dankarran.com > latest news > August 2003

August 2003 news

In the Isle of Man for a bit posted 29 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] Well, the time finally came for me to have a summer holiday (or at least part of one, and in the Isle of Man) - for the past few years I've missed out on them because of either working in London or working at home in the Isle of Man. I'm back here now for about 3 weeks before university starts again in Manchester in September. I'm looking forward to having a few nice relaxing relaxing weeks at home with family and friends before heading back to Manchester to adjust my lifestyle to being that of a final year student. Last week, when I said I was going to be taking a day in Boulogne, we only actually made it to Calais because the combination of ferry and train times made it quite restrictive. Never the less we still had a really good time, despite the fact we didn't get back to London until about 2am because the ferry got in late and made us miss the last direct train to London! On the positive side, I'll have some pictures of Calais to put up onto the site soon, once they're developed and I'm back in Mancester to scan them in... On another note, I spent a little time last night redoing my site map page to help visitors find their way around the site a little better. It lists the top sections and most of the second level categories within those sections. So, for example, with the galleries, it lists the countries but not the towns. Any comments, let me know...

A day in Boulogne posted 21 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] I'm sat on the ferry at Dover port at the moment, waiting for it to leave for Calais. I'm going to be spending the day - or at least a few hours, thanks to boats being cancelled - in Boulogne. It's nice that you can travel to France for a day trip for just £15... Shame it takes so long though.

Day by day threads for news posted 18 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] I'm experimenting with threading daily news on the front page, so I can post more than one entry per day and they'll all show up on the front page... Hopefully, from now, on, if there is more than one entry per day then it they will all be shown on the front page (fingers crossed!).

Back in Manchester (for now) posted 18 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] As of yesterday, I'm back living in Manchester - at least for a little bit. I moved all of my stuff up north over the weekend, with the kind help of my parents, and am trying to unpack the things that are currently stacked in my room in numerous bags and boxes. Later this week, I'm going to be heading back down to London for a few days and also hopefully taking a daytrip to Calais. After that, I'll be heading back up to Manchester to celebrate my 21st birthday before heading back to the Isle of Man to, umm, celebrate it again.

Added photos of Leeds Castle posted 15 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] Amongst beginning to pack up my room in Ilford and completing university work which is due in today, I have today added a number of photos from my trip to Leeds Castle in Maidstone, Kent over the weekend. All of the photos I've taken recently have been taken on my Minolta SLR camera instead of on my Fujifilm digital camera because it had been sent off for repair. It's costed so much to get films developed, I had forgotten just how much I used to spend on film processing. Luckily I'll be getting my digital camera back tomorrow and so spending much less money getting prints developed. Brighton and Tower of London photos will be coming soon...

Tweaking the site posted 14 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] I've spent a little time tidying up a few things on the site, including bits of how this news section works, an interim change or two in the guestbook to try and stop Phentermine and Viagra spammers, and a few other bits here and there - including restructuring the photography section. So here's to a test message from my phone...

Castles and Piers posted 13 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] After seeing the Tower of London on Saturday and then Leeds Castle on Sunday, I felt that it was time for a bit of a change. On Monday I jumped aboard a fast train to Brighton to enjoy some of the fantastic weather we're having at the moment in the UK. Again, we were on a nice new Connex train which was air conditioned - a nice break from a bustling Victoria station on a hot day! Stepping out of the train, we found a busy, clammy and hazy city, but nowhere near as bad as it looked in the photos from over the weekend - luckily! I took a few pictures, but not that many... not enough blue skies for my liking. Instead, I spent a lot of my time wandering around Brighton beach, pier and shops - I ended up looking like a lobster. D'oh! There are some nice pictures of the Pavillion though I think, and hopefully I'll get a chance to put them up here soon... There are already 3 photos in the gallery from last time I visted.

Leeds Castle posted 11 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] Yesterday, I took a day trip out of London with some friends to see Leeds Castle - apparently the "Lovliest Castle in the World". Oddly, this castle isn't actually in Leeds, it's near Maidstone in Kent, but none the less it was a lovely castle. We had originally only gone to visit the grounds but after much confusion at the train station (in Bearsted), they told us that we couldn't just do that, we'd have to buy tickets for the castle as well. So, that's what we did. It's better than just looking around a castle's carpark, afterall! The weather was sweltering and only just made bearable by the air conditioning on the train (thanks, Connex!) and the cool air circulating around within the castle itself. I took a batch of photos of the castle and its surroundings, so hopefully I'll get a chance to put them up here soon...

Last day in the office! posted 8 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] Today is my last day of work at Reuters. After working almost 14 months as a Year in Industry, I'm ready to leave the office and have a break before going back to university in September. I'm going to be spending time somewhere between London, Manchester and the Isle of Man...

Cambridge and chaos in London posted 4 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] I got some of my pictures back yesterday from my trip to Cambridge on Saturday. Some of them have come out really well, with stunning blue skies, even the guy in the photo place said so - though I personally think he was just trying to justify me spending so much money getting photos developed in his shop! Once I'd put the films in to be developed yesterday - including one from before Christmas that was still sitting in my camera - I headed down towards Hyde Park where there was a big event on. Red Bull had organised a 'Flug Tag' (Flying Day) whereby a number of teams would make themselves a flying machine and try and get it - and them - as far across the Serpentine as possible. It sounded like really good fun, and something to occupy me on what would otherwise have been a lazy Sunday afternoon. By the time I'd got to the park though, I found no way to get in, with police guarding the entrances and saying 'the next one down is open', forcing thousands of people to fight their way down the pavements and roads of London. By the time I finally found a way in, I couldn't move for people, and then couldn't find any shops which still had drinks left - no water, not even Red Bull! Feeling very dehydrated and dizzy, I tried to find my way back to Oxford Street and Marks and Spencer. Great way to organise an event, Red Bull.

Day in Cambridge posted 3 Aug 2003 by Dan Karran [permalink] I spent the day out of London yesterday after deciding to visit Cambridge for the day to take advantage of the amazing weather. It was a tough decision though, with my camera not working, so instead I resurrected my Minolta SLR camera which I've not used since before Christmas. I took plenty of photos, a lot of which are of the different colleges around Cambridge and of the River Cam. I'll be getting them developed today and will be putting then up onto the site soon.