The Days Before...

Cycling home from work it feels like the days before Sinterklaas again. I don't know exactly what it is, I guess it is a combination of the winter temperatures, the chill in the air, the trees that have shed all their leaves, the grey skies and the darkness falling early.

This is the time of year when you close the curtains before you have dinner, when you sometimes actually have the heating on. Though not too long, of course. When you end your evening with very cold feet and spend the first half hour in bed trying to get them warm again.

I watched Sinterklaas sail past on the Spaarne last Sunday, followed on the quayside by a huge crowd of children and adults, and a lot of Zwarte Pieten handing out sweets. I guess that is part of the association for me. And it is the kruidnootjes I can smell right now.

Painted Birds

I was in Haarlem for the Audubon exhibition at Teylers Museum. All about art and birds. It isn't a very big exhibition, just one room, but plenty of interesting things to see there. Audubon wanted to paint all the American birds and publish them in a book. He did, the book turned into several volumes and is huge. I mean huge. The original volumes are in glass cases, and they are opened on different pages every day. On the museums website you can check which birds you can see on which day. A nice idea. And, of course, you can flick through the books on a computer so you can see all of the pictures. And then there are all the other bird books and guides you can see, you can follow the development. THe final case has the bird guides I have at home. Fortunately slightly smaller than Audubon's work, and easier to carry with you.



Teylers Museum is a lovely museum quite apart from the birds. Its collection is a strange mix, some fossils, a room full of old scientific equipment, a big, beautiful room with minerals and rocks, a couple of rooms with paintings. The museum basically houses the collection of an 18th century merchant and financier who had a great belief in knowledge and science. The collection does have that sense of the personal about it, it seems a random collection, but I can imagine one person putting it all together. And then keeping it all in such a beautiful building.

On the Wings

of the Albatross is a story in the December edition of National Geographic. Their website carries the story and has some film footage.

National Geographic

They're Back

Antarctic Mail

Today I got an email from the Antarctic. Someone I met recently is down there to do some work in the Dry Valleys, that part of the Antarctic which is not white, not covered with ice. The atmosphere is extremely dry there, hence the name, and as far as I know it is a place unlike any other in the world.

I knew he would be celebrating his birthday down there, so I sent him an email, not expecting a reply soon. But I underestimated modern technology, and I did get a reply almost straightaway. I'm used to being on a ship with limited email-access, he works from a modern US research station. It still feels a little odd though, to have someone tell you he just celebrated his birthday in the Discovery Hut and spent his day at work in the Dry Valleys. I'll never be able to do that, celebrating my birthday in the Antarctic winter...

Music. Again.

Two concert nights in a row, very different evenings. Thursday night I was at Studio K in the East of the city. A fairly new centre, a kind of small Paradiso, where three bands performed. I was there mainly because of the last act on the bill, the Brunettes from New Zealand. I liked their performance and their music, but I'm not too sure about the other two bands.

It felt a little like an alien environment to me. The bands were all new, small bands, attracting a different audience of very trendy young people. Spiky hair, big horn-rimmed glasses, very tight trousers and checked shirts. You could quite easily pick out the trendy from the non-trendy. No points for guessing where I was in all that. I actually sat on the balcony, looking down on the people standing in front of the stage. I quite enjoyed seeing the social goings on. Everybody seemed to know everybody else. I felt very much an observer, researching the habits of modern big city youth culture. Quite funny, really.

Then tonight I went to a small venue very close to my own home, one I didn't even know existed, to hear a Frisian band called Souldada play Mediterranean and South American music. Only some 15 people turned up, but the atmosphere was good. A grown up band and a grown up audience this time. I was much more part of the audience, sitting close to the stage, listening to the music rather than observing the whole scene. I liked the music and the performance.

Ouch

I went and had my company physical last week. I was declared fit and healthy, all the tests went well, and my marks were good. The only thing is, I had to take a step test, stepping on and off quite a high step at quite a fast rate, and I lost my footing a couple of times. So since I had my physical my right calf muscle has been giving me some problems. That can't really be the idea, can it?

Sailors

I was at a meeting of sailors last night. Tough people, sailing their small ships along the coast or around the world. At dinner I sat next to an elderly gentleman who had sailed round the world, and he told me something about his trip, crossing the Atlantic three times altoghether. Another man sails singlehandedly down to the mediterranean and back, a woman regularly sails up to Sweden.

I'm not really much of a sailor myself, if I'm honest. Yes, I've crossed the Drake Passage more than once, and yes, I've crossed the Atlantic ocean, but I'm still not much of a sailor. I wasn't on such a tiny yacht, but I WAS on a sailing ship, a square rigged bark, a tall ship. I like the ship I work on, she's a beautiful ship, and that she's square rigged is unusual and looks very romantic.

I still don't know much about sailing, though, as I realised again last night. When the captain of my ship started talking about sailing manoeuvres. I sort of know, but I don't really. I know some of the terms, but am never sure what they really mean. I know there's sails involved, and a lot of ropes, and sometimes I pull on ropes, and I know more or less which sail is which, but that's it really.

The evening before my night out with the sailors I was at a Film Festival, the Northern Film Festival, a different kind of atmosphere and a very different group of people, different topics of conversation. Another world, just like the world on board ship is a another world.

Polar Research

The Scott Polar Research Institute is based in Cambridge, and it is a fascinating place for anyone interested in Antarctic history. One part of the institute is the museum, for me the place to find many mementos of the Scott expeditions. There are cases containing items that belonged to Scott, to Edward Wilson and to other members of their journey to the South Pole. Final letters they wrote, Wilson's drawing materials, Birdie Bowers' copy of the New Testament. Impressive and moving. It makes history come alive, and it is weird to think that some of these items were taken from the tent where Scott and his companions died.




Almost even more impressive is the library in the institute. They seem to have almost every book ever published on Polar science, history, exploration, flora and fauna. It is quite overwhelming. I had a look at some of the books I had heard about, but which I had never seen. I had a good look at the biography of Birdie Bowers. I also looked at some of the volumes of the report on the Discovery expedition. When I opened the volume with photographs on the title page was Edward Wilson's signature! It must have been his own copy.



Visiting this place for the first time is a little overwhelming. There is a whole shelf of books devoted to Tristan da Cunha, something you are not likely to find in many other places. And this includes the books written by Dutch authors. All the books on the explorers seem to be there too. I guess next time I need to take a lot more time than just a day.

Around the time I was at the Scott Institue I also visited that other research institute, the British Antarctic Survey. They are responsible for carrying out research out on the continent these days. A big office building just outside Cambridge, with scientists and support staff. This is modern day science in the Antarctic, no long treks on ships, no two-year expeditions, but modern bases, planes and modern research methods. Most scientists just work on the continent in the Southern summer, you don't necessarily have to winter there anymore. I saw the model for the new Halley station, which looks like something out of a science fiction film, wonderful. Polar research has come a long way in 100 years.

B.E.

Did I ever mention Bright Eyes are a brilliant band? Listening to Cassadaga again I just couldn't help noticing. Fabchannel.com still has some earlier live shows available on line, which are fascinating. Too bad they didn't record the Amsterdam concert last July.

I'm still not sure what it is I like so much, or what appeals to me so much. It is Conor's voice, the music and the arrangements, and the lyrics. The man seems to have produced so much music in just a few years and there just are some real gems in there. It just seems to work together perfectly.

Shackleton

Thinking of early 20th century Antarctic exploration I always think of Scott and Wilson first, I guess I like them for various reasons. Just lately I've been catching up on my Shackleton. I watched the series that was made on his Transantarctic expedition a few years ago. Kenneth Branagh played the title role, and he did that very well. He managed to catch the passion, the compassion and the determination of the man, as well as his charm. I know it was a dramatisation, and in places it didn't look very realistic, but it did give some sense of the human side of the whole expedition.



I also recently watched Scott of the Antarctic, and this series had some of the same features. In some scenes of the film you could clearly recognise Ponting's pictures, in the case of the Shackleton series the images of Hurley came out in some of the shots of the series. They must have been a source of inspiration and information for the makers of the series.

I did feel that much stress was placed on the preparation, and Shackleton's various affairs on land, and the final journey was dealt with relatively quickly. There were few images of the men living on Elephant Island, but I guess spending too much time dealing with that would be a little monotonous maybe. And it all seemed very clean. When the real Shackleton reached the Whaling station at Stromness he wasn't recognised by the Station Master, but the man reaching the Station in the series was easily recognisable as the man who'd started out on this ambitious expedition.

Another funny thing was the role of the Royal Geographic Society. They were asked for funds for the expedition but didn't provide much. When asked to help set up a rescue expedition they weren't very keen either. So I wonder what Shackleton would think of his statue adorning the current quarters of the Society.

When I was on South Georgia I visited Shackleton's grave. A simple grave amongst the whalers, but it does seem the right place for him to be. South Georgia is one of the most beautiful places in the world for me, a perfect last resting place.

Surprises

When you wander around London you can have some unexpected encounters. Only a few minutes after encountering Dutch royalty wandering round the street, I was suddenly almost face to face with one of the great Antarctic heroes. Well, I would have been if I'd been twice as tall, now I was literally looking up to Ernest Shackleton in full Antarctic gear. Impressive...



I've been reading about Shackleton again, or rather reading about the part of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition that he was not immediately part of. While he was dealing with his own little problems in the Weddell Sea there was another, smaller, party working for him on the other side of the continent, laying depots of food and fuel for his team. They ran into a lot of problems of their own, but still continued their work, not wanting to let the boss down. An amazing story, but unfortunately the outcome wasn't quite as good as that of Shackleton's own party. Not all members of the party on the other side survived.

I've also been watching the adaptation of the story of the main expedition for television, with Kenneth Branagh playing Shackleton. I'm halfway through now, and it's interesting. I'll get back to this one when I've seen all of the series.

Mechelen

I was in Mechelen to see a concert at the Stadsschouwburg. Maybe not the most obvious place for me to attend a concert, but that is just the way it worked out. What I didn't know was that 1 November is a national holiday in Belgium and that meant that all the shops and museums and many of the restaurants were closed. It was a pretty grey day anyway, so it turned into a slightly depressing day, just wandering round the almost deserted centre of Mechelen.



The thing that did make it all worthwhile in the end was the concert. It was An Pierlé I had come to see, and I have seen her a few times before, or quite a few, but this was a slightly different concert again. After the tour built very much around the new album, "White Velvet" last year, she now played a mix of songs from that album, from earlier albums, and some new songs.

She wore a shiny white dress with lots of sparkles this time, very stylish and very An. The set-up on stage a little different than before, Peter not way in the back with a full set of drums but more to the front. And An had a proper grand piano. And there was a little more room for the cello again.



A few new songs I hadn't heard before, and some old ones I hadn't heard live before either, like "Tower", which is a great song. She also sang "Build a Better Life", and was accompanied by Peter on high chair and ergonomic sitting ball, a new style of percussion that worked well.

The theatre was quite posh, a real old-fashioned theatre, and the audience didn't seem like An's regular audience. The set was relatively quiet, maybe because of that. The hall wasn't very big, which did create an intimate atmosphere, and also made it a slightly different concert.



I spent a short while in the theatre in the afternoon too, when the band was rehearsing. An empty theatre, just the musicians and technicians, testing the light and the sound. A different atmosphere again. Nice to hear some of the songs in such a different setting altogether.