George Best - RIP

The legend George Best died this weekend. Once described by Pele as the greatest soccer player in the world. George was ´the fifth beatle´ of football. He played for Manchester United and was a legend in Britain and this town.

Viva Espania

We left cold and snowy Manchester last night arrived in Majorca 2 hours later. This Mediteranean Island with it´s palm trees is very nice after the sub-zero snowy streets.

We woke up to a lovely sunrise this morning (we´re on the East side of the Island). Today we´re going to explore and see what´s going on. In a few days we´ll probably hire a car for several days and explore. More blog´s soon.

Manchester Re-United


Had a great night catching up with our friend´s here in England. We had a stroll through Manchester marvelling at the Xmas decorations, and the amount of cranes towering over the city - the place is under massive development .... condos, luxery hotels. The town hall looked fab, lit up for Xmas, and there´s a German (they bombed our chippy) Xmas Market in the square - very nice.

England's, Green & Pleasent Land



Hey All. We arrived safe & well. The entire trip went smooth. The plane was half full so we got to stretch out. We slept like babies the whole flight. Mr G., A's brother met us in Manchester, and drove us to my mum & dad's house just in-time for some tasty tea. It's bitter cold here - below zero. The skies are clear, and it's lovely to see the old Penine hills surrounding the town. This afternoon we are taking a walk around the hills. It's good to be back. We'll upload some of our photos soon. The next post will probably be from Spain. (Espania). We are at the local library at the moment (see picture below). The picture above is of Bury's town parish church/centre.

England! England! England!

We're heading off to the old country for the holidays. We're super excited see our English family & friends, although - we'll miss our North American family and friends!

We will be posting our European adventures here on Kormacurry, so check back soon.

Whistler

Headed up to Whistler today to open up the boarding season. Had a blast boarding in the sunshine. Great snow, although I heard it's melted somewhat over the weekend. In the valleys you can see the fog! (still here). Did some nice runs and laughs with friends - Powderhounds Unite!

Port Angeles Trip

Headed down to Port Angeles to visit family. It's about a 6 hour drive plus a ferry ride across the Puget Sound. Lovely trip covering some epic terrain .. mountains, forest, ocean.

We just made it in time for the 'sunset' ferry, so we got to enjoy the sun falling behind the Olympic Mountains.

During the night a high pressure zone rolled into the region, causing a temprature inversion and locking fog into the lowlands and valleys. The fog is covering hundreds of miles - as far as Canada! .

After a great nights sleep, I woke up and walked around Grandpa's yard taking pictures..

Here's a picture of the cow (Dr. Spock!) and her calf (soon to be named)...

The fog came and went during the day, creating some great effects as the sun spiked through the woods near Uncle Harley Rider & Auntie Sandblaster's house. Sadly we missed our comical cousin GrandMaster L aka TruPlayer as he had to head to work ...

After a lovely weekend visiting with family we headed back to Vancouver, passing through a hole in the fog around Deception Pass.

We arrived back in Vancouver late, with thick fog everywhere.

Kathmandu Part Deux

Here's Kathmandu on an adventure around B. & Oz's house.

The Man Who Named The Clouds

x

Dedicated to Luke Howard, who named the clouds!

In the Guiness Book Of Records !!!

After working on FIFA soccer for several years it made the 2001 Guiness Book Of World Records. Fantastic!


Saw a copy this afternoon, and decided to take a few pictures ;}

Clay Aiken's Flowers

It's not every day you get to sniff a mega-stars flowers. So you can imagine I was delighted to smell the sweet aroma of these roses. :)


My neighbour Oz was producing Clay's latest Xmas extravaganza here in Vancouver and got to bring home some of Clay's excess flowers. Clay get's sooo many flowers he just doesn't have enough vases.

Mee-Mawing

Yesterday being Remebrance Day, and needing a new book to read - I pulled down Hells Foundations from the shelf which I recently borrowed from my Dad. I bought him this book 10 years ago in Seattle. It's a war history book, about a regiment from my old town in England. I was stunned to see it in Seattle Tower Books, and even more stunned to find it mentioned a war hero in our family on my Grandma's side of the family. The book also gives an overview of Lancashire (my county), the valley mill towns and a history of the cotton industry. The book talked about "Mee-Mawing". I'd never heard of it before. First a little background ...

The milltowns of Lancashire were fabric producers and up until the American Cival War they outputted 56% of the worlds cotton fabric. Cotton was exported from the American South to the mills of Lancashire via the port of Liverpool. During the cival war, the ports were blockaded preventing the ships from sailing. The Lancashire cotton industry plummeted, the work dried up and famine hit the mill towns. The British government began to pressure India to increase it's cotton exports, which it did and the industry began to boom once more.

The point ... During this time the industrial revolution was in full swing and the mills operated night and day. Inside the mills the machines roared and the noise was deafening. It was impossible to talk and be heard. So ... the mill workers began to over ephasize their words, and speak silently. The mill-workers mastered a kind of lip-reading, and the process spilled over into every day life. This was called MEE-MAWING. When I read it, I laughed because one of the traits of the older generation of Lancashire folk is to over-emphasize their pronunciation whilst talking. Obviously, it sources back to this time in the cotton-mills. I mentioned this to my brother, who said when he was a kid there was a saying "stop mee-mawing at me!", which meant stop pulling faces at me or talking behind my back! LOL!. North American readers will get a laugh out of this.

Links:

• Northwest History Film Footage (BBC) - requires RealPlayer
• Hells Foundations - Geoffrey Moorehouse
• Lancashire (WikipediA)
• 'Why Local Dialect Is Reet Gradely" (Bolton Evening News) LOL!
• Photos Of Lancashire

Eugene Jarvis - Video Game God

It all starts with game programming god Eugene Jarvis. Eugene programmed three of my all-time favourite video games - Defender, Joust and Robotron. His games are characterized by addictively hard gameplay, brilliantly orignal design and killer sound effects.

Defender

The first time I saw Defender, my friends and I had just been to the swimming baths and afterwards we headed over to the local arcade. We were all addicted to playing games, and spent most of our pocket money playing them.

That night we saw Defender for the frist time, two Defender machine had arrived! We watched the attact mode and oooh'ed and ahhh'ed. Dez (my fellow Star Wars maniac friend) played it first. "Wow, check out those lines for bullets", "The sound effects are brilliant!". What do we do?". It took much cash and watching the older kids play until we figured out the game. My high score is around 200,000 which isnt easy to score. Like all of his games, by wave #4 they ramp up so insanely hard, it''s laughable.

Sound Effects

• Complete Wave (defender)
• Die (defender)
• Capture Humanoid (defender)

Robotron

These days I'm playing Robotron. 23 years later, this game is still as addictive. I was on holiday in Devon, England when I first played this game. Seeing the new video games in the seaside arcades was always one of the highlights of the trip.

This is funny... We had a Robotron machine at my old office. After lunch I was heading into the arcade to the play, and I saw this programmer walking towards me completly blissed out and wide eyed on a total high yelling at me "I just scored over 300,000. 300,000!!". The look on his face was unbelievable. LOL!

Sound Effects

• Start Level (robotron)
• Complete Level (robotron)

Joust

Again we had this in our local arcade. We'd pump 10p after 10p into the machine to play. 23 years on, still an awesomely addictive game to play. There's some great sound effects in Joust. Listen below..

Sound Effects:

• Start Wave (joust)
• Materialize (joust)

Kormacurry Banned From Local Arcade!

When I was around 12 years old I was banned from the local arcade - because I was too good. The owner kept yelling at me "Your not coming in, your too good - nobody else get's to play". . This was not good. Being persistent I kept hassling the guy, and eventually after a year he let me back in "Alright, you can come back in .. but you can only play certain games!". I couldn't play Scramble, Donkey Kong or Gorf. Whateva.

Play Eugene's Games Here:

• Defender (Shockwave Arcade)
• Joust (Shockwave Arcade)
• Robotron (Shockwave Arcade)

Links:

• Eugene Jarvis Interview (Way Of The Rodent)
• Eugene Jarvis (WikipediA)
• Defender, gameplay, operating manuals (Coin-Op Museum)
• Joust (Coin-Op Museum)
• Robotron (Coin-Op Museum)

Pacific Northwest

The region starts as far south as Oregon, North to Alaska, East to the Rockies and West to the Pacific Ocean. It encapsulates two countries and numerous states/provinces - Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska US states, British Columbia, Yukon and Alberta Canadian Provinces.

Here's a few pictures I've taken over the last year ..

Our local beach, Vancouver, Canada

Howe Sound, Vancouver, Canada

Vashon Island, Seattle, USA.

Deception Pass, Whidbey Island, USA

Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada

Remembrance Day
Today we paid our respects to the verterans who fought in WW II against the Nazi's. A moving day with a very large crowd in attendance. Planes performed over-flys, as the old guys stood in the pouring rain, remembering their friends, families and battles fought.

KATHMANDU !

Kathmandu lives next door and can be often seen doing gymnastics on our neighbours (B. & Oz) window frames. She balances on the open frames, climbs up and down the sides, rests on the tops - occasionally gets on the roof.

She watches me water the garden in the mornings, and stares as I stroll down the street in the morning. I think she's thinking "Come back and water the garden Kormacurry."

Kathmandu is a little different, we can't quite put our finger on it - the working theory is she's part alien, just waiting for the mothership to come collect her.

In the picture Kathmandu can be seen keeping guard over Uncle Kormacurry's beer - there's a good kitty.

Day Trip To Bowen Island

Yesterday we headed over to Bowen Island to visit our friends Alf The Fly & J.. They have an awesome log home on a hilltop overlooking the Georgia Straight, Howe Sound and North Shore Mountains. Awesome, awesome views.

After eating a tasty lunch we headed out for a walk around a large lake. They brought their puppy Lance (named after Lance Armstrong) who bounded about the trail. After circling the lake, we toured the island island checking out a bunch of the viewpoints, beaches and houses. Dang, it's nice out there!

After a few months hard work and an afternoon in the cold, we were more than happy to relax in their hot-tub. It's in a perfect setting out amongst the trees, looking back to the mountain and forest. It really is very nice indeed.

After much re-juvination in the hot tub, we ended the night with an episode of Wallace & Gromit and some more tasty food. mmmmm.

We headed back to the mainland in the darkness, and breathed in the cold night air from the ferry. A fine Pacfic Northwest day out.

Vancouver Aquarium - Beluga Whale

Being a cold and rainy day today, M. & I decided to head down to the Vancouver Aquarium for the afternoon and use our membership. Had a good time checking out all the sea life. When not not swimming around the artic ocean, one of four Beluga whales can found at the aquarium.

Remember, Remember, The 5th Of November ...














When I was kid, Bonfire Night / Guy Fawkes Night (Nov 5th) was biggest day after Xmas in England.
For those not familier with the history Guy Fawkes Night, here's a couple of links for you to read.

• Guy Fawkes (wikipedia)
• The Gunpowder Plot (BBC)
• The Celebration Today (BBC)

Around Our Way ...

For me Bonfire night was all about a few things... collecting wood, building and guarding a bonfire, lighting the fire, fireworks (air bombs, bangers, rockets), black peas, parkin (a cake), treacle toffee, fire blackened potatoes, making a Guy and carting it around the area collecting money by singing songs like "Bonfire Night, Stars Are Bright" , "Build A Bonfire..", "Remember, Remember The 5th Of November", LOL!!

For the North Americans, you might be asking - "What is this madness?". Well here's my story...

For Guy Fawkes Night, locally known as 'Bommy Night', we celebrate the capture of the Guy Fawkes by building huge bonfires, create and place an effigee (a guy) of Guy Fawkes at the top of the Bonfire and burn the whole thing to the ground. Whilst the Bonfire is burning, everyone sets off fireworks, eats traditional foods (parkin, black peas, treacle toffee) and prays their house doesn't go up in smoke.

Bulding A Bonfire And Getting All Territorial...

There was tons of kids in my neighbourhood. We all used to hang out in huge gangs, and spend all our time together. When it came around to Bonfire Night, we were always on school break, so there was many of us around to build a huge bonfire.

Everyone went around the old dumps (known as 'spare land' (LOL!)), looking for wood to construct our Bonfire. It was typically rainy weather in November so it was messy cold work. We'd drag the wood to the bonfire site and start assembling. During the days we'd have a small fire going to keep us warm, and at night we'd all hang out around the forming Bonfire.

As the Bonfire took shape, there was always the threat of other gangs from nearby areas coming around to set the whole thing alight before the big night. This was know as 'Bommy Raiding'. For this reason, the back end of the week the group split into two. One group collected more wood, the other standing guard around the bonfire. HAHAHA

Making Him, Then Burning Him...

In between building the bonfire, we'd make an effigee of Guy Fawkes. Ours were usually constructed from our old clothes, stuffed with paper to form the arms/legs, balloons for torso, paper mache head and wool for hair. Once made, we'd stick him in an old pram and wheel him around the area on a mission filled with tradition.... First port of call was usually the shops up the road. We'd stand out side and say "Penny For The Guy" and some friendly local folk would usually hand a few pennys our way (worth something at the time!), which we'd save for fireworks. At night we'd give him a tour of the local houses, knock on the doors and would either again ask "Penny For The Guy", or sing a song in hopes for something in the 10p ballpark :). "Build A Bonfire... Build A Bonfire...", "Remember, Remember The 5th of November..."

The Big Night Arrives ...

After around a week of preparation the big night would roll around. If somebody hadn't "raided your bommy" we would usually have a big fire to start. First up, someone would climb the wood (youch!), and place the Guy as near the top as possible. Come 7pm, we'd light the fire and the festivities would start...

The wood burned, and as the tradition of burning Guy Fawkes started outcame the fireworks - sparklers, air bombs, bangers, volcanos, catherine wheels, Roman cangles and rockets. We'd oooh and ahhh at the fireworks, dodge the psychos throwing bangers and eat tooo much food. Everyone would stick around till the last embers died, or a shout from our parents to come in for the night.

Ahh, happy days.