Mix of old and new Fraggle Stick Car: October 2005

SP7 Questionairre

On the twigs...

Done!... (warning - some pics suck ASS)

UFO - on hold...

In the queue...

Knitting pretty...

About Me

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Location: San Francisco, CA

I'm an English expat constantly struggling to be understood in a different country. I work in the cut throat world trying to bring "YARRR" and "Ne'er-Do-Well" into regular conversation My swear word of choice is Stink Nugget. I'm a yarn snob.

...Friendies

...Places I go

...Previous rants

...Kickin it old skool

...The US is like Britain, only with buttons

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I'm here!

So, I've got back fine to the U.S.S.A

No major incidents to report, nothing to see here, but I'm back to the regular 9 - 5 soon.

FranklinMinty rants @ 9:31 AM 7 comments

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Snippets

Straight from the rumor mill:-

Van Halen are doing an INXS and looking for a new singer via a TV reality show. (Note to Sammy Hagar and Dave Lee Roth - please apply!). Maybe Marty should too?

What's happened to Conservative outrage in USA? In the first quarter of the year, there were 157,016 indecency and obscenity complaints to the FCC. But from April - June, only 6,161

On a different note, I have rediscovered so many English words since I've been here, I'll endeavor to bring them back with me.

e.g.
Claggy - weather state that indicates close, muggy, humid conditions that often precedes a storm.

Chav - a Townie, wears oversized silver or gold chains around their neck, Kappa tracksuits and a fake burberry (known as chav check) baseball cap worn too high on te head.

That's 2 fer starters

FranklinMinty rants @ 11:58 PM 3 comments

A Brit on the Road is worth 3 in the bar

Here are some choice pictures from the seat of democracy and Atlantis!


First - I'm going to bore you with a short history lesson on me. I'm an ex-architect. When I was at college, I particularly loved the Caryatids on the Erechtheion on the Acropolis. See those sexy ladies shine!

(Want to hear more about the load baring trickery in the sculptures? That's why they all have 1 leg in front of the other and hair that bunches around the neck... I'm such a nerd)





Then, we all went to what is rumored to be Atlantis. An island that housed a powerful Minoan civilization (2nd only to Crete - and I'll talk about Knossos later if you are unlucky...), but was destroyed by a catastrophic volcanic eruption several thousand years BC. The rim of the volcano still exists, as well as 2 new active volcano islands in the middle of the old volcano. Its dead pretty!

This photo is taken from Ia (1 tip of the island), and looks in towards the center of this ring of islands formed from the ancient volcano eruption. The 2 islands in the middle of the ring are on the left hand side. You can see the other end of the main island in the center background (about 5 miles away)







Here are the steps of the Theatre of Dionysos. At the foot of the Acropolis, it would have held approx 15,000 people back in the day to watch Sophocles' stuff.





Plaka is the old (read not 1950's concrete, not classical greek) part of Athens. Its really picturesque, but this kind of graffiti is a lovely contrast. (Btw - I ended up calling "Plaka" the "Crapper" since it is full of tourist tat)





Now, before visiting Athens, I was all for the return of the Elgin Marbles. However, I was rather shocked by how haphazardly things seemed to be looked after. Everywhere you looked, there were piles of ancient build blocks, and no one seemed to be doing anything. If they were returned (or hadn't been taken in the 1st place) would they still be around?



Holding the Plaka together


Obligatory Parthanon shot...

Again - nerd alert... there are so many things to say about this building: Wonderful example of the most refined Doric order; 9:4 ratios; columns bulge in the middle and lean inwards as well as the floor being slightly convex to maintain the illusion of straight lines. This counteracts the optical illusions that things are bending created by such bulk... blah blah blah.



Byzantine church near the Tower of the Winds




The Gods Rays





Not so ruined... in the 50's it was decided to rip up a section of the Plaka and rebuild the Ancient Roman Agora, and keep the surrounding area as ruins. Thanks Rockerfella $$$. At least it is a little bit of green in Athens





Ia in Santorini. This is the little village we stayed at in Santorini. People are bused in every day to check it out. I'm so glad we visited in "winter" since the number of people there bought in to see the famous sunsets was ridiculous. I would have been driven crazy if it were hotter and more crowded.





Fishing boats moored at Nea Kamini - one of the volcanic islands in the middle of the Santorini caldera.





Ia at the sunset... Sigh.





Some cliffs at Santorini. I suspect this is actually from Thirassia (population 200 summer, 100 winter) - one of the smaller islands in the Santorini caldera ring.





Where did I start?

FranklinMinty rants @ 4:18 PM 1 comments

Friday, October 14, 2005

I'm back part 1

So... I'm back in the motherland, as it were - and I have a few days left until I return to my adopted homeland.

Its 3.20am in the morning here - and I have jet lag that makes me think its 5.20 am - so what the hell am I doing up still?

I have gigs of photos of the Aegean and around, but they'll have to wait a bit.

Sis found us some crazy yarn stores in Athens and I've picked up some choice samples, and Sunday, I'm back off to the capital here to check out the Knit n Stitch show at Ally Pally with mater. It seems my obsession has ignited something with mama, as she is taking up the needles once more to knit some stuff for Sis.

Anyway - things are going a lot better than a few weeks ago and I'm generally feeling much better. I miss S a lot, he's in New York for a friend's wedding that I had to miss (being a few 1000 miles away and all), but I'll be back soon... and then it is... HALLOWEEN BABY!

Oh yeah!

FranklinMinty rants @ 7:21 PM 4 comments

Sunday, October 02, 2005

60 years...

Today was the celebration of my grandparents (or as we call them, the Aged GPs) 60th wedding anniversary. 60... that's a long time - so was quite a big deal really.

The extended family gathered and had a nice curry and some bubbly and said "hurrah" and all that.

Here's a choice picture...



Speaking of curries, I've been eating rather a lot recently, since my sis's boyfriend is an excellent cook and curries appear to be a speciality. Unfortunately, though, one of them left me rather sick for about a day or 2. It appears in old age my cast iron stomach is getting flabby in more than 1 way.

I'm feeling much better now though, in case you cared.

The only other thing I did today? Frantic booking of last minute holidays... we are going here



and here




and that is all the info you get right now

p.s. Bjork probably won't be there

FranklinMinty rants @ 4:46 PM 4 comments