Pink's Next

As a true paparazzo I couldn't help spying on the chap who sprays Rachel's Volkswagen camper pink. Wonder why he sprayed the license plate too.


This is the artwork for my soon to be released album of home made tunes. A very original image indeed!
It took me a while to find an appropriate slag heap (this shows you where it is, on Multimap) with concrete bits sticking out to wee against.
I did not use water from a bottle to make the spot look bigger. I just enhanced things a little in Photoshop. After all this is the 21st century...



You can read about Rachel Fuller on her blogpages, where among other things she tells that she is getting her VW camper repainted to pink. My picture above is of that very camper on its home turf, repainted virtually (thank you, Photoshop).
The so-called album cover artwork is a 'piss-take' on the Who's Next album cover. I found the slag heap Sunday January 29, 2006. I do make and produce my own music for you to download here.
All photos Koos Fernhout

Just three more from Richmond

Mary Beth wrote: I wish we had more pictures!
So especially for our faithful friend from Ottawa these pictures I took in Richmond, September 2005.



Half hidden behind a tree, dead center of the image (clik to enlarge): The Wick again.
Jerry Hall lives 'across the street' all the way against the left edge of the image. The house is wrapped and scaffolded for maintenance.
I took this picture during a boat trip on the river (of course, barge owners do that). However, we weren't aware yet of where which house stood. We found out later after Googling.



On The Hill we discovered this exceptionally cute little Nissan. I don't know who drives it, but why don't you guess? Found it in front of what later turned out to be The House In Question.


As a bonus one of many Dutch barges on the Thames.
Oliekop? A Dutch word no doubt. Dictionary says: Nutty Professor. Do I need to go to Richmond to learn new words in my mother tongue?
A similar thing happened to me in France. A barge was called Butskop. I had no clue what that meant. The French owner explained to me that it was some kind of fish. The next time I saw the word was in the news about a whale on the Thames in London...

Special Houses

The busloads of tourists don't come to the Oude Haven in Rotterdam to look at the White House. No misunderstanding, the special cube-shaped houses below are the real stars!



Talking about stars, most of us know that Pete and Rachel live in a house called 'The Wick' in Richmond. We are free to go and see this special house from the public road.
Ever wondered what it looks like from the back? Wonder no longer, here it is at the time the famous Mills family still lived on the Hill.



Juliet, Jonathan and Hayley Mills, rear of The Wick on Richmond Hill, ca 1951
Photo thanks to the maker of the site where you arrive when following this link.

The orange circle, top left on the map below, marks The Boat House studio with the Dutch Barge on the Thames, the circle bottom right The Wick.

On the 'helling' (slipway)

Most nautical terms in Russia are identical to their Dutch equivalent. Czar Peter the Great studied shipbuilding in Holland and 'imported' Dutch shipbuilders to Russia. They never bothered to invent Russian words for their nautical talk.
I think I'll continue that tradition by using the word 'helling' (literally: inclined plane) until it becomes the common term in the English language. No lack of ambition here.

This week's barge on the helling is so ugly that my camera refuses to record it -and so do I. Instead I give you the image of the the one before last week's.
Now that's a stunner, isn't it? This restored sailing barge, a klipper, is called Anita Jacoba.
To give you an impression of the lie of the land here's a view of our harbour. The helling is all the way at the back under the red circle in this external link.


Trust me, this place attracts tourists by the busload.
The only old building in this picture is the white one in the distance to the right. Guess what it's called?

Same viewpoint, picture taken long before the second World War. Only the White House escaped destruction. (Oops, now I've given away the name ;-)