Sean's Blog: April 2005

More Trip Photos

Theme Night

It's Theme night at the Galway Camera Club. Most of the team I'm on are away, so I'm the one presenting it. Our theme is Galway from 6 inches.

Trip Photos

April Trip

I've put the entries in backways so you can read straight through. I didn't find any WiFi around so I didn't get any internet stuff done all week. I'd almost 100 emails (not counting junk/spam) when I got back. I still need to edit the last 2 days so hang on. I've loads of photos to add for all you photobloggers too! Don't worry there will be LOADS!

Day 1: Irish Leg and Ferry

We set off from Galway about 9:30 and made reasonably good time throughout the whole journey. We took a route through Loughrea, Portumna, Birr, Roscrea, Kilkenny, New Ross and then onto Rosslare. We got there about 1, so we had loads of time to spare. Dave & Adrian pulled their stunt bike out and started bunnyhopping and wheelieing away to pass the time. We eventually got onto the ferry about 3:20 or so. TH guy directing us on hadn't a clue how to communicate which way he wanted us to go, so he blamed it on Dave, calling him a bad driver! We got our cabin, which of course was down the very bottom and front of the boat. For some reason Adrian and Trish got an ensuite while we didn't despite the fact that Dave & I booked both sets of tickets. It didn't matter too much 'cos we borrowed pillows from an empty ensuite and used the shower there, The ferry trip was easy enough going. Only once after dinner did I feel a little queasy. We were in bed by midnight but were both wide awake again before 2. We went up to the 9th deck (from our cabin on the 2nd) and I got a message from Vodafone UK. Great! So I gave Cyn a ring to make sure all was okay back home. Went back to bed and slept til 8.

Day 2: Cherbourg and on to Bordeaux

I went up to the restaurant and had breakfast on my own. When I got back down Adrian & Trish were up. I grabbed my stuff, not wanting to make a return trip downstairs again. Dave was still in bed, but I think he was taking the hint to get up. Dave is not a morning person. We went up for food and eventually fe made it up to join us. Luckily for us our van was the first off so we speed on to find an Auchen to get food and bits. In the meantime A&T managed to take completely the wrong turn and ended up going a completely different way. Our route was supposed to take us to Mont St Michel, Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle and on to Bordeaux. We spent too long in Mont St. Michel and managed to get lost passing Rennes! The countryside is beautiful but however the weather was dismal. Rain and hail were the most common weather themes the whole way down, We got on the toll road to Bordeaux and never left til we got there, On the way I got some cool slow shutter stuff with the tripod set up in the passenger seat with me. We finally got to Bordeaux about 11:30. After many arguments about roads & signs and a few phone calls, we pulled in beside Adrian and Trish in a car park along the docks. We were parked up by H14 which a skate went to Molly Malones just down the road for a few beers, Then we tried to cook up some casoulette in a pot on camping gas stove. We were so hungry it was like a veritable feast. We eventually went asleep around 3:30 with a 6:30 alarm.

Day 3: Bordeaux to Palma

After our feast I settled down in the bottom bed of the camper van (a VW Westfalia if you want to know) While Dave took the top. The weather was of course rain like most of the trip so far and I was freezing. I really couldn't sleep and woke up numerous time. Eventually around 6 I couldn't sleep anymore so I lay awake wishing the stupid alarm would go off so I could at least get Dave up and get going. I was straight up when the alarm went off, but of course Dave being the morning person he is stayed asleep. It wasn't until a huge juggernaut came along that he felt the need to move. So on we went. It has to be said here that driving on toll roads is not only expensive, but it is very monotonous. After a fair bit of driving, we all pulled into a garage for a bit. 'Fuck this road' said Dave, 'Let's get off it and onto roads that actually go through towns to break up the journey'. And we did, thank God. For most of this leg Adrian & Trishia stayed with us, which actually worked out much better. I fell asleep and Dave decided not to go through Andorra as he felt the mountains would take to much time. Ironically we spent the afternoon exploring the huge castle in Carcasonne instead! Beautiful place. As you can imagine this put more hours onto our journey! We went on to Perpingnon and got lost there trying to get out. We pulled into a garage where there was a bodily fluid incident which we won't discuss but ended up with Adrian driving over his baseball cap. Once we passed the spanish border there was an audible sigh of relief. We sped down to Barcelona but time was against us. We got stuck at every red light and time was really pushing on. We got split up from the others and ended up going around a roundabout twice. We were shouting at each other at this stage, but all was cool, we were just feeling the pressure. Finally we called Iul in Santa Ponsa to get better directions, while we sat at a junction choosing between the C31 and the B20. We took the C31 and after a few calls we took the right exit to the port and arrived at 10:30 for the 11 ferry. Dave ran to the ticket office and came back empty handed. 'They want my papers for the van, what's that about?' he said. As it turned out he said it was a car first with one passenger and then two, so they made him get papers while one of the ticket guys looked out the window to check. We got the tickets and on we went. We had a few beers and then crashed in our €52 seats (not included in the €150 ferry fee). Adrian managed to get the other, later, ferry.

Day 4:Santa Ponsa at last

The ferry pulled in at 6:30 in the pitch black of night. Normally it would be bright back home at this stage. Dawn was breaking as we got on the road to Santa Ponsa after a false start with an accidental left turn instead of a right (Well Santa Ponsa is actually on the left, it was just the the road on the right turns around to go in the right direction. We pulled up around 7:15am (it would've been nearly 7 when we got off the ferry. Dave went missing and the guard kept asking me to move the van! ) The relief at arriving was palpable. Dave looked like he never wanted to drive another day in his life again. While we were waiting for the other to arrive we went for breakfast and then hit the beach, with Dave on his mountain bike. I got some cool shots of that. Back to the van for a little nap then. Adrian arrived at 10. He announced that, not including the ferry miles, we had driven 1,100 miles since we set off. Ouch. We went to Iul's to offload stuff and then onto the staff apartment Iul had organised. I hit the sack and woke up about 2 hours later. Off for food & then we went shopping a little and then started the trip to Formentor (the whole reason I wanted to go on the holiday). We left about 3:30 or so. I got loads of shots to basically get a similar shot to one I took on my first digital camera (an Olympus C2020Z). Obviously a 6 megapixel RAW file is much more useable than a 2 MP jpeg so I came away happy. I think Dave was thrilled to ride down steps over a 1000 foot drop and live to talk about it. Needless to say I had buttered him up with food and pints beforehand to make him go . We got back at 8:15 or so and then bust our asses to get ready for dinner. It was 9 when we got there and the others had ordered. Unfortunately the crocodile meat hadn't arrived yet so I went with chicken. Iul was kind enough to buy the meal for everyone-Cheers Iul for everything. Anyway we retired to Sean's Place for a few beers and promptly had 5. We crashed about 5:30 for a 9:30 alarm

Day 5: Left on my own.

The alarm went off at 9:30 but the hangover told me I wasn't going to make Palma today! I figured I only wanted a few shots of the Cathedral so I could do it on the way to the Airport. All the others left at 10:30 and I went on the 2 hour boat trip by Seagull Island. Of course as soon as I got on boat the clouds came out. The trip was okay but I was glad to be off it because I was starving and needed a loo. I was wrecked from my short night so I crashed for some of the wonderfully hot day we were having. I got up again about 5 and went up to the windmill on the main roundabout. I got some cool shots there and then headed towards the beach. The water was too cold for a swim, so I just waded around a bit and shot off a few photos. I went back to the apartment and uploaded my days shooting. I changed out of shorts into jeans and a hoodie and went up to Sean's Place. Iul dropped in and mentioned he was picking up the new barman from the airport. I stayed til midnight and then went back to the flat. The light was on and there was a new case in the spare room but noone else was about. I edited a few shots for my Powerbook desktop and then crashed out.

Day 6: Home Alone

My sleep was rudely interrupted at 7:15am by incessant ringing on the doorbell. I opened it to find John the new barman, drunk as a lord, outside the the door. He was ably assisted by Gillian, the barmaid from Sean's Place. He said 'hello I'm John' and then proceeded to hug me and tell me he loved me! Ah well. I said 'Cool, but I'm off back to bed'. There was a little talk and then eventually there was the sound of snoring from the other room. Now when I say snoring I mean jet airplane noises in a continuous takeoff pattern, like only a very drunk guy can make. I managed to dose off eventually. I got up around ten and went up to the Okay Cafe for breakfast. Marco was serving and it was good to see him. We bantered for a bit in Spanish and he was good enough to correct my mistakes. I plan on speaking more in Spanish to my Spanish friends. I went shopping and bought a Majorica pearl necklace for Cyn and a room nameplate for Matthew. As I walked back past the beach, the sound of music was emanating from a spot near the tourist office. I wandered over for a look and found a troupe of flamenco dancers strutting on a makeshift stage. It was wonderful. A woman danced 2 dances and then a troupe of younger girls came up and did some more. The 2 acts alternated for a series of dances and then finally all danced together for the finale. Really interesting stuff. I scooted back up to the Okay for dinner then and went and packed. John was there shaving when I got in so I gave him a bit of a slagging for his condition earlier. Nice guy. Iul picked me up to go to the airport around 2:30. We stopped in Palma for a few minutes while I ran to get shots of the Cathedral. The whole place was shut off due to roadworks. I didn't really have time to got the whole way around so I shot a few through the fence and ran back to the car. As usual in the airport there was a lot of waiting. I eventually got a window seat-by the wing! Argh! I still managed to get some shots of the Pyrenees. I was lucky enough to sit beside a cute girl who turned out to be a Glamour model. She was coming back from a shoot on the island for Nuts magazine. Nothing was pervy or sleazy, it was just interesting to chat to her. Er. Her model name is Jamie & I guess I'll vote for her in the final of the sporty babes thing er..er.. Ahem. Plane was on time and I meandered over to check in for my final leg-Luton to Galway. The gate got moved so I wandered over to the new gate-Not unusual in Luton but hey, what can you do! Luis dropped me home and boy was I glad to drop my bag down!

West Star Heat 1

Heat 1 winners in this years West Star were Dan Packard, Carla Merrigan, Lisa Whelan & Alex Lukanovic. Also pictured is judge Miss Twirly Chassy.

Newspaper

That Jape shot is in the paper this week... on page 76 of the Galway Advertiser. Warning though.. It's a PDF link and I don't know how long it'll last.

Tulips

Galwegians lose final game

Galwegians lost their final game of the season to Dungannon 12-19. They let 2 trys past due to a gap in defense. Ah well. Still in the Div 1 though. This is Chris "Dave Rodgers" scoring 'wegians 2nd try.

Kerbdog

Kerbdog played one of a small few reunion gigs in Roisin Dubh on Friday. The sold out crowd were absolutely heaving in the venue. It did get a bit rough with crowd surfing. We also had one of the lamps ripped out of the ceiling! The band played well and really enjoyed the gig. The support band Fighting With Wire were brilliant yet again-they'll be back next week (22nd) for the second show I believe. They're really worth seeing. Good catchy 3 minute rock songs with great hooks and better harmonies.

Planning

I'm up to my eyes in photomerging Michelin maps for my upcoming trip.
Galway-Rosslare-Cherbourg-Barcelona-Palma-London-Galway.
Fun Fun Fun. Also we're going in a camper & it's being serviced as we speak. Fingers crossed. I'd hate to have to get trains! I've put the maps on my phone and I'm debating trying the Wayfinder Trial when I go. I get 5 days free so I might sign up Monday morning. Anyway.... I'll keep at it.

Mildred: A message.

Can you text me? I don't have your new mobile number and Cyn's asleep..

http://www.skype.com/

has software which lets you talk over the net for free on mac or pc

that way we can get over the 12,000 miles for nothing...

Places Competition

I'm a little impressed with myself. This photo got me 1st place in the Projected Images section of the "Places" competition in the Camera club. I also got 5th and 9th with my other 2 entries. I grinning only a little, okay a lot. My other name for this shot was The Two Towers but I'm not sure a lot of people got the fact that there are 2 towers in the shot! In case you're wondering the other shots were the Maam Valley (9th) shot from below and a shot of Westminster(5th) which I will post soon.

Doyle Instruments since 1890

Paul Doyle has taken his first foray into blogging. He's also signed up on flicker too. Nice post on a mandolin there.

Clive Carroll and Johnny Dickinson.

Clive Carroll and Johnny Dickinson played in the Roisin Dubh tonight. There was only a small crowd, but still the gig was cracking. Both of the guys did a set each and then played together for the end of the set. Clive was here before opening for Tommy Immanuel while Johnny opened for John Martyn. Clive did the instrumental virtuoso set brilliantly, playing a host of different styles from ballad to jazz to ragtime, while Johnny's dulcet tones were offset only by his sheer skill as a slide guitar player. The jam section at the end produced some funny moments as each would reference unrelated, but well known tunes, insides their solo parts. One of those gem nights that really only seem to happen in the Roisin Dubh.

Keith McDonald stuff

Working on promo ideas for Keith. We've done a few bits, but here's one I like.

Irish Bloggers

I've been perusing a number of links to other Irish bloggers and I have to make at least a written note. Is every single one a student with 'something to say'? It certainly seems so. Personally I blog when I want to highlight a fact or interest in my life or something that's affecting me directly somehow. It's fine for people to express opinions in blogs too, but somehow a lot of people think a blog is their entire entrance into political journalism. I mean they talk about nothing else . I wonder if they realise it gives a very skewed impression of the personality of the writer? Probably not, but then that's most likely not their main concern!

Studio Still Life

I've been putting a little time into abstract still life photography. Today was glasses day. I've a bunch of ideas for more stuff, so there'll be more of this coming soon.

Jape

Jape played a cracking gig on Friday last in the Roisin Dubh. After the first song Gugai took to the stage to present Richie Egan with an award for 'Roisin Dubh Album of the Year 2004'. Loads of the staff had the night off and came in for the gig. It was really good fun. The lads were blown away that so many people were singing along and generally having a great time. Cool.

Wired News: Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches

Wired News: Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches Even Wired is getting in on the act. I knew Brendan over at letting loose with the leptard was having grief at the same time as me, but although I figured everyone might be having issues, I didn't think is was as bad as it actually was. Ouch. 720,000 hits for 'Blogger Sucks'? 720,001 now..

Matthew Eating

Neil Young Recovering

Neil Young :
Young Suffers Aneurysm
:
Glad to see Neil Young is in recovery mode. I don't think it's his time to go yet. I'll have to pass this info on to Roger from Ardee, his biggest Irish fan.

Velvian Tide

Another one from the Filcker Archives. I've processed this shot to give it that reciprocity failure look that Fuji Velvia gives. I like it.

Addiction

I have to admit I feel a little like Stewie in Famiy Guy today. Remember in season one where Meg wants a Prada bag and finds a job where Stewie gets addcited to pancakes? Well that's me. I've just made yet another batch. I even gave some to my neighbour! I'm stuffed again and it feels great. Ah Pancakes....

Blogger down? And a little baby talk.

I edited out the double post last night which happened when blogger went down last night. My actual postings record indicates that it's been changed but Blogger crashes out when I try to publish to sort out the issue. I'm posting this through Macjournal so it should appear! I'm in the process of digging out even older blog pictures to add to Flicker. Matthew is going in for his 6 month shots today, poor fellow. He's awake now and feeding. He's been grumbling for the past few days too-teething I imagine. It's not fever anyway! We're going to start using the 'Magic' bottle from Avent to let him learn to hold i on his own. He also took his first real food last night, some baby rice mixed in with his normal formula. He was a bit wary at first but ended up taking loads. The weaning begins. He's babbling away and we've been adding clicking to our noise making to help him form speech technique. I'm getting some great information from Canadian Parents. That's the first month pages but it does the whole 12 months.

More from Connemara

Soundweb?

I've been busting my ass trying to setup a 6 in 4 out zone system using Soundweb Designer (running under Virtual PC). I can get the design out, but I'm finding the control situation a little hopeless. I'll have to pass on it. Too much work for not enough return. Easy if you know how, no doubt. Like me and pancakes. I know now how to make great pancakes, but last week I could burn water so I'm proud of that at least.

A quick Hi!

to all the international visitors to my blog. Norwegians, Swedes, Italians, English, American and everyone else that wanders in here from a search engine. I'm glad that the hits are reasonably true o the searches, except for the ones looking for enbalming! Please feel free to leave comments!

Connemara once more

We decided to hit the road to Connemara again today. It was a bit late in the day as we set out and we only stepped out of the car at 3 for the first time. My wellies came out for the first time, and a wise move it was too, I must say. First stop was the 'Quiet Man' bridge where we rattled off a few shots and then went on our merry way. Our trip took us up by Derryclare lough and Lough Inagh and into Kylemore Abbey once more. Then out to Renvyle beach. We stopped a few places along the way to for shots. No filters were forgotten this time, but I just was not happy with the results from the 300D I was using (I've the 20D packed away for sending when I get go ahead from Canon-line noise issues-more again soon). I'll be doing loads in the RAW file processing. Hindsight tells me that the shots were being underexposed despite what the meter was telling me. Sigh. At least it is RAW and not JPEG. I still should have trusted the histogram as normal and ignored the meter.
Weatherwise it was good at the start but hazy. It became very overcast as we went up by Lough Inagh and the sun was out again in Kylemore. By the time we left Renvyle it had completely clouded over for the night. I got a few shots by wading out into the Loughs along the way where I could. Kelvin's mad to bring his waders now the next time! I also got a few slow shutter shots from inside the water in Renvyle. I'll post more as I process them.
P.S. Kelvin reminded me of one of the many funny incidents of the day (some couldn't be printed quite so publically but I digress). When were were leaving Renvyle we knew we were running a little later than intended so we took it handy. Once we one the way a bit there was a big bang against my door. Chipping I thought. But then it happened twice in succession & I'd have sworn I felt the hits. I looked down at roughly where I thought the noise came from outside and I saw nothing. Just as I turning away when out of the corner of my eye I noticed the jack end of my shutter remote. "Hmm" I thought "What's that doing there?". Then it hit me.. "Shit Kelvin, it's my remote. It's hanging out the door!"). One rescued remote later we were both chuckling in the front of the car. I banged off a few shots to make sure the remote worked & all was well.

Sean's Blog

Friday, April 29, 2005

More Trip Photos

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Theme Night

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Trip Photos

April Trip

Day 1: Irish Leg and Ferry

Day 2: Cherbourg and on to Bordeaux

Day 3: Bordeaux to Palma

Day 4:Santa Ponsa at last

Day 5: Left on my own.

Day 6: Home Alone

Monday, April 18, 2005

West Star Heat 1

Newspaper

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Tulips

Galwegians lose final game

Kerbdog

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Planning

Mildred: A message.

Places Competition

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Doyle Instruments since 1890

Clive Carroll and Johnny Dickinson.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Keith McDonald stuff

Irish Bloggers

Monday, April 11, 2005

Studio Still Life

Jape

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Wired News: Bloggers Pitch Fits Over Glitches

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Archives

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Matthew Eating

Neil Young Recovering

Velvian Tide

Addiction

Blogger down? And a little baby talk.

More from Connemara

Soundweb?

Monday, April 04, 2005

A quick Hi!

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Connemara once more

Unless otherwise stated all photos on this website are Â©Sean McCormack 2005-7 and may not be used without permission.

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