of security threat. So long as virtuals are strictly regulated, the ability to "place" virtual caches at prominent tourist locations , would allow permanent caches at popular tourist destinations, without cachers having to take liberties with the authorities etc. I don't think the return of virtuals - as long as it is limited - would devalue the sport. The Golden Gallery cache at St. Paul's is a classic case in point.

Pic 2: "TechnOLOGY" virtual


This virtual cache was particularly interesting to me. In my previous life, I visited Lavernock Point ear Penarth, where Marconi sent wireless signals across the Bristol Channel, to Flatholm. In 2007, I visited Flat Holm and saw the Marconi monument on the island. So it was interesting seeing another Marconi monument in the middle of London, and making the links between the different locations. Only possible because of a virtual cache.



Here endeth the lesson of St. Paul's.











Miaow!


AFC Wimbledon's recent victory over Dover Athletic in the FA Cup means that the Wombles are in the 4th round qualifying of the FA Cup (v Maidstone United, away). Theoretically, therefore, we are just one match away from a potentially titanic clash - AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons. As someone who has witnessed the Old Firm derby in Glasgow, I can assure you that Celtic v Rangers will look like a game of subbuteo compared to the day when the Wombles eventually meet the Franchise. Tortoiseshell was reminded of this possibility whilst browsing the magazine stand at WH Smith, and stumbled across this essential reading for every MK Dons supporter... Miaow!!!

2 October 2008

Tortoiseshell in London: End of Part 1















Letterbox Hybrid Cache:

"London Letterbox and Travelbug Exchange"

Virtual cache:

"Paddington Dare"
Mystery cache:

"RSPB Stag night"
Traditional caches (x 9):

Criss Cross Bridge, Queen Vic's dad, Parliament View, Little and Large,
Famous in the 60s, Cara's College Cache, Rock and a Hard Place, Gordon Square Garden, Paddington Street Gardens.

This was possibly the last of the big cache hunts, hence the red ink to note the sobriety of the occasion. Several "itches" were succesfully scratched on this trip. Two specific caches - "Paddington Dare" (Virtual) and "London Letterbox and travelbug exchange" - had been on my hitlist for over a year, and these were duly knocked off the hitlist at long last. My 250th find occured at the last cache I visited, namely "Queen Vic's Dad" near Regent's Park tube. I also notched up my most Easterly Find to date: "Rock and a hard Place" near Chancery Lane in the legal heartland of the city. More generally, the experience of chasing geocaches by tube combined two of my great vices, geocaching and the Tube Challenge.







Oddly enough, for all that, geocaching in London didn't feel quite right. With the exception of the caches found in Regents Park, several caches were micros located in very conspicuous areas - I abandoned a couple of searches very quickly for fear of appearing suspiscious. I also spotted some rat-traps near some of the cache locations, constantly reminding me of one of my darkest fears....mwahahahahah.....
Nevertheless, this was a landmark caching trip, and one which could mark a bit of a geocaching watershed - and a more reflective, "bric-a-bracky" approach to the blog.

London scenes: 250th find!!!


Tortoiseshell's 250th find geocoin



I have Edward Augustus, father of Queen Victoria, to thank for my 250th find. A tiny nano cache was placed on a gate stanchion slightly left of Augustus' statue. I bagged it as I was heading back towards Paddington and home. Commemorative 250th geocoin has duly been shipped. Here endeth my geocoin fetish (until it's time to bag the 500th find)

London scenes: Houses of Parliament













1 October 2008

London scenes: Covent Garden Market


The Houses of Parliament is my favourite structure in London. However, I have come to regard Covent Garden market as my own "heart" of London, probably due to my roots as a busker. This is the place at which I take my "London" waypoint for my GPS.

London scenes: Paddington Bear @ Paddington Station


...an obligatory stop for any self-respecting father arriving in London from the west....

London scenes: Yo! Sushi bar @ Paddington


I wish I could have one of these Yo! Sushi conveyor belts at home...

London scenes: virtual cache @ Paddington station


London scenes: micro cache @ Post Office Tower


London scenes: Micro cache container in Regents Park



Off duty


Relaxing near Marloes, Pembs with a "Pembrokeshire Promise" honeycomb ice-cream