Food #1

You all knew it was coming! This is typical fare for a lunch or dinner. They have roll nazis on the door, that process the rules as you enter. 1 main, 1 entree, 1 desert and 1 fruit. And definitely ONE bread roll.


We get Bordeaux with dinner. Yummy, and insanely cheap [free with our dinner though]! What ever you do, don't touch the cider; it's aweful.

We get beer tickets after every performance, and because of our recent schedule, I've got 7 banked up. No, wait. 6. Postie and I had one while we were in line for lunch.

If you are worried that I'm spending too much time on the computer... don't worry. A little earlier, the parade that we performed in this morning was still going, and marching right past the internet cafe! Now we are being entertained by bombards and singing from performers at the pub next door...

Another shot for good measure:

This is where I ordered my hot dog! I don't think there can be such a thing as too snack.

Rehearsals and Nuit Magique

Yesterday we had a rehearsal planned for the Nuit Magique [Night Magic] at 1900, which meant we were all ready to go in uniforms before 1830. Dinner is also served then, and it looked like we might miss out. Not to fear, the rehearsal was delayed because of the over run of the bagad competition, so we had a quick bite, since it looked like we'd be on at 2015.

I'm learning to get a little less optimistic about the times for suggested by the festival orgainsers. These times are relayed to us through a translator, who we have been assigned for the festival, and who makes sure we know what time to go on, etc.

As we stood, out of the rain [it was a good Scottish mist at this stage] the time for rehearsal got later and later... Eventually we got on at about 2130 - very close to the time of the performance, which meant we just rehearsed two parts of the finale [at this point, raining heavily], and:

Quote #3: Thankyou very much, goodbye

and the bands slinked away to await the performance, scheduled for 2230.

Finally the night magic arrived, and the 'Scottish contingent' performed at 0030... back to wait for the finale, and eventually finished at 0130.

The full stadium we performed in is pictured below:


After the performance my feet and lower back were in extreme discomfort, from so much standing around. I'm not sure the French are big fans of public seating. It was then: clean the pipes, check the uniform and get to bed, because we had to be on a bus at 0830 for a parade this morning.

The inverness cape that I packed for the trip earned it's keep!

Championnat National des Bagadoù

The band pictured above is Cap Caval, and they were very impressive. I loved the five bass drums they suspended from rigging, each having a different pitch. It was very effective in harmonising with the melody. The bagad bands have all manner of instruments including bombardes, Scottish bagpipes, sidedrums and various items of percussion. One of the joys of watching the performances was that every band came out with a differnent set up, some had singing, dancing, and even a plank of wood for percussion. The performances are very dynamic, vibrant and last up to 15 minutes.

On the weather front, things got a little nasty, and the rain set in...

The bass drum set up is pictured below:

Cameron

Here is a picture of me, freshly jetlagged, and about to unpack in our university accomodation. It's basic, but it absolutely does the trick!

Oh, check out my new sunnies from Singapore.

Festival Interceltique

OK. I've recovered from jet lag, and had plenty to drink. We have had some rehersals, and seen a little bit of the town and the night life...

The travel breaks down like this:
22:15 - total flight time
12:37 - total waiting time for transport
08:23 - bus trip from Paris to Lorient [50 minutes for lunch]
43:15 - time from the plane taking off in Hobart to arriving in Lorient

I had my first nerve wracking experience ordering food on the bus trip to Lorient. I managed to order a hot dog meal. Hot dog is pronounced the same you see... but then there were options... drink, chips and type of hot dog sausage!!! I did manage, but don't let anyone tell you that 'everyone' in Europe speaks English.

Travel tip #1: Learn something of the language of where you are travelling.

I am still working on how to get photos up here, from an awesome internet cafe I've found. All the machines are designed for gaming - so are very fast. The connections are quick. The computers have Skype, so no calling card for me - I can call back to Australia for 2.7 cents a minute! Since I've been pressed for time, Jodie is the only one I've called so far.

As I mentioned, we had rehearsals yesterday. The other Scottish pipe bands are fairly relaxed about the performance - which we are still yet to practise every part. I also mentioned jet lag. We had a rehearsal at 2200, and Postie and I decided to have sleep before hand.

Travel tip #2: If you have something important to do; either be tired, or set a VERY loud alarm.

We were both woken up after the band didn't know where we were for half an hour. The band was not impressed, and for good reason, as they were all jet lagged and standing around waiting to play. After some profuse appologies, we were underway and the rest went fairly smoothly.

Quote #1: So you are too tired to play, but you look spritely when we are going for a drink.

Well, I deserved that. The night life is wonderful, and for the festival there is plenty of music everywhere.

Today there is a major bagad band competition. I will try to describe what they are, but for now, just know that it's quite an experience - exactly what we have come here to see! Speaking of which, I'd better get back to it!!!!

Lorient

I have finally arrived in Lorient for Festival Interceltique! More stats on the trip later, but the total travel time for me was 43 hours 15 minutes!

The weather is wonderful here, I think 34 degrees yesterday - sunny with a cool breeze. We get bordeaux with our meals.

I've got to get back for a rehearsal, so there will another update soon.

Singapore

I've made it to Singapore, and still have more than 4 hours of the stop over left, before the flight to Paris. I have bought some sunglasses [which were on the list] and Postie has bought some technology... Oh, and I won a prize! I got to put a chip in a machine... and I got silver... I'm working on the assumption [or deduction] that everyone wins a prize... and silver is the lowest. But it's a pen. A pen for free... awesome.

I think I'm delerious from travelling, so I'll get off now. I'll update you all with the 'stats' from my flights when I get to France and work it all out!

Melbourne

Well, I'm at Melbourne at the start of a long couple of days of travel. I'm off to Adelaide in a little while. Then Singapore. Then Paris. Finally a 7 hour bus trip to Lorient.

I've got all my technology loaded up... iPod with music. PDA with PDFs of books I want to read, photos, music, videos that to watch on the flight. A massive memory stick in my Sony DSC-V1 digital camera. I should be pretty much set.

Trip Overseas

I'm looking forward to a trip overseas to France and Scotland. I'm playing with City of Adelaide at the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, France, and then heading over to Scotland to visit family, friends and take in the world pipe band championships.

I added City of Adelaide to the list of performers on the wikipedia page for the festival for good measure.

It will be a quick trip with a full itinerary, so watch this space for updates from the road.

I took this photo at the highland games in Perth, the day after the world pipe band championships in August 1999. The highlight of the day were these flag wearing parachutists, and a guy on a bike that jumped through fire.

Swansea - East Coast Tasmania

It was a perfect day for a day for a drive up the East Coast. Jodie and I had been to Swansea, and Friendly Beaches a couple of weeks ago, but we just had to come back and have another look.

The picture is looking back at Waterloo Point, from the beach, after walking along Waterloo Point Track from Schouten Beach.

I believe the point is surfable, particularly in winter, but I'm yet to see any evidence.

Curry

Jodie and I made a madras style lamb curry on Saturday, called tamil nadu. It had more than 1 kg of lamb, lots of spices, fresh coconut and my favourite - ginger.

I have been seriously honing my curry making skills of late, with a fair degree of success. Jodie and I bought a curry book, so I started off with the 'first lesson in curry', moving on to the 'Indian housewives curry' (which makes a curry base that you can sink 2kg of chicken into!) Now I'm venturing into some of the regional curries, which have been fantastic.

I would like to thank a couple of other people for assistance with the evening. Thanks to Melissa; we used the dried chilis that were harvested from your chili plant from when we lived together in Adelaide. It's probably good that I've got Jodie to share the curry with, otherwise, I'd have made it so hot as to be unbearable. Thanks to David; your bottle of red wine went very well with the lamb. Shiraz and Curry = wicked.

For my profile

Apparently, the easiest way to add your picture to your profile on blogger, is to post one, and then link it.

I should mention that this t-shirt was given to me by Andrew Williams, who is living in London at the moment, and I'm very excited that I'll see him soon!

I did submit an 'action shot' to think geek, who haven't posted it yet. I was supposed to be a surprise, for Andrew, to have his present so well represented on the web. Hopefully, this post will suffice, for now.

The creators of the t-shirt are Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade, my favourite online comic.

Thanks again Andrew, for my freakin' awesome t-shirt.

Mures, Walk to Werk, Werk, QOTD.

Many of you would know, that I regularly brag about my 10 minute walk to werk, that is less than 1km long. Well, that's all changed and now I have a 15 minute walk to werk instead. More on the reason why later.

OK... so the reason is... I'm now working on a new project, as a temporary move, while things are restructured. The problem is, that the name of my old unit, is actually in my substantive position's job title, and my old unit no longer exists. What a conundrum. Looks like I might need a new substantive position.

I have already anticipated your next question... Why Cameron, didn't you move to Hobart for that job? Yes. Yes, I did. However, I'm doing lots more of the things that I had expected to do in that job, in this one. It has been a nice change of pace, and I get to walk along the docks each morning.

Last night, Jodie and I went out to dinner at Mures (pictured and linked). It is a wonderful seafood restaurant, that catches its own fish! and incorporates a lower deck (fish and chips) and a sushi bar as well. We managed to organise a pre-entree of Mures style oysters, which were perfect. Followed the actual entree of mussels and mushrooms (I had the mushrooms, of course). Black bean salmon, and trevalla followed and afterwards, had no room for desert... I should also mention the Moo Brew Pale Ale from Moorilla Estate. It's up there with Coopers, which I have managed to find down here in quite a few places.

Quote of the Day.

The quote of the day comes from Friday at werk, and I'm hoping to get out of public service before I collect enough to become a syndicated cartoonist!

"there is no intention of _____ now, and in the future... at this point"

Needless to say, I wasn't convinced.

Snow on Mt. Wellington.

There was snow on Mt. Wellington this morning, as I walked to work. Luckily, Jodie was able to grab some pictures.

It's not unusual to see snow on Mt. Wellington, with the first snow fall this year in February [yes - Summer!]

The photo was taken in picturesque Battery Point, close to where I live...

To Hobart - 05/01/2006

I had a wonderful road-trip with Jodie, in order to get from Adelaide to Hobart at the start of the year. We went across Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania, and had the best breakfast in Devonport at the chocolate factory!

We stopped for lunch in Ulverstone on the North coast... We found a fish and chip shop that sold [and now, I'm quoting] 'f#!%ing hot sauce' - which wasn't really that hot. However, it's pictured here, with me, and the globe - pointing to where I live now...

Hobart 2006

Since I moved to Hobart in January 2006, I figured this picture from the top of Mt. Wellington would make an ideal first post.

My mountain bike ride to the top of Mt. Wellington was posted here.

I'm trying blogging as an alternative to updating my website by hand...

Cameron.

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