Rev Stan's other stuff

Rev Stan diving and the sharks

Bit later than I anticipated writing this as my trip was a month ago now but recent tragic news about shark attacks Sharm el Sheik has given me a little nudge.

The fourth and final day of my PADI open water diving course was from a boat moored right where the german lady that was attacked and died was snorkelling. I was snorkelling on the same reef - more of why I was snorkelling and not diving later.

I've been following progress on the Dive Bunnie site which is run by one of the instructors at Ocean College where I did my training and also the College's facebook page.

There doesn't seem to be an explanation yet for the attacks although there was one hilarious headline I've just seen on the BBC website: Shark attacks not linked to Mossad says Israel

I kid you not, that is a genuine headline. I have visions of that Austin Powers Dr Evil scene: 'Is it too much to ask for sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads?' 

Anyway back to the serious stuff. Naturally its awful that someone has been killed and others injured but I will be surprised if it turns out that this extremely rare event has not been because of man's interference with the shark's environment.

Theories circulated so far include animal carcasses being dumped from a ship into the water, over fishing of sharks natural prey and also tourists feeding the fish on the reefs. The latter is something I saw a lot of in Sharm despite warnings not too.

Tourists think a few innocent bits of bread to make the pretty fish come close is harmless but it isn't. Not only does it upset the natural balance of the underwater eco system but it also creates a feeding frenzy among the smaller fish which attracts biggers fish, which attracts even bigger fish... you get the picture.

New holiday experiences (part 1)

My recent week's holiday in Sharm el Sheik was a bit of a voyage of discovery.

Firstly I went away with my brother. We were close when we were growing up as we are virtually the same age (his Dad married my Mum when were eight) and my biological brother and sister were both older leaving just the two of us at home with the parents when we were 11.

We haven't been away together since we were 16 and, as the years have rolled by, busy lives and greater physical distance has meant we haven't spent any prolonged time together since we left home.

But we rubbed along fine, just as soon as I'd worked out that his propensity to give too much information about bodily functions had not diminished with age and that his peeing with the bathroom door open was a given.

The second discovery, well it wasn't so much a discovery as I suspected how I'd feel, was the 'resort hotel'.

Sharm is like the Blackpool of Egypt. The explosion of budget airlines adding it to their routes and the fact that it provides hot winter sun (34C every day during my visit) just 5 hour flight from Blighty has turned it from a prime dive destination into a cheesy tourist trap full of hotels and malls with Starbucks and Pizza Hut.

Stan goes to Dublin

Seems like ages ago now but at the end of October I headed over to Ireland to see a play with @polyg.

We arrived at lunchtime and it was a beautiful bright autumn day so we went for a stroll and checked out a photography gallery (and a tea shop!).  Sadly we couldn't find the Leprechaun Museum despite it appearing to be well signposted.

The play - John Gabriel Borkman starring Mr Alan Rickman* - was the reason for our trip but I did take a few pictures.

 

 

* Have added Professor Snape to my list of actors in Harry Potter that I've seen on stage. Professor McGongal is high on my list now but I don't know whether Maggie Smith still does stage work.

Stan does Sheffield

It's been busy, busy, busy what with the London Film Festival keeping me busy but I've still managed to squeeze in the odd theatre trip or three and this week saw me venture forth from London to Sheffield to see Life on Mars/24 Hour Party People star John Simm play Hamlet.

Now Sheffield is one of the few cities in the UK I've left to visit. My job has taken me to most, so it is nice to tick somewhere off for pleasure reasons rather than work. Lots of people had told me nice things about the South Yorkshire city. Built on the steel industry, it's wealthy past is written all over its grand old architecture.

But what makes Sheffield a particularly nice city is that the centre has seen some tasteful modern development. Not only new buildings but there are some great open spaces that showcase its beautiful old civic buildings alongside some wonderful steel inspired modern public art and fountains. There are a lot of fountains.

The weather was great too so naturally I took my camera for a wander. I played around with shutter speeds on a lot of the water shots. Spot the difference. Oh and Hamlet, well thoughts on that are over on theatre if you are interested.

 

QotD: Those Were the Best Days of My Life...

What's the best summer you've ever had

Does Thailand last Christmas count? It was summer there, well actually it wasn't, it was winter but it was very hot. Otherwise it's difficult to answer because summer doesn't really exist as concept of consistently warm, sunny days here in England.

I think we had 10 really, really hot days on the trot here in London a few years ago but I was miserable because it was too hot to do anything and the flat never got cool enough to sleep and I actually wanted to go to work because the office has a bit of air conditioning.

Don't tend to go away or do anything particularly special in the summer because it's the school holidays so everything is more expensive. I just enjoy any sunny day as it comes along whatever time of year it is.

London in the morning sun

QotD: Drop Everything

If you could drop everything and go anywhere and do anything - without any financial or personal consequences - where would you go and what would you do? 

Gosh I'm getting predictable.

Right now I would go to where ever Ben Whishaw is and ask him what he is working on next It's been far to quiet since he finished in The Pride on Broadway. There are two film projects that his name is attached to but neither are filming yet and I've a feeling in my waters that he's going to hit the London stage again sometime this year but it is driving me crazy not knowing especially as there still isn't a release date for his last film, The Tempest, just internet rumours about later this year.

Failing that then I can think of only two places and both I've already been to, in fact they were my last two holidays so I would say it's a tie between going back to New York and seeing the bits I didn't get to see and taking loads more photos or going back to Koh Ngai for complete R&R with some yoga, lots of swimming and snorkeling and just sitting on the beautiful beach contemplating the paradise that surrounds me.

QotD: Ex-Pat

Where would you choose to live if you had to leave your country?

Until Feb I would have said Wellington in New Zealand but now it would have to be New York. It's the only place that could adequately feed my film and theatre addiction. And it has an infinite subject matter for photographs...

View from the Top of the Rock

Fire escape

Broadway on a Sunday morning

In the Cannes

Hurray. My annual trip to the South of France for work is over for another year. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that I get to work in sunny Cannes for a week. But three 18-hour days sandwiched by two early starts to travel there and back takes its toll.

It is fun but I am physically and mentally exhausted, my stomach is grumpy and my body is still on work/Cannes time and woke me up at 6am. Quiet weekend with maybe the odd afternoon cinema trip thrown in I think. Anyway I couldn't resist taking the odd non-work piccie...

The calm of the night before it all kicks off:

 

 

I'm very, very, very lucky to get put in a nice hotel. Very lucky. A lot of journalists end up on sofa beds in flea pits a 30Euro cab ride outside Cannes. I've stayed in the same hotel for the last three years and this year they've given the lobby a rose and lily theme. Although I must say that I didn't immediately think of a rose when I saw the chair...

Lily flower arrangements

And I'm not sure there were quite enough pillows on my bed.

How many pillows?

And then there was the food. Some good and some, well some just down right strange and unappetising:

 

New York trip in numbers

New York, New York

182 pictures made it onto Flickr

The highest I got was on the 70th floor of the Rockefeller Center

Walked 63km over three and a half days

My hotel was on 58th West St

The cab to JFK cot $55 including a tip

Spent $37 getting into galleries/attractions

Drank 7 green teas,  3 glasses of wine and 2 diet cokes
Wore 9 pairs of socks
Asked 5 times by waitress in Ellen's Stardust Diner if everything was OK with my meal and 3 times if I'd finished my salad
Saw 2 films (Shutter Island and The Wolfman) and 1 play (The Pride)
And ate 1 slice of strawberry cheesecake

The three questions I'd love to have asked Ben Whishaw* had I had the courage:

1. Are you enjoying your time in New York?
2. Is there a release date for The Tempest?
3. What are you working on next?

And three things I liked**:

1. How friendly everyone is, offering help with directions, assistance in shops and restaurants and pointing out when a shoelace has become untied
2. The New York accent
3. Feeling like I was on a film set for four days

And three things I didn't like so much:

1. How friendly everyone is offering help with directions, finding stuff in shops, pointing out laces are undone...
2. The loud, whiney, American accent that the person sat closest to me always seemed to have while I was trying to write my journal
3. Adding the tax on at the till.


* If anyone out there reading this knows Ben then please ask him
**There were many more than three

I'm leaving today and rules of celebrity encounters

Last morning in this fine city called New York.

Yesterday was another mammoth walkathon clocking up about 16km (pedometer decided to reset itself half way through the day). Did the International Center for Photography in the morning then walked down to the Empire State Building and onto the Flat Iron Building which has to be my favourite of everything I have seen.

Strawberry cheesecake: well it was one of my five a day

Then I just strolled, strolled, strolled through Greenwich Village stopping for cups of tea, a bit of shopping and a huge slice of cheesecake (decided to throw food intolerances to the wind and treat myself).

And then the reason I am here: The Pride. The Lucille Lortel is a curious theatre. You virtually take two steps off the street and you are in the auditorium. There is no bar or kiosk of any sort just the stage, seating and a loo. No wonder the tickets prices are so high, with the programmess being free it's the only source of income.

Been there, seen it, got the autographs

Anyway the play was marvellous but I won't write about it here. What I will say is that I broke all my rules about encountering actors/famous people I admire and hung around at the stage door to get Ben Whishaw's autograph. I got the rest of the cast too so they didn't feel left out. (Hugh Dancy just signed and handed back and seemed in a hurry, Andrea Riseborough was chatty)

Ben was the last out and tried to sneak off down the road but I called him back (yes I shouted at Ben Whishaw in the street!) as there were a few of us waiting in the freezing cold.

He was really sweet though looking a bit embarrassed that he'd tried to sneak off.

A lady got her programmes signed first saying she'd come all the way from the West Coast.
It was then my turn and so I said I'd come all the way from London and it was a great play. He thanked me and said: 'We've come all the way from London too'. (Which isn't strictly true as Hugh Dancy lives with his wife Claire Danes in New York but I wasn't going to correct him.)  He took his time to sign his name so at least you can read it, unlike the other scribbles. And he took the time to look everyone in the face as he handed back the signed programmes rather than just signing, handing back, signing, handing back etc.

And that was it. Brief and to the point.

Of course afterwards I thought of all the things I should have asked or said kicking myself all the way back up town to my hotel but in a way I'm glad I didn't because I probably would have made a tit of myself by saying something stupid. Which is why I have the rule about celeb encounters: Don't do it you'll only make an idiot of yourself and then feel mortified afterwards.

My favourite picture of today's sight-seeing

Well the Staten Island Ferry is free

New York: Day 1

Wow what a great first day in New York: Central Park, Frick Collection, Rockerfeller Center, Grand Central Station, Chyrsler Building, Times Square finished off with Shutter Island at the cinema. Walked 16km by the end of the day, no wonder I was knackered. Slept well though!
Central Park was so snowy so didn't walk too far. The Frick Collection had so many amazing artists, incredible Turner's and Gainsborough's and the two Holbein's of More and Cromwell were just luminous. Have seen those two pictures in books so many times, to see the real thing what quite wonderful. It was slightly surreal seeing such great British artists in New York though as I'm used to seeing their work back home.
Weather brightened in the afternoon so that's when I did The Top of the Rock, views were incredible but can tick that off the list now so probably won't do the Empire State building. Sadly the forecast isn't so great for today and tomorrow and Sunday: rain, sleet and snow. Oh well I'll make the most whatever.
Grand Central Station wasn't quite as jaw dropping as I thought it would be although I must commend whoever runs it for keeping it warm inside, something National Rail in the UK could learn from. And Times Square was very colourful but just that, very colourful.
I just love wandering though the buildings are so beautiful with amazing little features (you'll see from the pictures some of my favourites).
Anyway breakfast beckons in Hell's Kitchen and I need to plan where I'm going today. I know it will be south of Time Square probably as far south as Greenwich Village.

I've arrived

I am in New York, after an uneventful flight (if you exclude my at seat entertainment system only playing one of 30 or so films to choose from), a looong queue at immigration but a jolly immigration chap and then an even longer shuttle bus ride into town where, when we weren't stuck in traffic, the driver made me fear for my life. I swear the bus actually breathed in to go through some of those gaps as he constantly swapped lanes.

Bizarre bedside lamp

The first glimpse of the city's skyline was like looking at a painted stage backdrop - not quite real, almost as if it had been drawn on top of a normal city.

The hotel is trendy to the point of having one or two slightly bizarre 'features' my bedside lamp (right) being one. It's either phallic or a woman about to bite the head off a small bird but either way its an interesting choice.

My room is very small but perfectly formed. The single bed is bigger than a standard single and built into the wall with a padded head board along two sides so it doubles as a daybed/sofa.

And sadly the jet lag has kept me in my room. I was going to go and get some food but I'm just so tired I've had a protein bar instead and am trying to keep myself awake as long as possible. 9pm was the target and I've reached that but I might have to turn in. Will most likely wake up very early.

Will post when I can

 

1-03 New York, New York

All packed...

...and ready to go. Never have I been so calm about going away. Don't know what it is about the prospect of five days in New York but I am having none of my usual pre-holiday angst (probably means I'm going to forget something vital).

I haven't opened the guide book yet but I have been canvassing opinions and tips from friends who've been, so have a list of recommendations.

Apart from going to see The Pride on Sunday night and wanting to see Shutter Island (as it doesn't open in the UK until next month) I intend to be footloose and fancy free, going where the wind blows me and doing what I fancy.

Can't wait to start taking piccies and the forecast is sunny spells and not too cold - it's funny how 4-5C seems fine after what seems like weeks of 1-2C - so conditions should be good. I have my thermals just in case.

Right. Time for an early night I think.

QotD: Groundhog Day

In celebration of Groundhog Day, which day would you like to live again and again and again?

The first thing that came to mind was 'any day I went to see a play with Ben Whishaw in it' but to hone that down it would be the day I went to see him in Cock for the second time and there was a Q&A afterwards and then I went for a drink in the Royal Court with Poly whom I'd met for the first time having followed her on Twitter for months. The cast from Cock and The Priory together which was on at the main stage, together with some of their celeb friends were hanging out in the bar too.

Then the second day that came to mind was Christmas Day on Koh Ngai last year. Beautiful location, beautiful weather, yoga, lovely people, boat trip, amazing snorkeling, dinner on the beach while being entertained by lady boys, in full drag, lip-synching to Thai pop songs.

Both are quite recent but if I thought about it too much I'd never be able to narrow it down to just two.

Christmas Day entertainment, Thai-style