No Sauce in Herring Hell

I opened a can of John West "Herring Fillets in Tomato Sauce" this morning, only to find the herring was sauceless!! No sauce!! Unsatisfactory. This is the second such can in the past week. I took a photo:

Fred Trueman

Imagine being a batsman and having to face this?! Yorkshiremen know how to bend their backs!

Clouds

I took these photos on my iphone. The same piece of sky, five days apart. Nice pics.

Storm coming

Early evening

London Sculpture

I wanted to show some more London photos. It seems the link here is public sculpture, of which London is overflowing. Everywhere you look, there is some piece of sculpture or monument.

Latest ICC Rankings

Cricinfo.com:

Australia have dropped to fifth place in the ICC Test rankings following their 2-0 series defeat in India and are placed below England for the first time since the rankings were introduced in 2003.


Australia and India entered the two-Test series on 113 and 127 points and the hosts' wins in Mohali and Bangalore earned them three more points, taking them 11 clear of South Africa, who are in second place.
In contrast, Australia conceded three points and slipped to 110, two behind England. It is their lowest ranking ever. However, they will have the opportunity to reclaim fourth place when England travel to Australia for the Ashes in November.

Is this an accurate reflection of world cricket? Whatever one may think, the forthcoming Ashes series is looming as the most exciting in decades.

Back Home: Trains, Planes and Automobiles

We are finally back home, after a 40 hour journey!! Trains from Halifax to London, planes from England to Australia, bus from Sydney to Newcastle. 40 hours!! Words cannot describe how exhausting this was.

I am typing this in the public library because my computer is not working at the moment. According to my computer-genius teenage son, the problem is either a "start-up virus" or a "logic bomb". I'll leave it to you to Google those terms. Personaly, I have no idea what it all means. Suffice to say that any more holiday photographs will have to wait until I get the computer fixed.

Until that happy day, stay tuned.

From London to Halifax

After the sprawl and noise of London, we made our way north to visit my home town of Halifax. I hadn't been back in 33 years! Nothing much had changed - the same cobbled streets, every street with a pub. I explored the parks in which I played as a boy and viewed the homes in which I lived. An emotional time.



Halifax's famous Piece Hall, shrouded in early morning fog



Images of Yorkshire, taken by yours truly

On the second day we rode a steam train to the village of Goathland, better known in the TV series "Heartbeat" as Aidensfield. 



A common sight in rural Yorkshire



Stay tuned for more to come.

Day 10 and 11. The Story Continues.

Day 10 - Legoland and Windsor Castle

Everything in the images above are made entirely of Lego!

The following picture of Windsor Castle was taken from the window of a tour bus.

Not bad for a split second shot.

On Day 11 we went to Harrods, one of the most famous and exclusive department stores on the world.

The food hall at Harrods, home of the finest chocolates and cakes in the world.

In the afternoon we decided to go back to the Tower of London. This time we paid to get inside and see the crown jewels! They are amazing, but no photography is allowed in the Jewel Vault. However, the tower also has an amazing collection of armour and weapons used by British kings.

Armour worn by Henry VIII

Armour and weapons used by James II.

The axe and block used for beheadings!

Stay tuned for more.



Days 6 - 9. It's All Happening!

Day 6 was something different. We had lunch with an old friend in Hamstead. A lovely little village/suburb on the outskirts of London, the town features John Keats’ house (in which one can see the bed in which he first coughed up tubercular blood). Nearby is the enormous Hamstead Heath. Beautiful and wild. It rained on this day, but it was a light misty rain which made the Heath even more beautiful.

Keats' House

Day 7 – We went to Baker Street, saw the Sherlock Holmes Museum and The Beatles Store, London Zoo, Lord’s Cricket Ground and Camden Markets. Sam, however, detoured to Madame Tussauds, where she suffered massive crowds and long queues. I think I got the better deal!

The Home of The Game

Sherlock Holmes Museum

The canal near London Zoo. Isn't this pretty?

Day 8 – Sam And I went to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

The Guards' Band.

Sam and I stood in a crush of spectators for an hour, but we had a prime position.

See how close we are to the spectacle?

Photo taken with camera pushed through the railings at the front of the palace.

Yours truly before the Bridge.

We crossed over the Bridge, which is much bigger than one imagines.

Day 9 – Sam left London, flying out of Heathrow. Then I visited Trafalger Square, Nelson’s Column and the National Gallery. This gallery is stuffed full of masterpieces by Rembrandt, Leonardo, Turner, Van Gogh, Raphael, Titian, etc. Stunning. And overwhelming.

The National Gallery

One of four lions at the base of Nelson's Column.

Stay tuned for more!

Day 4 and Day 5 in London

Samantha tells me that I’ve got my days wrong. We’ve been so busy I’ve lost track of time. On Day 4 we visited the South Bank, exploring the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The Tate Modern is housed in an old power station, and the interior reconditioning is stunning. Artists: Monet, Picasso, Bacon, Pollock, Rothko, Dali, Warhol, etc. Too much to see, actually, in a couple of hours. A few days are required! The Globe was packed full of tourists, so we didn’t linger. Impressive though.

The Tate Modern used to be an old power station

Some of the brilliant art works at the Tate

Shakespeare's Globe

We explored the Science Museum and Natural History Museum on Day 5. In the afternoon we walked through some beautiful parks: Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and saw the Royal Albert Hall. The Science Museum resembles the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Unique attractions include a V2 rocket, Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes, and lots of hands-on science displays for little boys. Cool! Dinosaur skeletons and stuffed dodos in the Natural History Museum. A lot of people here, but it was a Saturday.

Me and a V2 rocket

Stay tuned for more!

Days 3 and 4 in London

After shopping and settling in on day 1, we proceeded to see some stuff on days 2 and 3:

Westminster Abbey

Visitors are not allowed to take photos in the Abbey, so I can't show you the interior. Suffice to say: if you ever come to London, you must see inside this building. Stunning. Well worth the £15 entry fee. 

The most important people have worked in this Abbey, with the most important jobs!

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (and Big Steve).

Not everyone in London is a happy cockney.

The London Eye is an incredible peice of engineering.

We had lunch here. And a few beers. And a snack. And more beer...

The Abbey

The Palace

We are about ten minutes walk from the Queen's gaff.

I'm proud of this photo.

We went shopping later:



More to come. Stay tuned!

London Calling

This is a pic of our room. The hotel in which we are staying is old, falling apart, but the location - in the heart of the city near Buckingham Palace - is brilliant.

The view from our lounge window - Sunrise in London:

On our first day we had to visit Victoria tube station. I needed to spend a penny. But I needed 30 of them! Look at this:

A great way to end the day. Daughter Samantha and Father Riley at "The Bag 'O Nails" pub: