Sunday's Column - UK

I'm not sure what has happened to The Sun as they have not posted my column on line for some four weeks or more.  I shall have to pay a visit to them personally to sort it out. However, this week's column has been fairly well covered here as it's the first of two on our visit to the UK.  So regular readers of the blog won't miss anything.  Normally the columns can be read at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels
Well, wouldn't you know it, the Web site is up and running again.  Must have been my threat to come down there in person!

Music Track - Turner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra12L1Bl0Z4  This is the official video of Simply the Best by Tina Turner - quite a number!  I nearly put up Private Dancer, which is one of my favorites by I remembered at the last moment that I had posted it a year ago.  In the notes for that video however it is reported that Ms. Turner told her dancers that any of the band members were fair game; "But the sax player - he's MINE!" Quite a woman!

Twelfth Night

Today, January 6th, is Twelfth Night.  It might also have been celebrated last night as it rather depends on whether you start Christmas on Christmas Eve or not.  In Medieval times Twelfth Night was a final feast complete with a lot of wassailing - we don't do much of that in our house these days.  But this is also the last day to enjoy Christmas decorations. 

Now I know that in some places it's fashionable to see if they'll hang around until July 4th, but the general rule is that on Twelfh Night they all come down.  And that includes the lady who has had hers up on a tree locally for FOUR YEARS!!!!!!!

SR - 71

Last week was the 47th anniversary of the launch of my favorite plane - the SR - 71, known as The Blackbird.

This photograph was taken at the US Airforce Base in Mildenhall, Cambridge in England.  It's a notoriously difficult plane to photograph and my attempts on the couple of occasions I have tried have not come out too well. It had a top speed of over 2,000 miles per hour although the actual top speed was never published.  Back in the late 60's stories circulated of this black dart of a plane leaving Cambridgeshire in the early morning and then returning by lunchtime.  It had been to Washington D.C. and back!  It made the trip across the US once in 64 minutes!  I have seen two of them up close; one at the Dryden Flight Museum out in the Mojave Desert, and the other on display at the March Air Museum near Riverside.  The plane was finally retired in 1998.  If you want to learn more this site will tell you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71_Blackbird

Also Ran Movie List - #5

One of the most indelible scenes from any movie has to be the one where in Lawrence of Arabia, Peter O'Toole in the title role sees the mirage of a man astride a camel coming towards him in the searing desert.  The rider, Omar Sharif, is a black robed prince and fortunately for Lawrence he speaks English.  He points out to Lawrence that drinking from another man's well is punishable by death.  But he allows it for the Englishman. It's a great movie and comes in at Number 5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_of_Arabia_(film)

Snow

I try not to talk about weather here.  Everybody has it and it's not that interesting to those not cowering from whatever effects the climate is having on you.  However this season, in spite of Al Gore's dire prediction, has been exceptionally cold.  We started snow in early November and we keep on getting it.
I believe the Eskimos have about 50 different words for snow, but they generally accept it and leave it alone.  Down here however we fight it and become obsessed with clearing it away from our drives and pathways.

With this in mind I would like to introduce you to the latest tools in our regular fight - on the left a new shovel which scoops the snow away and avoids the need to lift it.  On the right is a new product by Toro, which is an electric blower.  Both these tools are extremely effective with up to about eight inches of snow, and I can clear the drive in about 20 minutes.  If there is more than that, then the big boy comes out - that's the petrol driven snorting beast that will handle up to four feet.  If it's more than that we only have one recourse - S.W.M.B.O*.  She is dynamite with a shovel!  Often as I'm inside with a mug of hot chocolate in my hands I have to admire the way she can clear it away.  It almost makes me feel guilty.

* She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Take Off!

Many thanks to my friend Jim in Pasadena for this wonderful clip of the new F-35B vertical take off tests. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki86x1WKPmE  Naysayers said that it would likely burn holes in the deck or blow seamen into the sea!  Neither of which happened.  When I see this type of thing I'm reminded of a remark a man said to me in New York as I watched the ticker tape parade for the returning astronauts from the moon.  It was my very first visit to America in 1969: "Never underestimate the technological capability of the Untied States!"

Sunday's Column - Zzyzx

I'm sure many of you recognize this sign on the way south out of Baker on the way to Barstow.  Those of you who drive to Las Vegas surely do.  Sadly someone tried to deface the sign and the local authorities have patched it up as best they can.  It's a curious name and it's history is even more curious.  It was a name invented by a Dr. Stringer who was known to want the last word in any argument.  He made this up so he could have the last word in any encyclopedia.  He took the rights for a piece of land to the east of Rte 15 and opened a sort of quack clinic using some of the minerals he mined there.  You can read the entire column here (if The Sun gets its act together and puts it up on the Web site!) www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

Voice Recognition

I ordered a nifty little gadget the other day from an ad on TV.  It wasn't very expensive and the ad promised that not only would they provide the item but they would double the order and also include a fee gift - just pay shipping and handling!  Well, I didn't want two of them and they could keep their free gift, so I was prepared to do a small battle with the rep on the phone.  But I didn't get the chance as it was all done with voice recognition.  Not a human involved in the entire transaction!  Credit card number, mailing address, and all the usual details were handled by the system and once that was done I had to listen to some commercials about other stuff they wanted to sell me.  After a bit I just hung up.  I wonder if the goods will arrive?

Music Track - Mannheim Steamroller

As we're still in the Christmas season this is a great piece by Mannheim Steamroller.  They take their name from a phenomenon in the early 18th century.  The orchestra in Mannheim, Germany developed a crescendo which was known to give the audience goosebumps; it was called the "Mannheim Rocket." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM59HkjuQB4

British Food

One of the most noticeable aspects of our British visit was that the food was really excellent.  No more the warmed-over gray goo that was the norm of our youth.  Back then food was not normally available at pubs, but with the closing of so many, the ones to survive do so by providing food.  And this is really good.

Fish and Chips - still a favorite in the UK, but best bought at a fish and chip shop.

Perhaps the changes started slowly with more and more ethnic food merging into standard British fare.  It began with Chinese restaurants in the late fifties, then with Indian becoming popular in the sixties.  Today there are all kinds of ethnic foods available in the cities and also slowly opening in the smaller towns. 
In the eight days we were there we never had a bad experience.  But take plenty of money as it's not cheap!

Movie # 6

Number six on the "also ran" list is The Ipcress File starring Michael Caine as a sort of anti hero/anti spy, Harry Palmer.  Perhaps the opposite of James  Bond's suave sophisticate, Palmer is lower middle class and makes no excuse for it.  His rank is well beneath that of his handlers who are typical officer class with their bowler hats and rolled umbrellas.  One scene I always liked was when he visits one of these bosses, Colonel Ross, who is snipping the heads off roses in his garden in favor of the weeds.  "Protecting the strong against the weak," was his explanation.  You can read about the movie here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ipcress_File_(film)

Boxing Day

I've been asked by a number of people: "What exactly is Boxing Day?"
One idea of course is that the Brits, who don't have Thanksgiving, only get together on this once a year holiday at Christmas. The relationships have worn so thin that by the day after they get out the boxing gloves! A fine idea, but not the case. 

More likely, and diarist Samuel Pepys mentions it in his 17th century accounts, is that on the day following Christmas the upper classes would hand out Christmas boxes to their staff.  These boxes would contain small amounts of money and occasionally left over food - Yummy! And who said the upper classes lacked generosity!

Coyotes - repeat

There was a wonderful coyote that just ran across the road outside my window.  Seeing this I thought I should write a post on the event and searched the archives to find this one that I wrote a year ago.
As the traffic for the blog has been buiding up with new readers I thought I should repeat the post as it has some merit.  So here for the second time is a piece on these interesting animals.  I hope you like it... 
...I recently wrote a piece in the Sunday column about a wildlife retreat for animals.  One of the animals I met was a wonderful coyote, called Wylie, of course.  He was rescued several years ago, being the only survivor of his pack that had been struck with a bad virus.  The column caused the owners of the preserve a problem with the bureaucrats who handle such things.  They were concerned that people would think that you could tame coyotes and turn them into pets.  This is not possible as like woves they will always be wild.

This is a wild coyote - the picture was taken some time ago by my friend Ann, who lived across the lake in the village of Fawnskin.  He looks fairly tame and in fact Ann used to put the odd scrap out for him, but make no mistake, like his brothers and sisters this is a completely wild animal.

We see quite a few coyotes up here in the mountains.  They regularly trot past my office window on their business, whatever that might be.  I have even seen one in the middle of Village Drive at midday on a Saturday.  They seem completely fearless.

But mostly we hear them with their distinctive howling - it's quite beautiful but very eerie until you get used to it.  They are very crafty too.  They will bring a female in heat around to a loose dog and then corral it when it leaves its safety.  I have seen skeletal remains after such an event.  So as I wrote in a previous post, if you're visiting the mountains with a dog under about 40 ponds, don't let it run around loose, or it could fall victim.  And also remember like everything else living up here, animals are not to be trusted - and that includes many of the two legged kind!