30-7-2015 London

30/7/2015 London

Awoke at 12 am, after holding out until nearly 9 pm before crashing; body-clock tells me it is daytime and I over-heated again. It was better but another week before I get back into a sleep cycle.

I worked on my Journal and headed downstairs to use the WiFi. Checked emails and updated Blog.  Short sleep but no REM sleep so not feeling well. After breakfast checked two Banks re ATM charges and despite my efforts (i.e., organising a “no fee” CitiBank debit card, Qantas cash-card) I am being charged a “foreign Credit Card” fee on the withdrawal of cash.

Off to NHM for the 10 o’clock start. Worked through the last of the zoological boxes so need to work out the botanical boxes that I will need. I have gone through all 6 "zoological boxes" and photographed all the relevant drawings/finished paintings. This includes birds, animals, and fish. I have a mixture of geographic sites that Bauer (and Brown the naturalist) visited. There are relatively few zoological drawings so there was no need to restrict the collection to just the tropical northern areas. The photographs are of the same quality as last time and will need minor "photo-shopping" to correct for the relatively poor natural lighting. The usual museum rules apply; no flash and no photographic frames/tripods etc. I am limited to low-light, short-duration exposures from a hand-held camera. [But at least I am allowed to take my own research photographs, for which I am extremely grateful.]

I started to list the next drawings that I should request, given I intended to concentrate on the coastal areas around Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and GBR WHA in Queensland. 

I will identify the drawings/plants via, “Bulletin of The Natural History Museum” Botany Series Vol 29, Num 2, 25 November 1999. Catalogue of the holdings in the NHM London of the Australian botanical drawings of Ferdinand Bauer 1760-1826 and cognate materials relating to the Investigator voyage of 1801-1805; by D.J. Mabberley and D.T. Moore.

Finished at 2.30 pm and checked the Royal Albert Hall on the way back to Pembridge Hall  (bus 52) to see what "Proms" seats were available.

Usual logistics, buying next days microwave meals, etc, 

London 29-7-2015

After correcting my computer date/time I am now "ahead" by a day. I also cleaned up some drafts that were still in the system, either deleted or published, so the chronology of my Blog may be off.

London - NHM

Little sleep and an early breakfast. House-keeping with my emails and Blog.

Made my way to NHM by Bus and walking. Arrived just before 10 am, so used the staff/visitors entrance. It took a bit to navigate through the building to the Library but got there by the 10 o’clock start time.  Three boxes of Bauer’s zoology drawings were available, up to drawing 36 (see Mabberley and Moore 1999), I received/purchased a photocopy (cost $7) of this guide to the collection and its current catalogue numbers. I took photographs of selected drawings, mainly terrestrial animals this time. [It is a joy to work with the NHM staff.]

I spent time searching for information on the method used by Bauer; specifically the missing “Colour chart” he used. I located and downloaded a copy of an article by Erika Pignatti-Wikus, Christa Riedl-Dorn, and David J. Mabberley (2000) that has an appendix giving a basic description of a reconstruction of the chart. I will check for any later published work on this chart but it does give me scope for building a partial “Chart” from the marine specimens where I have parallel drawings (with annotated “chart” numbers) and the finished colour paintings. Unlike the description in the article, these are nearly one-for-one transpositions so a number versus representative swathe of colour should be possible.

Excellent find, but the article/appendix was not mentioned when I was in Vienna visiting their archive in 2011. Prof Riedl-Dorn mentioned that they were working a reconstruction of the chart so there may be a later article.

I finished just after lunch time at around 2.30 and headed back to Penbridge Hall (Notting Hill Gate). I needed to check my Qantas cash-card worked given it was “loaded” at a better exchange rate than currently available. The Sky News gives the current rate as 1A$ is worth 0.46 pounds or you need roughly A$2 to buy 1 pound. Not going well although the Euro exchange rate is slightly better. I checked with the RBS bank and used their ATM to successfully withdraw 10 pounds. I also loaded 5 pounds onto my Oyster transport card.

Bought another days food at TESCOS and headed back to Pembridge Hall. I had a combined lunch and dinner at 5.30-6.0 pm then sorted my photos and watched TV news until 9.00 pm when I crashed.

Out of oder - Midi canal day one

Today we traveled 2km fuelled mainly by French wine. Yesterday we picked up the barge and went about 20km to the first lock. Today was a number of first ; first lock, first village redtaurant, first bike ride on canal bikepath. Tomorrow is a big day, long trip.past a den of thieves to get to a safe anchorage . I will try for a photo.

London 28-07-2015

28-07-2015 Very little sleep last night

Typical jetlag, plus the European heavy Doona with no lighter blankets available did not help. Found the TV room and watched late-night news and “Discovery channel”. Found that I did not pack my travel power-plugs (oversight) so will have to try for a Aus-UK plug adapter tomorrow.

Woke early and had a quick “leftovers” breakfast with a cup of coffee. (Yesterday’s travel left me queasy so I had cups of tea during the night and sat on the toilet for long periods to ensure dehydration/constipation was not a problem. The alternatives are not pleasant.) Check date and time with the Reception, also recommendations for Bus to Natural history museum. Found number 52 Bus station and travelled to Royal Albert Hall/Exhibition rd then walked to the NHM. Found my way to library and introduced myself. The email had arrived and I was on the books but the staff were not the ones that I had dealt with previously. I went through the re-application forms/process and got my new “readers” pass card, good for 5 years this time. I arranged to visit again tomorrow at 10 oc to start going through the archives. I also checked the “Staff and Visitors” entrance door as advised by the library staff. School holidays meant that queuing through the normal entrance was ridiculously congested/long.  I retraced my journey back to Pembridge Hall successfully.

While walking back from the NHM to the number 52 Bus station I took a nostalgic walk through the main campus of Imperial College. Significant rebuilding has meant where I stayed before is now a huge accommodation building, one of four “halls” that now occupy the site. The tiny park is still there but most of the old terrace houses have gone. I could not even find the Renewable Resource Assessment Group (RRAG), where I had given two major seminars on my PhD research. Back at Pembridge Hall I bought a adapter plug from Reception to allow me to recharge various batteries, including my camera. Visited TESCO’s again for supplies and am forcing myself to stay awake. I found a Royal Bank of Scotland at the corner of Penbridge Rd. They used to be fee-free for ATM withdrawals. Fire drill/alarm at Pembridge Hall, false alarm thankfully.

Really successful first day as I found and tested the route to the NHM, established contact and credentials at NHM General Library, got the wifi to work, and sent my first SCU supervisor update!.

London_27-07-2015 (first day)

27/7/2015

Travel 26-27th : Fly Emirates/QF code share
1. Cairns to Brisbane, QF – wait in Brisbane Qantas Club transfer by T-bus, 1hr 40min
2. Brisbane to Dubai, Emirates Airlines – wait in Dubai Emirates Lounge/QF club, transfer between Terminals by airport train, 3hr 50min
3. Dubai to Heathrow London - QF Luggage was booked through to Heathrow and arrived OK.

Only real problem was the transfer at Dubai airport (which is huge) where I needed to collect my boarding pass for the next leg to London. It took time and a number of false starts to find the QF transfer desk. Although in the same Terminal 3 it is in another concourse (A) that I had to reach by an airport train; i.e., I needed all of the transfer wait-time. This was not fully explained by my travel agent/ticket office and I had a couple of high-stress moments getting the correct directions.

Reached Heathrow just after lunch on a Monday as planned, so there was a minimum “traffic” on the public transport, and I followed the signs downstairs to the “Underground” station. I caught the Piccadilly line train towards Cockfriars and changed to the Circle line at Gloucester Rd to get to Notting Hill Gate station. I walked upstairs and found the Pembridge Rd exit, turned right and walked a couple of hundred meters to Imperial College, Pembridge Hall accommodation. Reception had all my paperwork and issued me with a key and pointed out my second-floor single room. Wi-Fi is available, after paying a 5 pound deposit. Warm but not hot afternoon, and the room has no air-conditioning.

I found a TESCO store around the corner and bought a microwave takeaway plus a salad. I used the Citibank Plus debit card, which worked at the “PayWave” checkout. The Pembridge kitchen has Microwave ovens, hot-water jugs and communal fridges but that is about it. I found the laundry and for 2 pounds plus another 1 pound for a dryer I can do my washing. Major drawback is that although the room has a shower recess it does not have a toilet (i.e. not really an “en-suite”). Finding the working shared/communal toilet(s) was fun in the middle of the night, there is one toilet on each inter-floor landing but my floor is out of order. Tried to stay awake but crashed after dinner at about 6-6.30 pm local time.

Awake again by 9.00 pm and could not sleep until after 2-3.00 am and even then I overheated/slept fitfully.