Breaking News

After some two weeks away from Singapore and lots of cold freezing weather; was certainly looking forward to the Monday evening flight home. The weekend though draggy was somehow OK, knowing that the flight home has been confirmed. Then came the BBC breaking news ......... that the Iceland volcanic ash is once again heading towards the Southern part of the United Kingdom and that the airspace may once again be closed to air traffic. Not very good news !!! The prediction is that the airport is likely to be closed from Sunday to Wednesday. Drats !!! so much for the British Summer !!! I'm sure there are lots of people on collective praying right now !!!

A Cold Summer Day !!!

Thought that the Hague was cold. Boy !!! Was I wrong. The British Summer indeed had lots of surprises. Arrived Heathrow to be greeted by a cold shower. Temperature was around 5 deg C. Though it would improve after the rain. (Wrong again !!). It was 1 deg C that night. The next day was no better. Even the dogs wore protective "warm" clothing. The chilling wind was no help. All my layers of clothing and jacket did help a little but not too good at sustainability. No wonder the Royal Guards could stand so still .... they are probably frozen stiff !!!

Whilst there were lots of commotion in the streets of London owing to the change of Cabinet and a new Prime Minister, disaster 2 stuck. My camera, whilst on the mini tripod took a plunge when a strong cold wind blew. CPR did not help. It died on me after all the years of traveling together. So sad !!! Could only salvage the memory card and the battery (for organ transplant effort !!!)

One of the last few shots, taken by CASIO - EXILIM ES880 @ St James Park. Thanks for all the memories !!!

Windlust

8 May 2010 was the National Windmill Day for the Netherlands. When Mr Jacob Hekke offered me a visit to his windmill, named the "Windlust", I jumped for it without any 2nd thought. My only encounter with anything close to a windmill was in making a jig-saw puzzle of a windmill, surrounded by tulips all round.

The first thing I discovered was that the entitle windmill could be turned to face the wind and the speed of its rotation is based on the amount of canvas that covers the sail (blades of the windmill).

The Hekke's mill was constructed to grind corn. Others could be built to pump water or to saw timber. Everything within the windmill is a work of mechanical art. To move the direction of the blades to catch the wind, a block & chain is used. To maximise the mechanical advantage, a large wheel (like a steering wheel on a ship) is used to shift its direction, quite effortlessly. Internally, sets of gears also transfer the rotation of the blades to "do work". (Hmmmm !!! Wonder if they could design the windmills to write reports !!!)With a group of friends and volunteers, Mr Hekke, friends & volunteers spent time maintaining the mill and open it to visitors (for education purpose / his contribution to the community !!!). Though the wind was rather light for the day, the experience was indeed great !!! Happy windmill day !!!

Made it to Brussels

After a long 13 hrs flight to Amsterdam, embarked on an inter-city 2.5 hr train ride from Schiphol to Brussels Central.That was the easy part. Looking for the whereabout of the hotel was a challenge. Direction signs were in French and everyone that I've asked points me in a different direction. Finally came to realise why. Was looking for the Novotel Hotel (the one that is next to the Ibis Hotel). It turned out that there were two Novotel Hotels and both were next to a Ibis Hotel. Dragging the 25 kg bag over Streets of Cobble Stones was also a challenge (Probably ended up with Square wheels !!!). After settling down, task 2 was to find the location of the meeting place. After getting a proper English map, realised that its on the other side of town. Took a slow walk to recce the place. With the recce done the day before, gave myself 40 min to make it to the meeting venue in the early cool morning. Had time to stroll and take pictures as well. Had a shot on a high ground over looking some scenic spots in Brussels. Lots of churches and old buildings among modern ones. (Gotta get the correct camera angle to capture one or the other.