All out Animal Brawl In Kruger National Park

One of the most amazing nature videos I have seen. The buffaloes seemed to be next generation bovine species; I thought their behavior to retrieve the calf was highly evolved.
Tip from MitraUK (www.mitrauk.org)

Jaw jaw war war

Huge huge fan of the Guardian cartoonist, Steve Bell. Now Martin Rowson joins the list. This cartoon is amazing in detail, and hard-hitting in its message. Tony Blair, as usual, caricatured in the ugliest possible way.

Lake District

The vacation at Lake District was good. It rained heavily on Saturday, but Sunday and Monday was excellent. A woman we met near John Ruskin's home, went so wild with happiness, that she stopped random strangers on the street (us) and went "Isn't this just gorgeous. I stay at Bristol and it is so dirty. But this place... Oh..Just look at this. And the way they have maintained the gardens. Just wonderful!!"


Saturday went to the Bowness Lake. Then came back home to watch the FA cup final. What a disappointment! Didn't watch the final goal in the dying minutes of extra time. We set out by bus to Ambelside and then walked to Grasmere. We started our walk around 5.45 pm, but this being summer, dusk doesn't settle in till about 9 pm. We stopped at a number of places - Rydal Caves, along the Grasmere Lake, Wordsworth's grave, and finally reached Grasmere at around 8.30 pm. Were fortunate to catch the last bus back to Windermere immediately.

Sunday, we decided to cycle to Crook and back. It was a great ride, though in the end, missed a turn and reached Kendal. Kendal Castle is ruins, but the view of the town and nearby hills is spectacular. The ride was a slightly difficult and so decided to take the train back. But repair works were on, and again were fortunate to have a replacement bus with plenty of storage, so we could put our cycles in.

Still the day was not over, so walked around Windermere town - Adelaide Hill, then to the lake and back to Orrest View Point. Unfortunately, we tried to take the shortcut to the hill top and missed the road completely. Reached some private hill-top (where we saw a deer), which has quite a amazing views. Made our way back from a different route.

On Monday, we decided to take it easy. Took a explorer day ticket. First stop - Brockhole Visitor Information Center. Then to Coniston. Walked to Coniston Pier and took a ferry to Brantwood. Saw John Ruskin's home, learnt a bit about his contribution (social, arts, philosohy), and had a great cup of coffee. Back to Coniston. Came to Ambelside, saw the Waterwheel (not working), the Bridge House. Collected the luggage from the B&B and then back to York by train.

Spideman 3

Unfortunately, I got the impression from the few reviews that I read that, Spiderman 3 was an excellent movie - the best in the series. How wrong.
Its bloated, disjointed, and plain boring. Sandman part was interesting in bits, but other guys - black widowed spiderman and Green Goblin Junior were a big let down. The attempt to add depth to the plot by going back to Uncle Ben's murder doesn't work out. It is a clean copy from Batman, where the murder of Batman's parents is not longer just a petty mugging. I wish Sam Raimi, would leave behind Aunt May and Uncle Ben behind, and just concentrate on the story of the now.
Disappointing, overall.

Hoarding menace

I thought all hoardings in Mumbai were obscene. The way the trees were pruned, poisoned, pillaged to make way for big, bold, blaring advertisements blasting full force on Mumbaikars.

Ban them all, I say

Ayaz Bush

Writting all the complex essays for almost a year now, has made me into a nitpicking English Grammar custodian. I feel as if the whole existence of English is dependent on me.
But even if you excuse that fact, I think Ayaz Memon's last paragraph here is just plain wrong.

Had he flopped in the final, Gilchrist would have seriously thought about retiring, as indeed would have the selectors. Now he wants to play for some more time; and so do the selectors and fans.

Find no mistakes? Read it again. I will fill in how the sentence should obviously complete itself.

Had he flopped in the final, Gilchrist would have seriously thought about retiring, as indeed would have the selectors (thought about retiring). Now he wants to play for some more time; and so do the selectors and fans (want to play).

Now, sure, Ayaz Miyan didn't mean it that way. What he meant was

Had he flopped in the final, Gilchrist would have seriously thought about retiring, as indeed would have the selectors (thought about retiring him). Now he wants to play for some more time; and so do the selectors and fans (want him to play).

But, the para just contorts the meaning altogther. Wenyhay.

Don't look for grammatical errors here. I ain't proof-reading. It reminded me of that famous Bushism

Our enemies are looking for ways to harm us. And so do we.

We do the London

Was again back in London showing my wife around. This time, I was armed with the Lonely Planet, so I think, we were able to get much more out of the sight-seeing. Just relying on the signs and the tube map can be mis-leading. For example, the tube map doesn't show that Charing Cross, Leicester Square and Westminister are in walking distances of each other. The time it takes to walk underground to the tube stations is much more than if you just walk to these stations above ground. And then there is the advantage of actually experiencing the sights and sounds of the city.

Since, I was tour-guiding for the wife, had to stick to the same routine - Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Cruise, Greenwich, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace. Wished I had done at least a museum probably, didn't happen. Also, wanted to go around, some out of way spots - probabaly only thing we managed was Neasden's Swami Narayan Mandir (awesome- probably, the best temple I have seen). Next time, (provided I am around), will time my journey around some event (Noting Hill carnival etc) and make sure I check out the museums - Tate Modern, Nat History, or British Museum (atleast). Also go to Brick Lane and do the Wapping Dockyards walk.