Not to be out done, I seem to have my own store...
...and it sells kids' party clothes...!
Why, just for once, can't I be the cool one? Just once, that's all I ask!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Biggles DJs in NZ
Seems some people keep a few aces up their sleeve: I noticed that my friend Biggles was DJing in NZ. Well I never.
...and it sells kids' party clothes...!
Why, just for once, can't I be the cool one? Just once, that's all I ask!
...and it sells kids' party clothes...! Why, just for once, can't I be the cool one? Just once, that's all I ask!
Barefoot boxing
Auckland - Nov 3, 2006
I emerged from Auckland airport to witness the sunrising on the southern hemisphere, slightly unnerved that Nov 2 had escaped me somewhere en route. From this point on I was following the traditional plan - push on and see what happens. On the Skybus into town I carefully reviewed my accommodation options and used the tried and tested method of selecting one - pick the first in the list.
First impressions of Auckland:
1. There seem to be a number of people without shoes (and not homeless and not crusty hippy types either), just padding about barefoot out of choice. I have to say they usually weren't wearing suits atop. (This phenomenon got out of control further down in the south island.)
2. There are a similarly large number of people carrying cardboard boxes. So many so that I noticed it and it started to fascinate me. Maybe it's a bit like when you're a kid and your parents got a new car (well, usually secondhand but new to them anyway) and all of a sudden the roads seem to be packed with the same make and model. Who knows? Certainly not me.
Rather like with the Mexican Goths of Morelia I was a little too shy to whip the camera out and snap these two strange facets of Auckland life.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Memo to self: do not take up a career as a journalistic photographer
"Errr..sorry to bother you, would you mind if I took a picture...silly question, of course you would...sorry...how crass of me...please forgive me...here, have a Milky Bar...I won't trouble you any more...I'm off now...sorry...forget I ever asked..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Instead, here are a couple of snaps of the city of Auckland. If you look hard, I'm sure you'll see someone barefoot and carrying a box.
Downtown in the City of Sails, so called because everyday there's at least one shop that has discounted the price of its wares. [Must have a word about the spelling error with the City Council.]
A volcanic crater (I forget the name of it...let's call it Tongatingariro) looking north to the city
PS How sad is it that I'm doing this on Christmas Day? I think it's time for a sherry.
I emerged from Auckland airport to witness the sunrising on the southern hemisphere, slightly unnerved that Nov 2 had escaped me somewhere en route. From this point on I was following the traditional plan - push on and see what happens. On the Skybus into town I carefully reviewed my accommodation options and used the tried and tested method of selecting one - pick the first in the list.
First impressions of Auckland:
1. There seem to be a number of people without shoes (and not homeless and not crusty hippy types either), just padding about barefoot out of choice. I have to say they usually weren't wearing suits atop. (This phenomenon got out of control further down in the south island.)
2. There are a similarly large number of people carrying cardboard boxes. So many so that I noticed it and it started to fascinate me. Maybe it's a bit like when you're a kid and your parents got a new car (well, usually secondhand but new to them anyway) and all of a sudden the roads seem to be packed with the same make and model. Who knows? Certainly not me.
Rather like with the Mexican Goths of Morelia I was a little too shy to whip the camera out and snap these two strange facets of Auckland life.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Memo to self: do not take up a career as a journalistic photographer
"Errr..sorry to bother you, would you mind if I took a picture...silly question, of course you would...sorry...how crass of me...please forgive me...here, have a Milky Bar...I won't trouble you any more...I'm off now...sorry...forget I ever asked..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Instead, here are a couple of snaps of the city of Auckland. If you look hard, I'm sure you'll see someone barefoot and carrying a box.
Downtown in the City of Sails, so called because everyday there's at least one shop that has discounted the price of its wares. [Must have a word about the spelling error with the City Council.]
A volcanic crater (I forget the name of it...let's call it Tongatingariro) looking north to the cityPS How sad is it that I'm doing this on Christmas Day? I think it's time for a sherry.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
I seem to be missing a day
I left San Francisco on 1 Nov, 2006 and arrived in NZ on the 3 Nov, 2006. So, did anyone see what happened to Nov 2, 2006? If so, drop me a note and let me know how it all panned out as it slipped me by!
Merry Christmas One & Ball
A very merry Christmas to all of you. More to the point, haven't you got something better to be doing during Yuletide than read this nonsense? Surely you should be bickering with your siblings over why you shouldn't put empty After Eight wrappers back in the box or checking Aunt Maude hasn't swallowed her top set after downing half a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream and crashing out on the rattan couch (it's in the conservatory...quick, go check)?
Regardless, thanks for checking in. Here are some delightful Christmas decs in honour of Mr Susan - my MIRROR BALLS! Look at them shine...look at the shine...look at them shine...look at them shine...ooh that's cold...look at them shine...
Merry merry and tinsel to you all!
[Don't worry Declan & Jules, I hung them back up - no damage.]
Regardless, thanks for checking in. Here are some delightful Christmas decs in honour of Mr Susan - my MIRROR BALLS! Look at them shine...look at the shine...look at them shine...look at them shine...ooh that's cold...look at them shine...
Merry merry and tinsel to you all![Don't worry Declan & Jules, I hung them back up - no damage.]
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Scribblings & tunes
Reading took a distinct back seat during my San Francisco sojourn. Here's what I was eyeballing and grooving to:
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka: not as boring as the name might suggest
Four Great Tragedies (Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo & Juliet) - Shakespeare: on going a bit like Bobo's Book of Modern Coin Magic, a book that might circumnavigate the world - now that's magic
The Confidential Agent - Graham Greene: not one of Greene's best but still a great dark read
And sounds:
Belle & Sebastian - Life Pursuit: unlike most B&S I've come across, a bit more beat-centric (what does that mean?...errr...a bit more beaty?)
The Delays - You See Colours: not as classic as the album I was convinced would be the sound track to the 2004 Olympics (it wasn't) but a gem none-the-less
Guillemots - From The Cliffs: dubious mention of dragons
Zero 7 - The Garden: at first a bit forgettable but then, that's why it's a creeper
Still no sign of Herman Melville's Moby Dick: a great white whale.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka: not as boring as the name might suggest
Four Great Tragedies (Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo & Juliet) - Shakespeare: on going a bit like Bobo's Book of Modern Coin Magic, a book that might circumnavigate the world - now that's magic
The Confidential Agent - Graham Greene: not one of Greene's best but still a great dark read
And sounds:
Belle & Sebastian - Life Pursuit: unlike most B&S I've come across, a bit more beat-centric (what does that mean?...errr...a bit more beaty?)
The Delays - You See Colours: not as classic as the album I was convinced would be the sound track to the 2004 Olympics (it wasn't) but a gem none-the-less
Guillemots - From The Cliffs: dubious mention of dragons
Zero 7 - The Garden: at first a bit forgettable but then, that's why it's a creeper
Still no sign of Herman Melville's Moby Dick: a great white whale.
Stunned!
Just heard yesterday that Tio Jim has died. He was having a hip replacement operation in Mexico and died due to complications. Totally stunned - he was so fit and vital. Seems unreal that I was there only two months ago staying with him & Bettina, laughing and really enjoying life. Bloody harsh.
Here's a picture I'll cherish.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Obituary from the Guadalajara Reporter (23/12/2006):
James Rigby
Longtime Lakeside resident James Rigby died suddenly December 14 after suffering complications from a surgical procedure. He was 67.
Rigby was born in Liverpool, England in 1939. After spending the years of World War II on the Isle of Man with his family, he returned to Liverpool in 1946 to study prep school, later continuing his education at Stonyhurst College. He received a law degree in England and went on to study international law at the Sorbonne in Paris. He practiced law briefly in San Francisco, California and later in Vancouver, Canada where he also earned his pilot’s license. He then embarked on an extraordinary worldwide adventure, beginning with a tour by sports car down the Pan-American Highway through Mexico, Central and South America.
During an extended stay in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) he was involved in the founding of Silveira House, a distinguished Catholic social institution to teach the poor self-sufficiency through agriculture.Rigby later traveled through India and Afghanistan by bus and by camel, and then to Palestine, Israel and Europe. After three years on the road, he decided to settle in Mexico in 1970. It was a country that attracted him with its irresistible beauty. He moved to the Chapala area in 1979 to take up strawberry farming and later launched into exporting tropical fruit products.
Rigby was a great athlete throughout his life, playing rugby and cricket as a youth and becoming an avid tennis player and golfer in his later years. Above all, he was a devoted family man who advised his offspring to live by the tenet: “We are only in this world to increase the love that is around us; all the rest is nothing more than mundane trappings."
Rigby is survived by his devoted wife Bettina; two daughters, Marianne Rigby of Luis Obispo, California and Gabriela Rigby of Ajijic, both by his first wife Annabelle Fernandez, of Guadalajara. He also leaves behind three young grandsons and two brothers, Mark Rigby of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos and Paul Rigby of Ottawa, Canada.
Family and many friends gathered to bid him farewell at a funeral mass celebrated Friday, December 15 at Ajijic’s San Andres church. Gifts in his memory will be welcomed by the Mision San Pablo home for children who have lost their parents to AIDS, a charity which he and his wife have supported with great dedication.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here's a picture I'll cherish.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Obituary from the Guadalajara Reporter (23/12/2006):
James Rigby
Longtime Lakeside resident James Rigby died suddenly December 14 after suffering complications from a surgical procedure. He was 67.
Rigby was born in Liverpool, England in 1939. After spending the years of World War II on the Isle of Man with his family, he returned to Liverpool in 1946 to study prep school, later continuing his education at Stonyhurst College. He received a law degree in England and went on to study international law at the Sorbonne in Paris. He practiced law briefly in San Francisco, California and later in Vancouver, Canada where he also earned his pilot’s license. He then embarked on an extraordinary worldwide adventure, beginning with a tour by sports car down the Pan-American Highway through Mexico, Central and South America.
During an extended stay in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) he was involved in the founding of Silveira House, a distinguished Catholic social institution to teach the poor self-sufficiency through agriculture.Rigby later traveled through India and Afghanistan by bus and by camel, and then to Palestine, Israel and Europe. After three years on the road, he decided to settle in Mexico in 1970. It was a country that attracted him with its irresistible beauty. He moved to the Chapala area in 1979 to take up strawberry farming and later launched into exporting tropical fruit products.
Rigby was a great athlete throughout his life, playing rugby and cricket as a youth and becoming an avid tennis player and golfer in his later years. Above all, he was a devoted family man who advised his offspring to live by the tenet: “We are only in this world to increase the love that is around us; all the rest is nothing more than mundane trappings."
Rigby is survived by his devoted wife Bettina; two daughters, Marianne Rigby of Luis Obispo, California and Gabriela Rigby of Ajijic, both by his first wife Annabelle Fernandez, of Guadalajara. He also leaves behind three young grandsons and two brothers, Mark Rigby of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos and Paul Rigby of Ottawa, Canada.
Family and many friends gathered to bid him farewell at a funeral mass celebrated Friday, December 15 at Ajijic’s San Andres church. Gifts in his memory will be welcomed by the Mision San Pablo home for children who have lost their parents to AIDS, a charity which he and his wife have supported with great dedication.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Hallowed exit to San Fran
San Francisco, October 31, 2006
Halloween, a time for ghosts, ghouls and foul fiends to run amok. John Bunyan would have loved it - deviant! Halloween is BIG in the States, bigger than I could ever imagine. For the kids, there's trick or treating where they go around predominantly the neighbourhood shops and receive bountiful supplies of all things sugary and guaranteed to make you sick.
There seems less of an element of tricking than I was used to in my youth - shoving an apple up the exhaust pipe of Mr Allsop's Morris 1100 or simply burning down Mr Gorman's allotment shed. As I recall we often wouldn't give the victims a chance of offering a truce enducing treat. On occasion we would do the tricking at other times of the year just to keep people on their toes. In the States it's more of a marketing exercise for local enterprise than anything - sweets packaged up with promo labels. Particularly ironic was the sweet parcels being handed out by the local dentist, a bit like a doctor decorating the street with banana skins!
Halloween is also massive for the adults in San Francisco in the form of a Halloween parade in the Castro area (the gay area of the city but attended by all sorts of Bunyan types like Dafydd Morris). I decided against going on account of my discomfort in large crowds. Quite glad - 10 people were shot in a...well...shooting incident.
Halloween, a time for ghosts, ghouls and foul fiends to run amok. John Bunyan would have loved it - deviant! Halloween is BIG in the States, bigger than I could ever imagine. For the kids, there's trick or treating where they go around predominantly the neighbourhood shops and receive bountiful supplies of all things sugary and guaranteed to make you sick.
There seems less of an element of tricking than I was used to in my youth - shoving an apple up the exhaust pipe of Mr Allsop's Morris 1100 or simply burning down Mr Gorman's allotment shed. As I recall we often wouldn't give the victims a chance of offering a truce enducing treat. On occasion we would do the tricking at other times of the year just to keep people on their toes. In the States it's more of a marketing exercise for local enterprise than anything - sweets packaged up with promo labels. Particularly ironic was the sweet parcels being handed out by the local dentist, a bit like a doctor decorating the street with banana skins!
Halloween is also massive for the adults in San Francisco in the form of a Halloween parade in the Castro area (the gay area of the city but attended by all sorts of Bunyan types like Dafydd Morris). I decided against going on account of my discomfort in large crowds. Quite glad - 10 people were shot in a...well...shooting incident.
And so ended Phase III. Here are some farewell snaps of San Francisco:
Baz in Vesuvio bar in North Beach with two of his work colleagues not looking too happy with the company. A typical San Francisco street, you can almost sense Steve McQueen from Bullitt in his green Mustang.
View of the city from Twin Peaks (nothing to do with the David Lynch series) and a rather cool tram. On the whole the trams were rather cool...and cheap...and jolly.
Castro area where Dafyyd Morris types like to hang out. Another jolly coloured tram.
The woody interior of a tram. I think I'm a bit tram obsessed. Oh heck.
Just round the corner from Hotel St Paul was Jack Kerouac Street and on the corner is the bar Vesuvio, a Beat hangout where Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassidy and probably Allen Ginsberg & Ken Kesey too would get roaring and spout Beat nonsense or total sense depending on your standpoint. I liked On The Road, seems a bit fitting for my current lifestyle (but don't worry Mum, without the amphetamines).
So here I am at San Francisco Airport, November 1, 2006 bound for Auckland NZ and phase IV of the trip. Blew the last of my US$ on sushi and a margarita. On on.
Marin County - home of mountain biking
Marin County - October 26, 2006
For years man has tried to fly. And then he realised it was easier to zoom downhill on an old clunker with fat tyres and gay abandon (whoever she is). Marin County, CA was where it all started. I went on a wee pilgrimage.
A sea gull bidding me 'bon chance' on my epic cycle venture and the steed that was going to take me on my journey of discovery.
Over Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin County. Ooh, that's a nice view of San Francisco behind. Take a snap! I have. Good.
Ah. Wrong turn and a scary tunnel. Take a pic. I'm trying, alright! Oh look, boats.
...and a plane, on the water. Terrific. And giant orange Maltesers.
The ferry back from Tiburon. We all know what we do on ferries...have a pivo.
Prisoners escaping en masse from Altcatraz in a flotilla of small sailing craft. Well I never...
Back into the city. That was fun.
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