MVITA
(Manchester Vibes In The Area)

Here we are back in my hometown. Back in the rain, back in one of the coolest cities going. We're checking this and that out, before meeting our pals for a night out this evening. I'm thinking, since we're across the road, of taking M down into one of my old hangouts for some tasty English beer and listen to some Manchester classics on the jukebox. I'm also seeing some tasty indian food in our future.

Today the smoking ban in the pubs takes effect - can't wait for that one. It'll be nice to go out and not come home smelling like an ashtray.

Stately Grandeur

Stately home adventures today, we headed out to this fab Stately Home owned by Lord Aversham (must do a google search when I get home).The place is situated on about 60 acres, and is a grand old place with various smaller buildings scattered around the grounds. We joined aninteresting tour of the house (mostly on the west wing, they live on the east wing), showing us their various living areas ... super amazing rooms with silk wallpaper, louis xvi furniture, Austrian carpets -- somehow I imagine Sting's house to be like this...

The guide to told an interesting story of Lord Shaftesbury ... and how him and his 'analyst' came up with scam in some major bank in londonto raise 1 million pound, this is where the turn 'to get shafted' comes from. (must google this one too!).

Back and forth we passed through the best villages ever. I've definately fallen back in love with England. The towns and villages of North Yorkshire are very impressive, beatiful, charming with lots of character. Comparing to much loved mediteranian towns ... stone buildings, lovelygardens, climbing roses replace bouganvilla, real ale replaces San Michel, .. yorkshire pudding replaces paella :(. Yeah -- it's super great here.

Whitby

Today we headed North along the coast to the town of Whitby. Here Bram Stoker imagined a storm delivering a wrecked ship with evil aboard and wrote the novel Dracula. Also this is where Captain Cook learnt his naval ways. We passed through the North Yorkshire National Park - checking out the picturesque countryside, had a sing-song, and marvelled at the towering cliffs along the coastline.

We all enjoyed a nice stroll around the Whitby harbour, checked out a Norwegian kids band playing some tunes, munched on some chips & peas harbour before returning to the hotel for make preperations for the fine dinner -- mmm -- mmm -- the food is super great.

We're all having a nice time, Dad is doing well and enjoying himself.

Coastal Adventures

The family holiday continued today with an exploration of Scarborough and nearby Bampton Cliffs -the largest bird sanctuary in Britain.

First up, we explored Scarborough, took a walk around the harbour, the high street (M bought a kool dress) and checked out the surfers in the bay. It's such a lovely little town, it's been years since I've been here - the last time was in high school when we had a geography field trip here.
In the afternoon we headed out to Bempton cliffs where we saw puffins flying around the cliffs - very kool, the scenery was epic. M was amazed by the coastal region, as we've mainly explored the west coast of Lancashire and Wales .. where the coastline is more understated.

Wettest Day In 50 Years

We decided that a family getaway we be a good idea, so off we headed off to the East coast of England on the wettest day in 50 years.

Heading over the Penines that span the backbone of England into North Yorshire National Park as the rain pelted down, over-soaking the fields causing water to seeped out flooding the roads.
No fear, we arrived in Scarborough and checked into our hotel - a really nice Victorian hotel on a hillside overlooking the town and North Sea. Out there is Sweden.

Dinner tonight was really good, I was expecting the tokenistic veggie option to be really lame, but to my surprise it was really really great - mmmm ---A tasty 4 course meal of goodness, Melon with vanilla sauce, carrot & corriander soup, porcini mushroom ravioli with taragon herbed sauce finishing up with a chocolate and wild-berry slice - all mixed with a few some fine English Ales.

The North Yorkshire coast is dramatic, epic on the scale of Oregon but instead of free-wheeling towns it has well established communities several hundred years old, mosaiced architecture from the ages -- Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian. Very nice. I'm falling back in love with England, sat here in this Victorian bay window as the Nor'Easter lashes the coast and rain batters the windows.

(Next Day) We awoke, turned on the BBC News on to hear many major towns have flooded and major rescue operation being mobilised, the M1 motorway is closed, North/South trains disconnected and 100'000's of people are without power. Yikes.

It was surprisingly sunny here, so we took a walk around the harbour and town soaking up the sun. M bought a nice dress, a took a bunch of pictures and munched on some tasty chocolate treats... mmm-mmmm

Back In England

We arrived safe and sound yesterday. B took us to the airport, where we had a nice dinner and beverages before waving good bye. The flight was smooth, fast and uneventful. We flew Air Tranat this time, 1/2 the price of BA and was great. Bit cramped, no free drinks but for the price I'd sit at the back on a sun-lounger with free peanuts. LOL.

My brother picked us up at the airport, thanks!

Good to be back home, every thing looks super green, and to EU pressures everyones trying to be super green.

Until the next post, I'm being kicked off the computer here at library - have a good weekend.

We're off for a walk in the countryside this afternoon with my mum. nice!

Ecky Thump,
I'll Go T't Foot Of Our Stairs....
Hold Ya Bloody Horses...
Now, Here's a Bobby Dazzler...

These 2 are the best. I love this album. Heavy airplay has commenced in the House De Kormacurry...



Get this -- Our neighbour Oz is putting together their infamous Canadian tour, starting this weekend, where they play all provinces on a whistle stop tour jetting around the great white north ... landing to play in remote_remote places. The kids are going wild. Fantastic!!!

I've asked Oz a big favour cuz he'll be spending lots of quality time with them on the small plane... Take a picture of Jack White holding a Kormacurry banner (well, a piece of paper -- lol) .. Hope it happens. Anyway, have a great tour Oz...

Lions Of England ....

We're heading back to England to visit our family for a little while - which is nice. We'll be updating the blog, so check in.

Here's some 'Morris Dancing' for you to check out. This folk dancing dates way back, not sure about the origins ... but I have to say when I was kid I just couldn't get my head around why the dudes would get up and dance like this.. LOL... There seems to be a lot of styles, costume and symbolism. Hopefully we'll get to see some in MadChester..

WTF

The blogger picture upload has stopped working on my PC - WTF.

Surprise, Suprise

Wow, what can I say. M threw a surprise birthday party for me last night. All my fave Canadian pals showed up for an truly epic time.

The setup = I headed over to Dubmaster C's house with the idea he was taking me out for a birthday dinner. I walked in the door "Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There was tons of food, a keg of my fave beer and a bunch of people. We all had a blast. The party shut down to dancing and a group bongo session (ooo-errr). 1/2 way through a friend put on a fire show -- twizzing firey chalaces in true circus style in the back garden.. More soon on this... must get to bed :)

Pipe From Space

If you've been following my blog you may remember a post last year about "the damn red van" that my dads neighbour parks outside the house. I booted up Google Earth tonight and the image of their house has been refreshed - the red van has gone, but the junk pipeing on the neighbours garage roof is clearly visible... check it out ... LOL...

I wouldn't say the neighbour is a packrat, but he certainly has some un-pleasent positioning of his stuff.

Daytrip To Bowen Island

We headed out to Bowen to visit our pals - Captain Fantastic & Southern Belle. It was cold, dreary June day in the Pacific Northwest, still the mountains looked mystical as the boat left Horseshoe Bay.

We arrived a little early, so we took a stroll around the town checking out the hippies, enjoyed some nice coffee and a samosa.

Somewhere between meeting our friends and heading to the restaurant for lunch it got super sunny. What?

We felt bad, one of our friends dogs just got diagnosed with acute liver problems, one day l8r as I write this - he's doing a lot better thankfully. We cheered them up, and despite their worries we squeezed out a good day.

First up was a walk down to the beach. M collected rocks, I stared at the mountains, Captain Fantastic (CF) walked his other dog and Southern Belle told me some stories.

We headed back to their place, Southern Belle put together yet another delicious organic ingredient meal -- mmmm --- mmmm. Then me and CF went and relaxed in the hottub - well I've had an achy back you know.

In the evening we caught the ferry back to Vancouver...

... the view up Howe Sound is beautiful, still not bored of it :)

Grandparents House In 1940's

I love this picture of M's grandparents house in the 1940's. Check out the car!

Vashon Pictures

Vashon Pictures

M found a old zip disc (remember those?) yesterday and digged off the images. Here's a few I like from when we lived on Vashon. I used to love the ferry rides - checking out the light, staring at the mountains, reading my computer mags and eating gummie bears. Here's some pictures I took whilst commuting...sdf

Spring Storm Approaching

Summer Clouds Over Blake Island

Mount Rainier in the Morning

LightHouse Park

It's seriously hot. The first major hot weekend of the year. Is summer really here?

We decided to head over to Lighthouse Park - have a walk through the old growth forest down to the bay. Get some air, some nature in our souls ...

plenty of shade ...

... some great views and a ocean breeze near the bay ...

... M checked out the tide pools ...

... and the toasted pine trees ...

Here's something ....

.. I've been working on lately :)

Lacuna Coil




M love's her metal. She picked up tickets for this Milan'ese metal band who played the Croatian Cultual Centre down the road.

It turned out, this new couple we met - who live on our street - Mr & Mrs Martimes - were also going .. so we all headed down together. No finer place to get to know one another than at a metal concert. I'm sure they loved my Gene Simmons impressions, and M's primal screams. HAHAHAHAHA.

I don't know if this a stroke of marketing genius but the band gave away free pizza to all the spotty North American kids wearing black. HAHAHHA. I have to say though, it was probably the worst pizza I've ever seen.

Anyways, the band was great -- not strictly my cup 'o' tea, but I enjoyed in non-the-less.

SweetPeas In Town!

My old friend SweetPea from England is here in Vancouver visiting! SweetPea, her husband and little lad are all here scoping out Vancouver for a potential re-location. Fab!

It's been 12 years since we last saw each other, and last week we had a great time catching up, enjoying dinner and meeting her husband and lad. Her husband is cool, and is a TV director in England working on dramas & comedies. "Are ya having a laugh?" (extras)

They had some good adventures here - sea-plane ride followed by a whale watching boat exursion. They are currently headed East to the Rockie Mountains. They loved Vancouver - how could you not? Her husband has some reservations about the winter weather .. fair enough.

Dubmaster C & DubStep

It was Dubmaster C's birthday, so he decided to mark the occasion by dropping years of PC abuse and move over to Mac. We went shopping, he picked up the 24" Imac. It's so cool.

In the evening we headed out to Habit on Main St for some great food followed by a DubStep show in East Van. Turned out to be more rave than show - tons of people, super hot, great music. The Dj's played some of the best stuff I've heard from the edge in years. A super dooper blend of Acid House & Dub Regaee ... really impressive..

Doing some research on the sound later, it turns out to be a cutting edge scene in England...