January 9th, 2010 03:12pm
John Connell
The last thing people want to see, especially those living in the UK or eastern US at the moment, is more pictures of snow-bound cars, but that’s exactly what I’m putting here. After spending 6 days in Riyadh and Dubai, where average midday temperatures were in the mid-to-high 20s Celsius, it was disconcerting for me to come back to the scene above in Lauder. I had seen some of the BBC reports emanating from my home town while I was away, and my wife, Jan, had of course kept me up to date with the continuing snowfalls, but it was still a rude awakening for me when I arrived home - certainly something of a contrast with the warm sunshine in Dubai (see below).
Like so many yesterday, I had a bit of a nightmare journey home from Dubai: the flight from Dubai to Amsterdam overnight was uneventful and on time; the problems began when my flight to Edinburgh was cancelled as we were lining up to board the plane (the aircraft was switched to Glasgow instead); KLM assured us we would all be re-booked onto later flights, but a quick call to Amex (Cisco’s travel agent) told me that the two later flights due out of Schiphol to Edinburgh were already fully booked; Amex found me an alternative route by BMI via Heathrow, and so I found myself in London late in the afternoon boarding a flight to Edinburgh; however, after sitting on the tarmac for 40 minutes or so beyond the scheduled take-off time, the captain announced a computer fault which, if it could not be fixed, would necessitate our disembarkation; thoughts of a second cancelled flight in one day were dispelled 20 minutes later when the announcement came that all was well; and so off we went.
I arrived in Edinburgh at 7.15pm and found myself back in Lauder at around 8.30pm after a slow and cautious drive down to the Scottish Borders in the back of a taxi. Even with the snow, it was a welcome sight when I finally arrived home!
Technorati Tags: lauder, scottish borders, klm, bmi, dubai, riyadh, snow
December 4th, 2009 04:16pm
John Connell
I spent the best part of a couple of hours strolling around Red Square and the surrounding parts of Moscow. Dusk was just starting to fall as I got there, which allowed me to see all the sights of the Square lit up for Christmas (on 7th January in Russia).
St Basil’s Cathedral (correct title: the Cathedral of Intercession of Theotokos on the Moat) hasn’t been a church since 1929. The building apparently marks the geometric centre of the old city of Moscow.
The Kremlin is, of course, impressive, not least for the sheer scale of the complex. It was nice to see the red star still sitting atop the Kremlin’s towers!
August 12th, 2009 07:30pm
John Connell
Lauder Common Riding took place a couple of weeks ago, on the first Saturday in August as usual. I managed to catch this fine phalanx of ex-cornets as they returned to the Royal Burgh after their annual trot, canter and gallop around the extremities of Lauder’s common land.
As can be seen from the image below, all ages and sizes take part in the annual ride - and it’s no small feat for the youngest riders to take in their stride!
Technorati Tags: lauder common riding, ex-cornets
August 12th, 2009 07:15pm
John Connell
Jan and I visited the lovely little town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, where Benjamin Britten lived and is buried, a few weeks ago - from the pebble beach, the town has almost a toy-town look about it.
But one of the nicest sights I came across that day was the elderly couple below, walking along the main street holding hands. I passed them two or three times and they were hand-in-hand every time!
Technorati Tags: aldeburgh, suffolk
August 12th, 2009 06:50pm
John Connell
Back in June, I spent a couple of great days on the beautiful island of Islay, off the West coast of Scotland. I was there to attend the Education2020 TeachMeet organized by Ian Stuart and Andy Wallis, both of whom teach in Islay High School.
The above image shows the view from the harbour at Bowmore up the brae to the famous round church.
And the image below was taken during the event itself. Krysia Smyth seems as if she’s been caught in mid-prayer, with Con Morris looking on in wonder! 
Ian and Andy can be seen working away in the background.
Technorati Tags: islay, bowmore, education2020, teachmeet
August 10th, 2009 08:08pm
John Connell
I don’t know if it was really as good as it tasted - it might well just have been the fact that we were in the Caribbean, sitting on a rooftop terrace on a warm, breezy night looking out over Santo Domingo’s old colonial square, and within sight of the palace built (see below) for Diego Columbus (Christopher’s son) - but the rum punches that I and my fellow conference speakers were served in Angelo’s Café were simply wonderful.
Technorati Tags: santo domingo, dominican republic, rum punch, angelo’s cafe
August 10th, 2009 06:51pm
John Connell
I had the chance to spend 5 days in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, back in June, where I spoke at an EU-organized conference. On my last day there, I took the chance to wander the old colonial city, accompanied by Luis, a great guide. We started at the old fort above, built by Christopher Columbus. We stopped at the building that housed the very first university in the whole of the new world (below).
Luis also took me into the Monument of Heroes, where I was able to see the burial places of a number of Dominican national heroes, and took the pic of the massive chandelier gifted by one dictator to another in the past - Franco of Spain to Trujillo of the Dominican Republic.
Technorati Tags: dominican republic, christopher columbus, franco, trujillo
August 10th, 2009 12:22pm
John Connell
Soem nice images caught while wandering around the Scottish Borders on a Sunday afternoon back in May. The above photograph of a grey horse was taken from the bridge that crosses the Jed Water, not far from the ancient village of Roxburgh. The image below shows Jedburgh Abbey veiled by trees.
And the next image is of a heron fishing at the weir just below Jedburgh Abbey.
Technorati Tags: jedburgh abbey, horse, roxburgh, jet water
August 10th, 2009 12:15pm
John Connell
Jan and I spent a brilliant week in Australia back in April. I had been invited to give a keynote address at the Australian College of Educators’ Digital Fair at Geelong Grammar School. We were able to spend a couple of nice days in Melbourne before heading south-west to Geelong, where we had a great time amongst friends at the event.
The above is a view of the main part of the school campus, while below is the school’s amazing sports centre, big enough to serve a town, never mind a single school!
Technorati Tags: geelong grammar school, australian college of educators, australia, melbourne
May 5th, 2009 11:22am
John Connell
You really do not have to travel far in Scotland to find lovely vistas and beautiful countryside. We spent the weekend in Clackmannanshire, in the shadow of the Ochil Hills, that dramatic escarpment that rises up so suddenly from the flat glen of the Forth. A visit to Perth on Sunday gave us the chance to see a stretch of the River Earn that we either hadn’t come across before or had not noticed previously. The stretch from Perth west to Stirling, and extending into the Campsies, is one of the loveliest parts of Scotland.
Technorati Tags: scotland, ochil hills, campsie fells, stirlingshire, clackmannanshire, perthshire
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