Happy Birthday to me! – Another Slight Diversion

Well, I made it to the half century. Fifty today. And God does it feel like it! 🙂

I thought I should at least mark the event so here are a few pics to chronicle the passage of time…

50-01 — Newly arrived with my Mum, Dad and big brother

I’ll not dig out the full range of childhood pics but just one to show my latent superhero tendencies…

So lets skip to some significant events…

Most of my early work career had me looking like this… which was also my first passport photo…. I’ve no idea why I always wore a white scarf….

Travel. Did a bit of that. Went to a wedding in Alaska. Chris and Tia Wilhelm. I’d met Chris while travelling in Germany, kept in touch, and when he announced his wedding I thought I’d go…

Followed this with the best part of two years travelling round India, Nepal, Thailand, Australia etc. India saw an invite to another wedding. Dress a little less formal:

Having the above passport photo caused a few issues at passport control as I now looked like this.

50-06 — Deep in thought awaiting a bus to Darjeeling at the Nepalese border.

Return to UK saw the start of ten years in archaeology…

Digging with Earthwatch at Arbeia Fort in South Shields

Next good few years saw marriage, kids, finally did my Degree and Masters and then from 40 to 50 seemed to fly…

To mark the event my wife, Ingrid, booked five days in Reykjavik. I’ve always wanted to go to Iceland even since reading Desmond Bagley’s Running Blind when I was about 15 and then watching the TV series. There was something about the scenery… Often, when we talked about holidays locations I’d mention it for it to be declined as too cold! So to finally get the chance was great. We flew out on Thursday March 20th, returning the following Tuesday. It was great. It was cold. It was bloody expensive! Here’s a few pics.

2014-03-22 14.57.31 — Gullfoss Waterfalls

2014-03-22 13.20.52 — Apparently that’s a volcano…

2014-03-22 15.10.01 — Gullfoss Waterfalls

2014-03-22 15.11.16 — Gullfoss Waterfalls

2014-03-22 15.12.23 — Gullfoss Waterfalls

2014-03-22 16.22.33 — Strokkur, the most active geyser in Iceland

2014-03-22 18.50.24 — Hallgrímskirkja church and statue of Leifur Eiriksson (ignore stupid woman lying in front!)

2014-03-23 17.37.48 — Tjörnin lake in the center of Reykjavík. Most of it was frozen while we were there…

2014-03-23 17.38.23 — …and frozen enough to walk across. We didn’t fancy risking it…

I don’t seem to have taken as many photos as I thought. The museums in Reykjavík were good. The bars were good. We had two late night trips to try and see the Northern Lights but to no avail… I liked the place. I’m glad I went. I’d go back. With more money…

So there we are. I’ve not posted any pictures of the family so far but to be honest they are the thing that makes hitting fifty bearable!