So I got a little more time to explore around Scotland today.. The little village of Dyce is very quaint with some neat old buildings and plenty of architecture to look at. I went back downtown to Aberdeen also and found some more old buildings including castle square and a classic English train station. I always liked the English train stations with the big glass span roofs. I don't understand why I can take a train round-trip from village to village like Starkville to Westpoint for less than the cost of a single beer yet I can't do the same in one of the most developed nations in the world. I guess Forrest Gump was correct... "stupid is as stupid does"
So here at the training course at Falck Nutec you can learn plenty of stuff. I am learning the offshore survival suite, which includes aircraft ditch, sea survival and fire fighting. Its quite fun. If you can get the video to play you can see what they are doing to us when we "crash" our helicopter. Lord knows the training regimen here is about a thousand times more beneficial than that PEC Survival class I took in Lafayette all those years ago. In fact the whole european oilpatch is completely different than the US one.. Saftey is paramount and it certianly shows in the classes we're taking here...
The simulator is a super high tech gantry crane carrying a fuselage with real aircraft seats windows and harnesses. and they crash it into he pool with you in it and then tump you upside down. Its really quite fun in the right frame of mind...
Here I am with the kit on... this is how they ride on choppers here in the North Sea... No redneck tee-shirts and work boots... every-time they fly they wear a dry suit, a helmet, a life jacket, and a re-breather as well as a personal location beacon that tells the coast guard exactly where you are. and yes I said re-breather... I want it duly noted that I suggested that system 15 years ago in Lafayette and was laughed out of a meeting... Had I patented it I'd be rolling in dough right now...
The "fuselage" includes seats for eight victims and has two trainers on board and two divers in the water in case something goes awfully wrong but they assured us that they rarely kill anyone and if so it is usually because they were hard to deal with in class.
Looking down Union Street... The main shopping street... at the grey buildings... It is a less exotic reminder of Poland. The town is known as the silver city because everything is made from a light grey local granite... you can tell it had soul here but the Pizza Hut , McDonalds,, Burger King, and KFC have distracted from its interest and like a plague have eaten up all the niches of this fishing village that were once filled with fish and chip shops... I walked for two hours and found not a single fish and chip stand...The town is full of old churches like those pictured... obviously hundreds of years older than our country... and every single one (without exception that I saw) has been gutted and turned into a bar, a restaurant or a casino
The church at left looks like a church until you get close enough to see the marquee of who is playing tonight... its not God and the Jesus boys I can tell you, the one across the street is just as awesome but has been turned into a casino. Another was a gothic themed pub with lots of teens in dark makeup and Metalica blazing through the speakers... my kind of place no doubt but come on...
Yet another was a office for an oil service company... This town (of about 200,000) is as American as (and maybe more so than) Lafayette, Louisiana and with less functional churches, which as far as I am concerned are an extremely important part of any European city.
This building (right) is one of the few purpose built things remaining in the city and it is the local sheriff's office, jail and city building... the one and same that was built for use almost 400 years ago.
On the brighter side there is an H&M and several other England only stores and plenty of pubs and ethnic food galore. I will have more exploring time tomorrow, and I'll be shooting some more pics and typing some more gibberish then.
Okay so I always was afraid of trying haggis... swore I never would... then I'm eating breakfast here in Aberdeen and its a buffet, because what else would I eat breakfast at... and on the buffet was a thing that looked like a sausage patty only a little less firm... I thought looks like a sausage patty... hmmmmm must eat sausage patty... It was not marked or Identified in any way... so I got a few along with my other goodies and then I ate it along with everything else... oh my god its nummy... like a Jimmy Dean Sausage with a little more grain and a little less spice added to it...
The story of Harris Tweed is the story of a remote island community that lies between the Highlands of Scotland on the north west tip of Europe and the North Atlantic Ocean.
For centuries the islanders of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra have woven the magical cloth the world knows as Harris Tweed, Clo Mhor
in the original Gaelic- 'The big cloth'.
From time immemorial, the inhabitants of the West of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides had made cloth entirely by hand. As the Industrial Revolution reached Scotland, the mainland turned to mechanisation but the Outer Islands retained their traditional processes. Lewis and Harris had long been known for the excellence of the weaving done there, but up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the cloth was produced mainly for home use or for a purely local market.
In 1846, Lady Dunmore, widow of the late Earl of Dunmore, had the Murray tartan copied by Harris weavers in tweed. This proved so successful that Lady Dunmore devoted much time and thought to marketing the tweed to her friends and then to improving the process of production. This was the beginning of the Harris Tweed industry. At that time the method of making this handmade was as follows:
The raw material, wool, was produced locally and part of it would have been used in its natural uncoloured state, the rest was dyed. In the 19th century vegetable dyes were used. Following dyeing, the wool was mixed, the shade being regulated by the amount of coloured wool added; then it was oiled and teased; the latter process involves pulling the wool apart to open out the fibres. The next part of the preparation, carding, results in the fibres of the wool being drawn out preparatory to spinning. This was a very lengthy process followed by spinning carried out on familiar spinning-wheel by women. Until the turn of the century a very early type of handloom was used for weaving with a manually operated shuttle. The final process is finishing where the tweed is washed and given a raised compact finish. The involved in this process was often accompanied by songs in Gaelic.
As a result of the marketing efforts of Lady Dunmore, increased sales of the tweed were achieved and trade was established with cloth merchants in large towns in the UK.
At about the turn of the century the primitive small loom was replaced by the improved "fly-shuttle" loom. This was made of wood and heavier than the earlier loom tending to make weaving an occupation for men rather than women. Although originally imported from the Galashiels a local joiner started making the new type of loom in 1903.
Between 1903 and 1906 the tweed making industry in Lewis increased rapidly. Mr Aeneas Mackenzie's carding mill in Stornoway added spinning machinery and a second mill was started by Mr Kenneth Mackenzie from whom one of the largest Harris Tweed producing companies in existence takes its name today.
At a meeting in Stornoway in 1906 efforts were considered for placing the industry on a more satisfactory footing. This was a most harmonious meeting and as the Trade Marks Act had been passed in 1905 making provision for a registration of Standardisation Marks, it seemed to be novel opportunity to end the increasing practice of offering mill-spun tweed as genuine Harris Tweed.
This meant the introduction of a system of whereby the tweed was inspected and, if passed, given a certifying stamp which would give confidence to the trade and public. A company limited by guarantee was formed under the title The Harris Tweed Association Limited. This was mainly to ensure the grant of a mark and an application was filed to register the well-known Harris Tweed Trade mark consisting of the orb and the Maltese Cross with the words Harris Tweed underneath. One of the objectives of obtaining a Mark was to protect the industry from the competition of the spinning mills.
The original definition read,"Harris Tweed means a tweed, hand-spun, hand-woven and dyed by the crofters and cottars in the Outer Hebrides".
The Certification Mark was granted in 1909, registered in 1910 and stamping began in 1911. Amended Regulations were confirmed in June 1934 and the following was promulgated, "Harris Tweed means a tweed made from pure virgin wool produced in Scotland, spun, dyed and finished in Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the islanders at their own homes in the Islands of Lewis , Harris, Uist, Barra and their several purtenances and all known as the Outer Hebrides".
There could be added in legible characters to the Trade Mark, the words "Woven in Lewis", "Woven in Harris", "Woven in Uist" or "Woven in Barra" for the purpose of distinguishing where the tweed was made".
The alteration in the Trademark Definition in 1934, allowing the use of millspun yarn, enabled the industry to make a huge leap in production. The stamped yardage increased tenfold and continued to increase till the peak figure of 7.6 million yards was reached in 1966.
The Hattersley single width loom The introduction of the Hattersley domestic loom in the 1920s enabled the weavers to produce more and to weave complicated patterns that could not be woven on the large wooden looms that were used for the previous 50 years.
This loom was brought to the islands by Lord Leverhulme who owned Lewis and Harris for some years and introduced many changes with mixed results.
The Hattersley loom is still used in the industry but is being replaced by the new Bonas-Griffith double width loom which was introduced in 1996 to satisfy market demands for wider, softer, lighter Harris Tweed. The Harris Tweed Association was the proprietor of the famous "Orb" Trademark. Throughout this century the HTA protected and promoted the Orb all over the world. The success of the industry meant that competitors tried to imitate Harris Tweed or pass off other fabrics as genuine. Much of the competition was from mainland Scotland and this led to a case at the Court of Session in 1964 that was, for a long time, the longest civil case in Scottish legal history. The judgement by Lord Hunter re-inforced the 1934 definition that tied all production processes to the Outer Hebrides and removed the threat of mainland competition. The years following the 1964 case were the most successful ever for Harris Tweed but, by the late 1980s the industry had begun to contract as fashions changed and the Harris Tweed jacket became less popular. The industry set out to transform itself by:
producing a new double width loom
re-training weavers
introducing new, tougher Standards
marketing the new wider, softer, lighter tweed.
The Harris Tweed Authority took over from the Harris Tweed Association in 1993 by Act of Parliament. Thus the definition of Harris Tweed became statutory and forever tied the cloth to the Islands:
Harris Tweed means a tweed which has been hand woven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the islands of Harris, Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra and their several purtenances (The Outer Hebrides) and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.
Aberdeen (pronounced /æbərˈdiːn/Scots: Aiberdeen, Scottish Gaelic: Obar Dheathain (pronounced /ˈopər ˈʝɛhɪn/) is Scotland's third most populous city and one of Scotland's 32 local governmentcouncil areas. It has an official population estimate of 210,400.[3]
Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, whose mica deposits sparkle like silver.[5] The city has a long, sandy coastline. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of Europe or the Energy Capital of Europe.[6]
The area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago,[7] when prehistoric villages lay around the mouths of the rivers Dee and Don.
In 1319, Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from Robert the Bruce,[citation needed] transforming the city economically. The city's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and the Robert Gordon University, which was awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational centre of the north-east. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world[8] and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland.[9]
Aberdeen has won the Britain in Bloom competition a record-breaking ten times,[10] and hosts the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, a major international event which attracts up to 1000 of the most talented young performing arts companies.
The Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years.[7] The city began as two separate burghs: Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the river Don; and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement, where the Denburn waterway entered the river Dee estuary. The earliest charter was granted by William the Lion in 1179 and confirmed the corporate rights granted by David I. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning and financially independent community. Granted with it was the nearby Forest of Stocket, whose income formed the basis for the city's Common Good Fund which still benefits Aberdonians.[11][12]
During the Wars of Scottish Independence, Aberdeen was under English rule, so Robert the Bruce laid siege to Aberdeen Castle before destroying it in 1308 followed by the massacring of the English garrison and the retaking of Aberdeen for the townspeople. The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. The city was strongly fortified to prevent attacks by neighbouring lords, but the gates were removed by 1770. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644-1647 the city was impartially plundered by both sides. In 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen.[13] In 1647 an outbreak of bubonic plague killed a quarter of the population.
In the eighteenth century, a new Town Hall was built and the first social services appeared with the Infirmary at Woolmanhill in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779. The council began major road improvements at the end of the century with the main thoroughfares of George Street, King Street and Union Street all completed at the start of the next century.
A century later, the increasing economic importance of Aberdeen and the development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries led to the existing harbour with Victoria Dock, the South Breakwater, and the extension to the North Pier. The expensive infrastructure program had repercussions, and in 1817 the city was bankrupt. However, a recovery was made in the general prosperity which followed the Napoleonic wars. Gas street lighting arrived in 1824 and an enhanced water supply appeared in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewer system replaced open sewers in 1865.[12]
The city was first incorporated in 1891. Although Old Aberdeen still has a separate charter and history, it and New Aberdeen are no longer truly distinct. They are both part of the city, along with Woodside and the Royal Burgh of Torry to the south of the River Dee.
So I'm setting up the various methods of transmitting to this blog and lo-n-behold you can even text stuff from your cell phone... Holy cow this 21st century is a newfangled SOB ain't it!
Monday, September 20, 2010
So some of you know, some don't, but I dont teach at MSU anymore, I work for ION Geophysical... Yes I'm back in the oil field... Soul... Devil... Whatever, bring it on!
I'll be all over the world... Africa first... I'll be sure and take pictures and post it all as it happens...
Such is my life to be, Plenty of time sitting in an airport bar... There's got to be a Warren Zevon song for this... Something I can play on my iPod speaker and annoy the crap out of the loud guy at the next table... whatever happens it will involve a bar-room in Mombasa and GIN because that is what your supposed to do in that part of the world.
Okay so International Medicine Center is the place to go for your shots, pokes, and sticks for any travel, to any less than ordinary location. Mind you those syringes are sitting on a persons lap... yes they are that big... Nice huh!? Still not sure where I'm going to meet the boat... might be Liberia... anyhow... That kind of location requires Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Both Kinds of Hepatitis, Rabies, Encephalitis and then Tetanus... and that is just what I can find on my Immunization "yellow book" also you would not believe the first aid kit I was issued. Shockingly enough at 40 my bill of health is excellent... like some kind of middle-aged pack animal. So now its on to learning the software and Sea Survival Class in Aberdeen Scotland (UK). I know that sucks right!? Check in later...
So I got a little more time to explore around Scotland today.. The little village of Dyce is very quaint with some neat old buildings and plenty of architecture to look at. I went back downtown to Aberdeen also and found some more old buildings including castle square and a classic English train station. I always liked the English train stations with the big glass span roofs. I don't understand why I can take a train round-trip from village to village like Starkville to Westpoint for less than the cost of a single beer yet I can't do the same in one of the most developed nations in the world. I guess Forrest Gump was correct... "stupid is as stupid does"
