Meanderings Archives - Page 4 of 6

the folk of Graciosa

I thought I should share with you some of the images I took on the island during the day trip and in this case I will show you the people I saw on Sunday morning.

As we got off the ferry we were welcomed by this old dude with his traditional Canarian hat.

On the island there are only a few cars and so most imports are transported by wheelbarrow.

Child crying.

People talking.

Two people sit in silence sharing each others company.

Kid plays with a bottle which has been dropped by the baby in the buggy.

Old guy who I guess is Grandpa takes the two brothers for a walk.

Girl sits by her dog.

Man taking his barrow to the harbour for some goods.

Two women gossip outside the church.

April 20, 2010/0 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Travel

Drama on The Devil’s island

On Sunday I was having a coffee with Alec before he left for
the UK.

Alec is a Cornishman who, back in the day, surfed a 14ft
wooden long-board, when long-boards were the fashion and not because of the
retro calling for them. Alec loves
diving and has made great strides in his progression from being a non-diver to
being able to dive at 18 meters, controlling his buoyancy. He comes to Lanzarote and Calypso Diving in
particular whenever the urge to submerge overcomes his spirit.

After the coffee, we took the air, which was blowing hard
and we watched the surfers for a while.

The wind was pretty strong and the sea was rough.

Alec noticed that one surfer was not doing too well. I did not see what the problem was.

Then I saw the lifeguards running towards and passed
us. I gave chase on my cycle following
them around the coast line past the lagoon with the breakwater and around to
the next beach.

I followed them onto some outlying rocks and could see the
same windsurfer sitting astride his board.
He looked exhausted.

The lifeguards and local police, who had arrived on the
scene, were remonstrating for the windsurfer to steer into an inlet to the
sandy beach between the rocks.

The guy could do nothing.

The lifeguards radioed for a helicopter. Moments later the helicopter came.

They dropped a rescuer into the water before winching both
the victim and rescuer up to safety.

A lifeboat was also scrambled from Arrecife, which
attended to retrieve the windsurf board and sail.

Back on dry land the man was offered an Ambulance but
refused. His details were taken by the
local police and ambulance service before he walked off with friends.

The helicopter flew back to base.

The lifeguard gave a statement to me saying the victim is a
local man with many years experience as a surfer, but he was not able to
confirm the reason for the accident.

I stopped in at the surf rental shop on the beach and
enquired there. I was told that the
reason the man could not steer was because his sail had lost tension. Windsurf sails are tensioned at two
points. One point is referred to as the
'outhaul' which attached to a grommet at the 'clew'(the rear corner to which
the boom is attached). In this guys
case, his outhaul had snapped and he was spilling wind, unable to steer.

The reason so many resources were thrown at the rescue is
because had the windsurfer been blown any further down the coast he could very
well have been swept out to sea and toward Africa.

Nothing but drama on what is sometimes referred to as ‘The
Devil’s Island’.

April 8, 2010/0 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Scuba

fields of garden eels

Arriving early at work, today was spent doing two dives.

Two former members of the dive school staff, Marina and Jason joined us. Jason is a qualified instructor and Marina worked as a Divemaster.

Back in the UK Jason now works as a forester and Marina works in catering.

Jason spoke to me about the effects of Red Band Needle Blight, a tree disease that is decimating the Corsican pine stocks. Scots pine is as yet not so severely affected.

We also spoke about Sudden Oak Death and the growing experiments in the UK using Eucalyptus for bio fuels. dead interesting!

In the morning I was 'buddied' with Dave who comes out here to Lanzarote diving and leaves his kit on the island between trips. In the Afternoon I was with Stephen who I have mentioned before works with flight simulators.

Both dives were at Peurto del Carmen.

Although I saw dozens of fish, the new creatures of the day included
fields of garden eels, poking their bodies out of their holes like
periscopes, their heads turned into the current.

Later I saw dozens of angel hair anemone, beautiful white delicate looking animals.

The afternoons dive was along the harbour wall and provided a close encounter with a cuttle fish, and still more sea cucumbers (which now I want to touch). On the way back to the harbour stairs to exit the dive site, an angel sharks outline was spotted by Simon, the instructor/dive guide.

Simon carefully wafted some sand from the back of the shark and we were invited to stroke its pectoral fin. The skin was rough like sandpaper.

I have been pretty tired today. Not sure whether it is the heat, diving every day, the cycling or what. I am eating well and sleeping just fine. I will monitor the situation and report back.

March 26, 2010/0 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Travel

The day I bought a bike

Today i bought a bike from Babs.

She had offered to rent it to me for €12 per week. I said I would think about it. I already knew that the bike was for sale for €100, I ate my sandwiches for lunch and when I had nearly finished, agreed to buy it from her.

We went down the road to a cycle hire shop, where I met Bab’s partner (who is a tri-athlete and takes part in Iron Man competitions), his sister and her boyfriend, who agreed to pump the tyres up.

The place is cool and new bikes are being built to add to the hire stock.

Whilst there I drank a cup of cold tea from Babs' best Denby pottery mug (which she was most put out about). There too good for the bike store. My sister uses Denby and so I can see why if she saw her mugs being used at the Castle she works in, she too would blow a gasket.

Later in the day, it was presumed that I would no longer need my lift to and from work.

I thought about it, and not really knowing where I am or where I live in relation to anywhere else, I asked if I might continue with the pick-ups until I get my bearing. The bike after all was simply to buy emancipation from either the feeling of living under house arrest (which happens whenever I can't drive somewhere) or the idea that my actions have to comply to another persons timetable.

It was agreed that I should drop the bike in the van and get a lift.

After I got back home, I ate, had a bath (falling asleep for about 15 minutes) and got dressed for cycling.

Aside from an afternoon jaunt in 2005 in Paris, following Fni's brother in law around some beautiful chateau filled suburbs, I have not ridden a push bike since 1997.

I bought a bike once after thinking that cycling from Bromley to Stockwell in London would be quicker that driving or 'queuing' in the rush hour traffic. I remember I got as far as Lewisham before I actually died.

That bike was never ridden again.

Anyway back to the story.

I got the bike out of the front gate faced the town, and if I tell you that I peddled twenty times, I would be exaggerating. It was all down hill and takes about 10 minutes, door to door. Good news for getting to work then!

I cycled all around the town in all directions for about 45 minutes, before getting a bit bored.

Whilst receiving a call on my new Lanzmob, I tried to cycle down some stairs and speak with one hand at the same time, which if you have not cycled for some time is a bad idea.

I stopped for a bear at the Beach Bar, a nice place overlooking the beach, where the bar staff were friendly enough.

Then I cycled home. My bicycle has 27 gears. I know this because I think I used all of them at varying times to get home. I confess that I walked up the slip road adjoining the by-pass, but am pleased to say that the rest of the way, I proceeded under peddle power.

So, lift to work tomorrow, and probably from then on I will cycle on my own.

Hoorah for the feeling of liberation!

March 23, 2010/0 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Travel

Today I got off the merry-go-round

Today I got off the Merry-go-round.

It was pretty tense in the morning and time just flew away with itself. A zillion little loose ends, just not done.

My late Dad's wife who from now I will refer to as 'Fni' has been so supportive; being the primary enabler of change, helping, encouraging with advice and guidance. Although Susan and my sister broke the back of the house sorting, without the help of Fni since I went a bit bonkers following a family wedding last September, it is difficult to concieve where I would be.

Anyhow, no more of this sicophantic credit giving, I hear you cry!!

Gatwick South was an experience with a lighter I carried, causing much constenation and resulting in my being searched and ion tested.

Flight was good and I was sandwiched between two really charming people 'Jenny' and 'Julia'.

Jenny had been to other Canary Islands before and Julia has been coming to Lanzarote for 20 years. I got on with them both and the 4-hour flight went very fast.

Lanzarote airport is a reasonable size, somewhere between Stanstead and Manston.

I wandered through the airport and called my new boss, Patrick. It was agreed that he would pick me up from the front of the airport.

And so I waited for 5-minutes.

March 21, 2010/1 Comment/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Politics

Susan Winehouse

My smoking experiment seems to be going well and I can now inhale without choking.

Of late a friends grown-up daughter has been popping round. Ernest Winehouse' daughter, Susan, has been popping round. A month or so ago Ernest, a Conservative called my house as asked me on behalf of he and his wife to attend a dinner at their waterside home.

I asked if he was ok, and he was reassuring that he had 'no difficult questions'.

When I arrived I was shown by 'Mother' (a lovely woman) who, on passing an open door from the hall, mentioned that their daughter Susan is cooking.

Then Susan entered my life.

She spoke of far off lands, adventures on beaches with turtle shells, creating pearl jewellery and meeting all kinds of strange and wonderful people.

As it happens Susan is not at all hard on the eye, and has a charisma to bring soul to any dinner of any political persuasion; probably even any dinner, politics excluded.

Susan also had stories!! Stories of people dying having given their life to explore. Amazing!

This is not to say that Conservatives are dull, but very often people from the same party in the same Town will share opinions on what is the best way to resolve an issue, notwithstanding their political hue. This can sometimes result in a lot of dancing around handbags with all parties saying "Your not wrong there" or simply "Yes". This does not make for a great chat.

I have always found Ernest to be easy to get on with and easy to agree with, but during this dinner, it was special. He spoke about how he met Mother and how they moved from land to land, before settling where they are now. Conversation moved across continents and anecdotes were shared. It was a good evening in fine company.

A week or so later and I was invited to The Sun Inn in West Street by Susan. It is a really nice pub. Although a lot of the character was ripped or covered when the antique and retro posters were removed or hidden, it is still the best pub.

This was significant since I had not been their since my mate and I saw my lost love there some months back.

I met Susan who proved herself to be individually an interesting conversationalist. She was entertaining, lively and witty. During this time I was called by my old mate and later in the evening, we three met up to continue drinking at home. It was during this evening that I finally decided to start my social smoking.

Anyhow to cut a long story short, Susan has been around my house several times to help purge it of all its nonsense. I went out to see my Nan, whilst my sis, Susan and my late dad's wife bagged up and removed 22 bags of stuff which was later taken to the tip.

Over that weekend (last week end) I had an impromptu gathering where I got very, very drunk to the point of oblivion.

I am assured that nothing too outrageous occurred.

At this point its worth pointing out that without the assistance of the three mentioned above, I know that my house would not have been in the condition it was for the people to move in.

In recognition for her contribution to my home, Susan was rewarded with what she said she wanted the most (…but that is another story).

Susan remains a good pal to whom I am indebted.

March 20, 2010/0 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Music, Scuba, Travel

I wrote to razor but he did not write back

I sent a letter to Razor care of the Sheppy Prison Cluster the week before last. I enclosed his glasses and asked if he could complete a visitor order, which I now know is the protocol. To date I have heard nothing back anf my time here in the UK is running out.

I fly to Lanzarote on Sunday morning to start my Scuba internship with Calypso Diving.

I don't think I am to get my guitar or hat back which is a shame.

Over the last week my house has had a makeover, with assistance being provided by dad's wife, my sister and a new vagabond pal, who has made her way around Africa and South America over the last seven years. All have worked really hard to clear out my gaff.

Ultimately six boxes of precious things made their way into the attic, whilst 22 black bags of belongings (from downstairs alone) were taken to the tip.

I loved the hat for all it and its feather symbolized which I have already described to you in previous articles. I also loved the guitar, remembering Loz, Christina and others playing it in the Petts Wood House after mum died when I got drunk for a week, following Loz's dad's wedding.

The guitar also brings memories of Dave singing 'the Duck song' and the only song anyone has ever written about me, 'Lloyd stole my midget' – brilliant!

It is concluded by all and agreed by me (the rational side of my personality anyhow) that I do have some 'letting go issues'. "What's wrong with that?" my alter ego screams inside my head?

Maybe the hat and guitar are just two examples of this and maybe its karma that 'Razor the hat thief' does not write back, maybe without the prompts I my memories need to be relied upon more for what they are – glorious memories, whilst life moves on.

March 18, 2010/0 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings

They love me in here

Not so long after I posted about the dude stealing my hat, I
decided that enough was enough. I
decided to report him to the law and hope that with the fuzz involved my guitar
and hat might find their way home. I had
left three weeks since the guitar was ‘borrowed’ for an hour and never
returned, reason enough I think to report a crime.

During that time I had been to Canterbury several times and spoken to all the homless guys I knew to see if they could help me. They couldn't.

I telephoned the Kent Police central call centre and
reported it as a 'non-urgent incident' and was given an incident number.

The on waking the following morning, what should I find on
my door mat but a letter from Elmley Prison.
A letter from the guitar carrying, hat wearing thief himself! Razor had been nicked and sent to jail.

In the letter Razor spoke about his need for some reading
glasses (accounting for his terrible scrawl), the fact that my guitar is in
safe hands and asked that I check his email.
In his letter he does not mention the hat!

For a guy who I have only met a few times, and as someone who
has had the audacity to steal from me under my nose. He has some serious gall.

The following a just a few quotes from his four page letter.

“Now hear this, ***** **** is innocent!”

“Listen up good!”

“It would be beyond fab if you could print out the last 20
emails I have and bring ‘em in”

“They love me in here! Why wouldn’t they? Hope to see you next week!”

Ok, so I think about the situation. I have less that three weeks till the
off. My guitar and hat are gone and if I
comply with his requests, there is some slim chance I might get either or both
back.

Having not done this sort of thing before, I look on the
internet to see if there are processes to visit a prisoner. I get through to the visitor centre. The first question I am asked is “Prisoner
reference please”.

I don’t have a prisoner reference. I suspect that I don’t even have his real
name. They can’t help.

I put the phone down and reflect on how close I could have
come to meeting the hat thief.

The following day at about 6pm, I received a call from a PC
who was investigating the incident. I
told him about the letter and my wanting to visit Razor in the nick. I explain that I am having real trouble since
I do not have his prisoner number or real name.

The PC said, hold on, and seconds later was reading out to
me “K******h H*********l H**7”

I could not believe my luck.
I had the name, number and prison.
I would try the visitors centre again.

The following morning I called the visitors centre which was
engaged. I tried throughout the day and
constantly it was busy. I tried again
the next day, and the next, and the next.

Finally I decided to write to Razor.

I thought I should include a sweetener so I popped into
Superdrug this morning to buy the reading glasses Razor requested. For a host of irrelevant reasons I explained
to the checkout that I was buying them for a guy who stole my guitar and
hat. The woman asked if it was a local
man. I said Razors name. Immediatly she
said that she knew his name and that in the staff room there is a picture of
him hanging up for all the staff to see.

He is a confidence
trickster who will have his hair cut and then refuse to pay, or eat in a
restaurant and walk out before paying.
Kent Police have in fact gone to a host of businesses in the area and
warned them and this guy. I could not
help but reflect on the fact that I was one guitar and one hat down. No one had
warned me.

I included in with my letter the set of reading glasses, and
encouraged him to try and arrange my visit from his end.

I posted the letter this afternoon. I really hope that this guy is telling the
truth and that my guitar is in safe hands.
I also hope that he knows there whereabouts of my hat.

We’ll see.

March 9, 2010/3 Comments/by LloydHM

Faith, Food and Drink, Meanderings

Monopoly

The other day I went to friends for dinner. They live about
25 minutes drive from Faversham in a place close to the middle of nowhere
occupying an old water mill. The setting
is idyllic and their family beautiful, with three generations sitting around the
table eating wholesome food (including an apple and blackberry pie that tasted
like my grandmother used to make it).

The family share a strong faith bond as Jehovah
Witnesses (JW). Although prayer was said
before dinner, at no time was I, as a non-Witness coerced or evangelised
to.

Sure, reference was made to faith and religion in regard to
conversation we had, but only insofar as when I made explicit reference to me
not knowing something or when discussing issues of relevance to the common
place conversations that take place over lots of tables up and down the country
whether about current affairs, the economy, or global politics or modern
morality.

For my part, I feel privileged to have been invited into
this family’s home as a non-Witness and been so wholeheartedly welcomed and
included in spite of any contamination my non-believing status might otherwise
imply to some parts of the Witness community.

I suppose I have laboured this point because I really do
want to stress that in ignorance and based on prejudice, I have heard things
about JW’s which might make one initially steer clear.
The actions of this family have made me question any shadow of prejudices existing in my mind and
confront my ignorance head-on. They are good
people in spite of or because of their faith.
If it is because of their faith, then they are ambassadors for it. Ultimately what matters to me is that they
are just good and my life is richer for knowing them.

Anyhow back to the point of this article.

I am not sure about you but our family used to play a lot of
Monopoly when I was a child. We used to
play to our own rules and games used to go on for weeks as a result. I used to cheat and when very young cry if I
was not enabled to poses Mayfair and Park Lane from the word go.

In fact in the most recent game I played with my sister and
little nephew last year much consternation was achieved when (without knowing the rules
regarding jail), I sold my nephew a get out of jail free card for £350. Later in the same game, I was sent to jail
and after reading the rules, I paid £50 to come out.

Again, back to the point.

As I arrived at my friend’s house a game of Monopoly was in
hand. It was too late for me to play in
my own name, so I partnered with one of the players.

The man of the house sat in the armchair, not playing but
engaged in the game nonetheless. He effectively
acted as referee and knew the rules of monopoly backwards. The game observed the rules unwaveringly
until, in the end, there was only one winner.

On reflection, playing the game to the rules means a more
dynamic game. It was fast and tough. I want to play the swift way from here on.

From now on as a result of the visit I will endeavour to
play to the rules, as far as Monopoly is concerned.

March 7, 2010/2 Comments/by LloydHM

Meanderings, Smoking

The nature of epidemics

Quite recently I had the opportunity to listen to an audio book:

Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is brilliant and as a result I have recently added it to my Gullbad Bazar.

Read by the author, the book tries to demonstrate the nature of epidemics; of ideas, of messages, of diseases and of behaviour.

It does this very successfully in my opinion, drawing upon a broad collection of academic research, news stories, historical fact and cleverly illustrates how small things can make a big difference, often without planning or overt reason.

Later in the book it discusses the trend in youth smoking and the nature of smoking itself.

One interesting fact I learnt is that smokers typically over estimate the average number of years lost from their life as a result of smoking. They commonly believe all of the anti smoking adverse health related literature and say things like 15 or 20 years will be lost.

The truth is that only 6 years on average are lost from a smokers life. I say 'only' a little tongue in cheek and a large hint of irony. How much would I give to spend six more years with Dad?

After listening to the author I have discussed smoking with several people and finally decided that as a means of facilitating better relationships whilst travelling, to assist in sharing stories and better relating to people, I will learn to smoke.

'The dying habit' is though a contentious issue for me since so recently dad passed away, having been a smoker all his life. I am sure were they alive, neither Mum nor Dad would approve; but they are not alive.

In any event, I am an adult and have no intention of habitually smoking, purely to use fags as a means of striking up more conversations with more people with a view of making more friends.

My mate is coming round this evening to teach me how to roll a fag properly.

NOTE: In order that this article is 'balanced' please see information here: http://qwitter.tobaccofreeflorida.com/#content regarding help to quit smoking.

March 3, 2010/2 Comments/by LloydHM