Getting to heathrow terminal 4

I've finally come to the realisation that I'm not a light traveler. In fact I'd go so far as to say i travel fairly heavy.

It's not just a matter of leaving out the extra shirt or shorts you'll never wear, i haven't even packed those things this time.

It's got to the point now that i've got the laptop, camera, video camera and tripod, but now i travel with 2 external hard drives as well. And of course its not just one camera, theses the xl1s for land shots and the hv20 for water shots....which means the water housing is in there as well. Now with two vastly different sized cameras brings two bags, and because of the additional lens i have for each one is kept in a silver hard case, and don't forget the two tripods that go along as well.

So what powers these things, countless power adapters and plugs of course, not to mention the cables to link them all together.

On this trip it isn't just holiday and travel, it's 3 months of work as well and therefore work clothes are added to the mix.

At a rough guess its about 25 kg of stuff strapped around my body which then walks 400 meters to stockwell to catch the victoria line up to green park before changing trains to the piccadily line and heading towards heathrow terminal 4.... All up taking about an hour.

It is a sad day though leaving my girls behind, which is why the next post will be dedicated to them, the adventures we've had and the things they've taught me,and of course the silly things they've done.

After my first rough guess it ended up being 20.9 Kg for the back pack and 13kg for the Camera box alone. Had

Pint after work

The mood is set.

You've had a long long day at work.

In fact, you've had four long day's at work.

You know that tomorrow is Friday and you can unwind then, but that's my time! Why should work frustrations encroach on my time. It's okay though, the bad day is over and you're on the way to the pub..... albeit after the sun has long since gone down.

You pass a few windows with the lights still on and laugh to yourself, "ha, that was me yesterday".

You reach your local and, even though you've missed happy hour by 3 hours, you're ready to enjoy the beer you've been looking forward to since brushing your teeth yesterday morning.

You find a seat at the bar, get served first, and it's by the cute barmaid that hasn't been there in a month! Could life get any better!!!!

As you pick up your pint to take that long awaited and well deserved first sip, the song changes. You hadn't even noticed there was any music playing up to that point.....

It's one of those songs from your earlier years, during your hay day. The one that reminds you of good times and great friends. The one that you love to sit back, listen, and reminince about the good ol' days of 8 years ago.

You close your eyes, put the pint to you lips and let your mind cast back to that time when you were........

**click** **click** **click**

Wait a minute. That's not my song any more.

The now much less cute barmaid has skipped your song. Your song!

Your opportunity to sit back and reminisce has now been skipped along to "Man Eater". And not the Hall & Oats version. I could deal with the Hall and Oats version. She's skipped it for the Nelly Furtado version! If that isn't bad enough it's followed up with ABBA's "Waterloo".

There's nothing left to do except put your pint down and think about how lucky those people still at work really are.........

You Tube comic causes audio preview for comments

While I was wandering around the great expansive web I came across a comic depicting a typical user of you tube.

To show what a great sense of humour the good people at google have it has now been made a feature of the commenting tool on you tube.

You need to be signed in to leave a comment, and if you're not already a member I can tell you it's worth the registration process for just a few minutes of immature giggles.

If you're struggling to find a you tube video to try this out on, check out the latest ads from the Natural Confectionary Company with the "Bring on the Trumpets" and "I'm sorry but I don't speak pinnaple"

Google Map Surf Spots

I'm thinking about adding a Surf Spots section to my film and other blog site. What it would effectively do is show the surf spots that I have found during my travels through Europe, Bali, East Coast of Australia, Mexico etc etc.

I would also plot places to sleep, sources of water, nice views, and interesting places.

It's basically a guide to where I've been and how I've done it, so someone doesn't have to spend the 30 minutes extra driving around trying to find a free parking area at 10pm when they've been driving for 12 hours on a hangover........... not that I ever had to do that ;)

My main concern is that occasionally people have been upset about my directions to certain spots, even after they've been searching for the spot, found it, and then are upset that they've found it..........

Here's an example of what I mean from google maps and tiny url of the surf spots in Baleal, Portugal.
Does anyone have any thoughts?

Summer Films pick up Ireland Big Wave footage

I received an email this morning confirming that Summer Films are going to use one of the waves I filmed of Al Mennie surfing in last years huge swell that hit Mullaghmore in Ireland in their upcoming episode of Gethin Jones Danger Hunters.

The show is set to air on Wednesday 29th October at 9pm on Virgin 1, but apparently they're having a few problems securing the spot so keep your eyes out.

It's always the way though, you get some footage wave published on television and I'll be sitting in cattle class on the way back to Australia while it airs..........

One of the coolest bits is I'll get recongnition in the credits for the footage!  Hooray!  Only my name though so I can't blatently try and push my website link.  Spewing.

If you do happen to come across the website and are in the market for a water videographer just leave and comment............

In fact, I've managed to build up a very small but growing list of events that I've filmed and footage that has been used further on.

Events include Fot Sun Festival, 28 Days gig, The Beautiful Girls gig, Nightclub Dancers promotion, Leo and Yam Acrobatic displays, Margaret River Pro WQS Surfing Competition, Mullaghmore Ireland, Pamplona Running of the Bulls, Peurto Escondido (coming soon...)...... and more

...of which the footage was used in Billabong XXL Awards, Gethin Jones Danger Hunters, BBC regional news, Wicked Campers (Edinburgh, Ireland & Pamplona), Oneil Europe Marketing, Surfline Locals Video..... and more.

It might be time that I started to keep a list of these over on the other site........... something to do when I get home tonight.

Big Wave Surfing - Gethin Jones Danger Hunters

Today is the first nice day of weather we've had in London for the past week, and thankfully it has fallen onto a weekend.

As usual though my head was a little cloudy in the morning thanks for a few after work drinks and then a few more catching up with Michelle.

I couldn't do a day on the couch today though as I had to prepare my footage and head off to Oxford Circus to drop it into a post production office.

What footage, what for? Well I'm glad you asked or this would be an even more pointless post.

A company called Summer Films have been doing an episode of Gethin Jones' Danger Hunters with Al Mennie and Andrew Cotton for their big wave surfing in Ireland. We've been talking over the past few months about getting together the next time they were out filming so that I could get into the water and do some filming with my HV20 SPL water housing, but every time they were ready to film I was either in Australia, filming the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona or sunning during the summer in Europe.

They have reached post production now and have asked to review the waves that Al surfed back in December last year in Mullaghmore, Ireland.

Fingers crossed that some of my clips get in as not only will I pick up a small fee for the footage, but I'll also get a mention in the credits for doing the filming. Hey, it's a shameless plug for myself but it's a pretty good way to start to get my name out in the field.

As for the rest of today, I've gone back to the first days of London when I would sit in at Apostrophe cafe and look out of St Paul's while catching up on my blog......... but as with everywhere times are tough and the cafe is starting to get stingey with their coffees.............. for god's sake I asked for a medium!


Now that I've finished that coffee I'm noticing that everyone seems to be walking around in slow motion like that episode of Futurama........ it's really starting to worry me. It involves one of the best quotes I've ever heard, and is one of the best moments in cartoon history.

Bender: You seem a tad wound up, buddy. And your face is greasy. Real greasy. You been up all night?
Fry: Of course I've been up all night! Not because of caffeine, it was insomnia. I couldn't stop thinking about coffee! I need a nap. (He falls asleep, then wakes up) Coffee time!
Bender: (Gets out Le Grand Cigar) Ah, mighty fine smokable.
Fry: Fancy cigar, why don't you smoke it already? Puff, puff, gogogogogo!

I guess I better head back to the counter and get another coffee to calm my nerves.

Leaving London for Sydney

It's been a hectic week and a bit since I finished my summer adventure driving through Europe.

After I left Hossegor, and suffering one of the worse hangovers I've ever had after an afternoon catch up with Chook and Marty, I headed up towards Saint Malo to catch the Ferry back to Portsmouth and then back to London.

When I pulled up to my first round about after the ferry ride I had to sit there for a few minutes and work out just which way I was supposed to be driving on it.  Was it left? Was it right? It felt like it should be left, but was that because it was the right way or because I was used to going that way after 2 months on the other side of the road.

I was sat there for about 5 seconds, which for the people blaring their horns behind me obviously seemed like a lot longer, before I took the plunge around the left of the roundabout.

After a sunny weekend back at Borough Markets and Clapham Common I went back to work to find out that there were some issues with me changing my Visas over...... and hence the title of this post.

So there's a good chance that I'm going to be leaving wintery London and heading to summery Sydney for the next few months and start work with original Squiz - Mysource Matrix Open Source CMS company.