Rant – Page 73

Ryton2Ethiopia.org 2009 – Day 5 and Day 6 diary.

(Taken from Ryton2Ethiopia 2009 diary pages at Ryton2ethiopia.org )

( Previous Days: Day 1 and 2 , Day 3 and 4 )

Day 5

Back to Addis

Wednesday was the earliest start yet. We were woken up in tents at 5 o’clock, greeted by the roar of a lion which some people had heard through the night. Thankfully it was only the caged lion we had seen on the way in. While some took down tents, others cooked a breakfast of porridge. Meanwhile, the monkeys were back, dropping stuff out of trees on to us, which usually missed, but hurt when it didn’t!
After stopping to watch a beautiful African sunrise, we finished packing and washing up and we set off for a day of safari! Driving the bus around the park we saw gazelles, oryx, ostriches, a huge tortoise, some guinea fowl and a warthog running across the road in front of us with its baby. No wild lions, but a great experience all the same.
Much of the rest of the day was taken up by travelling back to Addis, stopping for the odd drink. We stopped at the crocodile stop from yesterday again and all saw more crocodiles and marabou birds (sort of like storks.)

Back in Addis, a long awaited game a football was organised with the locals. We mixed the teams to keep things fair and drew 6-6 after what was surely the most frantic game of football ever played. About a third of the pitch was an ankle deep muddy swamp and at one point there was a huge water fight in a puddle in the far corner. The English “ferenjee” (foreigners) kept out of that one though.
After some shirt swapping and showers all round, we went out for some food and ate local injura (rolls of. . .something. a bit like pancake but more, umm, rubbery) Matthew accidentally ate a whole jalapeno and that certainly did make his eyes water!
Another early start tomorrow – up at four o’clock for a flight to Lalibela!

Matthew & Vicki Y

Day 6

To Lalibela

Today was a very early start, we all had to be packed and ready by 4:40! Everyone was a bit grouchy because they were so tired from the late night before. On the bus everyone was squashed as the cases had to come on with us inside the bus because of the rain… nobody could move!

Our busy schedule had caught up with some of the group members who were suffering a little and we were all quite tired. Despite a few dodgy tummies we all enjoyed our journey to Lalibela which was very interesting to say the least! We boarded a tiny little aircraft with propellers that were unbelievably noisy! Despite the noise the take off and landing was smoother than expected. Most people missed the airline drink and sarnie on the plane because they were sleeping!

When we arrived at Lalibela everybody was amazed at how small the airport was, we watched our cases being brought into the airport; we were in and out of the airport in a matter of minutes as there weren’t any queues because our aeroplane was the only one in the airport!

Driving in the minibus to the hotel was breathtaking…the views were incredible and very different to those in Addis. There was a lot of little mud huts named tukuls and everyone seemed to be farming with their cattle. As we got closer to Lalibela town the houses seemed to get bigger and ‘posher’.
Feelings about the hotel were mixed. The Seven Olives has an amazing view and nice food…but there was no electricity and therefore no running water and no flushing toilets! We have decided that the muddy unwashed look and fragrance is quite attractive.

A group of us went into the town to explore after lunch and met a group of children. They were very different to the children in Addis because they didn’t ask for anything at all, they just wanted to talk to us and have their photos taken. A few people got emotional when one boy named Gabree told us about the family history of many of the children. Despite being so poor they were so happy and cheerful. When one old lady pestered Ashleigh for money, all the children told her off and chased her away. We were quite concerned for the children because the soldier was watching and they kept getting told off for ‘bothering us’, so we spoke to the soldier and explained we didn’t mind and were enjoying it.

Whilst some were wandering the town, a few stayed back at the hotel. Alex R found a sick baby bird and Mark had brought it with him to the seating area of the hotel, he tried his best to nurture it back to health. He managed to get it to drink some water and it seemed to be recovering. We left to visit the churches of Lalibela so Mark had to leave it behind but had put it in a bird food house and we hoped it would be alright.

The churches were amazing. It is so hard to believe that they were carved down into the rock. We had to take our shoes off before entering the churches and in each one there was a priest dressed in cloaks carrying crosses. They also sported sunglasses for the camera flashes, which looked bizarre to say the least. There are thirteen churches but we only had time to see nine today, the rest we will visit tomorrow.
Richard decided it would be best to eat at the hotel and give our stomachs a rest from Ethiopian food. Everybody enjoyed their meal and spirits were lifted as we ate our dinner in candlelight and talked about first days at school etc. Despite a few stomachs still grumbling, the night went really well and we are all looking forward to the football match tomorrow!

Mark and Ashleigh.

(Taken from Ryton2Ethiopia 2009 diary pages)

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Ryton2Ethiopia.org 2009 – Day 3 and Day 4 diary.

(Taken from Ryton2Ethiopia 2009 diary pages at Ryton2ethiopia.org )

Day 3

The market – Museum – Prince Abi

Today we went to the indoor market – said to be the biggest market in Africa! It was so so busy and we were all a bit wary but we soon got used to it, and put our haggling skills to the test – particularly Alex T and Ashleigh who were at one particular stall for about 20 minutes!! We all felt famous because everywhere we turned everyone was staring at us, and we couldn’t believe how friendly the people were. There were so many sights, sounds and smells that we were overwhelmed but all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Photograph by Zeresenay Alemseged, ©2006 Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH)

We went to the museum which was really interesting as we got to see all different bones in a timeline from the very oldest to more recent times. We were all particularly fascinated by Lucy who was the 2^nd oldest homoerectus skeleton in the world at 3.2 million years old. She was tiny!! And we were all surprised to hear she got her name from ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ by The Beatles!

When visiting Prince Abi, a very eccentric Rastafarian who claimed to be a prince, he told us that his restaurant/museum had cost 5,000 birr to build and was of an Indian design; it was beautiful! He was very welcoming, friendly and the food was delicious – he was vegetarian, which suited Lauren and Anna just fine! He also told us how he got his dreadlocks and by the end of the night none of us wanted to leave. The taxi ride on the way there was an interesting experience, half of us managed to squash in somehow and it was a very bumpy ride! On the way back we were pleased to have English music which, despite being Myley Cyrus, we were excited to hear!

Back at the hotel, we all joined in with the biggest, longest card game of ‘Cheat’ ever which brought us together even more as a group as we all had lots of fun.

Lauren and Georgia

Day 4

To Awash National Park

Today was an early start, considering we had very little sleep after the most spectacular thunderstorm you could ever imagine! We had to be all packed and have had breakfast by 8.30! Pancakes with marmalade seemed to be especially popular today. We all jumped back on the bus to start a new adventure! First we headed to the market to buy lunch, as well as onions, as we only had 3 to go between 20 people. Then we were ready to head for Awash, all excited at the possibility of seeing lions, and tigers and bears, oh my!! (had to be done!) The journey was unbearable with the heat hitting temperatures we never thought existed! After getting a bit lost, and lots of turns around, we stopped at the The Family Hotel in Debre Zeit. It overlooked a volcanic crater filled with water, making beautiful scenery which we could enjoy whilst having a nice, cool drink. At one of our stop offs, we saw another lake, complete with crocodiles on the waters edge!! After getting back on the road, we drove past about 20 dead camels, not sure how they came to their death, but it silenced us all. After that we needed a boost, so a sing song was in order. Songs led by the back of the bus included Disney classics, Grease medleys and R&B favourites.

Water Fall in Awash National Park by Karel JUSTA

Finally we arrived at the park, before the heat completely took it out if us. On arrival we spotted an oryx which got us all suitably excited! Some were also lucky enough to see some klipspringers, jumping across the road. As we were trying to find the campsite, we stumbled across a rather angry caged lion! (which we later found out was caged for a murder in Somalia!) We eventually found the camp site with a visitor waiting to greet us, a baboon! We couldn’t believe our eyes, and we nick named him Rafiki, for obvious reasons! We quickly got to work putting up the tents and cooking tea, on the menu was pasta and tomato sauce, mmmm! The inviting smell attracted some more of our neighbours, vervet monkeys, a few with their very cute little babies clinging on tightly! After tucking into our tea, we went to the Awash River and water falls, which were amazing to see. The spray from the falls was a refreshing moment for all! We headed back to camp to try and settle for the night, as we knew we had yet another early start – 5am! We sat for a while watching the lightning which seemed to be all around, and heading our way, yet it seemed to pass over us which we were all grateful for, sleeping only in tents! After the fire died down and the night closed in we headed into our saunas (oops we mean tents!) We all braced ourselves for a very uncomfortable, moist and sticky night. Lush! As another day’s adventure ended we looked forward to the next day including a safari style experience!

Anna and Viki S

(Taken from Ryton2Ethiopia 2009 diary pages)

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Ryton2Ethiopia.org 2009 – Day 1 and Day 2 diary.

(Taken from Ryton2Ethiopia 2009 diary pages at Ryton2ethiopia.org)

Day 1

Arrival in Addis

After a ridiculously long day of being up and down in various different aircrafts and moving between continents, we finally arrived in Addis sleepy eyed and bushy tailed at around 9 o clock local time. This being after Leigh-Anne had her bag checked at both Newcastle and Amsterdam airports and toiletries confiscated after having bought them minutes before!

It took us a while to get our money changed and baggage found, when we finally did however, we also realised that we were without tents and they were still in Newcastle, bad crack!! We pressed on like brave soldiers toward the Yonas Hotel in the city centre on a true Ethiopian style bus- our baggage strapped to the top of the roof. Meheret, sister to Bisrat who we will get to meet in Bahir Dar, met us at the airport and helped us along toward the hotel. Once we had unloaded our bags and located our rooms, we chilled over a nice cold bottle of Mirinda- Ethiopia’s alternative to Fanta- and discussed our activities for tomorrow.

Screens in the second flight used to view TV shows and movies, play games and even view the flight path

Alex T and Greg A

Day 2

Day in Addis

Our first morning was an early rise, after which we headed down to breakfast where we could choose between eggs, porridge and toast. Shortly after, we were split into groups to tackle our first real experience on the streets of Addis, where we were set the task of finding certain items for the cheapest price by haggling with the locals. Not as easy as it sounds! We also slowly became accustomed to the regular sights such as corn on the cob and farm animals on the street.

After purchasing our lunch for the day ahead, which consisted of gourmet fresh bread, bananas and oranges, we were given a spare hour to explore the local surroundings. Whilst doing so we stumbled upon one of the most violent football matches we’ve ever seen! A pitch which was covered in pot-holes, muddles and sharp rocks which didn’t seem to faze the locals as they threw themselves into vicious tackles.

After the football match ended we then headed off in the mini bus to the Entoto. What an experience this was, with children climbing on the bus and clinging on. In the mountains there were spectacular views of Addis and we were treated well by the children living in the mountains, who showed us how to crack a whip in style – not that any of us picked it up! On our return to the hotel, we stopped at the market to do some haggling which was quite an experience, as we were constantly surrounded by the locals trying to get us to buy what they have to offer. A funny moment when at the market was when Jack was continuously referred to by the locals as ‘Harry Potter’, which the whole group found hilarious; Jack, not so much! Later on at night, we ventured to the ‘Zebra Grill’ where we were all mildly surprised by how delicious the local cuisine was. Overall the first day in Addis was an eye opener to say the least, but an enjoyable day all the same, from haggling with the locals to experiencing the top of the picturesque Ethiopian mountains the day was a complete success.

Jack & Alex R

(Taken from Ryton2Ethiopia 2009 diary pages)

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Revolving, Drinking, Boat.

It’s been gone since the 10th of Aug 2008 and lets be honest with ourselves no body cares one little bit. 10 months without the “Boat” on the Newcastle/Gateshead Quay Side and the tyne looks like a better place without it.

I was there on the day that it was removed from the tyne an event that lots of people where there to see but I thought it was about time to remind you all how much better the place looks with the revolving dance floor monstrosity of a night club on a boat gone.

The princes being removed from the Tyne — The princess being removed from the Tyne

I have two memory’s of being on the Boat, the first was a 30th birthday night out with a group of now work colleagues that at the time I didn’t work with. It was an drunken evening that involved two incidents. The first an inflatable naked girl that we insisted the Birthday boy carry with him the whole night. She actually got the most attention of any girl in the night club that night. Crowd surfing on the revolving dance floor getting us to the front of every queue at the bar before she was sent home a little too drunk and deflated.

The second incident was one of the lads on the night out; tripping over the chain railings that acted at barriers to stop people crossing the road at unsafe points along the Newcastle side of the quay side. He hit the ground teeth, face and arm first. After ½ a pint of whisky to numb the pain he was in, we headed onto the boat. The next morning I woke up on his sofa and had to task of helping him get ready for work. Drowning his pain with whisky while I had to help with his tie due to damaged arm. Then he was off to work, pissed, in pain and two teeth short of a mouth full. Fun times.

I would love to hear any stories you have from being on the boat if for no other reason that to remind us all why it’s a good think that it is gone. If you think I’m wrong and that the tyne looked like a better place with the boat there let me know why.

The Smoking Room

Yesterday was mine and Em’s opportunity to celebrate our new home with friends.

Normally I would be trigger happy with my camera on a night like this to ensure I had something to remind me of the night; however with one arm still strapped up and a large volume of drinking to be done I had to come up with another plan.

Without wanting to hassle all of our lovely guess with some kind of photo booth or cameras in everyroom taking pictures all the time; I decided the best thing to do some to pick on the minority. Them Dirty Smoker’s!

With the Webcam set to record at 1 frame per second in the designated smoking room for the whole of the night I was rewarded with this little bit of film genius.

Google-ing Yourself

We’ve all done it… Google your own name to see who you name sake is (Phil Brown; just so you know). Well I’m a Football manager, a runner and an Actor; not any old actor I am Uncle Owen from Star Wars.

250phil

I have found myself a new game to play with my name sake google results. Finding as meny funny headline links with your name in as possible.

right-wrong

nerves

loser

last-night

knob

I would be interested in seeing what you can find with you own name sake. Post in the comments below.

Boxing the one-eyed champ at our expense

Jacqui Smith’s (The Home Secretary) husband, Richard Timney has been discovered stroking his love pump at the expense of tax payers. The media has made it very clear that they are appalled by it and we the public will also be; actual I just think it’s a bunch of wank.

Let me start with a quick brake down of what’s happened:

•    Jacqui Smith (already getting stick for expenses claims) put in an expenses claim for internet and tv services with Virgin Media at her family home.
•    Turns out her Husband Richard had treated himself to £10 worth of Frankie Vaughan on pay per view while his wife was elsewhere.
•    The expenses are paid for by tax payers.

Now I don’t want to pay for a bunch of crap that our MP’s don’t really need especially when an MP gets paid £63k per year. That said they are allowed to claim most of there living expenses with in some set rules. So I’m going to put myself out here and defend (not Jacqui Smith – I think she’s a cow) Richards pornfest.

• Virgin Media say that they give “discreet billing” on Adult content.

How the hell can it be discreet if the whole country knows about Richard’s “squeeze the cream from the flesh twinkie”. Shouldn’t this be a news storey about how rubbish Virgin Media are at hiding the details of what your watching. I can tell you after this I’m not going to be paying for any porn with Virgin as I run the risk of my girl finding out about it. I can however tell you that if you ever stay in a hotel with work on a “full account back to company” booking your company do not get any information on any Adult film purchased. Now I’m not saying that this is in every hotel chain but I can tell you that its with at least 8 different one. Not that saying I have the record of the most Adult content charged to my company and even if I did I would still suggested you hit the web.

• Have you seen Jacqui Smith?

Smith I’m sure Richard loves his wife. I’m sure they do have a sex life. Not being funny but if his wife is away on work during a time where she is stressed up to the eye balls with work; you just know she’s not been putting out. I’m also going to say that the imagery of having sex with Jacqui wouldn’t give most hot blooded males much of a rise. So what better way to chill out than with a bit of boxing the one-eyed champ; and if you should partake in such an activity then Frankie is your man.

The last 7 days of pain

It been one week of one armed action since i smashed up my collarbone and I can tell you if not easy trying to slice bread when you running at 50% armage.

The first nightmare I’ve had with my injure has been the crazy amounts of pain killers I’ve had to take. My four hourly drug intake has been Paracetamol, Codeine Phosphate and Ibuprofen. When your the kind of person that rarely takes pills even if you have a headache; then switch to taking six ever four hours can start to make you feel like there is something very wrong with you. To top if all off if wasn’t even putting a dint into the pain erupting out of my arm and shoulder every time I moved, so it was back to the doctors. What the doctor came up with was a replacement for the Ibuprofen with some lush “shit” colored Diclofenac pills. Pain had gone.. which was nice, apart from the chronically bad stomach pains. So a quick switch back to no stomach pain and continued shoulder and arm pain.

Smashing!

3085911 It was a crazy day yesterday and a number of you very kind Twitter and Facebook peeps have been sending me well wishes and asking me what the hell happened. So here it is.

On the normal cycle to work yesterday morning I had myself a little hick-up. I lost control on my bike and exited it with my head traveling towards the pavement is a not too dissimilar way to an arrow being shot into the ground.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents were always bugging you to ware a helmet when out on your bike; but you didn’t want to because it just wasn’t cool. Well I can tell you that yesterday I was coolest person that has ever worn a cycle helmet on his head. Until you need it, there is no way of fully appreciating how much your helmet does.

clavicle_drawing

My head hit the ground traveling at what seemed like 30miles per hours with my helmet taking almost all of the impact. The only way I could describe what it was like is if you imagine pushing a hard bath sponge against your head very quickly. I’m going to put myself out on a limb and say that with out my helmet my skull would have no longer been in one piece and more than likely have a nice opening displaying where I stored all them useless facts I learnt at school.

Now as much as my helmet took most of the impact of me being shot into the ground, the remainder of it was taken by my shoulder or more specifically my Collarbone. I have a major brake in my collarbone which I can tell you kicks back at some hardcore pain nerves when ever you move any part of your arm, shoulder or chest.

The original plan was surgery this morning to stick a few bits of metal and a couple of screws on the bone to allow it to heal however that has been cancelled. Instead of that I’ve got to sit back for two weeks to see if you bone fusses back together on it own. Another X-ray in two weeks should give an idea if it works or if they need to cut me open and “Robo” me up.

In the mean time it nothing but pain, pain killers and day time tv for me. ?

What to 365? That is the question!

At the start of this year I made the very educated decision not to start the Flickr 365 project due to me not being able to commit that much time into the project. Instead of committing each and every day to processing and uploading; never mind taking the actual picture I had to find me another plan. That said I do know some people that have taken up the challenge with some quality images, Paul White is has some of my favorite with some inventive subject images from Alistair UK.
So my second idea was to drop it back to the PIC 52 project. One picture each week, simply. My only problem is I tried it last year and it just didn’t happen; I only got to about week 6 before I called it a day, as I just didn’t have the pictures and didn’t want to cheat. If you want to see someone that has made the most of the 52 PIC project check out Craig Rodway’s set with his genius Lego men on location.
My attempt at Pic 52 this years has also gone to the dogs, with only the first two weeks done. I have to face it; my ability to fail at the task so far is great that my success. What I need is a way to get myself onboard with the task in hand. A project that is easy to complete that will help me drive a behavior in myself to ensure that next time I start a 365 project I am more focused and used to taking pictures on a daily basis.
A quick sit back to look at the options; what do I do every day? 1 – Take a crap? Very wrong. 2 – Use my laptop? I don’t think doing a screen dump everyday is going to get my inspired to move on to some quality photography at any point. 3 – Use my mobile phone? Well I have a camera on my phone so I could…. {Sips from cup of tea.}

Yes you’ve guest it – Beverage 365. My plan is to take one photo of every (well just about every) drink I have everyday. My promise is to not overload you with too much on my Flickr / Twitter feeds. I will try to make my pictures as interesting as possible and give you (a best I can) an incite into what I’ve been up to; I know none of you actually care about what I’ve been up to but that’s what I going to do… so 😛

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