More of the Mid West and New England
Bring an umbrella
Lost somewhere in the backstreets of East Cleveland
The State Fair in Syracuse, New York
The State Fair in Syracuse, New York
The State Fair in Syracuse, New York
The State Fair in Syracuse, New York
Cliff diving in a quarry in Vermont
Hurricane Irene damage in Newton, MA
Little guys playing football
America – The Conquering of the Mid-West
For the last week I have been driving across the American Mid-West with a friend in a a 1981 Mercedes that runs on vegetable oil. We drove 2800 miles crossing 15 states, camping out in state parks or staying with friends along the way. Here are just a few of the pictures I took of the trip
Diggers sleep for the night in New Jersey
Road Trip – Maryland on the way to Baltimore
Swimming in a freezing cold river in Maryland
Steam rises from a river in Maryland
Welcome to Virgina – Our first stop in to the south
Rain in the West Virginian hills
Totally randomly we stopped on the side of the road in West Virginia and got out to stretch our legs. We followed a path a short distance into some woods that opened up into a beautiful clearing and a small river with a pebble beach and a rope swing.
Illinois sunset – as we race agains the sun to find somewhere to stay before darkness
Stained glass museum, Navy Pier, Chicago
Gary, Indiana – Industrial metropolis and childhood home of the Jacksons.
Flint, Michigan – The town made famous by Michael Moore and the GM car company. The town has seen better days and suffers from high levels of unemployment as GM has reduced its workforce by around 90% since its peak in the late 70′s
Detroit – Fires like this are a common occurrence. Detroit has huge levels of unemployment leaving many neighborhoods almost empty. House after house is boarded up, burned down or falling apart. The residents say that fires are common as property values have plummeted.
Firefighters prepare to enter the burning building to put out the fire. The building used to be an adult education centre, however it had been empty for sometime before the fire. This fire truck responds to similar incidents every week.
A local resident stands by as firemen tackle the burning building
Downtown Detroit, just over the river from Canada offers little clue of the city’s problems
I Feel Like Jumping
I feel like jumping
I feel like shouting now
I feel like moving
I feel like grooving now….
The Best of the Audio Web
If you dont know what this is then you need to find out…..The best, most interesting radio programs you could ever hope to find…..
I cannot find the words to recommend them highly enough.
Graduated from Skydive School
This is a video of my last two jumps for the AFF skydiving training course. Now I am cleared to jump solo….blue skies and beyond.
Pan Tennis
On my birthday in 2009 I was staying in the Swat valley in Pakistan during the military operation there against the local Taliban. That morning the Pak army came to tell us that we would not be able to mova about the city that day and would have to stay put for the day. In the summer sun with nothing to do we soon became bored and started to look for ways to entertain ourselves.
We were camping in a deserted hotel living in mosquito nets on the terrace. We had emergency ration packs that came with pots and pans amongst other things. We managed to find an old tennis ball somewhere and with that “Pan Tennis” was born.
Frying pans make surprisingly good tennis rackets except for the sound that they make. The town that we were in was completely deserted as the whole population had fled. It was just us, the army and some stray dogs and donkeys. The noise of the ball against the pan was not unlike a motar thud that echoed around the valley. God knows what the army were thinking, the snipers on the hills would have no doubt been reporting back.
Later that day the reporter from the New York Times came to see us and she was very interested in our new game. I tried to convince her to write about us and perhaps have a feature on the sports page, but alas she declined the offer…..the wonders of pan tennis were not to be shared with the public…until now!
