Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the tag “weather”

12 Oct 2012
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Lucinda Belle Orchestra. Amazing, underrated, consistent and fun


This is the third time that I have had the priviledge of seeing the LBO this year and the second at this same venue. On a miserable wet rainy night the venue was packed and LBO gave another excellent performance. Lucinda Belle is like a lead guitarist and singer except she has no guitar. Her instrument is the Harp which she plays sometimes slow and melodically and sometimes like a rock musician. This band are excellent and deserve to become famous. They sit on that cusp where their fans fill the venues but more media attention is needed. Perhaps the next album due out in early 2013 will do this. the songs from the new album are going to be even better than their first album and last night certainly were played with more emotion. The set was superb, the musicians were superb and sometimes there is a danger of forgetting that a whole band produces the amazing sound. Sheldon Conrich stood out last night not only as a singer, but also as a vocalist he is not too shabby either. He has great stage presence. This was a great set that we all enjoyed. I guess we all need to spread the word and tell others that this band is worth listening to. LBO play a few ( 2 in fact last night) covers, but really a few other bands would do well to play covers of the LBO songs.

The LBO sometimes has a different line-up due to space restrictions and no doubt monetary ones too but the sound is always the same.  Great band, great evening and great chance that they will move onwards and upwards. A word of advice. If you get the chance go and see this band. They are on the cusp of achieving something special. I really hope they just fall over that cusp and end up being as famous as they deserve. Shame that none of the newspapers reported this concert today, shame for them that is. 

A word of advice. If you get the chance go and see this band. They are on the cusp of achieving something special. I really hope they just fall over that cusp and end up being as famous as they deserve. Shame that none of the newspapers reported this concert today, shame for them that is.

Lucinda Belle Orchestra

Lucinda Belle Orchestra

 

Sheldon Conrich

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01 Oct 2012

Cycling from London to Istanbul for Charity 4500 kms. Aeriel view of where they cycled – sort of.


Just to remind anyone, a group of Exeter students including my son Charles Bushe cycled to Istanbul in temperatures of often 40 degrees this summer. The 13 cyclists did an incredible thing to raise money for Help for Heroes. Below I have reposted what i originally wrote. But today i flew back from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to london and for most of the journey the plane followed the route that they cycled. it took them around 40 days and the plane around 5 hours to do that stretch. I hope these photos remind folks what an epic thing that was to do. the quality is not good as they were taken with the humble i Phone 4S.

A week ago on 26th July 13 students from the University of Exeter commenced a 4500km cycle to Istanbul. Why? To support Help for Heroes. Many of these students had just completed their degree and graduated 2 weeks before. Somehow they found time to train,organise and generally prepare for this strenous trip. Aside from the obvious physical aspects there were numerous other planning aspects to consider. For example how to spend as little as possible on the trip, as this would reduce the sponsorship amounts for the charity. So, they spend most nights in tents and some nights in cheap hostels. The van they were donated is not of the Formula 1 category and rather like a beached whale is not deemed well enough to migrate the Alps, so will go around and meet the cyclists on the other side. To date they have reached Lyons and are having a well deserved rest day. My son Charles Bushe texted that he had spent a good day but things like washing needed to be done. They will have finished and be back in UK on September 8th. They deserve as much support as is possible. Even if you can only donate £1 then please do so and also importantly please pass on this message so that others can donate.

They are all good folks and already it is clear that they have bonded well together and are supporting each other when needed. For example the first day of their cycle down to Folkestone the temperature was well into the 30′s C, and there were obvious heat problems. A couple of them have had minor injuries such as a fall and tendonitis but they all keep going.

The links are below.

http://www.justgiving.com/Charles-Bushe  for Charles

 

for the others they can all be accessed here.

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/London-Istanbul2012

 

So, even if it appears a very small sum of money do please donate and help them to collect a decent sum for Help for Heroes. Do not forget that all the weather we have had here they have had too and have continued to cycle! Even Charles 11 year old sister has donated 5£ of her pocket money. Charles also gave up his olympic tickets to see the weightlifting to go on this cycle. Many thanks and again please pass this on to all that you know.

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16 Sep 2012

Sutton 1 Havant and Waterlooville 1


I do try and be positive about football particularly as it costs good money to get in, in fact this game cost 12£ to get in ( only 2£ for children), 2.50£ for a programme ( not really worth it, full of adverts and little real information or news) and 3£ for a burger. But this really was one of the worst football games that I have seen for some while. Let me try and itemise my grief:

  1. Many/most of the players did  not look fully fit. Some looked considerably unfit and overweight.
  2. The style of both teams was kick and run, followed by kick and dont bother to run. There were significant areas of the pitch that were unused all game
  3. Both goals were of a shabby kind. The own goal scored by Sutton was patently ridiculous. The keeper could and should ( and maybe did) call for the ball, instead the centre half seemingly made a decent finish in his own net. The sutton goal was kind of ridiculous. The ball ricocheted around in the box, hitting random players and the posts and eventually somehow went in.
  4. Neither team tried to play football as I know it

In fact this game was one of the most dire games I have seen for many years. Even at this early stage of the season I can confidently predict that both these teams will be at the wrong end of the table.

On the positive side though, this is a great little ground to watch football in but it does help if you a Sat Nav to help you meander your way to the toilets. They are complex to find. Worth a visit, but maybe on a different day. I will come back later this season and see whats changed.

Clarke Masters, Havant goalkeeper. Ex Brentford

Sutton Goalkeeper

Missed the ball

 

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25 Aug 2012
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What a bad day in Cayman looks like!


No sign of wind nor rain nor hurricane Issac this morning.

This is what a bad day on Grand Cayman looks like

Bad day in Cayman

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23 Aug 2012

Grand Cayman Turtle Farm. The debate – a great place to go and no-one forces turtle burgers to be eaten


There is an inherent danger in listening to people. People have differing and sometimes odd views on any topic. Our plan to go to the Turtle farm was challenged when we heard rumours that visitors were almost forcibly encouraged to eat Turtle burgers ( they are on the menu here), that there was rampant cruelty to turtles and that it would cost 50$ each ( presumably in Cayman Dollars, so US Dollars 60$).

Over a large and some might say excessive breakfast, we decided to go as we have the hire car ( and they are not cheap) and we would take a chance. We were right. The turtle farm is a great place to go. No-one cared if we went anywhere near a restaurant there, the total price for 2 adults and a child was 92$ US ( and that trust me is cheap for Cayman Islands and is about the cost to watch a Brentford home game) and we saw nothing to worry us at all regarding turtle management. What we did see however was amazing.

A huge lagoon with depths and shallows was nicely set up with various land areas to allow swimmers, with snorkels and masks ( free by the way) to swim around if we wished from 11 am to 2.30pm. One swims with turtles and loads of fish. The turtles swim close to you. My worrying finding was that turtles swim faster than me. So my chances for Rio Olympics have gone, but maybe those for the turtles remains. This was the best 2 and1/2 hours of my holiday. Then there were education centres, pools where the turtles could be watched and handled.

Lastly if you plan to go this is the only place on Grand Cayman that asks for Photo ID when using a credit card. An unusual but occasional occurrence abroad. For some unspecified reason using an American Express card gave a 20% discount. So a positive plug for Amex

Turtles

More turtles

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13 Aug 2012

The Olympic Two Weeks have to go down as one of life’s great events. No exagerration


Having been in korea for the first 3 days of the olympics and hence being the only person on this planet who never saw the opening ceremony, I was looking forward to see ing the olympics in a casual and moderately interested way. The trip however to the olympic stadium, seeing the excitement , the gamesmakers smiling at people they did not know, the thousands of happy souls wandering around, changed it all. We felt part of it and not just a specatator. It was also the day that I fell in love with women’s hockey. Not just because it was Team GB playing but because the game itself was so devoid of all the nonsense that surrounds football. It was fast, no time-wasting, no cynical fouls, little dissent, when balls went out they were replaced immediately and in each 35 minutes one got just that 35 minutes . The crowd also were supporting,enjoying, with none of that alcoholic swagger and swearing. Watching on TV then became de rigeur and the Equestrian jumping event was the second huge surprise. Greenwich Park was a natural venue where the towers of the city contrasted with the victorian buildings. The light that day was also amzing with the sky as dark as night.

I have loved every minute of the olympics. The closing ceremony must go down as one of the most magical and enchanting events ever. A spectacle that had to be seen to be believed.

The joy of winning

ghosts in the goal

A swing

The Riverbank Stadium

 

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24 Apr 2012

Rainbows


The strange thing about where we live is that we have always had a lot of rainbows. More than most places. I have no idea why. They come in the exact same place each time and if I were not too tired now I would sift through all my old files to find the photos from years gone by of the old rainbows just to prove a point. Anyway beautiful they are.

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06 Feb 2012

Painshill Park, Cobham


Painshill is a place that I have been coming to for over 10 years. It may be my  favourite place in  the United kingdom. Each season makes it seem so different. I am guessing here but if you look back through this blog over the last 8 months there will be a fair few hits about Painshill. Sunday as the ice and snow was melting on the paths i captured the bleak side of Painshill. The lake was frozen with slush on the top and hence the “geeseprints”. enjoy and do please visit.

Birdprints mean bird was here

Geeseprints on the lake

Cold Goose

A bleak wintry Painshill

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04 Feb 2012

Breakfast From the Co-op New Malden


A very cold day in UK. About freezing all day and will fall later with promises of snow even to reach London. All football locally cancelled. The only option was a trip to wycombe v Tranmere. This I declined for various reasons that include, all games usually get called off at Adams Park , not exciting opponents and the nonsense trying to park near the ground at Wycombe. So stuck watching TV and being grateful to Sky. So not much to blog about today. The only real news is that i bought tickets and booked hotel to visit Cayman Islands later this year and bought also a nice breakfast from the Co-op. the latter sounds strange but trust me their bread is better than all other supermarkets and their rolls are delicious. they now do tiger bread rolls, which all three of us consume rapidly. My only other sensible comment today is that blueberries are a very underrated fruit.

Breakfast selection from the New Malden Co-op

Breakfast

Frosty Car

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