I've never seen anything like this. A falcon swooped to just a couple of metres away from me, pinning and decapitating a pigeon in one swift move. Brilliant! It then, with no fear despite it being broad daylight and lots of people milling around a busy pavement, spent the next couple of minutes removing the prey's feathers before carrying it away. It was such a beautiful bird, and i was lucky enough to take a snap of it
A sealion swimming just off the wharf
Santa Cruz town beach - boardwalk in the background
Santa Cruz, Cowell beach, and a bit of the wharf, from a boat (USGS boat 'Stavely') about 1/2 mile out
October is a good time of year here - it hasn't got cold yet, and the summer fogs are over. I think October and April-May are the best times of year for weather.
These photos taken with my mobile phone, and stitched together using autostitch running on ubuntu linux with a windows emulator called wine
From top to bottom:
- the 'Jabba the Hutt' of the pumpkin world
- the TransAmerica pyramid, as seen through a very narrow lane
- the view from Russian Hill (Alcatraz island in the background)
See Mr Orange and Mr Brown (now famous) make their shapes on a sunny saturday in San Francisco. Enjoy! 
found on the corner of Laurent and and King streets, west side santa cruz
From top to bottom:
- downtown santa cruz street scene
- my new home (and sister, in foreground - got rid of my old sister he he!)
- UCSC entrance - this place is unBlieveably big!
From Top to Bottom:
- probably the most photographed bridge in the world
- my first dip in the Pacific (well, of this trip) - lovely and warm 14 degrees C
- Rodeo beach
- me cold on Rodeo beach, Marin Headland
- my 1st meal in america (mmm pancakes bacon banana and maple syrup, thanks Sister Delicious!)
- my plane
you see the panel on the right with twitter comments? they're my twitter comments. Sigh up to www.twitter.com and do the same and follow me. You get RSS feeds of all the garbage that comes out of my head. Go on! You DO need another excuse not to do any work!
I'm living near silicon valley now so I have to jump on every band wagon going (i've also got a netvibes page if you're interested). It's all the rage, ok? Next will be yahoo pipes and Dooplr (thanks Mike, you're my tech-guru)
Remember the film 'Coming to America' with Eddy Murphy? So do I ("The royal penis is clean, your Highness."), and that is precisely why I've had the signature and eponymous theme tune in my head since Friday. Why? Because I have come to America, and I live in America.
Currently, I am eating pistachio ice cream, and i'm living in San Francisco in my sister's apartment on 4th street somewhere near here
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I arrived on Friday 17th, 3pm local time. Yesterday I reacquainted myself with this great city, and today we went to Marin County Park, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I took a dip in the sea here:
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Tomorrow, I'm visiting Santa Cruz for the first time. I need to touch base with the admin people at the university, and I have a couple of houses to look at. I'm getting the caltrain to san jose, then the bus down Highway 17 to santa cruz. The whole 70-mile journey will cost me less than $6 - public transport is so cheap here - the bus to marin cost $1.50 RETURN (the round trip is 3 hours - for 80 pence!!!)
I cannot wait, but wait I must, I must say ...
... more news soon
, or will, perhaps forever, but not necessarily, never know if you don’t … about santa crua, California
The university is pretty liberal. It’s a clothing optional university campus, and every year they have a ‘naked run’ with hundreds of participants (or particinopants he he). Up until only a few years ago, students were not graded and did not have to sit any exams
Santa Cruz was one of the first places where the medical use of marijuana was condoned. In 2003, the Santa Cruz City Council became the first City Council in the U.S. to denounce the Iraq War. It has a Democrat council, and is home to lots of liberal and humanitarian activist organisations
It’s the home of O’Neil surf clothing and Big Whoop. Several scenes from the 1987 film The Lost Boys (Michael?) were filmed at distinctive locations in Santa Cruz, including the boardwalk and Wharf.
Its 49% male; 82.7% 18 and over (including the highest percentage -17% being 25-34 years old); and 78% white (including 17% hispanic/latino). In short, I won’t really be an outsider
Santa Cruz has a Mediterranean climate (cool, wet winters and warm, mostly dry summers). Due to its proximity to Monterey Bay, fog is a common feature during the night and morning hours, especially in the summer. Right now, its 17 degrees Celsius (62 degrees Fahrenheit) and sunny with 78% humidity. There are an average of 65 days with measurable rain annually
So, for those who dont know, I'm going to be working as a post-doctoral research assistant in the Institute of Marine Sciences (http://ims.ucsc.edu/) at the University of California Santa Cruz (http://www.ucsc.edu/public/). My day-to-day tasks will be heping set up a long-term seafloor observatory with the good people of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Santa Cruz (http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/). The science behind the project is improving understanding of sediment resuspension and ripples under waves, to inform better models of sediment transport and shoreline change.
ok?
Oh, and the McHenry Library on the UCSC campus has computers on the entry-level floor which do not require a username or password, but these computers are theoretically for student use only.
... might be useful in the early days ...
Blues, you'll be interested in this.
Just found a cool set of pages on the Santa Cruz Wiki, about getting around with frugality and thrift
http://www.scruzwiki.org/Santa_Cruz_On_A_Dime
Highlights include:
Read more...
I am now the proud recipient of a shiny visa, and I have booked my flights. I fly on 17th September from London Heathrow Terminal 3, to San francisco International Airport, leaving at 11am and arriving at 2pm local time, which, I'm sure you'll agree, is all very civil. And at a savage price of 281 quid all-in!
Just spent the last couple of days driving a Transit van around Plymouth helping someone move. I'm shattered. I know I say it every time, but that is absoloootely the LAST time I haul a sofa up three flights of stairs!!
I'm off home to finally get some work done (still got so much to do!!!), and have a much-deserved bath. Leaving-party provisionally booked for 10th? October
Karen - see you stateside, baby. Will be great to see your smiling face after my gruelling non-stop Virgin Atlantic flight (jealous? - ha ha!!!)
The latest news is that, apparently, I CAN drive a hire car when I arrive (i can drive anything for up to 6 months without applying for a californian driving licenec, so I'm tempted to get a car straight away, but we'll see what you have planned first)
off i go! xx
