Lavender_05

Lavender_05, a photo by rw233093 on Flickr.

Uploaded some new shots on my Flicker page.

Redundancy

Well, it finally happened. During my 12 years in the games industry I've manage to dodge being made redundant until now, though on a few occasions it was pretty close. Normally the signs were obvious and I made a break before things went completely down the toilet. In the situation at Monumental things were looking good for the future. But a series of unfortunate events meant that the company simply couldn't afford to pay us all. Two days after the announcement myself and 37 other unlucky souls were shown out the door on the Thursday the 11th November, 2010.

Now a new adventure begins! Where I will end up I have no idea. Ideally I want to remain in the UK if I can but I'm open to relocating anywhere there is good jobs to be had.

So we'll see how it all goes and if I'm lucky I'll be back into making games sooner rather than later.

Holy Island

As mentioned in the post below I went on a road trip to Edinburgh recently. There was four of us all together Rafael, Neiva, Coster and myself. The drive north took most of the day with a long stop at the Royal Armoury in Leeds. We stayed Saturday night at a small B&B in Hawick which is about 30 or so miles south of Edinburgh.


Sunday was spent wondering around Edinburgh. It's a beautiful city. I took a lot of pictures but the weather was atrocious and most of them are grey and dismal. The castle is amazing and is really worth the entrance fee, there is so much to see there. The biggest surprise of all was a quick stop in the Scottish National Gallery on the way back to the car park. We saw art by Monet, Raphael, Rubens, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin and even Da Vinci. It was a great way to finish of a fantastic day of sightseeing. 

Once in the car we headed about 50 miles south east and ended up in the Craw Inn for the night. The food we had for dinner at the inn was nothing short of sublime. It's probably one of the best meals I've had since I've been in the UK. And breakfast the next morning was just as nice with the haggis easily the best part of the meal.  Mmmmmm.... haggis! Just before leaving the Craw Inn I snapped a shot of the hanging tree out the back. This is where the last witch execution took place in Scotland. 

Our next stop was the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. To get to the island you have to check tide times as you can only drive along the causeway to the island at low tide. For us it worked out fine as the tide was low around 10:30 am. Once again the weather wasn't great but it didn't detract from the picturesque beauty of the place.  It has a long history and is a very import Christian site. The Lindisfarne Gospels were written here about 700 and along with the Book of Kells and the Book of Darrow is one the oldest living examples of gospel writings in Britain. The Holy Island was also one of the first places in Britain to feel the sting of Viking steel. Just before leaving we stopped at the Crown and Anchor pub to try some of Lindisfarne's famous mead. It was very tasty and Raf bought a bottle to take home with us.

After Lindisfarne we had a long drive home to Notts with a little detour to the 3 Horse Shoes Inn for an awesome steak. 

Great trip!

Wall-to-wall Knights & Armour

On the way to Edinburgh recently we stopped at the Royal Armoury in Leeds. This was my second visit to the museum and I can't stress enough just how much awesomeness oozes from the place. It's basically five floors of a massive building filled with all manner of weapons and armour through out history, from ancient all the way to modern. They even have rwo life size elephants dressed in full war gear - stuffed of course. There are also re-enactments and re-telling of historic battles by actors dressed in authentic costumes from the time. And it's not just your standard static display museum, there are interactive installations so you can hold and try out swords, maces, guns, bows and more all with complete safety.

Best of all it's free!

Here's a few pics of just a tiny fraction of the full sets of medieval armour on display.

 

Flat white coming to Costa Coffee!

One of the strangest things I noticed when I first arrived in the UK was the weird look I got from baristas when asking for a Flat White at a coffee shop. As it turns out the Flat White is specific to Australia and New Zealand and generally unknown to the rest of the world.

Nothing made me feel more homesick than when my mate Andrew, who lives in London, took me to a coffee shop that specialized in serving Flat Whites. It tasted sooooo good and really made me feel like I was back home.

Outside of London the chances of finding a Flat White anywhere seemed impossible. But today my prayers were answered when I asked the barista at Costa Coffee, where I get my regular morning latte, if he knew how to make a Flat White. He said that they were adding the Flat White to the menu in just a few weeks. Management were doing training on it as we speak. He even showed me a banner that had been printed up with the Flat White on it ready to be hung once they were ready to go on sale.

HUZZAH!

Here's the recipe for a Flat White from wikipedia:

Originating from New Zealand and Australia, a flat white is a coffee beverage prepared by pouring steamed milk from the bottom of steaming pitcher over a single shot (30ml) of espresso.


The drink is typically served in a small 150-160ml ceramic tulip cup. The stretched and texturised milk is prepared by entraining air into the milk and folding the top layer into the lower layers. To achieve the "flat", non-frothy texture the steamed milk is poured from the bottom of the jug, holding back the lighter froth on the top in order to access milk with smaller bubbles, making the drink smooth and velvety in texture.

If you're an Aussie or Kiwi living in London and really want a Flat White you can find one at the Flat White coffee shop in Soho.

Mmmmmmmm...


Update - Starbucks adopts the ‘Flat White’ 

Leica vs Notts

Tried out my new Leica compact for the first time on the weekend with a few shots from around Nottingham. Pretty happy with the results so far.

C'mon you reds!

Went to a football (soccer) match to see Nottingham Forest play Barnsley last night. It was great! Forest dominated the first half but couldn't score. In the second half they struggled but scored in injury time at the end of the match to take a 1-0 win. The crowd went berserk. You couldn't have asked for a much better ending really.

Some trivia about Nottingham Forest. They are actually one of the oldest football clubs in the world being established in 1865. They were also the first team to wear red. They chose the colour Garibaldi red to pay tribute to Giuseppe Garibaldi a revolutionary leader at the time. Arsenal got their current colours from a set of red uniforms donated by Forest. At the start of the game and the second half the crowd sings Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney. But the words are changed slightly - "Oh mist rolling in from the Trent", "Far have I travelled, much have I seen, Goodison, Anfield are places I've been".

Of course we all lifted our voices to the universal "Referee's a wanker" after he yellow carded the winning goal scorer for excessive celebration. The guy already had a yellow card and had to leave the field with a red...booooooo! You suck ref!