Monday, May 21, 2007 

Blogspot One Year Anniversary

It has been one whole year since this blog started life! Hooray! See how he's grown:

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And to think it started life as just one of those little cyber-blobs :)

I'm rather proud :P

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 

Portakabin, I mean, Concorde Visit.

Today I visited the Concorde laid to rest at Filton Airfeild, the very last one to fly (#216-AF). Instead of tickets we had cute little boarding passes, and there were airport style announcements to let visitors know what was going on. The people who run the museum are really passionate about Concorde because they used to work on the original project and know literally everything about it and have some funny stories to tell;

Once, one of the chaps, went in the airtake whilst hydraulic power was on, despite the sign advising the contrary! Oh how we laughed.

Danger - Do not use for access...

Also, there was a short mini-bus tour of the airfield itself, taking in the sites. Infact, Filton Airfield is the Europe's Second Largest site for the number of portakabins.

And as if that's not enough, here's the biggy - it hosts Europes Largest Portakabin! It can only be described as gargantuan! I think the rule is; if two (or more) portakabins are touching it counts as one. I can't begin to imagine how big the Worlds Largest Portakabin is... but I know I want to see it :D

Monday, May 14, 2007 

Neighbourhood Weird Watch 4

Name: Trevor (real name unknown)
Location: Trafalgar Square, Saturday 12th May 2007, 3pm.
Description: An unholy hybrid between horse and man like something out of The Wicker Man.

Just a regular crowd of people...

  • Skill - 4/5 (Fun horse antics and interaction with the crowd)
  • Style - 3/5 (For attention to detail on the head, and a cape)
  • Danger - 0/5 (Mischief was the name of the game for this chap!)
  • Context - 2.5/5 (It's a man in a horse costume, although this is a Morris Dancing tradition...)
  • Overall - 2.375/5
On a rainy Trafalgar Square was the annual Day of Dance held by the Westminster Morris Men. I got chatting to one of the dancers and it turned out he was from Ormskirk, which is where I grew up! I feel the heavy hand of destiny upon me, perhaps I should become a Morris Man myself... but what job would I have? After some research I have narrowed it down to these three;
  • The Ragman, who looks after the costumes.
  • The Musicians, who make the noises on squeezeboxes.
  • The Hobby Horse, who entertains the crowd and collects money, which he then gives to the bagman.
Apparently there isn't a minimum age limit, but when I'm older I reckon I might give it a go. I love the eccentricity of Morris Dancers and the odd traditions that they have, especially this one called Red Leicester :P

So the moral of the story goes, Morris dancing isn't actually that weird, because if its tradition you get away with it.