Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Staithes

So here we go with another installment of the journey down the North Yorkshire coast, after the surreal Skinningrove we headed to Staithes and nearly missed it! Riding along in the car we passed through the edge of the village, and to be fair when we saw the sign and a few houses we thought 'Is this it?' and carried on driving. Something didn't sit right with me and I said to Gary 'We've missed something, it looked nice on the Coast programme when I saw it'. So we parked up and used Gary's ipad to see if we'd missed something roadwise, it appeared we had. Heading back we drove down a lane towards where we suspected the sea was and stumbled across a car park. It appeared we'd just passed through the modern top road of Staithes and fringe bits of the more contempory village. After parking up we followed the signs and a steep road down to the old village proper and were pleasantly surprised with what we found. I knew from the brief bit I'd seen on tv that artists came here to paint in Victorian times but seeing it close up and real for myself was amazing.

Staites is nestled in the cliff side and has a natural harbour and it also appears the legendary captain Cook spent some time here too. The streets down to and around Staithes are quite steep and certainly test your fitness but it's rewarding all the same. To sum up, Staithes is a lovely little fishing village with some interesting houses and great views, there's also a couple of pubs! Enjoy the photos!


Steep descent in Staithes














Lobster cages


harbour




Captain Cooks cottage, albeit rebuilt slightly.

Skinningrove Revelations (not for the faint hearted)

Yesterday, I blogged about Skinningrove, you probably read I thought it was an odd little place but it gets worse! Today I decided to see if there was a better photo of the dolls head hammer house of horror and stumbled across these two YouTube videos. Little did I know that Gary and I had stumbled into one of England most unsavoury villages. No disrespect to the people there, as I didn't stay long to meet any of them, but on seeing these videos I certainly wouldn't cross them either. Watch them at your own risk!

Video one can be found here

Video two can be found here

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Saltburn and Skinningrove

On the 24th of June, Gary and I headed to the north Yorkshire coast and our first port of call so to speak was Saltburn-by-the-sea on the Cleveland coastline. Saltburn is very victorian in appearance and the first thing that hits you on getting out of the car is the pungent yet pleasant smell of sea salt, invigorating to say the least. It's not your archetypal seaside town, firstly it's very quaint and thankfully bereft of amusement arcades and neon lights. The streets of Saltburn, near the seafront are all named after types of stone such as ruby, garnet, emerald, coral, diamond, pearl and amber.

Linking the seafront to the pier and beach is the Saltburn Tramway which costs 70p to ride, handy if you don't fancy walking down to the beach and probably saving you a good few minutes. I liked Saltburn and always wanted to go there after seeing it on the BBC2 program 'Coast'. We didn't really get much time to explore as many places were on the agenda for the day but what I saw I liked, the air was fantastic and the coastal views of nearby headland were amazing.


Zetland Apartments, formerly a famous hotel.


Headland


Saltburn Pier


Tramway


Tramway carriage view


Gary in the carriage


me on the pier.


Skinningrove

After we left Saltburn a few miles down the coast we saw Skinningrove nestled in a valley leading down to the sea. Deciding to investigate further we parked up on the main street and headed towards the rocky beach. Skinningrove is a bit like the village time forgot, there's not much there but it seems quiet, if a little surreal in some respects. To add to this feeling of surrealism was a garden with poles or spikes, each adorned with a dolls head or animal, it looked macarbre to say the least but certainly made me smile, let's just say it had that hammer horror feel about it! The beach is rocky and there's a good view of some headland nearby. We only stayed about five or so minutes for a quick look around, feeling uneasy we headed on.


Memorial boat 'Repus'


Headland view


Hammer house of horror garden!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Camden Beloved Camden !

Continuing on from the blog below, here is some photos and videos of Camden, probably my favourite shopping place in the world. Why? Well it's simple really, Camden seems to have all the things I like clothes wise and also has great pubs and an incredible vibe to the place. I really want to spend more time there but I know my pockets would be very empty after.

Since my last visit Cyberdog (A goth/futuristic clothes shop) has had a refurb and looks amazing. Whilst it may be expensive for some items it's fair to say many of them are individual and not often seen on the high street, they are also great quality. I love the new look of Cyberdog and it even has an adult fetish section now ;-)

The Stables market seems to have recovered well from the fire a couple of years back and Camden seems as busy as ever. I think my next visit has to be over a couple of days so I can fully take all of Camden's shops and the surrounding area in, and sample the nightlife.

Click on the vids below for them to begin.


The Cyberdog entrance




Inside Cyberdog (before they got pissed at me filming)


Inside Cyberdog, a sneaky photo done on the phone camera.


Stables market


Scooter seating!


Camden.

The Big City Again!

Once again some photos on the blog from London taken on the 16th June. The weather was perfect and myself and Gary managed to fit quite a lot into the day. We started on Oxford Street, had lunch in Soho, then down onto Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, The London Eye and finally up to Camden (which is going to get a seperate blog). Enjoy the photos!















Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A Little Lost With It All

I don't often do personal blogs these days as this blog is often about what I am doing or interested in, places visited and plenty of photos.

Right now though I feel the need to disclose, if only to make myself feel a little better.

Events, feelings and a general weariness of some things seem to have crept up on me of late. I seem to have lost direction and motivation, and oddly for me a little confidence too. I just feel like I'd be more suited to being anonymous in a city or miles from anywhere on some remote Scottish island. I'm just not doing 'people' too well at the moment, which is ironic as I'm very much a people person. It seems to be a year of conflicts in some respects. Usually I can find trouble easy enough should I want, such is my impish nature at times but this year chaos and entropy seem to be finding me at every turn and it's really not suiting me.

As for friends. Well, I have some good ones though on closer enquiry my friends seem to be split into groups of sorts, I'll try and explain. Firstly there's my close friends, of which I consider two people to be close, only the reality is perhaps they aren't as close anymore. One lives the other side of the world, I rarely see him and it often feels like I am playing catch up when we meet. His world is very different to mine, he's also very much breezed through life without any problems, not that there's anything wrong with that! He's good to me when we meet up, and looks after me in the sense I am never out of pocket. Sadly though he seems very gadget obsessed at the moment, I'm sure he's half robot these days! I just feel we don't talk like we used to talk, nowadays there's always an ipod, or during this visit, the new 'ipad'. Seemingly these days he finds it hard to function without the latest techno stuff present and lit up.

Then there's my other close friend, I perhaps see him once a month, he's a good bloke but very settled in his marriage and not really one for high jinks or adventure these days. I'm not bitter at this, not at all, I just yearn sometimes for the fun we once had.

Locally I have some good friends, there's been some really good nights out recently, I'm fortunate to be in with such a good bunch of people. I'm close to perhaps two or three of them perhaps and feel I could pretty much call on any of them if I needed help etc.

The friends I left behind? Well it has been three years now since I moved here and left my old town behind. I do miss my friends a lot, but there's good contact with them still. I really should drive over there more but the truth of the matter is that though I miss my friends - I do not miss my old town! So I often procrastinate a fair bit and make excuses but I realise only I can remedy that.

Usually I can sort my own stuff out, I'm ever the analyst and very pragmatic. Sometimes though things just creep up on you unawares and you can't really fathom them. I just seem lost at the moment, at some kind of crossroads unable to decide what path to take. I've definitely reached an impasse or maybe I am just in a transitional period?

Then there's society, you'd think that looking back we were much more judgemental back then and that nowadays we are more open and accepting. I'm not so sure with today's society, especially Britain as a nation. Abroad acceptance and respect for diversity and individuality seem more prevalent. In Britain it seems looking different is frowned upon, which is probably when I go to such places such as Camden or big cities I feel I blend in more. You do notice it abroad though, and being quite travelled you notice other cultures and how they go about treating other people and despite our so called multi-cultural society here we are often eager to mock difference be it in how people dress or how they look physically. Would I want to live in a world of clones or media portrayed perfect people? Hell no! I'd want to be me every time, and for other people not to be afraid to express themselves either. The current sub culture we have here in Britain at present with people adorned in shell suits, tracksuits and baseball caps just illustrates how influenced by the media we are as a whole and scared to be creative and individual. It's group mentality out there and if you are different or challenge their group preconceptions then ridicule follows, or for some unfortunates, even worse.

Well a bit of a rant there, and hopefully I'll feel better for getting things off my chest. I'm resilient and I'll get over this low patch. I need to sit down and think what path I need to take in life in general, and one thing is for sure, I'll still keep being me.

Friday, June 18, 2010

A Rare Photo

Here's a rare photo of me, taken in Camden, London on 16th June by my friend Gary. I quite like this photo which is odd as I don't usually like photos of myself. It was a lovely day and I love how Gary has made the background slightly blurred.



Monday, June 07, 2010

Spam !

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Which means.... please don't spam here!