English Rose - The Jam

No matter where I roam
I will come back to my english rose
For no bonds can ever tempt me from she
I've sailed the seven seas,
Flown the whole blue sky.
But I've returned with haste to where my
Love does lie.
No matter where I go I will come back to my english rose
For nothing can ever tempt me from she.
I've searched the secret mists -
I've climbed the highest peaks
Caught the wild wind home to hear her soft voice speak
To hear her soft voice speak
No matter where I roam
I will return to my english rose
For no bonds can ever keep me from she.

I've been to ancient worlds
I've scoured the whole universe
And caught the first train home
To be at her side.
No matter where I roam
I will return to my english rose
For no bonds can ever keep me from she

A Morning Stroll

I'm in the Netherlands for an antibiotics conference (I know, such an exciting life). Having had breakfast and registered I found I had a few hours to kill before the conference started. I have my camera, we are by the sea, maybe some photos then. Oh, and two miles along the coast there is a geocache. Two birds, one stone etc.

I leave the hotel and wander down to the coast. Hmm. Can't actually see the sea with this fog still lying everywhere. Never mind. This coastal path heads the right direction so I will just follow that. Or at least follow it for all of 0.3 miles at which point it reaches an end
And barbed wire. OK. Not yet beaten I head down onto the beach itself. I haven't really got the right shoes but never mind. The fog is not great for photography but I have an idea of a
Tryptych I'd like to do and it is still possible. I'm now aware that I am walking along a beach in an area I don't know but I'm not stupid, I ensure the breadcrumb mode is turned on with the GPS (a clever innovation that traces your route as you walk so you can double back at any time).

I walk along, keeping my eye open for photos. Every so often I check the gos to see how far it is to the cache. At half a mile away I start to worry. I thought the cache was on the coast like but it is beginning to look as though it is in the dunes. This could be a problem. Most of the dunes are "FORBODDEN". I now remember reading another cache description around here which comments on the network of paths and how you have to stick with them. I get to within 0.37 miles of the cache but am again faced with barbed wire. Bother. Oh well. Time to head back to the hotel.

Now, you remember a paragraph ago when I said I wasn't stupid? Yes. Well this was the point where the GPS went beep and the screen went blank. The batteries had died and I didn't have replacements.

I will leave it to you to decide if I finally did find my way back to the hotel and am writing this with a cup of coffee in hand or whether I am still out in the dunes somewhere and with my last dying breath before the hypothermia gets me updating my blog for posterity.

Hellfire

I flew into Schipol airport last night and have to say it was an incredibly surreal experience. I fly quite often with work and am used to a lot of sights. For me, looking down in clouds will never lose its thrill, the beauty of the unadulterated peaks and troughs of snow white take my breath away. But last night was something different. As we approached Amsterdam there was a fog lying over the city. It was night time but the fog was thick enough that you couldn't see the buildings below. What you could see however was a patchwork of glowing areas where the buildings below were lighting the fog. Red mists swirled in angry winds. It was as though the land itself was burning, a desolate landscape with fires where an army had marched and razed the cities, scorched the earth. For a moment I was looking on the destruction of mankind.