Cambridge

 I've been in Frankfurt, London and Cambridge the past 10 days. The only time I had free was my last afternoon in Cambridge and so I did what plenty of other folks did that afternoon.
I took some pics.

Kings College is pretty impressive.

Given I don't have my student card yet I had to pay 7 quid like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese tourists love only one thing more than going punting......

 Getting their picture taken whilst punting.

This is probably the most photographed bridge in Cambridge.

That's it folks.

In the US today and back to Cambridge next week where I have my first test.

Ya test.

T

Cambridge

I've been in Cambridge this week, the first time I'd spent four days on the trot there in a number of years. There was a gathering of folks from different parts of the world and as is customary in such circumstances we took them punting. I've taken pictures like these before and I'm sure countless others have posted similar. For whats its worth what follows is a sample of punting snaps taken on a cloudy May day in Cambridge.

I'm hoping to see Jess Saturday then I'm off to the Middle East on Sunday and on to Asia the following Thursday.

Stay well everyone.

T

Prague,Cambridge and Jess

The weather is much cooler in England this weekend, but I had a great time with my kid regardless.
Time marches forward.
It seems just yesterday I spent my afternoons chasing after her trying to keep her out of trouble.
She's growing up.
My days with her now are full of little girl news, (horses, school and friends) and I've come to realise that sometimes my visits correspond with "friends stuff".
For a ten year old this presents a dilemma.
She wants to see her dad but also wants to do things with her friends.
I'm sure I'm not the first dad to feel a tug at the heart strings over this.

I've been quite busy lately and am just about to get another flight as I write .
Apart from hanging out with Jess in London I've been in Prague and Cambridge.

Black beer (tasting more like Stella than Guinness) is one of the attractions of of the Czech Republic. Prague has changed so much over the past 10 years.

It's become a slick destination for package tours and stag weekends, though there's still plenty of charm.

I've taken so many pictures of Cambridge that I'm not sure its worth posting more
but given I don't have much to say today, I'll put them up anyway.

Dawn is a great time to take photographs anywhere but I think Cambridge is most interesting when there's no one around.

Coming back to the city conjures up surprisingly few memories.

I lived here for 4 years but don't think I ever really felt at home.

Not sure why that is, but there you have it.

Stay well everyone.
T

Cambridge at Dawn

Sometimes jet lag or restlessness gets me up very early.
Pacing a hotel room or watching the endless story loops on CNN/BBC world is bruising to the soul, so when I found myself awake at 5:30 in Cambridge this week, I took my camera and walked around the city.I lived in Cambridge for 4 years or so but didn't really wander around outside of weekends when the place crawls with day trippers from London. I think early in the morning before the city properly gets going, Cambridge is a nice place to traipse around and snap away. Problem is, this being the UK, you can't find a cup of coffee before 7 am.
I'm a bit of a monster before I get a shot of java.
As I said I lived here for some time but can't say I have any "this is home" feelings when I come back. Its similar in that regard to Oxford where I also lived for about the same length of time.
University towns tend to be all about student life.
Its easy to feel the interloper and separate from the community. Add to the mix I was constantly travelling in both places and the transient vibe is magnified.
Hmmm do I sound a bit sorry for myself?
Well I'm not.
I'm just reflecting on the whole "this used to be where I lived so why do I feel so little about being back here?" thoughts I had on my walk.
I'm getting all Zen and silly.
Just check out the pictures.
That's it.
Not much to say other than Hello to everyone checking in.
I'm in London over the weekend then the Ukraine on the Black Sea for a conference next week.
Then on to Brazil the following week.
Stay well
T

Cambridge

OK.
There have been numerous irritated emails asking me why I'm not posting anything. I used to live in Cambridge and there's only so many smug observations about earnest, privileged boys and girls huddled in medieval college doorways that I have in me.
So instead, here's a little bit about one of my favorite pubs.The Eagle is owned by Corpus Christi College.
Pretty much everything in Cambridge is owned by the University.
Why is this pub my Fave and famous?
The number one thing is the ceiling in the RAF bar ( the one at the back that's easily missed). The Eagle was the favored watering hole of RAF and American bomber crews during WWII. During blackouts, they would write messages/names/ in the ceiling with their Zippo lighters.
I like this little piece of history.
Way back when, the pub had covered up this graffiti and re-discovered it during renovations. The result is a tourist bonanza.
Ever see the movie Memphis Belle?
The crew used to drink here.

Impressed yet?
No?
Well the discovery of DNA was announced in this pub in 1953.
The boffins at the uni delivered a gin-soaked story that changed everything (sort of).Its kind of funny but the only tourists who make the pilgrimage and know about the DNA stuff are Japanese.
Yanks and Brits are blissfully unaware. They come because they saw the movie.
What does that tell us all I wonder?
This is the point in the post where I do pics of me and my friend Simon who made the pilgrimage to meet me for drinks and dinner.

The Eagle has recently figured in Seth Faulk's book "Engleby" except he calls it "the Kestrel"( interesting avian parallel).
He describes it this way:
"There are too many alcoholics at the Kesterel for my taste....
A pair of goofy scientists came swaggering into the Kestrel at lunchtime one day many years ago to say that- just an hour earlier-they'd figured out the shape of human chemistry, of the molecule itself. I don't think the boozers in the Kestrel were impressed. I don't think think this discouvery was an answer to to the top 100 questions the Kestrel regulars would have liked the answer to-even if you allow for the fact that the numbers 1-15 were probably "whose round is it?"
I think its just a tourist bar.
The only regular I've seen is a leturous prof with a scarf and leather bag over his shoulder who never fails to try and bum a ciggie from me.That's it from Cambridge.
London tomorrow.
Stay well

Bye-Bye Cambridge

The little pile above is the sum total of all my worldly possessions.
There's also a couple of small file holders and a suitcase sitting in my UK office.
Five trips to Oxfam, three trips to the dump; I've managed a cull of epic proportions.
Being slashed to the bare basics is a double edged sword ; it's liberating and depressing at the same time.
Its a strange exercise, this personal down sizing.
It starts off full of "Oh I have to keep this and simply must hang on to that" and turns into frustrated, ruthless binning of stuff I probably would have kept had the pile been smaller.
So, off I go, down to a minimum of "stuff" which apart from pictures of my kid and a tiny number of keepsakes, could have been in the reject pile.
I'm sure I'll be accumulating again before long.I spent 4 years at the cottage above. Though it was too dark and cluttered, I'd say on balance I enjoyed living there. The view out front was the place's best feature.Its a bit galling that the landlady is only now getting around to doing all the things necessary to make it more livable (new boiler, fuse box etc), but that's the way of these things.
I've been staying in a hotel in Cambridge the past 3 days and its clear I've already made a transition in perspective in that I don't feel I live here anymore. In truth I've been on the road so much over the past few years that I never put down roots. Its just another place I lived for a while and camping out here in a hotel room doesn't feel strange in the way it would (and has in the past) in Ottawa or London.
That's it for the UK.
I'm off to Hong Kong , warmer weather and another temporary abode.
T