From Sun to Snow

Well after two and a bit weeks of sun, sand and surf it’s a bit of a shock to the system to be back in Canada where it’s snow, cold and ice. Luckily it’s not super cold here right now, just chilly, so I can adjust into winter mode without too much angst. Mexico was super fun and here are a few of the highlights/observations:

  • Lying in the sun on a near white sand beach on Christmas day, listening to the waves come in on Paraiso Beach, then having a wonderful dinner underneath clear skies and thousands of stars.
  • Diving the Santa Rosa wall off Cozumel, a place that deserves its diving reputation. Plus my first ever fresh water cavern dive in the stunning Chac Mool (Claw of the Jaguar) cenote. Both of these dives were with the lovely Tank Ha folks in Playa del Carmen who I highly recommend.
  • Visiting Chichen Itza with its stunning Mayan ruins, reminiscent of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Just wish we’d had more time there – not only for the ruins, but it was actually the cheapest place to buy tourist stuff and I never had a chance to shop.
  • Sipping various cocktails poolside to one of the biggest pools in Mexico, plus very rarely using that same pool for exercise style lengths. Yeah right.
  • All that good mexican food; fajitas, enchiladas, moles, soups and the rest.
  • Experiencing Mexican police corruption and bribe gathering at first hand, as well as Mexico’s wonderful exuberance regarding un-signed road bumps that you can only go over at 5mph on a road with a 70mph speed limit. Bless.
  • The wonderful, smiling people who are so friendly and fun – they totally make up for those corrupted by their little bit of power in the police force.

So thanks again to Marsha and John for an amazing trip, you guys rocks! Expect to see some photos up at my Flickr stream soon – honest!

Happy 2008 Everyfolk!

Wishing you all the best for the upcoming year and beyond. And then some.

I’ve been celebrating the end of 2007 with my first ever cavern dive in a Mexican cenote – splendid stuff and I should have some photos up once I have more computer related, non-tanning time. Chin chin!

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!

Just a quickie since I’m not on the Internet very much at the moment being down in Mexico ‘n all! Hope all of you have a very splendid Christmas and associated other celebrations, wish you could all be here with us now – it’s lovely down here, although there’s always something strange about Christmas when it’s not cold.
So as a traditional Christmas Eve activity today I went for my first dive since the Similian Islands in Thailand, way back in March 2003… It was pretty obvious I was rusty, even with the practice dive the other week. Still, it was great to be back in the blue again and expect some photos soon since M and her family got me a lovely underwater camera case for Christmas/Birthday – thanks again for that! And thanks again to dad for his Birthday present of a few years back.. a dive watch that has only just seen its first action. Splendid.

Ick to the nth degree.

As part of the extreme moviefest I’m in at the moment I just saw possibly the most cringe-making scene ever. Let me just saw that if you thought Indiana Jones was bad for insect scenes then don’t watch King Kong. No way. Or at least stop watching about 2 hours 45 minutes in for about 15 minutes. Ick.

I guess my disgust stands as testament to the talented folks over at the Weta Workshop, responsible for this movie’s special effects along with those from most of Peter Jackson’s movies. Amazing stuff indeed – if it didn’t make me cringe so hard I could hardly watch it. Thanks for that.

Snowy Hospital Days

Well it’s been an eventful few days… At the moment we’re embracing a scenic, but travel limiting snow storm that’s hit most of Canada and the US. Prior to that I spent an un-fun few days in hospital with some weird stomach complaint.. splendid. Still not quite sure what happened, but I’ve now experienced the joys of drips and morphine for the first time and am now back on solids. All good fodder for my memoirs, or my outstanding screenplay about an ER room – “No stomach pain. Stat!”.

Everything seems to be settling back down now and I should have an actual answer to what happened tomorrow (assuming I can get to the Doctor in this snow). In the meantime though I’d just like to say a big thanks to the Js for being so accommodating, to the nurses for pumping me full of drugs and to M for everything – thanks for being there x

Led Zeppelin Re-union: Full Set List

As an addendum to that last post, here’s the full set list from tonight’s one off Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert:

  1. Good Times, Bad Times
  2. Ramble On
  3. Black Dog
  4. In My Time of Dying
  5. Trampled Under Foot
  6. Nobody’s Fault But Mine
  7. No Quarter
  8. Since I’ve Been Loving You
  9. Dazed and Confused
  10. Stairway to Heaven
  11. Misty Mountain Hop
  12. Kashmir

Then a brief break, followed by an encore of:

  1. Whole Lotta Love
  2. Rock ‘n Roll

A great mix indeed, but of course everyone will be sad that their own faves aren’t in there. Fingers crossed they ‘sell out’ and do a tour…

The Song Remained the Same (Led Zeppelin in Concert)

Well Led Zeppelin have just finished their one-off gig at the O2 arena in London. From the Radio 6 broadcast I’m listening to the set list was full of classic Zeppelin tracks – Song Remains the Same, Kashmir and Stairway to Heaven all featured. Hopefully soon someone will put some bootleg tracks up and we can all have a jolly good listen to find out how the old rock fogeys have held up. Some of us can’t afford £86,000 for a pair of touted tickets y’know.

In related news, the Vicar owner of Bron-Y-Aur, the small cottage in Wales near Machynlleth, has asked that Led Zeppelin fans refrain from doing the pilgrimage to his remote home. Back in my young student days in Birmingham I made that trip as part of an ill fated camping weekend. I hadn’t planned on it being a special visit, but as soon as I saw that cottage named on the Ordnance Survey map I had to go. It was dusk when I got there, so I snapped a photo of the wonderfully atmospheric, tree covered driveway then went home – happy to see the place where Page & Plant had spent a weekend creating some amazing songs.

Back Under the Water

Today was my first dive since 13th March 2004. It was only a practice dive, in the impressive 15m deep dive pool at the Stade Olympique in Montreal, but it was wonderful to be back under the water again.

After so long away I was worried about all the things I’d forget or whether my ears would play up – or explode. All sensible concerns. Thankfully none of them were realised and I got to float around, watching the other divers play whilst finding that my neutral buoyancy control is as crap as it ever was. Keep level using only breathing and no hand/feet movements? Hah. Can’t wait to go play in the sea now.

Thanks to Robin from Total Diving for working me through the kinks, and to M for the early Christmas present. I just hope you could join me down there one day…

War is Over – 27 Years On

Today is the 27th anniversary of the senseless murder of John Lennon, outside of his New York apartment on Central Park West. Yoko Ono has posted a short notice on the website Imagine Peace about that day.

What’s strange about this personally, other than the personal significance of that number, is that yesterday I was in a small antiques shop on the outskirts of Montreal looking at the National Enquirer from December 30th, 1980 with a claimed last ever picture of Lennon at rest in the morgue on the cover.

Rest in peace, John. You, and many like you, are sorely missed.