And now there are 3

And now there are 3
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Me, Mark and Julia and Lukas, taken by Buffy. nice. Mark and Julia have just recently moved to France, to a little pretty town called Meymac, near the auvergne mountains, smack in the middle of France, they have bought a small gallery, with a flat above it, they are going to sell art and photos of the town, please stop by if you are in the area!

Cookies for christmas

Cookies for christmas
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Mmm perfectly browned, new recipie macaroons in pyramid shapes ready to be dipped in chotholate! these are for taking to the peoples houses we got invited to, we have some very generous friends.

Christmas gouté

Oscar and Fergus
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Our Firneds Eoin and Linda came over for a snack after a strenious bout of christmas shopping they brought their kids, Oscar and Fergus and we had a pizza making party, always fun.

Our christmas tree

Our christmas tree
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We are spending Christmas in France this year, we figure a three year rotation will keep as many people happy as possible, incuding us. This gives us a chance to try a few christmas traditions of our own, in case we ever have any of you people over. up for consideration are:

1. Lobster instead of turkey
2. 20$ gift limit (in year of wedding especially helpful.
3. doing nothing on Christmas eve (difficult)
   

It happed very quickly, November, it just flew by, not leaving much room for December, this combined with our recent addiction to Gray's Anatomy , Arrested Development and stuff that greases the wheels - work. So it turns out we have been less than pro active about our necessary commitments to show our interests in the Christmas spirit. To make up for it the next few posts have a christmas theme. And we WILL be doing a card, but it will be a new years card.

Just to be sure....

PA090312
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I was at Satnstaed airport waitng for my flight back form my first trip to england... whcih I have yet to blog about actually... and I was reading the draconian anit terrorism restrictions thwey were placing on hand baggage, and still at that point wanting to take my luggagae on as hand baggae I wanted to document that I had actually bought the requested product for Buffy, and was not just bluffing it ("I also got you some perfume, make up, and some babys food, but they took it all away form me!!!"). Then After throwing my shaving foam and new ttothpaste away I realized I could just check the bag and save myself the pain of worrying about it being discovered. Idiot. So anyway we walked past this very well made up and nice smelling airport employyee who was collecting all manner fo things fomr passengers ini a big clear plastic bag....

Best Picnic evah

Best Picnic evah
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We went to Lyon on a day we both had off, and swore to try and have a picnic on the way back, we went off the beaten trail and drove for miles, Buffy totally lost faith that we would find anywhere suitable, and just as we reached the end of our tether, voila! this place appeared, lake, shelter with BBQ, frog chorus that lasted about 15 mins. fishes and stuff, all good in the end.

Cool French School Architecture

Cool French School Architecture
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

The French enjoy putting effort and money into public buildings, which means all these great well designed public buildings that are obviously still loved and used, it restores faith in the modern movement, yay le corbusier!

Grape Picking

GrapePicking
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is the only, but yet worst, picture from our grape picking charity weekend. It was on the West side of the Cote de Brouilly, in the Beaujolais region, about 50km north of Lyon, we were on the fields of the chateau Thinvin, owned and run by the Geoffrey family. The head of the Grenoble South rotary club was walking through here and got chatting about a possible charity weekend, and I was one of the volunteers that he managed to round up, (Buffy works for him). We showed up at 9am on Saturday and were in the fields within 40 mins, after a breakfast of bread, ham, sausage cheese and coffee. All served in the basement room of the chateau, a building started in 1387, and added onto constantly until the 'new' wine making shed from 1975. We walked across the small valley you can see here and started on a patch on grapes, part of an entire hillside, and big once you stand over a small bush that comes up to your waist, and realize that once this one is done there are more for as far as you can see.... but the whole grape harvets only takes about 2 weeks.
We worked till 12.00 and retired for a very hearty lunch overseen by the very glamorous Mrs. Geoffrey, and a staff of three of four, the bread came in 4 foot high paper sacks and was dispatched with very quickly, the cooking was hearty and very good, super slow cooked beef in a rich fragrant sauce, wine made from the grapes picked in the very same spot last year, fermented in the barrels in the next room, and bottled in the shed next to where we gathered after every session of picking to clean the crud of out hands at the long, old sinks. We cut the grapes with small, hand held scythes, basically thick steel wire wire flattened out into a razor sharp 'C'shape at one end, and with a loop for your little or ring finger on the other end. These were called Serpets, there was also the option of Seceteurs, but everyone that used the seceteures seemed to cut themselves, you basically cup the bunch of grapes in one hand, letting go if you feel any dry or rotten grapes and if all is good and firm you wiggle it, and cut the stalk where you feel the apex of the wobble, no need to actually see the stalk. Mr. Geoffrey and his winsome daughter were in the field with us all the time, they naturally picked about twice as much as us and seemed to de-grape an entire bush by the time we had bent down and cleared away the leaves to find the first 'grape' the French word for a bunch, what we would call grapes are called 'raisin'. At the end of the first day we all went and found beds in the Gite, next to the chateau, very comfortable and accommodating, we were 8 to a room, and silent exchange students aside everyone was great company, I unfortunately didn;t sleep well, with my head next to the door because we were the last to arrive and got the worst cots, and my fear of being spoken to and not knowing what to say conspired to make me not sleep at all. damn brain.
That same evening we had a tour of the rooms that are used for cleaning and squashing the grapes, they use gravity to cruch the grapes, and for fermenting the juice. They have a classic long barrel vaulted cave with huge wooden vats for fermenting the wine, we were shown around by the deputy picker, one of the nice, but harsh guys you know you don't want to piss off. We had another huge meal, and a lot more of last years wine, very nice, but quite young, brash almost, not hugely fruity, but quite spicy and big in the mouth, high tannins and a short but clean finish. The meal finished with a short but moving speech by our leader about the charity we were raising money for, a blood disease research foundation, there were a couple of the researchers there, and they told us about some of the people we would be helping, One of the wives of one of the Rotarians there was also an organizer of the huge rotary student exchange program, and they told us all about that. it really bonded us all for what would be a hard day on Sunday.
We were in the fields by 7.30, after another hearty breakfast, we were doing a different type of grape that morning, it was trained up chest high wires, and was smaller and less red than the grapes from the previous day, and also much easier to pick, the plant was essentially flat, so the grapes grew on one side or the other, more on the side that got the sun, perhaps not surprisingly. We broke about 9.15am for a second breakfast of Wine, chocolate and sausage, with more excellent bread. The wine was an unlabelled rose from the last year and sat surprisingly well, and was a new PB for 'earliest drink ever' of which a part of me is quite proud of.
The morning lasted a long time, with a few steep parts of the hillside being done, and more of the scrubby low growing bushes that seemed to have not got quite enough herbicide to stop weeds getting all over the place. We were told we had picked over 4 tons grapes the previous day, which has ok, said a shrugging Mr. Geoffrey. Maybe this was supposed to motivate us, but we picked a lot less on Sunday. We all had quiet large open buckets to put our grapes bunches in, when these were about half full a 'porteur' would come round, and take your grapes off you, these have guys have the shitty end of the job, they have huge tapered buckets on their backs and have to run up and down the rows collecting everyone's grapes and dashing up to the truck at the top or bottom of the hill and back to do the same, the bucket getting more and more heavy, and responding to the calls of 'Porteur!' or 'Soue' (bucket) indicating there were full buckets that needed emptying, you get paid 2 Euros extra per hour for doing that.
We broke for another excellent lunch around 12.00 and continued until 4.15 and then it was more wine and a quick dousing with water to get most of the grape crap off our hands and into the car, I had another allergy attack at the end of the day and ended up having to wipe my nose on my shirt, rough. A quick Mac Donalds espresso on the way home and we were all good. We earned about 120 euros each for the weekend, there were about 30 of us, nice work.

hole in the kitchen

hole in the kitchen
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is a hole that is currently in our kitchen, and it means my French is getting better.



WE had a visit from our neighbor downstairs, M. Jean Marc Babouchkine, who is currently renovating the apartment directly below us, he explained, using slow and simple words once he ascertained that I did not speak perfect French, that there was a leak in the corner of his kitchen just below our kitchen, and he wanted permission for a plumber to come in a take a look at the problem. He showed me the leak in his kitchen and some damage on the landing that was also caused by the same leak.

Then the plumber called, or rather the plumber controlling lady, first she called at 7.45 in the morning, waking me up (I had over slept because my phone is not working so well since I got a load of water in it..) and once she found out I did not speak excellent French, and after asking if there was anyone there who did speak French, was say things louder, and quicker, in a high pitched whine. leaving me to repeat what I thought were the important screeches, and her to correct me as if I were an idiot, "No! not Tomorrow, Thursday!!!!" She has had to call back three or four times to arrange for this hole to be made and for other people to visit, I dread her calls.
Our neighbor however is welcome anytime, especially as he has the most amazing moustache.

the smugness of life change Bloggers

I did a search on Blogspot for other people who had moved to France and were blogging about it, the tone of the feeds almost universally was 'look at us we made the move from blighty and now we are better than you' they seemed to present an image of everyone’s life being idyllic in France, that all problems were banished by having the courage to move to a new country, and start living in some other way. I only hope I haven't communicated this in any of my posts, but I fear I may have. Yes life is better, I have my own place, a job I enjoy, some nice new friends, and above all am living with the girl I love. But if these things had happened in the UK I would be brimming with smugness. And yes life is different to life in the UK, but life in the UK is great too. I emphasize the good things, quality of life, great scenery round here, the relaxed attitude etc, as this blog bears witness, but as with all things there is a balance, and after a year of good living I feel I have a little perspective to offer.
I think in an earlier post, way at the beginning that learning French was the hardest thing I have ever done, and that stands tall as the one thing that separates me from truly living here, and the one thing I am determinate to work hard at and kick its ass, I WILL be able to drop comments to random strangers that talk to me on the bus, I WILL be able to join in the Monday morning conversations about crap we did at the weekend. Its not like I'm not making progress, I can be understood when I say quite complicated things, I ordered Buffy’s ring in French, and felt like a god when it came out looking like I wanted! and I understand more and more, but the ease of communication is gone, the picking up of casual comments is not happening, overhearing snippets of women gossiping on the tram doesn’t happen, making a witty comment to the supermarket girl to try and ease her day, just is not possible yet.
one of the things I consider myself quite good at is taking in English, I enjoy it, I like language, and words, and having that taken away from me is a bit like having your tongue cut out, and having to will each cell to grow back by remembering words and unlearning a lifetime of wit and humor, and phrase and unconscious grammar. But I will succeed. Its not all wine and cheese. But my life is better.

microwave in new home = Ben the electrician.

kitchen2
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Moving the microwave to the rack, its new home meant putting a new plug in behind the rack, and tapping the wires for another socket further round the kitchen, behind the washer. After much consulting with my esteemed and very wise Father I decided to do it the quick and dirty way, as they have in other places in the apartment, I should have run another spur from the 'consumer unit' in the hall, with its own fuse and therefore isolator. but after a bit of digging around I found another occasion where they had just tapped an existing power socket spur for two plugs, and just bi-wired each socket, which is what I did, there was enough slack in the conduit, to make the live and neutral stretch up to the plug and the earth was extended with another section of cable, perhaps not the best way, but its only the earth, no current. Nice.

New washer = end of trips to laverie

Kitchen1
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

And the washing machine in its new home, plumbed in, working, on a flat surface, and looking great, again, not much to show for nearly a days work...
I had tpo raise the work surface by a paltry 2.5 cm. instead of drilling new holes in the wall, I just added spacers all round, including the foot next to the bin, andgave it a sencond coat of varnish while I was at it. CONCLUSION: the best part of DIY is tidying up after a job well done.

The (not steep) way to the top of the dente de crolles

The (not steep) way to the top of the dente de crolles
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We went for a walk up a local hil(mountain) a couple of weekends ago, the Dente de Crolles, (tooth of Crolles) its a 30 min drive from home up to about 1200 meters, and then a realy steep walk for another 40 mins up to the base of the toothy bit, then you have to decide, steep or even steeper, being not so fit, and very hot and half way through being eaten by some nasty flies, we decided to go the not so steep way, this is another 30 mins inot the not so steep way, to the Left is a sheer drop to the valley floor a few hundered meters below, and to the right is the back of the mountain which has come away form the main rock in places and its these splitss that make up the bit before you get to the top. the not steep bit had lots of wirers anchored to the side of the mountain to help you get up, and splits you had to crawl through. also we walked past the mouth of a cave, out of which a steady current of 5 degree air was wafting, such nice relief. I was later told that the steep way was not as ardious, and owuld explain the large amount of young children playing on the gentle grassy slope at the top.

My day at the Tour de France,

TourIndex
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I was luck enough to be a VIP guest at the Alp d'Huez stage of the tour de france on the 18th July, click on the pic to be taken to the Flickr Set. Ben

Buffy and Ben are engaged!

Buffy and Ben are engaged!
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

A couple of weekends ago I proposed to Buffy, she said yes! I gave her the traditional token of betrothement, an old shiny rock embedded in a metal loop. How strange we are. but it all kind of feels right.

Vespa white with Side car

Vespa white with Side car
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is outside the Vespa dealership next door, they do other less cool mopeds to keep the Italian youth population mobile and expressivley patriotic with their feeble horns during sporting victories. But its the Vespas that draw Buffy like a moth to a flickering LED replica flame. THis is a particularly cool version, but becasue they do service and parts there are always different versions parked outside.
its the old ones that I like, like this one. but I can just imagine a collision between this and any carelsessley driven SUV, and the prospect casts a shadow over my entire being, a pall of grey and dark, and a well of emptyness creeps into my stomach. This I feel is only a small indication of how a world without Buffy would be, and one reason why I will discourage buffy to get one, no matter how cute she would look. And also leads me onto the next post....

Shopping arcade in Torino

Shopping arcade in Torino
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Turin to some, Torino to others, great shopping for everyone! must calm down, sorry. not much to say, but we drove to Turin. We went the long way, over the alps, (it snowed in May) and came back the short way, (big long tunnel, under a mountain) nice trip, lots of driving. lots of hills, lots of fun, went with Ted And Kristen, over to stay for a while, nice to have their company on my week off, did lots of things I would not have done otherwise. nice.

The Church with the Turin shroud in it.

The Church with the Turin shroud in it.
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Fake it may be, but cool it is also, or at least the shrine with the big lead box it is housed in, it just serves as a reminder to us all of soemthing. Cant remember what, but it was good, nice renaiscence church facade as well, simple, well proportionedm triangle, semi cirlce, Triangle above the door., those scroll things either side of the main roof bit, straight down the line.

The Aquaduct at St Nazare en Royans

The Aquaduct at St Nazare en Royans
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

On top of the duct. the floor i mesh, you can see the crystal clear water running under your feet. Something about man moving rivers, and living under these huge structures, and there is that wicked Cotman painting, that probably streted me off on these things. Damn his eyes.

The Aquaduct at St Nazare en Royans

The Aquaduct at St Nazare en Royans
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

The bridge at St Nazare en Royans, nice old aquaduct, the opposite of a viaduct! I have a thing for ducts , just those curves and the shadows and the form... makes me all excited.

Pont au Royans

Pont au Royans
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

The 'maison suspendu' at the bacl of Pon au Royans, nice place, small, but pretty. The bridge on the right is where the road is, and the fron of the houses look jut like a normal village, but out the back they are these 7 storey monstrosities. There is a Museum of water just to the left...water of every kind and sort, water from all over the world!

Fete de music - park Hoche

Fete de music - park Hoche
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

The fete de la music happens all over France, on the 21st June, summer solstice, read about it here. Very cool free concerts put on all over town, in some nice venues. This was the most interesting music zone in grenoble, so obviously the place we spent the least amount of time. Also in a park I did not know existed, always nice to discover a hidded gem. Electronic zone, it was very quiet and thoughtful, like most French people enjoying music.

Fete de music - Park Paul Mistral

Fete de music - Park Paul Mistral
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

The Palais des sports is the stadium in grenoble, where Elton John played, recently, and where Johnny Halliday does his thing (they have good first aid facilities incase his hip goes again). This was the dance zone, which reminded me how hit and miss dance music is, this looked just like a couple of guys in a lorry making thuds with lights, compared with its transcendent best this was pale indeed.

The 'mont'

The 'mont'
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Buffy went to stay near Mont Saint Michel last week, there will be pics coming soon. She was missed.

My house just before it was built

My house just before it was built
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

click on the image to see where it will be...

My house, just after it was built

My house, just after it was built
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

found on a very boring postcard at a flea market last weekend, who decides on this for a subject? Perhaps it was the most interesting thing in Grenoble at the time. Before the Boules and the 5 excellent museums, and the river, and the hills. Maybe not the hills. Or the river. and how did they get no traffic or people on the bridge, but its nearly midday? maybe there was a strike, or a football match on the big screens in the sports bars.

The Beginning

the beginning
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This was about an hour into our adventure down the Route de Napoleon. Poor Napoleon, that must have been a long march from Cannes to Grenoble. He was one determined little fella!

nothing going on.

Nothing is going on. we are going to Nice next weekend, should be..... fun, more stuff then.

Roman Wall, while roaming

P1290190
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Out for a hike one Sunday, we happened upon this wall. Nice.

Lone Sledder

P2110217
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is Katya. She loved her red sled.

Trust Me!

Jenny had this bright idea to go down the hill linked at the elbows. It actually worked well, until I put my feet down due to the increasing speed, resulting in a face full of snow spray. Brr.

P2110219
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Luging! Sledding! Sledging!

P2110215
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

No matter what language, it is fun. Beautiful day in the alps. Grab the luges and head out. We had a visitor from Paris, Cecily. She is Irish and very enjoyable!

White out!

Photo032
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I was baby sitting one weekend for a family visiting Chamrousse, the local ski resort. When I arrived about 9 am, there was sun and no snow, when I left at 5 pm, this was the view while I was waiting for the bus to get back. Sometimes it is a good thing I no longer have a car.

Sporty Spice

Sporty Spice
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

A cold and windy bike ride in January. I brought my bike back with me. I keep it at Ben's, it is flatter there. We have been on a few really good rides. We have big plans for some serious biking this summer. I am trying to convince him to ditch his mud gards.

Olympic Bowling

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Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I would like to think Katya (left) and Jenny (right) are cheering for me, but it probably was for Ben.

What form! What form?

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Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Out and about, bowling for my birthday. We went with my / our friends Jenny and Katya. Good time. Low scores!

Bowling is Dangerous

Bowling is Dangerous
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Poor Ben, while bowling for my 29th birthday, he split his thumb. We are still unsure how it happened. Ever the McGyver wanna-be, I fashioned a bandage with a piece of kleenex and a hair binder. However during one of his turns, the faux bandage went sailing to our neighbor's lane. Oops!

Hill bike ride 27-02-06

Hill bike ride 27-02-06
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This shows the route I took on a Sunday bike ride recently. What I wanted to do (yellow) what I did (red). The hill defeated me, and will do again, but I will win! I have also included the approximate gradiant of the section I did do in the insert box. I have a lot of respect for the tour de France people. (I looked at a map when I got back, and from what I can recall from reading gradients in boy scouts the route does actually go downhill about 200 meters after I stopped. bummer.
The sweet reward for nearly dying on a switchback being watched only by goats is that you get to go down what you have just come up. I clocked 35.8 MPH on one stretch coming back! I did have my helmet on, of course.

After dinner, christmas day, mmm, full.

After dinner, christmas day, mmm, full.
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Replete and well rested we all relax chez Charlie, risotto a la Charlie and Ben, and a very nice glass of wine. Mmm. We ended our New York leg of the trip soon after this. It was fantastic fun, and we were incredibly well hosted.

The view from Kris's hotel room.

The view from Kris's hotel room.
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This doesent really capture it well but does go to show that the Gotham of fiction and imagination is not very far away at all.

Outside St Patricks, with Ben, Charlie, Will, Buffy and Kris.

Outside ST Patricks, with Ben, Charlie, Will, Buffy and Kris.
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Charlie's friend who's name was too lovley for me to remember took this picture. We have just come out from a lovley mass at St. Patricks Cathedral. Charlie and Chris had just been nabbed for a spot on NY1 the NYC TV station, the piece was apparently broadcast later, so my concerns about the phasing effects of Charlie's jumper were thankfully unfounded.

Christmas seemed to last about three hours in New York, when we went in the streets were empty and a lovley atmosphere pervaded the streets, by the time we had emerged and made our way to the Blue Fin restaurant on Times Square for Brunch the streets were once again hectic with life. We Joind Charlies room mate and his girlfriend for Brunch. And had a wonderful breakfast, I also hear the bar staff are very good at Blue Fin.

New York, near Grand Central

New York, near Grand Central
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I think this was on our way from or to Carneigie Hall to see the New York strings perform some classical music. I think we all enjoyed it, I don't usually enjoy live music, but Classical is the clear exception, its the one music that recording gets in the way of, for most other types of music the recording process enhances the music, but Classical music the tapes and microphones just get in the way. Hearing it live was spectacular, the performers (very, very young people) and their instruments filling the hall with their wonderful sound. Once again very moving. We all felt a bit overawed by the youth of the players they were between something like 17 and 21, obviously they have all peaked way too early, and hopefully can look forward to a middle age of faded glory, while I have yet to reach my peak, and unlike some of those people I will be able to toast my achievements with a drink!

Moma, new York. (verdict: transcendant)

Moma, new York.
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Back to New York, I'll finish these now and stop the coffee orientated distractions, apologies. Buffy and I went to the MOMA, in New York, recently re-opened. It's a world class museum, with some of the truly great art in the world. It has a lot of those pieces that art students study through books and videos and slides but rarely get to actually see, or be next to, to stand where the artist stood and see what they saw, it was a very moving experiance, one I was greatful to share with Buffy, It's one of the few things I am truly passionate about, the ability for art to communicate things about this life we lead in a way few other things can.

water water everywhere

water water everywhere
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

My company is gracious enough to provide us all with free coffee, very good free coffee, enough for a couple of cups a day. which I have started enjoying, really enjoying. The daily espresso, with a little milk in the morning, and black with brown cane sugar in the afternoon as is the custom, has become a part of my routine. Today though I ran out of capsuals. the ordering process has been delayed this month, no ones fault I guess, but it menas there will be two or three days without much coffe in the office.

Favours are called, promises made and the normally well oiled machine starts to creak a little. In the UK I was above this petty dependancy, I supplied my own constantly flowing stream of herbal and fruit teas and I thought myself very special. Here its a different story, coffee is a wheel around which the office turns, the put-put of the espresso, sorry Nespresso machine is the soundtrack to the first 1.5 hours of the day, again at 11, once after lunch and around 4pm. gathering outside for coffe is a social break, enjoyed more and more by me, and in French plus en plus.

Buffy has a Nespresso machine that she keeps at my house, I use it every moring, for a milky steaming frotthed cup of joe in the morning while I read what ever is one the kitchen table and wake up to the world that day. We have to order pods for this machine, not often, and they are reasonably priced, and this time they were delivered to my office, and this picture is of them sitting on my desk, waiting to be opened at home and poured in all their wonderful colours into the waiting bowl on the window sil.

What a shame then, that I am unable to use these pods destined for my normal Nespresso machine in the Nespresso machine at work, one looks like a flying saucer, and is maed of plastic, and the other is the shape of a small tin flowerpot. They both contain coffee, lovley grounds of many flavours, from pointless decaffinato, to strong ristretto. but here I sit, tired, edgy and brewing a headache, unable to use the coffee I have in the machine that is not mine. I am more and more tempted, but the person that breaks the coffee machine is doomed. The whys and wherefores are wise I am sure, but it does not help me. marooned on a cloud without the focus of that mind bending drug called caffine. could I be addicted?

lunette re-looking!

glasses2
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

new glasses, they mean so much to me I am inflicting them on the world. I like the construction, not sure about the colour, but they make my eyebrows a more prominent feature, instead of trying to hide them, they are a good width and fit well, I've only had a few problems with the nose clips in the more active phases of life, student/school/thug so should not be a problme now the most active thing I do is bend down. so, what do you think?

New York, one of the big shops

New York
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is one of the big shops, there was a bit of animation, pretty nice. I wonder what happens to the snowflakes, for i am sure it will be different next year. What do you do with 40 giant snowflakes? There were queus to see the other windows at some of the other stores, and barriers erected for the purpose.

New York, Rockefeller Centre

New York
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I was told the story of Rockefeller Plaza recently, but it didn;t have a good ending becasue the guy who told it just loved the sound of his own voice, and didn;t think about the composition of the story, boo!

So, John D Reckefeller built the central Art Deco tower and complez starting in 1929, he was going to build a huge theater, but the MET pulled out when the depression struck, but JDR continued employing many men for a long time. It contins the US's largest indoor theater, Radio City Music Hall, and the headquarters of NBC, SNL is also performed there. The Christmas tree was first erected by grateful construction workers during a particularly hard year. They stole it from woods near where Will now lives!

Homer C. Godfrey

Homer C. Godfrey
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Bricks, millions of them, and the ruler of their domain. Behold! Will, king of bricks! and brick related products and services. From hand made ones at a dollar twenty a pop to the ugly uniform ones at much less each. Also featured is Janae, Will's girlfriend and Kris, who thinks bricks are just fine.

the beach in connecticut and Buffy

the beach in connecticut and Buffy
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

On our way to New York we spent the night with Buffys Brother, in Connecticut, this is the beach just down the road. He and his lovley grilfriend Jenae were wonderful hosts. I am looking out over the atlantic ocean, Europe is roughly that way.

The rising Bridge, Duluth

The rising Bridge, Duluth
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

As the title suggests this bridge rises, one of the more extravagant solutions to getting a bridge out of the way of ships, but a wonderful landmark none the less. The river it traverses was frozen at the time of our visit, rendering the bridge temporarily un-necessary, but not diminishing the ownderful play of shadows through the steelwork, which I was trying to capture through the windscreen of a moving Pontiac Bonneville, wonderfult where life takes you.

Duncan the Newfi

Duncan the Newfi
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We took Buffys Gram to visit her daughter andson in Law, Buffys aunt and uncle, they are involved in UMD, such that we had dinner with a wonderful spectrum of the staff of the university, and some other fun charachters, the 'leftovers' were superb. In the picture is Duncan, the Newfoundland dog, who as you can clearly see is huge, and nice, and very interested in wildlife, an interest he shears with his owners father, who is wonderfully placed to see all sorts of creatures, long may he continue. The weather was cold, and about as cold as I have ever been, ever in my life, it was a revelation, but not at all unpleasent, as a swedish fitness instructor once told me, 'there is no bad weather, only bad cloths' this was shortly before she told me my shorts were slightly too short and I was over-exposed in quite another fashion.

Jess, in a supermarket

Jess, in a supermarket
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

They say lifestyle is a matrix of choices, and the choices are bewildering here, so much effort put into every brand, and logo, and package, and all presented so well it seems wrong to disturb the perfect array of pomegranet juices, you can see where Andreas Gursky gets his inspiration from.