Why be like the other sheep?
My second waxing experience.
Well I just had my second waxing experience. This is time I went for the whole leg job and it really didn’t hurt anything like I imagined. I’m still not sure if I’m brave enough to go for underarms and bikini line yet though. So this might take a little bit longer than expected before I’ll tick the challenge off as done and dusted.
I’ve watched the film, now I just need to read the book.
The Name of the Rose is book number 174 on the BBC Big Read list. I’ve had it on my shelves for a long time but haven’t yet got round to reading it. The book was made into a film in 1986 and stars Sean Connery and Christian Slater. I’ve just watched it for the first time and it’s motivated me to read the book. The film is good, but from past experience I know they’re never usually as good as the book, so I’m glad I’ve seen the film first.
The story is set in a monastery high on an isolated hill in 1300’s Italy. As a Franciscan monk and his novice, played by Connery and Slater, arrive for a debate ahead of their peers, a man is found murdered. Then another one. And another. Connery and Slater turn into medieval sleuths to solve the mysterious crimes and find a secret library in the process. Unfortunately the Inquisition arrives before they can solve the murders and three innocent people find themselves about to be burnt at the stake. It all ends happily however. Well, at least it ends happily for all except the two people who don’t get rescued from the stake in time, the Inquisitor who is killed by his own torture devices, and the library which is destroyed. But apart from that, a happy ending.
I must read the book.
It just got harder to visit Iran.
Iran has been in the headlines again this week. Firstly because of the attack on the British Embassy in Tehran, and then because of the Iranian diplomats in Britain being given 24 hours to leave the country. The attack on the embassy in Tehran seems to have been a terrifying ordeal for those inside. They say the police stood by and allowed the ‘students’ to carry out the attack. If the police were standing by does this mean the attack was condoned (or even instigated) by the government? The Iranian foreign secretary (I think) did apologise, but how genuine was this apology?
Britain sending the Iranian diplomats back to their country seems a bit tit for tat (though in a much nicer and less terifying way). Yes, we’re making a point, but what is it really going to achieve? It just seems to me that the situation could be much more easily resolved in our favour if we kept them here. For starters, if Iran is such a threat then surely we need people on the ground there to keep an eye on things for us. How is that going to happen, if we have no ambassador or other embassy personnel there? If we allowed the Iranian officials to remain here, the path of safely returning diplomats to Iran would be much simpler and quicker.
When I went to Russia in the mid-1980s it was the time of the cold war and Russia was the most misunderstood and least known country on the planet. Everyone thought they knew all kinds of things about the USSR, but as most of their knowledge and perceptions came from American spy films and propaganda, much of what they thought was wrong. When I told people where I was going their reaction would either be one of disbelief or one of fear and paranoia. “But what if they don’t let you out?” was a question I was asked all too often.
These days it seems like Iran is the new Soviet Union. Most people have never met anyone from there or anyone who has been there, let alone thought of going there themselves. The presiding image of Iran in most people’s minds is of crowds chanting “Death to America” whilst burning American flags. When I mention to people that it is one of the countries I would most like to go to, and indeed when I told people I was actually booked on a trip to travel around Iran (it was cancelled as there weren’t enough people on it, so I never actually got to go) their reaction is similar to what the reaction was back in the ’80s when I went to Russia. Yet whenever I speak to anyone who has travelled there, or read of anyone’s travels through Iran they always speak so highly of the country and its people, saying it’s one of the friendliest most welcoming places they have been. As usual it seems to be the politicians who are setting the international tone for their country and doing their own people a great injustice by creating such a negative perception of them.
My dream of going to Iran could be further away than ever now as I doubt there’ll be many visas issued to British passport holders for the forseeable future.
Why this is a particularly good time to see the Northern Lights.
I’ve been reading up on the Northern Lights and this is a really good time to go to see them. The sun operates in a 12 year cycle and every 12th year it gets spots. These sunspots are visible without a telescope (though eclipse type glasses are recommended to avoid damaging your eyes) and are caused by particles being expelled from the sun. It’s particles from the sun that cause the effects seen as the Northern Lights. The particles are dragged towards the two magnetic poles and then swirl around in the atmosphere causing the multi-coloured lightshow effect. The closer to the poles you are the more strobe like are the lights. In Scotland, on the odd occasion that they are seen, they tend to appear only as a pale swathe of colour on the horizon. Green and red coloured lights are caused by oxygen particles and the less common blue lights are caused by nitrogen.
Not only is sun at the height of its 12 year expulsion cycle, but some experts reckon it is the most active its been for 50 years. So with all these extra particles floating about surely I’ve got to see them!
Time is running out to get the mailboat to St Helena.
St Helena is an island in the middle of the Atlantic miles from anywhere. It’s so isolated it was considered a good place for Napoleon to live out his days after his capture. As small islands interest me it’s only to be expected that this should be somewhere I’d like to go. What makes this particular island even more fascinating however, is the journey it takes to get there. There is no airport. Not even a tiny airstrip the like of which can be found on islands like Foula or Skerries. So the only way there is by boat. There is a mailboat service that runs from the UK to South Africa and stops at St Helena en route to deliver goods and mail and this mail boat takes passengers. It’s something I’d love to do and depending on what the mail boat is really like I might be able to kill two birds with one stone and get both the ‘visit St Helena’ challenge and the ‘travel on a cargo ship’ challenge ticked off in the one go.
I’ve just read that the mail boat is making its final journey from the UK. It will still go to St Helena, but only on return trips to South Africa. And the idea of building an airstrip has been resurrected (it gets talked about every few years and then ends up on the back burner again). So if I want to go to St Helena by mailboat I have to try to do it before 2015 which is when the talk says they will have the airstrip. If the plans go ahead this time, then no doubt this will spell the end for mail boat.
I wonder where else I could go by mail boat?
An update on how I’m doing with my challenges.
I’ve got a few things going on now. I’m still thinking about and planning for Iceland. I spoke to the photography teacher today about taking photos in RAW, but that’s something she also doesn’t know too much about. She’s going to find out for me. I’ve remembered I’ve got the Bradt guide to the Northern Lights – I got it free a while ago – so I’ve been looking for it, but can’t find it anywhere. I’ll have to keep looking.
I’ve also started writing seriously for NaNoWriMo. Now it’s nearly the end of the month I doubt I’ll get my 50,000 words done. It’s not fiction either. But I’m doing what I wanted and getting a lot of words input to my computer. I only started yesterday and I have over 5,000 words already. I had worked out that I would need to do 2,000 a words a day for 25 days. I only allowed 25 days, as I knew there would be days when I wouldn’t get round to doing any and so I built these word-free days into my timetable. To finish in time now, I would need to write more than 5,000 words a day, so I know that realistically that’s not going to happen.
I’ve also just got round to ringing the local college to book my next leg-waxing appointment. The receptionist (who is also a student and told me this was her first day on reception) seemed to be struggling to find any appointments on her computer so she took my number and rang me back. The earliest she can do is the 13th December. I’ve booked it, but I know it means I won’t get my waxing challenge finished this year. The first time I went, it was just for a lower leg-wax. This time it’s for the full leg. My final appointment will also include my underarms and bikini line. After that I’ll tick the challenge off and probably not bother any more as it seems much easier just to shave. So when I go in December I’ll make the next appointment whilst I’m there. Probably for late January.
Should I stick to JPEG when photographing the Northern Lights or dare I use RAW?
I usually use JPEG when I take photographs. It’s not something I’ve thought about, it’s just what my camera does and sites like blogger and facebook like it. But the research I’ve done so far on photographing the Northern Lights seems fairly consistent in telling me to use RAW. The memory card I’ve ordered can do this, so I do have the option. My conundrum is whether or not I’ll know what to do with it once I’ve taken the photographs. I don’t want to have amazing photographs and not be able to download them to any websites or even worse, be able to get them off my camera and onto my laptop.
I’ll have to try to speak to someone in the photography department at school and get some advice.
Learning how to photograph the Northern Lights.
Now I’m thinking about how I’m going to photograph that amazing view I’m soon to have of the Northern Lights, lava, bonfires and fireworks. Yes, all at the same time. I’ve requested it.
After looking at a few websites for tips on photographing the Aurora Borealis (to give it its proper name) I’ve realised that my snappy camera probably isn’t going to be up to the job. So I’ve just ordered myself a DSLR. I didn’t want a full-blown SLR as I know I’d get too confused by it and I can’t afford one anyway. So I’ve got a combi type that has got really good reviews. It should arrive by the end of next week, so then I need to get out and about practising with it and learning how to be a good night photographer. All in the next few weeks.
I’ve also ordered an ‘extreme’ memory card. Apparently memory cards can give up when the temperature gets too hot or too cold. The extreme cards are meant to cope with extreme lows and highs. The temperature in Reykjavik should be hovering around 0 when I’m there, but it has been known to get down to -17, so I want to be prepared.
I need to get a spare battery too, for the same reason. Then I can keep one next to my body and keep swapping them over. And a tripod. I’ve been researching tripods, but I’m not too sure which one yet. I want something light to carry but it has to be strong enough to stand steady in big winds. Iceland can be VERY windy. The other thing is a coat. I have my waterproof which I use for walking, but I’m not sure if this will be warm enough. I can layer up underneath it, but I can only fit so many layers. I had a look a down jackets which seem really snug, but they’re not particularly waterproof. At least not waterproof for the full-on sideways blasting rain that Iceland will throw at me. So I’ll have to ponder a bit more on that one.
I found this blog with some really good advice on how to photography the Northern Lights.
Where am I up to with my challenges?
I’m feeling like I’m not doing much towards my list at the moment. NaNoWriMo started at the beginning of the month and I’ve only written a couple of hundred words. I needed to do about 2,000 words a day and so I should be on 20,000 by now. I’ve just felt far too knackered when I’ve got home in the evening. I was also going to get another leg waxing appointment made and go for the whole leg experience this time. But I never got round to making the phone call, got fed up with hairy legs and shaved them. So now I’ll have to wait for them to re-grow. That’s the bit that puts me off waxing – the inbetween times when I have to have a couple of weeks of stubble and hair before it’s long enough to be successfully ripped off. Last time I only left it a week and that wasn’t really long enough, so this time I’d left it two weeks. But now I’m back to the start again. I’ve also not read any more books from the ‘Big Read’ as I’m still reading Bill Bryson’s At Home which I started to read in Norfolk.
At least I’ve got Iceland booked and so have a chance of seeing the Northern Lights and I’ve been able to get out walking again.
I’ve got 11 chances to see the Northern Lights.
I’m feeling excited. I’ve just booked a trip to Iceland over New Year. I normally feel as though I can’t do much over Christmas as Christmas Day is usually in the middle of my time off school and I often have family staying with me. But this year I break up right before Christmas and so don’t have to be back at school until the 9th January. And I don’t have family staying. It’s far too good an opportunity to miss and the obvious thing to do with a holiday at this time of year is to try to see the Northern Lights. I’ve been to Iceland before and I love it there. I’ve only been in summer when the daylight seemed never ending, so it will be interesting to be there in the heart of winter when there’s very little daylight.
I’m staying in two different youth hostels in the city as I was only allowed to book a maximum of 7 nights at either one. I’ve found a tour company that does tours each evening hunting for the Northern Lights. They check the weather maps and go to where ever the best chance of seeing of the lights is. If the weather doesn’t look good they’ll cancel the tour and reschedule for the next night. If we do go out and don’t see the lights we can go on the tour the next night free of charge.
As I’ll have 11 nights there, surely I’ll get to see them??? I can’t have all those chances and still miss out. And if I’m really lucky maybe one of the volcanoes will erupt again and I’ll get to tick lava of my list as well. Oh to get one of those iconic photos of lava spewing in front of a background of aurora borealis …
