Beau Peep Notice Board
Beau Peep Notice Board => Outpourings => Topic started by: Roger Kettle on November 09, 2007, 09:59:27 PM
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I've been very fortunate in life and have seen some amazing and memorable things. I'm going to list a few and hope that some of you contribute your own memories.
The Eiffel Tower.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Statue of Liberty.
Mount Rushmore.
The Copenhagen Mermaid.
Stonehenge.
The Devil's Tower, Wyoming.
Whales breaching off New England.
Salmon leaping in the Highlands.
The Peepmaster buying a drink.
Take it away, folks....
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Are you allowed to include things from your dreams?
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The only thing from your list that I've seen is Stonehenge.
I have seen (and been up/under/on):
The CN Tower.
Niagra Falls.
Ferry Across the Mersey.
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We did the Mersey Ferry a couple of weeks ago, Vult, on a damp and cloudy Saturday afternoon. It was perfect! I swear I could hear Gerry Marsden's haunting tones singing along with me...then I realised they were playing it through the tannoy.
I've not yet seen Stonehenge, but I've often taken friends to see the ancient stone circle in Aviemore. It's a collection of very small rocks in the middle of a tiny housing estate. You need to drive to the end of a cul-de-sac to see it - the locals laugh out of their windows as you turn your car around to escape the disappointment. It's quite humiliating the first time, but I make a point of always looking totally gob-smacked and delighted, as if I'd just seen Stonehenge.
I've seen dolphins in the Moray Firth, and Peepsie bought me a drink too. It was coffee, but he definitely paid!
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I've seen Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, and of the two, the Bridge is the real standout, especially at night when it is fully lit and seagulls still swarm around it, the light reflecting off them. The Opera House is a lot smaller than you expect.
I've seen whales breaching as they migrate to their breeding grounds past Wellington Point, I've watched my kids feed wild dolphins by hand, I've seen kangaroos (umpteen times), bounding across the road as I drive, I've seen koalas running like dogs across a playing field, I've seen my driveway infested by a hundred cane toads (the next door neighbour used them as golf balls), I've been up the Eiffel Tower.
When I was a kid in Larkhill, Wiltshire when you could walk to Stonehenge and around it, unhindered and unsupervised, sitting on the stones or kicking a football, with no-one else there.
I've seen AC-DC live, and met them backstage, er....I'll think of some more later.
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If were talking about people as well...
I've seen The Beatles when they were at the Cavern.
Billy Joel )
Neil Diamond ) at Wembley.
Rod Stewart )
Roy Rogers and Trigger.
:)
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I saw Eleanor Rigby's grave in Liverpool last Sunday, and on the same day read that the song wasn't actually based on her at all. :'(
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I saw Eleanor Rigby's grave in Liverpool last Sunday, and on the same day read that the song wasn't actually based on her at all. :'(
In modern parlance - what a bummer!
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I bought drinks? When? How dare you tarnish my reputation.
I've seen otters on this island about 4 times. I frequently see seals from my front window. We have circles on this island too - mainly round my eyes on a Sunday morning.
I've see dolphins swimming with the ferry to the Hebrides.
I saw Wolves play a friendly with Dundee once.
I've seen roof tops sticking out of the ground near Mount Pinatubo on Luzon in The Philippines, and traveled on a road in the ground that used to be a flyover before the eruption in 1991.
I saw Wolves win the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.
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I've also seen Niagara Falls.
The Berlin Wall.
Checkpoint Charlie.
Spandau Prison (where Hess was).
A scud missile being launched.
James McFadden & Stephen Hendry.
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I have met Barbara Windsor
Nora Battey's husband
Mersey beats
Billy Fury
The Shadows
Helen Shapiro
Frank Ifield
Alma Cogan
Avebruy
Stonehenge
Lulworth cove
The needles
Lands end befor you had to pay
John a Groats
Cheder Gorge
the Butter Tubs
Glen Coe
and hundreds more I forget through age
I have not seen Wolves win anything
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The Grand Canyon
Chichen Itza (before the jungle was scaled way back and the place became a sideshow attraction)
New Orleans (before it was devastated)
The White House (before the current idiot-in-residence)
The US Capitol
The Washington Monument
The Lincoln Memorial
The Smithsonian
Pearl Harbor
Alcatraz
Las Vegas (it was a sideshow, but when has it not been?)
The Sears Tower
The St. Louis Arch
SouthFork (from the old "Dallas" TV show -- ah, the guests of mine who wanted to see that place and were disappointed.)
The "Wild West"
The Petrified Forest
The Painted Desert
Pueblo Villages
The Rocky Mountains
The Smoky Mountains
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Not the Big Rock Candy Mountains?
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No, I must put that one on my list. :D
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Calypso, it sounds like you've had some wonderful trips around The States. I'm envious. I've only seen the Rockies from a distance---must get in among them one day.
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Did you know that those pointy mountains like the Rockies are that shape because they are young?
The more roundy ones such as in the Scottish Highlands are the older ranges.
Roundy. My geological terms aren't intimidating you I hope?
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I was impressed that she'd seen The Petrified Forest. (I have visions of some trees, on a very unstable slope, near to a sheer drop).
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:D :D :D :D
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When I was a child, I thought that if a person entered The Petrified Forest he would turn to stone.
For education/entertainment purposes only:
http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/PetForest/PetForest.html#introduction
There are pictures.
WARNING: The Proofreader did not do the best job. It's 225 million years and not 225 years. ::)
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Thanks for that, Calypso. It was absolutely fascinating. It would be great the see it all for real but, as the chances are nil, the pictures will do fine.
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I've seen better days.
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Hello again everyone. How're you all going? Great thread, Roger - got me thinking about all the things I've seen and realised I've been pretty fortunate too - led a very itinerate life at one stage. A few that stick out are
- Flying in a "Red Baron" plane in an open cockpit over Sydney Harbour, Bondi and the Northern Beaches, then seeing those beaches and the Tasman Sea from an upside down position a few times, before diving straight down towards them.
- Margo Fonteyn dancing in Swan Lake - Rudolf Nuryev was supposed to dance with her, but he called off at the last minute with a cold. We all knew he was just too snotty nosed to come to grotty old Glasgow.
- A ballet performed in the ruins of Baalbeck (http://www.baalbeck.org.lb/) in Lebanon. The last two were when I was a teenager, so didn't really appreciate them as much as I should.
- Elton John in concert in 1972 in Frankfurt - I can still see the green sparkly top hat, long boots, huge round glasses, etc.
- Lebanon before the conflicts started.
- The view from the top of Ayers Rock in central Australia. Amazing seeing the curve of the earth while you're still on the ground.
- The Southern Alps of New Zealand from a small plane - twice.
- Fox Glacier and Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand, once from a helicopter - didn't like that much!
- The inside of the Eiger, the Eiger, views from the Jungfraujoch (http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-8//183_read-808) The Swiss Alps full stop.
- Down the salt mine at Berchtesgaden in Austria
- Dubrovnik
- Florence in all her glory
- Venice in all her watery, mosquito ridden glory
- Paris in all her glory
- The Son et Lumiere at the Acropolis and Parthenon
- The crater of Haleakala volcano on Maui
- A whale popping up in front of the Manly Ferry on Sydney Harbour, appropriately when we had visitors from overseas with us.
- A huge cuttlefish suspended under a rock ledge - all we could really see were two huge eyes staring out at us - on a dive somewhere around Sydney.
- The possum, who is currently living in our cabana roof, sitting on a beam watching hubby barbecue at night. Unfortunately, we'll have to get her out of there soon, because we need to get the ceiling back on. She's not going to like that very much!
I would love to see all the sights mentioned in North America - only seen a little bit of the East Coast and a little bit of the West Coast, nothing in between. Fascinating about the petrified forest, Calypso - I'd never heard of that. Have seen the tallest gum tree in the world in NZ - or was it the oldest? Pretty big, anyway.
Malc - is this what you saw? Except, I think the "birds" flying up near the flags in the light were fruit bats that time. Guess the date...
(http://users.tpg.com.au/pdcs01/bridge.JPG)
Edit: Just thought of three more significant things - Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St Peter's Basilica in Rome - I was just awestruck when I walked into that building. If I was at all religious, it would have been a spiritual experience. Thanks, Michelangelo and Bernini - think that's right, haven't got time to check. Seen old Pope John Paul too - once in Rome and once in Vancouver of all places - both times from a distance.
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Wow!
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Hello again everyone. How're you all going? Great thread, Roger - got me thinking about all the things I've seen and realised I've been pretty fortunate too - led a very itinerate life at one stage. A few that stick out are
- Flying in a "Red Baron" plane in an open cockpit over Sydney Harbour, Bondi and the Northern Beaches, then seeing those beaches and the Tasman Sea from an upside down position a few times, before diving straight down towards them.
- Margo Fonteyn dancing in Swan Lake - Rudolf Nuryev was supposed to dance with her, but he called off at the last minute with a cold. We all knew he was just too snotty nosed to come to grotty old Glasgow.
- A ballet performed in the ruins of Baalbeck (http://www.baalbeck.org.lb/) in Lebanon. The last two were when I was a teenager, so didn't really appreciate them as much as I should.
- Elton John in concert in 1972 in Frankfurt - I can still see the green sparkly top hat, long boots, huge round glasses, etc.
- Lebanon before the conflicts started.
- The view from the top of Ayers Rock in central Australia. Amazing seeing the curve of the earth while you're still on the ground.
- The Southern Alps of New Zealand from a small plane - twice.
- Fox Glacier and Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand, once from a helicopter - didn't like that much!
- The inside of the Eiger, the Eiger, views from the Jungfraujoch (http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-8//183_read-808) The Swiss Alps full stop.
- Down the salt mine at Berchtesgaden in Austria
- Dubrovnik
- Florence in all her glory
- Venice in all her watery, mosquito ridden glory
- Paris in all her glory
- The Son et Lumiere at the Acropolis and Parthenon
- The crater of Haleakala volcano on Maui
- A whale popping up in front of the Manly Ferry on Sydney Harbour, appropriately when we had visitors from overseas with us.
- A huge cuttlefish suspended under a rock ledge - all we could really see were two huge eyes staring out at us - on a dive somewhere around Sydney.
- The possum, who is currently living in our cabana roof, sitting on a beam watching hubby barbecue at night. Unfortunately, we'll have to get her out of there soon, because we need to get the ceiling back on. She's not going to like that very much!
I would love to see all the sights mentioned in North America - only seen a little bit of the East Coast and a little bit of the West Coast, nothing in between. Fascinating about the petrified forest, Calypso - I'd never heard of that. Have seen the tallest gum tree in the world in NZ - or was it the oldest? Pretty big, anyway.
Malc - is this what you saw? Except, I think the "birds" flying up near the flags in the light were fruit bats that time. Guess the date...
(http://users.tpg.com.au/pdcs01/bridge.JPG)
Edit: Just thought of three more significant things - Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St Peter's Basilica in Rome - I was just awestruck when I walked into that building. If I was at all religious, it would have been a spiritual experience. Thanks, Michelangelo and Bernini - think that's right, haven't got time to check. Seen old Pope John Paul too - once in Rome and once in Vancouver of all places - both times from a distance.
Makes my day-trip to Eastbourne sound pretty unimpressive...
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Persnickety saw his toes today when he leaned dangerously forward
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Makes my day-trip to Eastbourne sound pretty unimpressive...
Ah well, you see, I cheated in a way - I was fortunate enough to work on camping tours in New Zealand and Europe, so I got to see all those things in Europe and NZ at least once - the times I wasn't asleep on the coach! That led to me coming out to Australia to visit all the people I'd met on the tours and have a look round, where I met my sadistic husband-to-be who was the one who, some years later, gave me a voucher for a 45 minute aerobatics flight, knowing I would be absolutely petrified. Luckily, the pilot took one look at my face, which was probably as white as a sheet, and suggested we do a scenic flight over Sydney Harbour and then a little bit of aerobatics at the end. Turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life, despite the fact I felt sick for two hours afterwards.
The ballet and Lebanon were while I was at boarding school - had to be some compensation for enduring those five years. :(