guyznewz: June 2013

June 2013 seemed to be a month that was challenged by natural and made-made disasters. In New Zealand with winter around the corner a super-cold cell with storms settled over parts of the country and at least temporarily thwarted Nikki’s attempts to take delivery of Craig’s car. Singapore last week experienced some of the worst levels of smoke haze……compliments of forest burning in Indonesia. This being a sad indictment of corruption linked to primitive land use by thousands of poverty-stricken peasants and their families; a situation and a solution that seem light years apart.

Smoke from Forest burning in Indonesia

In Penang the ramp on the new island-linking bridge collapsed and killed several motorists.

A week or so later a violet storm knocked over many trees and pushed over billboards. Unfortunately a large section of a building fell into the street and pushed a car forty metres into the earth. Only parts of the car have been recovered. A video showing the car being hit can be seen here

Helen and I were going to a function soon after the storm and drove past many fallen trees and a carpet of green on the roads. The Botanic Gardens remains closed. Fortunately Penang is not currently subject to smoke haze that has reached Kuala Lumpur. It has happened here briefly since we arrived 22 months ago.

Other than local disasters June seems to be a month for travel. Craig and Eve are in Mexico, David and Lyn in a boat off Alaska and others due to head home or off to South America

Dani has finished her second year in Cambridge with good results. The next year she will be in Spain as part of her studies and she will return to Cambridge for a final year. After the frenetic exam period the students have loosened up with the ball season. She and her boyfriend Jack arrive in Penang for a well-earned break.

Nikki continues her medical studies and has just had a two-week break part of which she spend in an old-folks home as part of her field-work. She and her friends have started a small business featuring colourful sweets (lollies) as an adjunct to various functions.

Helen continues teaching English to some Japanese women. The number of students continues to expand. She also has an involvement with the Botanic gardens and the International Womens Association where she is a board member. We were able to slip off for a few days this month to Fraser’s Hill where Helen explored some of the hill-trails. The accommodation is rather limited and we had some problems with mal-functioning toilets. We did investigate one location for any future visits. Helen and I also had our 24th wedding anniversary mid-month.

Coco continues to keep us amused and on our toes. She is a lovable little dog but also likes a fight and a game before bedtime…where she is determined not to let me on the bed.

We have had several visitors this month in our home as participants in the Airbnb accommodation program. It would be more correct to say we have had one person twice with a mostly different retinue each time.
On the photographic front things continued to be enjoyable and varied. The Blue-throated Bee-eaters are in their final nesting stages and an army of helpers in bringing insects to the nests to feed the young……sometimes they play with the food.

I have also investigated other locations around mainland Penang for shooting opportunities.

Bund at Air Itam Dalam

Look-out tower at Air Itam Dalam

Green-Billed Malkoha

Shortly before the storm hit I was in the Penang Botanical Gardens checking out a fruiting tree.

Asian Fairy Bluebird (male)

Thick-billed green Pigeon (male)

One supply truck had it’s own mini-disaster when the breaks failed coming down the hill…the driver may or may not be grateful that Botanic Gardens have trees.

As mentioned Helen and I had three nights at Fraser’s Hill. The variety of birds seemed to be lacking this trip but I was happy with a few shots of some of the more regularly seen species.

Magpie Robin (male)

A pair of Silver-eared Mesias

It was quiet on the hill even though the traffic police recruits chose to make it a venue for an ‘away’ day.

Several of my images have been chosen as ‘Editor’s Pick’ on the Naturescapes site. Another was used in a gameshow on English TV.

The following is the email concerning the game show;

Hi Graeme,

Many thanks for getting back in touch.

I am working on a new comedy gameshow called "Was It Something I Said?" for Channel 4 in the UK. We would like to do a round where we show contestants Instagram pictures and we ask them to try and guess the hashtag that links them all.

Your photo was posted on Instagram with the caption: Talk about a serious #trafficjam. I dare you to get out of the car with your #roadrage and see what's causing the back up

On the show we show the contestants 3 pictures posted on social media with their captions, but with a hashtag blocked out. They have to try and guess what the hashtag is that links them all.

We are also doing a live play along on Twitter, are you happy for us to use your picture in this context also?

Thanks so much,

Conor