23 February 2006
Letterboxing and the like
Ok, so I said I'd tell you about letterboxing. To allay any fears - it does not involve a baseball bat.
We've posted some photos recently of some of our trips out into Dartmoor. You may have noticed that there are a lot of large rocks in Dartmoor. In fact we posted a photo of Chris standing on some large rocks in Dartmoor. Well, our neighbours Dayna and Ben told us a little while ago about 'letterboxing'. Apparently there are hundreds (thousands?) of letter boxes all over Dartmoor, mostly hidden amongst the rocks. Initially they were actually used for comminication. People would drop a letter addressed to so-and-so in such-and-such a village in one of the letter boxes. When someone else came along - perhaps on their way somewhere - they might pick up that letter and either take it to the village or at least to another letter box which was a bit closer. A bit like a really slow and unreliable postal service operated by volunteers.
These days it's just a bit of fun. All over Dartmoor there are now tupperwear containers and metal boxes and the like which contain a little information about the owner of the box, a rubber stamp and a little comments book. Now, 'letterboxing' is a hobby that people have. While you're out in Dartmoor you take a along your own little book and collect stamps from all the boxes you find. It's kind of fun. Kind of obbsessive, true, but kind of fun. It becomes very easy to just keep walking and wandering and looking in little crannies.So a couple of weekends ago (12th February) I went out to Dartmoor with Dayna, Ben and couple of their friends (Claire and Mike) who were visiting for the weekend. Unfortunately Chris stayed home to do some work. So while Ben and Mike went bouldering (climbing on rocks) Claire and I were taken on our first ever letterboxing trip by our keen guide Dayna. I am proud to report that I spotted the first few boxes! The first one was especially hard to spot - a thin black metal box in a narrow space between two large rocks. Eagle Eyes Elke - that's me!! Amazingly we found 6 letter boxes in total, some less well hidden than others. Dayna was able to add significantly to her stamp collection and we all went home feeling quite contented.
The following day - Monday the 13th was the day we were booked on a flight from Heathrow, at noon, going home. We didn't get on the plane (obviously). That night we went out for dinner to celebrate/commisorate and think about the year we've had since we left. By and large it has been great. When we got home from dinner we took our unused tickets out into the back yard, looked sadly at them and then put the lighter to them. We thought there would be something quite symbolic about burning tickets like that - certainly more dramatic than just tossing them in the bin. Despite trying several times, we have discovered that airline tickets (or at least these ones) are practically fire retardant. We eventually came back inside ceremonially unsatisfied with some slightly singed expired airplane tickets.
The other reason Monday was exciting was that the Animated Exeter festival began, marking the beginning of a really busy two weeks for me. The first week of the festival 13th - 17th was Schools' Week. I was helping out with groups from various schools (primary and secondary), we took them to a few exhibitions around town and then to a workshop where they got to have a go at making animations themselves. Most of them had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. I had a great time too - interacting with lots of different kids and watching them get a kick out of the magic that is animation.
After the schools' week I helped in some other workshops that were open to the wider public, these were also great and all the bits and pieces were edited together to be shown on a loop at the end of the festival. There have also been screenings of various animated films from the south west of England and from around the world. Most of the films have been brilliant but, inevitably, not all - I enthusiastically encouraged Dayna to come along to some very early Russian animations, one was a bit fun and interesting to watch, the other was a bit painful... but at least now we know that we don't want to see it again. (small plus but still plus!)
I've met some great people involved in the industry over the last few weeks, including one new friend - Julia Roberts. She's living in Denmark at the moment and furthering her animation skills in Viborg. She's also said to Chris and I that if we're in Denmark in the next little while we're welcome to visit. There's also a chance that she and her partner may be moving to Malta in the Mediteranean in the next couple of months, so if we fancy a summer holiday in the sun we have a place to stay there too. Great huh? Ok, enough messing around with you. Her name is Julia Roberts but she's probably not the one you're thinking of, (that's if you're thinking of the internationally famous actress from such movies as Pretty Woman and The Pelican Brief) The festival finished with a brilliant screening of that clasasic animated film The Snowman (adapted for the picture book) in the Exeter Cathedral. It was accompanied by the Devon Youth Orchestra and Exeter Cathedral Choir and was a really stunning finale. We had a little party to celebrate the end of the festival afterwards and all went home tired...
So - school starts back this week after a week off. Half way through the school year already!! Six weeks until the next holiday - but we're going to go on a little trip before then. We have just booked a little trip to Switzerland for a few nights in mid March. It is the second ski trip of the season that Chris has been day-dreaming about. We've booked into a chalet with mountain views - very exciting!! Hopefully I won't fall over or be run into this time! Ha!
11 February 2006
The feeble sun of February
Yes it has been cold and a little miserable here in the last little while. We've had loads of overcast and hazy days - it makes you feel very closed in.
Friday 4th Feb was a freezing day, literally. I was working at a primary school about half an hour east of Exeter on Friday and just over half way there I suddenly saw a whole ridge of white trees. Once the day was finished I drove home to put on some warmer clothes and grab the camera. As it turned out there was a whole area on the top of the hill where the wind was blowing and freezing particles onto all the branches, bushes and blades of grass. It was really a beautiful sight and quite unique. Unfortunately the following day was just a few degrees warmer and the white was gone when I took Chris back to show him.
Despite the pevailing cold gloomy weather last Sunday was beautiful. It was still hazy but the clouds cleared a bit and there were proper shadows on the ground! It was quite exciting.
We went back to Dartmoor last weekend (on the sunny Sunday) with one of Chris' work colleagues, Hugh, from Ireland. There is a pub there that we'd spotted on previous visits that we were keen to try. It is called the Warren House Inn and is special because it stands alone on the side of the road. There is no village there and the location is quite isolated. It's been snowed in quite badly in the past, but on Sunday, with the sun shining, it was lovely.
There are several tables on the opposite side of the road from the Inn itself and this is where the three of us sat to enjoy our lunch. The view of the moor was great and so was the food... if only it had been about 10 degrees warmer! By the time we were all finished eating we were more than a little chilly and so a walk across the moor was in order. We could see from our table various stone walls on the distant hillsides and so we aimed for these.
Now I could tell you all at this point that we wandered off into the wilderness and had to fight our way through bogs and quicksand and wrestle with angry ponies and disgruntled sheep. That we got horribly lost and had to spend the next three days and nights surviving on nothing more than the dew we collected from the bracken and slowly eating our own boot laces. But that is simply not true.
In fact it was a delightful walk along a mostly well marked path, down to a crystal clear stream with nearby moss-covered ruins and then up a hill (at this point Chris and I were both glad we've been going to the gym more regularly recently) to some very interestingly shaped rocks at the top. Being as polite as possible - they look a lot like some VERY large, well fed cows had walked by at some point in the past and lightened their load a little, or a lot.
We are planning to do more walks in Dartmoor during the summer, there are absolutely loads of them. Hopefully the haze will be gone then and the weather will be a little warmer!
Starting this week (Monday 13th Feb) is the 7th annual Animated Exeter festival. It runs for two weeks and will showcase a lot of local and international animated films. There are also lots of exhibitions and workshops and the like going on. Pretty exciting stuff really. Well I have volunteered for most of the two weeks and will be helping with various aspects of the festival as well as getting to see a lot of the screenings... Yay! Tell you more about it once it's over.
This last week has also been a slightly emotional one for us... It is coming up to a year since we left home. When we left, Chris was granted a year's leave without pay and a job back at Motorola Perth when he/we went home. But becasue we are going to stay for the remainder of our Working Holiday Maker Visa (valid in total for two years) he has had to formally resign from Motorola. It was a slighly sad/strange experience for him I think. Chris enjoyed working there and still has various people that he counts as friends working there. I guess it will be ok for him to still be friends with them even if he doesn't work there any more though - right guys?
Technically Chris and I are still booked on a flight leaving Heathrow for Perth on Monday (13th Feb). It is the final leg of the Around-the-World tickets that we bought to come over here with. All week we've been 'teasing' each other with the idea of just getting on the flight and going home for a week or so. But the timing is no good and then of course we'd had to buy tickets to get back again! Still it has been kind of fun toying with the fantasy. Oh - does it sound like we're homsick? I guess we are a little - especially at the moment... one whole year and all that. It's the longest that either of us has ever been away from home. It's funny to think that 12 months ago we went staying with Chris' mum Fay, our belongings strewn all across her living room floor as we did our final packing and her garage full of our boxes of stuff. We are still having a ball here though and have big plans for things we want to do this year, it's just anniversary time, that's all. I think we might have a little 'ticket burning' ceremony in the back yard on Monday night to mark the occasion.
Other news.... Today we visited a new little art gallery in town - The Rougemont Gallery - it has an interesting collection of works for sale including several paintings by Sarah Jane Szikora. They feature a lot of large women and very thin men, almost all of whom have tiny heads. There are also a lot of gingerbread men in her work. She has a great sense of humour in her paintings and so we thought we'd put a link in here incase you felt the desire to have a peep.
Oh - we were wondering also if anyone had any luck downloading the videos we posted of our skiing trip? If they were ok and you didn't have too many problems it might be something try to do again in the future, but if it was too hard or the quality was just too rubbish we mightn't bother.
Let us know what you think if you get the chance. Thanks guys.
Friday 4th Feb was a freezing day, literally. I was working at a primary school about half an hour east of Exeter on Friday and just over half way there I suddenly saw a whole ridge of white trees. Once the day was finished I drove home to put on some warmer clothes and grab the camera. As it turned out there was a whole area on the top of the hill where the wind was blowing and freezing particles onto all the branches, bushes and blades of grass. It was really a beautiful sight and quite unique. Unfortunately the following day was just a few degrees warmer and the white was gone when I took Chris back to show him. Despite the pevailing cold gloomy weather last Sunday was beautiful. It was still hazy but the clouds cleared a bit and there were proper shadows on the ground! It was quite exciting.
We went back to Dartmoor last weekend (on the sunny Sunday) with one of Chris' work colleagues, Hugh, from Ireland. There is a pub there that we'd spotted on previous visits that we were keen to try. It is called the Warren House Inn and is special because it stands alone on the side of the road. There is no village there and the location is quite isolated. It's been snowed in quite badly in the past, but on Sunday, with the sun shining, it was lovely.
There are several tables on the opposite side of the road from the Inn itself and this is where the three of us sat to enjoy our lunch. The view of the moor was great and so was the food... if only it had been about 10 degrees warmer! By the time we were all finished eating we were more than a little chilly and so a walk across the moor was in order. We could see from our table various stone walls on the distant hillsides and so we aimed for these. Now I could tell you all at this point that we wandered off into the wilderness and had to fight our way through bogs and quicksand and wrestle with angry ponies and disgruntled sheep. That we got horribly lost and had to spend the next three days and nights surviving on nothing more than the dew we collected from the bracken and slowly eating our own boot laces. But that is simply not true.
In fact it was a delightful walk along a mostly well marked path, down to a crystal clear stream with nearby moss-covered ruins and then up a hill (at this point Chris and I were both glad we've been going to the gym more regularly recently) to some very interestingly shaped rocks at the top. Being as polite as possible - they look a lot like some VERY large, well fed cows had walked by at some point in the past and lightened their load a little, or a lot.
We are planning to do more walks in Dartmoor during the summer, there are absolutely loads of them. Hopefully the haze will be gone then and the weather will be a little warmer!
Starting this week (Monday 13th Feb) is the 7th annual Animated Exeter festival. It runs for two weeks and will showcase a lot of local and international animated films. There are also lots of exhibitions and workshops and the like going on. Pretty exciting stuff really. Well I have volunteered for most of the two weeks and will be helping with various aspects of the festival as well as getting to see a lot of the screenings... Yay! Tell you more about it once it's over.
This last week has also been a slightly emotional one for us... It is coming up to a year since we left home. When we left, Chris was granted a year's leave without pay and a job back at Motorola Perth when he/we went home. But becasue we are going to stay for the remainder of our Working Holiday Maker Visa (valid in total for two years) he has had to formally resign from Motorola. It was a slighly sad/strange experience for him I think. Chris enjoyed working there and still has various people that he counts as friends working there. I guess it will be ok for him to still be friends with them even if he doesn't work there any more though - right guys?
Technically Chris and I are still booked on a flight leaving Heathrow for Perth on Monday (13th Feb). It is the final leg of the Around-the-World tickets that we bought to come over here with. All week we've been 'teasing' each other with the idea of just getting on the flight and going home for a week or so. But the timing is no good and then of course we'd had to buy tickets to get back again! Still it has been kind of fun toying with the fantasy. Oh - does it sound like we're homsick? I guess we are a little - especially at the moment... one whole year and all that. It's the longest that either of us has ever been away from home. It's funny to think that 12 months ago we went staying with Chris' mum Fay, our belongings strewn all across her living room floor as we did our final packing and her garage full of our boxes of stuff. We are still having a ball here though and have big plans for things we want to do this year, it's just anniversary time, that's all. I think we might have a little 'ticket burning' ceremony in the back yard on Monday night to mark the occasion.
Other news.... Today we visited a new little art gallery in town - The Rougemont Gallery - it has an interesting collection of works for sale including several paintings by Sarah Jane Szikora. They feature a lot of large women and very thin men, almost all of whom have tiny heads. There are also a lot of gingerbread men in her work. She has a great sense of humour in her paintings and so we thought we'd put a link in here incase you felt the desire to have a peep. Oh - we were wondering also if anyone had any luck downloading the videos we posted of our skiing trip? If they were ok and you didn't have too many problems it might be something try to do again in the future, but if it was too hard or the quality was just too rubbish we mightn't bother.
Let us know what you think if you get the chance. Thanks guys.
