British skies

While we're at it, here are some of the stars I grew up with, in the northern hemisphere sky. While it did rain just about every day I was in England, it nevertheless managed to clear up sometimes for spectacular starry night views.

 So here are the constellations of Perseus, Auriga, and Taurus, with its Pleiades and Hyades clusters. 

 Here are Cygnus, Lyra, and Cepheus, with the Milky Way running top to bottom.  


 




Cassiopeia, left of centre, Andromeda below it, and part of Pegasus. The Andromeda Galaxy is just visible as the faint, fuzzy patch at lower centre.

















A close up of part of Andromeda, with the galaxy easily visible.
 

I do like my northern hemisphere stars, even if our southern hemisphere ones are brighter and generally more spectacular.

British Birds

These are some of the backyard birds I grew up with in England. The Blackbird (above), the European Robin (left), and, just occasionally perhaps, a Redwing (bottom picture). The Redwing's a winter visitor to the country. It looks a lot like a Song Thrush, but has that red underwing.

Another winter visitor, apparently a much rarer one, is the Great Grey Shrike. Apparently only 50 of them visit the country every year. I don't think I've ever seen one, but I had a near brush with one during my visit last month!

In the lay-by on the Redditch Road at Hopwood as I passed by there was a big cluster of paparazzi, all with long lenses trained onto the field to the west. "Twitchers!" I said, and foolishly drove past. So no Great Grey Shrike for me. Here's an article devoted to its special beauty though: www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/nature_studies/id-never-seen-a-great-grey-shrike-before-and-i-couldnt-get-over-its-beauty-8994035.html   

Funny, that link's no longer working for me either. Here's another one: https://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=122072   Not as eulogistic though - but there are pictures, and there's a report of another sighting at Hopwood, Worcestershire!

England's green and pleasant land

England's green and pleasant land was largely under water when I visited a couple of months ago. I understand it's even more so now. I visited Tewkesbury, Worcester, and Evesham, and found the car parks under water, bridges closed, and river walkways submerged.

I got out on a few little rambles along muddy pathways and through muddy fields, but somehow it just doesn't quite cut it any more for this Aussie bushwalker. 






















Maybe visiting England in winter was a bit of a mistake. It can be a depressing old country at the best of times, but when the full force of the wettest winter since Ethelred the Unready hits you, it's a bit of a lost cause. Nice weather for ducks, as they say.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

 No, it's an atomium. What's an atomium? It's a rather large model of an iron crystal lattice. 165,000,000 times large actually. It was built for Brussels' 1958 World Fair, and it's somehow still there.

You can go up it if you like. I imagine there's a good view to be had. I didn't actually go up this one though.

Europe Central

The Lonely Planet 'Europe' book lists lots of Brussels' attractions, but says nothing about the European Parliament (its Brussels building - there's another in Strasbourg) or the other European Union institutions housed there. 

I didn't let this stop me seeking some of it out though. I made my way to the former, and to the European Commission building, to see what's there.

What's there were some nice, shiny buildings, no people, signs to a public tour I could have done if it hadn't been a Sunday, and a big poster welcoming Latvia to the euro currency zone. The good old euro - hope Latvia doesn't live to regret it.

Tintin and friends

 I forgot to mention Brussels' best attraction of all - the Comic Strip Museum (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee). At least, if you're an afficionado of Tintin, or of Tibet & Duchateau, Josephine Baker, the Peeping Policeman, or Cubitus, then you'll possibly think so. 

I'm not really aware of them, except perhaps Tintin (vaguely). So I gave it a miss.

I did stumble across Tintin himself though, making his way down a fire escape on the outside of a building. The others all have murals around the city too, and there are lots of comic shops, and a cartoon-themed cafe-restaurant with its own Tintin statue.

Little man pee

Must be something pretty special to look at on this street corner. There's always a crowd, and by some accounts it's the most exciting thing Brussels has to offer.

Fortunately those accounts are wrong. There are indeed lots of more interesting things than a nondescript statue of a small boy urinating, the Manneken Pis.

So why all the interest? Does it record an important historical event, or symbolise something important about the Belgian character? Who knows? According to Wikipedia, there are lots of rival legends about it, so basically nobody knows what it's all about.