The promise of youth - Part One

David Ifon Gower (Leics and England)I'm talking about cricket here. In 1976, when I was a student, I went to see Middlesex vs Leicestershire play at Lord's in the English County Championship. There were few spectators at the ground.I used to bat (badly) left-handed myself, so I was interested to see a stylish young left-handed batsman called David Gower make his first First-class hundred in

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Quality Control

I'm not a regular consumer of preserved eggs, but even if I was, I don't think an assurance that some are "Lead Free" would make me feel better about scoffing them..."Ignorance is bliss" don't cha think ?

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Bring Back Dolly !

The England cricket team were decisively thrashed by the Australians at Headingley in 2 1/2 days. The middle order (Nos. 3,4 & 5) scored 16 runs between them - in two innings.Basil D'Oliveira is no longer around, but when I was a lad, I always felt reassured at the thought that "Dolly's in next ! ".As for the present incumbents, the less said the better. (for Worcs against N'hants, Milton Keynes

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Ashes to Ashes - 1977

Some shots from the 5th Test in 1977 at the Oval (drawn)Tony Greig bowls... Umpire ..Tom Spencer Alan Knott keeping wicket, Rod Marsh batting The other fielders are Graeme Roope (l) and Bob Woolmer (r) - sadly , no longer with us.Batsman is Rick McCosker The one-and-only Geoffrey BoycottTaken on Ilford FP3 with a Practica super TL and photax 500mm lens - as if you cared.Anyhow, the third Ashes

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Hill Fire Season

The weather is usually very dry in late autumn, and hill fires are easily started, either by carelessly-discarded cigarettes or during our Cantonese Chung Yeung "Grave Cleaning" Festival.Burning hillsides are often doused by means of huge buckets, suspended beneath government helicopters. I took this from our rooftop this afternoon. There is a reservoir nearby that the helis use to fill the

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En Zud - Part Two

Fairy PrionIt's good Gary Melville the Captain/Guide was confident about these - all the prions look similar Cape Petrels NZ race australe x 3Antarctic race capense x 1

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En Zud -Part One

Just back from New Zealand, we did three "Ocean Wings" trips at Kaikoura on South Island. The big albatrosses are used to human handouts as you can see here...Salvins Mollymawk -fun to try to get one of these in the FRAME, never mind in focus, from the back of the boat when under way...Wandering (Gibson's) AlbatrossYou can't cling to a camera-and-lens AND a pair of binos AND the handrail so the

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Birding in Bromsgrove

This is our first time, we both have brought our cameras and lens to UK..... and taken wildlife photos in the garden!... the first bird I've used my DSLR in UK....ha ha ha! European Robin and RED ADMIRAL Vanessa atalanta...hope to get some more shots.European Robin

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Would you like to leave us a message!

We don't have a guess book, if you would like to leave us a message,Please free free to do it here by commenting on this message.John & Jemi

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When in Rome...

It's very important to conform to local conditions when travelling. Of course, I try to comply with any reasonable requests. So I was a little perplexed to see THIS on a Hotel Reception Desk in southern Sichuan a few months ago.

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Pipe Dreams

After posting the previous piece about dubious-looking pipe smokers, I looked up "Venturi Pipes" on the eenternet-thingy and discovered that the company that placed the ad in the UK was a subsidiary of an American one, AND someone out there - actually a Dr. Billie Taylor from the United states - has a website devoted to Venturi Pipes in their many manifestations.We have exchanged correspondence

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The Pipe

Here in Tropical South China, the summer is upon us. The late spring migrants of May have gone through, and the resident birds are feeding young and being secretive.NOW is my chance to go "Off Topic". I'd like to start with an advert from the June 1972 edition of "The Cricketer" magazine. I was a loyal subscriber for many years. I've never pretended to be trendy, but even as a fifteen-year-old I

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Website "missing"

Don't ask me about the technical aspects of this, but our John and Jemi website (with our many gripping and informative Trip Reports, links, photos, etc. ) has gone down since about the 18th May.I'll let you know when it is up and "findable" again....

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Merry Christmas & a Grandala New Year!

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