Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • San Diego – San Diego Public Library

    San Diego – San Diego Public Library

    San Diego public library moved to its current location in 2013, in a building designed by local architect Rob Quigley, who can apparently see his building from his apartment. I visited this structure in January 2015, as part of a free tour organised by the library and I still consider this to be the best designed public library that I’ve visited anywhere in the world.

    Unfortunately, the photos I took with my phone back in 2015 aren’t great, but they’re all that I’ve got to use, so they’ll have to do. Although I feel the need to return to San Diego, for many years my favourite city, so perhaps I’ll go back.

    Huge efforts were made with the external design of the building, which cost $185 million, which is primarily just for the library, although there’s also a school housed here as well.

    Whilst waiting for the tour, I had a little browse here, at the books for sale section, although I couldn’t easily carry any, so I desisted.

    The interior of the library.

    The baseball section of the library.

    This is the area for teenagers, where adults are banned from (other than staff) to try and ensure that they felt it was an area just for them.

    A lecture theatre area.

    An old library cataloguing system, I think for press cuttings. I like that these things are kept in place, although technology might make them partly redundant, they can still be an inspiration to people.

    There was lots of space to work, in areas that were quiet and with areas that had extensive views.

    This was quite advanced at the time of my visit, a 3D printer.

    Some of the things that had been designed on the printer.

    At the top of the building there’s a viewing gallery, with fine views over the local landscape, including the bridge to Coronado at the rear.

    The view of the top of the building when standing on the viewing terrace.

    And the pinnacle of the building, the rare books section, an integral part of the design.

    The tour was interesting and engaging, all free of charge to visitors, and it’s no surprise that the library is proud of their building. The council have taken a pretty negative approach to much of this, there’s a public ordinance voted on by local residents which demanded a greater public spend on libraries, but councillors have over-ridden it. When I visited, the library had seen a cut in its library funding, but a local backlash saw it returned back up to a higher level.

    As a library, I found this impeccable. Modern, bright, proud of its traditions, spacious, exciting, well-designed and clearly an important part of their local community. Very lovely.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Twenty-Three

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Twenty-Three

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

    Bene Bowse

    The definition of this is “good beer”, with ‘bene’ being slang for good and ‘bouse’ is an old word for alcohol. The word ‘bene’ is Latin, meaning good or the best, and it is where the words benign, benefit, benediction and beneficiary all come from.

  • Montreal – McDonald’s Poutine

    Montreal – McDonald’s Poutine

    I remember spending quite a lot of time in Montreal popping into restaurants for drinks and snacks, as it was so cold outside. Fortunately, Montreal is interlinked below ground, so it’s possible to travel quite long distances without surfacing into the snowy city.

    Back in January 2015, before the advent of self-service terminals.

    I had to try their “world famous” Poutine.

    For my tastes, I still think the cheese curds bit is superfluous, but the fries in gravy were delicious. I’m wondering though what chips, feta cheese and gravy would taste like, I bet it’s delicious.

  • Montreal – Snow

    Montreal – Snow

    Above are some of the history information boards, which I cleared to read the interesting facts underneath. The left-hand side was in French, so I saved time by leaving that half. And below are some more photos of the city under a reasonable covering of snow back in 2015.

  • Montreal – Five Guys

    Montreal – Five Guys

    One of the reasons I keep this blog up is that otherwise I forget easily where I’ve actually been. Looking back on these photos from 2015, I hadn’t realised that I had been to a Five Guys in Canada. It was back in January 2015, when there was snow on the ground and it wasn’t exactly warm outside.

    Unlimited soft drinks.

    It’s hard to photo Five Guys hot dogs to make them look appetising, as they fall apart and don’t look very interesting. But, they’re excellent, and the little fries aren’t really that small a portion.

    I can’t add much to this, since I’d forgotten that I’d even been here a few years ago, but I’ve checked and the restaurant, which is located on McGill Street, is still trading. Well, it will be when this virus is over.

  • Montreal – Berlin Wall Fragment

    Montreal – Berlin Wall Fragment

    This piece of Berlin Wall is located in the World Trade Centre in Montreal.

    The section of the wall was given to the city of Montreal in 1992 from the city of Berlin, as part of the Canadian city’s 350th birthday.

    The section was brought from a location near to the Brandenburg Gate. It’s from the fourth stage of the wall’s construction, known as Grenzmauer 75, which was built between 1975 and 1980. There were 45,000 pieces of concrete involved in that rebuilding effort, which lasted until the war fell in 1989.

  • Montreal – Montreal Library (Duplicates)

    Montreal – Montreal Library (Duplicates)

    I wonder just how many copies of a book that one library needs….

    These were the Lonely Planet books in French, there were an equal number in English….

  • Montreal – Valentine

    Montreal – Valentine

    It’s important to visit independent restaurants when travelling, but I can’t resist popping into some local fast food chains as well to see what they offer. Valentine is a burger and hot dog restaurant which was founded in Quebec and which now has around 100 outlets.

    It was a hard decision, hot dog or burger…..

    I went for the burger. Poutine is often called the national dish of Canada, although it is from Quebec and they’re very proud of it. To be honest, I’m quite happy just with the chips and gravy, I’m not too bothered about the cheese curds, but when in Montreal I felt the need to eat like the locals….

    All was fine, pretty good value and I’d happily go back.

  • British Airways (Seattle to Heathrow T5)

    British Airways (Seattle to Heathrow T5)

    This flight was back in October 2014, and I hadn’t intended to upload the photos so there aren’t many interesting ones of how the aircraft looked. But there’s a lot of food photos at least. Anyway, with the caveat that this is a very limited trip report, since there’s not much text about the flight itself, here we go…..

    Woooo, I was lucky enough to get seat 1A.

    The First seat has a television screen which comes out and the whole area turns into a bed. For those travelling with someone else, the footrest can also be used as a seat. The table comes out and so it’s possible to dine as two people, such is the generosity of space.

    I still have the menu, so this is a photo from today…..

    Photos of the menu.

    Proceedings started with a Kir Royale (Creme de Cassis and champagne) and warm nuts. How decadent.

    The amuse-bouche, although I’ve long since forgotten what it was and they don’t list that in the menu.

    The starter of lobster, mango salsa and a Thai sweet chilli glaze.

    Butter chicken with rice, dal and a toasted naan.

    The dessert of a cheeseboard.

    And coffee to end the proceedings with.

    Unfortunately, the mists of time have meant I’ve forgotten anything of particular interest about this flight. The First experience was one I certainly couldn’t afford if I had to pay for it, but it of course makes flying an absolute pleasure. For me, I find the attentive service all a bit much, I could do without the tablecloth, the placing of the napkin and the laying of cutlery, but I can understand why this is such a treat for a special trip.

    I haven’t taken photos of breakfast and, from memory, I think that’s because I ordered another cheeseboard. There’s dine on demand on BA flights in First and so you can have whatever you want at any stage. This flight arrived in at something like 07:00, which meant that I had access to the Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow T5, where I could have a full English breakfast after my busy flight of eating.

    BA crews were nearly always excellent in First and I always tried to stay awake for the entire journey, as it seemed a bit much to just fall asleep with all this luxury. I probably won’t travel First for some considerable time in the future, so trips like this were always an exciting treat.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Twenty-Two

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Twenty-Two

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

    Beggar Maker

    A short and sweet definition from the dictionary, this is “a publican”. This doesn’t appear to have ever been a widely used phrase, although the sentiment behind it is rather more timeless.