My Hovercraft is Full of Eels

A journey through Europe by train

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Just Saving

September 14th, 2009 by chris · climate change

Sara, who we know as the Powerpod Worker for the Woodcraft Folk, is doing a sponsored cycle trip to Morocco. At 2,400 miles by pedal power alone it makes our train trip seem a very cushy num­ber! She’s ask­ing every­one to spon­sor her, but not in the usual, bor­ing way of giv­ing money to some worthy cause. Instead, she’s ask­ing people to make pledge to make carbon-emission-reducing life­style changes. The web­site has sug­ges­tions of prac­tical actions you can take.

What are you wait­ing for? Visit the Just Saving web­site and sign up now. They’ve already saved 5 tonnes of CO2 and they haven’t even star­ted yet!

Just Saving logo

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Photos on Flickr

September 14th, 2009 by chris · photos

Gare du Nord MetroA selec­tion of our pho­tos is now avail­able for view­ing on Flickr. Do have a look and let us know what you think!

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A Year of Breathing

August 25th, 2009 by chris · flights

I’m start­ing work on a web­site for the Natural History Museum at Edinburgh University (old web­site here) and I came across the work of Samatha Clark, and artist who’s doing some work in col­lab­or­a­tion with the museum. One of her other pro­jects, A Year of Breathing, seems rel­ev­ant to men­tion here: [Read more →]

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More translations

August 24th, 2009 by chris · haha

Graham Stone kindly informs me that in Papua New Guinea pidgin, ‘My hov­er­craft is full of eels’ becomes the epic:

Balus em i no goupim bilong me em i pul­lup long lik­lik pela snek bilong solwarra

(Literally: My aero­plane (balus)  that can’t fly (no go up) is ful­lup of little salt­water snakes.)

Aeroplane main­ten­ance is quite a mouth­ful too. Propellor becomes ‘tingt­ing bilong balus em i go raun­raun’. If dam­aged, this becomes ‘tingt­ing bilong balus em i go raun­raun em i bug­gerup tru’.

All of which is just and excuse to say that we will be adding more to the blog soon, hav­ing just about recovered from the jour­ney home. And the pho­tos will be up on Flickr very soon, with a link pos­ted here of course.

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Brasov to Budapest

August 4th, 2009 by jane · trains, travel

Our couchette (cuseta in Romanian) was already occu­pied by 2 Romanian men and one teen­age lad (one of their sons?) already in bed when we got on at Brasov, so quite strange shar­ing such a small space with 3 people we hadn’t met and weren’t sure we shared any com­mon lan­guage with.  [Read more →]

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Invented games to pass the time

August 4th, 2009 by chris · haha

  • Abstract nouns I-spy.
  • Prison cell hide & seek.
  • Underwater blow football.
  • Meltemi Monopoly in a sand­storm on the beach at Serifos (chocol­ate pieces to make it more challenging).

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Sound clips

August 4th, 2009 by chris · Uncategorized

  • Paris Gare du Nord: flip flap­flap­flap of the train indic­ator board — a “lost sound” accord­ing to the BBC sound archive.
  • “Passaporte! Passaporte!” at 2:30am on the Bulgarian border.
  • Cicadas every­where we went in Greece.
  • Through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary: the bell clang of the wheel tap­pers’ ham­mers going down the train.

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How do you reserve 3 beds from Thessaloniki to Bucharesti?

August 3rd, 2009 by jane · trains, travel

9.00am Greek train book­ing office, Athens:

“No, I can’t give you reser­va­tions on the train  Bucharest.  I have only 3 beds and I must sell them.  But you can buy in Thessaloniki.  The Romanians have more — it’s easy”

1.30pm Larissa train sta­tion, Athens.  Inernational book­ing office opens:

“No train to Bucharest”

“Why?”

“I don’t know!” [Read more →]

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Worries.….….….….….… =(

August 3rd, 2009 by callum · Uncategorized

  • Chris is wor­ried that Jane might buy a water­melon to eat on the train.
  • Jane is wor­ried that Chris will have his purse stolen.
  • Callum is wor­ried that he will get cock­roaches in his san­dals cos his feet are so dirty. [Read more →]

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Food for a 2-day train journey

August 3rd, 2009 by callum · food, trains, travel

2  Spinopitas

1 Tiropita

13 Oranges

7 Bottles of water

4 Large tomatoes

2 Cucumbers [Read more →]

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