Here is a picture of the inside of the Cuban plane (which was filthy by the way) as we landed. It looks like smoke but imagine it is vapour of some sort. Both when landing in Cuba and back in Mexico, the passengers clapped once the plane landed! I don’t recall these two things occurring on any Air New Zealand flight.
Did a tour in Savannah on a Segway. I want one!!!
Went to Disney World and got on all the rides I wanted too – OK, so a big kid at heart.
Went to the Kennedy Space Center – an absolutely amazing experience.
The Space Shuttle Atlanta on the launch pad for the last ever launch scheduled for 24 February.
Saturn 5 which was the rocket to launch the Apollos. This is over 100m long and is totally overwhelming to look at.
A space suit.
There have been a lot of pictures of the devastation, some of which I have shared elsewhere. However, this picture below is different as I think it shows the acceleration and force. I lifted the remote control off the couch about an hour after the quake, and expected to find a clean outline of the remote (dirt flew from everywhere and has totally embedded in the couch).
However, what I found was that not only the outline of the remote, but the buttons had been impressed into the couch. Given that nothing fell on the remote to drive it into the couch, the only explanation was the force of the quake lifted and drove the couch into the remote at such an acceleration that the remote didn’t bounce but became imbedded into the couch!
I am in Bangkok for a workshop. Here are some pics.
The infamous water taxi.
Madame Tussauds – I could have smiled I guess.
I am in Washington at the moment and attended the Hershey Car Show. This is huge. Here is a selection of some of the cars.
Here are some of the famous monuments.
Washington Monument.
Lincoln Memorial.
The Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot.
When someone does something we want, we often explain it by saying they were using their common sense, and when they don’t, we explain it that they didn’t use their common sense. Unfortunately, when we explain behaviour because of common sense, we explain nothing.
ARTICLE
Driver lacked ‘common sense’
By SHAHRA WALSH – The Press
A Christchurch rail bridge was struck by an oversized truck yesterday, the third time in nine months.
The truck became “wedged” about 10.30am yesterday under the Martindales Rd bridge in Heathcote, causing delays for railway operators, OnTrack bridge inspector Buzz Terrey said. The bridge is on the main line from the West Coast to Port Lyttelton.
The truck had to be cut into pieces and its tyres deflated so it could be removed. .
Speed restrictions were put in place for trains using the line as engineers braced the bridge with timber. The one-lane road under the bridge will be closed for up to a week.
Terrey said $40,000 worth of repairs and reinforcement work had only recently been completed on the bridge after it was hit in December.
It was also struck by a truck in June and before that in 2004 and 2005.
The owner of the transport company involved yesterday, Philip Wareing, said the driver was not hurt, but the truck’s canopy was a “writeoff”.
“It’s just a lack of common sense; there were signs up to say [the clearance was] 3.75 metres and he’s driven long enough to know he’s four metres,” Wareing said.
I am on the business class Amtrak heading to Rhode Island sending this from my new MacBook Air. Some amazing scenery (so won’t stare at the screen for too much longer). As promised, photos.
