We have finally uploaded our photos of our holiday to South Africa and Namibia over Christmas and new year. They can be found in our photo gallery on this site in the usual place (* Gallery * Family * South Africa / Namibia 2009/2010). This was the first time that the families from both sides got together. Quite a mammoth task considering we have family in Stutterheim, East London, Durban, Cape Town, Windhoek, Newcastle UK and of course London UK.  We also managed to visit friends in the various towns so overall it was a successful holiday.

When I get a chance I will upload some HD Video that we took with our two Panasonic HD cameras. This will take a bit of time as I have to convert the video and then upload.

The Northern Cape and specifically the small town of Kakamas have won an appeal to have one of the preliminary world cup matches played at their grounds. After visiting the pitch, the FIFA officials deliberated for a few hours and eventually agreed that one match would be played at the rural grounds.

The brand new dust bowl outside the small town of Kakamas.

The local council and tribesmen had to prove to the FIFA officials that the pitch was playable on, and that there was enough room for spectators. The pitch is surrounded by a natural bank or bowl (hillside) giving all the potential spectators a wonderful view of the field and players. The pitch has recently been brushed of all rocks and pebbles, so should not trouble the players who are wearing body armour. The local council have promised to rid the area of snakes, scorpions and spiders.

Security fences surround the pitch and bricks mark the centre of the field.

Security of the players has always been the number one concern, but the tribesmen were quick to point out that the ground was surrounded by a fence, which would keep out the troublemakers. (foxes, small rabbits, wild animals etc).

Brand new pitch,  soccer nets and raised spectator seating can be seen in the background.

Mr Ibullsh Itunot, the sports minister for Kakamas said,

We are delighted to be having one of the football world cup games held at our ground.  We have not been told who will be playing here, but the local township are extremely excited at the prospect of having at least one international team playing on our famous “dust bowl” ground. All the big cities in South Africa are spending millions of rands building wonderful stadiums and we are proud to be apart of that world cup fever. We are a small community and this sort of worldwide visibility will put us on the map of the world. Obviously we can’t offer players and spectators the grandeurs that Cape Town, Durban or Johannesburg are offering, but I am sure player/spectator will experience Africa at it’s best.

Looking at the 2010 world cup calendar, it will be the only open air game where the pitch is totally void of any solid structure (concrete walls, stands, seating etc) and it will be the only green stadium. The openness of the pitch will come as a big relief to both players and spectators as temperatures at the ground often reach 35 degrees Celsius or above.

More wild animal will be needed to light up the pitch.

There was a suggestion to play the game at night, but the local tribesman are worried they will not be able to safely manage the players and / or spectators in the dark with only a few choice animals offering the needed light for the game.

Sadly this will be the last weekly top 5 list until Twenty10 as we are on holiday as of Wednesday evening. This weeks website theme is photo, painting and flashy websites.

FocalPop – It’s simple. Photo seekers tell us what they want. Photographers show us their best shots. Seekers buy the photo they like best. – A really clever idea.

PetaPixel – is a blog about photography geared towards tech-savvy digital photographers. Our goal is inform, educate, and inspire in all things related to photography.

Peter Bowen -  is an accomplished graphic designer and professional watercolour artist. His unique style of painting architectural subjects with humorous situations has earned him an international reputation during the last 25 years with much of his work in private collections in Canada, the United States and Great Britain.

I stumbled upon this site by chance after Kerry Wright of wrightaboutnow.com asked me a question about a painting. It wasn’t one of Peter’s, but I am glad I found his site. It’s been extremely interesting reading his posts and seeing his paintings. Having lived in England and travelled the country and visited the sights, Peter captures the true essence of the English coast, towns and villages.

No, he is not my brother (although has the same name, and strangely has visited the same places where my brother was stationed when he worked for Cable & Wireless. His ship was birthed in the harbour in Portland). He and I actually visited this very lighthouse on one very miserable cold windy day.

Andrew Zuckerman: Bird – For a flash site, this bird website is one of the best I’ve seen. I can only say go and visit it. You will not be disappointed. It’s incredible. There are even sounds for most of the birds and videos. So much detail (highly recommended).

Some other sites by Andrew Zuckerman (Wisdom, Creature, Highfalls).

flash thunder – Simply a place for inspirational websites all with that extra something special – whether it be ground breaking navigation, the latest trends, great looking design, or just plain awesomeness…

Basically a very cool site listing a load of flash based websites.

This is scary for anyone who travels frequently by plane!!!!

Actual crack in a US Airways DC-9 window frame!

Fliers beware of the sub standard maintenance on the airplanes that you fly on.

This is an actual crack that was found in the window frame on a DC-9.

I’ll definitely think twice before flying USAir.

One of the benefits of my employment is that I get to visit various cities in Europe once in a while, and this past week it was the turn of Madrid, Spain. I have been to Madrid once before but for only a day and a half and it was very rushed, so this time around Jo and I decided that we would take a few days before the day of my work and enjoy the city and it’s surroundings.

So on Saturday the 4th of July we flew from Gatwick Airport on sleasyjet to Barajas, Madrid. There was the usual pushing and shoving to get the best seat on the plane and the flight was pleasant enough. It took a little under 2 hours to fly to Madrid. Stepping off the plane into the 32 degree heat was a shock to the system, although we were dressed in shorts and t-shirt unlike some idiots in jeans and jerseys.

We took the Metro from Barajas airport to our hotel near Arguelles station. The metro system in Madrid is awesome to say the least. The coaches are all air conditioned and the stations are large and open with very clear signs and markings that are easy to read and understand. London Underground or TFL should visit Madrid and learn from them. The metro was also dirt cheap and cost us €1 from the airport to our hotel. We ended up buying a 5 day travel card for €17, which allowed us on all busses and trains throughout Madrid. One thing we noticed was there was little or no advertising in the stations or on the trains. A nice change from London underground.

Our hotel ‘Husa Moncloa’ was located in the cosmopolitan area on the west side of the city, within walking distance from the cultural attractions such as the Royal Palace, Opera House, and Plaza Mayor. There are two Metro stations on either side of the hotel (Arguelles and Monclao). There were also plenty of bars and restaurants within a couple of meters of the door. The area is known for it’s shopping, and every high street branded shop was within walking distance of the hotel. Our room was on the seventh floor and was nice and large. The bed was ridiculously big (our cats would have loved all the space). The hotel had everything one would need including an indoor swimming pool, gym and sauna.

On Sunday we discovered by chance that there was a theme park at Batan, two stops from our hotel and being rollercoaster nutters decided it would be better to spend the day there than walk around the city in the heat. The theme park is very similar to Alton Towers, although has more water rides and more roller coasters. It was the ideal place to test out our Panasonic Lumix FT1 digital camera, since its a rugged, dustproof, waterproof and a shockproof camera. As you can see by the photos and videos it worked like a charm. We also took along our Gorillapod stand and used it at every opportunity. Every photo that has the two of us together, is thanks to the Gorillapod.

I’ll say one thing about the Panasonic Lumix FT1, it takes awesome video in either AVCHD format or Motion JPG and the fact that the camera was shockproof and waterproof just added to the fun factor because we could take the camera along on every ride.

Here is a video of us on the Tarantula Rollercoaster with a bit of screaming and swearing added for extra entertainment.

Here is a great review on the Panasonic  Lumix FT1 – It compares about 6 other rugged, all weather cameras. It is a very detailed, comprehensive review and you’ll see why I like the Panasonic.

It’s been a while since the last post, and that is because there has been a lot going on in the Bowen household for the past couple of weeks. My brother Peter was here for a week from South Africa, and last week was extremely busy with work and various client upgrades including one in Paris on Thursday and Friday.

Of course we also had all that snow which brought London and the rest of the country to it’s knees (so much for a 1st world country we live in and they can’t even cope with a little snow). The snow was so bad (chuckle chuckle) that it stopped the entire rail and bus network in London. In fact all the roads around our area were totally snowed up because the council didn’t think that it was necessary to grit the roads. Anyway it was a good week of snow. We built two big snowmen in our garden, which was good fun. Apparently the most snow in 18 years, so it was good to see it.

That is not to say I have not being updating this web site. I recently replaced my Nokia N95 for a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touch phone. Yes, I finally took the leap and ditched my Nokia N95 for a touch screen phone and as I have promised to my many fans, it would NOT be a crappy iPhone. So that bet of £1000 to whoever saw me with an iPhone is quite safe.

The phone is pretty awesome and I am slowly coming to terms with it’s functions. I have devoted an entire page to this phone and you can find it at the top under the heading 5800.

We have also been very busy planning our next holiday (a snowboarding week in Samoens, France). We have decided to drive there, a 630 mile trip, so we can see France, rather than fly over it and see just clouds. It’s quite a mammoth road trip, which we are going to do in two parts. We have arranged almost everything online (snowboards, accomadation, ski passes, ferry etc). Driving there means we will have to adhere to the French rules of the road and in France they insist that if the roads are covered in snow then one must snow chains for the wheels, so we have had to purchase some. I never driven with snow chains so this is going to be quite exciting.

Job Description:

• Live on an island that is warm all year round
• Feed the fish
• Clean the pool
• Collect the mail

Pay Package:

Australian Dollar $150,000 (£68000) for the six-month contract.

Other Benefits:

• return airfares from your nearest capital city (in your home country),
• accommodation and transport on Hamilton Island,
• travel insurance for the contract period,
• computer, internet, digital video and stills cameras access,
• plus travel to a number of the other Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.

Start Date:

Contract commences 1st July 2009.

Sounds £#$*ing  incredible!

Check out the best job in the world website and download the job description if you are interested. You’ve got 41 days before they close applications.

On the train home one couldn’t help but notice that yobs had used a black and red marker pen and had gone to town defacing the train with slogans, logos, and telephone numbers.

To make matters worse, they didn’t just write on the back of chairs, they also chose to write on every window in the carriage, on the ceiling, below the information board, above the door… basically where ever there was a bit of space.

It just beggars belief that someone could stoop so low and destroy property that is there to service normal, hardworking people to and from work. It’s very sad that someone has a child out there that cares so little for the property of others.

If only our laws were alot stricter and punishment was a lot more severe for these hooligans.

Why is it that the government is blinded by all the problems and have no answers or solutions?

Bring back corporal punishment, public lashing, or compulsory army for youngsters who break the law. We need to make these hooligans stop and think before they damage and wreck property. I would even go one step further and say, if kids are caught graffitting trains, walls and buildings that the authorities do what they do in other countries (Chop off their hands). That will soon stop all these problems. We need more severe punishment or these problems will never go away. 

As crazy as that might read, it’s actually very simple to do and will cost you very little money, (unless of course your waterproof bag breaks and leaks, and @#%$’s up your expensive phone), in which case, "you try anything I have said at your own risk". Just make sure you buy the right bag. I bought mine on the flight over to Mexico. It was in the duty free catalog, and was selling for £15. In the box were three vacuum sealed bags, each with three seals on each bag. One bag was for a clam phone, another for a mini camera, and the third bag was for an iPod. It even came with waterproof headphones. A jolly good idea. Please note: Even though the camera bag is meant for a mini camera, a camera with a lense would easily break, because there is not much scope for the extending lense, but for the Nokia N95 it was perfect, because the lense does not extend. You do get bigger bags, but I can’t imagine it being very practical. It would be better to stick with a proper camera housing then with seals. For a test subject, I placed a tissue in the bag and sealed it. I then held it underwater in the bath. A few bubbles released, which I read were correct, and after a few minutes was pleasantly surprised. No leaks what so ever. It is actually very clever the way the bag seals and then folds over each other. There is a black plastic sheath that goes over the seals and it has some plastic yellow clips to secure it in place. The bag also has a strap which can be tightened or loosened as need be. The bag also floats, which is an extra bonus. So as mentioned above I tested the bag with my Nokia N95 inside, at a place called Xel-ha in Mexico. Xel-ha has the most spectacular natural aquarium of the world. It’s a large natural salt water inlet, and you are encouraged to snorkel and use a tube to paddle around the bay. There are tons of fish where ever you swim, and being in the Caribbean, the water is warm. It’s impossible to get cold. I took loads of photos with my phone in the bag, while in the water and it was incredible knowing i had a good camera around my neck, rather than one of those ‘cheap and nasty box, use-once and then throw away’ cameras that the shops sell for a killing. I didn’t just use it above water, underwater it worked just as well. Bear in mind this is a photo through the transparent plastic. No bad at all. Nothing wrong with those colours. (These photos have been resized for the web site). I didn’t just take photos. No way oze! The Nokia N95 has an excellent video camera on board, and because the bag was transparent and flexible, it was very easy to use the phone in the water, so I just flicked over to the video mode and shot loads of video as well (with sound). I had an 8GB SDHC card in the phone, which meant I could take over 2 hours worth of video. The web site or email video mode is sufficient as you will see, and about 2 or 3 minutes worth of video takes up about 4MB. High quality mode, which is viewable on a TV takes up about 21MB for every 3 or 4 minutes give or take, so you can take a lot of video if you have the right card. I had over 4GB’s of music on the phone as well, so it wasn’t a problem for me. Below are some videos that I took with the Nokia N95. They are also on Youtube.com if you’re interested. (Just search for Lookatbowen or ‘Nokia N95 Underwater’. Everyone out there on the bridge or in the water was extremely jealous that I had this camera bag, and some were even more surprised to see me with a Nokia phone in the water. The dumb founded stares were quite funny. So many people asked me where they could buy the bag from. If only I had a salesman brain, I would have bought the entire stock on the plane (Next time!!!). Finally I would definitely recommend this product. There are various sites selling these bags online. You can do the searches yourself. I am not giving them a free advert. Although be careful, as I have seen a few US sites selling them separately for ridiculous prices. I got everything (camera bag, ipod bag with waterproof earphones & clam phone bag) for £15 or $30. Mike

We had quite an eventful weekend for a change thanks to "friends of the family" who were in London for the day. We did what every person does when family or friends visit London…. became a TOURIST and I will tell you we had the time of our lives. We hopped onto The Bus Company tourist bus that does various routes around London, and braved the bitterly cold weather at the back of the bus. Not often one catches some rare naval tradition, but while we were looking for a pub near the Tower of London, we caught sight of a group of naval cadets marching from the frigate HMS Westminster. They were bringing a barrel of rum to the Tower of London. Read all about it below.

Navy revives rum tradition Sailors from a Royal Navy frigate visiting her home city will today revive a centuries old tradition by delivering a barrel of rum to the Tower of London. The rum is a present from captain and crew of HMS Westminster to the Constable of the Tower in exchange for the protection of the Tower of London’s guns. The Type 23 frigate is berthed alongside HMS Belfast, and during her stay in the capital will host visits from groups including Brent-based Sea Horses Sailing Club, Thames Clippers, and sea cadets from Gravesend, Sheppey and Medway. Westminster has recently has undergone an intensive period of essential maintenance and training in preparation for a six month deployment early next year. Race of Champions On Sunday we went to Wembley to watch the Race of Champions. Since England did so badly in the football, they decided to turn the "hallowed turf" into a mini race track. It was pretty damn awesome!. They had eight teams from different parts of the world competing against each, and there were many famous drivers from the Formula 1 and Rally Champions most notably seven times world champion Michael Schumacher. He reached the final by beating poor old Jenson Button (who should give up racing anything on 4 wheels, because he is what Tim Henman is for tennis – USELESS). Schummie beat the lap record a couple times, but Mattias Ekstrom was too good for him on the night. He won ROC for the 2nd year in a row. Note: I will add the rest of the photos to our gallery in the coming days.