Armenia Part I: Sevan

Opera House, Yerevan

I have just realised, with no small amount of astonishment, that it has almost been an entire year since the Schiphol Snow Saga.

With that in mind, I thought I'd bore you all to death with some pictures of Armenia, since I didn't have my blog back then.

Between September and December last year, I made three consultancy trips out there. I spent most of my time working in Tsaghkadzor, a resort in central Armenia, the name of which translates as: Valley of Flowers.

However, due to a slight quirk with Armavia Air, although I finished work on a Saturday morning, I couldn't get a flight home until Monday. This meant that I returned to the capital, Yerevan, on Saturday afternoons and had the whole of Sunday to play tourist. A role which I truly relished.

Fortunately, I received a great tip-off from my driver about Hyur tourist company. They were just around the corner from my hotel. I highly recommend them.

Enough waffle, more pictures.

Click on any of these for a better view...

Chapels at Sevan

Few people know that Armenia was in fact the first ever country to declare Christianity as its national religion, in 301 AD. As such, there are lots of extremely old chapels.

It's a landlocked country with an 'inland sea' - Lake Sevan. During my first visit, my friend and interpreter, Makrita, decided that we needed to get out of Tsaghkadzor for the evening. She took me to Sevan.

Views of Lake Sevan

At the base of the mountain, local children were selling thin pencil-length candles. I discovered what these were for at the top. 

There were two little chapels perched on the cliff. The view of the lake was stunning. Behind one of the chapels was a tiny stone room. It was perfectly dark inside. The heat from the candles that people had left was overwhelming. It was like being enveloped in a granite womb. Quite an incredible experience.

Ornately Carved Chapel Door

Cross Stones at Sevan

Here, I encountered my first 'cross stones'. Early Armenians had a real thing for carving crosses on stones. No two are ever alike. Each one is supposed to be slightly different, to show 'the beauty in imperfection.' This reflects life - just as no two people, plants, or snowflakes are alike.

They started quite simply, then became more and more ornate through history as masons discovered new techniques. The highly decorative stones date from around the thirteenth century.

I'm a bit of a sucker for lumps of rock, as I'll get to in part three.

Something else that really fascinated me was a 'wishing tree' a little further up from the chapels. Armenia may be the oldest Christian country on earth, but it still has a healthy respect for heathenry. You find these in Ireland, next to sacred wells. People tie items to special trees to take away illness or grant wishes.

Wishing Tree at Sevan

Makrita explained that, originally, there would have been different knots used for different wishes, but that these traditions have been lost in time. It was amazing to think - as I will come to when I post about Carahunge (Armenia's Stonehenge) - that people from as far apart as Mongolia and Ireland, shared a common desire to build huge stone structures, yet four-thousand years later we can't remember why.

Anyway, that was my first outing. On the Saturday I headed back to Yerevan. At the top of this post is Armenia's National Opera House. Throughout summer it transforms into café culture central. Lots of small ice-cream and pizza parlours, everyone sitting outside late into the night, drinking and chatting.

Views from Around Yerevan

Found a gorgeous little craft shop selling mixed-media artwork. Photos don't do it justice. The kind of stuff you resent the excess baggage charge for.

Armenian Mixed-media Art

They had the cutest puppy there. He'd latched on to one of the artists and had an unquenchable trouser-leg fetish. I almost walked out with him attached to my jeans. No bad thing.

More to come shortly. Rather enjoying this jaunt down memory lane.

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

(You may have trouble viewing this in Germany)

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
And what should we do with him? Burn him!

Well, it's that time of year again when Brits like to blow things up. No, not election time - although it was born of one man's desire to blow up the houses of parliament. An aspiration I'm sure most of us currently sympathise with.

This year I headed to Hollowell with my nephew and family. It's the next village up and hosts a huge steam rally each summer. Lots of engines turn up for bonfire night too. They sound their horns to signal the start of the firework display.

Hollowell is renowned for the sheer size of its bonfire. You probably can't see from the video as it's very dark and I'm only using a photo camera (one stop up from a mobile phone!) - but here's a picture lifted from their website.

Local schools and organisations build Guys to burn. We arrived well after the bonfire had been lit this year, but here's the Guy toppling in 2009.

Fairly gruesome when you think about it. Everyone stands around cheering and happily munching on candyfloss whilst re-enacting a public execution.

Bonfire 2009

 The following pictures are all from this year.

Traffic coming through our village to get there, and leaving the field on the way out. Glad we walked!

Merrick re-living his military days behind the wheel of a Leyland. He drove many hundreds of miles in one of those.

A better shot of that beautiful organ. The video didn't do it justice.

That rounded up a lovely break in the country. Well, I say break, I spent two weeks editing my third novel, Lucid. Also been finalising the cover art for Georg[i]e and doing a few other bits here and there. It was a productive and rather intensive retreat.

Drove back to Gloucester today. It was an unsettling experience. Last Friday, Britain saw the worst road traffic accident in over a decade. Seven people died in a thirty-four car pileup on the M5 near Taunton. Although much further north, I take a stretch of the M5 to get home. Every billboard was flashing the closure of junctions 24-25. It was a sobering reminder and most people seemed to be driving with more caution than usual. Horribly tragic loss of life in the run-up to Yule. Commendable reaction from our emergency services.

And on that sombre note, goodnight.

All Saints' and All Souls'

Suitably dramatic picture for a suitably dramatic time of year. All Souls' Day today, All Saints' yesterday.

I went for a walk down the 'leafy lane' as it's affectionately known. Very strange indeed. The colours are changing, yet I wore only a T-shirt and almost got sunburnt! Can't believe the weather. Feels more like mid-August.

Tree in the village.

Walking down the Leafy Lane.

Views along the way.

I love gateways - they could lead anywhere!

Click on any of the pictures above to see them better.

There's a lovely stream that runs along this walk. At one point it had formed a natural dam amongst the tree roots. You could hardly distinguish the water from the land because there were so many leaves. I took a clip of it, and another a little further down where the water was making a really beautiful sound.

The following are two pretty trees - one very much alive, reaching out with its roots. The other is a lightning tree (yes, as in the 1970s TV show - sing along if you know the words), which bears stark contrast with its skeletal branches.

Live tree and lightning tree.

Picturesque barn.

Mushroom forest!

Psathyrella gracilis? I also found wild sorrel.

These are the fields where our local point-to-points are held each year. For those not of an equine disposition, point-to-points are steeplechases held in many counties in Ireland and the UK. It's a big event where lots of people stand in a field and try to avoid getting run over by horses as they jump big fences like these:

Point-to-point fences.

On my way home, I happened across another fellow who rather likes the races.

Seriously can't believe the weather today. Clocks finally go back, dark nights drawing in, and the sun is shining like summer's just arrived!

Ghoulish Gourds

Happy Samhain one and all.

Following on from costumes, here's pumpkins.

First, scoop out the brains!

      Mum's                                                   Mine        

Time for...

Lights out!

Mwahahahahaha.

Blessings for the year ahead.

Happy Halloween

Evenin' ladies and gents.

Sitting here rocking out to Sum41's Fat Lip, reminding me of Monday night Rock Nights at the Fez Club in Reading when I was a student. Reliving the glory days.

Had a wicked night down my local tonight - t'was the Halloween party.

Haven't done fancy dress since uni either, but thought I'd push the boat out this year.

Ordered liquid latex from a funky online store called Liquid Flesh.

Here's the transformation...

Me, scary enough without any makeup on!

Rather cool but, on the whole, pretty 'armless.

Thanks to several very helpful YouTube tutorials, I managed the following:

Not quite as good as this lady, as I didn't have any wax and had to make do with brown wrapping paper. Not bad for a first attempt though. I'm working up to this. Got loads of great comments on it.

I used a basic range - liquid latex, brown paper and toilet paper for the structure, some wax face crayons from the Post Office that looked like they'd been there since the early 80s! They were advertised as 'clown makeup' but contained all the colours for great bruising: yellow, green, red and black. Used black eyeshadow under my eyes and eyeliner to outline the cuts. Not a lot else to it really. Only other tip from YouTube worth following: mix your fake blood with Vaseline to make it shiny and prevent it from running too much.

Happy Halloween everyone - hope you're having a thoroughly ghoulish time!

Nobby's Brew

First of two promotional posts today.

Sorry for the recent silence. Currently on retreat in Northamptonshire, trying to kick my third novel into shape. Working very hard, but marginally distracted Friday night by a bottle of Portuguese Firewater. Falls somewhere on the scale between Absinthe and Ouzo. Frightening stuff. Thank you Rosa.

Otherwise, it has been a productive few days.

I'd like to shout out to our local Master Brewer, Nobby. He and his wife Kate run a microbrewery out of our local pub, The Ward Arms. He's extremely good at it. So good that you can now find his beer in selected Co-op stores around the county. They should eventually be rolling them out nation-wide. All of his beers are barrel condition - no re-fizzing or funny business.

Nobby (right) receiving his GOLD award for
"Guilsborough Guzzler 3.6%" at the SIBA midlands beer contest 2011.

You can check out his website for more information about his ales, news, and tips on making your own beer. You can also take a tour of his brewery, including a tasting session. Then there's Nobby's Facebook page.

Silver Bells And Cockle Shells

Don't know about anywhere else, but Autumn's finally arrived in Gloucestershire. Despite the sunshine and unseasonably green trees, there's a definite nip to the air.

Packing my bags and heading off on retreat to the Northamptonshire countryside tomorrow. Lot of writing to get done. Before I go, I thought I'd take a trip down Memory Lane. We've visited some beautiful gardens this year. If you visit the Nature in Art museum at Twigworth, they have the most incredible painting as you go up the main staircase. It's a spiral, starting in the middle with a snowdrop and circling out to the edges, depicting every type of flower imaginable as the seasons progress.

Visiting gardens throughout the year, I feel a little as though I've lived that painting.

Started off in February with Colesbourne Park, which opens each year for the snowdrops. They have around eighty different species. You can read more about it in my post, here.

Ice house at Colesbourne Park

Shortly afterwards we went to the Rococo Gardens at Painswick. More pictures here.

Snowdrops at the Rococo Gardens

In June we went on a sculpture trail at Quenington, in the Cotswolds.

Triffid at Old Sodbury.

In July we visited Old Sodbury (a delightfully West Country name!) for more sculpture and unusual plants.

I apologise for my cack-handed photography - it's based on enthusiasm rather than skill.

In September we headed to Wyck Rissington.

Church at Wyck Rissington. Impressive roof, strange mosaic.

Dad's an avid gardener. The flowers in the first picture are from his own garden. I think they grow so well due to the company he keeps:

Buddha

Green Men who watch over the garden.

Edinburgh's over, Cheltenham Literature Festival's through, the garden is fallow for winter. It feels like the right time to remove myself to a quiet place and write.