Firemonkeyphoto

Links of the week III0
neil posted in Neil, Links of the week on July 30th, 2006

City cycling! If you ride bikes, stop by this site for pro-cycling partisan ranting! This article is of some interest to anyone who drives an SUV

www.citycycling.co.uk

The Firemonkey (donor of the name of this site) has its obituary here. Please bow your heads and ride wearing black.

Check out THIS post on a photo a day about journalism and the conflict in Lebanon. Also the blog Beruit live and On The Face

Callander World Highland Games0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on July 30th, 2006

The title of the games raises a few problems. Surely World Highland is an oxymoron? Then again the capital of the highlands is Inverness, which is at sea level. Also, to a big city kid, holding the World anything in a place the size of Callander seems unlikely.

Of course, a big city kid who has’nt been to a highland games before, would’nt understand.

There were no hordes of sweating young Scots farmers competing. In fact the number of athletes was small, only nineteen. Only three of these were Scottish. The rest made the “World” part of the title obvious including Grenada, Iceland, Canada & the USA. Lack of quantity and highland credentials were eclipsed by the quality of the competition. Divided into Ladies, Men’s Highland and Men’s strongman the athletes proceeded to throw around incredible weights with alarming ease. The only exception was a rogue 56lb weight that went astray towards an oblivious photographer. The weight missed (narrowly) and made the photographer a local celebrity.

The competition was relaxed and friendly, competitors offered advice to one-another and shouted encouragement. They also helped out with setting the events up, lending an informal air to proceedings. If the crowd were supporting anyone in particular, they made no sign and cheered for everyone equally. The only exception was the incredible series of “weight for height” throws that took Stefan Solwi’s 56lb missile above 17′ 6″, the crowd loved that and roared on Iceland’s strongest viking. The only dampener was the rain that doused the final events and drove the crowd back to their cars. No-one was waiting to hear the victor, which was for the best as the judge described himself as
being from the school of “slow marking” and no winner was announced.

Other highlights were Callander and District young farmers hauling a 2 ton tractor from Callander to the games for the Sandpiper trust (emergency equipment for rural areas LINK) and Veriias Vincent putting on highland battle re-enactments with and without the young farmers as targets.
Photos are here.

Loch Insh0
neil posted in Photos, Neil on July 23rd, 2006

Spent the weekend relaxing at Loch Insh. We had an apartment designed for a family which worked well, apart from Andrew being shoe-horned into a bunkbed.Watersports antics all weekend, Kirsty, Kathryn, Andrew and Alicia learned sailing basics and were sent out on Toppers. Kathryn and Andrew stalled into wind and then were unstalled by a gust, knocking Andrew out and causing a capsize. Kirsty and Alicia fared better and instead capsized me.

Phil jumps the Feshie at a dodgy rocky part here.

Mysterious ninjas try to photograph an osprey here.

The start of the gallery is here

Links of the week II0
neil posted in Links of the week on July 19th, 2006

Bush and Blair have a frank chat about the Middle East in front of a live mic, interesting stuff
Look for “most popular videos”, then “the sh_t heard around the world”
http://www.cnn.com/

See also wikipedia

Devastation in Lebanon and Israel, AP, AFP and Getty images
BBC “in pictures”

Nachtwey visits Berkley graduate school of journalism, talks about Iraq and why he goes where he goes and does what he does.

When asked about his faith, he replies that “he has faith in people”. An amazing message of hope if you consider where he works.
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/news_in_brief/james_nachtwey_060512.shtml
For Chris, an Aussie F-111 makes a belly landing after its nosewheel “falls off”

Link

Manhattan and Washington3
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on July 19th, 2006

Yeah, it does exactly what it says on the tin. So Dave has been ranting about getting pics up on the site. He finally gave up on me doing it and posted them himself. Also it has to be said that all pictures are taken by him….Ive been lazy! As you can see from the label, the pics are from our trip to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty, as well as our mammoth trek around Washington DC (which, it has to be said was hot, and not helped by having spent the prevoius evening in the pub with my cousin Alan, an Irish man in an Americans skin, the boy can drink!). We are in Nashville now and will be for the next few days. Nothing much planned, apart from a trip to the Loveless Cafe, a proper southern soul food cafe. Oh, and it is now official: ‘You will travel to many places!’ The fortune cookie told me so.

Photos are here.

Rocking down the Dee0
neil posted in Photos, Travel, Neil on July 16th, 2006

This weekend we headed down the Dee from Ballater to Banchory with the Edinburgh Kayak club in canadian canoes.

The trip was split over two days, the first from Ballater to Dinnet , the second from Potarch to Banchory.
The guidebook predicts grade 1-3 rapids. However the river was low (”boney”) and very shallow in places. The first day saw the camera boat make a clean dry run, the second day saw three swims while drybags kept the gear safe. Each time alert canoeists rescued paddles and runaway boats. Thanks guys!

The relaxed atmosphere and pace made it a cracking beginners expedition and it was great to get to know a club full of outdoor enthusiasts.

The photos are here

Another write up is here

Edinburgh Kayak club live here

Links of the week: I1
neil posted in Links of the week on July 10th, 2006

A digital journalist article on the current state of New Orleans 9 months on:

So thats a Glock 9!

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0607/from-new-orleans.html

Child brides in Afghanistan:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5541006

(apologies to A Photo A Day for a shameless link-steal)

Candice, a UK underwater portrait and fashion photographer, featured in this weeks Sunday Times Magazine
http://www.candice.co.uk/

New York New York3
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on July 8th, 2006

Well we arrived in the US of A safe and sound. No one tryed to strip search us or deport us just yet. We went to Manhatten yesterday. Everyone we have met has been so friendly. The bus driver who on discovering Dave was Scottish wanted to know why Scotland hadnt qualifed for the world cup so Brazil could kick their ass’s. We had breakfast in an italian deli and the owner when he figured out I was Irish insisted I had tea with breakfast. It took a while to presuade him I really needed the caffine at that hour of the morning. He was also a bit concerned about the world cup final. We went to the top of the Empire State building and to state th obvious …its tall.  (Pictures are in the gallery, click on the picture at the top of the page and then on Kate and Daves travels)  We walked up fifth Avenue, I met a long lost relation in the Disney store, and Im sure, took years off Daves life by insisting we go look at all the shiny things in Tiffanys. Ive never seen Diamonds that big in my life. Any one got a spare million or two they want to lend me? Finally we had lunch in the ‘Cosmic Diner’ and headed home. Other then that we have had a restful few days, going running and swimming and eating lots of nice food. Once I have figured out how to post the pics I will put some up.

Two Trips0
Adam posted in Photos, Adam on July 4th, 2006

Cheers for the space Neil. Bah, I hate the easy to use interface of a default wordpress install.

Anyway, I’m using Neils space to store pics of a trip to Canada and a trip to Loch Tay. Both were great.

One small step1
Kate posted in Travel, Kate & Dave on July 4th, 2006

So for those in the know, we are off!

For those who have randomly wandered and are now stuck here forever, the story goes a bit like this:

The boy aka Dave and I have just set off on a 9 month round the Americas trip. First stop is home for a few days, to reassure the mammy I’m not off to kill myself. Next stop in the US for a month, Canada for a month, back to the US to run a half marathon (for those who know us, can you please stop giggling, I’m sure we can do this without killing ourselves…much. For those who dont, lets just say I’m not the most exercise orientated person in the world!). From there we head to Peru for a wee jaunt before heading back to Ireland for a wedding of epic proportions. One of the many first cousins is getting married and the whole world and their mum is turning up. After that it gets a bit vauge…but if you keep an eye on here Im sure one of us will know what is going on eventually.

So you find us on the first step, we arrived in Ireland on Saturday night and leave again tomorrow. A few days of eating well and enjoying the sunshine. As an aside, whoever declared ireland to be the land of the potato never came to my house, beacuse it appears here meat rules over all. Dave and I must have gained a couple of pounds in the last few days considering the amount of steak and bbq ribs we have eaten.