BBC Licensing Fees

So I was reading an article that talked about the BBC licensing fees - what British people pay yearly for access to the BBC. There was a little detail in there that caught my eye, and I don't know what to make of it:

"The cost of the licence fee is set by the government. It is free for people over 75 and half-price for those registered blind."

Why half?

...Oh.

Belfast

-- pictures from Belfast --

I can now say I've hit all the countries within the UK, because last weekend I went to Belfast, Northern Ireland. We made our way over via a 1 hour flight -- the flight itself was easy, but getting to the airport and dealing with security and such is a pain. The city is interesting because it's partly similar to others I've visited -- the scenery is reminiscent of Scotland, and the combination of old architecture and new industrial is somewhat like Cardiff. However, there's a different atmosphere in parts of Belfast, because of the Northern Ireland conflicts... we passed a block of buildings that had been burned down due to fighting as recently as 2000

Our first full day in town, we went on a 'black cab tour.' There are a number of cab drivers in town who will take you on a tour of the city, and so we did this with two girls we met at the hostel. Walter, an elderly Irish man, told us stories about "the troubles" -- the local term used by people who didn't participate in the fighting. We saw both sides of town, the gates that separate them, and the murals painted on both sides

Belfast also has lots of areas with history similar to that of the rest of the UK - there's a cathedral, a city hall, and all the standard town areas that we've found elsewhere. Our hostel was right near the Queen's University, which had lots of large gothic-looking buildings. The second day we visited a variety market and wandered around town, and that evening we went to the Christmas market and admired all the lights

I split off on my own for the final full day, and went to Cave Hill park / Belfast Castle. It was about a 20 minute bus ride out of town, partway up a series of hills. The castle was rather fairytale-like, with silly cat statues in the garden and bits of pink trim. There were 3 trails through the park, and I set out on the middle one, which was supposed to take about an hour. However, it wasn't that well marked, and I soon realized that I was back where I started. Being unsatisfied with that, I started up the longest (and most difficult) trail, mostly so that I could go higher up the hill and get a better view of the city. I continued along for an hour or so, and got to where I could see all of Belfast spread out below me in the valley around the bay. There are pictures in the gallery. At this point, however, it was going to be rough going back the way I had came -- it had rained a bit, and my Chucks weren't exactly made for trekking down a steep hillside. I was debating my options when another hiker came along - a man with his two dogs. I asked if he knew a different route back down, without traveling the full length of the trail (which would have taken me several more hours). He pointed out the way, so by cutting across a field I ended up making my way back down with relative ease. Whew. It was quite enjoyable - I suppose even worth the hassle of flying.

I think I just lost two friends, but...

...gained one ticket to see Eddie Izzard in London on December 3rd.

(and I know exactly what he was saying when this screencap was taken -- "have I left the gas on?")

When I get a bit more motivated, I'll write about the past weekend in Belfast

You are not going to believe...

...who I am going to see in London on December 3rd.

And I'm not going to tell you until I get back from Belfast, hah!

Cardiff

-- pictures from Cardiff (normal) --
-- pictures from Cardiff (exceedingly geeky) --

Another weekend, another adventure -- this time in Wales. One of the first things we (me and Beth) did was to go to the Cardiff castle, which basically has everything you would want from a castle plus an extremely dramatic intro video. The rooms were lavishly decorated, the keep was ancient and awesome, and it was generally much better than the Nottingham castle. We explored the neighboring park, the city hall area with its winter ice rink, the waterfront, and pretty much all the major attractions.

Saturday I had to make a slight detour on my own... a bit of a science fiction pilgrimage. Cardiff is the home of Doctor Who, which is the British classic scifi. Step one was the Doctor Who Exhibit: home to costumes and monsters from the new seasons of the show. Step two was to buy myself a tiny TARDIS (time machine in the shape of a blue British police box). Step three was lingering around the Millennium Centre and some of the nearby buildings, which have all been filming locations. Step four was to take silly photos with my new toy (I only took one so far, but more will come).

That night, the Christmas tree by the waterfront was being lit for the first time, so there was a bit of a festival to go along with that. We hung out in the area, got some take-away fish and chips, and rather leisurely concluded our time in Wales.

Other highlights of the weekend include helping a new acquaintance from Iowa braid red dreadlocks into her hair for the Wales versus Canada rugby game, watching Meet Joe Black and Zoolander, and enjoying the delicious granola that came with our hostel breakfast.

London, part three

-- picture from London --

I got somewhat distracted and forgot to record my third adventure in London. I'm going to make it rather brief... I arrived on a Friday afternoon, and found my hostel -- converted from nurse's accommodations for a nearby hospital. I spent the evening wandering around central London, including spending a good couple hours in the Tate Modern art gallery. Saturday morning was spent in the excellent Camden market, which is an artsy eclectic maze. The afternoon was with my art history class in the 17th century French art section of the National Gallery, and the evening was spent seeing 6 Characters In Search of an Author, which turned into one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The market was amazing, the gallery was crowded but impressive (oh, look -- a Van Gogh... a Da Vinci...), and the play was just fantastic. Sunday morning I headed back to Nottingham

Two nations separated by a common language

I recently received some mail from my bank. I had very carefully given them my UK address over the phone, and was pleased to see that it had been sent to Knotting Ham University

Stratford-upon-Avon

-- pictures from Stratford-upon-Avon --

I finally ventured off on my own for a few days: I spend thursday evening, friday, and saturday morning in Shakespeare-land. One of the first things I realised about the town is that it would be indistinguishable from any other small English town, if not for the influence of a certain bard.

Anyways, I got there thursday after a few minor mishaps, including nearly getting lost in Birmingham (had to walk from one train station to another, and the signs managed to mislead me). I wandered a bit, but mostly just made my way to the hostel. It was very nice -- an old converted mansion, supposedly. Luckily for me, I was the only person in my room (the floors creaked all the time, so no late-night visitors was a boon). I made friends with a family from Brighton, who were visiting the nearby Warwick castle for Halloween, and talked to the staff about how the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre works

A side note about that -- the RSC has been doing three productions for awhile now: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Love's Labours Lost. The latter two both feature a British actor, David Tennant, who is relatively unknown in the US... he plays Doctor Who at the moment, if that rings any bells. He's an enormous star over here (perhaps I could say he's an English Brad Pitt, or a Christian Bale who never made any big Hollywood films, or something). Because of his popularity, tickets for those two shows sold out as soon as they became available (about a year ago). I came to Stratford with no real hope of seeing anything -- and Love's Labours Lost was the only one I had the opportunity to see at all, because of timing

So yeah, I talked to the staff at the hostel, and discovered how to stand a chance at getting a ticket. If someone bought one who could no longer attend, they can sell the ticket back to the RSC, and these 'returns' are made available. If I was willing to queue up early friday morning, I could just maybe get lucky

And that's what I did... I went to bed early early thursday (10-ish), and found myself awake at 4:30am. A bit earlier than planned, but I was awake. I talked to the night security guard for awhile, had some tea, and bundled up for the walk. Yeah... the hostel is two miles from the edge of town. It was barely light out. I walked it.

When I got to the theatre, there was one girl who was the first one to queue for tickets. She told me something exceedingly helpful -- for every performance, the RSC holds 10 tickets for 16 to 25-year-olds who show up the morning of the show. Tickets that cost 5 pounds (they're normally 30 or more). Suddenly, being second in the queue, I was guaranteed a seat. All that was left was to wait for the box office to open at 9:30...

Anyways, I got my ticket, spent the afternoon wandering through town (and eventually taking a nap back at the hostel), and made my way to the theatre at about 6:30. The show was absolutely fantastic. Love's Labours Lost is one of the lesser-done Shakespeare plays, because the language is even more daunting than usual, but the actors were just so superb that the audience was falling off their seats laughing. I really just can't describe how amazing it was...

Then, to top it all off, that night was a special performance -- after, the actors changed out of costume and came back out on stage to answer questions. We got to find out some neat stuff, like who played the bear (a brief dance by someone in a bear costume), and how in one part David Tennant tosses a hat onto a tree branch (during our performance, it didn't fall off, and apparently that was only the second time it didn't fall)

So after that I took the bus back to the hostel (it just doesn't run early in the morning), passed out, and then spent saturday getting back to Nottingham. It was basically 3 hours by the train, and I met some more interesting people along the way... an easy ride.

From having no expectation of seeing anything, to seeing an absolutely fantastic RSC production... I don't think it gets much better.