Exploring the grottos

From Benagil beach we took a boat tour of the caves and grottos on the coast of the Algarve. This was a beautiful experience. We were the only ones in the small boat and the captain took us in as many caves as possible. We also got the chance to see the coastline from the ocean; a stunning sight. Here are a few of the pics (two are courtesy of Jamie).

Capela dos Ossos

One of the must-sees we had for our trip to Portugal was to visit the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) in the Igreja do Carmo in Faro. "Stop here and think of the fate that will befall you" is the translation of the inscription above the door and you can't help but do this, with an entire chapel decorated with the bones of the monks from the nearby cemetery. It's not the only bones chapel in the country, or even in the world, but it will stick with me for many years to come. Here are a few of the pics.

Just in from the Algarve

We just returned from our week in Benagil in the Algarve region of Portugal. We had a great time, a fab mix of beaches, pools, eating and seeing the local sites. I'm still unpacking but will blog the highlights as I return to reality. Just as a taster, here's Bailey in the ocean at Benagil beach.

Organising information

ALS clued me in on a website offering a demo of The Open Library. It looks cools; can it do what it promises?

It made me think it was a good idea to share some other good resource organisation sites...

LibraryThing: Catalogue your entire personal collection!

British Library Integrated Catalogue: Find the bibliographic details on all your titles.

Collections Link, Preserve Library and Archive Materials: This practical advice will walk you through any preservation issues.

The Dewey Blog: Stay up to date with what's up at OCLC. This is the best way to stay on the good side of OCLC; you don't want to get treated like The Library Hotel in NYC (doesn't this make you want to stay there?).

(great photo courtesy of http://www.librarian.net/tag/books)

Daphne du Maurier, revisited

It's the centenary of Daphne du Maurier's birth and there has been some coverage of her work in the media (in my life, mostly Radio 4). In the past, she's been looked upon by some as lightweight and I wrongly got caught up in this way of thinking, without ever reading her. This changed for me this year, when I read the short story And his letters grew colder. Give it a read and see what you think.

Making the most of 3 days in London

We just returned from three days in London with amazing Mary. We hadn't seen her since January 2005, so getting to catch up with her was fab. Getting to make the most of being in London was fun too and here's a list of our adventures...

The renovated Brunswick Centre: This place used to be pretty grim and mostly avoided, except for the Renoir Cinema. The transformation is amazing and we made the most by enjoying the good vibes and participating in a kiddie cooking session at HOB (she made a delicious pineapple lassi).

Pollock's Toy Museum: Although this place has seen better days, it was sort of charming in a falling-apart way and the toy shop was really well stocked for the toddler demographic.

London Zoo: It was busy with lots of school children but all were very well behaved. Bailey enjoyed all the animals and we finished the visit with a canal boat trip to Camden.

Camden Town: We enjoyed some of the tamest shops and the general good feeling you get from hanging out near the lock and the Pirate Castle.

Soho Square: It's always a fab place to sit on the grass, people watch, and think about it all. We also visited St Patrick's and lit candles for loved ones, and followed the Hare Krishna singers who start their walk outside the Radha Krishna Temple on Soho Street.

Big Ben: Bailey calls the tower Old Ben and it is a must-see of Bailey's each time we're in the city.

St James's Park: We made the most of the children's playground and the great views of Buckingham Palace. We followed this up with lunch at Pret a Manger and a bus ride up Piccadilly.

Bedford Square: Mary's flat is on Gower Street so we ended up passing through Bedford Square along several journeys and got to see some fascinating sculpture.

Bailey didn't want to leave. Neither did I.

A perfect match!

The urban beach! A place to enjoy the glories of summer and then go to the closest museum for an art break. Well done, Berlin, for starting it all.

Understanding Northern-ness

Check out this new degree from Leeds Metropolitian University. I wonder if you get any credit for real life experience...

Let the holiday begin

My holiday starts today. I've got almost five weeks off work and some adventures planned, like a few days in WC1 with Mary, a week in Portugal with Jamie and Ms Faye, and a road trip with Alda.

Tracking the entire world?

I stumbled across the NNDB website this morning and found their tagline intriguing. It looks like a pop culture DNB mixed with some goss; I think I like it.

Hydration

Being a bottled water drinker myself (or Britta water at home; it's got to be filtered in our area because the water is so hard), I'm aware of the environmental implications of empty water bottles all over the planet. I love the recent trent (in the US, it seems) of restaurants serving only tap water; no bottled is even available. I'm sure water companies are struggling to think of the next big fad; is this it?

Live Earth commentary

As readers of the blog will know, we didn't get tickets for Live Earth at Wembley but we did watch some of it last night (recorded, thanks to Sky Plus). Being a Duran Duran fan, I watched their set carefully, and saw John Taylor wearing a chest-baring shirt completely inappropriate for someone his age (actually, inappropriate for anyone but male strippers at work). What was he thinking? I fancied him like mad when I was a teen but as a 37 year-old I couldn't even look at him performing in such a ridiculous shirt.

There's a lot to be said for going urbane as you age, like the ultimate role model Bryan Ferry.

Spin King

Yesterday former press secretary Alistair Campbell's diaries hit the bookshops. I heard him interviewed on Radio 4 at 8:10AM and it was so riveting, I was late to work because I was sitting in my car trying to hear it all before I ran into the library (I was unsuccessful, by the way...didn't hear the end of the interview AND was late to work). Bottom line is he got called in to account for creating the spin way of politics and for being a liar. He changed the way the public gets our mainstream political news, for the worse I'm afraid, and now I think we're stuck with it.

Yesterday at the church fete

Our church floral fete started yesterday (and continues to 4:00PM today, if anyone can make it) and it was close to a miracle; the rain stopped! It was a beautiful day and we had some good fun in all the stalls. Here is a great pic of our friend Ruth and Bailey, in the art stall (all the pottery on the table was made by Ruth). The age difference between Bailey and Ruth is almost 80 years but as you can see, they are friends.

My other fav pic of the day is of John (very lovely man with a great sense of humour, and he's also a fellow school governor) and Rev Ysmena. I think this shows a reassuring sense of humour on Ysmena's part, for which we are all very grateful. I've also included a pic of the church tower. It was such a pretty day, I had to take the pic.

Weekend wasted hours

I have a confession. There are a handful of websites I simply can't visit because I end up parked there for hours, enjoying everything they have to offer. If you get bored at work (something that hasn't happened to me at WHC; they make you work for your wage packet), give some of these a whirl and, if you get busted, just claim you are doing research ...

Snopes - The urban myth website. It will confirm or deny all the chain e-mails, dubious stories, and hilarious cautionary tales you have ever encountered. Beware of the photo section; I'm still a bit creeped after seeing some of these.

Florida Offender Search - This fantastic search, courtesy of the Florida Department of Corrections, allows you to search for friends and loved ones, and rest easy knowing they aren't on the lam (or have nightmares after seeing their mugshots).

Crime Library - It's all there.

British Library Integrated Catalogue - OK, for the librarians (or librarian lovers) out there, this one is fab. You'll be searching for days and days.

Tube Gossip - This offers snipets of what's been overheard on the Underground. Juicy!

Would anyone like to join in the confession and share their guilty pleasure research sites?

Poetry appreciation

If you're short on time, don't visit the Poetry Archive. It's easy to lose hours at a time exploring their database and listening to the poets. This is good stuff; the historic archive, children's poetry, and the oh-so dreamy Simon Armitage.

The best of France, in England

The Tour de France starts tomorrow, in London! I'm very tempted to linger along the route, to cheer them on...

The Women's Library

One of my fav places in London is The Women's Library. It's the kind of place I could visit every day and probably find something new each time. It's also the place I saw this poster and have held it dear ever since.

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No more wine wars

Please let there be peace in the wine wars. There are plenty of drinkers for every vineyard.

Having trouble finding humility?

Why not try this hilarious website I found today? I can see this being used to as that anonymous e-mail to passive-aggressively prompt someone to apologise for messing up.

Enjoy the fireworks

If you're going low-maintenance this holiday, kick back and enjoy these beautiful fireworks.

Good news (for a change)

Last week I wrote about the difficult situation in the reporting on BBC reporter Alan Johnston. I just looked at BBC news and saw he's been released.

Independence

Happy July 4th, to all my co-patriots. I won't be displaying my patriotism in any other way today than honouring the Puritan work ethic and working in the library. But, in my heart I will be eating hot dogs, swimming in some lovely pool, and watching fireworks all the day through.

Our best July 4th in recent memory was Bailey's first trip to the States, in 2005. We got to see all our family and friends, and Bailey got to see her first proper fireworks with Grammy and Papa at Selby Gardens. Alda and Cynie made a miracle trip from Tallahassee to Sarasota, just to spend some time with us, and we got to have some great fun that day. Here is a photo of Alda, me, Cynie and Bailey, also known as Amish friends, together on 4 July 2005 (photo prop courtesy of the Amish restaurant at Bee Ridge and Cattleman in Sarasota).

There are a lot of fab pics from that trip but this is the best for pure laughs. I even have a print of this framed and on the dresser so I can see it every day.

Staff away day

Yesterday was our annual Learning Centre staff away day. We've been planning it for months, and had the whole day based at Ashridge, including walking, a picnic lunch, rounders and afternoon tea in Aldbury. This idyllic day got nixed due to the continued rain so we ended up doing and egg and spoon race in the Learning Centre (it included having to take books off the shelves and put them back on the shelving trolley), a baby photo contest, pub-style quizes (including an appropriate one all about DDC), a shared lunch, and an afternoon of bowling in Hemel Hempstead. I wore my bright red (yes, a shocking departure from my Johnny Cash-esque work uniform of shades of black) Howies t-shirt that has "We're all in this together" in huge letters across the front. I thought it was a suitable message for the outing.

Tonight's burning question

I know Salman Rushdie is a world famous writer and I've heard him speak and he sounds pretty sharp. In addition, his previous fatwa and his new knighthood make him sort of dangerous and all that but what I don't understand is how he manages to land such beautiful women. What's his secret? It's got to be something amazing because all the money and good loving in the world don't seem enough to make up for his ordinary looks. Alas, whatever it is, I'm sure it will soon attract wive number five.

Why I love the local paper

This is from the current Watford Observer. I'm assuming these lovely children haven't actually seen Star Wars...

TomTom bliss

Simmo gave me one of the coolest gifts ever this past Christmas, a TomTom portable sat nav for my car. I had seriously hesitated in using it because I assumed it was going to be fiddly and fussy to use and require hours of manual reading before taking it out. Yesterday I finally got it out and committed to using it to get to Colindale. My previous misconceptions were completely inaccurate and the TomTom got me everywhere I needed to go, thanks to simple screens, a functional touch-screen prompt and easy to read maps. I am in love!

Difficult topic

In this country we get daily updates on the status of the BBC's Gaza reporter Alan Johnston. As if the situation wasn't messy and emotional enough, New York Times reported Mr Johnston's death on 16 April 2007. It's hard to know what to believe.

British Library Newspapers

Yesterday my friend (and WHC Learning Centre colleague) Annette and I went to the British Library Newspaper Collection in Colindale. A place of pure function over fashion, the newspaper archive is tucked away in not-so inviting NW9. The staff were very helpful and warm to us first time users and we had a fruitful morning looking through the bound edition of The Cork Examiner from 1948, for a personal research project of Annette's. The newspaper was not at all what I expected, with a front page full of adverts instead of news. The rest of the paper was a small capsule of local (mostly photos of jumping horses, grazing cows and smiling members of the Catholic church), national (a column from Dublin), British (a column from London), and international concerns (mostly what was going on in Washington DC and the developments in Isreal and Palestine). Some of the adverts had familiar theses, like whiter teeth, lovely shoes, and clear skin. It was fascinating.