tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56936063575930635132024-03-19T01:07:16.210-03:00I didn't realise I was a Grey NomadWhen I retired my ex-business partner asked me to write a travel blog. I initially thought it pretentious but a long trip with my wife changed my mind. The world is a fascinating place with plenty of things to write about. Random topics, but I was an economist entrepreneur, so... It won't be a family blog but observations and analysis drawn from travels around the world. Some views, possibly many, you may not share but they are my own and nobody else's so if anyone is to blame, it is me.Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-70716542931511164532022-07-17T05:09:00.001-03:002022-07-30T00:45:58.749-03:00Athens Day 3 -- BattlefieldsThis is the first battlefield day and the first step on our Greek road trip.
Yannis picked us up to drive the 26 miles 285 yards to the Marathon battlefield which apparently is just a field and very little else. Nobody goes there these days and Yannis told us we were only the third group he’d ever had in 10 years!
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It was just a field with a large burial mound in the middle. A tumulus it is called here. It holds the bodies of 192 dead Greeks whilst the Persians who were seriously routed lost 6,500 or so.
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What brought the attack was simply the Persians who had a simply enormous Asian empire, were concerned about their noisy neighbours in Europe who they kept running into around the eastern Mediterranean. Diplomacy failed, so to war.
The Persians sent 25,000 men by sea to the gradual sloping beaches at Marathon at the behest of a banished former Greek tyrant (there were many of those as the Greeks have a history of quarrelling over everything, still today) who promised to be a good neighbour next time if the Persians put him back in charge.
The Bay of Marathon these days has been heavily silted up so is pretty much unrecognisable from what it was like 2500 years ago. Same for many of the coastal areas. The battlefield today is some 5 kms inland as a result.
The Persians landed with a lot of cavalry to meet 10,000 Greeks, mostly Athenians, who stayed resolutely in the surrounding mountains. After 3 days the cavalry took off for the ships and more food so the Greeks launched a sudden attack on the remainder of the invading army.
Taken by surprise the Persians formed up and the two armies met. The Greeks under Militiades were weakest in the centre but strong on both wings. The Persians pushed forward in the centre as the Greeks gave way, soon the Persians were surrounded and the killing began. The lack of cavalry lost the day for the Persians.
History has it that one soldier ran back to Athens with the news….. apparently not. This man’s name was Pheidippides and in actuality a few days earlier he had run some 200 kms to Sparta to ask for help. Bad timing as it was a big religious festival (another one!) and the Spartans said we’ll come along after it’s over. He ran back to Athens and thence to the army at Marathon.
After the battle, the Persians reboarded their ships and set sail for Athens proper. They still had a superior number to the Greeks so a direct assault on Athens was still viable. The victorious Greek army to a man ran the 26 miles and 285 yards back to Athens so as to be able to form up on the shoreline showing the Persians they were ready for them again. The Persians went home. Pheidippides ran back to Sparta again to say don’t bother, we won and it was there that he really dropped dead.
The real road race therefore would have to be a mere 200 kms or so.
The classic 26+ mile Marathon route is marked out still and it was that route taken in both the 1896 and 2004 Olympic Games. I’ll bet no Turks took part.
We followed up with a tour of a nearby archaeological museum and went into a tumulus for the Plateans who had been killed in the battle at Marathon, another 12 of them.
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After this we set out for Cape Sounion to the south of Athens with Yannis talking away about history and mythology. On the way from Marathon to Cape Sounion, we stopped at one of Yannis’ favourite rest stops near the airport for some Freddo cappuccinos (again)!! Very nice.
He added to what Theodora said about the Athenians using the Parthenon rebuild to project Athenian power amongst the independent city states.
Apparently it was the later war with the Persians, the one that was lost and when Athens was subsequently sacked, looted and destroyed. The Athenians demanded recompense from the other cities. If the city had sent troops, like Platea, that was OK. If they did not, like many others, they sent money instead. It was a lot of money and even with the early reversals, they found themselves at the end with a huge dollop of cash. So being democratic, the leaders asked the people if they’d like to spend the cash on a big glowing memorial to Athenian bravery, skill and honour. Not necessarily Greek, but Athenian. The people said yes and so the money was used to rebuild the Parthenon and a bunch of other destroyed buildings.
So there you have it.
On the road, Cape Sounion was at the very end of the promontory which led out from Athens. Today it is the beach area. Very affluent. Further along and out is the Cape where there is little other than a lovely bay with two beach hotels and the cliffs upon which stood the Temple to Poseidon.
You may remember from yesterday that Poseidon and Athena competed for supremacy in Athens. Poseidon provided a miraculous spring of sea water, Athena provided the first ever olive tree. Athena won so the Athenians cautious about offending a major God like Poseidon decided to dedicate a temple to him on this spot. It is a spectacular spot.
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Yiannis told the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Part bull, part man this beast lived in caves in Crete and ate everyone that tried to kill it. Theseus son of the King of Athens, named Aegis, offered himself to try the next time. He told his dad that if he succeeded in killing the Minotaur he would return with white sails on his ship.
Theseus went to Crete and first thing he did was meet the beautiful daughter of the King, Ariadne, who helped him first find the caves and then with a ball of twine helped him find the way out of the maze in which the Minotaur lived. Killing the Minotaur was pretty straightforward but getting out was tricky but the ball of twine helped. Theseus returned to Athens.
All good so far but in all the excitement he’d forgotten quite what he’d promised his father about the colour of his sails. He used black ones. Standing on the peninsula of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, the entrance into Athens, all Aegis saw was black sails which meant his one and only son was dead. Aegis threw himself off the rocks in his grief. In response the Athenians called the body of water the Aegean Sea in his memory.
Why would you ever have children?
This was where Cape Sounion was and the temple is located. Utterly spectacular!
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It was nearing 4 pm and Yiannis said there was a nice seafood restaurant nearby that would be great for a late lunch. It was! What a great spot too, right on the bay opposite the Temple of Poseidon. And if you think either of us was ready, willing and able to think about dinner after, think again.
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When we returned to Athens no more than an hour or so later, we decided a meat feast was called for. First though we felt the need for a brief wander around the gardens nearby where stood the Temple of Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian. The Temple had been destroyed by the Persians centuries before and was a gift by the Emperor Hadrian to the people of Athens when he visited the city. In return the Athenians built a ceremonial arch to the emperor as thanks for the gift.
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Nearby was the Parliament building where Yiannis had told us that on the hour there was a change of the guards that we really shouldn't miss. We queued up with maybe a couple of hundred other tourists and waited.
First of all the guards dress in what is loosely termed 'traditional' fashion. I never 'knew' much about fashion as a youngster but one thing I did 'know' was that Greek men wore skirts. Quite how and why this was a 'known' fact when I was growing up is unclear to me but that was one of the things that I as a young person 'knew'. I imagine this was it. It is a thick tunic with what look like really thick stockings and those shoes with the bobble on top!
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Of course there must be some basis for it in practicality measure. Greece can be very cold indeed so thick clothes would be a boon. As for those shoes though, we came across some in a museum a day or so later and they are very simply hob nailed boots with that bobble on top. Presumably they took the bobble off to fight.
And of course OK, OK in England we have the guards at Buckingham Palace wearing those busbies.
The changing of the guard ceremony itself took about 10 minutes and looks exhausting. Lots of stamping around and leg and arm swinging. The leg movements look like something out of Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks. After it was all over and the guards had been changed, one of the senior officers presumably came around with a towel to dry off the sweat on their faces. It was really hot so those guys must have been suffering.
After last night's faux pas with our dining choice, we'd asked Anthony at the travel agents for a recommendation where local people go. It was out in some suburb or other so we took a taxi there. It was a kebab shop called Kir Aristos.
Talk about grumpy and useless! The waiters did virtually nothing so we waited and waited. But when the food came it was fantastic but enormous! We chose a mixed grill to share with another salad. Really stuffed.
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We would go back to that place again. Grumpy or not!!
This is the route we took today.
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Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-82684363968744860882022-07-11T07:26:00.001-03:002022-07-17T04:12:29.731-03:00The Odyssey -- Athens Day 2<p> Day 2 in Athens would be a humdinger. All about the Acropolis. The itinerary said:</p><p><i>'We will arrange a private walking tour of Athens for 5 to 6 hours if you are up to it to visit all the important sites including the Acropolis and the New Acropolis Museum.'</i></p><p>We met our guide Theodora at the hotel and walked the 5 minutes along the street to the entrance to the Acropolis. There were lots of people. Theodora said today would likely be the busiest day of the year as a number of cruise ships had arrived at Piraeus with passengers’ first stop likely to be the Acropolis. </p><p>Viv and I wondered why we would visit today then, or rather this morning as we could easily have visited in the afternoon. Oh well. </p><p>The Acropolis hill is big. And tall. It was tough going slowly dragging ourselves up hill in the heat. Theodora told us the story as we went along.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWKKwRUbPMLPu8ITcKiLQk5Dw1NdWiTjl7O1C-vz-T4bAWSkA-gm7VrXPDZvoZUcDbB46H3r-DxxxMP7iTGoUA7-6O0i9pjHFFF4rAasE38lpgtq7q-VktVmuXufa4tUghP5N1lxD1eeIFp_aj1MlJ3Nnb6z1O_FfxqPggAm8jRuCMCT98qGxpeTxlA/s4032/IMG_0516.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWKKwRUbPMLPu8ITcKiLQk5Dw1NdWiTjl7O1C-vz-T4bAWSkA-gm7VrXPDZvoZUcDbB46H3r-DxxxMP7iTGoUA7-6O0i9pjHFFF4rAasE38lpgtq7q-VktVmuXufa4tUghP5N1lxD1eeIFp_aj1MlJ3Nnb6z1O_FfxqPggAm8jRuCMCT98qGxpeTxlA/s320/IMG_0516.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nearly there! First selfie du jour at the Greek theatre on the south side of the Acropolis<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkFkmYKFU2YELQmeOIQqGRh3C3-KSUBNbwcC2PFZmuM3cSCeiABNvAd47h-SqLwBzTG37_jOzo32eHTrKIUHHMJvGstFCzZc1vb1f5B4341pH9z9QiWQhVJ0i7Nh0wFuZeGHw1Rl9JxDJCU6t9OVkMSGHIBRogcXnkE52RtKP6ochXt2_bUeSz5bEvoQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="2316" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkFkmYKFU2YELQmeOIQqGRh3C3-KSUBNbwcC2PFZmuM3cSCeiABNvAd47h-SqLwBzTG37_jOzo32eHTrKIUHHMJvGstFCzZc1vb1f5B4341pH9z9QiWQhVJ0i7Nh0wFuZeGHw1Rl9JxDJCU6t9OVkMSGHIBRogcXnkE52RtKP6ochXt2_bUeSz5bEvoQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what it looked liked during the Hellenistic Period</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The Acropolis had been populated for possibly 4,000 years initially as a fortress for people in the surrounds to retreat to at times of trouble and war. It certainly was imposing yet Theodora advised us that the Acropolis had been attacked, sacked and destroyed many times. Huh?</p><p>Very true. </p><p>The Acropolis and the temple on the top known as the Parthenon (there are several other temples on the top but smaller) are relatively recent creations. One may think it looks like something of a rocky ruin, but in fact it’s only about 1,000 years old.</p><p>After the Persians attacked Athens, defeated them (Thermopylae was lost if you remember) and occupied Athens, they destroyed everything they could before they left the following year of 480 BC. That included the buildings on the top of the Acropolis hill. These included a partially built Parthenon as well as several other temples. The entire site was ruined.</p><p>The Athenians together with a full compliment of Spartans this time (not just the famous 300), annihilated the Persians the following year in 479 BC at Plataea removing all threats to the independent Greek states. To show that they were now the big dogs on the block, the Athenians immediately embarked on rebuilding on an immense scale.</p><p>The building of the Parthenon was completed in only 9 years while the crafting of the wondrous sculptures took a further 6 years. Marble was brought from a mountain 17 Kms away and was laboriously lugged up the hill that we were now stumbling up. </p><p>Theodora continued with gusto. </p><p>She certainly had a huge passion about the subject and had definite views on things that had impacted the Acropolis over the years. </p><p>First were the Romans. Of course it would be. For some reason, the Greeks thought they could beat the Romans in the first century BC but the Roman tyrant general Sulla in 87 BC routed them, captured the entire region which wasn’t yet a country including Athens, sacked it thoroughly and enslaved the population. That is the entire population including all those philosophers that were still around.</p><p>Greece remained a Roman possession until 1458. </p><p>Huh? I hear you say. What about the Byzantines? There were never any Byzantines. That is the name historians gave the eastern Roman Empire looking backwards at some point. The Romans themselves always called themselves Romans, even until the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453. Byzantium was the name of the original Greek settlement that the Roman Emperor Constantine renamed in the 4th century AD when he moved the capital of the entire Roman Empire to Constantinople. So forget Byzantium. Actually you can't for every guide book says Byzantine this or that, mainly churches, so it is most confusing. Best to see Rome at the same time as you see Byzantium. </p><p>When I was in Rome a couple of weeks ago I found a wonderful excerpt from a 2nd century AD travel book comparing the architecture of Greece and Rome. In typically patronising fashion, the writer said that the Greeks do build some pretty impressive structures but the stench, the disorganisation and the overall mess of Greek cities was something beyond the comprehension of a Roman. Happily Rome provided aqueducts so that every villa has its own water source for their fountains. Sewage for the endless ordure and stench. Plumbing so that buildings would remain well serviced during the wet season…. And so on. </p><p>It was a Roman traveler from the 2nd century, one Pausanias, whom we all should thank for even the possibility of reconstruction and renovation. For it is only his writings and the earlier Herodotus (the Greek historian from centuries earlier) that give us the idea what these buildings and monuments look like. Fortunately both wrote at very great length and in Pausanias' case drew thousands of sketches and drawings, many of which survive.</p><p>The Romans in addition to their renowned organisation, also introduced a fully integrated taxation system that lasted until 1458 and beyond for the conquering Ottomans discovered they couldn’t do any better.</p><p>Specific to the Acropolis though were the changes wrought by the Romans to the amphitheater, the new theatre and performing arts centre that was built. Where the Greeks starting with Thespis, a comic writer of the golden age, wrote monologues, dialogues and drama, the Romans dug a big ditch, raised up a marble wall around the orchestra (aka stage) and staged mock naval battles and gladiatorial combat. The walls enabling the area to be filled with water for the first, and prevent blood spatters covering the 5,000 person audience in the second. Who needs monologues! </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4eHHO7_I05wMXhy_b2Nc7outICxtFYwGd6Mnzl0gcyVS05Cr66ikxJHz_cs4fGY_concATcCsN7AxsWcOKA1SMclAmmXIkDUO9pEgDMsm3CkvRfHPV9TmBE020L-8dFxv3-na0UvC1pRP3VPNCe4sadi-AjAW_ojcce-uRnzHwl0a1CnkpjLYbj2Jig" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4eHHO7_I05wMXhy_b2Nc7outICxtFYwGd6Mnzl0gcyVS05Cr66ikxJHz_cs4fGY_concATcCsN7AxsWcOKA1SMclAmmXIkDUO9pEgDMsm3CkvRfHPV9TmBE020L-8dFxv3-na0UvC1pRP3VPNCe4sadi-AjAW_ojcce-uRnzHwl0a1CnkpjLYbj2Jig" width="320" /></a></div><br />Theodora was not impressed, then moved onto the Emperor Justinian (6th century emperor). She was even less impressed by Justinian. I couldn’t figure out exactly why but as he was the mover and shaker in rejigging the imperial tax policy for the final time, perhaps it was this. Certainly the Byzantines which Justinian was about to morph into (even I am falling into this Rome vs Byzantium thing), as opposed to the eastern Roman Empire, were not fans of the old pagan gods still widely revered in Greece. Under the ‘Christians’ (spoken with gritted teeth) they basically trashed everything to do with the old Gods. This is why most of the faces on statues have been disfigured. I didn't ask about why the male genitalia were also missing from most statues.<p></p><p>We hadn’t reached the entrance to the Acropolis at the top yet and Theodora wasn’t slowing down.</p><p>The British didn’t miss out either. Theodora was scathing about Elgin and his plundering of Greek antiquity in 1801 (this is the so called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum). Yet less so for the French who even before Elgin stole everything that was not nailed down (this in an instruction specifically written by the French ambassador in 1784 to an expedition in that year). And almost glossing over the Venetians who in their sack of Athens in 1687 had fired cannons at the defending Ottomans who’d retired to the Acropolis which they used as magazines. This cannon fire hit the magazines which exploded and destroyed about one third of the Parthenon. They then tried to take the remaining massive sculptures from the mantles which caused them to fall 30 feet and be irredeemably smashed. </p><p>An even minded person may consider deliberate cannon fire, explosions and wanton destruction of rather more concern and remark than removing a few bits of marble that had been lying around anyway for centuries, a practice I should note that continues to this day.</p><p>We reached the entrance with some hundreds of other tourists and snaked past the temple to Nike and made it to the top of the Acropolis.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL1p1b756DLW4fHoLGyP63Dnc7X1QleYh_0y2V1-WBARf5thHzMU47eIThHuh1ZTymZhMVac_2ukpcikkD0sW94ygSTBNuXHezzO_FANRVl5AZFuea6GKn25_srHmQmcZdztS4qJg4pH1KqO7dxD85FsMcIRlPeXPraWkQbFIyT3_TqF-PviIHUrUJuQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL1p1b756DLW4fHoLGyP63Dnc7X1QleYh_0y2V1-WBARf5thHzMU47eIThHuh1ZTymZhMVac_2ukpcikkD0sW94ygSTBNuXHezzO_FANRVl5AZFuea6GKn25_srHmQmcZdztS4qJg4pH1KqO7dxD85FsMcIRlPeXPraWkQbFIyT3_TqF-PviIHUrUJuQ" width="320" /></a></div><br />Athens' Acropolis is huge. About 3kms long by 1.5 kms wide. Lots of room for lots of temples, and there are lots of temples in varying levels of decay. Impressive. <p></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAt72sxflFwyZoHgl4_cpE7hEd8vkXACvl-kqmmvjuEs0-ECuM7Z96WpNpWD6rdHt4z9WHnrthHCCwCcmd3AG3DB4uCAf87gGB_zNaOeT56I617z96OVTvLqRaZ1qavylEC49GBqIA1rq0HrEiJ8cPQyLEEv0qQDraOTYOXNKkSQunLwkyc1eNSqVRsQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1962" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAt72sxflFwyZoHgl4_cpE7hEd8vkXACvl-kqmmvjuEs0-ECuM7Z96WpNpWD6rdHt4z9WHnrthHCCwCcmd3AG3DB4uCAf87gGB_zNaOeT56I617z96OVTvLqRaZ1qavylEC49GBqIA1rq0HrEiJ8cPQyLEEv0qQDraOTYOXNKkSQunLwkyc1eNSqVRsQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Acropolis during Roman times</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Theodora was a fantastic source of information and could talk on almost any related subject. She had artists' reconstructions of what the buildings may have looked like. They looked spectacular. Check out <a href="http://www.ancientathens3d.com">www.ancientathens3d.com</a> to take a look. They may not be entirely accurate but are best guesses. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiATD46RWzwH1N38MCuuSUryNwvKWHU0yVRs2Ob8h_vlyXIa55zK8rZjh9bbtCfyFRbezGcOJlCt2oMwpXcaD8RJSlFe09p1H5NcG7iqt_aoyciRRqFfUuNvapCGNbtBObXkShqQfHoeC9gYKIr1qYIIH2_DFATHZKr8nA-tZIQ1tupDx3b9IGcRJlj0Q/s3221/IMG_0526.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2416" data-original-width="3221" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiATD46RWzwH1N38MCuuSUryNwvKWHU0yVRs2Ob8h_vlyXIa55zK8rZjh9bbtCfyFRbezGcOJlCt2oMwpXcaD8RJSlFe09p1H5NcG7iqt_aoyciRRqFfUuNvapCGNbtBObXkShqQfHoeC9gYKIr1qYIIH2_DFATHZKr8nA-tZIQ1tupDx3b9IGcRJlj0Q/s320/IMG_0526.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9IVm4ZJxmv-QsQw5IncFE7pRy36JOQtyYUVzmniiah495wUp8NHdQU55szZedCLpPUiQePMqGNxz872ExQT4u19mnCdnSgRzmQFsiGEusCnBtXui0_RTxifEI9doEeQ8xaMrHivMl8Vp56qzj7sZ52fw2VkMbDHvileCWV9BLE5sOutr7RyNelRtOJQ/s4032/IMG_0538.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9IVm4ZJxmv-QsQw5IncFE7pRy36JOQtyYUVzmniiah495wUp8NHdQU55szZedCLpPUiQePMqGNxz872ExQT4u19mnCdnSgRzmQFsiGEusCnBtXui0_RTxifEI9doEeQ8xaMrHivMl8Vp56qzj7sZ52fw2VkMbDHvileCWV9BLE5sOutr7RyNelRtOJQ/s320/IMG_0538.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The top temple is one to the goddess Athena who supposedly gave the gift of the first olive tree to the city, whilst the bottom temple is the Parthenon from the end where Elgin supposedly cut down all those marbles. Imagine the temple with a triangular shape on top of those flat bits. Inside that triangle were dozens of massive sculptures. It was these the Venetians and French could not cart off. It was Elgin's crew that devised the method of cutting the carved frontispiece off the monster 12 ton lump of marble that solved the logistics impasse. These statues we saw in the museum.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>By now we were fading so decided to head for the Acropolis Museum which had A/C and a cafe to take a few minutes rest. There we had Freddo Capuccinos which are worthy of conversation in and of themselves.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsr4D-HpWbnW3niOhmR2EyM-R4CNdvBWdsQL5aTJZCQ4XVbEE1qf_rPSpMRF5ht8VDWnnDzLyUekJYy8T2xXlQQe_asddCTiEBPRywwVrnl7-8wTH96-x0wAxO5uLf97FfY3n6zJkQhmp-2ggPxDDpL_RTzgVdy0WbP7Wj6bdi0EhkfESPIwbIMY77Yw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhsr4D-HpWbnW3niOhmR2EyM-R4CNdvBWdsQL5aTJZCQ4XVbEE1qf_rPSpMRF5ht8VDWnnDzLyUekJYy8T2xXlQQe_asddCTiEBPRywwVrnl7-8wTH96-x0wAxO5uLf97FfY3n6zJkQhmp-2ggPxDDpL_RTzgVdy0WbP7Wj6bdi0EhkfESPIwbIMY77Yw" width="180" /></a></div><br />The museum contained many of the remaining statues from the Acropolis where Theodora was able to demonstrate which were original and which were reconstruction due to either being plundered (yawn) or destroyed. It was all very interesting.<p></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF4jO0bUqGPsRclhDjP_XzrVlpc0k9QHTOIUwJgUuLuf1j7bbsQJM-MEzTCHE9ZnuVTsrtYKf51JsYr3DURrFo6-PZgLxxrR9oFmSOia1v8LnvGVfjiTfoQUwZRsfzCpg49lCHnv0aNi5yQZ_OkaV1rgOD7x7tNvvTuD4PC6TztvcrbVRuBmRn455CVQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF4jO0bUqGPsRclhDjP_XzrVlpc0k9QHTOIUwJgUuLuf1j7bbsQJM-MEzTCHE9ZnuVTsrtYKf51JsYr3DURrFo6-PZgLxxrR9oFmSOia1v8LnvGVfjiTfoQUwZRsfzCpg49lCHnv0aNi5yQZ_OkaV1rgOD7x7tNvvTuD4PC6TztvcrbVRuBmRn455CVQ" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the museum coffee shop</td></tr></tbody></table><br />What is not understood is the size of the statues. They are truly enormous and in marble which means every block weighs some 12.5 tons. The practicality of how the blocks were transported was fantastic. Each block was dragged 17 kms and when the oxen could go no further up the hill, the carts carrying the blocks would be attached to a pulley system and a herd of mules would be encouraged to pull ropes that were at the other end of the pulleys. As they descended, the cart ascended. Thousands upon thousands of blocks.</p><p>So the simple art of pillaging was also very difficult. Lord Elgin was ambassador to the Ottomans based in Constantinople in 1799, this during the Napoleonic Wars. He canvassed the Caliph to enable him to survey some Greek sites with a view to removing any interesting objects. Silver smoothed the way and the Caliph, very keen to stay out of the way of the war as the Ottoman Empire had begun to weaken irredeemably, agreed. Elgin sent in a crew to see what they could find. </p><p>What they found were the debris from previous multiple lootings and occupations from over the centuries. Athens had been sacked by the Herulians in 267 AD, by the Huns in 396 AD, the Goths in the 5th century, by the Slavs in the 7th century and so on. Long list. The Franks occupied the city in 1204 during the 4th Crusade and fortified it whilst the later occupying Byzantines built over original Greek structures. As well the locals had simply taken building materials just lying around for their own home construction. No metal. This had already gone. So not much in perfect condition. (Not many people either. Athens had become depopulated over time and it wasn't until 1834 when it was named capital of a newly independent Greece that people began to return to the city. Many government buildings for example date from after this date. Not antiquity at all).</p><p>What Elgin's crew did find were portions of sculptures and depictions of events carved into the marble blocks. However each weighed tons. Literally. So they cut the front of the blocks to save weight and shipped what they could back to England. In the museum today, on display are the original part blocks with plaster casts of the bits Elgin's crew took stuck on top. From my uneducated perspective it does look like bits and pieces of rubble. Sort of 'Oh look, Hercules' left shoulder' that sort of thing.</p><p>Several years later in 1816, Elgin canvassed the British Government who paid 35,000 GBP for the items which were then immediately displayed in the British Museum.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQw1sQ_D43K6gTzK-ZH4_0T7i4oS3UnqofZ3Avgi989p7b553b4_yPj9BniruVuOi1vUsQgsDdKZ6CGBQDuHTadb8dMQybaL8RuwXFj3fBJsuPXud6RYxo8cH7Ar_WgDSgpogJlGAOgaItaYXwQPIiXKzw5kHNcrato76b2QvAJ-oXUwFMOfsXm-9mlQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQw1sQ_D43K6gTzK-ZH4_0T7i4oS3UnqofZ3Avgi989p7b553b4_yPj9BniruVuOi1vUsQgsDdKZ6CGBQDuHTadb8dMQybaL8RuwXFj3fBJsuPXud6RYxo8cH7Ar_WgDSgpogJlGAOgaItaYXwQPIiXKzw5kHNcrato76b2QvAJ-oXUwFMOfsXm-9mlQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Museum</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFOMsH4SjiLq8BRiNnNsld0OC21LAM_7IPrMcSwSijzHKPTcULBKH1Sa33ShAL8LoIj13OargJHBTMy9Q8rnXquNAl28anxL5tmK1PQEu5TMC6V3kDcsPPmn0_lR6sPAlK_Dww-P9IwzY78_WiCjyUwNRllGLMpEmJ_Pn4EgqItgetOlU8JxoYQW1KUw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFOMsH4SjiLq8BRiNnNsld0OC21LAM_7IPrMcSwSijzHKPTcULBKH1Sa33ShAL8LoIj13OargJHBTMy9Q8rnXquNAl28anxL5tmK1PQEu5TMC6V3kDcsPPmn0_lR6sPAlK_Dww-P9IwzY78_WiCjyUwNRllGLMpEmJ_Pn4EgqItgetOlU8JxoYQW1KUw" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are the friezes taken down from the side of the Parthenon. Restoration is slow for a decision was taken by the EU (if you can imagine) that restoration should only happen when over 70% of the original materials of say a column are found. If these are lying around nearby then the columns can be put back together which is what happened. If not they are left to lie around, which explains the endless piles of rocks everywhere. Very timely, costly and difficult. Greece is a poor country so often has other priorities. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJIr__Rk26tx9GR5NcXFwThZYVpSP9IoVBtOSpQ6gYSYwrW1jNSHx1NGuIz_7CjGqcf0rulPtrVDgCzpx9xvTplLePhpcHSii4wC-j1Zkzr0vg-RJ1GEMjKnv0wvin50xNokePDu5g8QEn7OGM2zqCdbjB6j0kivhz4RDa29LUEJLRxr_bLOG_gcfF0A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJIr__Rk26tx9GR5NcXFwThZYVpSP9IoVBtOSpQ6gYSYwrW1jNSHx1NGuIz_7CjGqcf0rulPtrVDgCzpx9xvTplLePhpcHSii4wC-j1Zkzr0vg-RJ1GEMjKnv0wvin50xNokePDu5g8QEn7OGM2zqCdbjB6j0kivhz4RDa29LUEJLRxr_bLOG_gcfF0A" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Statues taken from the ends of the Parthenon, in those triangular parts I described before. If the sculptures are white, that means they are recreations. Often plaster casts taken from the originals in what ever museum they are currently displayed. Yes that means the Elgin Marbles but also the French, Germans and Turks hold plenty. As for the Venetians, well half the city is decorated with Greek stuff looted from their various occupations. If the sculptures look old and yellow, that is because they are the originals. The museum hopes to get back all the other yellow and old bits.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Theodora says that attempts are being made to recover these items which the British Museum is resisting. The French are not being pressed to return their pillaged items. Nor are the Turks who took over the items already removed by the Byzantines and Ottomans in centuries past. Just the British. Probably think the British are the softest touch. Could be right.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiES4pJCtoX-FlEil0UelMeWMbXgFVZfKb3q3UZnnZLrgRd5u50mnSgTLp2QrpQ6E1J0xb5OKA52HcwvsL76FBoSITXNTmgq-GpIgqtOsMfemSBRQ0gJDLdvcCFEDDO8H8xhtK5SM7Fggc7E4B9DOr4_TGdi0Voxt61mI43mlL4n1ungH741cwWK5h1qw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiES4pJCtoX-FlEil0UelMeWMbXgFVZfKb3q3UZnnZLrgRd5u50mnSgTLp2QrpQ6E1J0xb5OKA52HcwvsL76FBoSITXNTmgq-GpIgqtOsMfemSBRQ0gJDLdvcCFEDDO8H8xhtK5SM7Fggc7E4B9DOr4_TGdi0Voxt61mI43mlL4n1ungH741cwWK5h1qw" width="180" /></a></div><br />Fantastic day. So much history to absorb. Very painful on the brain cells.<p></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8HgEHFmnezLjwISx9m0XSxFcCjWLtf7v_hgQNkBQyp2qHROILkc8D-7Fs7K0Mn8Hs5E152QtH15wnXREbLMoTtFrbZ33L8_z0vhSgu_FqJAj5Aqt3mOkpk8oB9FrhEmvgED9JXN-JF8-piAqT8EZesu9itqRcPt4J01Q7XtGb90mRWmWuBD8qOb2RpQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="3072" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8HgEHFmnezLjwISx9m0XSxFcCjWLtf7v_hgQNkBQyp2qHROILkc8D-7Fs7K0Mn8Hs5E152QtH15wnXREbLMoTtFrbZ33L8_z0vhSgu_FqJAj5Aqt3mOkpk8oB9FrhEmvgED9JXN-JF8-piAqT8EZesu9itqRcPt4J01Q7XtGb90mRWmWuBD8qOb2RpQ" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The flowers were gorgeous, particularly the Bougainvillaea. The colours were so intense and vibrant.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />We's asked Yiannis and Anthony at the travel agent for recommendations for a good restaurant that locals would go to. Trying to avoid the tourist traps. Mistake actually as we discovered many of the tourist traps turned out mostly to be as good as the local spots. But anyway, Anthony suggested Dionysus as an option. We had a reservation at 9 pm.</p><p>Short walk near the Acropolis again and in a big car park this restaurant grew up the hill opposite to the Acropolis. It was rammed with people at a special event with many guards preventing the hoi pilloi getting in. It was a shipping company event obviously with some politicos or other big wigs. Armed guards at the front. Flunkies carried champagne on trays. Amazingly we were allowed entry, but turned away to the non event section. </p><p>What a view of the Acropolis!! The menu was a typical fine dining menu from anywhere in the world but with a couple of local things. The 22 hour braised lamb was finished sadly. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrvku-fO98YdGe8yge6AvMLaLuPDA3uv5W_NDHWKhYGsRR-gLspN3mo_xc-T_Xs6Jiy9PvVl6V_rzJAtBc4I7PZaXrHJxERoU1qOo921IMGjCKgtqQtF0KTq29UTJ6olFiV3hSQWHEjLOdzeBkAhEXVyo237AYjwqXqytnC92H4LevfpguLmHU869SFA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrvku-fO98YdGe8yge6AvMLaLuPDA3uv5W_NDHWKhYGsRR-gLspN3mo_xc-T_Xs6Jiy9PvVl6V_rzJAtBc4I7PZaXrHJxERoU1qOo921IMGjCKgtqQtF0KTq29UTJ6olFiV3hSQWHEjLOdzeBkAhEXVyo237AYjwqXqytnC92H4LevfpguLmHU869SFA" width="180" /></a></div><br />Fish soup and the other lamb option for me. Salad for Viv. Bottle of white wine, different grape for us. Chocolate soufflé to follow.<p></p><p>Very nice walk back along the ‘most beautiful street in Europe’ per Theodora. We decided we would not eat at such a place again. Bring on the tourist traps and grilled meat!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-38859591373223736742022-07-10T10:13:00.000-03:002022-07-10T10:13:11.087-03:00The Odyssey: Athens Day 1<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: x-small;">We'd caught a latish flight from Heathrow to Athens where we were met by Yiannis, the guy who would be our driver up and down Greece for the next 19 days. He dropped us off at our hotel in central Athens where we'd had dinner in the roof top restaurant which had a great view of the Parthenon. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4M-4d2nQff0Imsm5yqjk8kAOBS52J50OOIx5lDokb2DCbMrH3q4gFOM5OIgfRaP-JhwuS-ElDMhi1fxHBrL6kBG7-uiXPaT0c6rKtk1i9zjXqdmbF8mgMCa3f03Umz7odVr_DMWk9DJTaH74ov1rK4FzcbZlui3B3abcIqkyOGZ2kRmmidQcyiGjLQ/s4032/IMG_0405.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4M-4d2nQff0Imsm5yqjk8kAOBS52J50OOIx5lDokb2DCbMrH3q4gFOM5OIgfRaP-JhwuS-ElDMhi1fxHBrL6kBG7-uiXPaT0c6rKtk1i9zjXqdmbF8mgMCa3f03Umz7odVr_DMWk9DJTaH74ov1rK4FzcbZlui3B3abcIqkyOGZ2kRmmidQcyiGjLQ/s320/IMG_0405.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small;"><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>My notes are from a diary kept at the time. This is what our itinerary for the day stated:</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: x-small;"><i>22 May 2022 -- Arrive in Athens at different times and meet and greet by our English-speaking driver and transfer to your hotel.</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: x-small;"></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: x-small;"><i>22 – 26 May -- 3 nights at Hotel Athens Gate (4 *) – 1 double superior room with a view to Temple of Zeus and breakfast.</i></span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">***</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Busy day today (23/5), our first in Athens and all unplanned. Early start too, straight after a really rather blah breakfast at the hotel. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nice location though. Opposite the Temple of Zeus and just turn left and left again and there is the Acropolis. We have a tour there tomorrow so today is for exploring the streets. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTauDD716HxlVr5Yx0LPUeugW-zjsIO_kkkYL9AJAAXTU0vbNQ7tuYeHlKXebAJ_715b5sB2rhB86GVynhLON8YFvj-VU097BBIoRVmc6wUgFlGZZxl0u-uoNrFfxewdfGPZk8wKEg6aWf3Mj2J8bx1TL7flGwHqNramt4C9Uj_1kzeNf_3SCaaCllw/s1526/IMG_0416.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1526" data-original-width="1428" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXTauDD716HxlVr5Yx0LPUeugW-zjsIO_kkkYL9AJAAXTU0vbNQ7tuYeHlKXebAJ_715b5sB2rhB86GVynhLON8YFvj-VU097BBIoRVmc6wUgFlGZZxl0u-uoNrFfxewdfGPZk8wKEg6aWf3Mj2J8bx1TL7flGwHqNramt4C9Uj_1kzeNf_3SCaaCllw/s320/IMG_0416.jpeg" width="299" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Temple of Zeus from our balcony. Almost everything is under restoration.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMKL4Gvzr1tTQq-wQ5Ry15qBDNjTuJtu24SADa7f55UiypuK6YC2zqHQwpesN1di90Hdt6-BAXueiJobkqZSoI3N0jhHZe6WFw2JorM9Tt0dluE7Xz8YqDtypz1s9iHmXneTV0b6j8J2xA3JtPpFZjw_98fYgUx4P1OafiIds4XNjmV7x2jVqPodU4dw/s4032/IMG_0422.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMKL4Gvzr1tTQq-wQ5Ry15qBDNjTuJtu24SADa7f55UiypuK6YC2zqHQwpesN1di90Hdt6-BAXueiJobkqZSoI3N0jhHZe6WFw2JorM9Tt0dluE7Xz8YqDtypz1s9iHmXneTV0b6j8J2xA3JtPpFZjw_98fYgUx4P1OafiIds4XNjmV7x2jVqPodU4dw/s320/IMG_0422.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's a Greek Urn? This is.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">The Athens Gate Hotel is on the outskirts of the Plaka district. Very touristy but jammed full of ancient buildings and ruins. The whole city is full of them. Our general aim was to start at the Roman Agora or Forum and go from there.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikH4_eWZvVjnz0kj-qhV6AJA_olCv8zT-kiDNS4BLWzWodhLudohit-KKrQEYNQUnw5to1RxuW_GTBHISgeYnnJwibgJgaaoaOdWhA4LtEQ_f7tP4nThupIaQcJCTwQjPKILwGkCiV3XfWhaiQ7dmyLFQl7vyJHuUthPmrtIdXbmyN9e-690CvSnNoMg/s4032/IMG_0423.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikH4_eWZvVjnz0kj-qhV6AJA_olCv8zT-kiDNS4BLWzWodhLudohit-KKrQEYNQUnw5to1RxuW_GTBHISgeYnnJwibgJgaaoaOdWhA4LtEQ_f7tP4nThupIaQcJCTwQjPKILwGkCiV3XfWhaiQ7dmyLFQl7vyJHuUthPmrtIdXbmyN9e-690CvSnNoMg/s320/IMG_0423.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our fantastic tour hats that we bought immediately. We melded right into the local environment wearing our tour hats. It was only when we chose not to wear them that we got picked as tourists.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0rmOjrCW0nqkpmDvXD_e71B88112EvH8eG9yQ3Bv-2D2Wbgw5n0caY0CHvh16sO99LnL8asSu30BN9hIDlJQkaehkCABWLkwUWuXScCmrd2E2cuZnjtTrn_rLx_UfJIE-gU5Ktg2bRZ9_HLJxOzx93Uxp4ajOlyzOePxYBHjMRKd_-FM_SZ5G4fn2g/s4032/IMG_0425.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0rmOjrCW0nqkpmDvXD_e71B88112EvH8eG9yQ3Bv-2D2Wbgw5n0caY0CHvh16sO99LnL8asSu30BN9hIDlJQkaehkCABWLkwUWuXScCmrd2E2cuZnjtTrn_rLx_UfJIE-gU5Ktg2bRZ9_HLJxOzx93Uxp4ajOlyzOePxYBHjMRKd_-FM_SZ5G4fn2g/s320/IMG_0425.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Typical touristy stuff!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">Athens has 4 million people and the same number again in tourists, many from cruise ships. Ok that’s an exaggeration but it feels like it. This was Sunday so it wasn’t so bad just bimbling around. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Athens and of course Greece has a very rich history. Birthplace of democracy, Alexander the Great and of course the Spartans!!!! But if I have my history about right, Greece hasn’t won a war since Alexander and was occupied by conquering nations between the late first century BC and 1821 when a coalition of western nations helped them gain independence from the Ottomans who had occupied the country for 400 years. That’s about 2,000 years of being occupied by someone or other. Not Greek. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First it was the Romans. The great general Sulla sacked Athens in 87 BC and that was about it for the Greeks for some reason they thought they could slide out from under Roman rule in Augustus’ time and discovered rather rudely that that was not the case. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">First the western Roman empire, then the eastern empire after the split in 330 AD. They morphed seamlessly into the Byzantines until 1456 when the Ottomans overthrew the empire and that stayed the case until 1821. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Since then I don’t believe that the new Greek republic has won any wars. They joined the Allies in WWI almost by accident. The king was pro-German, the PM Venizelos was pro-Allies. The British and French landed in Salonika anyway so the Greeks almost reluctantly joined in. That gave them a seat at the table in Versailles, but not an important one. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They attacked the remnants of the collapsed Ottoman Empire in Turkey in 1919 seeking territory in Asia Minor and were resoundingly beaten by the new Young Turks of Kemal Attaturk. The loss of all the age old Greek cities in Asia must have been hard to take. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Italians invaded in 1941 but were resoundingly beaten back by the Greek army forcing Hitler to divert the Wehrmacht through the Balkans and into Greece fatally delaying the start of Operation Barbarossa for 6 weeks.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When the Germans withdrew in 1944, that was the signal to start the Greek Civil War which stretched on for several years. Greek fought Greek (again) but this time it was Communist versus Democrats. With much help from the USA and Britain, democracy won in the end. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The king was voted out in the 1970s after an army coup, and the country is now a republic. Anyway back to Athens…</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We walked nearby Plaka and passed by several monuments and Byzantine churches on the way. Streets are of course narrow and windy and hilly so it wasn’t all plain sailing. Then we reached the Roman Agora. Obviously not as big as in Rome but then again the Greeks had one already so all the Romans did was adapt what was there and make a few tweaks. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNNqf9ngNZEU_yKWOFxgaZnuEsBGdUeeuUiMvPHbSKC6rXMif4hfWE8lzNQ-BDwLKSpvspJH72ywyyyzseRHByCQf5zM5kwLvfyP7SkW4Bs2xCcIvyMBXQD-q2C8MvJ_Fdeg-0Ns55IVPitKZPxDmkOYYITdtfTA-T-PmR_khyeugLZcIZsfO3-VRYw/s4032/IMG_0431.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNNqf9ngNZEU_yKWOFxgaZnuEsBGdUeeuUiMvPHbSKC6rXMif4hfWE8lzNQ-BDwLKSpvspJH72ywyyyzseRHByCQf5zM5kwLvfyP7SkW4Bs2xCcIvyMBXQD-q2C8MvJ_Fdeg-0Ns55IVPitKZPxDmkOYYITdtfTA-T-PmR_khyeugLZcIZsfO3-VRYw/s320/IMG_0431.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Roman Agora</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Greek version is huge. But then again they’d had a couple of millennia to get things in order of which the last 500 or so years related to their ‘golden age’. The age of democracy. The age of when the Greeks were the top dogs. This was the 500 or so years between 600 BC and the Roman conquest.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I really liked the Tholos, this is the small round building that held the 20 or so decision makers that ran the city state of Athens for 35 days before passing the job off to one of the other 10 tribes of Athens. This was the democracy that ruled. Everyone had a chance to be ruler for a day. The building doesn’t exist any more but the foundations remain. The building is tiny yet so important.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji06qzQ5hLHiQUKAVDd0lrdTWmcMfWYqB0nwrrBO891nKIoUz5eCgRMqH8bJ2zrHaiMesVUYcJPD5dbkj8tCraxN5N6KFS1mzENJvx_qft_dEI2tvpfLhUyabZaRlyauD-9FhG8w7hwtf1dMLq0q8aGJNoC75ly0rzQ3TTOh1r0ZTG69rl59EArnet8A/s5958/IMG_0465.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3878" data-original-width="5958" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji06qzQ5hLHiQUKAVDd0lrdTWmcMfWYqB0nwrrBO891nKIoUz5eCgRMqH8bJ2zrHaiMesVUYcJPD5dbkj8tCraxN5N6KFS1mzENJvx_qft_dEI2tvpfLhUyabZaRlyauD-9FhG8w7hwtf1dMLq0q8aGJNoC75ly0rzQ3TTOh1r0ZTG69rl59EArnet8A/s320/IMG_0465.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Greek Agora extends over a really huge area in the midst of which is a roadway that was used amongst other things for the annual processional during a religious festival all the way up to the Parthenon, where all the other temples were as well.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCoPR4q-Q-IOjiU16rs1tZFt5m5whmJnRv8ToROry9-_Xh0wKI6MGlbJCazpoQqhYw7psM039KPa7tJ793VxQYia_5c5ZR1FpXNwkQowilCKMVzvBqH4n9s-U_9fgfq_6Td2iChi-MKE3puVVOMpS8tWDVVtD5fgqxmvQN49pw8X7Hr7Ez6mxzZxBf7A/s3924/IMG_0470.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3004" data-original-width="3924" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCoPR4q-Q-IOjiU16rs1tZFt5m5whmJnRv8ToROry9-_Xh0wKI6MGlbJCazpoQqhYw7psM039KPa7tJ793VxQYia_5c5ZR1FpXNwkQowilCKMVzvBqH4n9s-U_9fgfq_6Td2iChi-MKE3puVVOMpS8tWDVVtD5fgqxmvQN49pw8X7Hr7Ez6mxzZxBf7A/s320/IMG_0470.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This temple is in much better condition than the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis (hill on top of the town) and is in the Agora</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you like ancient history, this is the place. Just like Rome except it is older and as the Roman travel writer I’d read in Rome a week earlier said from a 2nd century travelogue the Romans did drains and sewers far better than the Greeks even though the buildings could be pretty impressive. As for the aqueducts….</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjFmGUcXvvstVGFLLs2HpdO8-xdif7WomNCXiQquxZxLhUM8841Foe2TOwai-VgL7zpLpKyHoUKgOqQNgcYY-Vs5WFWR0lyR9hEFwIVN-vA3RJYc_ezuHos9-mKIgz_wMSzPleO3EMhOX5ZYkDY4vSVfOApmRYvGWb01dbrQxjKuIGHVzznXU-Nr0GXw/s3088/IMG_0474.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjFmGUcXvvstVGFLLs2HpdO8-xdif7WomNCXiQquxZxLhUM8841Foe2TOwai-VgL7zpLpKyHoUKgOqQNgcYY-Vs5WFWR0lyR9hEFwIVN-vA3RJYc_ezuHos9-mKIgz_wMSzPleO3EMhOX5ZYkDY4vSVfOApmRYvGWb01dbrQxjKuIGHVzznXU-Nr0GXw/s320/IMG_0474.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In one of those did you know moments, we learned that statues of Roman Emperors like Hadrian here (in the Agora) often didn't have the correct head. This is because the sculptures were tricky to make so the heads were swapped once the Emperor died and the new one's head was affixed. The head was therefore simple to lift off. They know this is Hadrian because of the statue's armour and the fact that he loved Greece very much, or rather one particular Greek boy, and visited the province three times during his reign. He didn't build a wall though but did arrange for lots of aqueducts.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Romans loved the Greeks and identified with them strongly even though they considered the Greeks to be wimps by the time they’d taken over. Every Greek God had a Roman equivalent. The mark of an educated Roman was the ability to speak Greek. Many if not most serious teachers of wealthy Romans was a Greek scholar, often slaves. Yet the Romans also knew they were superior and patronised the Greeks accordingly.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVMxK3N1J-OghbUz-Sb2x8tn6H4lGFPNDBWwJpBUTnVDhfe6I2YMHeac9qRexF7dfz7L2Yhh-7A4hpVpFlGH5Wb79Dscdr-R54wZO0VvQm0jkGrLUYjWJXOCseL44ur4vR7Kh0nBIZ_ZhW8WeUpUXg_E0EACATLUEJYDid9CPIwGi-exdfhEB39Ezew/s4032/IMG_0482.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVMxK3N1J-OghbUz-Sb2x8tn6H4lGFPNDBWwJpBUTnVDhfe6I2YMHeac9qRexF7dfz7L2Yhh-7A4hpVpFlGH5Wb79Dscdr-R54wZO0VvQm0jkGrLUYjWJXOCseL44ur4vR7Kh0nBIZ_ZhW8WeUpUXg_E0EACATLUEJYDid9CPIwGi-exdfhEB39Ezew/s320/IMG_0482.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost everywhere in Greece had a statue of Hercules doing something or other, mainly in connection with his 12 labours. Statues always had a lion skin (one of his labours) somewhere assisting identification.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Greek Agora is the place where all activities in Athens took place. Start to finish. Rich or poor. Noble or slave. Truly a unique place. The remains are very impressive yet modernity wasn’t far away as today the Metro goes right through the middle of it. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiCUmqkZzbTpN_lrlTXcyOderUEJ3-p8gJACG39ZF5txhTnuQKsMBbe-LSMYxYhHNnvfW1PHtfXHdfuYz6RyREY8O8LG8aKLWBxC7VhwrWDP2UP-xRM3QkHidquuWS54AK0CPu7SH-Ak2lquid8wtfC-o1QAgGm5NU2q3gEtfz8NN2pYdqnnSGAjU8A/s4032/IMG_0441.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiCUmqkZzbTpN_lrlTXcyOderUEJ3-p8gJACG39ZF5txhTnuQKsMBbe-LSMYxYhHNnvfW1PHtfXHdfuYz6RyREY8O8LG8aKLWBxC7VhwrWDP2UP-xRM3QkHidquuWS54AK0CPu7SH-Ak2lquid8wtfC-o1QAgGm5NU2q3gEtfz8NN2pYdqnnSGAjU8A/s320/IMG_0441.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">We spent several hours in all this and felt the need for rest, recuperation and refreshment to be in order and selected a lovely looking cafe for the task. Antica.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Beer was cool. Moussaka was hot and satisfying. Greek salad was immense chunks of everything topped with a vast slab of feta. Just great!!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Viv discovered the delights of ‘Freddo’ Espresso. Essentially iced coffee but done differently with style. Simply but differently made. Two shots of espresso plus a few chunks of ice and a bit of sugar in a blender. Whizz a while and you get a coffee confection with a mass of foam at the top. Pour over ice into a Whisky tumbler and voila!! Really nice. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-iKz-nm3DuklxfIs62_5r36ypS7Sn2DNCvQJfAHei8NyBSBHuOja0AAbs53HbLQSS0JZC81tseCx-iGVW5lhqC9F1NRP53ZmfBDjx6zQSmaCsGUutv9EI0ktqS7jP7bMBri3nfJD9vLY6a7819FCaYYBTa1KhF-ueadey4n57FISMd0UOZOBSA2kMg/s3072/IMG_0505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="3072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-iKz-nm3DuklxfIs62_5r36ypS7Sn2DNCvQJfAHei8NyBSBHuOja0AAbs53HbLQSS0JZC81tseCx-iGVW5lhqC9F1NRP53ZmfBDjx6zQSmaCsGUutv9EI0ktqS7jP7bMBri3nfJD9vLY6a7819FCaYYBTa1KhF-ueadey4n57FISMd0UOZOBSA2kMg/s320/IMG_0505.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">We also visited the central market to check out the fresh fish and meat. Very interesting and the produce looked great! </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After this we bumbled back checking out various stores along the way as we had to meet one of the tour guides from the firm we’d used to arrange the trip. The message we had at the hotel when we got back said this meeting couldn’t take place at 5 pm but at 7 pm as something had come up. We couldn’t make this so rearranged till tomorrow and went out for dinner.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There is a central theme developing here centring around eating and drinking! We found a road side restaurant in Plaka nearby which provided Greek wine, ouzo and vast amounts of Greek meat. We couldn’t leave until we’d tried and tasted everything in the house…..</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRomfSwqA2E60n7lfnvJTyzeaY-B7-IXvybEzUxVTJXAYfQFsSg3e9MEe8rTtiLOrVJ4D8kVwy7K_j72vgJi_hmQuDjjeil_M022uJ9rspUE-HY75jIrLvQ9ua5LFc97eRkbWgsgjKsE_PvMSLASOXF4xj1DJb_2jN-yrfu7sZ4YNwhljD8UACEkz4QQ/s4032/IMG_0513.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRomfSwqA2E60n7lfnvJTyzeaY-B7-IXvybEzUxVTJXAYfQFsSg3e9MEe8rTtiLOrVJ4D8kVwy7K_j72vgJi_hmQuDjjeil_M022uJ9rspUE-HY75jIrLvQ9ua5LFc97eRkbWgsgjKsE_PvMSLASOXF4xj1DJb_2jN-yrfu7sZ4YNwhljD8UACEkz4QQ/s320/IMG_0513.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The reason for the blur. It is normal for Ouzo such as this to be served in 200 ml bottles as opposed by the glass. It doesn't travel so you have to finish it...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The rest of the day was a blur!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Great day.</p><div><br /></div>Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-84132302192820931862022-07-09T04:28:00.000-03:002022-07-09T04:28:53.284-03:00Skate, the Korean Way<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: x-small;">My last post left Viv and I departing Penang for London at the end of April. Our overall plan was to spend some time in the UK with Indy, Cat and Charlie and then for our paths to divide: Viv to Bermuda with her Mum Ann whilst I would go to Rome with my tennis buddies for the Italian Open, pasta and wine. I would then head to Bermuda to reconnect and then we would all troop back to England and thence on to Greece, our ultimate destination and realistically the reason we were doing all of this traveling in the first place.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-size: x-small;">Despite the raising of Covid restrictions, fair to say that travel is not yet back to its pre-Covid levels of seeming normality. Simply handling all that bloody paper work and getting those tests is a real pain in the neck. But at least we are able to travel. First comment is to say that British Airways is just about hanging on. Number of flights may be fewer but they are trying hard.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">On the way from Bermuda to London I couldn’t watch any of the drivel shown on BA’s appallingly low standard in flight fare that was in English. I did find a cooking show concerning 2 Korean chefs who flew to Malaysia to eat seafood and in particular skate.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As they discovered Skate is not found in Malaysia but various rays are, so their quest began in a Kuala Lumpur street market eating sting ray mostly in various ways.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They loved them all. I do too even though I haven’t been to eat ray in KL, only Penang in the north. One such favorite was skate cooked in a creamy durian sauce.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Durian is a soft fruit indigenous to Malaysia. It is everywhere in Penang. It is something you either love or hate. This is because it has the same texture, smell and to me anyway the taste of shit. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One of the chefs loves durian, the other does not. The non lover found the dish delicious whilst the lover waxed and waxed ever more lyrical about it. It looked slimy to me. Thankfully no smellovision.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The chefs then went to eat at big restaurants, Malay, Chinese and Indian which are the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia. Having savored the fare (non sting ray fare) and lapped it up, they then decided to do a big cook up for their new Malaysian friends and feature skate which they would import from Korea.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Koreans love fermented food. Kimchi for example is fermented cabbage based. Fermented for the unwary means aged in polite terms or nearly rotten if you want to put it plainly. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The skate was 15 days old.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Thank goodness for no smellovision!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They cooked a dish each. One chef prepared a sort of kimchi appetizer featuring deep fried fermented skate. The other cooked a dish where the skate was first braised then mixed in with a sort of Mediterranean salad featuring avocados. They also did a together dish featuring a cream of durian sauce.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The three chefs sat at a table excitedly discussing what they might expect and then the appetizer appeared. The kimchi and fried skate dish. They took their first bites. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Silence.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I know that sound from my own experiences with cooking something. Probably the first time was when I was on a boat on the Norfolk Broads in England with some work friends. We took turns cooking and one day was mine for breakfast and I pushed the boat out. We'd had quite a bit to drink the night before so I thought a nice greasy cook up was in order, including a favourite of mine; fried bread. My mum always fried the bread in lard so I'd bought some and added it to the rest of the delicately fried goodies. To me it was great if perhaps a little leaden both on the plate and in the tummy after. To the others, it was just plain silence. I never had to cook again that trip. </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Back to the story...</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One chef took a drink of water and said the dish was very interesting and contained flavors she’d never had before. This was the Indian. The Malay chef said ‘yes it was interesting and very nice’ before taking a sip of water. The camera didn’t show what the Chinese guest chef said.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The braised skate came out next and the guest chefs took a bite.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No silence this time. The Chinese chef said it reminded her of stinky tofu, something often found in Chinese cooking. The Malay chef said yes and after a little while again said it was nice.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The final durian dish came out. The Indian chef had left by now and generous portions were heaped out with rice. The two remaining chefs took a bite.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Clearly both chefs love durian for they waded in with gusto. Both said the creamy durian flavor dominated the dish …. Aka they couldn’t taste the fermented Skate, thank goodness!!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As someone who likes fresh skate very much, I think I may have struggled with these dishes. Great fun to watch though.</p>Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-54605815023224722472022-07-09T03:18:00.001-03:002022-07-09T03:18:49.297-03:00Starting Over Once Again...<p>OK I know, my last post suggested that I may pick up the blog again after a bit of a gap. That didn't work very well. A combination of laziness and the endless periods of lockdown and other restrictions certainly didn't help morale either. Hopefully this time I shall do better. </p><p>We'd been planning a long trip to Greece for 3 years now. I'd looked around on the internet for a tour operator that could help us put together an itinerary. I found a US firm called Zicasso who immediately referred me onto an Athens based firm called Antelope Travel and in particular Anthony who was my direct contact and a wealth of knowledge.</p><p>Neither of us had ever visited Greece before and given how the last two years had basically been lost to recreational travel globally, we figured we may never have a chance to visit again so we decided to spend a long time there now and visit as many of the ancient sites as we could as well as throw into the mix plenty of R&R. Anthony asked for our personal preferences on a whole range of things and began to put together an itinerary. I bought a guide book as well and briefly contacted another agency who provided a basic mainland itinerary and then lectured me for not agreeing and paying up at once. I took their ideas but of course ignored them totally.</p><p>I don't think we are that picky or difficult people but suffice it to say that any time there is a language differential involved, I have difficulties effectively communicating so it took several go's before an itinerary that fitted our goals was formulated. Things like 'Why do you want to go to Olympia? There's nothing there' being a prime example... the answer of course being that it is the site of the original Olympic Games and I want to run on the track in what remains of the stadium. OK? That's why we want to go there. Another was that we wanted to visit the sites of the several battlefields that had historical global impact for the west: Thermopylae, Marathon, Salamis and Lepanto. The last two were sea battles of massive historical importance and were the most difficult (in actuality they weren't, quite easy when you are on the spot actually) but the first two were land based but Anthony said there's nothing at either location these days (again he was wrong but he was right about few going to visit the sites). I ended up saying 'Don't care just please include it in the itinerary.' I think I said 'please' by the end of the to-ing and fro-ing on this. I definitely said 'thank you' and absolutely avoided having a telephone call to discuss things as from experience I know this is where the opportunity for mutual misunderstanding is greatest. At least with email you have a permanent record where you can look back and see exactly what it was that you had said when the party of the second part has memory failure. It works for the party of the first part as well. </p><p>One of Indy's friends who has a Greek wife suggested that we should avoid driving as traffic is bad and the drivers crazy so I put it to Anthony that we would like to have a driver for the mainland part as well as tour guides for the major locations. In retrospect this made no sense for traffic is only heavy in Athens and getting around was actually pretty easy and also added quite a bit of cost to the tour, but by the same token we didn't have to think about directions or finding parking anywhere. </p><p>We wanted to visit some of the islands. Now there's hundreds of islands in the Aegean, Mediterranean and Ionian Seas and visiting all of them would be impossible. So I asked for suggestions from Anthony first saying that we did not much want to go the tourist party islands (Mykonos) or the tourist trap, Santorini. However Anthony convinced me that Santorini was so different that we shouldn't miss it (he was right incidentally). </p><p>I also said that we wanted to travel by inter-island ferry as much as possible too as in the early iterations he had suggested flying between the islands.</p><p>So our itinerary was largely assembled when Covid struck and put things on hold.</p><p>Fast forward to this year, 2022. Vaccines done, lockdown over, restrictions being gradually lifted. I contacted Anthony again and Yes he did remember us. In the time since when we had last been in contact I had added some extra things, one of which spawned another 'Why do you want to go there?' moment. Turns out that it wasn't that it wasn't worthwhile adding, it was just that nobody from his company had ever included it in a tour before so they knew nothing about the places. Ha!</p><p>We studied the calendar and fixed the dates which enabled Anthony to book hotels and travel details. Last thing was payment ... Gulp ... and then at the end of April we lifted off from Penang on our summer tour.</p><p>I hadn't found the opportunity yet to say 'It's All Greek To Me' but felt confident I'd get the chance soon! Here is the final itinerary. 35 days in total!!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQMNfgxu-QjfRjaqLEJwGKIcO5qnJNmK4gL7MhloqhfWvGWaGUmpeh-4AjU5UoOUXe9043IwAwVFJxGWY2KX2Y6Yrpq0ipyfCB119h3VQcPGdORsf2MG0qJwNCnXFaBvQSctOMrIJZtaNM3qc0R9zeUcRz-bcDwsldPxL6V1RARQEDuGaMDFvbgWl0A/s3495/IMG_5498.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2989" data-original-width="3495" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQMNfgxu-QjfRjaqLEJwGKIcO5qnJNmK4gL7MhloqhfWvGWaGUmpeh-4AjU5UoOUXe9043IwAwVFJxGWY2KX2Y6Yrpq0ipyfCB119h3VQcPGdORsf2MG0qJwNCnXFaBvQSctOMrIJZtaNM3qc0R9zeUcRz-bcDwsldPxL6V1RARQEDuGaMDFvbgWl0A/s320/IMG_5498.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-26861906633183509742021-09-27T09:56:00.002-03:002021-09-27T10:01:22.270-03:00Starting Over<p> Hello again!</p><p>I've decided to pick up the blog again. It's been a while for sure but then again we've had this Covid time, the various lock downs, restrictions and the rest and well, it was uncomfortable for sure but then again both Viv and I have been OK and despite things remain so. I am aware so many others were not this lucky so didn't really feel I wanted to blog whilst others weren't as lucky as me.</p><p>However, after nearly a couple of years we decided to head away from Penang. To start with we couldn't decide whether we would start in England or Bermuda but plumped finally for Bermuda. These are the only two countries we discovered where we had the 'right' to enter but mainly choosing Bermuda was because we felt being smaller, things would be better controlled. And they were.</p><p>What a palaver traveling is though.</p><p>I find it amazing to think that only two years ago I considered myself a sort of citizen of the world. Travel had become pretty much a right, not a privilege. We could travel practically anywhere in the world at any time without let or hindrance. The internet made it incredibly easy and fast both to plan trips, even extended trips, and pay for them, unlike in the pre internet era which sad to say I only just about remember. In some countries, there may have been some more onerous paperwork to assemble, but that was pretty much it. No longer. Controls the world over came slamming down. Border restrictions that had not been there before appeared with dramatic force. Travel has again become a privilege. Borders are back.</p><p>And those PCR tests!</p><p>At one point, I had 4 or 5 (my bad memory is trying to help) tests within a 10-day period and even though the kindly people inserting that long Q-Tip and twizzling it around comforted me that I would get used to it so long as I breathed in and flared my nostrils, nothing of the sort happened (even though I did as recommended). It remained consistently invasive and horrible. </p><p>The first was the biggest shock and the most curious as I sat in the front seat of our car and the doctor applied the Q-Tip through the open window (he insisted Viv should sit in the back seat). I didn't realize that twizzly thing had to go quite that far up and I both jumped and yelped quite a bit making the doctor apologize profusely. </p><p>Thankfully all negative though.</p><p>To celebrate I bought a new motorcycle!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFBA7LTOh2xKVzFu1Feworq90jDK0rpUVy193zx-hpXEdxs7n5CWb9N0OxEJpmUhP3Nprf-jvk4tMX3ZdxnxFUP9fDoM_4GnGlkwlpR6bvFoJDuB6c9ik3lZaoduoxrqyIeMpI06wX3wK/s2048/IMG_7555.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFBA7LTOh2xKVzFu1Feworq90jDK0rpUVy193zx-hpXEdxs7n5CWb9N0OxEJpmUhP3Nprf-jvk4tMX3ZdxnxFUP9fDoM_4GnGlkwlpR6bvFoJDuB6c9ik3lZaoduoxrqyIeMpI06wX3wK/s320/IMG_7555.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-69922318432144044102020-06-19T02:19:00.002-03:002020-06-19T02:19:44.263-03:00Nerds and GeeksYou don't just have to be a techie to be a nerd or geek, although many are. Just today for instance I was reading that the UK's version of the coronavirus track and trace app didn't work that well and they'd abandoned it in favour of the one jointly developed by Apple and Google. I don't know about anyone else but derrrrr. I did wonder at the outset why the UK government would bother trying to outdo the nerds and geeks from two of the biggest and in my view best tech companies going. It was always going to be an uphill battle but I'm glad at least they've now seen the light. What was it Churchill said about the Americans? He said you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing.... after they've tried everything else first. Sounds about right for the UK too.<br />
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Just this week we had some friends over for lunch (first time since the lockdown was eased) and somehow the conversation got around to accountants (spoiler alert I have an accounting qualification). Apparently they are all OCD (I think that's the correct acronym but in any event it means Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which is just about what our friend meant). Our friend therefore asked me if I am OCD. Tricky question actually. If I said no, any subsequent display of anything approaching compulsive behaviour would be highlighted no doubt. If I said yes, it would simply prove the point. Of course I said no... just before I wiped the kitchen counter 5 or 6 times. </div>
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That isn't why I started this post though. I have been watching lots of You Tube videos in the past few lockdown weeks. What a choice! I started out searching for interesting things but quickly homed in on the daily broadcast from 10 Downing Street (I know, quite painful at times), some history podcasts about WWI in the main, but mostly live music from the bands and artists from the 60's and 70's that I like. It has become something of a compulsion for me now.... there I have acknowledged it... but what a wonderful journey.</div>
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I don't know how it has happened but as I type I am watching a 3 hour special celebrating the 25th anniversary of the death of Rory Gallagher. </div>
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Not a well known name I know but Rory was a fantastic guitarist. I remember watching him many times in the 1970's and he was always great. He was one of those guys who had no idea or interest about the business, just about playing. He was very good indeed. This special has some people playing who I have never heard of and they are also really good. It made me think that you have to be really lucky to make it in that industry. Skill alone just does not cut it. But how on earth did I get here watching this?</div>
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It came about because I also found several channels on You Tube from people who assemble these wondrous clips and in some cases long segments of live concerts from the 1960's and 1970's ... the era that I listen to. I imagine there is the same for other interests and times. One guy I have now subscribed to has dozens of such long segments on his channel and only a couple of days ago I started looking at the dates when he/she put them together. Many were at random dates over the last 3-4 years but a growing number are coming every other day now. Clearly someone else has lots of time on their hands too! The fact that one of the segments I watched yesterday with Janis Joplin, Cream and Pink Floyd was premiered only 3 days before and had been watched by 20,000+ people already says lots I think. </div>
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Not just me then.</div>
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Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-86757811820283842792020-05-22T04:06:00.000-03:002020-05-22T04:06:53.290-03:00Flanelled FoolsI miss cricket. I miss playing it. I miss watching it. I miss talking about it. I miss having ridiculous conversations about the game.<br />
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This is personal. I've played cricket since I was 6 or 7 when my mum would bowl to me in the back garden. Something clicked.<br />
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I love the smell of linseed oil (this is what you oil bats with). I miss the sound of leather on willow (bats are made predominantly of willow). I miss the buzz of insects on the lovely green cricket field. I miss the fantastic teas (every club would pride itself on the quality of the teas which was a huge highlight as well as a major factor in how you rated the opposition, definitely it was not skill), I miss the cricket fields themselves: when I was younger, virtually every village had a green in the middle of the village with a church, maybe two pubs, a memorial to the fallen and a cricket field upon which people would play football, hockey or rugby during winter. My cricket club's ground was in the middle of a park. The clubs would rent the fields but the cricket strips themselves would often be maintained by the parkies (sorry, the park keepers).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The strip at Cup Match in Bermuda</td></tr>
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I miss the beer afterwards; the jugs if you made 50 runs or took 5 wickets. I miss the fines for transgressions during the match (more commonly these would be on tour). I miss the fact that after 12 hours on a weekend afternoon, the captain would come around and ask for your contribution to the match in the bar after the game was over (ridiculously cheap), most of which would go on beer shared with the other team. I miss the fact that most matches ended in draws (the best matches often ended in draws. Wins/losses were usually more one sided so less dramatic and certainly less enjoyable for one of the teams). I miss the bad umpire decisions (I could go on and on about this). I miss the scoring and the scoring books which required the skill of ... I don't know what the equivalent would be these days. Einstein couldn't have managed, that's all I'm saying. In short, I miss a lot of things.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last match I played with Indy and Dee Dee: I miss this too.</td></tr>
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In March usually, there would appear curious roped off areas in the middle of the larger open green spaces. Within this roped off area would soon appear the signs of a roller and more care from the mower for this was the strip; usually a number of long strips of grass side by side which during the summer will become the wicket upon which matches will be played. Care devoted now is essential for the slightest imperfection could result in the wicket becoming 'sticky'. All cricketers know what I mean for this is the language that all cricketers speak. These are the classic signs of approaching summer in England.<br />
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Cricket arrives in early April and leaves with regret in late September or early October, depending on the weather. It should be there now. No, it should be everywhere now in the northern hemisphere.<br />
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Our cricket season in Bermuda strictly followed the English season (for no very good reason as the weather outside of this time was perfectly good for cricket. Maybe the clocks going back cut off some time, but it certainly wasn't the weather). This meant that in July and August, if you were unlucky you could stand for hours on end under blindingly cloudless sky in monstrous heat and humidity. Personally, I stopped playing at the weekend in the longer format of the game some time in my 50's after getting out first ball of the match around 12.01 pm (LBW to a terrible decision which made it worse), standing as umpire from the end of the 2nd over for the remainder of the 50 overs (around 3 hours) and then taking my place in the field for another 3 hours whilst our opponents had their innings. I was a basket case by the end of the match. Nobody sympathised.<br />
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Moving to only after work evening games (I'd played evening matches since I was in my 20's as well as at weekends), I played until 2017 when we left Bermuda and there has not been a day that I haven't missed it. But, that is due to my choice not through regulations enforced by law (courtesy of coronavirus).<br />
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The upside of right now is that the BBC for example is re-running great old matches on both video and radio. The media is writing lengthy screeds eulogising matches, times and players from years gone by.<br />
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I read a terrific Guardian piece recently linking great players together throughout cricket's history via the Yorkshire great, Wilfred Rhodes. Mr Rhodes played in one of the greatest of Ashes test matches at the Oval in 1903 when England beat Australia by 1 wicket (this is known as Jessup's match) with the immortal words at the end from Mr. Rhodes being "we'll get 'em in singles". He did.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wilfred Rhodes</td></tr>
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Every cricket enthusiast knows this catch phrase and <u>will</u> use it during their cricket careers, guaranteed. I have used it many times, not always successfully. In fact most often unsuccessfully but then again I wasn't Wilfred Rhodes. Mr. Rhodes played his last test match when he was 52 which was the basis of the story (first class cricketers playing past 50), the year before the incomparable Don Bradman played his first test match in England in 1930, and he had played his first test match in the same game as the great Victor Trumper played his first test match (he was Australian but I won't hold that against him) but more importantly this was the last test match of the even more legendary and incomparable W.G. Grace.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With WG at Lords</td></tr>
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And then there are the insane rules... which of course everyone somehow intuitively knows. Or rather they used to. If you read the autobiography of Peter Ustinov (who? shows my age!), he made the wonderful comment that somehow if you went to school in England (he was Russian), you would absorb the rules of the game by osmosis even if you didn't play the game, and be able to talk intelligently about the LBW rule, how many different times a batsman can be out, the amazing varietals of the leg spin bowler in particular the googly, demonstrate with an orange how to swing a new ball, and a whole host of other wonderful arcane cricketing things.<br />
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Can other games do this?<br />
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How can summer be the same without this wonderful, wonderful game? Let's hope things loosen up before too long.<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-47938559447200598282020-04-22T03:20:00.000-03:002020-04-22T03:20:36.238-03:00E really does equal MC squaredI don't suppose that many people will spend 100 years or more proving that something I either said or wrote was true. That I suppose is because I was never a patent clerk in some deathly dull small Swiss town in the early 20th century, before technology, when all I had to do for hour after hour was prove some mathematical construct involving three things that I called E, M and C. Three things that had never been thought of much before and the purpose of which could never be used for decades if not centuries. But then again my name is not Albert Einstein.<br />
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So instead of inscribing into huge books in the patent office endless patents of new Swiss clocks, or chocolate recipes or yodelling tunes.. or whatever it was Einstein should have been doing at work, this shirker came up with:<br />
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<i>The equation — E = mc2 — means "energy equals mass times the speed of light squared." It shows that energy (E) and mass (m) are interchangeable; they are different forms of the same thing.</i><br />
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In a previous post, I mentioned that I gave up science in favour of Latin and classics generally at age 11 so I have not the slightest idea why this is important, revolutionary, or even interesting. But it is, for just this week, yet another group of scientists proved it again. Or rather a part of it anyway.<br />
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<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/star-dancing-around-a-supermassive-black-hole-confirms-einstein-yet-again/" target="_blank">Here's the full article</a> and it really does make me happy to know that something that was done so long ago simply trying to solve a tricky mental hypothesis, and really on the back of an envelope (maybe addressed to the patent office by some hopeful trying to register a new patent for fruit and nut chocolate) is so relevant today. And... and this is the really amazing part to me... using only the most cutting edge technology and equipment that wasn't even thought about when Einstein originally developed his theory.<br />
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<i>'It's been nearly 30 years in the making, but scientists with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) collaboration in the Atacama Desert in Chile have now measured, for the very first time, the unique orbit of a star orbiting the supermassive black hole believed to lie at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The path of the star (known as S2) traces a distinctive rosette-shaped pattern (similar to a spirograph), in keeping with one of the central predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.'</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A spirograph. Many planets do have orbits like this.</td></tr>
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There's more to it than this of course, but this is the essence of the piece. Relativity has been something that had been doing the rounds for quite a while, but it was Einstein who tied it down.<br />
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<i>'When Einstein developed his general theory of relativity, he proposed three classical tests to confirm its validity. One was the deflection of light by the Sun. Since massive objects warp and curve spacetime, light will follow a curved path around massive objects. This prediction was confirmed in 1919 with that year's solar eclipse, thanks to Sir Arthur Eddington's expedition to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight passing near the Sun. The confirmation made headlines around the world, and Einstein became a household name.'</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mercury's orbit... just like a spirograph</td></tr>
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This is just wonderful! Well done again... no, yet again, Albert!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #f0f1f2; font-family: opensans; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span>Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-59611896426226144492020-04-12T02:23:00.001-03:002020-04-12T02:23:44.682-03:00Binge WatchingAnother thing that being in lockdown provides is the time to binge watch TV shows and box sets. Typically we don't like to watch programmes when they are ongoing as once started we just want to go through the whole thing. We recently did this with Game of Thrones (GOT).<br />
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What we have noticed with other long running series is that the best ideas typically come in the first season when the budget is smallest and it is when the networks pick them up for more seasons that the storyline feels like its getting weaker whilst the budget is bigger enabling the writer to come up with more and more fantastic set pieces. GOT falls into this characterisation I think.<br />
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More and more as we watch through the seasons, I like to go onto Wikipedia and find out not so much about where the story is going, but more to who the cast are and who the writer is and where it all takes place. For GOT the scenery is simply fantastic and even though it says Northern Ireland, I simply don't believe all those scenes were filmed there. OK I do know that it was filmed in other places too.... but I have been to most of those places and for the life of me cannot remember seeing any of them. Anyway that's a side thing but during this Wikipedia trawl I took a look at the writer (one George R.R. Martin) and discovered he's a sci fi and fantasy writer.<br />
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One of my favourite all time books is Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien (same middle initials? coincidence??) and obviously it is a book of its time. Written in the 1940's at the time when Britain was on the verge of losing WWII to Nazi Germany and using Tolkien's harrowing experiences in the trenches of WWI as backdrop. Clearly his writing, whilst superbly eloquent and articulate is coloured by his experiences and the time in which it was written.<br />
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Scroll forward to Mr. Martin who is 71 (according to Wikipedia). That's only a few years older than me so his life influences are pretty much the same as mine, except of course he is American and I am not. That means the Beatles, rock and roll, the A/H bomb, Vietnam, swinging 60's, drugs, feminism amongst other things. Now I haven't read the books which is something I will correct as simply by watching the HBO series, I am amazed how much swearing, basically soft porn and really violent and gory action takes place. The stories have loose similarities but the context is totally different. I am amazed each episode has any story in it at all given the need for multiple sex scenes, ritual dismemberment and generally people standing around swearing their heads off. So I do wonder if that is how the books are written. I'll find out.<br />
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I did enjoy the earlier series more than the later ones. In the early ones, the dialogue just cracked along. Every one of the 'hero' men were as a friend of mine describes as being 'strong as horse, dumb as tree' and made clearly massively wrong decisions every step of the way. I am amazed that any survived through 8 series at all. All the women, no actually only most of the women, were far smarter and could easily out think their male counterparts. By the final series I was pretty worn out listening to all of Daenerys Targaryen's ridiculous titles particularly when things came to important moments when she or someone else had to shout out 'you are in the presence of...' and 5 minutes later came to the end. I suppose it did pad out the shows to their full time allotment. And those eyebrows.... don't get me going on that!<br />
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The baddies got all the good lines. I did like that however as the series went on and on, the dialogue became more serious and even the baddies' lines ran out of steam and sting. At the start, the most fun characters were Jaime Lannister and his diminutive brother Tyrion but as things wore on, they became far more serious and consequently less entertaining. In reading the Wikipedia entries, I couldn't make out whether Mr. Martin had actually written any of the later series (I know he didn't write the last one) or if it was just the HBO screenwriters talking to him to 'agree where the story line was going'. As an avid reader of Robert Heinlein in the sci fi genre, what made his stories so great was not necessarily the sci fi aspect rather it was the energy that he brought to the writing even when the books went on to very great length. He never let up which is rather in the end what I think happened with GOT. Anyway, like I said earlier I'll read the first book now.<br />
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I'd like to think that left to himself Mr. Martin may have come up with something like this in the later series.<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-43488729086394886512020-04-12T01:25:00.000-03:002020-04-12T02:28:24.684-03:00The F WordHaving time on my hands means that I can read much more and as my personal favourite topic were I to be asked onto Mastermind is 'Mindless Trivia', I of course followed an internet string that began with the words 'First Use of the F-word in Recorded Literature'.<br />
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Whilst the history is fascinating enough it is what it all portends that made me laugh like I hadn't for many years. And given our present situation in lockdown, what we all need is a darn good belly laugh. Here's the headline:<br />
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<i>"WAN FUKKIT FUNLING" —</i><br />
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<i>500-year-old manuscript contains one of earliest known uses of the “F-word”</i><br />
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<i>The Bannatyne Manuscript is an anthology of some 400 medieval Scottish poems.</i><br />
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Whilst the spelling is not contemporary, the feeling is perfectly encapsulated in those three words which mean.... well, er, this is where it gets tricky for these words came about during a bout of 'Flyting' between two gentlemen by the name of William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy.<br />
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<i>Flyting is a poetic genre in Scotland—essentially a poetry slam or rap battle, in which participants exchange creative insults with as much verbal pyrotechnics (doubling and tripling of rhymes, lots of alliteration) as they can muster. (It's a safe bet Shakespeare excelled at this art form.)</i><br />
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<i>Dunbar and Kennedy supposedly faced off for a flyting in the court of James IV of Scotland around 1500, and their exchange was set down for posterity in Bannatyne's manuscript. In the poem, Dunbar makes fun of Kennedy's Highland dialect, for instance, as well as his personal appearance, and he suggests his opponent enjoys sexual intercourse with horses. Kennedy retaliates with attacks on Dunbar's diminutive stature and lack of bowel control, suggesting his rival gets his inspiration from drinking "frogspawn" from the waters of a rural pond. You get the idea.</i><br />
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<i>And then comes the historic moment: an insult containing the phrase "wan fukkit funling," marking the earliest known surviving record of the F-word.</i><br />
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It all sounds wonderful! I wish I had been there but as the manuscript itself was put together when this Mr. Bannatyne was locked down with the plague (rather like as now except that the plague killed somewhere between 30% and 80% of populations that became infected), perhaps not. In any event this brings to mind immediately Monty Python's Oscar Wilde sketch which although really funny also was based (although very loosely) on real events that regularly took place.<br />
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Now this is flyting!Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-60031037629300192352020-04-06T03:28:00.004-03:002020-04-06T03:41:44.704-03:00Rockers Class of 2019... RIPEach year I write a short post remembering those rockers who made a musical difference to me that passed away the year before. I am very late this year, I know, but here goes for 2019.<br />
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<b>Neil Innes</b><br />
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Neil wasn't a real rocker but has a significant place in my memory because he wrote so many great songs for the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (who can forget Urban Spaceman?), Rutland Weekend Television and of course Monty Python. If you remember the 'Holy Grail' movie, Neil sang the 'Brave Sir Robin' song amongst others. A wonderful story surrounding his time in the Rutles (with Eric Idle of MPFC fame) was when struggling for a musical interlude in a show, they asked George Harrison from the Beatles to come on. He agreed but refused to play his then Number 1 song 'My Sweet Lord' on the show, which ended up in total disarray. Wonderful stuff.<br />
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<b>Iain Sutherland</b><br />
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Back in 1971, I went to a day concert at The Oval in South London to see a host of different bands but mainly to see Frank Zappa who had his orchestra with him for that tour. The opening act was a band called Quiver and they were terrific. A year or so later they joined forces with a Scottish duo, the Sutherland Brothers, and I went to see them in Southend at the Queens Hotel, a dark and dingy basement club that always had great music. You never knew if they were open, or who was playing, but you knew if they did it would be on a Sunday night and this night they were open and the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver played. They were tremendous. Their big song wasn't even a big song for them but for Rod Stewart (Sailing), a song I never really liked, but they had tons of other great songs. Great band, great songs.<br />
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<b>Ginger Baker</b><br />
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I first heard this maniac drumming I think in 1966 and wondered what the hell was all that noise about. He just kept on going and going and going in all directions at once. Powerful, yup. Melodic, yup. Played with the best group of ALL time, yup. That was Cream, by the way, but he also played in Blind Faith. I saw him first in Southend with a band called the Baker-Gurvitz Army. Lots of silly stories about his previous band Air Force but this one played all the old Cream songs. The band were actually pretty terrible but seeing Ginger was a pleasure all by itself. What a player.<br />
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<b>Robert Hunter</b><br />
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It was my brother Jan that got me first to listen to the Grateful Dead. The LP was Live Dead, in retrospect a magnificent record and great intro to the Dead. I wish I realised at the time that even though the songs were 24 minutes long and seemed connected one with the next all through the record, that that was a pretty good thing. Many years later I managed to listen to the show all the way through without having to turn the record over every 20 minutes or so and it was fantastic. Robert wrote the lyrics to most of the tunes the band wrote, mostly with Jerry Garcia but also with the others if they needed it. So Trucking' with Bob Weir and Jerry, Box of Rain with Phil Lesh. Many others too. Great lyrics. So much more than girl meets boy, falls in love, etc. Made the songs sound interesting and also in many cases downright weird. Just what do the lyrics from Dark Star mean --- 'transitive nightfall of diamonds' -- or Box of Rain, or...<br />
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<b>Gary Duncan</b><br />
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Before the Monterey Pop Festival brought Jimi Hendrix and The Who to America, US rock bands had a different edge to them. Listen to the older Big Brother and Quicksilver albums and you'll immediately know what I mean. They played and sort of played in a classical manner. Then came Jimi and The 'Oo and everything changed. Among my first introduction to San Francisco music prompted by the Dead and Jefferson Airplane, I found 'Happy Trails', a live album by Quicksilver Messenger Service. What a record. What a band. What great guitarists. Yes John Cipollina of course but also yes Gary Duncan. Great player.<br />
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<b>Peter Tork</b><br />
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It was only the really young teeny-boppers that liked the Monkees but OK yes some of us others also liked them but didn't really admit to it. I liked the songs. I thought they were really good, catchy tunes, really nice harmonies, all the rest of it. I didn't care if the actors really didn't do the playing. I still don't know what instrument Peter Tork played. Some episodes had him on keyboards, others some sort of guitar, others still nothing just that goofy grin. Peter Tork was definitely my favourite Monkee.<br />
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<b>Others</b><br />
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As the years pass and I acknowledge how old I am, I then have to add on a few years and pretty soon it gets to three score and ten, 70. Lots of the old rockers who are left are comfortably past this landmark. Mention goes out to Larry Wallis of the Pink Fairies (just listen to The Pigs of Uranus, that's him), Larry Taylor of Canned Heat, Ian Gibbons of the original Kinks, Dr. John and Dick Dale, the original surfing guitar guy. Also Peter Fonda of Easy Rider fame which movie brought the world Steppenwolf and many other great classic rock bands of the 70's. RIP all.<br />
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Anyway I'll leave the last word to Neil Innes and George Harrison from Rutland Weekend TV.<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-43638135373420551842020-04-06T01:24:00.001-03:002020-04-06T01:24:12.878-03:00Time On Your Hands... Lots of It!I've been humming and hawing about writing about coronavirus but for the life of me cannot think of much to write about that isn't flippant (the entire thing is not funny), sad (why would I want to write about something sad? This is meant to be entertaining... well at least for me anyway), intelligent (I failed Biology O Level 3 times) or on point (see above comment in addition to which I have been trying to follow the politicos online and all seem to waffle a bit and then pass the microphone over to an expert who scares the hell out of me with explanations I don't understand that well). I think I am not alone in this.<br />
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So, rather than write about it, I will write about another one of those marvellous things that have no point at all but which I find massively interesting. This time it is about why are there 360 degrees in a circle. I can do maths, so find stuff like this inordinately fascinating.<br />
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<span style="font-family: PTSerif;"><i>In school we learn there are 360 degrees in a circle, but where did the 360 come from? When it is pointed out that the Babylonians counted to base-60, rather than base-10 as we do, people often ask if there is a connection. The short answer is no. The longer answer involves Babylonian astronomy.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent;">So it was mostly the Babylonians ... </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">But then also the Greeks.</span></div>
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It also involves calendars and most importantly a phenomenal amount of data gathering. Interesting parallel with you know what today as the experts from today go on all the time about the need for lots more hard data before they can know how to deal with things.<br />
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The Babylonians began observing the stars and various constellations around 2000 BC (according to the earliest texts), in the southern city of Uruk referring to a festival for the goddess Inanna so it was probably earlier than that. It all started with Venus being the brightest 'star' (no telescopes so look at the nearest/brightest object in the sky) and pretty soon they figured out that Venus along with the moon and other planets they could see lie on the same great circle, called the ecliptic, which had as its reference point the Sun as seen from Earth during the course of a year.<br />
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In order to record all this accurately, they needed a calendar as well as a method of recording positions along the ecliptic.<br />
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So calendars. The clever Babylonians figured out that it was the different phases of the moon which formed a rhythm in the life of their (and in fact all ancient) cultures, so that's where they started. Day 1 would be the evening of the first crescent at sundown.<br />
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With good visibility, a lunar month lasts 29 or 30 days and by about 500 BC, the Babylonians had discovered a scheme for determining the start of each month.<br />
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<span style="font-family: PTSerif;"><i>This used a 19- year cycle: 19 years is almost exactly 235 lunar months and the scheme works on seven long years (of 13 months) and 12 short years (of 12 months). This led to a fixed method of interleaving long and short years, still used today in the Jewish calendar and everything in the Christian year based on the date of Easter.</i></span><br />
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This phenomenally almost impossible to believe calculation (certainly when you think that our calendar these days is fixed and probably like me, most people wonder why the days of Easter, or Chinese New Year or some other dates change every year, well now you know) were derived by these amazingly clever Babylonians who started to record their observations.<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">The records that helped them discover this cycle began in the mid-eighth century bc, when Babylonian astronomers wrote nightly observations in what we now call ‘astronomical diaries’. These continue until the end of </span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">cuneiform scholarship in the first century ad, yielding <u>eight hundred years of astronomical records</u>: a terrific achievement, far longer than anything in Europe to this day. It facilitated great advances, notably their discovery of the so-called Saros cycles for predicting eclipses. Each one is a cycle of 223 lunar months, perpetuated over a period of more than 1,000 years. There are Saros cycles operating today first seen in the eighth and ninth centuries. They remain the basis for eclipse prediction and appear in detail on the NASA website.</span></i><br />
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800 years in those days was maybe 30+ generations given an average life span, enough for even the pickiest expert who wants data to prove a theory. Also a phenomenal achievement of relentlessly recording what to many must have seemed to be arcane nonsense but which today has a basis in almost everything that we do.<br />
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Once they had the calendar and could see that an annual cycle of life encompassed broadly 12 months, they were on the way but had to move onto problem two: method of recording positions along the ecliptic.<br />
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As it happened, the Babylonians seemed to like the organisation of 12 so split the months into smaller units of measurement. Obviously one day is one day but what about the time during the day? Again obviously you have before midday and after midday, so they decided to split both these periods into further units of 12. They also liked 30 as 30 was the usual number of days in a month so they further split up these units of 12 by a further 30 so as to be able to record data in their astronomical diaries more accurately, using fractions.<br />
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As for the sky, the firmament, the stars along the eliptical, well that was easy too now. They split the elliptical up into 12 sections:<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">the ecliptic was divided into 12 equal sections, each split into 30 finer divisions (also called </span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">u</span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">š</span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">), yielding 360 </span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">u</span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">š </span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">in total. For finer accuracy an </span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">u</span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">š </span><span style="font-family: PTSerif;">was broken down into 60 divisions. Each of the 12 sections they labelled by a constellation of stars and, when the Greeks took on Babylonian results, they preserved these constellations, but gave them Greek names – Gemini, Cancer and Leo – most of which had the same meanings as in Babylonia.</span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sign Pisces</td></tr>
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Sadly for them at least, by this time the Babylonians passed into memory and were overtaken by the Greeks who thankfully had similar interests and courtesy of no TV or internet, plenty of time on their hands too. So they developed Geometry single handedly bringing order to many things at the same time as creating a method by which children of the future could legally be tortured (actually I liked geometry and particularly the acronyms by which we remembered various geometrical terms and calculations).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The quadrants of a circle. How we remembered which quadrant at school was ASTC which stands for All, Sine, Tangent, Cosine or in schoolboy parlance All Sausages Turn Cold. Moving one step further into the calculations of the various functions: Sine is opposite/hypotenuse, Cosine is adjacent/hypotenuse, Tangent is opposite/adjacent. This was wonderfully learned as Some Old Hags Can Always Have Their Oats Anytime. I did enjoy Geometry.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: PTSerif;"><i>As Greek geometry developed, it created the concept of an angle as a magnitude – for example, adding the angles of a triangle yields the same as two right- angles – but in Euclid’s Elements (c.300 BC) there is no unit of measurement apart from the right-angle. Then, in the second century BC, the Greek astronomer Hipparchos of Rhodes began applying geometry to Babylonian astronomy. He needed a method of measuring angles and naturally followed the Babylonian division of the ecliptic into 360 degrees, dividing the circle the same way. So, although angles come from the Greeks, the 360 degrees comes from Babylonian astronomy.</i></span><br />
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So there you have it. Why 360? Fascinating. <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/full-circle" target="_blank">Here's the full article.</a><br />
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Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-19756314647242020552020-03-23T08:15:00.000-03:002020-03-23T08:15:07.267-03:00Darwin<br />
I am torn between wanting to be a scientist and being glad that at age 11 when I was offered the choice of O Level studies in Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Latin that I chose Latin. I know its a big divide but at least when I was young I didn't clutter up my brain with bits of this and that that I'd never use (that's science) but at the same time maintain a healthy admiration for those that can and do use whatever they learned to do what seems to be miraculous things.<div>
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As I write this on Day 4 of coronavirus lockdown in Penang, I am amazed that it was only last week that it was announced that a Cambridge scientist had 'finally' proved one of Charles Darwin's theories a mere 140 years after he'd hypothesised them. </div>
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I've now read two articles on what this theory is that has now been proven (it's to do with species and sub-species) and I'm afraid I barely understand what it is that has been proven and why it is actually important. Besides, I thought that Darwin became famous 140 years ago and that everyone believed him then, so was a little puzzled why all these years later it has become a big thing, well biggish in scientific circles.</div>
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One thing jumped out at me though... </div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.13333rem; line-height: 1.25;">She used a tool Darwin never did</span></h3>
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Van Holstein, however, had what those scientists didn't: Data modeling software.</div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(38, 38, 38); color: #262626; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2rem;">She wanted to show that the number of subspecies in a species is correlated to the number of species in a genus. If she could prove that, she'd have more evidence to suggest that subspecies are the "raw material" for a new species, she said.</span> </div>
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I love this stuff. Anyway, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317215626.htm" target="_blank">here's the full write up from Science Daily.</a></div>
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All I can do is echo Caesar's words: 'Alea Jacta Est'. It's only taken 140 years!</div>
Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-35128335083977494252020-03-23T07:06:00.001-03:002020-03-23T07:06:42.645-03:00Visitors Volume 3 -- Charlie!!The whirlwind continued with Indy, Cat and Charlie due to arrive for a couple of weeks. We'd talked a lot about the coronavirus and whether they should still come but as that point things hadn't deteriorated as much as later, the answer was yes!! Couldn't wait. Also they were flying in through Doha which to that moment had had no issues... another plus!!<br />
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It all seems such a long time ago now though for as I write this we are into Day 4 of the lockdown here in Penang due to that *&%$$#%#@ coronavirus. It is quite amazing how fast it has taken over the lives of I would think everyone on the planet.<br />
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I wonder what Charlie will think. Obviously he's too young to have a detailed memory of his trip here but he had a whole series of firsts whilst with us (as did Mum and Dad) including:<br />
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<li>first time in a swimming pool</li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think he enjoyed the swim</td></tr>
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<li>first time seeing orang utans ... he slept through most of it so maybe that memory won't be too strong</li>
<li>his first laughing session with a cuddly warthog; that character from the Lion King movie courtesy of Uncle Dee Dee</li>
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At this age, they seem to grow up bit by bit before your eyes. If there's something he didn't do yesterday, well he's doing it today and he's an expert already. </div>
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But he would not roll over. </div>
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He would but obviously he wasn't that fussed as he put either an arm or leg in just the right spot to stop him rolling over. I'd push him but after the first time that he immediately vomited onto the carpet, I stopped doing that. Don't get it. If he just rolled over, he would be able to push himself up on his arms and start to at least think about crawling. When he was having his 'tummy time' he'd almost immediately roll over and lay on his back like a dead bug. He would be waggling his arms and legs though and often laughing and chuckling to himself.</div>
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As for mum and dad, well obviously lovely to see them too. Viv and I were able to take Charlie for the evening actually on three occasions so they could have a date night out. I say Viv and I but it was mostly Viv, I was almost useless and had forgotten almost everything about being a new dad but Viv just picked it up from where she'd left off with Dee Dee back in 1989 and rolled on.</div>
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Food as can be imagined played an enormous part. We'd been winding Indy up in particular and had many (far too many) gastronomic events. The one he'd been looking forward to the most was the seafood dinner with congee as the last course that I'd told him about. It was again terrific. Our friends Lisa and Ted came along with us too as it needed to be a big affair so we could order enough things. I shouldn't have worried!</div>
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Like I said before, it all seems such a long time ago. The virus here has formally put us into lockdown nationwide until 31st March but today's paper suggested that may have to be extended to 60 days as people here keep gathering together contrary to health warnings about the virus' spread. We don't plan to be going out anywhere other than for food and other necessary things. Writing this I wonder if the next time I see Charlie, he'll be walking or not.</div>
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Doesn't matter, I'll treasure the time they were all here with us. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie's and my evening ritual</td></tr>
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Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-39798674190120985862020-03-18T07:05:00.001-03:002020-03-18T07:23:40.940-03:00Visitors Volume 2With Dick and Anna leaving, Hannah arrived. Hannah is Viv's god daughter and is on a post university tour around the world. As Hannah's plan was to spend 3 weeks in Hainan Island in China around this time, tacking on a week before would be easy. It didn't turn out that way later on but nobody had heard of coronavirus at that time.<br />
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We decided that amongst all the hanging out, eating and drinking we'd also head off for some outings and as Hannah's degree was to do with marine biology and environmental protection, we thought take her out for some animal-y things, starting with the butterfly farm called Entopia.<br />
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This was the first time we'd been there and it was really good. Lots of butterflies of course but also the big monitor lizards and other things were there too. Sort of an aquatic zoo as opposed to an aquarium.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clever, they had laid out these hibiscus flowers and covered them with I think honey so the butterflies swarmed all over them for the benefit of we patrons to enjoy</td></tr>
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Another day we drove out to Bukit Merah to check out the orang utans again. We'd done this before with Hannah's mum and it was really nice to go back particularly when we ran into one of the celebrity occupants who was riveted by the actions of a workman and tracked what he was doing. We'd had virtually no rain for months by this point so the lake in which the orang utan refuge island stood was at a very low level exposing lots of the foreshore. As there had been a fire at the centre a short while before, there was plenty of debris lying around and it was this that the workmen were clearing up.<br />
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I watched for ages and of course this is ridiculous but after a while I had the notion that I knew what the orang utan was about to do. I used the 'well of course their DNA is a 97% match to humans' hypothesis for my incredible scientific breakthrough, but its true. I just knew that when the workman got close enough, the orang utan would just scrabble away at the sand and throw a handful at him. And he did! Really hilarious to watch!!<br />
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Mind you, I didn't share this mind meld that I had just experienced with anyone else. I kept that to myself.<br />
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We also went back to Kee Lok See temple at night to check out the lights which were truly spectacular. This time we climbed the 7 storeys of the pagoda and were rewarded with fantastic views. The lights were terrific.<br />
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All along Hannah had been in touch with the school in Hainan where she was supposed to be teaching English for 3 weeks when all of a sudden she told us there may be a problem with her getting there as there was a disease that was spreading all over, a new type of virus.<br />
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We'd heard that there was something going on in Wuhan in China but not much else. However as we all know now, things moved fast from this point and the virus spread out exponentially to the point where the school said sorry, no children to teach so no need to come. I think we were all a bit peeved that that had happened for Hannah's sake not realising the enormity of things for after this cases started cropping up in other countries too. We suggested that Hannah should therefore head south to Australia instead as she had another internship organised in Sydney after the proposed Hainan trip which in the end did happen.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our farewell dinner -- Korean BBQ</td></tr>
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In fact all ended well for Hannah organised a nice road trip along the east coast of Australia to her new internship. Bon voyage and thanks for coming!Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-88953722512733429832020-03-18T06:21:00.001-03:002020-03-18T06:21:32.228-03:00Visitors Volume 1<br />
In early January, we'd just returned from spending Christmas in Canada with Dee Dee and the following day Viv's mum Anna moved in, swiftly followed by Viv's uncle Dick a day later. This is Dick's first visit and he hadn't seen Anna for several years. <div>
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It was just before Chinese New Year started (which began in the last week of January and lasted 2 weeks this year). It is the Year of the Rat so everywhere was highly decorated with what looked to me less like rats but more like cuddly-ish mice so everywhere was very pretty and as it is the new year, pretty much everything was cleaned up too.</div>
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We did a lot of stuff! </div>
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Georgetown's UNESCO World Heritage Centre was decked out nicely and after a nice walk and some lunch one day we went to the Sun Yet Sen Museum in Armenian Street.<br /><div>
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Sun Yat Sen was the father of the Chinese Republic and amongst other places lived for a while in Penang. The object of that really was to raise funds for his next rebellion. He was involved in several unsuccessful ones as well so was a person of interest for the Chinese who after a little while objected to the British about his rabble rousing presence in Penang, whereupon they asked him to move on. In all, he was in Penang for less than one year.</div>
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Fascinating museum. Small but amongst it all, you get to learn a bit about Sun Yet Sen the man too, in particular his lady loves which were described in some detail rather surprisingly. Most know him as the revolutionary not the lover, husband and all the rest. However, he was very active and traveled everywhere trying to raise interest and of course funding. One exhibit was set aside just to this; how much he raised and in which country. Remember this is back at the turn of the 20th century so the amounts are of course smaller but the country which provided the most funds for his struggle was..... wait for it.... Canada! Who'd have thought? </div>
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Very nice museum housed in a lovely shophouse in Armenian Street. Well worth a visit!</div>
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Viv's tennis friend, Lee Pin, asked us out for a day trip over to the mainland in Butterworth to visit a Chinese temple that was both huge and beautifully decked out for Chinese New Year. We'd never really been to Butterworth other than on that occasion when we'd taken a wrong turning and were headed towards the docks so were keen to check it out. Basically it's just one Main Street with a temple at the end. Big temple though.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBCx4lV7Tod3foHOpw4wPI-GuB69UcYQRBdZCtQCBjNfqS8RVdiGAHSqdqArfAkIAOiAZ0sqL9NzhxGuV5mcyut1nWbXnDwc31IJNgdQtgAxhS9J1tYzjQeVzVxuhCFRbqZCAzWVEsULL/s1600/IMG_3376.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBCx4lV7Tod3foHOpw4wPI-GuB69UcYQRBdZCtQCBjNfqS8RVdiGAHSqdqArfAkIAOiAZ0sqL9NzhxGuV5mcyut1nWbXnDwc31IJNgdQtgAxhS9J1tYzjQeVzVxuhCFRbqZCAzWVEsULL/s320/IMG_3376.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Lee Pin had organised a dinner at a restaurant on the beach at Batu Ferringhi with a special dish she wanted us to try (Duck and Yam soup) after the temple but before that she wanted us to try the 'best ' local Rojak. Now when a Penangite says that such and such is the 'best' it of course means in their opinion which again is of course reason enough to try it out. Viv and I had eaten rojak before but not Anna and Dick so this would be all new to them.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The famous rojak kopi (coffee) shop</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpNqocxFFet5WDeAhMGpKnglDz8Cicougr-pMAJhCbr7itgRa8_4Zq4nu6Y2PlMbFJwX8sEvqK56dtIBhjDzdmWaSBd_sCE5XalBV9VQx4Q6WmvNWY8GZpIJa4IAKvIA7lvWrXgCZr5Fa/s1600/IMG_3390.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1515" data-original-width="1600" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpNqocxFFet5WDeAhMGpKnglDz8Cicougr-pMAJhCbr7itgRa8_4Zq4nu6Y2PlMbFJwX8sEvqK56dtIBhjDzdmWaSBd_sCE5XalBV9VQx4Q6WmvNWY8GZpIJa4IAKvIA7lvWrXgCZr5Fa/s320/IMG_3390.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rojak</td></tr>
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The place was a coffee shop in the middle of Butterworth. Coffee shops like this are where the locals go for dessert and of course the local incredibly black coffee. Beans are roasted in a special way so that the beans are coal black as is the coffee. Not terribly strong but with a definite flavour to which is added condensed milk -- that's for the black coffee which apparently without the condensed milk is rather like engine sump oil. For the white coffee, you add evaporated milk to the mix. Did I mention sugar? Lots of that too. The experience leaves quite a film in and around your mouth for quite some time.</div>
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How to describe rojak? It is a popular dessert hereabouts. Take cut up chunks of fruit and raw vegetables and cover it with a sweet and sour but something else thick, sticky, gooey gloop and sprinkle with ground nuts. It is a curious taste to be sure, and not unpleasant. 'Interesting' was a word I heard quite a bit from Dick and Anna.</div>
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On the way back we stopped off at the snake temple near the airport for a brief visit. Snakes were everywhere although thankfully not crawling around too much. Just sort of lying there and writhing. I think they all came around one day and nobody cleared them out, so the snakes stayed.</div>
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I'd driven through Batu Ferringhi often enough. It's where the tourist resorts are located but as the beaches are pretty awful and the water very muddy brown with pollution and run off from farming on the mainland, we never had any intention of going to the beach. Not after Bermuda anyway! However the restaurant we went to was right on the beach and it turned out to be actually.... really rather lovely: the beach not the water. As was the duck/yam soup and the meal overall. Thanks Lee Pin!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQX2RaUp-LDIBijrf8ypsLWk9vnvMdHkxlr0_GgxbfxqRCYpsU8lxCGxCbJY7v1Amv0eeFwsgTW-Zwsk0ma25bwsZpPDDNTMKx68DnoUMM04v4GgBPntE6edvJtIZhwbmZfah3zCrf4vu/s1600/IMG_3276.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQX2RaUp-LDIBijrf8ypsLWk9vnvMdHkxlr0_GgxbfxqRCYpsU8lxCGxCbJY7v1Amv0eeFwsgTW-Zwsk0ma25bwsZpPDDNTMKx68DnoUMM04v4GgBPntE6edvJtIZhwbmZfah3zCrf4vu/s320/IMG_3276.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset on the beach at Batu Ferringhi</td></tr>
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We also decided to take Dick to the Blue Mansion in Georgetown. He is keen on history and heritage, or at least he said he was so we made sure to load him up on it.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Blue Mansion</td></tr>
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The Blue Mansion is simply extraordinary. The original house was built and lived in by a Chinese guy called Cheong Fatt Tze. A true rags to riches story, he started out as a coolie labourer in Indonesia in the 1870's where he made his first great move: he married the boss' daughter and took over his trading business. </div>
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He was really good at it and moved to Penang because the British were there and more trade was possible. He was into everything, built this mansion and became the wealthiest man in China towards the end of the 19th century. The Emperor even appointed him as special counsellor making him the 3rd most powerful person in China even though he didn't live there. We went on a tour of the mansion which has been massively renovated after it became derelict during WWII when the Japanese arrived. They persecuted important local Chinese people and Cheong's heirs (he was dead by this time) received no favours from them and had to rent out the mansion to several hundred squatters simply to survive. The result was dereliction and the mansion was abandoned for years until private money acquired it and turned it into this lovely museum.</div>
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It has been a movie set many times including movies based on the life of Sun Yat Sen but more recently of Anna and the King of Siam. Because the Thai government felt that the movie disrespected the royal family, they refused permission to film in Bangkok so the movie used the Blue Mansion and more generally Penang as the site location for the movie.</div>
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Another outing, although not so long but still pretty onerous was visiting the Kee Lok See temple at Penang Hill. It is the largest such temple in SE Asia. For Chinese New Year, they always garland the temple and grounds in flowers, lights and all the other ornate stuff that goes with Chinese New Year so at this time of the year it is definitely worth a visit. Lots of stairs but very worth it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4QLO6FehShABarZhIT0TjAmnvwuXwKqCH-EqD4u6vM86zpEnqyAR2vNmqUFgrE5_L4jxnzhFjftcLPVvmkqiEyqntiXQihZPZOjbuZUn0U74ozFAUlTFfTDbwQCvvwPRn2vxN8ePDoYg/s1600/IMG_3460.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4QLO6FehShABarZhIT0TjAmnvwuXwKqCH-EqD4u6vM86zpEnqyAR2vNmqUFgrE5_L4jxnzhFjftcLPVvmkqiEyqntiXQihZPZOjbuZUn0U74ozFAUlTFfTDbwQCvvwPRn2vxN8ePDoYg/s320/IMG_3460.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The seven storey pagoda is a key point in the temple</td></tr>
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I think Dick was exhausted by the time he left!!</div>
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Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-20814993313715593702020-03-18T04:11:00.000-03:002020-03-18T04:11:34.782-03:00Visitors, Culture, Eating and ....I've been lazy in the past few weeks when it comes to writing my blog. For sure we had some visitors... actually quite a lot of visitors, then we moved house, then there was the big tennis tournament that I played in when Viv was away, then I hurt my back .... and then came the coronavirus which has locked us down in out apartment for at least the next two weeks.<br />
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Yes, I just slipped that last thing in. My goodness, this is the biggest crisis facing the world probably since WWII and to think I was going to write about the hardships of going out to eat in Penang!<br />
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But I'd started and had some really neat photos so I will go ahead and complete the blog but obviously with the benefit of current thinking. Realistically sitting here in our apartment, I would obviously love to go out to restaurants and stuff but that can't happen for a while. I'm still amazed how quickly all this has taken to come to pass when it was only just last week...<br />
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Anyhow, here it is:<br />
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I think we've lived here long enough that the Penang coolaid that we've drunk is starting to take effect. Penang info front and centre always says that Penang is the foodie capital of (1) Malaysia, (2) the Far East, or (3) the world. I don't know about that but recently in some periodical or another (or maybe a Far East food programme on TV), it was announced that either Penang or Malaysia (can't remember which) has 162,000 small holding food sellers.... a better word was used but you can't really call fooderies here 'restaurants' because most aren't. For sure there are restaurants like you'd recognise in the west but they are realistically few and far between. You have boutique fancy restaurants too. Then you go to the non-fancy restaurants that are more like US diners and a couple of further rungs down you get to the hawkers and the guys that prepare food off trolleys (you can't call them trucks). Anyway there's 162,000 of these apparently either up and down the country or in Penang, probably up and down the country now that I think of it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYqJKhLU5Nmkop57H2NFAbqZWAvifvAT8tfeRYJr7nXkWMBXE-eNa7W_mslO9bN_t9RwuIoUU4SgwYXzuXgBWu1rqv2W2XLb4VDBUmGJ-YWjlbqonLOou3FWnz6W2CdV9TrCRP-jyVzjz/s1600/IMG_3254.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYqJKhLU5Nmkop57H2NFAbqZWAvifvAT8tfeRYJr7nXkWMBXE-eNa7W_mslO9bN_t9RwuIoUU4SgwYXzuXgBWu1rqv2W2XLb4VDBUmGJ-YWjlbqonLOou3FWnz6W2CdV9TrCRP-jyVzjz/s320/IMG_3254.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawker centre on Beach Street</td></tr>
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It feels like we've visited them all this last week.<br />
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Also by some extraordinary combination of events, we have had some of the most stunningly good meals and dishes that we've eaten in the entire time we have been here. So you can't say no to eating them, can you? (That was pretty lame, wasn't it? Even so, 100% true).<br />
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We had guests in the shape of Viv's mum, Anna, and uncle Dick from San Francisco so were in tourist mode as well so visited some pretty interesting places too but I'll just keep to the food on this post.<br />
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After the obligatory chicken rice on collecting Dick from the airport, we went on a bit of a tour ending up at a local Malay Nonya Indian sort of 'fusion' restaurant which had recipes from all over the region. Called Jawi Restaurant, the chef told us that his people are Indian muslims that came to Penang 200 years ago bringing with them traditional dishes that they made with local ingredients, substituting as needed and intermarrying over the years which brought different ways and means to the cooking. Its in Armenian Street opposite the Sun Yet Sen Museum and was very nice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0JjAmA_WBXEds8IwX8hzUWKpUAio1CyviRZcKRVX4X4xwMRVSSF31ItQKNBxQr4sVGdUyA-xpS3vzf0C_Wp8IAC6aQFdpNbrh01z30bRQI1YFohesIpJeFiPEkGCdiJnVg_Ieri6AMkgq/s1600/Jawi+restaurant.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0JjAmA_WBXEds8IwX8hzUWKpUAio1CyviRZcKRVX4X4xwMRVSSF31ItQKNBxQr4sVGdUyA-xpS3vzf0C_Wp8IAC6aQFdpNbrh01z30bRQI1YFohesIpJeFiPEkGCdiJnVg_Ieri6AMkgq/s320/Jawi+restaurant.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Our friends Ted and Lisa had asked us all out to join them at a Teochow restaurant called Goh Swee Kee, a fish restaurant and yet another style of Chinese cooking from the Teochow region. Wonderful fish, amazing pork curry and those veggies!!<br />
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Viv's tennis buddy asked us (Viv, Dick, Anna and I) for a day trip that included Dim Sum in Butterworth and another fish restaurant on the beach at Batu Ferringhi where the specialty was Duck and Yam Soup. Talk about hearty!<br />
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I took Dick out for a walk around Georgetown that included breakfast and of course lunch. Along the way we found the famous Nasi Lemak stall on Beach Street and some amazing looking tandoori chicken in Little India on Chulia Street.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmItLeX-3gxsxn9yBh8Lc-2n_I2KIhIlsff7CHLVujIb600uWRZEmAM4IVgtt8kVNHX2W1U-8IRQTDF0TuZd3m_1VubGBV7Ig4rvJwuze0hSyPTQZsmMNru8g8i0d7gu7ZHc-ZuaTwxGm/s1600/Nasi+Lemak+in+Beach+Street.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmItLeX-3gxsxn9yBh8Lc-2n_I2KIhIlsff7CHLVujIb600uWRZEmAM4IVgtt8kVNHX2W1U-8IRQTDF0TuZd3m_1VubGBV7Ig4rvJwuze0hSyPTQZsmMNru8g8i0d7gu7ZHc-ZuaTwxGm/s320/Nasi+Lemak+in+Beach+Street.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banana Leaf, rice cooked with coconut milk (hence fatty or 'Lemak'), dried anchovies, hard boiled egg and a huge dollop of chilli out of those buckets makes Nasi Lemak (aka fatty rice), a spectacular breakfast dish.</td></tr>
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We realised that we'd not taken our visitors to any Nyonya Restaurants in Penang. Nyonya are the local Chinese/Malay mix cuisine restaurants. I love the food and Ted and Lisa again found a wonderful place called Aunty Geik Lean's Old School in Georgetown. I'd walked past this place dozens of times and never realised I should have stepped in for the fish and indescribably good pork curry.<br />
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Then there was the 'quiet' dinner at the Penang Swim Club and the huuuuge Korean BBQ that we went to with our friend's daughter, Hannah...<br />
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I felt like a balloon at the end of all this.<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-17575452835295373972020-01-01T18:43:00.000-04:002020-01-01T18:43:59.396-04:00HillsLike many people, I try to make plans. In my case as I am retired, this often involves great ideas (in my opinion) that may or may not require preparation before the big event whatever it is takes place.<br />
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A few weeks ago after a tough day of playing in a tennis tournament, I was chatting with one of the players, the club pro, bemoaning the fact that I wasn't able to hit the tennis ball as hard as the young lads who'd thumped us all over the court all day. He put an arm round my shoulders in an amicable fashion, patted my stomach with the other and kept on saying what sounded like "20 pounds" over and over. Being rather a literal person I hadn't a clue what he meant but assumed that he meant that I should start pumping iron to build up some more muscle. He is as skinny as a rake so I thought this was a bit rich coming from him. In any event he kept droning on about '20 pounds, 20 pounds' and drumming my tummy so I said something along the lines of 'OK, you're right maybe I could do something about my puny arms...' but he said "No, no. Lose 20 pounds. Here".... with 'here' being you guessed it, my stomach. Bloody cheek. I've been trying to lose 20 pounds for the last 20+ years, mate!<br />
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In my defense, the food in Penang really doesn't help. So good but very heavy on the carbs: rice, noodles, beer. I know I could be a little more iron willed but that really hasn't worked out that well. Clearly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The most recent fiesta and the scene of my most recent fall from grace</td></tr>
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So plan B.<br />
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Penang Island is a really interesting place. Topographically speaking. This is what Wikipedia says:<br />
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<i>As for the terrain, much of the centre of Penang Island consists of granitic hills covered by rainforest jungles. The central hills of Penang Island, including Penang Hill, serve as a giant green lung for the entire island and an important forested catchment area.[15]</i><br />
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<i>Generally speaking, the island can be distinguished into five areas:</i><br />
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<li><i>The northeastern plains form a triangular promontory where George Town is centred. This densely populated city centre is the administrative, commercial and cultural centre of Penang.</i></li>
<li><i>The southeast, where Bayan Lepas is located, was once an agricultural area consisting of rice fields and mangroves. Due to the massive industrialisation of the 1970s, this area has been developed into new townships and industrial areas.</i></li>
<li><i>The north, including Batu Ferringhi, Tanjung Bungah and Tanjung Tokong, consists of narrow sandy beaches lined with resort hotels and residences that form the northwestern edge of George Town.</i></li>
<li><i>The southwest (Balik Pulau) contains the only large pockets of scenic countryside with fishing villages, fruit orchards, and mangroves.</i></li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The giant green lung</td></tr>
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We live in the north of the island which is well populated but in the middle and south, the hills go straight up making construction difficult. So much so that the authorities are reclaiming ever greater chunks out to the north and east which constitutes the Malacca Straits, which are actually quite shallow and very tidal.</div>
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The British in colonial days built stations in the hills where you can escape the relentless heat of the lowlands. They also built reservoirs and dams in the hills to provide a guaranteed water source for the island. Accessing each of these meant trails, roads and paths which today make great hiking trails. This was my plan B.</div>
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I found a group of hardy hikers who weren't so serious that a newbie like me would suffer and off we went. The first week's walk was to the Batu Ferringhi aqueduct. A light, gently upward stroll past the remnants of colonial engineering which still works just fine. My fellow walkers were a bunch of similarly shaped and aged people to me, so I felt right at home. </div>
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It was all rather pleasant. People chatted, stopped every 20 minutes or so for a rest and drink, that sort of thing. And right at the end we met that charming monkey. The white eyed ones are quite affable unlike the grey macaques that predominate, which travel in large groups and which are aggressive. This is why most walkers go on hikes with sticks.<br />
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It was therefore with quiet confidence that I approached the next week's walk. One of the guys that also plays tennis told me that this wasn't a really heavy walk in terms of difficulty, maybe 7 out of ten, so I was felt pretty good about things as I drove down to the southern part of the island; a village called Balik Pulau. The plan was to start in the village, walk through some of the farms and then take to the hills. The hills are all interconnected so a really long, tough one would head all the way north towards Penang Hill. We wouldn't be doing that although we would be going up through the durian farms.<br />
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I was in bits at the end.<br />
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Scenery was lovely and what I clearly missed were the breaks for chats and drinks. None of the more social walkers had chosen to do this walk this time, I had missed that! The hardy bunch that did make it were all lithe and athletic looking and obviously used to this kind of thing.<br />
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Lovely scenery though!<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-15581214516478516342019-12-30T16:40:00.000-04:002019-12-30T16:40:12.756-04:00CharlieI hadn't realized so much time has passed since we first met Charlie. I've always liked the name but for some reason I've never known any Charlies. I know a Charles, just the one, but nobody could ever suggest that he'd want to use the more familiar form.<br />
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It wasn't going to be Charlie. I'd suggested Mark Joseph II as a strong contender but Indy seemed solid on Daniel. But definitely not Charlie.<br />
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He wasn't punctual either. Big yes, but on time no. Mind you he wasn't that late, I suppose. Just a couple of days. But I suppose that even with the advances that have been made these days, getting the precise time of delivery is still tricky.<br />
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Meet Charlie!!<br />
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Very excited of course. Our first grandchild and very lovable he is too. Happy Christmas!!<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-76947677468046215602019-12-06T02:46:00.000-04:002019-12-06T02:46:56.610-04:00The Big Apple in 24 hoursA short while ago, I was in New York and my youngest Ali flew in to join me. It was meant to be a weekend but life intervened so it turned out to be only a little over 24 hours of father son togetherness and I meant to make the most of it.<br />
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Ali lives and works in Cayman but on occasion goes to Bermuda for work as well so it was fairly simple for him to jump on a plane for the 1 1/2 hour hop to JFK. I'd suggested he take the subway and I'd meet him and walk him around for the next 24 hours.<br />
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First thing was a late breakfast and I chose <a href="https://sargesdeli.com/" target="_blank">Sarge's Deli</a> which I knew made the best all around corned beef hash in the world. Topped with 3 fried eggs and home fries, this is a real breakfast!<br />
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We ached as we came out but with the weather an unseasonal and balmy 23 degrees with bright sunshine, I proposed to walk Ali all over town. With New York set out in a classic grid pattern, all you needed to know are cross streets and you can find anywhere.<br />
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Ali needed some shopping, personal items, so we hit the stores. Midtown Mall is right next to Macy's so after blanking there, this was our target for Ali was on a budget. This all made me realise just how much US retail is suffering. There's so much of it, so many people looking to buy too, but with incomes not really rising and Amazon crowding out many retailers, those that remain have a tough time surviving.<br />
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We found a fairly ratty JC Penney as it happened with the men's department hosted by an attractive young lady who found a very special deal for Ali. I would have been absolutely mortified to be served in this fashion when I was younger and actually let an attractive young lady know what undies I wore, but then again being from the old school of Speedo's and tighty whiteys, perhaps that would be the case now too. Ali being from the new generation of board shorts and boxers held no such feeling.<br />
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As we had a subway card, we hopped on the subway for positively 4th Street (a nod to Bob Dylan who used to live there). This is Greenwich Village and home to our evening's entertainment. I wanted to show Ali the clubs and of course actually confirm that something would be on tonight. Cafe Wha was still there with the House Band due to start up around 5 pm, and around the corner Bleecker Street was also there and ..... had become almost gentrified. Possibly a Starbucks even.<br />
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When I first went to NYC back in the 1980's, it was dirty, edgy and a bit grungy. Some nice parts too of course but it had a definite Noo Yawk edge. That was one of the things that made it attractive. Perhaps it was the crack cocaine epidemic which hit the big apple in the mid-eighties? I never saw that in person but do remember walking up 5th Avenue at night near Grand Central Station with a work colleague and a couple of big black guys wearing reddish blazers came up behind us and said 'keep walking'. I hadn't a clue what was going on but my colleague said 'don't worry, they are the Angels'.... it may have been a different name but these were guys that roamed the street at nighttime to prevent people from being mugged.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There you go, the Guardian Angels.</td></tr>
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It was Rudy Giuliani who was responsible for cleaning up NYC sometime later with his no nonsense policing tactics and I think he did a great job at that. New York is unquestionably a cleaner and safer city than it was but as we strolled along Bleecker Street, I did get the feeling that it had been tidied up a little too much. Gone were lots of the old grungy bars and eating places, gone were a number of places that showcased music like the Blues and Jazz. However Terra Blues still remains and we were able to confirm that there would be music later on.<br />
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We turned left up Broadway and because it was so lovely a day kept on walking. And walking. So much life to be seen in a city when you walk around it. New York is so fascinating too. You may think that being a huge city it has no distinctive bits and pieces but that is totally untrue. Korea Town, Japan Town, Chinatown, Little Italy, Hell's Kitchen... some great names too! Sarge's Diner was in a section called Murray Hill (2nd and 30-something). There were actually a few hills too, but not too drastic. Because big retail is suffering so much, mum and pop shops proliferate which I think is great as the independents reflect the community to a large extent and add great feel to the place. OK, I am a fan of the big apple. It's a real pleasure to visit.<br />
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Of course I wanted to eat at a venerable NY steakhouse but first choice Keens was full and Del Monico's could only manage a ridiculous time so we settled for Frankie & Johnnie's Steakhouse on W 37th street. It was great... of course. Steaks were huge and done beautifully. Martinis sang to us. Just a perfect preamble to the rest of the evening.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnIlIPcGVaIcLbvMOMwxCx7H_HXBX27gUgprq68Y-firlpJcpvnH5-ttC6PaN6qNThfhFVVu0Y06wjBj8cFC7YetCanfsWkLxZKFVhqExBb77a1DTZwM8a6kmQ-2WxmwsV5gzE4LEvmLE/s1600/ecd39458-9532-48b1-8242-c6a911d7476c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnIlIPcGVaIcLbvMOMwxCx7H_HXBX27gUgprq68Y-firlpJcpvnH5-ttC6PaN6qNThfhFVVu0Y06wjBj8cFC7YetCanfsWkLxZKFVhqExBb77a1DTZwM8a6kmQ-2WxmwsV5gzE4LEvmLE/s320/ecd39458-9532-48b1-8242-c6a911d7476c.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers!</td></tr>
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After this we soldiered back down to Greenwich Village for the Terra Blues experience and after some bar hopping, we finally arrived. I am pleased to say it was just how I remembered it. Small, low ceiling, little tables with chairs dotted around the club and some terrific blues. We stayed for 3 sets and made it back to our hotel about 3.30 am.<br />
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The following day was a Sunday so we wanted brunch which we found to be what almost every other New Yorker was doing as well. The myriad eateries that offered it were packed solid ... it was another lovely day so this is not surprising, however I remembered a Greek place on 1st Avenue and we wandered down there and were richly rewarded with piles of pancakes, French Toast and other goodies that you associate with brunch.<br />
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As we left JFK to our different destinations, we both agreed that we'd probably skip the next couple of meals.<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-69803991757272500372019-12-05T02:38:00.000-04:002019-12-05T02:38:16.948-04:00Some Early Mosques and some bloody pigeonsWe'd felt for some time that we hadn't done enough 'culture' or 'heritage' here in Penang since we arrived, actually nearly 2 years ago now.... doesn't time fly? So we planned to do some more and earlier this week we went on one of Michelle's Spiral Synergy tours which would include the 3 oldest mosques in Georgetown. Well attended and very interesting indeed. The tour guide, Teresa, was fun which made for a good time all round.<br />
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The mosques are all within a few hundred yards of one another but if you wander round and round in circles enough and stop for some interesting tea and cakes at a Jawi cafe, the time passes most agreeably without too many gaps where you wonder what else? What was interesting about each mosque is the demographic that attends them as all date back to the early 1800's, just after the British arrived, and were built on land which even then was in the middle of what was then downtown Georgetown. The city/town back then was essentially 6 blocks back from the water (Beach Street or Jalan Pantai today) and no more than a dozen streets going left to right in a grid pattern. So that means there used to be 72 (or so) blocks where all commerce and in general all life took place for there were no other settlements on the island back then.<br />
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The British set aside what they thought as the best bits for them of course but also for the Indians they'd brought with them (mostly Tamils from south India who turned out to be muslims in the main), the Chinese who rushed in as soon as they saw what was happening (mainly Hokkien people from Fujian province) and also the local Malays who came over from the mainland too.... except that in the main they were not Malays, rather Indonesians trying to get away from the protestant Dutch who were forever fighting a rebellion in Aceh, a town in Indonesia only a very short boat ride away (less than 1/2 hour by plane these days). So, multiple demographics with obviously multiple requirements for their holy houses. Even today, the demographic separation remains broadly intact so Indian muslims rarely go to an Indonesian mosque (and of course vice versa) and neither attend other than rarely the newer Malay mosques.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'd always wondered about what the colour scheme of old Penang was for today so many buildings look dilapidated in the World Heritage part of Georgetown. Apparently there were 3 colours, sky blue (with the colour coming from a local tree's berries that grow everywhere), yellow like in the photo (derived from cow's urine mixed with the white wash that is also prevalent. Local cows eat local mangoes and the result is very yellow apparently) and green which is a combination of the other two. Must have been very colourful. Makes me happy coming from Bermuda where houses are all lovely different pastel colours to think that something similar was happening here too. All old photos are black and white so of course impossible to know how colourful or not things really were. I like the colourful thought.</td></tr>
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The big mosque on what used to be called Pitt Street was where we had the big talk from a local learned man. A very lively and jovial Indian who said his name was Dong and that if we wanted to remember him, we could always think of a bell and go Ding.... I believe he could make a living selling ice to the eskimos.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone had told me the mosque had been named after a pre-Colonial era ships captain of great renown but Dong told us that 'Kapitan' simply means leader and 'Keling' means Indian people. Another myth squashed!</td></tr>
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Dong (or was it Ding?) took us on a whirlwind trip around the big mosque describing the pre-service washing requirements, why you kneeled on lines of carpet (hurts the knees otherwise apparently!), how you prayed, when you prayed, what the calling on words actually meant (pretty much 'time for prayer, get out of bed' for the morning session, similar thereafter), the fact that the Imams were not religious people just normal people who had something to say... and a whole lot of other stuff. He gave out free pamphlets on topics like 'Science in Islam', 'The Truth about Jesus', 'The position of Women in Islam' and other topics too. So easy for me to be cynical and describe it all as being a sell of the religion, but I'd like to think it was someone reaching out trying to dispel some myths. The fact that he used to be a Christian and converted (apparently he and Teresa were long time friends so both laughed about it) came up and I immediately thought about Saul becoming St. Paul and how he basically created the Christian faith out of a mish mash of ideas, facts and fiction. Not so different really.<br />
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A question on terrorism and radical Islam came up (it may have even been Ding (or Dong) who raised it unasked, come to think of it). Also the different sects; sunni, shi-ite, wahabbi (sp?). He brushed across the top of it. 'If someone kills or harms another person, he is not a muslim. He is a killer.' As for the sects... 'there are no sects in the muslim faith. All those others aren't Islam.'<br />
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Lots to digest then as we continued our stroll across the street in fact to the next mosque, which was actually not a real mosque but a shrine, called the Nagore Shrine. It was in crossing the road that I was attacked.<br />
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I'd like to know who ever came up with the notion that being pooped upon by pigeons is good luck .... OK I know, my mum did. But who else? Total crackpots (Mum excluded of course), that's who. It is nasty, smelly and really downright unpleasant. Of course Google has a myriad of links to totally gormless websites that devote column inches to this topic. Here's one:<br />
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<i>I’m sure we can all agree that we’ve had our fair share of annoyance with bird defecation – it leaves a nasty stain on our cars and clothing, and any time birds are around, we’re instantly aware of their presence and hope that they don’t decide to use our clothes (or skin) as a toilet. It’s simply become a random, everyday occurrence and constant annoyance. How could anyone ever like it?</i><br />
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<i>If you agreed with any of the statements I’ve said above, then it’ll come as just as much of a surprise to you when I say bird poop is actually a symbol of good luck. Believe it or not, there’s an entire mythical world behind the existence of and the importance of when a bird sh*ts on your car. If you’re a bit skeptical, keep reading.</i><br />
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<i>For centuries, birds have always been, to a degree, mythical creatures; the Phoenix is an example of this in many cultures. Imagine, an animal able to simply spread their wings and glide across the sky with no issue keeping in sync formation with the birds around them.</i><br />
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<i>Unfortunately, the price of being an airborne member of the animal kingdom is never knowing or having the appropriate means of defecation. Where would their waste go if they have no time to reach the ground to release it? Good enough for birds though, they’ve figured out the answer to that question long before humanity could even form adequate societies: give the humans good karma if they ever had a direct encounter with their droppings.</i><br />
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<i>The main reason why we get mad at seeing bird poop “fly-by’s” is because of its unexpectedness and the annoyance brought on by the thought of cleaning it up. That doesn’t stop the Karma Gods from working, which in turn will bring you good luck and good fortune. With that being said, the next time you see bird poop in someone’s (or your own) hair, clothing, or windshield, don’t get mad – take a sigh of relief!</i><br />
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Numbskulls! I really don't need any self help dummy to tell me in 5 repetitive paragraphs of inanity that being pooped on is nasty. Really. As for the Phoenix... who cares about the bloody phoenix? It's a mythical bird. Not real. Getting pooped on by a bloody pigeon though, that is real life mate.<br />
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So it was with a less generous demeanour that I crossed the street into the shrine. It is both old and a bit ragged to tell the truth. But it is what it appears to be. A living, working place of worship not a gilded palace. I instantly felt the people here would understand my pigeon issues.<br />
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<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-31807884138742311422019-11-22T02:40:00.001-04:002019-11-22T02:40:52.839-04:00RTW sort of by AccidentLast week we returned from quite a long trip as it turned out. We hadn't meant it to be like this, witness the number of times we had cause to change airline reservations, but it sort of just happened. The plan, if you can call it that, was to be in Zurich when our first grandchild would be born.... yes, I just slipped that in. Quietly. And yes, both Viv and I are very excited indeed! Around the same time however were a different couple of dates that we would not be able to change but which had to be included: namely a board meeting for me in New York as well as a 90th birthday party for Aunty Blanche in Bermuda.<br />
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Due date for the big day was 1st October for the longest time then all of a sudden it was pushed back, then not again. Not something that could be set in stone, that's for sure. Our grandchild would come when he/she was ready and not before. This didn't help much in our planning for, as everyone knows, those paragons of customer care, let's just call them 'airlines', do not take kindly to last minute booking and changes despite what all those "I traveled the world on $100" smart Alecs say. The later it became, the more painful it was.... for us needless to say. And as I said earlier, we had to make changes seemingly every week all of which increased the pain threshold. Fair to say I am heartily sick of aeroplanes, airports, airlines, mindless bloody stupidity at the airports, endless security lines, aeroplane food (big time), not being able to sleep, immigration procedures that change seemingly change all the time yet when you comment 'this is new', the official gives you a blank stare so you try to remember not to comment on anything but smile in a sort of glassy and fixed way every time someone asks something arcane like 'what brings you to...' -- I mean, I just landed on a plane for goodness sake, what do you think I am here for? To visit.... derr!<br />
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Anyway rather than go through a blow by blow for each stage, I'll do it by photos:<br />
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<li><b>England</b></li>
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The land of Brexit and Boris Johnson! It seems to have become the only topic of conversation. Will we exit on October 31st in Boris's words 'do or die' or was it he'd rather be 'dead in a ditch'? Doesn't matter, everyone was speaking in ridiculous hyperbole like this all the time. 'End of the world', 'total disaster', 'catastrophic'.... you name it, these are the words of the time. Made me glad that we wouldn't be spending a lot of time here, just a few days with Viv's mum Anna.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reculver Castle on the Thames Estuary is an old Roman Fort, church, you name it what else. The twin spires seen here are only kept as markers for shipping otherwise they'd be allowed to fall down.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just had to eat the best fish n' chips in the country! Still great.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That other institution, the Sunday roast. Random country pub and it was fantastic.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2JlMktzFF-qWBblHkN37H9BjM_wl7FSKdRiZlo_2y9NSLrFjLURHUsZ_D-ZvUGakH-7EeuM73xNK4aYbks-Ev-da2Gcq0KwRB7hmRNPvK0w1r3B6I4rgD9neNOgrqjCvC0f3TKNVzzlB/s1600/IMG_3879.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2JlMktzFF-qWBblHkN37H9BjM_wl7FSKdRiZlo_2y9NSLrFjLURHUsZ_D-ZvUGakH-7EeuM73xNK4aYbks-Ev-da2Gcq0KwRB7hmRNPvK0w1r3B6I4rgD9neNOgrqjCvC0f3TKNVzzlB/s320/IMG_3879.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visiting the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham. Really interesting yet sad to me for it is now a tourist attraction seeing as there is very little Royal Navy left to service.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcMvVq_gTjgiwiIoD_RRCk1mp4oWn2NPqW2nEhbiZXgkLC8yLiCVrTquaJl-KwirhCUExPJtm_4Iuw095M-QdymBNw4CcPz3Z_aF-UDcP5iOiz0v-bESepUFl43e97Dx-L9XHXzz77xIZ/s1600/Screenshot+2019-11-22+at+12.50.56+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="620" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcMvVq_gTjgiwiIoD_RRCk1mp4oWn2NPqW2nEhbiZXgkLC8yLiCVrTquaJl-KwirhCUExPJtm_4Iuw095M-QdymBNw4CcPz3Z_aF-UDcP5iOiz0v-bESepUFl43e97Dx-L9XHXzz77xIZ/s320/Screenshot+2019-11-22+at+12.50.56+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Turner Modern museum in Margate I thought would have paintings of said Turner, a local lad who painted mid 19th century industrial type paintings, particularly steam ships, but it had the annual competition going on with artists like this doing modern stuff. The interpretation I found a little less than helpful.</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>2. Switzerland</b></div>
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<div>
Indy and Cat live in Zurich so it was there that we flew next. We stayed in an AirBNB in the centre of Zurich and found that the public transport was cheap, really efficient and on time. Trams, buses, trains... all really clean and a pleasure to use. We also found it was Oktoberfest time! So we had some fun before the big day arrived.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95JYU1-0s2m_xQMLUwK-SA3uaFt0CbntA-BRDjjiRcp6Ph4WbQvArYSTO79MbT-W2GgQCTz05IN46hpt1BUfG7ID4Gj2pJHfSQ_zZeCsQW57D6fI9UNeu68ZBYtf_V_dPFoKB154Cy91l/s1600/IMG_2308.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95JYU1-0s2m_xQMLUwK-SA3uaFt0CbntA-BRDjjiRcp6Ph4WbQvArYSTO79MbT-W2GgQCTz05IN46hpt1BUfG7ID4Gj2pJHfSQ_zZeCsQW57D6fI9UNeu68ZBYtf_V_dPFoKB154Cy91l/s320/IMG_2308.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quite a raucous affair it was too!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEdziw1QPEVVMkVT7qbC2_f2rYd0g37drr2afKjPqnE4jD0fpQaqttbMYyztjuD6SmN6NtT7wYm28RrKwVAeOjJ6VjPrb_a0Js1O1CECa0T_LJA8VTREX-toKhXSM4oqiS3gnQbMIbxgHP/s1600/IMG_2345.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEdziw1QPEVVMkVT7qbC2_f2rYd0g37drr2afKjPqnE4jD0fpQaqttbMYyztjuD6SmN6NtT7wYm28RrKwVAeOjJ6VjPrb_a0Js1O1CECa0T_LJA8VTREX-toKhXSM4oqiS3gnQbMIbxgHP/s320/IMG_2345.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking our new grandchild for a walk. Felt like a supermarket trolley but of course just like everything Swiss, it really does work!</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>3. New York</b></div>
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<div>
After only a few days I flew through London again (ugh... horrible airport) to New York for my board meeting. Happily Dee Dee came to join me for a couple of days so we were able to hang out and go crazy. I dragged him all around Greenwich Village into bars and blues clubs.... great time!</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOpzmiWXytyq2wAQccbAM4QrP2owrT1aLXL7fspj5nT65YkHnsV0usKpPYHvkB1xGZ1dJWGPHlnRAlCbKdGUK3BmoAGHSgqa2cTDB3tvlM4sNd6DS3iHbCjmHAIy9nJD2RsOYrsF5aKoP/s1600/ecd39458-9532-48b1-8242-c6a911d7476c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOpzmiWXytyq2wAQccbAM4QrP2owrT1aLXL7fspj5nT65YkHnsV0usKpPYHvkB1xGZ1dJWGPHlnRAlCbKdGUK3BmoAGHSgqa2cTDB3tvlM4sNd6DS3iHbCjmHAIy9nJD2RsOYrsF5aKoP/s320/ecd39458-9532-48b1-8242-c6a911d7476c.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found time for the big steak too!</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>4. Switzerland (again)</b></div>
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Viv had stayed on in Zurich whilst I traveled alone to the Big Apple and I was looking forward to going back to join her, Indy, Cat and our beautiful grandchild for a few more days.</div>
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<b>5. England (again)</b></div>
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One thing we have never managed is the knack of traveling light. I am always totally impressed by people that travel only with a carry on even when they are traveling for weeks or months. I imagine their choice of wardrobe is therefore limited but even with umpteen bags I find myself wearing the same trousers and shirt all the time. However this time we'd smartened up a little and actually managed the side trip to Zurich with just the one big bag... each, and had left the other two big bags in England. Hence England for a couple of days.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRbTJYWbQQedsOFhDs3luEkG0yaTTAGzpOTZVAJfqQpqsNXKrGWQmizaBeA9IXbqgnik9XWXaUwwB85pYWUUmryXdkXndI3qN9el2cL9-YWTdyTrYf1WKCLlUDQVezuFnLVgXKwtuzRbdz/s1600/IMG_3961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRbTJYWbQQedsOFhDs3luEkG0yaTTAGzpOTZVAJfqQpqsNXKrGWQmizaBeA9IXbqgnik9XWXaUwwB85pYWUUmryXdkXndI3qN9el2cL9-YWTdyTrYf1WKCLlUDQVezuFnLVgXKwtuzRbdz/s320/IMG_3961.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We took in a visit to a winery nearby which courtesy of global warming is now a producer of very decent bubbles, Balfour Estate. The tour guide explained that the owner had sort of bought the grape producing fields 'by accident' a few years ago and set to wondering what to do with just another 150 acres of decent arable land. He is very wealthy.</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>6. Bermuda</b></div>
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Thankfully we flew out through Gatwick, not Heathrow but I do have to comment on car rental firms. First time was Avis, second time Hertz. I go by price not loyalty so the companies change all the time for us. We get to see a variety of operators as a result. For some reason, this week no company had any cars to rent! This is Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports. I'd booked ages in advance so was OK but people who rolled up on the off chance were totally out of luck. At Hertz, it was a pick a number and wait your turn thing! Unbelievable. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfKkZAqT0keeulxxNu6yn1ycuMRH4IFjqwLBuZZ23__MQT8iwFD11xlxYLFafoSmim0UaIHDkDoc0MQ2bgLiUZaRMvYQVdia_hCor8s4WHTGVYnrFlBmsZk8m6J4ShBJ2GRd3EwQDHJbt/s1600/2E86750E-16EF-4F20-948F-9B2D779E8216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglfKkZAqT0keeulxxNu6yn1ycuMRH4IFjqwLBuZZ23__MQT8iwFD11xlxYLFafoSmim0UaIHDkDoc0MQ2bgLiUZaRMvYQVdia_hCor8s4WHTGVYnrFlBmsZk8m6J4ShBJ2GRd3EwQDHJbt/s320/2E86750E-16EF-4F20-948F-9B2D779E8216.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It wasn't until our last day at Gatwick that we managed a full English breakfast! Very nice.</td></tr>
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<div>
Great time of year to visit Bermuda by the way. Sunny and warm, yet no humidity. We stayed with Charmaine and David again and it was just lovely to catch up with friends. Dee Dee was working there too so we were able to hang out with him as well.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcTKkOoLHrEuLwjVRO-sj8vBqT9eVGvk5CuxDOguvIBAV-EDQeKhoy4PR-EOR0jpnek38VBCyygR3NvehlL8_D_TOEoxk9Der4lta6bWS3EzWbeZibFg2dUnguzACwsTT6gYlwnWfT_9cO/s1600/IMG_3994.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1508" data-original-width="1600" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcTKkOoLHrEuLwjVRO-sj8vBqT9eVGvk5CuxDOguvIBAV-EDQeKhoy4PR-EOR0jpnek38VBCyygR3NvehlL8_D_TOEoxk9Der4lta6bWS3EzWbeZibFg2dUnguzACwsTT6gYlwnWfT_9cO/s320/IMG_3994.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aunty Blanche's 90th birthday party was lovely. She got to sit next to her favourite person, Dee Dee, so was very happy. Very pleased to be there with her. Happy Birthday Aunt Blanche!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgboHQgoqafcZLtnvuIG-giM_B6eGkIu7E-kphG8vcfes6twPVUsRm_KmA-2BeSrKgH8PRvMHxoiQAe4WbAUw9-ZOM19T5FGUINIjbIPL5vOsHgmaXl7Sgz7HVDfHzcI0yS0O3GxJX7I5B9/s1600/IMG_4001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgboHQgoqafcZLtnvuIG-giM_B6eGkIu7E-kphG8vcfes6twPVUsRm_KmA-2BeSrKgH8PRvMHxoiQAe4WbAUw9-ZOM19T5FGUINIjbIPL5vOsHgmaXl7Sgz7HVDfHzcI0yS0O3GxJX7I5B9/s320/IMG_4001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was also lobster season so we just had to...</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qlrX9PZ20tfUENwYcS9aFV7RxVgWPA3hKCYoHt6_T5mNIlaONOHpyXYacTztQzVnXqomB6MCGadWuSprNVb40mWnVVdRTRLniJYVYG7B_oXEuJiN0uMzc0UQIH0B420W-uGJN6MudIBA/s1600/IMG_1020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="711" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qlrX9PZ20tfUENwYcS9aFV7RxVgWPA3hKCYoHt6_T5mNIlaONOHpyXYacTztQzVnXqomB6MCGadWuSprNVb40mWnVVdRTRLniJYVYG7B_oXEuJiN0uMzc0UQIH0B420W-uGJN6MudIBA/s320/IMG_1020.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A week or so before we arrived, this hurricane came to visit. It was a bad one causing plenty of damage. Very unusual for Bermuda. No loss of life thankfully.</td></tr>
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<div>
<b>7. Toronto</b></div>
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We've a condo in downtown Toronto which is a lovely place to stay, however we have also found that the best long distance routing from Penang is first via Hong Kong and then onto wherever via Cathay Pacific. Direct to London and Zurich going west, and direct to New York and Toronto heading east. All are very long of course but the Toronto routing really works out best for us. Only for a few days this time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVXR2sjV-tSDga58zVbukrzhDKfevCc3SLWtxfM7HE4AZfdN94jbjwLPeLKJCCrU4EqQ6l16kmWZyQSmHnHt69ujzr_vsCHktOIhBAviZSvoDCi0yw8lTymY8CK11DL0CsIhS3sP-mGxdU/s1600/c07e0075-b8c2-4a63-81e1-18f13f4a3759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVXR2sjV-tSDga58zVbukrzhDKfevCc3SLWtxfM7HE4AZfdN94jbjwLPeLKJCCrU4EqQ6l16kmWZyQSmHnHt69ujzr_vsCHktOIhBAviZSvoDCi0yw8lTymY8CK11DL0CsIhS3sP-mGxdU/s320/c07e0075-b8c2-4a63-81e1-18f13f4a3759.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b>8. Hong Kong/Penang</b></div>
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Transiting through HK still hasn't been impacted by the troubles going on there ... yet. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqc-QeBb1Jn-JUOuD6mb18fXNX2bBjw6KjBCUbiN3s-0HIbpPEp1YuOf5DJ9ngWg9wOVZ7LNuAIdbv7Z3fa_GLEK-hiKyoskxh7GTv3JAxHBKRg3xa6DxWds4SThAfDsIuEAWM_rCMreA/s1600/Screenshot+2019-11-22+at+2.26.02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1600" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqc-QeBb1Jn-JUOuD6mb18fXNX2bBjw6KjBCUbiN3s-0HIbpPEp1YuOf5DJ9ngWg9wOVZ7LNuAIdbv7Z3fa_GLEK-hiKyoskxh7GTv3JAxHBKRg3xa6DxWds4SThAfDsIuEAWM_rCMreA/s320/Screenshot+2019-11-22+at+2.26.02+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-83883269635906409782019-11-20T07:08:00.000-04:002019-11-20T07:08:31.476-04:00Life and Death in Penang, well mostly Death reallyWe just came back for a trek that took us round the world, rather to our surprise. It just happened that way. We wanted to be with Indy and Cat when their new baby was born (our first grandchild!!) and then we sort of just carried on. I will write about that in a separate post but during our trek we for some reason realised that we have just done maybe two things as a tourist/visitor in the near two years since we arrived in Penang. OK we had sort of planned it this way thinking that we'd go with visitors, but when that happened we .... well didn't. Whoops and all that. So we decided we'd do something about it when we got back.<br />
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There's a monthly newsletter sent around by mailing list by a long time resident English lady named Michelle who just loves this place and just loves organising things, or so it seems to me. Anyway first up was a tour of the old graveyards in Georgetown narrated by a guy we'd run into one of our other tours, Clement. Very informative it was too. Particularly as Georgetown has magnificent colonial heritage dating back to first inhabitation in 1786 under the purview of one Francis Light and his employers, the East India Company.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v6aNyKeMMTzKOLLhQ6tCRANWe9LyxyP9iYpLBruTaflIyLTrTf_7x846ckSYrh9lNkrqFW-EwW2isJmmbUZ3BMcjhr7do3BEeFoFVNJo6DszmW-nvt9DLzmNO-2mNcHrvKs6-BnHSaRl/s1600/IMG_2677.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="939" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v6aNyKeMMTzKOLLhQ6tCRANWe9LyxyP9iYpLBruTaflIyLTrTf_7x846ckSYrh9lNkrqFW-EwW2isJmmbUZ3BMcjhr7do3BEeFoFVNJo6DszmW-nvt9DLzmNO-2mNcHrvKs6-BnHSaRl/s320/IMG_2677.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Francis Light only lasted 5 years in Georgetown before he succumbed. He didn't want a fancy gravestone so was originally buried very simply but about 100 years later in full Victorian vanity, the local burghers upgraded him to this one.</td></tr>
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Back then of course the population was tiny and the first settlers started in the area of the harbour from where the town expanded outwards. However small the population was did not deter the onset of death for this is the tropics, aka the white man's grave. So graveyards were needed and needed fast. Immediately however rose a problem... what to do about the catholics.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAhs7dIMUtAjlC5Gp3zBm82BYdt81nE6U1HLrv2UEDzL_dVM4J4sRgmhhhYqKNGvdL6CtdBUobGhWe8F83bK3kxDKN8q6JkbbmKF29Z0SRMv2ovku40kJyLxasNlFUYXQsDfrgtnSJvDO/s1600/IMG_2675.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="811" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAhs7dIMUtAjlC5Gp3zBm82BYdt81nE6U1HLrv2UEDzL_dVM4J4sRgmhhhYqKNGvdL6CtdBUobGhWe8F83bK3kxDKN8q6JkbbmKF29Z0SRMv2ovku40kJyLxasNlFUYXQsDfrgtnSJvDO/s320/IMG_2675.jpeg" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Jackson family was particularly unfortunate</td></tr>
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Sounds ridiculous today, but really does it? Back in the late 18th century, church was much stronger than today and from Great Britain it was solidly protestant, and in the early days solidly Church of England (CofE). The laws of the land (now including Penang) discriminated actively against catholics primarily via the Act of Settlement which prevent catholics from holding any high office (still do as this Act has never been repealed). The law itself is a hangover from the end of the Stuart era and start of the Hannoverians, which in itself is a longer hangover from the Civil War, and was aimed at securing royal succession in Protestant hands as both the last Stuart Queens (Mary and Anne) could not keep any of their children alive whilst Dad (the ousted James II) and his catholic heirs had no such problem (remember Bonny Prince Charlie?). Check it out on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Settlement_1701" target="_blank">Wikipedia here</a> for the fuller story. Anyway when the couple of hundred first colonists/settlers arrived, they included both protestants and catholics and the local bacteria and other bugs had no problem getting stuck into the pair of them irrespective of religion. So graveyards.<br />
<br />
First, there was a sort of NIMBY thing regarding graveyards so they were set aside well out of town (then anyway, not so now) and on land that was rather low lying that nobody really wanted to build upon anyway. A wall was built delineating the protestant side from the catholic side with the lower land (and hence far more prone to flooding) given over to the catholics. Typical.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGNvzRKTKPvmZiBqrpzKS9GnXBNZ4KCPXOfSE_bno1mbks3ZePQpunsuTSWD-FdUUS3me-ghBXs6grvUtD5nMdwIeHB7UFzPThhI3tea5H-3TDO5OiS5RFdM98aEI8T5NqAKf1JssFwtP/s1600/IMG_2683.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGNvzRKTKPvmZiBqrpzKS9GnXBNZ4KCPXOfSE_bno1mbks3ZePQpunsuTSWD-FdUUS3me-ghBXs6grvUtD5nMdwIeHB7UFzPThhI3tea5H-3TDO5OiS5RFdM98aEI8T5NqAKf1JssFwtP/s320/IMG_2683.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very ornate gravestones apparently are all Scottish families, but you can see the wall in the background</td></tr>
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Second, what to do about all those others who also showed up? In addition to the original settlers came traders from other nations as well as people from the mainland and elsewhere seeking work in the new bustling trading entrepôt (which immediately shut down Malacca as a place of importance). The Dutch retreated (actually they were ejected) to Java, their possession. Nearly forgot and backing up a bit, when the Dutch originally arrived in the early 16th century, they kicked out the incumbent Portuguese who were/are catholics. In the 150 years or so that the Portuguese had been in Malacca and elsewhere they had intermarried so virtually everyone was Eurasian by now and with the Dutch persecuting catholics, they simply left with many going to Phuket where by coincidence they met with the same but younger Francis Light who later founded Penang. He took up with a Eurasian girl (probably married her but this would have been a social gaffe of the first order back then, so he said nothing about it to his employers) and when he came to Penang and saw how many new settlers were catching everything going and dying in droves, invited the Phuket Portuguese to come along and pad out the numbers again.<br />
<br />
Aaaagh! What a palaver. All these catholics but at least this lot were almost European. Can't have any of the new locals in the graveyards too.<br />
<br />
Third, some of the locals (Chinese, Indians, Armenians, etc.) turned out to be terrific businessmen and did really well becoming extremely wealthy in the process. It also transpired that they were prone to dying too (although not so young as the newbies).<br />
<br />
The upshot to all this was the typical British muddle/compromise. If you had the wherewithal, you were in.... except the catholics who went the other side of the wall.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6UFBZKVhyphenhyphenbF03hFb5Zfbpmz2EAoQUU5LJSGn60UVibdPhb-TSUgolvH-519RVgCrLB4EPI3hE9h5b8JViSXdqysVwSgtdEQuWjkV0HaqCNFU_WZCItRPd5whSBt9hYqwYQX5rH4SkgBJd/s1600/IMG_2659.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6UFBZKVhyphenhyphenbF03hFb5Zfbpmz2EAoQUU5LJSGn60UVibdPhb-TSUgolvH-519RVgCrLB4EPI3hE9h5b8JViSXdqysVwSgtdEQuWjkV0HaqCNFU_WZCItRPd5whSBt9hYqwYQX5rH4SkgBJd/s320/IMG_2659.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
However the Japanese were no respecters of well, pretty much everything if you read about their actions in WWII and simply bombed the place to bits. Part of it anyway. The Catholic side was locked up so we couldn't go inside but looked pretty much empty of gravestones. If it wasn't the bombing, it was the flooding most like. No, most likely the protestants!<br />
<br />
Spare a thought for the Jews though. They had been in Penang since the start but in far smaller numbers. Clement said the Jews that came to Penang were from the Middle East not Europe. Turkey, Persia, Mesopotamia. They were/are a different tribe to the Europeans and had their own ceremonies and ways. Francis Light when he set to creating Georgetown created enclaves for the various races and sects. The Jews had their own together with one synagogue and one graveyard.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFhhAqRR8cvplLj7o02LO6bgZ4gzDUeUVUKTWoB_UlsECYsdio9_FAq6Oqhgatznjfs3dBu29cImnnrTLTbbXKilqT9O01a_0t2DuMCxxQXl62Dp8WjD2gESff-dhLI4hTkKWKPyN4H639/s1600/IMG_2685.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFhhAqRR8cvplLj7o02LO6bgZ4gzDUeUVUKTWoB_UlsECYsdio9_FAq6Oqhgatznjfs3dBu29cImnnrTLTbbXKilqT9O01a_0t2DuMCxxQXl62Dp8WjD2gESff-dhLI4hTkKWKPyN4H639/s320/IMG_2685.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The different Jewish tribes have different burial traditions. Some of the gravestones are triangular, some rounded. All are supposed to point towards Jerusalem.</td></tr>
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All gone now. The Jews left after the Seven Day War in 1967 for Israel, the synagogue closed but the graveyard which was slated for redevelopment was saved by private donations (as it is to this day). It is maintained by an Indian family and remains beautifully cared for. This ensures that people don't break in and desecrate the gravestones (which did happen in the past). <br />
<br />
These days the main Christian graveyard is on Western Road and is pretty huge. Again the theme throughout is that they are beautifully maintained. Clement tried to raise some enthusiasm for this graveyard but in reality it was far less interesting than the older ones. Exception being the mausoleum remembering the crew of a Russian warship which had the misfortune to be visiting Penang at the outbreak of WWI. A German raider, the Emden, snuck in at dusk one day and sunk the Russian vessel with heavy loss of life. Thankfully not the captain... he was tucked up in bed at the E&O Hotel with his mistress. History relates that he was recalled and court martialled. Every year the Russian ambassador visits the site where a remembrance ceremony is held on the anniversary of the action. Clement said this happened even during the Soviet era. Nice.<br />
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By now, all were going through graveyard fatigue so clearly this was the time for the visit to the new catholic cemetery. Typical protestant bias! I've driven past the graveyard a hundred times, its on a main road, but had never seen it before so this was nice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin19ivpd52Fd0MROT1m5NWNj6UnJm85Niq-zvqQKLFBRYFdEQRjFDHc5Aa3Q6htn1l6OgztvM-eNenFaU5ctP0Ex5NkXh5EfmHR-qs0zBzEkSd75m6GLbfniil_FTaCHsIPwIxiJeFQGKl/s1600/IMG_2708.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin19ivpd52Fd0MROT1m5NWNj6UnJm85Niq-zvqQKLFBRYFdEQRjFDHc5Aa3Q6htn1l6OgztvM-eNenFaU5ctP0Ex5NkXh5EfmHR-qs0zBzEkSd75m6GLbfniil_FTaCHsIPwIxiJeFQGKl/s320/IMG_2708.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The names were mainly Chinese with a few Portuguese names like De Silva and Perreira thrown in for good measure along with some Indian and western names. But really... no trees! In every other cemetery there were lovely trees giving pleasant shade but here... nothing! Hope some get planted soon.<br />
<br />Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5693606357593063513.post-2898909626248413422019-11-06T12:57:00.002-04:002019-11-06T12:57:20.571-04:00PerspectiveThe world or at least the western world seems to be having a mass frenzy of self examination about the environment. The young girl that seems so angry about everything and is blaming big business (or so it seems to me, but it could as well be grown ups generally) for ruining her future is embarrassing large global enterprises into having a more eco-friendly corporate policy. It seems to be working (the embarrassing bit, not sadly the actual impact on anything bit) at least in the UK where all political parties are promising zero carbon this and that by what seems like the middle of next week if the electorate just vote for them at the 12th December general election. This is all just fine as I believe that the world is in an environmentally sticky position and something needs to be done. It's just that perspective is massively missing and the action is being focussed on in all the wrong places.<br />
<br />
Now I don't want to sermonize, rant or moralise about things, particularly the rights and wrongs of the whole environmental question, but it does seem to me that turning off lights or no longer using single use plastic bags doesn't really help much despite what the media and environmental activists may say. This isn't a popular position to have but I recently found someone that agrees with me. Here's an excerpt (<a href="https://unherd.com/2019/11/turning-off-the-lights-wont-save-the-planet/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3" target="_blank">read the whole thing here</a>):<br />
<br />
<i>But we aren’t very good at thinking about scales and proportions. In general, I think, we assign things a value of ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and bracket them all together in those two categories. For instance, we feel good when we take a bag-for-life to reduce plastic bag use. But you can make 1,000 bags for 6kWh, while boiling a kettle takes about 0.1kWh, so you could make 16 plastic bags for the energy cost of just one round of tea.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>From a purely climate point of view, your plastic bags are largely irrelevant. Reducing plastic waste is also good, of course, although again, Western countries account for a tiny fraction of the ocean pollution we worry about — almost all of it comes from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, in fact.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
This last comment caught my eye for as someone spending a lot of time in Penang, Malaysia, I see the evidence of this every day. The above article redirected me to the underlying statistics (<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution#share-of-global-total-mismanaged-plastic-waste" target="_blank">see here</a>) from the Our World in Data website from which I found a whole raft of data supporting this position. Basically, if nothing changes to the way in which pollution of all sorts is made, anything done by virtually anybody in the West is simply a rounding error.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gZK4EYMNSk2563SYBtNVVm5NKdSORBvRxMVB_ElcOpD9AQFDL4-xYxOhq__iHHxOGs6C7cwzWvnt9WVyPgG_YQMZNwj1mUSc4l5LZElRY9L9HROsJDoue5h1X3R254ppG0QNIPjhrGiJ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-11-06+at+11.20.53+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gZK4EYMNSk2563SYBtNVVm5NKdSORBvRxMVB_ElcOpD9AQFDL4-xYxOhq__iHHxOGs6C7cwzWvnt9WVyPgG_YQMZNwj1mUSc4l5LZElRY9L9HROsJDoue5h1X3R254ppG0QNIPjhrGiJ/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-11-06+at+11.20.53+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBqXDril-eE0YeTnddf2e3vrGFkSwDiapXRQ6nImVhUEZo8G5e_TTssikhHlAEJjHhYhyphenhyphenoi8TorWrZJJC0TenOYwY6p6KPvLa_LVLkVzzZIvsdHdujb7I3OcuQudk5ebuxm7kPvm2jrATk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-11-06+at+11.22.10+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBqXDril-eE0YeTnddf2e3vrGFkSwDiapXRQ6nImVhUEZo8G5e_TTssikhHlAEJjHhYhyphenhyphenoi8TorWrZJJC0TenOYwY6p6KPvLa_LVLkVzzZIvsdHdujb7I3OcuQudk5ebuxm7kPvm2jrATk/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-11-06+at+11.22.10+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and projected</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
What a dismal prospect and I will leave you with this additional factoid:<br />
<br />
<i>None of this is meant to make you stop taking care over the small things: look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, as they say. There’s nothing wrong with stopping using plastic bags, although you need to be very careful that you don’t lose your cotton bags-for-life, since they use about 100 times as much energy to make.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Keep your perspective.Mark Melvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397824768045263817noreply@blogger.com0