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llywela"Frogspawn homonculous!" I think that is my favourite Mark Antony insult of all time, as featured in the season finale of Rome on BBC2 last night.
Have had a very good but very non-stop busy weekend. Just to be contrary, I shall start at the end and work my way backwards.... This post is probably going to go on for a very long time, but the bulk of it will be behind cuts. Honest.
So. Last night we had our prizegiving service for the Sunday School, preceeded by a little tea party we threw for the children and their parents. This involved several hours of running around getting food ready, setting up, serving tea, wrangling children, talking shop to the parents, washing up and clearing away. Busy times. Then came the service, for which my function was - as usual when the children perform - operating the overhead projector. I also found myself crawling with little girls, who had all decided to come and sit with me. Four from my class - the 7-10 year olds - and a four-year-old named Phoebe, who sat on my lap for the entire service and interrogated me as to the function of every button, lead and mirror on the OHP. Not just idle questioning, mind - she was putting serious thought into it, thinking about my answers and drawing logical progressions in the spirit of true scientific enquiry. She's four. Gonna be an engineer one day, I have no doubt.
The really sad thing is that Phoebe's six-year-old sister has a fairly profound learning disability, and Phoebe at four is already outstripping her by miles.
Anyway. I still think the play was too long and too wordy, but the kids were wonderful. Brought the house down. I'm very proud of them all. Phoebe then fell asleep in my lap, which meant I was stuck, and by then I already had two or three 7-10 year olds doing my hair for me, taking a section each in very democratic fashion. Kept 'em quiet, I s'pose.
Was very glad to go home and collapse in a heap when it was all over.
Moving back in time, Saturday was also a busy day, and divided neatly into two halves, as mentioned previously. There was the tour-guiding around Cardiff Bay, and then in the evening there was the James Marsters gig.
So. Met Ferdy mid-morning, and we made our way down to Cardiff Bay for a spot of sightseeing. First up was a scouting expedition to locate the Point, so we'd know where to go back to for the gig that evening. I knew roughly where it was, but had never been there before so wanted to be sure. Turns out, it's an old converted 19th century church.
Urban decay:
Me in the middle of Roald Dahl Plass; this used to be a damp, mildewed, disused dock, and not that long ago, either.
View of the Millennium Centre
In the afternoon, we took the waterbus across the Bay to spend some time hanging around on the Barrage.
Boats going out of sealock#3 ready to make their way out into the Bristol Channel. It was low tide, which meant that the water level in the Bay was considerably higher than out in the Channel - this part of the Bristol Channel, at the mouth of the River Taff, is the second largest tidal river in the world in terms of how dramatic the rise and fall of the water level is.
Boats sitting in sealock#1 waiting for the water level to equalise so they can continue on into Cardiff Bay. The stripes of yellow paint are, apparently, some kind of massive artwork, which can only be seen properly from one specific position on the Barrage that Ferdy and I never actually found. Find that spot, and all these random stripes of yellow paint suddenly coalesce into an intricate pattern of interlocking and decreasing golden circles, or something like that!
Water starts pouring into the lock, raising the water to the same level as the Bay beyond the gates.
The road lifts into the air to let the boats out of the lock.
The sluice gates letting water out of the Bay - a vital release valve to avoid flooding in the city. Since the barrage was completed in 2000, Cardiff's three rivers have never flooded. During times of extreme rainfall, such as we've had this summer, the sluice gates are locked up tight at high tide, so that the sea water doesn't get into the Bay to raise the water levels higher than the rainfall and swollen rivers already have made it. Then at low tide, the sluice gates are opened, releasing all that excess water into the channel and thus relieving the pressure on those rivers, and preventing flooding. Pretty awesome feat of engineering, methinks.
View southeast across the Bristol Channel - you can just about make out the coast of Somerset on the horizon. Check out that November-ish sky!
View westward, looking at Penarth Head.
West again: the islands of Flatholm and Steepholm.
Looking back at the three sealocks and the Bay beyond from the seawall, the southernmost tip of Cardiff Bay.
Water pours into a sealock.
And thus concludes today's tour of Cardiff Bay!
So. Then in the evening, we returned to the Bay, had a cuppa in the Millennium Centre, and then went onto the James Marsters gig at the Point.
The warm-up act, Dan Accio (or however he spells his name). He was a pretty decent performer, who has apparently just scored a record deal despite being told (by the record company) that his songs are too long, too sad and too country.
James Marsters. "It's me!"
Miscellaneous pics of James performing. Shame about the six foot idiots who stood right at the front and got in everyone else's way!
Everyone was surprised when James brought Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto from Torchwood) onstage to perform one song, for which both James and Dan Accio provided backing guitar. Couldn't get a shot of all three, thanks to the six-foot idiots, but did just about get James and Gareth into the same frame once or twice.
James said of his guest spot on Torchwood that it was a lot of fun and involved making new friends who "make me do weird shit. Which I like." Sounds like an interesting episode to look forward to!
Then it was just James for the rest of the evening. Apparently, more than one of the songs had been written here in the city and were being performed for the first time. No idea if that's true or just PR.
The final song was the only cover - a lullaby. Apparently, he sings this to his kids every night since they were babies, so that now, at the ages of 10 and 11, they are so bored of it they fall asleep before the second verse. Should have tried that one on Small...
And finally: the Millennium Centre by night.
Congratulations to anyone who ploughed their way through all of that!
Have had a very good but very non-stop busy weekend. Just to be contrary, I shall start at the end and work my way backwards.... This post is probably going to go on for a very long time, but the bulk of it will be behind cuts. Honest.
So. Last night we had our prizegiving service for the Sunday School, preceeded by a little tea party we threw for the children and their parents. This involved several hours of running around getting food ready, setting up, serving tea, wrangling children, talking shop to the parents, washing up and clearing away. Busy times. Then came the service, for which my function was - as usual when the children perform - operating the overhead projector. I also found myself crawling with little girls, who had all decided to come and sit with me. Four from my class - the 7-10 year olds - and a four-year-old named Phoebe, who sat on my lap for the entire service and interrogated me as to the function of every button, lead and mirror on the OHP. Not just idle questioning, mind - she was putting serious thought into it, thinking about my answers and drawing logical progressions in the spirit of true scientific enquiry. She's four. Gonna be an engineer one day, I have no doubt.
The really sad thing is that Phoebe's six-year-old sister has a fairly profound learning disability, and Phoebe at four is already outstripping her by miles.
Anyway. I still think the play was too long and too wordy, but the kids were wonderful. Brought the house down. I'm very proud of them all. Phoebe then fell asleep in my lap, which meant I was stuck, and by then I already had two or three 7-10 year olds doing my hair for me, taking a section each in very democratic fashion. Kept 'em quiet, I s'pose.
Was very glad to go home and collapse in a heap when it was all over.
Moving back in time, Saturday was also a busy day, and divided neatly into two halves, as mentioned previously. There was the tour-guiding around Cardiff Bay, and then in the evening there was the James Marsters gig.
So. Met Ferdy mid-morning, and we made our way down to Cardiff Bay for a spot of sightseeing. First up was a scouting expedition to locate the Point, so we'd know where to go back to for the gig that evening. I knew roughly where it was, but had never been there before so wanted to be sure. Turns out, it's an old converted 19th century church.
Urban decay:
Me in the middle of Roald Dahl Plass; this used to be a damp, mildewed, disused dock, and not that long ago, either.
View of the Millennium Centre
In the afternoon, we took the waterbus across the Bay to spend some time hanging around on the Barrage.
Boats going out of sealock#3 ready to make their way out into the Bristol Channel. It was low tide, which meant that the water level in the Bay was considerably higher than out in the Channel - this part of the Bristol Channel, at the mouth of the River Taff, is the second largest tidal river in the world in terms of how dramatic the rise and fall of the water level is.
Boats sitting in sealock#1 waiting for the water level to equalise so they can continue on into Cardiff Bay. The stripes of yellow paint are, apparently, some kind of massive artwork, which can only be seen properly from one specific position on the Barrage that Ferdy and I never actually found. Find that spot, and all these random stripes of yellow paint suddenly coalesce into an intricate pattern of interlocking and decreasing golden circles, or something like that!
Water starts pouring into the lock, raising the water to the same level as the Bay beyond the gates.
The road lifts into the air to let the boats out of the lock.
The sluice gates letting water out of the Bay - a vital release valve to avoid flooding in the city. Since the barrage was completed in 2000, Cardiff's three rivers have never flooded. During times of extreme rainfall, such as we've had this summer, the sluice gates are locked up tight at high tide, so that the sea water doesn't get into the Bay to raise the water levels higher than the rainfall and swollen rivers already have made it. Then at low tide, the sluice gates are opened, releasing all that excess water into the channel and thus relieving the pressure on those rivers, and preventing flooding. Pretty awesome feat of engineering, methinks.
View southeast across the Bristol Channel - you can just about make out the coast of Somerset on the horizon. Check out that November-ish sky!
View westward, looking at Penarth Head.
West again: the islands of Flatholm and Steepholm.
Looking back at the three sealocks and the Bay beyond from the seawall, the southernmost tip of Cardiff Bay.
Water pours into a sealock.
And thus concludes today's tour of Cardiff Bay!
So. Then in the evening, we returned to the Bay, had a cuppa in the Millennium Centre, and then went onto the James Marsters gig at the Point.
The warm-up act, Dan Accio (or however he spells his name). He was a pretty decent performer, who has apparently just scored a record deal despite being told (by the record company) that his songs are too long, too sad and too country.
James Marsters. "It's me!"
Miscellaneous pics of James performing. Shame about the six foot idiots who stood right at the front and got in everyone else's way!
Everyone was surprised when James brought Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto from Torchwood) onstage to perform one song, for which both James and Dan Accio provided backing guitar. Couldn't get a shot of all three, thanks to the six-foot idiots, but did just about get James and Gareth into the same frame once or twice.
James said of his guest spot on Torchwood that it was a lot of fun and involved making new friends who "make me do weird shit. Which I like." Sounds like an interesting episode to look forward to!
Then it was just James for the rest of the evening. Apparently, more than one of the songs had been written here in the city and were being performed for the first time. No idea if that's true or just PR.
The final song was the only cover - a lullaby. Apparently, he sings this to his kids every night since they were babies, so that now, at the ages of 10 and 11, they are so bored of it they fall asleep before the second verse. Should have tried that one on Small...
And finally: the Millennium Centre by night.
Congratulations to anyone who ploughed their way through all of that!
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-23 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-24 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-24 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-23 06:54 pm (UTC)James looks immensely sweaty!
Hahaha I think I'd like Phoebe.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-24 06:07 am (UTC)I can stand and stare at the boats going in and out of the sea locks for hours. I'm not sure what it is about them that intrigues me so much. I think partly the engineering, and partly the spirit of comradeship among the boatspeople as they all tie their boats to one another and sit around waiting for the water to equalise.
And Phoebe is a little doll, she really is. Youngest in a family of six, four years old, and she's got more common sense than the rest of them put together!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-23 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-24 06:03 am (UTC)Timing is everything. But the engineering fascinates me, seeing the sheer size of those locks, and how they work! It's the first time I've seen the sluice gates in operation to really understand how they work as a flood defence.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-24 11:04 am (UTC)Oh, I don't know! It's quite reassuring to see that some people know how to do these things! I'm hoping that the temporary flood wall built around the big switching stations at Gloucester will be replaced with a permanent structure, if these things are going to be a feature of our future climate. And perhaps it might cross someone's mind to store flood barriers where they are needed in future!
We have had some brilliant engineers in the past, haven't we? One of my favourite pictures is of Concorde on her last flight flying over the Clifton Suspension Bridge - two brilliant and beautiful pieces of engineering! And I think the Second Severn Crossing is breathtakingly beautiful, especially when it catches the sun at sunset. Good engineering has a beauty all of its own!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 04:18 pm (UTC)LOL, you took good pictures! (Half of the pics that come out of SPN conventions make me shudder.) I hate having tall people in front of me - I'm short so I often have to wriggle around places to be able to see.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 04:32 pm (UTC)The Point is a really good venue! It's small, and yet can hold a decent crowd, has the gorgeous stained glass windows for atmosphere, and Ferdy and I got there early enough to get nice and close to the front. Just not close enough to avoid the six-foot idiots who kept getting in everyone else's way.