monkeys & owls, sunshine & rain - england day 10

i felt much better this morning. took a walk along the beach - it was terribly windy. i so enjoy watching the waves and the birds, and get a kick out of the patterns made by sand, wind, water ... the rivulets, the colours, foot/pawprints, and of course the ever changing light. breakfast time then, full english breakfast (minus the sausager), just as it should be. this is, after all, england. and when in rome, do as the romans do, right? though i must add i won't go so far as to walk along the beach barefoot in this kind of weather!

i made my way to the same area where i visited the butterflies yesterday, but today it was for quite different animals: mainly monkeys and owls, but also some other birds. the owl & monkey haven is an award-winning attraction that is home to rescued primates/monkeys and birds. i heard a few stories about some of the animals - they included accounts of neglected monkeys, one rhesus macaque that simply turned up in someone's garden on the mainland, owls that were ignored by their owl parents and were lucky enough to find human parents at the haven, monkeys that were "mobbed" by their own kind, etc.

i got to see a two year old male eagle-owl named ketch close-up, and to actually touch it. fascinating creatures. i must say the way they swivel their head around always slightly freaks me out - i swear i can almost hear the "snap!" sound of a broken neck! apparently owls are fairly lazy and won't leave their trees for days after they've eaten. there they sit until they start to feel hungry again ...

i had a good look around at the colobus monkeys (odd creatures, with their long whitish tails that fan out when they jump), rhesus macaques (such fun! and the noises they make! smelly though ... ugh), capuchins, marmosets (too cute!), langurs, gibbons, siamangs, eagle-owls, snowy owls, barn owls, tawny owls, the two buzzards, and the kookaburras. i learned something, i laughed, and took lots of pictures ... and (according to "when in rome ...) treated myself to some delicious clotted cream tea.

after a walk along ryde pier, i made my way back to sandown, where i went to the glassblower's round the corner and then had a pleasant chat with steve, the owner, in his overflowing gift shop. it looked like a pleasant evening, so i decided to go for another walk along the beach, grabbed my cameras, and ... as soon as i reached the beach (all of a minute away), guess what ... yep: rain! it's been like this all day today ... get on the bus: sun comes out; get off the bus: cold and windy or rain. but i didn't want to be beaten. i thought it might only be a two-minute shower. i was wrong. wrapping my big camera up like a baby, i marched on. and after only about 15 minutes, the rain stopped. yay! beautiful light, so clear, filtered by the clouds ... gorgeous. well worth it.

indian veg curry & garlic naan well deserved then! i was thinking about going out again to take some night-time pictures, but i think i've had enough rain ... ;) here's the only pic i have so far:


those eyes!


song of the day: l'anno che verrà by lucio dalla.

snow flurries & seven minutes of sunshine - england day 2

it looked rather promising in the morning - but sometimes promises are broken. the weather is topic number 1 here, too. i believe i've spoken to about two dozens strangers about the weather - at bus stops, in shops, while out walking ...

and out walking, i was. after a hearty breakfast i took a bus to newport, and on to carisbrooke, where i checked out the churchyard of st mary's and then walked up to the castle, but didn't feel like going in (for nearly 8 pounds). i had printed out one of the walking tours from the official isle of wight website, the champions & churchyards trail. it took me around carisbrooke, newport, and then along the river medina.

my companion dotty was shocked by the behaviour of her british relatives at carisbrooke pond - they bit her in the beak! ;) the swans and ducks all seemed to want feeding, but i had absolutely nothing on me that's part of swan/duck diets ... along the trail i came across some seriously old trees, among them an impressive cedar and a magnificent weeping willow. it was windy again, with snow flurries throughout the day, though it also often looked as if the sun would beat the clouds, but it only did for less than ten minutes, while i was in newport. of course i couldn't pass by waterstones ... and i managed to only buy ONE book! mainly because i only had my camera bag with me. ;) it's "being alive", the poetry anthology edited by neil astley.

once i'd reached the river medina/ arboretum i was quite determined not to return to sandown just yet, so i walked on. eventually, i met a woman walking her dog, and i asked her how far it was to some bus stop. she suggested walking on to east cowes - 30-40 minutes. it got seriously chilly then down by the water, and the sun was well hidden now behind thick layers of clouds. even the birds looked uncomfortable. nevertheless, some people were wading to their rowboats ... i felt my toes freezing even only looking at them!

on the road towards civilisation i saw a dead squirrel ... interesting, in a way. it looked almost intact except for a small hole in its belly, through which some guts were spilling, and the broken eye and a little blood around the mouth. i took some pictures of its tiny paws that looked as if it were trying to ward off whatever was coming its way, and the face.

i just missed the bus back to sandown by about 15 seconds. so i pushed on. the last bit was a drag, and i actually had to run to make it to the bus into newport. now that felt like some major achievement after my approx. 12 km hike! i had to hang around the bus station for a while, but made it back to sandown tired, hungry, and a bit cold. and of course an indian curry is one good way of warming up a girl!

highlights of the day:

the old woman at the bus stop who let a strange dog lick all over her face and then moved away, disgusted, from the young men standing about a metre from her, smoking: "nothing worse than having smoke blown your way!" um, disagree. ;)

the girl on the bus who kept coughing into her friend's face (until her friend moved to another seat).

the few minutes of pure sunshine.

the dead squirrel. (i know that sounds strange.)

feeling tired but very much alive.

i don't have many photos of day day 2 yet, but here are some:


flawed daffodil



cedar



cleanly swan



dotty meets the swans



leafy greens



my red-breasted model



indeed


song of the day: seven seas by echo & the bunnymen.

wien

walking home along prinz-eugen-strasse, photo-hunting at suedbahnhof (southern train station) and the nearby building site early on sunday morning



very quiet prinz-eugen-strasse



too early for trams



against everything!



05:07:29 a.m.



waiting to be taken away



platform 19


more sleepy vienna pictures


second song of the day: cigány himnusz by i-have-no-idea-who-does-this-version.