European travels, pt. 1 England (wot wot) continued

allo allo there then! I've managed to procure a computer for a short while, so I'll send on the next update. Today's topics: English roads and English foods.

First, the roads. My God, what an adventure. How to describe them... imagine you've got a wet spaghetti noodle. no. thinner. angel hair pasta.yeah, that's it. Now, take that freshly cooked noodle, and let it drop onto the counter. see how that narrow little noodle has all those twists and turns? that's an english road. take that narrow road, and put stone walls on either side. and I mean, right on the side. no sidewalk, no curb, just road, then wall. throw in a dash of 60 miles an hour, and you've got yourself a driving experience!

there is actually a perfectly good explanation behind the shape of the roads--they were first laid out between those stone walls which serve as boundaries between farmlands, and were designed for horses and carts, not cars. and said farmlands do not fit into a nice little grid, which thus explains why the twists and turns are as they are.

I can't complain about all of it. very little of the driving is done on these wee roads, if it can be helped. The motorways are lovely modern roads with speed limits set at 70 miles an hour ( =120 km / hr), so you tend to get places fast. AND, despite speed cameras placed here and there to slow you down, there seems to be a complete lack of police highway patrols. So really, there's nothing to stop one from going 90-100 miles / hr(=135-150 km / hr), slowing down of course at the well marked speed camera locations. uhhh, not that we would EVER drive as such excess...

okay, FOOD. :0)
If my cardiologist read this, he'd have a heart attack (pun intended). Okay, I don't have a cardiologist.But I had to get that delicious food-related pun in there (pun not intended, in retrospect, but approved of none the less). But I do have a gastroentrologist, and he'd have a right shitfit (again, pun intended) if he saw what I've been eating. Largely, the English don't believe in eating something if it's not fried or deep fried, so it seems, and vegetables aren't high priority in any case. So, breakfast is bacon, and sausage,and eggs, and fried bread, and fried mushrooms and tomatoes. It's heaven. throw in the occasional cornish pasty (pronounced pass-tee)--a tasty steak and potato concotion wrapped in breading, add a pint of beer, cornish clotted cream, and ice cream, and I'm on the fast track to a serious belly.

As soon as I get home, I'm hitting the gym.

as for where we've been in the last week, we spent a few days in cornwall at my aunt's house visiting there, then is was on to the Welsh coast in the seaside town of Porthcawl. It was a picture perfect spot, and we did some day trips from there. Of none of the above, words can't describe some of the amazing scenes, so the photos will have to wait for my return home. amazing country all around.

As of yesterday, we left Wales, drove to Oxford to drop some bags (we'll be back by week's end), then travelled up to Stratford-on-Avon for the night. If the name rings a bell, it's the hometown of mr. Shakespeare... and since we were in his neck in the woods, we felt it was appropriate to take in a performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare theatre before retiring to our picture-perfect 16th century bed and breakfast in Wilmcote, the hometown of Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother. Life is so trying. sigh. :0)

I awoke this morning to another of those gigantic greasefests which was formentioned, then Kate and I booted it back to Colchester to return our car rental which was due back today, and we're now in London staying with our friend Alexandra for the night, before heading back to Oxford tomorrow.

hopefully I'll check back in after the Oxford experience. Pip pip, Cheerio and all that, eh wot?

European travels, pt. one: England (wot wot)

3:30 PM--Left Vancouver on May 24th bound for London Gatwick airport. Flight was comfortable as we had booked more legroom before we left. As it turned out, more leg room came with more perks, too. We got premium-class treatment, which included choice of meals, free drinks the whole flight, and one of those nice warm towelettes at the end of the trip.

11 AM, next day--arrived in england,used the trains to get out to colchester where my sister lives. spend most of rest of day fighting to stay awake (didn't sleep on the plane... too many movies to watch!)

10:30 pm. Crash. sleep like a little 6'7" baby.

okay, enough of the timeline. you'll be here all week. the past seven days has seen us spend a few days up with my sister, where we visited the school she teaches at, got to know the island of mersea on which she lives, as well as take a day trip into London.

In London, we did a whirlwind walking day which included a trip on the London Eye--for those of you who don't know what that is, it's essentially a ferris wheel on steriods. absolutley huge. you can see the entire city of London from up there. Or, normally you can. as it was, it was pouring with rain and foggy, so the London Eye had a cataract that day, and we were in it. no matter, a few good views to be had.

we also visited with some of Kate's friends that live in town, having dinner and drinkgs by the thames with them.

fastforward, and we're in cornwall now, down south. staying at my aunt's house. Kate and I are here, as is my sister, and my parents are also visiting right now, too. generally, one does not take a honeymoon with so many members of one's family... but here we are. since we've been in cornwall,w e've been to the beach a few times, both to walk on the sand and the cliffs high above, and we went to the Eden project yesterday, a ecological recovery of an old clay mine. Sort of like the Biodome project in the states, but instead of being a massive failure, it's a huge success.

okay, will leave off there for the time being! will report back next week hopefully! ta for now!

Stu Goes To War!!

*



well, I've finished my military journalism course in Alberta, and there's a lot to tell, so strap yourself in. First of all, I'm a trained killer now, and I'm going to Afghanistan as an embedded JTF2 journalist within the Canadian Forces (CF). Huh? what? Oh wait, I'm just mashing together everything I learned in one sentence. I'll slow down a bit...






First, our trip started off at the University of Calgary. Our program coordinator and instructor, Bob Bergen, took us through a three inch thick resource binder at breakneck speed over a two day period ( by the way, 'us' refers to the 12 of 'us' from across Canada that were participating in the course). The binder has everything in it from press clippings to the FOI request processes to the Queen's Regulations that the military is subject to in their conduct, and pretty much everything in between that might be of use to a journalist attempting to report on the military. So, take a dash of classroom theory, and pepper in talks from retired service men, current public affairs officers with the CF, mix in tours to the local naval museum, and the Calgary Highlanders regiments to check out their digs / drink, and you come out with a bunch of cub journalists that have a much better idea as to how they might go about reporting on this crazy thing called war... I mean... uhhh.. peacekeeping...

We also spent a few days at CFB Edmonton to get some hands-on experience with the tools of the military trade (read: fun with guns and tanks). As you can see from the attached photos, we got up close and personal with everything from the small arms that are used in the field up to the vehicles currently in use by the CF. Not everything worked perfectly--Namely, the LAV (Light Armoured Vehicle) that four of us were in, in which our driver misjudged the width of the gap he was attempting. One broken axle and a 'rescue mission' later, six of us were squeezed into a TLAV (Tracked Light Armoured Vehicle). The driver didn't misjudge any widths on this cruise around the training grounds, but he did misjudge the depth of a muddy pool of standing water.
We had a wave crest over us and soak us totally, and the engine flooded as a result. Within a few moments though, the engine roared to life again, and we were on our way.

Also while on base, we were introduced to the use of some small arms in a simulator room. The photos I have didn't reproduce the video wall very well, but the idea is that a
battle scenario is loaded onto the screen, and you have the choice of one of eight weapons with which to destroy the enemy (congrats again to Kurt for taking out four--count em' four--friendlies during the heat of battle. It can happen easily folks, sad but true).

The visit to Edmonton wasn't all toys--we had classroom sessions with various areas on the base, such as the 408 Air Squadron, the Princess Patricia's Candian Light Infantry, the Engineers, etc. It gave us a very holistic view of everything that goes into the functioning of a base. You'll also note from the photos some men on horses--we were given a demo of the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Candians) Ceremonial Mounted Troop, Lead by one Lieutenant Alastair McMurachy. They take care of Prince Charles and Camilla's horses--I have pictures, but if I showed them to you, I'd have to kill you.

Oh, and while on the base, we had the opportunity to socialize with officers on secveral occasions. We had a breakfast and lunch with them, and we were allowed to join them in their mess for Friday afternoon Happy hour.

The trip afforded out-of-session fun, too! in Calgary, we were put up in the fabulous Village Park Inn, well appointed with restaurant, bar, pool, and hot tub...most rooms had fridges and microwaves, too... but never the room I was in..l don't want to talk about it. We had free time to explore the city---no trip to Calgary being complete without hitting up Peters' Drive in!! In Edmonton, we stayed at the City Centre Ramada. Ironically, the City Centre Ramada isn't actually near the city centre. go figure... In any case, while in town, we visited West Edmonton mall and Whyte Avenue. Since I moved form Edmonton in 2004, not a whole ton felt as though it has changed, other than the city keeps getting wider and wider with constant building. I had the chance to see a couple people while in town though wich was great ( suz, thanks again for the nutz and bolts!) For those of you wishing for a refresher on my opinions about Edmonton, see blog entry 13.08.04, as well as those around it.

We spent a half-day in Banff as well, which was really nice. The sun was out, the clouds were few and far between and the sights were... seen...?! Hmmm, I must be out of words... so, in summary, what did I actually learn??

A journalist covering / hoping to cover the Canadian military faces some roadblocks. For one, the the military is a boys club chalk full of intimidating language, acronyms, and ceremony not necessarily understood by civilians. So even though you might think you're KBD, you better find yourself getting up at oh-dark-30 with the troops in order to work your way into their culture and earn some of their respect. talking to a PAFO won't get you the story you want / need, so cozy up to those soldiers! (Clear as mud??)

Second, once you're 'in' (read: embedded), you have to be careful not to end up with Stockholm Syndrome, being overly sypathetic to the unit you finally managed to get close to. Don't wanna lose that precious objectivity!

Third, Peacekeeping as an idea is nice, but much like communism, the theory doesn't seem to relate to successful practice! overwhelmingly in our course, we heard that soldiers are frustrated with the term. Peacekeeping might work if they were going into areas where peace existed, but generally, that's not the case. The CF is in areas of conflict, and as such, actually have to engage in war (dirty word such as it is), and with the paltry funding that the CF receives, it ain't easy being a soldier engaging in said war.

So, there's a taste of what I learned in the past 10 days! there's plenty more where that came from, and I'd be happy to chat it over with anyone who's interested (I promise I'll use less acronyms). To my J-school peeps--I highly recommend looking out for this course next year!


* medals pictured are those belonging to Lt. Hampton Gray, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Victoria Cross; he died in Battle just days before the end of WWII, the Naval Museum is dedicated to his name.

SPOILED ROTTEN!!!

The photo collage above is from a little boating trip Kate and I got to take in Seattle this past weekend--but I'll get to that in a moment!

Our weekend started on Friday afternoon, when we arrived down South. Our friend Rain was our gracious hostess for the day, along with her husband Damon. The pair of them live on the East side of Lake Union, and Rain works for a sea plane company along the lakeshore. As such, Kate and I got to take an aerial tour above Seattle!! Here's some pics!





On saturday morning, Damon and Rain took us to the Locks, an impressive system of raising bridges and water locks that help get boats to and from the open sea in to the lakes. Here's some more pics of that outing!!
That afternoon, after saying adios to Rain and Damon, Kate and I headed out to the Elliot Bay Marina, where we were meeting Bob and Sally--they had given us an overnighter boat trip on The Roberta-- named after Bob's Mother--as a wedding gift, and we were ready to cash in!

Round about the time of our departure from the marina, the rain started, the winds kicked up, and consequently, our crossing from Seattle to our destination--Blake island--was done in a white squall. What's worse, Giant squid wrapped around the boat, A whale swallowed us, and I'm pretty sure we were boarded by pirates. okay, okay, so that may just be some books I read, but whatever. But really, it was very wet, and windy to be sure.

we dropped anchor around the wind-protected side of the island, and spent time talking and filling our stomachs in the cabin of the boat. at about six pm, the weather passed on, and we were treated to a nice evening walk and frisbee toss on the shore. Dinner ran late, but man, it was worth the wait. Halibut, sauteed in shallots, poached in white wine and topped with breadcrumbs, served on a bed of lentils, with salad and bread. YUMMM!

By then it was late, and we all went to bed...and awoke to a beauty of a day! we hit the shore after a long and leisurely breakfast (scones w/jam, bacon, scrambled eggs, juice / tea... just for the record...), and spent the next three hours or so circumnaviagting the island at low tide. I'll put on a whole whack of pics at the end of this entry, so if you're bored of reading my ramblings, feel free to move on... :) The walk was beatiful. we saw racoons feasting on low tide goodies at the water's ege, bald eagles, and plenty of seagulls. We stopped to build lots of obos (aka, inukshooks, to us Candians), play some frisbee or baseball with a tennis ball we found and a hefty stick, and did our part to pick up some garbage accumulating ion the shoreline.
after getting back on the boat, we prepared to set sail for the mainland. The weather was great, though not enough wind to warrant using the sails, so we chugged along under engine power. A few birds here, a few curious seals there, some dodged driftwood, and we were back at the Marina by late afternoon. What a fantastic couple of days!

But, Kate and I, being the people of leisure that we are at the moment, didn't drive back to BC right away. We stayed overnight with Bob's sister, Pam. It was nice to have a visit there, and THEN, on Monday, we finally headed home--but not before a stop at the Seattle outlets store (thanks for being strong these days Canadian Dollar!) I bought a fab pair of cargo khaki shorts from Eddie Bauer, if anyone cares :)

Claire, we missed you on this trip, but next time!

oh yes, and of course, somre more photos of our trip, posted below! Next entry: my adventures in Alberta. see you then!