23 Mar 2014

My latest trip to London for the wildlife photographer of the year award exhibition 21 March 2014

My latest trip to London for the wildlife photographer of the year award exhibition 21 March 2014

I joined our U3A photography group, a little while ago, we have visited a number of venues, but this one to London seemed particularly interesting, given the fact that I’m going on Safari in the next few months, so I was hoping that this would give me inspiration as well as be a pleasant trip out in good company. The first thing I realised was I would not be ale to achieve a full day with such an early start, so common sense made me realise that I should that I should travel down the day before and then meet up with the others.

Because I have done this trip before it was going to be easy to book the train tickets and hotels, while the train tickets were not a problem other than the fact that I adopted for E tickets and had problems printing them out, but that was quickly solved, trying to find a hotel in a suitable location, at a reasonable price was a much bigger task, but eventually I booked one with travel Lodge, which was not too far away.

I did as I had done previously and went on Facebook to where a group of friends I have in London post I mentioned my trip, for most of them, unfortunately they were unavailable on the day that I was free, which was a shame booked, I was would find other things to do, fortunately close to the date a man called Dave volunteered to meet up and show me round and Maggie, who was been brilliant in the past, at showing myself and others the sights of London, said she would also meet up, but suggested the Tower of London experience as a good place to spend a couple of hours, I had had confirmation from my U3A friends that we would be meeting on the Saturday lunchtime going for a meal and then to the exhibition, so all was arranged.

On the day there were no problems on the train, I met with Dave at Euston, we decided because I only had a backpack not to go to the hotel first but instead to travel to the tower bridge, it’s funny how the brain does not work sometimes properly, the bus we were getting on was what I believe is called the Route Master, a real old boss, complete the conductor that you boarded at the back, it wended its way through the streets of London but then seem to get stuck when we looked out of the window realise we were close to the tower, so you might as well get off, it was only then I realised the bus was something to take a photo of because there are so few of them now, unfortunately, by the time I had got my camera out it had sped off into the distance, never to be seen again.

We walked over to Tower Bridge bought our tickets and spent a couple of pleasurable hours looking at the various exhibits and taking photos, it was interesting to listen to Dave about his various trips and career and life, I had sent a text to Maggie to confirm where we were so we met at about 5 PM, just as it was starting to get dark, which gave me the opportunity to take a series of photos of the tower, Tower Bridge, the Shard and various other places illuminated at night. We then went from meal, which was quite pleasant but in the short time we were there, it quickly filled up and Maggie explained this was typical of London, I felt it was time now to book into the hotel, the other two decided they would travel with me, part of the way which was very kind of them, I could not believe the length of the queues for a ticket on the underground, but once bought there were no problems and Maggie parted with us. I think at Victoria, I really do appreciate the effort she goes to to make these trips so memorable. Dave offered to see me all the way to the hotel, so we continued to Euston and then walked to the hotel, luckily he was able to use his phone and Google maps to find it for us, once booked in I parted with Dave and said I would be in touch when I got back home, but thanked him for his time and effort and kindness.

Went to my room it was a very basic compared to some I had been in, but there again, given its location, not too expensive, luckily it had a bath so I could have a good soak and a drink of tea before resting and watching TV before going to sleep. The hotel did say on its website that there was some traffic noise, even without my hearing aids with the window closed, it was still intrusive, but initially I slept quite well,despite the strange bed that seemed to rock, but woke in the early hours, so found it difficult to get back to sleep again. Eventually did. I got up about eight get washed and dressed, then went looking for somewhere for breakfast, those of you know me will not be surprised that I ended up at McDonald’s. I then went back to the room to sort my things out, then travelled back to Euston to meet up with my U3A friends. We could not believe the queue to get down to the underground and how many people wanted a ticket, including me. Eventually, this was sorted, luckily one of us knew where we were going, so off we went. It was decided we would have a meal first which was very pleasant and again those that know me will understand when I say how pleased I was to find carrot cake was on the menu, I think if I remember correctly it was a Lebanese restaurant.

We then joined a great big long queue to get into the museum, eventually we were inside, again , lots and lots of people and lots and lots of noise, we first went to a talk by a young man who, when he was 14 had been the young wild life photographer of the year, for one so young. He was exceptionally talented and knowledgeable about his subject. We then went to look at the photo exhibition, I had never realised how dedicated some people are to their photography, the time and effort some spent looking for that elusive photo was truly incredible, having said that some of the people lived in areas of the world where it was more conducive to the photos that they took than others. After this we parted with one member who was going on elsewhere, we had a short walk round a small part of museum before it was time to go back to Euston for our train.

We had a drink and cookie there then it was time for the train, we chatted on the train so the time passed quickly, when we got back to Manchester. We got the Metro to Piccadilly gardens and just by good luck the Fountains were working, and displaying in a range of colours which were quite spectacular, so we took a few minutes to get photos before going for the other tram, at Bury. I had just missed my bus so got the taxi, then the task of unpacking doing washing and catching up with those usual day-to-day tasks. It was all a very enjoyable trip in good company, I think I would like to go back to London again maybe spend more time looking at the buildings at night time, but we will have to see.

A Totally New Adventure A Safari At Last 23 March 2014


I promised I would write a blog about the plans I had for a Safari to Africa, so here goes. I had been talking for years about a trip to go on Safari, whilst at Disney, I did go on their imitation Safari, it did have Lions, elephants, giraffes and all sorts of other animals and even had imitation poachers firing guns, but the animals seemed totally disinterested, so I thought the other thing to do is the real thing.

I started to look at holidays and the first problem was to do with medication and travel insurance because of my health issues, in particular, malaria and and malarial medication and its effects on me, the other problem was I was still being investigated for various health issues so was unable to go at that particular time. Last year, I looked again, but unfortunately needed an operation and then something else came up which would have prevented me from travelling that sort of distance, so again the trip was cancelled.

At long last, my health seems to be not too bad at present, I feel my back with the help of painkillers if needed will cope with the holiday so all I had to do them was book it. Not quite so easy as I thought it would be, it seems most people, book their holiday a year or two in advance for this sort of thing, so with only a few options with Saga who given my age and health seem to be the safest option as travel agent, as I was travelling on my own. I contacted them and discovered they had the sort of holiday, I wanted this year. In June, it would be in South Africa for nine nights (two nights flying there and back) so effectively only seven nights, this wasn’t a problem as I felt I would not be able to do a Safari every day and could rest in between.Also I decided to upgrade for the very long flight as it is 10 hours, so now in Economy Plus, bigger better seats,

I also wanted to visit Cape Town on the advice of my physio, so I mentioned this when making the booking as it seemed an exciting add-on to the holiday. The company was able to accommodate me, but the cost for three nights would have come to £1000, I did explore through the website, The Man in Seat 61 travelling from Johannesburg to Cape Town by train which would have been a 24-hour journey, but what a fantastic experience to see, unfortunately the dates did not fit in with the holiday, so in the end I decided to discard the Cape Town element maybe to look at that another year if I have enough money.

The holiday will be in the month of July, originally was going to be June, but it appears they did not have enough people, then came the next shock in the letter confirming the holiday, when it explained this is this areas winter period, so don’t forget to bring winter woollies, but also not to bring bright, white, or black clothes, so that was my wardrobe of outdoor gear totally unsuitable, but never mind. It was an excuse to buy some more clothes, while mentioning about buying it has also been a good excuse to buy a new very clever camcorder for the trip. (Still trying to work out how to use it, it’s me not it) I have made an appointment to see the nurse at the GP surgery about any inoculations etc, so I will be ready for the trip.

Well that’s a taster of the planning, I’ve paid my deposit just need to pay the balance, and wait for July to arrive, well actually, maybe not. I am sure there are other things I’m going to have to deal with between now and then to do with the holiday so will keep you up-to-date over the coming months, as usual I hope you enjoyed the read.

Latest News And Ramblings Of My Life 23 March 2014

Firstly I must apologize to people about the delay in posting on here, its just that life seems to of been so busy the last couple of months as, some of the things I hoped to do this year seem to be getting closer to happening after all sorts of setbacks, more details in other blogs, plus other new doors seem to be opening in other ways, so off we go hope you enjoy the Blog.

Those that know me will have heard me many times talking about this Safari. I am one day going to do in Africa. Well after lots of thought. It looks like it might finally be happening, hopefully in July of this year, it will be to South Africa for nine days, what I intend doing is writing a blog about the ups and downs of planning the trip, but then to tell the story as I get nearer and then ultimately let you know how I go on with the trip.

The other thing I have been trying to sort out since my son’s 40th birthday was to finally get round to indulging his wish to go to the Grand Canyon, this will fit in with my interest in visiting Las Vegas, well it looks like this is finally going to happen this year, but is now become a much more interesting and exciting trip than originally planned, guess what I’m going to write a blog about it. How this seems to have taken over my life at present despite the fact the actual holiday is not until much later in the year and has become a sort of round the world trip, so more information to follow.

At the start of the year my life seemed to be going along a fairly even keel with not too much to challenge me, but a plan to make more of my life and to find interesting new challenges. Well, that seems to of happened, now the problem is how to fit everything in, given the restrictions on my health.

Last year, I was introduced to Mindfulness, some of it I feel I have taken on board and have done things to change what and how I do things. Sadly, I find it difficult to stick to the exercises which I am sure would help me even more, unfortunately I have always struggled with sticking to exercise regimes, maybe partly to do with the ME that I have and poor short-term memory.

I also joined the local U3A and now attend regular meetings, as well as joining the photography group and found this is opened all sorts of new and exciting experiences for me, the latest being a trip to London this weekend which was to visit the world wildlife photographer of the year show at the Natural History Museum, but more of that in you’ve guessed it, another blog to follow soon. The group was looking to creating a database of members, by coincidence I was aware of a product that would suit their needs, so became involved in creating this with another of the members, who was now taken it to something much more sophisticated and complex, which seems to be serving the committees needs. About a week ago I got a phone call asking did I want to be the new database manager, well-being, the shy, retiring person I am, I immediately agreed, fame at last, and only after asked the details of what I would need to do. It also seems that I need to join the committee so that I can have access to the members details, so reluctantly have done this. Speaking to the chairman the other week, he was delighted that I had joined the committee, which gave my ego a marvellous boost, err uum, no, it was so there was another male on the committee, as well as himself so we will have to see.

It looks like it’s going to be the year of committees for me, as I am now on our local ME support group also, mainly because they were struggling, good or bad I don’t have a role with them other than to add useful suggestions, attend meetings and other odd tasks. No, wait a minute, I am doing a similar exercise for them for their members database as well as creating a resource database for them. This will help people to find out what resources are out there and how to access them within our ME group. I’ve also joined the Facebook group for our ME group, which has a mixture of very serious and fun discussion on a day-to-day basis. I forgot to say I have a new friend on Facebook, much brighter than me by the name of Filbert Bear, I feel very privileged that he has befriended me has been giving me such helpful advice on a whole range of subjects.

From the Facebook section for the ME group, I have come across a couple of really excellent blogs, one is by a person call Smallfry182, I really enjoy the blogs that she writes, she seems to have a natural talent, although I am not sure that she would believe that, she tells of the ups and downs in her life, she seems to have the ability to write about her life as it is, with the ups and downs, but with a sense of irony and humour that makes it an enjoyable read. If my writing, has made it interesting for you, then below is the link to her blog, I am sure if you are into blogs and learning about people and their lives. This will be a good read.
http://smallfry182.wordpress.com/author/smallfry182/


Well I will leave this for now, because I have to do a blog about this weekend’s trip and then over the next few days, maybe finally start working on a blog about the Safari in July and my other trip towards the end of the year, as usual I hope you have enjoyed the read.