Road Trip - Skywatch Friday

We are away in the South of France, in the Herault Department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region. We are staying in a most pleasant Villa in the small harbour town of Marseillan. More on this when we get back home to London on Monday.

Internet connection is not all that brilliant and far from convenient hence the absence of blogposts the past 10 days. Trust me on this one....later I will post a pic that will make that statement somewhat clearer. Of course we are also on vacation, so blogging has been lower on my list of things to do than might be usual. Likewise reading blogs - promise to catch up next week!

For Skywatch Friday I wish to share with you our road trip from London, some 1280 km/790 miles. See my last post for the map. So here follow some pics of our trip. Enjoy!

Sunrise as we approach Dover from where we caugt the ferry.

All aboard!

Aah, French motorways...

...and look at that sky!

We drove through some dramatic scenery....

...with huge skies and winding mountain roads....

...high up at elevations of 1100m/3600 feet above sea level!

At times one can see forever.

And on the road goes.....


..crossing the Millau Viaduct, the tallest vehicular bridge in the World.

More driving and closer to our destination.

Dropping down from the Massif Central....

...and here we are, near our Villa and the end of the road trip.

...the last stretch!

I hope you enjoyed the pics, most are driveby shots taken on the from the car, so excuse the odd smudge on the windscreen or reflection. More of our trip when we get home to London and our good interweb connection.

EDIT:

Yours truely outside in the driveway with the laptop on the roof of the car...the only place I could pick up a WiFi signal. This is a quiet rural spot after all!Thankful for the soft top!

Do check out Skywatch Friday for more from around the blogosphere.

Road Trip - My World Tuesday

Very early on Tuesday morning we will be stuffing our bags into the car and heading out onto the road in a generally southerly direction towards Dover, with a ferry ride to Calais and on to circumnavigate Paris, on through Orleans, through Clermont-Ferrand and on all the way to the South of France, to the sea!

More specifically we are heading to this villa....to that pool. If you look closely, that lounger on the left has my name on it. Not really, but you know what I mean.

This then our route from West London and 1280 km / 790 miles South all the way to the Med. Well so says Google maps.

We will travel on Motorways most of the way to eat up the miles, but this pic shows the local roads we will travel in exploring the area around our temporary new home.

The port of Marseillan, which will be our local town, looks rather fun doesn't it? We are so looking forward to the road trip and our change of scenery. Watch this space for some photo uploads and posts of local flavour fulfilling the "Euro" promise as eluded to in the title of this blog.

For more fun from around the blogoshere, check out My World Tuesday.

Kew Bridge - Skywatch Friday

A short walk along the Thames from my flat one comes to Kew Bridge, designed by John Wolfe-Barry and opened in 1903. The bridge was given Grade II listed structure protection in 1983.

Kew Bridge crosses the River Thames between Kew Green in Kew on the south bank and Strandon-the-Green in Chiswick on the north bank. It is immediately adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens on the Kew side of the river and the former Grand Junction Waterworks Company buildings, now Kew Bridge Steam Museum on the north. (That's the Tower as viewed from our flat.)

The bridge forms the connection between the South Circular and North Circular roads to the west of London, and is nearly always very congested.

To read more of the Wikipedia article click here.

I took this photo some weeks back on a not quite sunny day. Note the shrapnel damage from a bomb apparently dropped during World War 1.

This pic looks to the North shore with Brentford on the left and Chiswick on the right.

As the road the bridge carries is more often than not very busy with traffic it is safest to join the Thames path and go under the bridge and use the tunnel.

For more skies check out Skywatch Friday.

Festive Windows - My World Tuesday

A little business matter took me to W1, the West End today. To Wimpole and Queen Anne Streets, which is not far off Oxford Street and it was to there that I bussed, alighting a block before Selfridge's.


My walk passed Selfridges, Oxford Street, the second biggest department store in the UK, was deliberate. I had been told that the Seasonal Window displays were, well, on display!


So that's what you're getting as my contribution this week. Lots of fun, shiny, festive jolliness encouraging us all to do our bit to end the recession, oh and to spread a bit of seasonal cheer.


You must forgive the quality of some of the pics, a crowded street is not the best place to take pictures, shooting on the fly, dodging the masses as they go about their day. Add to that the obvious difficulties of the reflections in the windows which may well detract from some shots, but I also think they add a little of the flavour of the time and place....just look at them a little longer and you will see more and more.

Mirror, Mirror

Jack and the Beanstalk

Bottoms Up

Jean Genie

If the Shoe Fits

All the Better to Smell You With!

Who's Been Sitting in My Chair?

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Have a Bite

All the Better to EAT You With

To The Ball

Who's a Pretty Boy Then?

He's Behind You

Yes he is........No he Isn't

We're Off to London Town

Little Boy Blue

Boo....Hiss

For more contributions from around the Blogosphere check out My World Tuesday.

Random London - Skywatch Friday

Today as yesterday, I've been busy with stuff. Those little jobs, chores and housekeeping things that were put on hold while Mother was visiting and then again for my day off after she and her sister went back to Wales.

Eros at Piccadilli Circus, plus sky!

Strength regained and I've been really good and got as far as making a comprehensive list of all the things that need doing. Now I just need to find the time to actually do them. Kidding, I have actually worked through all but a few things and those outstanding will easily be done in the morning, then I will spend some quality time searching the interweb for a Gite or Villa, if you will, in the South of France. We have decided to jump in the car and head south for two weeks of relaxing by the sea. This brought on by the fact that FOH will no longer be working as of 8th November thanks to a little matter of a retrenchment.

A Black Cab

A list of requirements will now have be composed and of course on that list will have to be wifi, so that I can keep up with my blogging and bring you, my delightful readers, the sights, the seafood, the meals, the restaurants, the markets, the beaches and anything else I think might be of interest. So it will be a win win situation. I'll be having a great time in the South of France and you will be vicariously enjoying all the above in your very own home/office (delete as appropriate) at no extra cost and in some cases, no cost at all (Costs may vary depending on your subscription type, location, age and my mood).

A red double decker bus

Do please contain your excitement as I have yet to start the list of Villa requirements and we ought not to get ahead of ourselves and to that end, this weeks photographic offerings are some random London pics as found in a clean out of folders which was one task on that first list mentioned, which brings us full circle and seems like a good place to end this silly blog post, but not before I wish you all a good weekend.

The tube

For more skies be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

Evidence - My World Tuesday

As autumn makes it's presence felt, with evidence offered, we've had my Mother and her sister, my Aunt, staying with us for the past week. It has been great, but tiring. They are both in their late 70s, widows, fit, active, enjoying life and each others company. They have lived a world apart for the last 53 years with reciprocal visits every few years, so there's much news to catch up on and memories from way back to reminisce over. They seem to know an awful lot of dead people!

The conversation and laughter hasn't stopped for a moment. We've walked the Thames, we've shopped, seen some sights, enjoyed lunches out and dinners in. I've cooked myself silly with efforts enjoyed and appreciated. It's been hard work and all of this in our tiny little one bed flat where the living room must be converted from sitting room, to dining room to bedroom and back again each day.

I'm exhausted, but very happy for the time shared and the memories created. With special thanks to my ever patient FOH.

Along with the seasonal pics I must share with you the evidence of nocturnal visitations! Though I did not see, I am assured by Mother and Aunt that late one night they heard some strange noises. They peered out of the bedroom window to see 3 beautiful foxes playing in the flower beds, around the parking area and on my car!

Yep, those muddy footprints are too big for a cat.

Why on my car you may ask. Well, apart from the elevated position it may afford, it's the soft top, comfy and warm.

It's not the first time my car has experienced Foxly visitations. Before we moved to Canada, we lived on an island in the Grand Union Canal and I once saw 2 foxes in the basement parking sleeping on the roof of my car.

My arrival startled them and I was only able to catch this blurred pic of one of them, but proof they were in the basement. Urban foxes are very common in London and I love that.


For more from around the blogosphere check out My World Tuesday.

Big Shiny Balls - Skywatch Friday

This is the sky over the RA courtyard on Sunday afternoon.

As promised in my previous post, here is the Anish Kapoor display in the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Art. I know it's just a whole bunch of shiny silver orbs piled up high.

And at first that's all you see, as is similarly the case with much of his work, but standing there, seeing your own image repeated over and over again, sharing reflection space on the little shiny planets with fellow visitors, one starts to join in the fun of the object.

Waldemar Januszczak says it best in his Times Online article:

A column of giant silver balloons soars up from the RA’s courtyard as if set free by a party of very large schoolkids. Each of the silver balloons flashes a distorted reflection of the surrounding courtyard at us, creating a wonky totem pole of jumbled Academy vistas. It’s a bubbly and playful sight that seems to promise all the fun of the fair in the experience ahead. Kapoor has a telling talent for reminding our bodies of experiences they recognise from elsewhere. My guess is the inspiration for the courtyard piece was nothing more complicated than a day out with his children, buying helium balloons.


To read more of the article go here.

Indeed this installation is fun, and if you look closely you'll see me, in all manner of angles, snapping away. Of course one must also make mention of the the other star here being the RA building itself.

EDIT:
Do have a look at a live webcam of Anish Kapoor's "Shooting into the corner" here.

Wishing you all a great weekend and be sure to check out more skies at Skywatch Friday.

Anish Kapoor - My World Tuesday

Autumn is here and this is proof - notice the yellow leaves!

Well, after that bombshell, let me tell you that in order to recover from the shock.....okay, I'm pulling your leg. Well, the bit about the need to recover, oh and the bit about the shock. We knew autumn was here. That tree in a pot was just something that caught my eye when we attended the RA, otherwise known as The Royal Academy of Art.

Another pic I liked was this door.

The real reason for our visit to the RA was to see the solo exhibition of the internationally acclaimed artist and 1991 Turner Prize winner Anish Kapoor.

Of course you might have already guessed that. Those banners are a dead give away. That's the line-up/queue to get in to see the exhibition. As friends of the RA, we were able to avoid the queue and go right in and enjoy a cup of tea and delicious apple crumble in the private friends rooms before taking in the interesting, strange and thought provoking offerings of Mr. Kapoor.

Unfortunately photography is frowned upon inside the exhibition so I didn't get any pics, but there was some of his work on display in the courtyard and it is this that the folks are enjoying, but you'll have to come back on Friday for that. Have a good week all.

EDIT:
Do have a look at a live webcam of Anish Kapoor's "Shooting into the corner" here.

For more pics from around the blogosphere take a look at My World Tuesday.

Oh Henley - Skywatch Friday

This weeks Skywatch Friday is a continuation of last weeks drive to Henley and beyond into the Chiltern hills which can be seen here.

This chap gave us a long hard stare.

Onward we go along the narrow lanes

Trans-County crossing from Oxfordshire into Buckinghamshire

A really pretty scene of a really green village pond

Which way next?

Once in a while there's a view through the growth of the fields and valleys

Time to head back down the lanes to Henley

Back in Henley approaching the river

A view of the river

And once again the bridge over the Thames to the road that will take us home.

I hope you have enjoyed your trip.

For more skies from around the Blogosphere, check out Skywatch Friday.

Eco-Age, Going Green - My World Tuesday

Roof gardens are old hat and as beautiful as they may be, surprising they are not. Some weeks ago, while reacquainting myself with my much favoured and now local, Chiswick High Street, I saw a not entirely unknown concept, but a surprising sight none the less.



It's not the first time I've encountered a vertical garden a la Patrick Blanc, who is credited with introducing the world to the wonders of vertical gardening. I have actually featured one of his creations on this blog before which can be seen here. So once I'd made this discovery photographs were taken, followed of course, by some research.



Their website tells us:

Eco is an exciting new retail concept and the first of its kind – a store, showroom, consultancy and green hub that offers inspiration, ideas and specific domestic solutions for all those who want to lead a greener and more energy efficient life.



ECO is a new retail concept in Chiswick, London. Set up by Italian-born Nicola Giuggioli, his sister Livia Giuggioli, her husband, actor Colin Firth, and financier Ivo Coulson, and designed by architect Guy Stansfield, ECO brings together a carefully selected range of household products, appliances and building solutions that combine technology with good design. From ways to improve insulation and reduce energy-consumption to eco-friendly furniture, paints and wallpapers ECO is full of economic and stylish solutions.

Marvellous stuff me thinks.

For more interesting posts and pics, check out My World Tuesday.