Posted by Jerry on April 3rd, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Music
When the strangely-shaped packages arrived addressed to me I thought there was some mistake – clearly the chocolates and whatever else there was, were meant for Sharon as a get well gift … Sharon just smiled and told me to stop being silly and open them.
I could not believe my eyes! Someone must’ve sneaked a peak at my blog a little while back – remember the mystery location challenge set by another blogger – Angela Thomas? Something about chocolate?
But hang on… these were not from Angela – but from Linn who was so kind in asking after Sharon’s health. Now, Linn had emailed me about another blog post of mine – on the Japanese drain covers, and said she had some rubbings of some different ones. Then I opened the long tube package – and there was a mysterious hint of aged but high quality paper. I carefully unrolled it with a wooden batten so as not to tear the delicate parchment and slowly some precision pen drawing and some words emerged – PLAN No 3 – STRADIVARIUS VIOLONCELLO –
yes a complete set of cello plans – hand drawn and with a wonderful patina of age. They were drawn by Joseph V Reid of Hamilton Ontario Canada in February 1963.
You could’ve knocked me down with a feather – Much better than a musty old treasure map of book of spells – these are full size luthier’s drawings.
I am touched and amazed – thank you Linn Skinner 🙂 You have made my day! And the chocolates are wonderful!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on April 2nd, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Travel
Auckland is a harbour city and the architecture reflects several distinct stages of development. There is the late 19th century neo-classical style, such as the Transport Department building
And the outstanding Ferry Building – seen here from Fisherman’s Wharf
There’s the art deco of the 1930s Duckworth Building
And the mix of old and new – neoclassical and in the background a 1970s apartment building and to the right a dramatic sail-like building
And if getting a kinetic sense of height is your kind of sport, then why not jump off the Sky Tower – with a bungie strap attached of course! for the world’s highest bungie jump over dry land. Not for the feint hearted!
The protruding ‘fishing rods’ are the bungie anchor points. But there is a lovely restaurant at the top with a great view over Auckland
And dining is something Auckland is very good at – you can sample Japanese sushi through to delightful Belgian watazooi washed down with a pint of Leffe. You can find the Belgian pub just up this alleyway off Queen Street. The place is well lit and the city is very safe to walk around at night.
Reflecting the nautical theme there is also a good selection of restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf – a new development to rival wharf conversions around the globe.
It is also home to the Hilton Hotel
My room had a great view of the …er… container handling facility at the wharf. The conference facilities, however, were excellent.
But the architecture is truly diverse, and this one was one of the loveliest buildings in town.
It’s worth walking around the town to get a feel for the place – here is a typical streetscape by night
And who could complain about the public transport when the buses are so expressive!
The weather was perfect and mild for three days – the fourth showed another mood with a decent storm, heavy driving rain and high winds blowing form the south (straight from Antarctica). I watched one person head out at lunchtime with one of teh hotel umbrellas – he re-entered the hotel two minutes later and the umbrella was a mere skeleton! But still the ferries plied their trade – those ferry captains are highly skilled to sail in that weather!
All too soon, the conference was over and it was time to leave. But I think it’s a place I’ll return to before too long.
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on April 1st, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Travel
This is more about the granular details in Auckland New Zealand – thought I’d share a few photos
In Auckland you can visit deserted beaches
There’s a whole wharf on which to go fishing
… just hope your name’s not Bill! The public will be the judge…
This fountain was a real delight, tucked away on Queen Street
And being on the coast – the seagulls keep watch over their land
More on Auckland’s great architecture tomorrow
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 31st, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Technology, Travel
Picture if you will, a badly-designed ironing board. It has a non-removable iron holder at the wide end…
Now, don’t get me wrong – it’s better than trying to iron a shirt on a table with a towel draped over, but it’s like they put the iron stand on the wrong end. So the shirt bunches up and you can’t get the whole shirt back or a whole shoulder on the board without creasing.
But not all was lost – Ironing boards are perfect for improving the ergonomics of the desk when the chair is too low 🙂
And yes, that’s a moleskine pocket cahier – perfect for short trips. It is leaning against the portable printer – canon bjc50 which has an IR connection so I can print direct from the iPaq2750. And that is an iPaq bluetooth keyboard which makes typing sooo much easier!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on March 30th, 2007 — Posted in Journal, Travel
The flight from Sydney was only about 4 hours – a short one by Aussie travel standards. And the first sight of New Zealand was actually just before touchdown – they aren’t kidding when they say this is the land of the long white cloud!
The hotel is on a wharf near the Maritime Museum and offers a great view over Auckland
The ferry berth, Auckland New Zealand
The view the other way is into the Bay of Islands – and you quickly see why this nation has more boats per head of population than anywhere else on earth! The scenery is breathtaking.
Near the Maritime Museum there are several tall ships moored. This one is the Søren Larsen – the boat that starred in The Onedin Line and is a brigantine rigged vessel displacing 300 tonnes. It is 145 feet in length and 25 feet across the beam. And the masts soar to 98 feet providing 6750 feet of sail area. This is an impressive ship that has completed many world tours. And it conducts regular cruises under sail to the heart of the Pacific Islands.
The Søren Larsen
The next few posts are a few days behind, as the wifi provider in the hotel did not support Windows ppc (pocket windows used on my iPaq PDA). This is the first country I’ve found so far that has not been able to provide internet service to my PDA – so on the next visit to NZ it might just be worth taking a laptop – there was cable internet to the room, and I was assured that I was the very first person unable to connect a wifi device to their service. To their credit, the hotel did refund the price of the card, despite my having scratched open the access code. Moreover, they allowed access to their business centre to enable me to check email. However their machines did not have card readers. Now if only I had brought the portable CD burner, I might have been able to achieve a workaround, and maintained the blog while I was away.
And so to dinner on the evening of the first day – there’s a great Japanese sushi bar on Queens Street in Auckland New Zealand.
Cheers
Jerry
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