Rotel

You have several options while travelling. You can stay in hotels, motels, b&b's, youth hostels, guesthouses, inns, tents, caravans, your car or even sleep out in the open. Or you can stay in a Rotel! A rolling hotel.

This coach has space for twenty passengers and one driver. During the day you go and visit the sights of a certain area, during the night you could park almost anywhere and out comes the hotel part. Apart from the beds in the rear part of this coach, there's also a kitchen where meals can be prepared for all passengers. There's probably a toilet area as well, although I couldn't really find out where that would be supposed to go.

I have seen them out in Italy with the trailer which held many more people than this, but in my mind, it just looks like a lot of coffins one on top of each other and very uncomfortable. I know the Irish aren't too fond of them either. They don't add anything to the Irish economy, because they bring everything themselves, right up to their dinner. This one I saw in Saintes Maries de la Mer in Southern France.

I wonder where they stay during the night though...

Camera Critters 1

This horse statue can be found in the seaside town of Saintes Maries de la Mer in the Camargue region of France. Those horses roam wild and free throughout the Camargue and you can see them almost submerged before they jump out on to drier land.

For more critters from all over the world, please check out Camera Critters and join in the fun.

Search and Rescue

Dutch Coastguard, mostly used for high seas and oil platform work

I hope never to get into a situation where I need to be rescued by helicopter. But if I ever find myself on a boat in the middle of the high seas or on a mountain top and have no other way of getting out, than a helicopter isn't such a bad thing. And I now know that I can trust them. Those people on board know what they are doing.

Aerial photographs were taken from this helicopter

How do I know? Well, the Search and Rescue service of the Royal Netherlands AirForce exists 50 years this year and had an agility course set up, so helicopters of different countries could show their stuff! I only missed one: the Canadians. They were supposed to go up in the air at two, but for some reason the whole thing got changed around and in the end they were up by 1.30 and had finished by 1.45! I did see the rest though and was thorougly impressed.

I'm not sure which team this was: Belgium, Slovenia, Slovakia? They had a distinct disadvantage though: their line was hanging in the middle of the helicopter and couldn't be manipulated, hence the two men watching everything and shouting orders to the pilot. They came last!

The first thing they had to do was pick up a bucket of water with a grappling hook hanging on the helicopter. They had to put the bucket down again behind a type of wall, pick it up again and fly on to the next obstacle: weaving between some sticks. Then an obstacle where they had to pass the bucket through the cut-out shape. They then had to deposit the bucket again and try and pull a small ring from the earth. As soon as that was over, the time stopped (it was also a competition). The team who had completed the course fastest ànd had the most water left in the bucket was pronounced the winner.

The grappling hook and the ring. When the ring was pulled out, orange smoke would come out, signalling the finish

In the morning the anoraks came out (plane/helicopter spotters) and in the afternoon it was the press' turn. They drew the short straw though: most of the press only got to see the Dutch who were last to compete. But it was good fun and I made plenty of photographs, albeit not with a nice camera like the spotters and/or the press.

The Canadian helicopter, the only one I missed...

Feline Friday 14

I always love murals and when there's a monster included in it, how can I resist? This was a small mural I found in Arles while I was walking around.

Gypsies

Every year around the end of May, there's a huge gathering of gypsies from all over Europe in the small town of Saintes Maries de la Mer on the Mediterranean coast in France. We were 'lucky' to be there at the same time as they were. The first gypsy I encountered wanted to give me something, but I never take anything people just give me in the street, it's usually leaflets for some restaurant or other.

The second time I actually accepted and they pinned this little 'brooch' on my shirt. I talked to them for a while and wanted to leave, but I would have to pay first for that little tin brooch. I thought what the hey and gave her some money. The old lady then proceeded in taking my hand, pulling me to the side and reading my hand! I learned that I was still in the process of studying, was going to have a long life, would find love (I think) and that the numbers 3, 4 and 12 were important for me. Oh, and within 41 days I would have something important happening in my life. Then I was supposed to hand over more money!

I'm not really into all that wishy-washy, vague stuff. I read my horoscope, but I know and realise that those in the newspapers are written to fit for thousands of people. I don't really believe any of it. On the other hand (even while being grossly extorted), it was quite good fun to hear my future told and even some of the past. Mind you, most of what she told, she could learn from the way I present myself: I talk French, but you can hear I'm not French and have learned the language as a second (or fourth in my case) language; I'm single, but that's quite easy to see, since I don't wear any rings and there's probably more tell-tale signs.

Ah well, I have written in my diary when the 41st day is and if something happens: you will be the first to know!

S is for...

Streetsign

When you wanted to visit your friends or relatives in ancient Rome, you had a bit of a problem: sat nav hadn't been invented yet and there weren't any roadmaps. Your main tool in finding your way around a large town was your mouth: just ask for directions! And if you wanted to get your directions and were counting on the streetsigns to help you out, you would be sadly mistaken! Because streetsigns were few and very far between.

I found this streetsign in Ercolano (an underground village in Naples) which was covered in lava in 79 aD. Quite a bit of the village was preserved and this streetsign was one of them.

Fortunately nowadays, streetsigns are widely used (as are sat nav and road maps), so loosing your way isn't really necessary anymore. They are fluorescent out in the country side, they're at funny angles so you can never ever read them when you enter a street and they come with great names and colours.

From humble beginnings...

For more S words, please visit: ABC Wednesday

400

I don't believe it! Some days I've got nothing to share with the world and today I'm already on my fourth post! It's an important one though, at least for me. In February I posted on this as well (but then the post was called 500) as I was explaining about my plans to move to Canada (Alberta) and in what timeframe I was hoping to do so. And just now I realised there's only 400 days left on my home-made calendar!

Those last 100 days certainly went quicker than the first month and a half and I've hardly had time to think on occasion. The main reason of course is my job: it's been very busy lately and all the extra hours mean I've been earning quite a bit of money as well. Money that's very welcome, since I still have to pay my parents off.

400 days to go!

Not quite rose-tinted

But they are my new glasses! What do you think?

Shocking!

Have you ever been in the middle of a massive thunderstorm? Thunder, lightning and rain? Well, imagine about six of those. All around you. With lots and lots of rain, great gusts of wind and lightning from all sides. I can tell you, driving through that in what seemed to be the middle of the night, but was actually after day-break (so it should have been light), was not the most pleasant of experiences in recent times.

I already woke up at 1.30am from a lot of thunder very close by. Even my monsters scampered over me to get away from all that noise. By the time I had to go to work (at 3.15am), it had eased off and I could only hear thunder in the distance. The lightning was a bit more persistant though and while driving to my starting point I was occasionally startled by sudden lightning. After I left the army-base, it started to rain. Then the wind picked up, the lightning came from all sides and at around 5.30am, the rain came horizontally, tree branches were coming off the trees, blocking the roads and basically making my driving horrendously difficult. I even stopped for a minute, but then the rain had passed as well and we were able to continue.

I was glad I was in my coach though: the idea of Faraday's Cage was a great comfort!

PS: I didn't take the photo, I just nicked it of the www!

Diesel

Minimum delivery 5 liters!

Well, what do you expect after driving for over 2000 kilometers? The coach gets thirsty and needs a drink! 509 liters of drink! A good thing I don't have to pay for it myself...