A few weeks ago, I started doing some exercises in the morning.
I have been using 1 liter milk bottles filled with water as weights. When they started to leak, I figured it was time to take the next step, and bought some cheap dumbbells.
Dumbbells
For £10 I got 2 x 1.5kg, 2 x 3kg and 2 x 5kg.
I think I got a pretty good deal, and the store I bought them from was about a 2km walk from my house, so I ended up getting my first workout with them straight away.
This is what I look like right now
Me
We went to see the Tower of London today.
Tower of London, seen from the River Thames, with a view of Traitor's Gate, by Viki Male
The best parts were the crown jewels and the ravens.
The crown jewels include the 2 biggest pieces of the largest rough diamond ever found, the Cullinan diamond, otherwise known as the Star of Africa. Before it was cut, it was 3106.75 carats (621 grams). After it was cut the largest diamond from it is still 530 carats (106 grams). That diamond is in a sceptre, and the next largest diamond is in a crown. the area directly in front of all the crowns and jewels is one of those hizontal escalators, so you can’t stand and gawk for too long. The day we were there there weren’t too many people, so we got a pretty good look.
They also had a huge gold wine bowl that could hold 144 bottles of wine, and had a ladle that was made out of a big conch shell on the end of a big gold rod. Pretty classy stuff.
Here is a photo gallery of some of the crown jewels, cleverly photographed in such a way as to remove all sense of scale.
A flock of about 8 or 10 ravens are kept on the tower grounds. They are kept with one wing quite severly clipped, so they can’t fly away. They are very intelligent birds, and a lot of fun to watch as they hop around the lawns, scavenging and sharpening their beaks.
One came up about 50 cm away from me and stood looking at me for a few minutes, but eventually left since I wasn’t giving him any food.
Tickets were £16 each, but Sarah got in for free as she is a member of the British historic places trust.
I’d say it was a fun afternoon out, but I don’t think I need to go back again.
On our second day in Newcastle, we took a day trip to Durham.
Durham is a small town of 40 – 50 000, about 20km from Newcastle. It has a big cathedral, a castle of its own (but its not a new castle), and many shopping malls. It also apparently has a hospital and a university.
The cathedral was quite nice. My favorite part was the Tomb of St Bede, that had a sculpture with some very interesting typography on it.
Here is a set of very good quality photos of the cathedral.
While we were in town I helped a few of the locals with a funeral. Luckily I was dressed for the part.
Sculpture in Durham
Parts of the downtown were quite nice, with narrow streets and stairs going down to the river which winds through the main part of town.
After leaving Scotland, we stayed in Newcastle for 2 days instead of returning to London directly
Newcastle is home to a great sculpture, The Angel of the North, designed by Anthony Gormley. It stands 20m tall and 54m wide, and can be seen for miles. When seen from a distance it is usually just a tiny thing, but up close it is very impressive.
Angel of the North
Angels of the North
We also went to see the Jim Carrey movie “Yes Man”, which was ok.
We took a one day bus trip to the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness.
It was a beautiful day, no rain, and mostly sunny. However, since it was the middle of winter, it was very cold, and got dark around 4pm.
On the way in, we stopped for lunch at a little shop / restaurant / tourist trap that had some of the best hoar frost I have see in a while.
Hoar Frost
We stopped at Castle Urquhart, which is on the shore of Loch Ness. It is the largest ruined castle in the UK. It is nice for a quick look, but everyone on the tour decided to do the boat tour of Loch Ness instead of a tour of the Castle. It was just a couple of walls after all.
Castle Urquhart, Loch Ness, Scotland
Loch Ness itself was ok. The bus driver had told us that it was a physical and biological impossibility for there to be a Loch Ness monster. Apparently there are 18 Loch Ness monsters, which provides enough of a population for sustainable breeding. Or maybe they are on the decline.
He also mentioned the Ogopogo monster in BC, and some other Loch Ness type monsters around the world, which I thought was kind of cool.
As it turns out we were lucky enough to get a sighting of these marvelous beasts.
Loch Ness Monster
The white note taped to the base of its nesk is a sign telling people not to touch or ride the monster. They are an endangered species after all…
We were in Edinburgh, Scotland for New Years.
Sarah booked a flash apartment for us to stay in with a few friends. It worked out cheaper than staying at a backpackers, and was a million times nicer. The view out our bedroom window was incredible.
Fantastic view from the bedroom window
We bought tickets to the massive block party on one of the main streets for New Years Eve. There was live music all night, and a good fireworks display at midnight.
The organisers had cleverly only put up 3 bars for 20 000 people, so there were many less drunk idiots than I expected. On the down side, people had to wait in line about an hour to buy an expensive beer, or wine in a glass, but I am starting to think that is what passes for a good time in the UK.
We went to Cambridge on a day trip.
The time eater
We saw this crazy clock on one of the main street corners. The grasshopper demon on the top is a Chronophage, or time eater. The first link has a cool video of the clock in action.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/18/corpus.clock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock
We also saw the university, many old buildings, a market, and the river, with people punting down it. Nothing else was as good as the clock though.
We saw this cool glass sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is 8.1m high, and weighs 1724kg. It was made by Dale Chihuly and his team in 2001 in Seattle. How do I know? I also took a photo of the informational plaque.
Sculpture by Dale Chihuly
It is hanging directly above the main information desk. I think I would be scared to work there, for fear of being crushed/impaled if the thing ever broke free.
Here is a picture of a 50 x 60 cm painting I just finished of Tori Amos. You should be able to find the source image pretty easily on google.
2008 10 06 - Tori Amos
I’m quite happy with the way the visual texture turned out. I particularly like the banding in the red, and the pencil lines that I left visible on her face.
This is also my 100th painting since I started keeping track a few years ago. I’m glad it turned out so well.
The photo is a bit shiny from the gloss finish I put on the painting.