Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A Baseball Summer




I have always wanted to do it, and this summer I am finally going to: a baseball summer. Strange as it may seem for someone from England, but I have always been fascinated by the American summer and, more specifically, the love of baseball. As I have travelled around the world, I have found myself increasingly drawn to the baseball games on ESPN. Eventually, I made a special trip to Houston to take in my first MLB game: the Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros. It was everything I'd expected, and more: a train running across the ballpark when there was a home run, and margaritas served in your seats. There's nothing like it in England. Even at the Royal Opera House, you have to collect your own drinks.

Well, to get back on track, this summer I am finally going to do my American baseball tour! Starting in Florida, I'm going to drive across America and take in about 10 mlb games in different cities. It's going to be a baseball summer.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Corner View - Time



The city of Cambridge has 19 sundials. There is even a book about them, 'Cambridge Sundials' by Alexis Brookes & Margaret Stanier, and a Cambridge Sundial Trail which you can walk around. This one, which has six faces, is above the Gate of Honour at Gonville & Caius College.

The obelisks of ancient Egypt from 3500 BC onwards were the first type of sundial, and the first instruments for telling the time. The Old Testament ( Isaiah 38:8 and II Kings 20:11) also describes a sundial, the Dial of Ahaz, from around 700 BC.

Sundials often have a motto inscribed beneath them:

'Let others tell of storms and showers; I mark only the sunny hours'

'Mach' es wie die Sonnenuhr: zähl' die heitren Stunden nur!' (Do like a sundial and count only the sunny hours!)


Amsterdam