tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2009-11-10:/MokoFeed2009-11-10T03:12:31+01:00tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-11:/2005/10/11/days_16_18_travelling_home_october_8~228261/bobpomfret2005-10-11T12:59:15+02:002005-10-11T13:00:52+02:00 <p>Leaving Churchill was not as straightforward as any of us expected. We were packed and at the airport with an hour to spare but the flight was delayed. It didn't matter to me with 22 hours to waste in Winnipeg but most of the team were looking at connections with 1 to 3 hours waiting time. </p> <p>Eventually it was decided to move some of us on to a charter plane that had free spaces but in the meantime the weather had got nasty and we got onto the plane in a blizzard. We taxied out onto the runway and then stopped because the plane needed de-icing. I'm not the best air traveller and I wasn't sitting comfortably when we did take off. I need not have worried and once we were above the clouds the rest of the trip was trouble free. We had left Gray, Barbara and Peter waiting for the scheduled flight. They were not so lucky, a mechanical problem delayed them around 3 more hours and all missed their connections.</p> <p>I did have an eventful time in Winnipeg. I stopped off at the Ivey House and the guy on the desk said 'You've got the room off the kitchen, is that okay?' I'd had to carry my bags up three flights of stairs last time so I said 'Yeah, that's fine'. Wrong... the kitchen doubles as TV room and on a Saturday night nobody goes to bed... there was a group of blokes watching 'The Matrix' when I went to bed, when I last looked at my watch at 2.30 I think they were on 'Matrix 3'. On a good note for me, but not for her, Barbara, having missed her flight, came to find me and we shared breakfast and a taxi to the airport. </p> <p>The flights from Winnipeg to Toronto and then on to London were fine, although I could have done without the guy sitting next to me pointing out where the Air France plane had crashed at Toronto in the summer.</p> <p>And then, on the plane home the in flight movie was.... The bloody Matrix!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/11/days_16_18_travelling_home_october_8~228261/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-08:/2005/10/08/day_15_the_last_full_day_in_churchill~222437/bobpomfret2005-10-08T01:48:19+02:002005-10-08T01:48:19+02:00 <p>I'm writing early because we've got a bit of a last night party starting in half an hour and I'm not convinced I'll want to sit down and blog afterwards. The Party is based around a Photography Awards Ceremony which Leo is organising... I'm not expecting to win the 'picture of a polar bear' category with my effort.</p> <p>We've had a clean up day, sorting out a few last minute things. I got the job of putting up a solar panel outside... I tried to warn them! If it lasts the first polar storm I'll be surprised.</p> <p>The weather has changed, the winds are much stronger but are coming from the east, which here means warm (i.e. not from the prevailing North West across Hudson Bay).The temperature was back up to 7 centigrade this afternoon, balmy. Four of us: Wendy, Leo, Peter and I went out for another cross tundra run. I've really enjoyed them. It's the only time I've ventured out without a coat for ten days.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/group01.JPG" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/group01_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>We had a group photo taken outside the Centre last night and here we all are. In case you've forgotton I'm the handsome one.</p> <p>Although I've not heard the radio, seen the TV or read a newspaper for 10 days, to prove I haven't completely lost touch with the world I know that Oxford beat Carlisle tonight... good old bbc.co.uk.</p> <p>We leave tomorrow morning around 9.30 and we'll all be on the plane heading back to Winnipeg at 10.45. So that may be it unless I'm bored enough to find an internet cafe in Winnipeg.</p> <p>I'll definitely do a post trip update next week.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/08/day_15_the_last_full_day_in_churchill~222437/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-07:/2005/10/07/day_14_thursday_october~220761/bobpomfret2005-10-07T05:01:49+02:002005-10-07T05:01:49+02:00 <p>The weather gets colder. Minus seven today but this time the wind has dropped and we had a clear blue sky so when I went out this afternoon to help with the very last radar survey it was quite a pleasant experience.</p> <p>In the morning I spent my day in front of the computer working on a website (a busman's holiday comes to mind but I'm pretty happy playing with Dreamweaver software so it was okay).</p> <p>This evening we've had presentations from some of the other volunteers: Carla talking about an expedition to Alaska to survey Sea Otters - a project where she was joined by Roy Grant (one of Brookes Earthwatch volunteers, it did look a fantastic experience), Barbara talked about an expedition to Australia to monitor echidnas (amazing egg laying mammals) and Gray, who is my current hero, about his work as an Environmental Co-ordinator in a town in New Jersey. He has given me some fantastic ideas to bring back to Brookes to reduce our ecological footprint. </p> <p>It's 10.00 pm here, in a clear night sky the northern lights are shining outside, and Mars is the brightest, and reddest, star in the sky. I'm going to go and watch. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/07/day_14_thursday_october~220761/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-06:/2005/10/06/day_13_northern_studies_centre~218827/bobpomfret2005-10-06T01:56:23+02:002005-10-06T04:02:00+02:00 <p>Inspite of a wee hangover after last night I volunteered to go out and do fieldwork rather than stay and do lab work. I got the task of Polar Bear lookout whilst Eleanor (one of the Research students) Wendy, Carla and Jo were counting and documenting tundra plants. If it were not 3 degrees below it would have been a great job. Even so it was good to be out and I saw another Bald Eagle and thankfully no bears.</p> <p>After lunch I teamed up with Peter, Keith, Gray and Wendy to do a GPR (radar) survey of a burnt forest area around 15km inland from the centre. It was absolutely beautiful, warmer (around zero), the sun shining on a thin blanket of snow. It turned out to be the most frustrating afternoon for Peter because the radar wouldn't work (it had got wet in the morning). The rest of us hung around and chatted and had a lovely afternoon. On the way back we saw a 'Pre-Dorset Inuit site'. Don't ask me what 'Pre-Dorset' means... but it's definitely a very long time ago. And we saw wolf tracks and three caribou out across the fen.</p> <p><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/peter02.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/gray01.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br> <strong>Peter Kershaw, our esteemed leader and Gray Russell with wolf tracks</strong></p> <p><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/wendy01.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/keith01.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br> <strong>Volunteers: Wendy Sanger and Keith Roebuck</strong></p> <p>In a few minutes we have another Polar Bear presentation, this time from Evan, another researcher. He's a really nice unassuming guy who looks about 17 and spends his life hanging out of helicopters shooting darts into Polar Bears. Some people do have really boring jobs don't they...</p> <p>And, just in case I haven't mentioned him before... Hello to Leo, tall handsome Brazilian guy. I'll make sure I add a photo of him soon. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/06/day_13_northern_studies_centre~218827/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-05:/2005/10/05/day_12_round_about_churchill~218295/bobpomfret2005-10-05T19:57:48+02:002005-10-06T01:39:34+02:00 <p>Tuesday was our day off and we got to choose between going on a Tundra Buggy to look for polar bears or going Adventure Walking from Churchill... I chose to walk.</p> <p>Three of us, Keith, Carla and myself met up with Paul, a local naturalist and two girls from the UK and he took us in a bus to a variety of sites around the town. Perhaps 'adventure' wasn't quite the right word but it was historical and cultural and we got a lot of local gossip too.</p> <p><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/bobinchurchill.jpg" border="0" alt=""></p> <p><strong>Here I am waiting for Paul by his bus in Churchill, note the sunshine</strong></p> <p>Paul has been in Churchill for more than 30 years and he seems to know everything. With his help we found Beluga Whale bones on the beach, saw a Peregrine Falcon strike a flock of Snow Buntings and we also saw three Bald Eagles and more Arctic Hares.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/hare.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/hare_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>One of the 'tourist attractions' in Churchill is a cargo plane, nicknamed Miss Piggy, that crashed in the late 70's. There were 9 people on the plane and they all walked away.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/plane.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/plane_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>Not far from Churchill we saw two Polar Bears, perhaps not as close as those from the Tundra Buggy, but here's a picture of one of them...</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/bearonhorizon.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/bearonhorizon_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>We spent the rest of afternoon in Churchill, in Gypsy's very pleasant cafe/bar for a late lunch, at the Eskimo Museum and eventually to meet up with everybody at the Tundra Inn. We were due to meet between 5 and 5.30 but the Buggy riders were two and half hours late. I ended up a little worse for wear which is why this blog is a little late... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/05/day_12_round_about_churchill~218295/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-04:/2005/10/04/day_11_monday_october~215274/bobpomfret2005-10-04T05:37:25+02:002005-10-04T05:42:37+02:00 <p>Tonight we were treated to an even more spectacular display from the Northern Lights. I sat in the viewing dome on top of the Northern Studies Centre for more than an hour watching them arcing across the whole horizon to the north of us. Sometimes green, usually just white but always moving... much like iron filings drawn by a magnet.</p> <p>That was a good end to my least favourite day so far. I wasn't well in the night but made it up for the 7.00am briefing because yesterday had been my day to prepare the log book and I had to present it. Afterwards, as the weather was truly awful (60mph winds with heavy rain mixed with snow) we had to stay indoors and do labwork. I excused myself and went back to bed until lunchtime.</p> <p>In the afternoon I did get up and go out with Eleanor, one of the research assistants, to a tundra site to collect nutrient probes. We saw more Snow Geese, maybe 50 or 60, still hanging on before heading south to Texas for the winter.</p> <p>This evening Peter Kershaw gave us a presentation on Climate Change which was just so shocking. Nick, a polar bear expert, who joined us describes himself as a 'Polar Bear Historian' because of the horrible inevitability of their decline.</p> <p>Tomorrow is our day off and I hope the weather is better because I've opted to go 'Adventure Walking' with a local naturalist. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/04/day_11_monday_october~215274/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-03:/2005/10/03/day_10_northern_studies_centre~213497/bobpomfret2005-10-03T07:07:23+02:002005-10-03T07:07:23+02:00 <p>The day started with the temperature still a little below zero but the winds had dropped and a little light snow was falling outside. The forecast for later in the day was not great so we got out into the field early.</p> <p>By 9.00 we were in a strange bit of forest that looked like the day after the bomb had dropped, blackened skeletons of trees stretching out in every direction. It was the result of a forest fire nine years earlier. The climate makes the recovery process very slow although shrub willows and birches are growing back amongst the dead conifers. </p> <p>Basically we are looking at indicators of climate change in as many different types of habitat as can be found in the area and the burnt forest is one the sites. Our job was much the same as before, recording seedling development or doing a radar survey of the depth of the active layer above the permafrost. </p> <p>Although the environment is spooky the lack of wind made the job much easier than yesterday, we finished early and got back to the Study Centre before the snow turned to rain at lunchtime.</p> <p>I got a cosy computer job for the afternoon whilst most of the team went out and got wet. Sometimes it's good to know how to use Corel Draw.</p> <p>Just before dinner, Evan, one of the polar bear researchers told us he'd seen a bear not far from the centre and we persuaded him to show us where. The trouble is it was getting dark, it was pouring with rain and we were in a minibus with dirty windows. The white blob I saw in the distance may well have been a bear but there are many white blobs (rocks, snow geese, stuff like that) and I'd be lying if I said I'd seen it for sure.</p> <p>So, for now, let's call it a bear just in case I don't get to see another one. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/03/day_10_northern_studies_centre~213497/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-02:/2005/10/02/day_9_saturday_october_1st~211937/bobpomfret2005-10-02T05:37:52+02:002005-10-06T04:04:48+02:00 <p>With the first of October came the first sub zero temperatures, add winds around 50 mph and it's a harsh environment to work in.</p> <p>So I was happy in the morning to get assigned a creative task, plotting the GPR Surveys from yesterday, sitting at a PC in the Centre. Even better that it was linked to the internet and thanks to the good old BBC I could keep up with Oxford United's thrilling 0-0 draw at Barnet.</p> <p>With a New Yorker called Gray (former record producer and all round nice guy) I was on washing up duties after evey meal today... easy when you can chat about David Bowie or Woodstock festival or Ronnie Scotts.</p> <p>After lunch life got tough as we were taken out into the field. The two Brazilians Leo, Harenton and I got to do GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) My job was working the 'brain', a palm top computer attached to the radar equipment. Sounds easy except you can't wear gloves to do it and by half way my hands were solid... one of those 'what am I doing here moments?' We finished though and since then...</p> <p>Spectacular payback time... the sky began to clear and we got a beautiful sunset and then tonight as it got dark the sky began to dance. I've never seen the Northern Lights before and by all accounts this was not the best performance as it wasn't in colour but all across the sky strands of ghost white weaved and curved above us. At first we watched from the car park but the cold pushed us back indoors. Inside, at the top of the building, there is a viewing dome where you can sit, drink beer and watch.<br> <a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/sunset.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/sunset_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a><br> Sunset over part of the old Rocket Site. My camera isn't good enough to take pictures of the northern lights. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/02/day_9_saturday_october_1st~211937/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-10-01:/2005/10/01/day_8_september_30_northern_studies_cent~210481/bobpomfret2005-10-01T04:40:58+02:002005-10-01T05:10:52+02:00 <p>It's been a good day in the north. We were up, briefed and out by 8.30. This time we travelled inland around 20 miles to a mixed conifer woodland beside two lakes called, creatively, Twin Lakes. </p> <p>Like yesterday we measured seedlings. I worked with Barbara, from Hamburg, we get on well together and in the wood, out of the wind it was a much nicer task. Actually today the temperature hit 7 centigrade but I think it's the calm before the storm due tomorrow.</p> <p>In the woodland we found a red squirrel, birds that I frustratingly couldn't identify and fresh moose tracks but no moose... or bears.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/sseedlings.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/sseedlings_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>Out in the woods</p> <p><strong>GPR at a PPP</strong>... This afternoon I got to have a go at GPR, Ground Penetrating Radar, measuring the depth of permafrost under a Polygonal Peat Plateau... no point in trying to explain except to say it makes your back ache but is more fun than measuring seedlings. And we saw snow buntings and grey jays.</p> <p>Three of us including boss man Peter Kershaw (carrying a pistol for the elusive polar bears) finished the day with an hours run across the tundra. It was the best part of the day, the sun was beginning to set and we saw the most gorgeous arctic hare, already pure white apart from black ear tips. We also found parts of several rockets that were launched from the site in the 70's and early 80's before it was handed over to the Study Centre.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/study-centre.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/study-centre_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>Outside the Study Centre</p> <p>Saturday tomorrow but we'll be up for the days briefing at 7.00 and, if the snow hasn't arrived, back out measuring seedlings.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/10/01/day_8_september_30_northern_studies_cent~210481/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-30:/2005/09/30/day_7_september_29_northern_studies_cent~208817/bobpomfret2005-09-30T05:22:00+02:002005-09-30T05:22:00+02:00 <p>If you were wondering when I'd start to do some work for my grant then today is the day it really got going. We had to be up for a 7am briefing and spent the morning learning how to set up and use Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for measuring the depth of the permafrost.</p> <p>In the afternoon, wearing more clothes than yesterday we spent four hours on the tundra either doing the GPR, if you were lucky, or measuring tree seedlings (every single bloody branch and bud) if you weren't. Guess what I did.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/workgroup.jpg" title=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/workgroup_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""></a></p> <p>The GPR Group</p> <p>Actually I did enjoy myself... there was great satisfaction in finishing the task. The rest of the group is really lovely and the expedition leader, Peter Kershaw, is just about the friendliest academic I've ever met (I've met a few!). We also saw a Golden Eagle and the tamest fox in the world.</p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/fox.jpg" title="fox"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/fox_small.jpg" border="0" alt="fox"></a></p> <p>Since then we've had a lecture on polar bears, we haven't seen one yet but I'm hopeful(ish) and now here I am doing my blog. Work, work, work... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/30/day_7_september_29_northern_studies_cent~208817/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-28:/2005/09/29/day_6_churchill_the_northern_studies_cen~206926/bobpomfret2005-09-29T00:37:15+02:002005-09-29T00:37:15+02:00 <p>It has taken a while but I have got here. </p> <p>Yesterday, Tuesday, I flew 900 miles from Toronto to Winnipeg. I gave the journey more tension than I needed to by missing one Toronto airport bus and getting delayed on a second. Still, I made it on to the plane and in Winnipeg the bus drivers were fantastic and with help from two of them I was dropped right outside the door of the hostel I was staying at. The Ivey House hostel is ramshackle but clean and friendly and dead cheap. Next time you need a place to stay in Winnipeg I recommend it. </p> <p>I'd arranged to meet two of the other Earthwatch volunteers: Barbara from Germany and Harenton from Brazil and I think we made an unlikely trio when we had dinner in Chinatown last night.</p> <p>I liked Winnipeg... those nice bus drivers, very good bagels and a rock station on the radio called BOBFM...</p> <p>This morning I shared a cab to the airport and we were there early. The plane to Churchill had only 20 passengers, there was room for 2 or 3 more. It was a prop plane, slow and noisy but I really enjoyed the service. The air stewardess came round with a notepad to take orders for tea and coffee and then kept us topped up like a waitress in a good US diner.</p> <p>Anyway, the point is we arrived in Churchill, around 600 miles north of Winnipeg (4500 miles from Oxford) at around 11.30 this morning. Since then we've arrived at the Northern Studies Centre. Another slighly ramshackle, but warm and friendly place based on an old rocket launching site in a cold, windswept, barren landscape right on the edge of the Hudson Bay... We've been out once and got soaked twice in an hour... It's going to be great.</p> <p>By the way, no sign of a polar bear yet but every time we go outside we have to have somebody with a gun with us and I don't think they are kidding.</p> <p>I'll add pictures soon. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/29/day_6_churchill_the_northern_studies_cen~206926/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-27:/2005/09/27/toronto_a_bob_s_eye_view~203234/bobpomfret2005-09-27T02:29:59+02:002005-09-27T02:29:59+02:00 <p><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto09.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto07.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto08.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto06.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br> a few images from around the city over the weekend. Tomorrow I'm off to Winnipeg.<br> <img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto10.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto03.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto04.jpg" border="0" alt=""><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto05.jpg" border="0" alt=""> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/27/toronto_a_bob_s_eye_view~203234/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-26:/2005/09/26/day_3_the_toronto_marathon~201384/bobpomfret2005-09-26T04:39:46+02:002005-09-26T04:39:46+02:00 <p>I got up early and decided to run part of the marathon course before they got under way... not a chance, at 6.15 (more than half an hour before it got light) the slower runners had been sent on their way so I shared the course with them. Nobody seemed to mind. I ran about 7 miles and was happy to stop whilst they jogged on. </p> <p>The faster runners set off at 7.30 and me and Matt watched from the balcony of his condo overlooking the course. Eventually, around 9.30 we decided to follow on behind on bikes and we spent the next 3 hours or so around the course watching all those people of various shapes and sizes, and there was at least one of any shape or size you could possibly imagine, fighting their own personal battles with 26.2 miles of Toronto's roads.</p> <p>Since then Matt's girlfriend Sarah has returned from a weekend away and we've all been out for dinner in a really good Tex Mex place on Queen St West called... something 'Flats'. I wish I could remember because apart from the food, which was really good, in the loos they have the best, the very best, hand driers in the world.</p> <p>PS I met a skunk in the park. Did I mention yesterday that they have black squirrels here too? And, of course, Canada Geese. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/26/day_3_the_toronto_marathon~201384/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-24:/2005/09/25/day_1_in_toronto~199591/bobpomfret2005-09-25T00:17:52+02:002005-09-26T04:08:53+02:00 <p>Yesterday was a long day of travelling. The flight from the UK took us over a very cloudy North Atlantic and into Toronto via Labrador, a seascape with a thousand rocky islands and very little obvious sign of life, and Quebec, a rocky landscape with a million lakes and the occasional road and small settlement. From that it's amazing to come to Toronto, a city of skyscrapers, the huge CN Tower and 2.5 million people including good friend Matt Justice. Matt, is Mr Toronto. If you know him you will recognise his typical enthusiasm... The City could use him as a PR agency.</p> <p>We've spent the day walking, miles and miles round the City: Tim Horton's coffee, Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale and Salad King Thai Restaurant... inspite of a surprise lack of salad I'd recommend all three of those and to add a little excitement I've witnessed an almost brawl between a very angry streetcar (tram) driver and a mouthy youth, seen both the 'Atomic Teenager' sing and the tallest transvestite with the ugliest legs you could imagine. Tomorrow is the Toronto marathon. This year I'm just going to watch.</p> <p><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/toronto01.jpg" border="0" alt="Me in The St Lawrence market area of the city looking towards the CN Tower"><br> This is me in the St Lawrence market area. Looking a bit self conscious. I'm much happier taking the photos bu I thought I'd better prove to Agnes and the boys that I got here. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/25/day_1_in_toronto~199591/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-21:/2005/09/21/two_days_to_go~193418/bobpomfret2005-09-21T12:14:17+02:002005-09-21T12:14:17+02:00 <p>I think I'm generally sorted. I fly out for Toronto on Friday, still anxious but really excited. On Tuesday I move on to Winnipeg and then to Churchill and the Polar Bears on Wednesday. I had an email from the Northern Studies Centre to say that they had snow last Thursday and the Northen Lights activity is looking good... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/21/two_days_to_go~193418/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-09-10:/2005/09/10/two_weeks_to_go~172415/bobpomfret2005-09-10T08:49:01+02:002005-09-10T08:49:57+02:00 <p>I'm feelimg pretty organised. Sorted out my flights and accommodation I've even been wandering about in my new boots for the last couple of days.</p> <p>I am really excited but have to admit I'm also really nervous and feeling a bit guilty about leaving Agnes with the boys for more than a fortnight. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/09/10/two_weeks_to_go~172415/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:bobpomfret.blog.co.uk,2005-08-31:/2005/08/31/trial~154007/bobpomfret2005-08-31T16:17:35+02:002005-08-31T16:43:49+02:00 <p> Becky Horton, Roy Grant and myself are all off on Earthwatch expeditions this year. Roy to Alaska, Becky to Peru and I'm going to monitor Climate Change at Churchill in Canada.</p> <p>I'm flying out from the UK on 23/08/05 and intend to keep in touch using this BLOG.</p> <p><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bobpomfret/img/Earthwatch-group_04.jpg" border="0" alt="earthwatch group"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bobpomfret.blog.co.uk/2005/08/31/trial~154007/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>