I finally got around to visiting Stonehenge. And Woodhenge, which is less well preserved.

Popped up to Leeds to watch the 4-1 thrashing of Southend this weekend. Since I got up there really early (and thus bought my ticket before the massive queues that delayed kick-off by 15 mins) I drove over to Knaresborough to see Mother Shipton's Cave (warning: annoying sound) before the game.

The story of Mother Shipton is pretty much fake, but the petrifying “well” there is interesting - and you have to have some respect for Richard Head (nicknamed Dick?) who seemingly invented the tourist trap...

Some pics of the place are now on the flickr.

I got the redundancy today

Ah... back from two weeks in the Big Apple. Got to see a few people I haven't seen in a while, but missed a couple of others who were sadly unavailable.

Didn't really get to see many sights, since I'd already done most of the touristy stuff when I lived there - though I did get down to the Brooklyn Museum which was having a 9/11 exhibit. Dressed up as Alex from A Clockwork Orange for one Hallowe'en party (albeit in his later years when he'd really let himself go). That's a real bowler hat though - not some plastic thing. I got it from a hat shop on Fulton street which also sold the greatest pimp hats ever. I also went to another party as a football hooligan - but that was just me wearing a Leeds sweatshirt.

A rare family gathering this last weekend, three generations under one roof. At least until we went over to Stourhead House to see the Gardens:

Stourhead garden was created by Henry Hoare II in the 1740s. The River Stour was dammed to form a great lake. Around the lake Hoare laid out a landscape garden to entrance his guests with stunning views and pacify them with serene walking pleasure.

As the garden developed, he added classical features, such as the Temple of Flora, the Pantheon, the Temple of Apollo and Gothic ruins to enhance the series of splendid and unexpected vistas.

Pics are up on Flickr. In addition, there's a couple of videos I made on You Tube. They're having a extra special (as in Ralph Wiggum special) art exhibit there at the moment called Beauty and the Beast, which largely features the rape of the existing art around the lake with ill-judged modern art pieces such as a polystyrene version of one of the existing statues, a flattened Mini propped up on a tree, some rubber tubes masquerading as a fake island (liked by the local birds at least - though they had crapped all over it), a few cheaply made water bottle labels inspired by thirteen conversations the artist had with people in the gardens or a bronze bust called the Head of Christ carelessly plonked in the middle of a tribute to Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods. Only one piece seemed to garner some positive reviews (and I'm including the staff of the gardens in this - the guide in the Parthenon who had to sit with the Head of Chris for hours was positively scathing) was David Toop's musical additions to the Grotto - which is what the two videos are of.

OK, so: we're off to the Emerald Isle for the wedding of my friend and ex-colleague Siobhan and her globe-trotting husband Rob. Here's what happens when I fly somewhere...

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I've posted up most of the pics I took in Scotland up on Flickr. Those featuring family members are private so if you really want to see the few pics of Granny drop me a line with your Flickr ID if you're not already in the friends and family section...

This was the price of petrol per litre up around John o' Groats.



Though some of the prices of the less commonly used forms of vehicular power were actually over the £1/litre mark, I think there's an unspoken barrier of 99.9p the garages stick to for unleaded.

Back home. Got tired of the speed of posting over bluetooth - couldn't get more than 9.6k

Will post more pics and stuff when I've recharged the batteries, both mine and the camera's.

I Got back to Inverness late last night - but in time to watch House. Between the previous posts I stopped off at Canisbay Church to see the grave of Jan de Groot, after whom John o' Groats was named. Then I drove back via Thurso and down the A897, a single track lane down a river valley. Just after leaving Dunnet Head I noticed I'd hit 90,001 miles on the car's odometer. Guess I'll have to book it in for a service when I'm back.