warning: not a great post

because I have really been wanting to post, but have been feeling quite worn out from school and work and everything else, I thought I would post very quickly on an issue that's been on my mind recently.

This is an issue that has been on my mind for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to discussing. It is the issue of ball point pens.

I am a big fan of the ball point. Specifically those that are black and of medium tip size.

But I do have a pen-related problem. For quite some time now, (so long that I can't remember when it started, though I do remember a time when it didn't happen) I have been having ball point pen failures.

Firstly, I would like to poll my readers (however few of you are still reading, now that the topic of the post has been established as 'writing utensils') to find out how often/frequently do you have pen 'explosions'?

By this I mean, those moments where you reach for a pen to discover that in your pocket, bag, drawers, wherever, it has had a terrible leak and gotten over everything.

How often?

Because honestly, it happens to me at least once a week if not more.

Is that more frequently than normal?


I have had a long and hard think about this matter and have come up with (and debunked) a few ideas as to why this happens to me so often:

1. Perhaps I buy cheap pens. No. This is not the case. When I arrived in Brighton, yes, I did buy a pack of cheap pens in a fit of back-to-school bargain madness, but about three weeks ago, I bought a brand-name pack of respectable quality pens and since then have still had couple ink related accidents. I have even had those ball points that have the anti-reverse ink flow gel at the end of the ink tube explode on me.

2. Perhaps I carry pens in an innapropriate fashion. This could be the case, but since mid-July I have been making a concious effort to put pens in my bag in various alternating fashions so that they dont explode. At first I assumed vertical with pen tip down would make most sense, as it keeps with the natural way ink is supposed to flow, and that the pen tip would keep it from flowing out... but no dice. Then I tried horizontal, but this didn't work either and the results of a horizontal burst were messier than a vertical one where the ink just flows out into one spot in your bag/pocket.

3. Perhaps I mistreat my pens After considering this and looking at other people's pen habits I decided this is not the answer. I dont even chew or tap my pens.

4. Perhaps my work/life situation disposes me to having above average pen contact, thus increasing my chances of frequent explosions. this may sound ridiculous, but because I have often worked as a waiter I usually come into contact with a high number of pens which come from other people (and consequently all kinds of carrying methods and pen abuses) many times I leave work with a collection of pens from unknown sources, which soon become intergrated with my own collection at home.

5. I emit some sort of pen-disrupting energy Once when I was younger my sister Liz and I watched this TV show about kids who were so moody that they caused paranormal activity around them (things flying off walls when they got angry, etc)... I think it might have been on Fox and after 11 pm on a weeknight. Anyway for a week I was a little bit convinced that I had this energy disorder because of an incident involving our washing machine (its always the washing machine with me)... and so it occured to me that maybe I am like kryptonite to pens.

anyway, that's about all I can think of. But if you you have more answers, please suggest... especially since there is quite likely a very obvious answer that I have been missing all my life.

regardless of the problem, I need to sort it out soon because the ink stains are become more and more precarious by the day and I refuse to go pencil!

- C

cheap flights...

Since coming to England last year I found myself reguarily exposed to a variety of strong opinions on the problem of 'cheap domestic flights'. Whenever I spoke of someone I knew flying from Toronto to Vancouver, or some other lengthy distance within Canada I often found myself having to defend their choice to fly to my more environmentall concious friends (flying being incredibly detrimental to the environment)...

Making such a defense was often problematic, firstly because for many of my British friends it is difficult to explain the vastness of Canada (choosing a train over plane may be easy between Bristol and Birmingham, but a trip across Canada is much longer). Secondly because we dont really tend to use the train as a nationwide way of transport the way it is used in England and across Europe, and so we have less options for budget-friendly and eco-friendly forms of transport available to us.

Anyway, what I am trying to get across is that over my time here I have be hearing many different fronts on the subject of cheap flights and how it has become such a ridiculous problem.. but it wasn't until very recently that I decided to start looking into it myself... and even more recently that I decided it was blog-worthy topic.

The problem is that short-haul flights (though convienient) are drastically devastating to the environment... While regardless of how long a flight is, planes have a bad impact on the environment, the problem is that short haul flights in many people's opinion are completely uneccessary, given Europe's train links and other forms of more eco-friendly transport. Also, that fact that short-haul flights, and airport expansions to accomodate these flights are growing wildly while at the same time the cost of these flights is becoming less and less, there is a serious problem growing on this side of the Atlantic (and I fear is happening more and more in North America, is likely to become more of a problem over there given that we dont even have as many viable alternatives available).

Obviously there are many arguments for and against cheap flights, and the bottom line is that it is all about choice and power to choose. For physical reasons flying is easier for some people than other forms of transport, for budgetary reasons people who dont make a lot of money deserve the chance to have a cheap holiday when it is available, for convienience it is easier to get between two places by plane than train or car or bus if you need to do it in a very short amount of time. Obviously each person has to weigh the situation and make a choice they feel is ethically sound for their situation.

One of the arguments of the 'cheap flight defenders' is that cheap flights to other places in Europe have been giving people from lower incomes more opportunity to travel, but I have recently read some articles which totally blow those ideas out the window. Stanstead airport for example, which is a budget-flight airport focused on short-haul flights, has an averauge user income of 47,000 pounds which implies that maybe those who can afford to make ethical choices are actually the ones benefit most from the cheap flights.

ok ok, so I'm not trying to push a specific side here, and certainly not trying to start a debate about the issue of "affording to be ethical" or put forward ideas for some kind of wealth-based sliding scale of duty to the environment or anything like that... While such a discussion might be interesting, I'm not willing to get into that now. Basically I am trying to get across the idea that the issues are complicated, but that I have recently come to the conclusion that these cheap flights really are out of control, and thought that I could get everyone thinking about it by giving some examples...

So here are examples of how and why I have hopped on the 'cheap flights are out of control' train.

1. When I was travelling through Europe last year on my rail pass, I met several people who were doing pretty much the same route but using air travel from place to place, as last minute easy jet tickets were cheaper than rail... meaning they were willing to deal with the hassles of airport security when going from place to place, because it was that much cheaper. (though given the added time of waiting in aiport, in many cases not at all that much faster - and in some cases, slower.)

2. Three weeks ago I overheard a conversation in which someone was complaining to their friend that while they paid 19 pounds for their ticket to Spain, their friend had only paid 14 on the same flight.

3. Right now at Argos, if you buy any Tefal Steamer (the cheapest being 14.99) you get a free flight on RyanAir to anywhere in Europe.

that third one is for real. In fact the RyanAir website advertises flights from 1 pence plus taxes, and flights from 12.99 including all taxes and fees!

so yeah, its just something to have a think over. there are a lot of polarized opinions over the scale of the problem and the possibilities for solutions, including a lot of recent debate about taxing flights. check out this article if you are curious ... http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/53813

- C

apologies

Hi everyone,

Apologies for my poor updating lately. After I got back from London last Sunday I got caught up in a really busy week with work and school, and by the time Thursday night rolled around I was feeling very sick and achey... Friday morning I woke up feeling like I had gone to the gym the day before because all my muscles were sore, and by Saturday morning I was full fledged in the middle of a nasty cold which I am just beginning to recoupe from today.

All in all things have been going well, but they have just been so busy that I haven't had time or energy to really update everything.

Winter is in full swing here, as it gets dark at about 4:00, and everyone around me has begun to point out how terribly cold the weather is. I still haven't felt the need to pull out the old wool winter coat, and so I can't really complain much! In a way I'm looking forward to winter this year, because I'm told that Brighton isn't as wet and rainy as Bristol, and last year in Bristol there were really only a couple of days where I found it quite cold... and even on those days it was usually due to the rain.

With winter here, I've realized that Christmas is now less than a month away, which means I have a month to work on my term papers so that I dont have to worry about them too much while I'm home for the holidays. I've just about got my topics worked out, and so now its just a matter of getting going on the research. This Friday is my last class of the term, and so I plan on getting organized and getting to work next week.

For one of my term papers I'm going to be working around the issues of why people write to the mass-observation archive, and what they gain personally out of writing. Hopefully I can do this through talking about the archive as a source of establishing posterity and looking at the ways it acts as a vehicle for empowerment for people left out of the telling of history. I'm planning on doing this through contrasting people's responses to directives on 'why I write' and directives which ask them when and how they identify as minorities in British society.

For my other term paper I'm going to be writing on theory behind using letters as a source of history, and more specifically looking at the writing conventions typical of war letters... My plan is to work out a framework, and then illustrate it through using some war letters written by my Grandfather to my Grandmother which I am currently awaiting copies of in the mail!

I'm finding that in relation to school, I'm much more of a 'doer' than a person that loves theory... and a lot of the focus of school these days has been theory. Anyway, the term papers aren't supposed to be about the results of your research or your findings, moreso the theory involved in the process of doing research and analysing documents - so I feel quite relieved to have FINALLY chosen topics, which I think will bring up the theoretical issues I am interested in. Still, I think it will be hard not to write each paper on all the interesting stories I find while researching.

all in all things are going really well, and I'm really looking forward to the next month - Especially because I feel as though I am working towards my christmas holidays!

will post again soon and more frequently... I have been saving up a rant on airfare and flights which I'll try and post this week

- C

and on and on....

well my life continues to be a bit hectic, though I think I'm standing up pretty well given that I've been feeling the start of some poor health coming at me for the past few days, but I have echinacea and vitamin c'd that possibility into oblivion.

I am working tomorrow, but promptly after I'm heading off for an overnight in London to celebrate Liz's birthday. As per her request I will be brining a homemade triple chocolate cheesecake (the dessert of choice for various birthdays last year in Bristol), and so I've had a nice relaxing friday evening of doing laundry and baking a cheesecake... though I will note that having an oven with all the temperatures rubbed off the dial, did make cheesecake baking a bit frustrating... though I think I managed without any cracks or giant air bubbles runing the look of it.

If you click on the link in the posting below (for the my brighton and hove site) and then click on Topics, and then Architecture, and then choose either Georgian or Regency Style you'll be able to see the first of my photos on the site. Apparently we will be publishing as we go, so that is good news for me!

I'm looking forward to my 24 hours in London as a bit of an escape, and I've just about worked out some topics for my term papers so I think the escape is at least somewhat deserved.

Anyway, I promise there will be some more interesting posts next week. Maybe even some photos from Londoning.

- C

the beat goes on...

hi there,

I haven't updated in a little while because things have been quite busy. It's starting to feel like I am settling into the swing of things, mainly because most of my time seems to be occupied with either work, school, or other random things.

I have changed jobs, since my last job was turning more and more from assistant waiter to full time glass polisher. That wasn't so bad, but I was finding it difficult to stand and polish glasses for hours in a totally busy, hectic and stressful kitchen... so I have started working somewhere which is basically a gourmet burger restaurant, and its been a lot of fun so far. Firstly because I actually get to serve food, and secondly because its a much more social and enjoyable environment than the other job.

I have also started to work with the website group "My Brighton and Hove" click here to see it. It is basically a community history website, (they just won an award for it for the third year in a row). Right now they are working on publishing an online encyclopaedia of Brighton and so I have managed to become a photographer for the project - I'm enjoying it so far because the assignments I get are a good way to explore Brighton, and also it feels great to be taking photos for something other than filling up space on my hard drive.

The only problem is that the actual entire encyclopaedia wont be completed and online for at least a year or longer, so it might be quite a bit of time before I can show you my pics on the site.

generally things are going well. I feel like I'm really getting into the swing of being a student again, and have managed to work out my frustrations of when and where I can and can't get schoolwork done. What I mean by that, is that I have had to reaccquaint myself with the way I study (times, places, etc, etc)... and work my plans around that. Seems pretty silly, but it makes a big difference to me anyway.

I just have to work out my topics for my term papers and I'll be sorted. ooooh, term papers... I have no idea where to start!

- C

dead disco

not much to write right now, but that I'm excited about going to the Metric gig tonight in Brighton for a little taste of the Canadian indie music scene!

as excited as I am however, I would like to mention that Metric and Bedouin Soundclash both playing in Brighton, on the same night, but on two different tours and in two different locations is a little bit of a conflict for the appreciator of Canadian music. phooey!

- C

differences

last year my posts from Bristol contained various scattered observations on British-Canadian difference, mostly pertaining to language, weather, food, etc, etc...

coming back again to the Angleterre, I feel that I have become blind to many of these differences and have quickly slipped back into speaking what I'll now refer to as "Britanadian" ... meaning using British words like knackered, strop, cheers, and mate at times, while still maintaing my Canadian accent. I even caught myself adding "do" onto the ends of my statements.

"Are going to have a cup of tea?"... "I might do"
"Have you been to that shop before"... "No, I dont think I ever have done" (honestly though I didn't actually say that one, but have overheard it recently)

and so on...

but my return to Britain has indeed brought up a few little peculiarities which I have forgotten and/or neglected to document on here. (Note: I use the term peculiar, not because I think they are strange customs, but because I find it peculiar that at some time throughout history north america and britain diverged in these practices)

and here is a little update of one such facsination, one which sadly is written in a way which will mainly appeal to my north american readers.

Do you remember those ad's which featured a little pink bunny, constantly marching and beating a drum? Yes, you remember don't you? this bunny was being used to sell batteries... well picture this bunny in your mind and scroll down.




scroll....




scroll....



is this what you are imagining? scroll more to see....



scroll....

confused? Yes! so I was the first time I saw it.

Over here it would seem there is no Energizer bunny, in fact there is a Duracell bunny! The Duracell bunny is one of many pink bunnies which are featured in most duracell ads... all the other bunnies have batteries in their backs which look suspiciously like other brands, and throughout the adverts they die out and the Duracell keeps going. Sometimes he is drumming a drum, sometimes mountain climbing, running a marathon. interesting no?

Well, obviously as a presumptuos north american I made the assumption that Duracell had ripped off the campaign! but alas, I was wrong.

In fact, the Duracell bunny has been around longer, and the Energizer bunny was launched in as a cooler looking parody of the Duracell bunny after a wave of collectible Duracell toys became a big success. For some reason over time the Duracell bunny has staked its claim in Britain, Europe and as far as parts of the middle east, while the Energizer bunny has won out the North American market. For my british readers, who are not familiar with the Energizer bunny, please click here for details.

So all these years in Canada I had been buying Energizer batteries while under the influence of a second rate hack of a mascot!!! Who would have guessed?

- C

p.s. another particularly enjoyable thing I noticed this week while walking through Brighton (though this could well be particular to this city) is that rather than calling buffet's "all you can eat" several windows near my house, and along my walking routes in the city display the sign "eat as much as you like"... really liked that one in particular. suddenly "All you can eat" sounds so american to me.

maybe its a canadian thing...

When I was in Bristol the previous Canadian interns and I shared a reputation for being thrifty and resourceful in financial matters... perhaps this is less related to some sort of common 'candianness' and more attributable to the fact that one Canadian dollar is worth about half a pound, and so we become so thrifty out of necessity.

In Bristol I picked up the Canadian tradition of 'skip diving' (a skip is a dumpster)... now before you get all worked up with images of me scrounging through dumpsters, I'll let you know that its more of a metaphor than a literal description. My more frequent readers may remember the incident of the "vanity come desk" which I found curbside and quickly found a home for in my room.... a few days later I gleefully found its missing drawers in the same place I had found the initial vanity.

Well it seems that my knack for good freebie finds is just as strong in Brighton, as I picked up a couple of things for the house last night.

In our house we have had the problem of being sofaless or almost a month now. All the while we have discussed various date and times that we could go to 'shabitat' a charity shop/used furnishing store but we had much difficulty trying to coordinate this group outing. A few weeks ago we set aside that we would go to shabitat today (Monday), and so it would seem that our hopes of free furniture were coming to an end and that we would really have to buy one.

or so we thought...

Last night as I was walking Liz back to the station, just seven doors up the street from my house was a couch and chair sitting with signs saying 'free to a good home'... within minutes I rounded up some housemates and we carried the items in the house. What luck! and only the night before we were about to go out together to buy them.

When the girl housemates came home they were quite impressed with the sofa (it folds out into a foam mattress for people thinking of staying over), but weren't to thrilled about the chair given its office like qualities, and the fact that it had some paint stains on it. You see, the previous owners were in the middle of a DIY project and used it to stand on while painting before putting it out in the street.

Determined to make good use of the free chair, I gave myself a monday afternoon project - I picked up some clearance fabric and decided to give our chair a make-over.

See the results below...



the before and after!

It would seem that Canadian thrifyness has prevailed yet again. In fact, earlier I spotted a nice spinning office chair outside the same house, so I might sneak up the road to have a look at it, as I could give it a home in my room.

- C

first day of winter...

Today was a pretty wonderful day, considering it was the first day of winter.

Yesterday, was not such a fun day. The hotel job I have been working at is still great, but it has been a bit difficult lately, due to certain aspects of it not being what I expected... as such I have kept an open eye for a new job. Luckily such a prospect came along, but in trying out my new job and not wanting to leave the old job, I ended up working one very busy 6 hour shift, and another 5 1/2 hour shift, just about back to back yesterday. Combined with being generally quite tired and slightly ill... it was a pretty looong day.

The good news is that my job stuff is pretty settled now, and so I wont have to worry too much about doing that ever again.

So back to today... after a long day/night of work yesterday I was more than thrilled to gain an extra hour overnight. In celebration of the first day of winter, Liz from Bristol (but now from London) came down for the day. Well, she didn't come down specifically for the occasion, it just so happened that our planned get together conincided with the first day of winter.

Lucky for us, while winter is here in theory it is not here in temperature as it was warm enough for us to walk around all day and sit on the beach. In fact, it was warm enough yesterday that people were eating outside on the patio part of the restaurant I was working at.

In true british style just about everyone was out in full force enjoying the weather. I believe that this was quite unfortunate for the climate change activists who were out and about in town, because while I personally believe in the cause for stopping emissions - I imagine it would have been a very difficult task to promote climate change to people who were out and about enjoying a sunny day which would otherwise be cold and rainy.

Liz and I had a good day which included walking on the pier and playing the amusements a bit, lunch at wagamamas (yum!), and a nice walk around the shopping centre with a focus on previewing the christmas displays and decorations. (yes Christmas is already upon us) I believe that Christmas comes earlier here due to the fact that Halloween is not celebrated as much... for three weeks now a store near my house has had a sign up counting down the shopping days until Christmas.

We also sat on the beach with quite a number of other sunshine revellers... one of our amusements while relaxing on the beach was putting together a full english breakfast out of rocks and shells... unfortunately we were unable to find toast and beans, but see how we did below;


sausage, egg, bacon... uncanny no? The entire breakfast is about the size of my thumb.

It was really nice to have a completely relaxed day, to see a familiar face, catch up on a bit of gossip from the ol' museum in Bristol, and to just spend some time puttering around Brighton.

just a quick note about my photoblog. I am going to start using it to post occasional photos but have given up on my plans to post a photo for every day for the meantime anyway. I have put some photos up tonight, and have also created a new photo album called Brighton October in my online albums. To access them follow the links in the sidebar, or for just the new photo album, click the photo below.

- Chris

p.s. what better thing to do than to end the post with a picture of Brightonians enjoying their 'first day of winter'

whiz by...

This week has gone by so quickly... Between work and school and other things I have been getting involved with I'm finding that its been quite busy.

I am going to write a proper blog entry tomorrow, but thought that I would at least update one little piece of news.

It would seem that the washing machine is aware of my disdain for it, because it played a funny little trick on me today. When going to pull out my dry clothes with full knowledge and acceptance of the fact that I was going to have to iron everything... I followed proper procedure by a) checking to see if the machine was still warm (and it was) meaning that my clothes at least weren't cold and wrinkly... and b) checking that the 'cycle done' light was on.

The indicator light also serves as a way of knowing when and when you cannot open the door. To clarify, both washers and dryers are front loading over this side of the Atlantic. This to me has always seemed a bit silly - but them's the breaks as they say. To prevent opening mid-wash the indicator light is also connected to a lock, so that you cannot physically open the washer at any point by dry.

Bear these facts in mind as the story continues.

So quite pleased with the appearance of a completed wash, I reached for and succesfully opened the door to get out my clothes.

But were my clothes dry? no. not at all. infact they were quite wet.

so wet in fact, that as I opened the door and giant tidal wave of water flushed past my legs and thus made its way onto the floor and across our kitchen.

While prentending to be finished, having the 'cycle done' light turned on, and unlocking the door, the washing machine had actually been sitting still completely full of water... just waiting for me to come along so that it could get pay back for my internet rant.

I guess that will teach me to trash talk appliances... and yet, here I am again.

Washer 1 - Chris 0

- C

savouring the sun...

because day after day I find myself exchanging remarks with friends and accquaintances about how unusually sunny it is for this time of year, I have decided to make the most out of the sunny days I have been given this week. While there was a bit of a rainy spell last week, the past few days have been absolutely amazing!

its still T-shirt weather, and reading on the beach weather, (in my books anyway) so I spent a few hours on the beach today after finishing work this morning.

all in all things are going well. I had my first day school on Friday which was really interesting, but also it was like sitting through a marathon seminar. By the end of the day I was somewhat mentally exhausted. When our tutor passed out a short article for us to read I was having a lot of trouble using my brain so late in the day.

This fall I am taking two courses which alternate week to week. Last week was the course called Mass Observation which is collection linked to a group of anthropological surrealists who organized themselves in the 1930s to create an 'athropology of our own people' in britain. (read the link if you want more details). Basically it is a movement that died out post world war two, but was reintroduced by the University in the 1980s and now continues to operate today.

On Friday I got to look through a box of directives (questionairre type mail outs) that were filled out by various British citizens in June of 1939. The questions were relating to class and race and it was just really thrilling to read people from the lower to upper classes going on about their class conciousness (many of whom seemed in complete denial).

One of the questions was about the use of slang words like 'chum, mate, and pal' and my favourite response was from a wealthy man who called himself 'an admitted snob' who conceeded to using those words, but clarified that he only used those words in joking - the joke being that he was the type of person who would use such lower class words.

given that there are thousands of boxes like this, I'm really excited to learn more about the archive and get to steer some of my own research into the surveys, diaries, photos, and other bits included in the stalls.

this week I'm preparing for my course which is more generally focused on the use and interpretation of all life history research materials. but boy do I have a lot of reading to do....

more reading that I have ever done in my life! Two make it worse I bought two very expensive books (45 and 55 pounds each) for my course, so I feel even more obliged to read non-stop because I feel as though I have to get my money's worth out of my costly supply of reading materials. I think i've spent over $400 canadian in books so far - but the good news is that as a post-grad student I can basically hoard library materials, which has helped on the budget - so that's a definite bonus.

anyway, that about all I want to update for now. I'm a bit worn out from reading all day and I am working at the hotel again tomorrow so I need to get to bed in decent time.

I'm sorry about falling behind in the photos - I have taken lots, but now that I am working out better ways to get the photos posted I'm finding that its a really overwhelming task to try and catch up on two weeks worth of posting... so hopefully I will sort it out soon. But to leave you with something here is a quick shot I took today with my books on the beach!!!!!

did I mention how much I love the seaside?

(not a sponsored product placement by dr. pepper, just happened to be my drink of choice with the chips I bought on the beach, one of which is hidden among the pebbles).

- C

laundry/washing woes

Last year in Bristol I reserved myself to having constantly crispy/wrinkly/scratchy/and perpetually stretching clothes...

this was due to the fact that most homes (particularily student homes) either dont have or make little use of the dryer appliance. This may be an innacurate overgeneralization, but from what I have seen its true - at least, in comparison to the standard washer and dryer that most families and households in Canada might have, most people I know only have a washer.

And the ongoing process of washing and hang drying clothes went on and on in Bristol, and I got used to putting on cardboard stiff corduroys, and 'wrinkly' jeans.

Much to my delight, when I moved into my new house I discovered that we are the proud owners of a 'washer-dryer'... After hearing my housemates brag about the convienience of having it, I quickly thought to myself "no more cripsy wrinkly clothes" and was quite relieved that I would not have to go back to the old ways of Bristol after being pampered with fluffy soft and dry clothes for four wonderful months this summer.

and then I used this so called 'washer and dryer' and found that is met absolutely none of my expectations.

so thus begins my rant on "laundry" or "washing" as they say over here.

(please note that these observations come from my experiences with four different U.K. washing machines and one u.k. washer-dryer, additionally I have made these conclusions on several pieces of hearsay I have picked up from British friends along with a touch of my own personal speculations)

First - Washing machines in Britain (as I have noticed) have a plethora of settings - most notably a multitude of temperature settings. So many in fact, that at first I mistook them for minute settings. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, degress and so on. "What kind of laundry would be set for 60 minutes?" you ask? "that's ridiculous!" you say?(this brings us to point number two)

Second - All laundry takes at LEAST 60 minutes!... sometimes even longer. I am used to putting laundry on a 10 minute setting plus spin and rinse cycle (all done in about 20-25 minutes), however I have yet to have my washing get done in under an hour in this fair country, and in many cases it takes an hour and twenty minutes. While machines will let you choose any temperature you like, there is mysteriously no setting for washing time!

Thirdly - this washer-dryer business is a total farce. There is a reason why washers and dryers are normally seperate... it's because dryers and washers have different functions and one cannot be designed to adequately do the job of both. For example washers are designed to tightly fit clothes and be full of water, and dryers are designed to be roomy and full of air. Thus the drying method of this so called "washer-dryer" goes as follows.

1. washing stops, clothes sit cramped and wet after spinning
2. cramped clothes sit still
3. extreme heat turns on
4. cramped clothes continue to sit still in extreme heat

picture what your clothes look like when you pull them out of the washing machine. now picture what they might look like if you pulled them out in exactly the same way, only they were dry.
thus, instead having slightly wrinkled, cripsy clothes that have hang dried, you have extremely wrinkled crispy clothes, that have dried all bunched up in a knot in the washer.

To make it worse, guess what how long it takes to dry the clothes in this hideous manner... you wont believe it! not half an hour... not even one hour... but two hours!

that's right, I just have to convieniently set the dial for 120 minutes and in that amount of time (plus an hour and twenty for the actual washing) I can have wonderfully wrinkled, crispy, and cardboard hard clothes! the only benefit is that my sweaters will not continually stretch as they did last winter... but still, we're talking about a very small victory here.

and that is all I have to say about doing my washing - except that is it 11 pm and that washing I put in at 9:30 has not even gotten to dry mode yet... for some reason it is still on spin cycle. heaven help me.

- Chris

sleep in tomorrow

tomorrow I will be having what the British call a "lie in" (ie. sleeping in) though I didn't put that in my title because I dont particularly like the aesthetic of the word "lie" when its used in the context of sleeping... I'm not sure why, its just one of those mental blocks I've always had, when when I write "lie down" I always think that it should be spelled another way.

so anyway, things are moving along as usual in Brighton.

I have started working as a assistant waiter at a hotel near my house. It's quite a fancy place (as the website will show you) and I'm enjoying it, though I have worked breakfast for the past three days (ie. 7:30 starts sat and sun, and 6:30 this morning!!). They seem to think I am a somewhat capable worker and so they put me in charge of doing all the room service orders yesterday and today... this was fun because it meant that I got to make a bit of tips and also meant that I got to see more of the hotel.

However, this job was also a bit awkward, firstly because I've never worked room service before (dont think I've ever even ordered room service before) and secondly because the job involved giving food and bringing breakfast to people in their nightgowns and pants (a.k.a. underwear).

Many times people answer the door expecting a small tray they can carry inside themselves... so they come to the door and just peer around the corner. Before they know it they are in the awkward situation of facing an, in fact, GIANT tray that they can' carry themselves, for fear for spillage, and so I have to bring it into the room and then struggle to find a clear surface to put it on (in several cases this surface was on the bed next to the other occupant still sleeping under the covers).

So yeah it was a little wierd but fun at the same time. I got to see some gorgeous rooms including some of the luxury suites.

After finishing work at 10:30, today marked the first official day of my scholastic endeavours. While I have done some work for school, until now my efforts have been mainly preparatory and administrative... but today (monday) was the first day of my plan which involves keeping my readings within the five day week. The course is set up with dayschools on Fridays (9:00am-4:00pm) with the occasional extra day here and there... my basic plan is to collect and organize all my reading monday mornings, and then use the week to read and prepare for my presentations and discussions. This way I theoretically have the weekends to relax and work. Since Friday is my first dayschool, today marks the first day of my studying. I had the reading for this week collected last week, but I didn't want to start them until today because I wanted to test out how this reading plan would work and if it was actually doable... so far it seems it is.

Lucky for me the sun decided to celebrate this wonderful day by emerging from the rain and cloud cover we have had lately, and so I was able to spend my afternoon reading on the beach with nice big coffee, and a light picnic of bread and cheese and meat.

I am learning to savour the sun like a true british person - from what I hear taking a flask of hot coffee/tea and bundling up in a scarf for the beach is not uncommon during the fall or spring months in Brighton. As of yet I haven't braved getting into the water, and dont expect it is something I will try until next summer... though every now and then I do spot someone giving the channel a go.

On Friday I had a meeting for my history placement course, and was encouraged by my tutor to start trying to find a work placement as soon as possible and so I'll also try and follow up some leads this week for that. Friday evening the head of my program held a barbeque at his house for all the new students, part time students, and students who have just submitted their dissertations... it was a nice get together and I got to meet some really interesting people including a woman who wrote her dissertation on blogs and the way in which blogs will one day act as source material for life history research.

i think that's just about all for now.

- Chris

p.s. my photo blog is on temporary hiatus due to me needing to work out a better way to public lots and lots of photos without it either taking up a ton of my webspace or it taking me forever (blogger is slow for photos). Hopefully it will be resolved soon - I'm still meeting my quota, I'm just not able to post quite yet.

Differences

One of the funny things about living in a different country is trying to be objective when noticing differences of an inconvenient nature. What I mean is that, aside from all the things that are different in a lovely and charming way, there are bound to be a few things that are different in a way which is either hard to get used to or hard to understand.

take for instance my experiences with British stationery... The battle that I fought came with some gains (two rings=wrong, three rings=right) and some losses (all north Americans should bow down to the box file). The easiest (though not the healthiest) way to deal with these inconvenient differences is to just decide that this other way of doing things is inferior or wrong, however this, many have learned is not always the case. And so the subject of differences brings me to two examples that came up on Tuesday which I did my very best to objectively evaluate before making any snap decisions.

so here we go.

Difference Number 1

First off to the University Bookstore to spend some pounds. Let me start out by telling all my friends from Queen's that we never knew what we had with the campus bookstore... And that if I could go back in time I would make myself cherish every experience I had at that store just a little bit more.

At Queen's, the bookstore has two parts; first, a typical looking bookstore and second, in the basement a course book area where book are organized by class and course code because professors have registered their reading lists with the bookstore in advance. At Sussex the bookstore merely looks like any old close, chapters, waterstones, indigo that you might walk into with no second part at all. This means that in order to find a book on history, you must go to the history section find the subsection that would suit the title you are searching for and then search by author.

This seems simple enough (some might say that we were babied at Queen's having all our books organized by course and readings list) but for someone like myself who is doing a program which is interdisciplinary in nature, this means that I had to look for each individual title under about seven or eight different headings, some in sociology, some in world history, some in historical theory, some British history, some anthropology, etc, etc...

At any chapters or the queen's bookstore this problem would be solved by typing the book title into one of the many available computers at which point the book would come up with its potential headings, however there are no computers available for customer use in the store. Oh and wait, even if they were available the Bookstore's website is linked to an online catalogue of all books available from all publishers and so

a. it doesn't have any headings listed for shelving and...
b. it doesn't even have any way of identifying if the book you are looking at is in stock at the store or not.

due to the heavy traffic volume (or so I suspect), it also can't do searches with more than two terms in them, which means you have to choose two words from the title you are looking for which are the most obscure and unlikely to appear together in any title of any other book ever written if you don't want your search to come up with thousands of books. And then when you find your book, it basically just confirms its price and that it exists, but not whether or not it is in stock or if you have to order it.

my salvation in the store was one man sitting alone at a desk at the end of a long queue of students... Who when I finally was able to speak with him, looked up a few titles and ordered me a couple of books not available in store.

so after about an hour of stress in the bookstore I bought a few core reading titles and then made my way to the library. This brings us to...

Difference #2 - The Library

This is the difference I am able to be more objective about, and probably the one that will redeem me from looking like a jaded and cranky student who just wishes life could be easier.

As someone who has logged many hours researching and working in Libraries I like to think that I can handle myself in a building full of books, but I found that this was not quite the case when I went to hunt of my various articles and chapters I needed to photocopy for reading.

I spent about half an hour navigating the library catalogue on a computer and had written down all the codes to the books and journals I needed to track down. Sadly, when I went to find these books in the main collection I found that a lot of them were missing despite the computer saying otherwise. At first I assumed another student had beaten me to it but after searching around the photocopy shelves for returned books and consulting the computer something didn't seem right. For example, one book said that there were six copies available in the library and it seemed unlikely to me that all six copies were in use but not checked out, especially since there was not a six-book gap at the place I had been looking for them.

After doing a second check and a fair bit of head scratching, I went back to the computer to check things out. Upon a very close inspection I realized that you could get further details on each book and that the book with six copies had one under "main" two under "short" and three under "core"... but they all seemed to have the same catalogue number.

As it turns out the library catalogue is divided into three sections. "Main Collection" for books that are checked out for six weeks, "short term" for only a week or so and "core collection" only checked out for a few hours at a time... this is somewhat similar to what I am used to, except that while this distinction is made in the catalogue it is also physically made in the collections. Meaning that there are three different sets of call numbers going from A-Z in different areas of the library. The main is of course the biggest collection, the short term is a bit smaller, and the core collection is a section that is cornered off with its own security system and own check out centre.

While at first this difference was most definitely inconvenient, unlike the bookstore I'm not about to dismiss it as "inferior" because I do see the value that will come from arriving at the library and always knowing that all my readings will be available within hours from the core collections... its also nice because with the three distinctions you dont find yourself figuring out which have which types of loans (all are colour coded) and you dont have to make a librarian go and get books and reading reserves for you because you can access them all in the core collections room.

anyway, I thought these were examples of the little differences and hang ups that often become to mean so much more when you are living somewhere new... so I thought I would write a bit about them.

all in all things worked out despite the stress and frustrations... now I have most of my course books (although there are a few costly ones on order still) and all my course readings for the first week, which incidentally are comparable in size and length to what I would have expected to be a course reading package for a whole term during my undergrad. And so my reading begins!!!! so scary!

- C

oh i do like to be beside the seaside

In case anyone has missed out on the reference, the words "oh i do like to be beside the seaside" are from a british seaside holiday song, which can often be heard in places such as Brighton.

I am growing to appreciate my proximity to the sea more and more each day.

On Sunday I walked blindly into the raging midday shopping in the centre near my house in an attempt to gather some school supplies that I needed (side note - I am now the owner of a two-ring binder...disgusting!) I found myself overwhelmed and totally worn out by the hoards of students and people who seemed to be trying to do just the same. When I noticed that one store already had its Christmas advertising up, my frustrations with the rush of capitalism peaked and I gave up to take a walk down by the sea.

Its funny how within a couple of minutes walking I went from the chaos of Sunday shopping to sitting peacefully by the sea with a ice cream in my hand (the sea itself however was not sitting so peacefully).

There is something really nice about living near water - that is something I've always valued, either being at my cottage when I was younger or while living in Kingston. Until now I have never lived by the sea (the channel in this case), but having such a great body of water at my constant disposal is incredible.

After four years living in Kingston I felt as though I had come to understand the various moods and changes in lake Ontario and its corresponding lakeside weather, but one week of living by the channel has already shown me that it would take me decades to become familiar with the likes of Brighton.

On sunday the sea was windy and raging. Take a look at this photo I took (and follow it as a link to the my new album);

stepping out of the town and down to the West Pier by the water was like stepping into another world. I was immediately impressed with weather and waves bigger and bolder than I had ever seen... what struck me more was how quickly the light and colour of things changed with the movement of wind and cloud (this can be seen through the various tone of the photos in my album) combine this with the smell, taste, and feel of sea water spraying lightly through the air and it was a real treat for the senses.

It might just be me but I always find sitting by the water to be very comforting and calming - even when it is in such a restless state... so sitting by the water is something that I'm going to try and do as much as possible, it is only sad that the warm weather is slipping away so quickly as I wont be able to sit and read on the beach for much longer.

My only wish is that there were some sort of walkway directly from my house to the beach and back, because although I'm only about 2 or 3 minute walk away making transition from beach to home involves crossing through the madness of the main shopping street. But them's the breaks I guess!

- C

p.s. the only real downside to living by the sea is that instead of worrying about squirrels getting into your garbage you have to worry about SEAGULLS!!!! and the gulls here are gigantic!

been inductin'

Hi all,

Just a quick update before I get to my main post... things are going very well as I am settling into Brighton and I am just about caught up on my photos/blogs, etc, etc. Hopefully within the next 24 hours my photoblog will be fully up to date. And I have plans this week to post a few photo albums of shots I've taken around Brighton. Although I have lots of reading to do, my main course work doesn't really kick off until next week so I am going to spend this week exploring and job hunting, and hopefully taking lots of photos.

Saturday was the induction day for all of the students of the Sussex Institute (sort of a conglomerate institute of various interdisciplinary programs) and I attended because my course falls under that category. It day comprised of a bunch of introductions, some information about the institute and what resources it has, a short lecture, and then we broke off into groups to go on to go over our various programs and courses.

The lecture was put on by one of the faculty members in the department whose area of interest is in the social organization of knowledge. It was a really interesting talk called "knowledge and practice" and it talked about the different ways in which we aquire knowledge, and the changes in philosophies of learning that have taken place throughout the past few centuries, along with the ones that take place throughout our lives.

He talked about how in certain fields and areas of our lives it is necessary to gain knowledge to be able to make a living (a plumber needs to learn the essentials to pratice plumbinhg) and spoke of the way that knowledge is organized and the power structures associated with that organization (ie. the medical establishment as a power). Then he spoke about how certain body of knowledge are understood through lanuage and words which exclude other people from accessing their own understanding (ie. the medical establishment again).

Interestingly enough, he spoke with a lot of really academic language himself, going on about modernism vs. post-modernism, quoting Foucault, and spouting off a number of personal references and credentials... which I found to be an interesting (though I suspect unintentional) illustration of his point regarding that colloquial language.

Anyway it was an interesting talk none the less, and it concluded on something relating to how the pursuit of absolute knowledge is never ending, and how as postgraduates we now make knowledge through research rather than consume knowledge that has already existed.

In a funny way, it was a talk I wished I had heard on my first day of univeristy at Queen's, because it actually explained a lot about academia and how it is different from what I had experienced before. But better late than never I guess.

In the afternoon I met with the head of my program and met with the other students who will be studying with me. It was nice to have someone actually explain everything and go through the outlines, though it was a bit daunting to look over the hefty readings lists I was given. The people in my course seem very nice and there is a good mix of younger and mature students which I think will add a lot of the discussion as we are all pursuing life history for different reasons and projects. It looks like there will be about 14 people in my class, so its nice to know that between the three professors who oversee the courses there wont be a stretch on one on one time and resources.

all in all I'm feeling pretty good about the courses, now its just a matter of buying a few books, collecting all the right articles and getting ready for my first real day-school (our classes run in day long schools) but its not for another week and a half, so I have lots of prep time.

this friday I have a meeting to discuss my public history placement, and it seems like there are some really good options including working with a community publishing company in brighton, the national sound archive in London, or various museums... I think it might be nice though to do something outside a museum so I can get a taste of what other options I have.

I think that's all for now. Oh yes and a quick updated on my Argos post as many people seemed to enjoy it ... I have been finding that my mattress is a bit wiry and uncomfortable after the first week of sleeping on it and so when I looked it up today and found a "Canadian Goose and down" mattress pad for only 20 pounds and only one left in stock at my Argos I broke down and bought it. I figured it was fate, and that it would be a good way to support those Canadian geese all the way from England!

- C

the trouble with Argos...

there are many people whom have heard a tale or two about Argos, but for those who haven't (or those who want reminding) its become time to document my experiences with this British institution on my blog. hazah!

Argos as a store can not really be compared to anything that exists in North America. Essentially it is a company which advertises through a giant catalogue (about as big and as extensive as Sears), however it is not a department store. The way it operates is a bit reminiscent of the once prominent Canadian company Consumer's Distributing however rather than order from a catalogue and pick up at a pick up point, the warehouse of goods is actually on site so there is no waiting or delivery period.

A typical trip to Argos goes a bit like this.

1. Walk into the store and head towards the neatly labelled section "Step 1" where you leaf through a laminated catalogue of goods. Bill Bailey, a british comic called it "the book of dreams" which is laminated to "catch your tears of joy"... essentially you browse through the catalogue and then punch in codes into the little handsets at your station to find out how many of the item are left in stock.

2. Once you have decided what you want you go to "step 2" and pay and order your goods. At this point you are given a order number, wait time estimate, and are told which pickup location (A,B,C, or D) you are to wait for your goods.

3. Upon moving to step three you take a seat and wait for your magic number to be called to collect your goods.

the beauty of Argos is that everything is dirt cheap because there is no sales floor, sales staff, showroom, etc... so you are almost always getting a cheaper deal there than anywhere else. The other part of the beauty is that it is so simple and efficient and generally stress-free shopping.

While in Bristol I bought a few things from Argos... A Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker, some tupperware, and a humidifier... however due to the proximity of Argos to my house (quite a walk) there were some limitations as to what I could buy and how easily I could get there. And thus reasonable restrictions on my potential Argos spending.

In Brighton, however Argos is literally my next door neighbor.

in less than a 20 meter walk I find myself pouring over the book of dreams... what's worse is that our house has our own catalogue which I can browse in my room. Better yet, I can browse online, enter my postal code and find out if they have an item in stock WITHOUT EVEN LEAVING MY ROOM!

this has become very handy because in recent days I needed to purchase a shelf, desk chair, and a few other little things for my room... however the pure simplicity of the situation has begun to worry me.

This means that whenever a thought of anything I might need pops into my head (whether it be printer paper, a new toothbrush, an electric shaver, a mop, laundry rack, or just a big screen digital flatscreen television ) within minute and without leaving my house I can indulge my curiosity and find out if the Argos next door has it in stock, and in just a couple of seconds more I can be at the store ready to make my purchase with strong confidence that I am getting the best deal I possibly can.

For now things are under control, but I am going to have to watch my Argos habit because it seems that more and more everyday my fingers graze across the keyboard in a pattern which types in www.argos.co.uk - check it out yourself to see what I mean!

- C

sorted

today was an incredibly succesful day for me!

I went to campus to attend a talk for international students which turned out to be only slightly useful, but the rest of the day seemed to work out well.

First I went to registration which is where you turn up and show that you are there, tie up any loose ends (ie. payments, proof of past academic standing, etc), and get your student I.D. card.

well the first few stops on my trip through the departments were a little hectic but things worked out... I was even able to make my first payment to the University, but only after a 20 minute phone call to Barclay's bank who were varifying my VISA details on behalf of CIBC. After the registrar officer and myself spoke with them they went ahead with the approval codes.

in the end I got my student I.D. card which makes me officially a student... I've now got access to just about everything on campus, including my Sussex email address and even better I can now get a 15% discount at about every shop in town.

just as I finished up at the registration centre, I got a call from the letting agency saying that my money transfer and rent deposits had come through from Canada and that I could officially come and sign my lease (good news again!)

next I headed to Barclay's... about to take on the hefty battle for a UK bank account which I had given up on sometime last year in Bristol. But as it turns out because I'm a student now, it was super easy and before long I had handed in my application and now I'm just awaiting a letter in the mail with my account details.

so that was another (and long overdue) victory for me!

I also attended a few other sessions including something put on by the career centre about non-EU students working in the UK. While there I browsed their job listings and sent a few emails with my CV. In the end I took the train home and got some stuff sorted out in my room and all in all felt that I had a pretty satisfying day.

and then... my mobile phone rang... and lo and behold it was a manager from a hotel's restaurant near my house calling to ask me for an interview!

so all in all I had a pretty amazing day, I would say... regardless of the job (if I get it or not) I'm feeling pretty good about settling into life in Brighton. At this point just having an interview is a bit of a relief after dealing with paying rent and tuition fees over the past few days... I do have a bit of hope!

I've updated my photo blog to the 25th, and should be posting a few more tomorrow including a shot of my new spiffy student card!

- C

good news!

The good news is that I am writing this from my own laptop (not an internet cafe) in my own room (not Liz' living room) in my new house! Yay!

after a horrendously long week of going from home to home trying to find a place to live, I got a call on Saturday from a group of people who needed just one more. The house ranges in age from 21-24 (with myself and one other at the the 24 marker) and we are all in programs varying from fashion to ebusiness to design and my own history. There are five of us and so far we seem to be getting along well.

The house is nice and big and clean, and even has a nice deck/patio area above our kitchen. The best part of it is that my room is at least TWICE the size of the room I lived in last year in Bristol.

I am just settling in tonight, unpacking, getting to know the housemates, etc and then over the next few days I'll be posting some of my photos on Brighton, some more updates about what I've been up to and also updating my photo blog.

For now I'll just post a fun little map I made which shows my house and how close I am to everything!



ok so the star marks my house, and I have also labelled the train station. Please note that I'm just over a 200 meter walk from the sea (The giant blue band running across the bottom of the map). The pink circle is the main town centre and clock tower, and the pink rectantgly thing is the shopping centre. All along western road are shops and grocery stores... The green area I've highlighted are the areas called The Lanes which are narrow pedestrian streets full of small shops and restaurants (where I hope to find a job). The bus to school runs from the end of my street, or I can take the train from the station which is a five minute walk. Oh yes and the big black rectangle is the big peir which is home to tons of games, rides, pubs, and kictshy tourist shops.

so that's my situation, will update more soon!

- C

house hunting

House hunting is a crazy business. It's mixed with either short bursts of excitement and fun (when you find something you like), other short bursts of exhausted/hopelessness (like when you see frightful places) and long periods of boredom and killing time while you wait for an apointment with nothing to do in the meantime.

it is also strange because you spend half your time concealing your disinterest over a room or potential housemantes, because you dont want to offend them, and the other half trying to show interest and trying to get along with people who you aren't even sure you want to live with yet...

It is an in and out business where you dont have time to decide or think about if you actually want to live somewhere, until you are walking down the street or sitting down for coffee in one of your interim periods of boredom... and by that time you just have to hope that you said all the right things, and that your decision in hindsight (to live or not to live somewhere) matches the impression you gave during your whirlwind tour of hellos and introductions.

so yes, its pretty exhausting. but all in all I havent lost hope. I've got some good leads, and if nothing comes up by this weekend, I have plans to collect a bunch of other homeless MA students and put us together to form a frankenstein-like monster home full of other desolate and homeless students.

so that's where I'm at right now... fun times!

anyway, on a cheery note the more time I spend waiting around to see places in Brighton the more and more I am falling in love with the city and the more excited I am about living here, when and if I find a place to live. Once I get settled into somewhere to live, assess my budget and find a job I think I will have a good time exploring and learning to live in this city!

anyhoo, that's it for me right now. please excuse the temporary hiatus on my photo blog, while I am collecting photos I have stopped carrying my laptop with me everyday and I have been using internet cafe's in lieu because it makes for a lighter load to carry. As a result of this, I have not been able to connect my camera up for uploading pictures... but sooner or later I'll find a way to get it updated.

- C

back in Blighty

my arrival to England initiated with an incredibly long wait at the customs office, while myself and about 30 some odd people waited while one officer took care of those of us who were directed to the 'student visa's' line. while all my paper work was done, many of the people in line were coming for six months or less (no pre application required) and thus I had a terribly long wait in the customs offices.

once I got out of the sweltering heat of heathrow, I made it out into the street and caught a cab to Liz's flat in Battersea. Not entirely sure where I was going, I followed the instructions given to me and politely asked the cabby to drop me off at "Battersea Dogs Home". At the time I thought that perhaps the Battersea Dogs were some sort Criket or Footy team, and perhaps I was being dropped outside their arena, but alas when I arrived it was quite literally a home for dogs (like our humaine society only large).

When I got out of the cab and hurled my luggage onto the sidewalk I was immediately greeted by two familiar faces (Liz and Hannah) coming towards me down the street and a short walk, five flights of stairs, and one slightly broken suitcase later I was having a drink in Liz' living room.

It's good to be back, but things seem a little manic with trying to find a place to live. I spent the day in Brighton yesterday and saw two horrible places, and one dream place which I think would be amazing to live in, but unfortunately it has a small room (not so great for guests). Still, I left Brighton in good spirits late last night because after a day of housing nightmares and coming to grips with the thought of living in squalor, I found a place that seemed warm, friendly, and more than suitable.

I'm going to try and see a few more places today, and then see how the week goes. the people I spoke with last night need a few days to work things out, but it seemed that they really liked me and they were eager to live with an international student (two are from singapore). I will write more about the place later, depending on how things work out.

for now I'm off for day two of househunting. Right now I have three appointments, but hopefully in the next few hours I'll get a few more booked as well.

that's all for now, I'm running out of time at the internet cafe

- C

full circle

Well it seems that it is the start of September and yet again I find myself faced with the adventure of packing up my things and flying away to the other side of Atlantic. Yes, that's right... I am heading back to the land of Yorkshire Tea, Jammie Dodgers, Caramel Digestives, Curly Wurly's, Muller Yogurts, Jaffa Cakes, Fruit Pastilles.... oh wait, what was I talking about again?

So this marks the jump starting of my blog ALL OVER AGAIN, and quite frankly I think its nice to be back from such a long hiatus.

For those of you who don't know I'll be heading back over to England, only not to Bristol but to Brighton to do some studying in the field of Life History Research. It promises to be a fun year this time around, and it will kick off with my flight on September 16th.

I expect that this space will be changing over the next little while in style and set-up. Something new that everyone can look forward to and start to check out is my photo blog which will be linked in the sidebar. This is a project I have started in hopes to encourage myself to take more photos (and thus taking more time to stop and appreciate things I find aesthetically pleasing around me). It will also just act as a neat way to document a year in my life... that's right, you can look forward to at least one photo a day for a year, or so it would seem (see the blog for further details and explanations). So keep your eyes peeled for that.

All changes aside you can expect regular updates from me regarding all the many little things that I'll find fascinating over the next little while.

You can look for regular updates starting the 15th of September so stay tuned.

- C

p.s. all readers do not be shy to post comments... this summer I've discovered that I have more readers than I imagined (from distant relatives, to friends of friends of friends, to complete strangers)... please feel free to leave your comments either anonymously, or with your name.

back to Bristol

flying over England and into Bristol was strangely comforting. I have definitely missed life in the U.K., only I dont think I realized how much until arriving into Bristol in many ways felt like arriving home.

obviously Canada is my home and will be forever, but I havent had much time to really think about my experiences in Bristol because I finished work so quickly and took off to travelling. I think my goodbyes (to my friends and to the city) were so rushed because I knew I was coming back here, but in the back of my mind I always ignored the fact that coming back would only be for a couple of days, and so now Im rushing to do the goodbye thing all over again.

Flying over the channel and circling Britain was wonderful... i remember being in awe of the scenery when flying in at the end of last August, but now the landmarks were all familiar to me. The hedgerows, fields of sheep, little cottages, and villages are all so very British to me and seeing them again on the horizon made me feel relief after a long journey around Europe.

Little things are making me laugh, like being exposed to the Bristle accent again. Getting my haircut today I counted the word "innit" (see old post for definition) around 54 or 55 times, just in waiting for the barber and getting my haircut. It was blissfull.

Anyway, there are lots of things I will be happy to leave behind as I depart back to Canada in a few days, but now more than ever I have realized that I have loved my time in Bristol and that I will really miss it... for all the experiences I have had living her over the past little while.

I supposed leaving Bristol is kind of like leaving Kingston, in that I missed it at first, but not so much because I knew that things were different there and that other friends had left it and that I couldnt go back to the Kingston I remembered. With my housemates moving into different houses and workmates finding new jobs and looking at new opportunities, Bristol has been changing since the day I left to go travelling, and so I cant really miss it in the sense that I could come back to it exactly the same.

However it changes for better or for worse, I think I will always consider it in some part to be a home away from home, because of all the comfort this place has given me in the past eight months or so of my experiences.

Not sure what is coming up next for me, maybe sticking around Canada or finding myself back in the U.K... but I expect that I will continue to update this blog, though maybe not as frequently in order to fulfill the "beyond" part of the title "To Bristol and Beyond..."

- Chris

p.s. the rest of my photos to come soon, just havent had much time to update them. Of course everyone who Ill be seeing in the next month or so will get the pleasure of seeing many more photos as I am currently editing down the thousand or so photos I took over the past six weeks into a nice CD of images. you have been warned!

berlin to amsterdam

Sorry that I havent posted in a while, it has been a busy couple of days and I havent had much time to get to the internet.

I was in Berlin from Thursday to Sunday and spent some time with my friend Paul who I know from some community theatre I did a few years back in Etobicoke. It had a good time in Berlin, but found that it was a very different sort of city.

I have spent so much of my time in cities which are visibly old and picturesque, although Berlin is quite an old city there is next to nothing left of what it was due to the bombings that hit it during world war two, and in turn the effects of the split of germany between communism and capitalism which followed throughout the greater part of the century.

Although many other cities were destroyed and bombed throughout europe (the continent has seen its fair share of destruction), none were as haunting as Berlin, where memories of the past (whether it be pieces of the wall left standing or looking out over alexanderplatz which was the soviet showcase side of the city) stand so clearly.

I took a trip with Paul and his friend Robbie out to the countryside where we took a gondola like boat through these canals around a forest... it was incredibly beautiful and serene. On the way back to Berlin we drove through a town which was once called StalinStadt which was built as a model city for the soviets. Although much has been done to give the town life and colour, it still came across much like it was built to look... endless rows of block communist housing, a giant steelworks, the only thing missing was the large speakers which once stood around town where workers would have heard regular announcements.

it was a very interesting time in Berlin and although I have learned a lot about Germany from world war two onwards in the best, I definitely gained a better understanding of the situation and a big appreciation for where the country stands today.

Amsterdam is a very beautiful city, but the contrast between gorgeous old architecture and the sprawl of the red light district is certainly stark. I am enjoying it still however, and will be heading off to see the Anne Frank house this evening as I have heard its not as full of tourists. I think that will be a memorable experience for sure.

Starting to feel really tired from all this travelling about and Im really looking forward to getting back to Bristol in a couple of days and then to Canada next week. It will be nice to have things slow down and to get back in touch with reality after being on holiday for so long!

- Chris

laundry

According to the internet guide to Prague I was just looking at it is very uncommon that people in Prague do not have laundry in their homes, and thus there are very few laundromats.

This would have been more helpful to know this morning when I set out to do my laundry and ended up walking around the city for about two hours with plastic bags of dirty laundry in tow.

Last night when I came back to the hostel I asked the man at the desk where the closests laundry was... he pointed briefly to an area of the map which was not far, but the phone was ringing so I did not inquire further, assuming that I could get better details the next morning.

As 9:00 am rolled around I decided that my lesuirly lie in had lasted on enough, and that it was time to get up and get to business. I packed my laundry into the plastic bags I had collected and walked downstair to get better directions. unfortunately the man now on the desk was not so eager to help, and only pointed briefly (if that long) to the same area of the map... and which point I moved my finger around trying to pinpoint a street or a landmark, and eventually he said "Yes" something else in Czech and then "Second floor". I figured that his aloofness with directions probably meant that it would be super easy to find, but boy was I wrong.

So I got to said area from the map, and walked and walked and walked trying to find the laundromat. Of course none were to be found. I asked several people, who either didnt know or couldnt really be bothered to help me. In general people in Prague are very friendly, but there is one problem with the tourist offices... and that is that there are really only two official tourist offices in the city centre, one of which I was never able to find. To make up for this lack of offices, there are literally hundreds of tourist agencies marked with the same green i for information.

The difference between an agency and an information office is that the latter is there to provide you with information and the former is there to sell you hotel rooms, bike rentals, car rentals, theatre tickets, etc... Thus these places, disguised as information points, are really like booking agents and not information points, despite the implying title of "Tourist Information".

That way when you walk into any of them actually wanting information such as "where is the closest laundromat" you tend to get a bit of attitude because in their opinion they are not there to direct you to the laundromat, but really to sell you a room in a hotel that has a laundry service. Thus when you ask the question you tend to get friendly but generally unhelpful answers like "Somewhere over there on the right" or "That way a little while".

And so my search continued...

Finally a man at a ticket selling point showed me where two places were on a map... these places were very far, but I had already been carrying around my laundry so I figured I could make it. I walked and walked and walked to the other side of town, to finally be greeted with a sign which said "Laundromat" finally! I was thrilled at the idea of putting my stuff down and finally getting some clean clothes.

Sadly when i walked inside the door marked "laundry" I saw neither washer nor dryer. There was a lady sitting there hemming some pants on a sewing machine, who looked at me long enough to direct me to where the laundry actually was... Upon further inspection I noticed that there was one washer dryer set in the back of the shop, but the lady assured me that despite it having the title it was not a laundromat.

Upon following her directions I came to a dead end. Literally, I walked down through the entrance way she pointed me to and into a courtyard where there was a big brick wall, and no sign of laundry.

Still no luck.

Finally it occured to me that an internet cafe might be my best resource for solving the dilemma. I found one easily enough sat down and found a listing for Praha Laundryland which had five locations, the closest of which was very near that original area which I had been pointed to by my hostel and then directed around and around in circles by the generally unhelpful "tourist information people" earlier.

My only choice was to cart my dirty clothes all the way back across the city.

The address which I followed to was not a laundromat but a big shiny mall with stores like Benneton, Mexx, and Pierre Cardin... I felt as though I was in the wrong place, but I walked up to the second floor, and after finding my way past the food court and down a dark hallway, sure enough I found that laundromat... which I believe was the one that all the people had been half heartedly trying to help me find earlier that morning.

So I got my washing done and now I have clean clothes to last me for the next seven days of my travels, which is incidentally the last seven days of my travels before heading back to Bristol and then back to Canada.

As I sit at an internet cafe now, carefully eyeing the printer I am contemplating making some laundry direction cards for the hostel so that the next sad traveller who just wants a clean pair for socks and underwear wont have as much trouble getting to their goal... but sadly my internet time is running out. I guess the next person will have an equally thrilling adventure in store for them!

- Chris

Prague

Im in Prague now and have been since yesterday morning. Its a beautiful city, definitely a contender for my favorite city on the trip although Florence is still way up there as well.

The weather is beautiful... so far my plan to travel quickly to the south of France, visit Italy and Croatia and then bring the war weather with me as I travelled north through Europe is working. Everywhere I arrive it seems to just be turning into springtime.

The downside to the sunny weather and warm days is that every now and then I get caught in a sudden downpour, but I have managed to avoid them for the most part. There must have been a lot of rain and melting recently because the river in Prague is flowing much higher than usual... I can tell this because where there would be riverside cafes, there are just the canopy roofs resting a foot or two over the water level.

I met up with Katie and Debbie yesterday and had a good time spending the day with them. It was great to be reminded of England and be around people who speak with british accents and slang again. When the rain caught us in a downpour yesterday we were close to a Marks and Spencer, and so we went inside for a cup of tea. Its the first Marks and Sparks Ive seen since France, and it was the best cup of tea I have had in months (apart from the super special jasmine tea I had in Montpellier with Nilani of course).

I have to agree with British people that most tea outside Britain is rubbish, but until this trip I hadnt actually realize how much my tea standards had changed. Trying to get a good cup of tea is pretty much impossible in Eastern europe so I am always settling for herbals or peppermint or something like that... but when I tasted the cuppa from M&S it was just perfect! I might head over that way and just pick up a package for myself so that I can make it on the go on my own.

All in all things are great in Prague. I have lots of time here which means I can take things nice and slow. After two days in the city, tomorrow I am off to a little town in southern Czech for a day trip, and then back here for another day on wednesday and off to Berlin on thursday early.

not much else to write now, just about ready for bed.

- Chris

looong day

Today has been a really long day because I woke up at 6 am to catch a train to a place called Fussen where there are two castles which I had been constantly told by other travellers were well worth the visit.

So today I made that trip, unsure of what to expect but excited to see the castles nevertheless. Imagine my surprise when I got there and the Neuschwanstein castle which everyone had been telling me all about what the exact Bavarian Castle which I used to have a 3D puzzle of when I was younger. My Aunt Jean gave me the puzzle which I put together and took apart countless times at the cottage when I was younger, always imagining what it would be like inside and what it would look like if it actually existed, and it turns out that it does.

here is a photo below for those who are familiar with the puzzle I am talking about. (I didnt take the photo I got if from the website)

Well after getting there it was well worth the 40 minute walk uphill to get a tour of the inside of the castles and to come face to face with the giant version of this relic from my past. The castle was oddly familiar in everyway... even walking around it all the sets of windows (two arches, then three, then two, then one on the tower) all seemed familiar, because those were the tricks I remembered for putting the puzzle together and knowing which pieces went where.

Inside the castle was a whole different story... it was all very elaborately done because King Ludwig who had lived there was extremely extravagant and had a questionable grasp of sanity. All of the interiors were painted to look like Operas and there was even one room inside which was created to look like the inside of a cave from a opera story... it actually did, as though that room in the castle has been carved out of the mountain side.

Anyway, it was a good surprise this morning to stumble upon the castle and I am really happy to have been able to visit it and see it for myself.

***

This afternoon I rushed back to Munich in time to go visit the Dachau concentration camp memorial. What a constrast of experiences from morning to afternoon. Dachau was the first concentration camp built to hold enemies of the Nazi government, eventually it became a place to send Jews, political opponents, unwanted immigrants, homosexuals, and other people who "threatened" the purity of germany. The camp was used as a model for builing the many other campes, and saw hundreds of thousands of people through its 11 years of operation.

The museum , memorial and grounds were very moving to see. Especially standing in the yard in which prisoners were brought out for roll call twice a day, and made to stand for hours until all the prisoners were accounted for. Walking through the bunkers where prisoners were questions, tortured, and abused is also something I will never forget.

What is most remarkable and astonishing about the camps is that it started operations in 1933... although I know my holocaust history fairly well, it always comes as a shock because we grow accustomed to framing the events of World War Two between 1939 and 1945 at the most... to think that the holocaust was going within Germany for years before the conflict extended into the rest of Europe is frightening. Just the idea that it went on for so long before people took up arms is very chilling, partly because it was unknown to the world and partly because the world chose not to take notice. Its especially thought prevoking because many crimes against humanity go unnoticed and/or forgotten even still today.

As you can see this afternoon gave me a lot to think about.

***

Now it is 9:30 and i am just using up some internet time before I catch the 11:30 overnight to Prague. Didnt I say it was a long day? 6 am start, two castles, one concentration camp, walking around munich then an overnight to prague.... I cant wait to get to the hostel tomorrow where I will be parking myself for a good three or four nights.

thats all for now, thanks for reading!

- Chris

photos and Innsbruk

Backpacking four is now ready and open for viewing in my photos... with some added bits in Innsbruk. It picks up in the caves in Slovenia, and goes through Budapest including Statue Park and through Vienna, Slazburg and Innsbruk though the photos are few and far between because it takes forever to upload them.

I am having a really nice and relaxing time in Innsbruk staying with some friends of the family. Today I went up into the Alps for some really breathtaking views of the city, which is just surrounding by beautiful mountains on all sides... I hope you will like the pictures.

I will not update much as I have just spent a lot of time on the internet... but the photos will speak for themselves.

Looking forward to heading to Munich and over to Prague for a few days where I am going to meet up with my friends from Cambridge who will be there at the same time!

- Chris

in Salzburg

Had a good time in Vienna - the weather held out and I had a really sunny day to the point where i was able to walk around with a t-shirt.... sadly, it didnt last for my arrival in Salzburg because it is a cold and rainy here and has been all day.

In light of the rain and also because I havent done anything too touristy yet I decided to take the official Sound of Music bus tour around Salzburg... I figured it would be a nice way to see things without having to walk too much, and i am really tired of walking at this point... so I bought my ticket this morning and got on the bus.

It was a lot of fun, but it made me appreciate doing the backpacking thing and not being stuck on a tourbus on a contiki tour for the whole trip. I got to see all the sights from the movie and see some little towns on the outskits of Salzburg and in the lake region. The tour guide was perfectly kitchsy with just the right amount (meaning too many) of overrehersed stale jokes about silly things we passed and bits about the movie.

Its a great tour and there were definitely a lot of fanatics on the bus... sadly though his commentary did to a lot to dissolve illusions about the film. LIke how hollywood ruined it and that is why most austrians and germans destest the film (because the original non-musical german film was true to the story) and little things like how the Butler who sold out the Von Trapps in the movie was actually totally anti Nazi in real life and how Ralph the postman/love interest never really existed.

The best part was that we got to see the church where Maria and the Baron got married, and found out that they had to film it in a little town outside of Salzburg because the american movie makes came into Salzburg to film it in a church there, and halfway through filming it they were forbidden from working anymore in the city because they kept putting up Nazi flags everywhere for long periods of time without asking permission of the officials... generally the film was seen as a bit of a nuisance to the Austrian people I think. It was only released in German six years ago despite being in so many other languages around the world.

anyhoo, thats enough to ruin everyones opinino of the sound of music... all in all a good day. Tomorrow I am off for innsbruk where I am going to stay with some friends of the family. Should be a nice couple of days there.

- Chris

p.s. I am currently trying to start a photo album but it is private right now because im having difficulties getting it to work, so dont freak out if there is an album there that you cant see. Will be public soon!

Vienna

I had some confusion this morning with Europe switching to summer time, and me not realizing even though I reminded Nilani the very day before that it was happening. Something just didnt quite click in my brain, so I got to the train station an hour late for a train I wanted to catch to Vienna.

I waited around the Budapest station for a couple hours and then got on the next train... these inter-rail passes are a god send, they make catching trains so easy.

Arriving in Vienna was a surprising relief of sorts. Im not exactly sure what it was, maybe just being back on the Euro (no more counting and converting money into hundreds and thousands), maybe it was the refreshing cool air after it had rained just before getting off the train... or maybe its just that it felt good to leave Budapest where I felt groggy and sick, and get into the part of my trip which is going to be very slow paced and very much the home stretch of my travels.

Vienna is beautiful, I didnt get into 4, but with the time change it was Sunny well past 7 pm, so I walked around for ever and just took in the beautiful city. Its a surprsing contrast of old and new Austria, but it all seems to work fine... where in other places, like Budapest and especially Naples it seemed that new and old were constantly clashing.

I remember thinking that Budapest was a surprisingly modern and well organized city while I was there, but I think that was just relevant to my travels through Naples, Croatia and Slovenia... coming into Vienna I think I am back in touch with what modern and urban really are.

I had a really good time in Budapest despite feeling a bit ill most of the time. It was really interesting to take in a place that was once so controlled by communism. I went to a place caled Szobor Park, which is basically a place where all the major Soviet propaganda statues that once ruled the streets of Budapest have been moved to as a reminder of the past. It was very eerie to see giant statues of Lenin looking out over his cohorts and colleagues... very strange place, I will post some photos as soon as I get the chance.

Also in Budapest I had a chance to go to the theatre (cinema) because I wasnt really feeling up to a night out... I saw a film called The Secret Life of Words which the man who was selling tickets tried to convince me was in Spanish with Hungarian subtitles, because it was made by a Spanish writer and director... but I knew otherwise because I was fairly sure that Sarah Polley (or road to avonlea fame) and Tim Robbins did not speak fluent spanish.

It was an amazing film, though very heavy and in hindsight not the type of film you would want to go to a theatre and see alone... definitely the kind of film you want to have someone to talk to about afterwards. It was very hopeful and sad at the same time, and without ruining anything, it touched on some very serious subjects regarding violence, and the way that we forget about the suffering of innocent people once wars are over and are behind us. A very good film if anyone gets the chance to see it... but please, take a friend!

thats all for now, my internet time is slowly running out... Im really looking forward to going to bed because I have arrived in what is the cleanest hostel I have ever stayed in... they give you sheets at the front desk and when you get to your bed you realize its actually a duvet cover for a nice fluffy feather duvet! Such LUXURY!

- Chris

on my way

although it feels like I only just got to Budapest, Im getting ready to leave tomorrow morning.

Ive spent three very relaxed days here because I have been feeling a bit under the weather (dont worry its not bird flu) and I have just been taking it slow. Im more than halfway through my six weeks of travelling, but I am starting to feel really knackered... not that Im complaining. Its just tiring to be moving from place to place everyday, and then on the odd occasion where you get to settle down for three nights, like I have in Budapest, the very thought of having to stuff everything back into your backpack and get on a train is not very appealling.

I did a tally and Ive spent just over 65 hours on trains since March 1st.... and that doesnt include two long ferrz rides, some other short ferries, and the occasional bus where train lines dont run. Ugh... so much transportation, not good for me especially because I tend to fall asleep instantly as soon as I get on a boat or a train. But still, I cant complain at all because for the first time since before I went to Uni ive had a ton of time for just having fun and doing nothing, and that is something to savour as much as possible.

Speaking of savouring, I took a trip to a small town outside of Budapest called Szentendre... among the many many little museums and shops there lies the MARZIPAN MUSEUM... Mmmmm. Those who know me well know that I love marzipan and this place was like heaven. I got to watch these little old ladies making marzipan, sample all sorts of different flavours including a pistachio-almond marzipan, and if thats not enough I got to walk through gallery after gallery of bizarre Marzipan creations, including a Bust of Princess Diana, a model of the set and cast of the Wizard of Oz, and as featured below a lifesize Marzipan Michael Jackson. Ha ha ha, what more could you ask for really?


Well, I am going to have an early night tonight and then Im off to Vienna in the morning... looks like Ill be back on the road, so hopefully I will be feeling better in the morning. With the help of lots of O.J. and some Echinacea Im already starting to feel much better... luckily for me the majority of my starting and stopping in my travels is over and things will be a little more slow paced from here on in.

Hope you like the Marzipan photo, more to come... just not enough time to post a whole album.

- Chris