…my UK 2010 trip, that is!

It’s been about five and half years since I was last in the UK. That was my “Gone to England for a Pint, Back on Sunday” trip that saw me take a long weekend to visit my friends Rob & Yuki. (You can see all the posts related to that trip in the UK Trip 2004 categ

I’ve been itching to get back to the UK for a couple of years now, so when I saw the Mega Scotland 2010 geocaching event in Perth on the geocaching.com website, I bit the bullet and signed up.

So now I’m sitting at Gate 14 at YOW waiting for the overnight flight to London. After clearing customs sometime tomorrow morning, I’m meeting up with Rob and we’re setting off on a 7-hour drive to Perth in Scotland. We’re planning on camping in Perthshire for a few days, doing some geocaching, and attending the mega event (of course!). After the event, we may walk a section of Hadrian’s Wall, or at least explore the some of the Roman forts along part of the Wall.

After that, who knows? Rob probably has to go back to work at some point, so I may spend a few days with them before heading off for parts unknown.

I’m sure you’ve seen it. In fact, you probably see it almost every day, though you may not even register it most of the time.

I’m talking about graffiti.

Graffiti has been around for thousands of years, with some of it persisting to this day. Then, like today, there were discussions and debates as to whether it is art or vandalism.

On my trip to Greece a couple of years ago, I was exploring Nafplio when I came across this slogan spayed on the wall of a building.

But even the graffiti artists couldn’t agree, it seemed, because across the alley was this war of paint between those with stencils and those without:

A little closer to home, I’ve seen tags and more elaborate works of art sprayed on street furniture and other things in the urban environment. Most of it, particularly the tags, gets removed or painted over shortly after it appears.

There have been studies that have shown that if you don’t remove a tag within 24 to 48 hours you’re much more likely to be re-visited by taggers.

One piece of graffiti that caught my eye years ago and has survived the anti-graffiti police, the elements and other graffiti artists, is a piece sprayed on a green utility box on Fisher Avenue near Shillington Avenue.

(more…)

People have been throwing their hats into the ring for the upcoming municipal election, including the incumbent – you can find a fairly comprehensive round up on the Ottawa Election News website. Choosing between candidates can be tricky. Usually, there are some candidates you can exclude immediately because they just aren’t an option. But, once you’ve excluded them you still have to choose someone to vote for. (If you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain.)

There are a number of things that a candidate in this election can mention while campaigning that will cause me to move them down my list (or off the list altogether).

(more…)

I was wondering how hot out it was before I ventured out at lunch, so I checked the Weather Office’s website. Apparently, it’s so hot that the weatherman has gone home:

I’ve been a fan of The B-52s for a long time. The first concert of theirs I went to was in San Diego on December 31st, 1989. I was visiting a penpal and she had tickets for the show. The show opened and I was hooked. (Thanks, Kara!) One of the things that stands out in my mind was Love Shack, which they played over midnight. It ran for 10 or 15 minutes and set the house on fire.  You can read an article about the show from Spin Magazine online.

The next time I saw them was later on the same tour when they played Massey Hall in Toronto. I was in the balcony looking down at the show and had a great time. The show almost ground to a halt, however, when some pinhead grabbed a stuffed lobster that was tied to one of the microphone stands. Fortunately, they retrieved the lobster, but before they basically singled out the offender and told him what he’d done was “not cool”.

I’ve also seen them in Ottawa once or twice – one time at the Ex.

(more…)

I took a few photos (ok, 292’ish… whatever) at the B-52s concert at the Ottawa Bluesfest. I’ve dropped some of them into a gallery, which you can view here.

Commentary sometime Friday. 🙂

Just a quick photo of the B-52s on stage at Bluesfest during Private Idaho.

More pictures to follow…