Double Rainbows in Stonehenge

On the way to Stonehenge, the rain starts to pour down again and it gets so heavy for a while that the road is almost flooded and it feels the coach just swimming across the water. But then rain starts to get lighter, and when it is still drizzling, there are two beautiful rainbows hanging in the sky. “rainbows!” someone shouts, and “two” I can’t conceal my great surprise, and they are two full rainbows, so perfect that it is almost surreal.

Ten minutes later, we arrive at the Stonehenge, which is located on a massive open land. And to our deepest joy, the rainbows are still there. I rush off the bus and take some photos of the rainbows. Who knows, the rainbows in this sacred land might bring good luck for the new year!

The wind is really strong when we are circling the Stonehenge, but the late afternoon sunlight shed beautiful glow on the stone, making this an ideal time for photos. I am delighted to take photos of the stones from different angles and with different light effects while listening to Hilary telling the myth of the Stonehenge and the latest research on this site. It is very chilly up there with the wind, but standing in the middle of prehistoric site which is listed as world heritage makes it all worthwhile.

And almost right after we get back on the coach, it starts to rain again, and actually quite heavy as well. So we nearly just escape the worst and I say to myself, maybe it is a sign that I will get lucky in the new year. After all those drama in 2006, for sure I need a fresh start and outlook for the new year.

Salisbury Cathedral

After two weeks of foggy, misty and gloomy weather, this morning the clouds start to move away and it looks it is going to a good day for outing. I have signed up with London walks for an exploration day to Salisbury and Stonehenge. The train journey going to Salisbury is quite uneventful, it is southwest train off London, passing through a lot of farm lands (two thirds of Britain is covered by farm land).

The Salisbury cathedral was built on water meadows in 13th century, a bit unusual for an architecture of this scale as it has the tallest spire in Britain. The foundation is only 4 foot high which is not that much considering the height and the size of the cathedral. It is noon when we get there, a quiet but very picturesque small town. There is a fisherman standing in the water fishing trout. Hilary, the guide from London starts telling us the stories behind this legendary cathedral. Legend says that the founder of the cathedral shot an arrow to decide where the cathedral should be built and the arrow landed right on the water meadow where the cathedral stands today. It’s been an inspiring place for a lot of writers and artists. Constable had a few famous paintings showing the cathedral and its surroundings.

As we walk passed the old houses around cathedral, we heard more sometimes rather amusing stories about the old owners/founders of these magnificent houses, one of which until today has been a house for widows. And across the street, there is a big house which used to be kings wardrobe, a bit mind blowing really to imagine the royal family life in the old days.

The cathedral is quite a massive building in typical early English Gothic style, and my eyes are soon attracted by the blue tinted glasses in the back of the cathedral where the high altar is displayed. I have seen many churches/cathedrals around Europe, and nearly all of them have beautiful tinted glasses, but the blue ones here are really eye catching due to a very distinguishing blue colour they used. There are quite a few tomb stones laying on different parts of the cathedral, and the stories behind these stones are anything from mysterious, enchanting to bloody and violent. Then we are led to the high altar where there are a few white angels hanging in the air.

The chapter house connected to the cathedral is a historical treasure due to some very important documents stored here. Magna Carta (1215), the first and closest version of the rights of the liberty has been kept here, which is one of four surviving copies to date. Personally to me, it is amazing to realize how history has evolved in the development of democracy. I guess it is fair to say that democracy is a long bumpy road but we have to take.

A long journey home

One week before Xmas, the holiday atmosphere is definitely in the air. It is the time for last minute gift shopping and wrapping. In all those years I lived abroad, Xmas always imposed a strange feeling on me. It is a holiday for families to get together, but what if you are the only family member in that country, you don't really have any family event to go to. But I still enjoy the Xmas lights on the streets, but not so much those plastic Xmas trees every where these days.

I had a short business trip to Sweden. This is not a smooth trip to start with. We landed in Copenhagen on time, but the train going to Sweden was delayed for almost an hour, so here we are, waiting in the cold and finally got on cramped train. I have to appreciate the Scandinavians for their mild temper and good manner. In the jammed train, nobody really complained and pushed around. Maybe those nordic countries are not the most exciting places to live, but their well educated people really make their countries a more attractive and welcoming place. The train delays are not so often, but it could happen when union strikes for better pay, etc.

Had a two rather uneventful days in Sweden, everybody seems to be in good spirit - well, why not, we have had an extremely good year in our business, as they say, money pouring in, and Xmas is a few days away. In a country where everybody is relatively equal in terms of living standard, they are in preparation for a merry Xmas and new year.

The jouney back home is a bit ordeal. Again, plane landed at heathrow on time despite the fog. But then it turned out that tube from heathrow was shutdown due to some fire alarms. We were directed to tak the bus to Hatton cross so we can get on the tube from there. In the overly crowded bus (totally like in a third world country), a very loud frenchwoman just can't stop her criticism of all the woes in Britain. And when we were finally getting off the bus, she shouted something very loud "I never want to come to your FXXXing country anymore". I turned to her, can't believe some people could be so rude. All of sudden, I start to appreciate the patience and decent manners of Scandinavians. After all, complaining doesn't get you anywhere, and tolerance and understanding could help big time in a situation like this.

Apparently London is a popular destination for tourists around Xmas and new year. Standing beside me was an American woman and her French companion (very usual indeed!) and they had Eurostar train to catch in Waterloo. They were looking at the tube map trying to figure out where to transfer. I pointed out the jubliee line they should take from Greepark, and they asked me if they can still catch the Eurostar departing at 7:40, I said "it will be tight", feeling quite sorry for them. The tube system in London is not great, and not that reliable either, there are unexpected delays all the time. But what can I say, obviously this hasn't stopped people from coming here!

Welcome to my virtual place?

Myspace has been agressively pushing into China, a hot potato that is not so easy to eat for a cyber community based business. Obviously, online community has been the new hype, ranging from my space, Youtube and virtual place where you can build your virtual world. I am not sure if I am just too old fashioned to get too excited about the new hippy thing, believe it or not, I do have a home page in myspace, but I rarely use it. The reason is very simple, I find it way too superficial, and most people profiles tend to be very graphic than narrative. But I guess it is not really the thing targeting poeple like me anyway, I was not raised in an environment where cyber space is quickly transforming the community we used to be familiar with.

A friend of mine questions that 11 hours a week as average usage of Internet (based on the statistics) is too little, as one of the averge users, personally I think that is way enough. I think I spend 30 minutes reading the news, 30 minutes doing my emails, and occasionally doing some online shopping and chatting with friends. That is really about it, well, yes, my blog which I might spend 3 to 4 hours a month to keep it alive!

Computer and Internet, along with other modern technology, has brought us wonderful things - information becomes more transparent, fast and no boundaries, and we get to talk with people from anywhere in the world. And of course, Internet has facilitate across-border tradings and gambling. And indeed Internet has created a lot of innovative new jobs that you wouldn't think of otherwise. In essence, Internet represents speed and sharing.

However, is speed always a good thing? And the bigger question is, is the online (virtual)community ever going to replace the real world/network/community we live in? Or at least is it healthy to spend more than two hours on Internet unless that is your job? When I see a seven years old boy completely addicted to computers games, I get quite worried. And I still couldn't understand the appeal of that virtual world, or any other virtual world really? Recently there are some savvy computer programmes that enable you to build yourself in the virtual world, where you build your house, dress up yourself and invite your virtual friends to join your party. I still struggle to understand how people could spend hours building their fantasy in this online wonder land.

My childhood was a typical example of pre computer/Internet era, I spent eight years in countryside where I joined other kids running in the field, climbing the trees and playing those simple games. I admit they are might not be as inspiring for the brain as computer games, but I had a fabulous time and it was certainly good for me physically as I was a very weak and small child when I was born. And I still believe fresh air, the green and outdoor fun help the children build relationships with the nature, which is not something you get by playing computer games five hours a day.

I guess I would be classified as nostalgic, don't get my wrong, I emrace modern technology as everybody else, I certainly don't want to go back to caves and hunting for wild animals :) I wouldn't be able to survive in that kind of harsh environment. But I think it is about a fine balance between making good use of technology but not letting it take your life away. Sometimes I don't think faster is always better, life becomes so fast paced in most big cities these days, it is nice to have a break from all these noises, so we have time to think and indulge. And I am still a strong believer in human contact, hopefully we won't enter an age when everybody only meet everybody in their virtual place, that would be a bit sad, wouldn't it?