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Calgary And Banff

Arrived Calgary 10.30 your time (UK). Calgary is 8 hours behind.  All the baggage arrived as well which was a bit of a bonus.  Stayed at the Westin Hotel 4th Avenue, quite a nice hotel with the biggest bed you have ever seen, it comes with a map.  Took a few photographs, had a walk around, went up the Calgary Tower which is 525 metres high.  Some great views and it has a glass floor which we managed to teeter onto, very unnerving when you are looking down.

Today 20th August we went to Banff.  This is now starting to look like the Canada that is in the picture postcards, very beautiful, weather has been ok mainly, just a few spots of rain.  I have manged to upload one photo to Flickr of the Bow River, the computer I am using or the internet service failed to upload any more, i.e. it could not cope.  The link for the photo is http://www.flickr.com/photos/petermiller/1187487253/

The hotel we are staying in in Banff is the Banff Caribou Lodge, this hotel is very very nice and we have a balcony.  We have used the gym, spa and steam room , therefore we are making the most out of the money we have spent.

Ok, now it is time to hit the bar and get some food, I already managed a Wild Boar Burgere so the next meal will have to be light, got to keep some soace for the ale.

Kokanee and Molson Canadian beers are the flavour of the moment, 5 percent and better tasting that the usual UK slop.

One thing I feel I have to mention is that Canadian people are very friendly and will go out of their way to please you with nothing being too much trouble.

See you soon, watch this space.

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Heathrow and waiting

I thought it best to get here early, so we have arrived 4 hours before take off.  Due to the eco warriors there is a heavy police presence so really it was a good idea.

The place is packed and it’s not really worth terminal hopping because as usual it is pouring down with rain.

So far everything is running like clockwork and fingers and toes are crossed.  It is going to be a long 9 hours.  We will leave at 12.30, arrive 9.30 pm our time which I think is around 2 pm Canada time.  Therefore we will have to live some of the day again, does that mean we live longer?

Message coming over the tannoy.  Can the person who has left an unattended brown suitcase by the Turkish check in please collect their luggage otherwise it will be destroyed.  One born every minute.

These internet cafes are great, one can while away sometime.  For some reason though certain sites are restricted.  I was looking for a “pawn” shop in case we run out of money and this message came up “Access Denied”, I wonder why.

Whoever left his suitcase has not yet collected it and the tannoy lady is sounding more and more frantic.

Oh well!  Time to go, will hopefully catch up in Canada.  TTFN

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Just enjoying a few beers

It’s raining, it’s pouring, and so am I, that is some guiness down my neck.

Sitting in the Master Robert Best Westen in Hounslow. This place is on the direct flight route of Heathrow. How do I know? You can almost touch the planes going over, one at least every 30 seconds, pretty impressive really.

Well, this is only a brief note because I am going back to the bar.

Tomorrow is the big day, should be taking off about 12.30 as long as the eco boys and girls don’t do anything stupid. Catch you soon

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Nearly The Big Day

Well the time is almost upon Lyn and myself to depart this cold island and head for a 2 week Canadian and Alaskan adventure. We sure are looking forward to it. Been waiting for this weekend for some time and at the same time not wishing our lives away.

I will hopefully at some stage while we are over there be able to upload some photos and try to update this blog. The ship has a rather large internet suite that we can hopefully utilise.

I have now almost completed organising and archiving my family photographs, now running into the thousands (scanned, cropped and cleaned). Tedious is not the word but in my opinion worth the time I have spent.

Just have a bag load of other photos to archive now. While going through my collection I came upon some photographs I have taken at various battle re-enactments over the past few years. I have uploaded to Flickr the ones I believe are the best of the bunch.

Please take a look: Battle re-enactments

It may be best to view it as a slide show.

I have uploaded the originals and then uploaded originals with a little bit of sepia toning to try and make them look like they were taken years ago.

Here is an example, I really like this shot, it has atmosphere and looks like it could be directly from WWII. Take a look at the commanding officer, don’t you think there is a little Mel Gibson about him.

1141242630_df649e122f.jpg
Original
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Sepia Toned

Ok, time to be off now but before I go, for anyone that wants to try this trick using photoshop, here are the simplest instructions I could find:

A sepia tone is a reddish brown monochrome tint. When applied to a photo, it gives the picture a warm, antique feeling. It’s easy to do in Photoshop!
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 5 minutes

Here’s How:

  1. Open the image in Photoshop.
  2. If the image is in color, go to Image > Adjust > Desaturate and skip to step 4.
  3. If the image is in grayscale go to Image > Mode > RGB Color.
  4. Go to Image > Adjust > Variations.
  5. Move the Fine<-->Coarse slider down one notch less than the middle.
  6. Click on More Yellow once.
  7. Click on More Red once.
  8. Click OK.

Tips:

  1. Use the Save… button in the Variations dialog to save the sepia tone settings. The next time you want to use it, just load the saved settings.
  2. Use Desaturate and experiment with Variations to apply other color tints to your photos.

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In addition to last post

If anyone is interested I have added some photos to Flickr of recent trips to the Lake District.

Lake District Trips

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Eco Freaks On The Loose

One more week or less now to go before we get on the big bird and head for the polar bears. Bet this week goes slow, still plenty to do though, like start packing.

We are stayng in Hounslow on Saturday and make our way to Heathrow on Sunday for an afternoon flight.

Due to a minority (around 2,000 protesters) of eco freaks we will have to get to the airport much earlier than necessary. I hope that there are not any real problems. (See the news story below)
Click here for story


So, there you have it eco freaks on the loose. Obviously these people have no jobs as they are able to spend so much time protesting, probably can’t afford to go on holiday on a plane so they will try to mess it up for everyone else. I just hope it is all low key.

On a positive note I think there is someone out there who wishes to employ me in a full time job. WATCH THIS SPACE

Below is just a bit of info with regards to the plane we are flying out on, newest one in the fleet.

Current Air Canada Fleet
Boeing 777-300ER (77W)

Interior Specifications:
Executive First Economy Class
Number of Seats 42 307
Configuration 1-2-1 3-3-3
Rows 1-11 18-63
Bulkhead Rows 18, 30, 31 outboard, 50 outboard, 51 center
Exit Row 7 31 & 50
Seat Pitch Individual suite 81.28 cm (32″)
Seat Width 51.69 cm (20.35″) 46.99 cm (18.5″) (armrest to armrest)
Seat Recline Fully lie flat bed 11.43 cm (4.5″)
Power Ports At every seat Two per triple located left hand and center seat(AB/DE/HJ), one per double located left hand seat (A/J) No power ports at: 19CH, 30G, 31ABCHJK, 50ABCHJK, 51G
Overwing Rows 20-38
Entertainment
  • In-Seat audio-video (on demand)
  • 80 hours of video & 50 hours of audio
Special Features for Accessibility:
Seats with Moveable Aisle Armrest all except row 18ABJK, 19ABCHJK, 30 DEG, 31 ABCHJK, 50 ABCHJK, 51 DEG
On-board Wheelchair Yes
Wheelchair Accessible Lavatory Yes
Technical Characteristics:
Joined the fleet 2007
Number of Aircraft 11 (by end of 2009)
Manufacturer Boeing
Engines GE90-115B
Cruise Speed 896 km/h (557 m/h)
Range 14,594 kilometers (9,068 miles)
Cruise Altitude 10,668 m (35,000′)
Cargo Capacity 23,024 kgs (50,760 lbs)
Fuel Capacity 181,280 L (47,903 usg)
Length of Aircraft 73.9m (242′ 4″)
Wing Span 64.8m (212′ 7″)
Height 18.7m (61′ 5″)