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I've really been enjoying being busy helping with the MAF flight operations in Liberia. Shortly after I landed at a remote location one day, our other aircraft, piloted by Ulrich Müeller, also landed (below) at the same airstrip. I was about to load up two medical patients into my aircraft. But since Uli had just arrived, he gratefully offered to help with the loading, so that I could take some photos. Don't worry... we had previously already acquired permissions from all involved to be photographed. Personally I do not like to 'stage' photos, and I don't like to ask people to slow down, or pose, or whatever. It just feels fake. So if I'm photographing, I like to do my best to blend into the background, or at least out of the way, and then just shoot whatever is truly happening, as it happens in real time. Practically speaking, that means that it's often very difficult or impossible for me to get good photos of the activities around a plane, when I'm the only pilot--because my first priority is of course always the safety and security of the plane/flight. So it's a rare but great opportunity when I have the chance to photograph another one of our pilots in action. And again, just in case you might think it would be awkward for a patient, or medical personnel to be photographed, I'll put your mind at ease by saying that we always explain that MAF is a not-for-profit mission, and there are many people who pray and give to help make these flights possible. It is important that we can also share with those folks how the aircraft are being used to bless people in remote locations. And most people are very understanding of that, and very thankful for the help, and very happy to be in the photographs. Even-so, I always try to be respectful and discreet in the way I photograph or show people (especially patients) and of course, that we always do have their permission first. So don't worry. ;-) There was an additional patient, already loaded, and seated in front of the stretcher patient. Here, Uli is carefully strapping in the 2nd patient for the 1.5 hour flight that I would make to take both patients and the medical personnel accompanying them, to the capital city for treatment. Upon landing in Monrovia, I was met and assisted, as usual, by the very capable MAF team. Most patients are very happy for us to pray with/for them, which we did both before and after this flight. Here, the serving MAF country director, Leon Prinsloo, prays with the two medical patients after they have been loaded into the ambulance, and before they go to the hospital. It's worth noting that I had previously asked some of the local people in the remote town where I had picked up these two patients, "how long would it take to drive from there to Monrovia?" They laughed at the question and told me that it is not even possible to do that--not at this time of year anyway--not during the rainy season. They said that sometimes it might be possible, but it would be many days of tough travel, but right now they said the jungle roads are totally impassible. And it's also worth noting that both of these patients were actually in quite serious condition. I was very glad that MAF was able to provide help to transport them! Switching gears... here is a shot of downtown Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. And here's a shot from just nearby the above one, which shows markets along the roads where people are buying and selling stuff. This is not at all an unusual scene on departure from our 'home' airport here. The rainy season offers some challenging flying! But it has the potential to look like this!... although, in the past 5 weeks of flying here, I've only had about 2 days like this. Here's a few more shots from the air showing the remote and rugged terrain over which we fly... And I'll end with a nice sunset after the rains cleared out a few nights ago...
A few weeks ago I was asked to pop over to Liberia (on the west coast of Africa) to help with their flying for six weeks. Our Liberia program has been short on pilots and very busy with flying, so of course I was happy to help! Above is a shot of a bunch of Covid vaccines and other medicines and medical supplies that I delivered to a remote hospital in a town at the very southeastern tip of Liberia. Below I'm unloading cargo before picking up two serious medical patients (you can see the stretcher behind me.) This is one of the airstrips that we frequently fly to... as you can see it is very close to the ocean. There are a number of towns/villages situated just along the coast, but frankly I've seen virtually no roads along the coast. Occasionally, near a town I'll see a few muddy narrow 'roads' branching out a few miles from the town, but then they seem to vanish. So, for the most part it's just rugged coastline that merges into jungle. And I've also seen no large ships, though I'm sure they must come to/from the capital city from time to time. But up and down the coast I've seen nothing other than a few small canoes and very small wooden boats. And if you pan the camera just a few miles in from the coast, then it's nothing but dense, sopping wet jungle. In short, it's definitely a place with vast geological barriers where the need for the plane is obvious! Now that I've shown you the 'nice' shots of what it can look like when the sun is shining (which in my short time here seems to almost never happen) now let me show you what it usually looks like... Actually, even the above two shots are not really accurate, because most of the time I can't see the ground at all once I'm at an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) altitude. It's rainy season here right now and it's an understatement to say that it rains a lot. I've lived and flown/worked in a lot of places around the world, but I've never seen a place that can put out so much relentless, pounding rain day after day after day, most of which is not even tied to thunderstorms. It's just sopping wet atmospheric stuff. Incidentally, it seems that this is where the brewing begins for those storms that build into monster hurricanes that cross the Atlantic and eventually slam into the Americas this time of year. Fun fact: Monrovia (where MAF Liberia is based) is the wettest capital city in the world! They apparently get about 15 feet of rain a year, and I believe it! It's obviously challenging weather to fly in, but frankly, I've been enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of some of the flying I used to do in Indonesia. I've definitely done quite a number of low-pass runway inspections before landing here, just to make sure of the condition of the surface--b/c of all the mud/rain. But if you maintain margins and are careful, it can still be done safely in the rain. And a little rain never hurt anyone, right? I've enjoyed seeing, and being a part of, the wide variety of strategic flights that MAF does here--from 'traditional' mission flying to critical medical transport flights, to humanitarian and community development etc. This past week I was the only MAF pilot in the country so I was flying every day and really enjoying it. Earlier this week Henk Jan (below, right) who is the MAF-International Africa Regional Director, dropped in for a two-day program visit. He has an extensive and distinguished background/career in aviation, including (but not limited to) many years in MAF. I was privileged to have him join me for a flight interior, and I was glad that the weather cooperated that day--in fact it was the nicest day, by far, since I've been here. (Below, Henk Jan talks to missionary, Kim Smith, about his ministry while I was waiting for my return load/passengers back to Monrovia.) One rare evening when the sun popped out for a few minutes before it set, I walked down the beach. No, I haven't jumped in yet, but I'm guessing I will before I leave in a month. That said, because of the nearly constant storms, the surf is really rough, and there are also many hidden rocks in the surf, and I'm told there are also strong undertows and rip currents in this area. Plus, the water is muddy brown and full of seaweed because of the winds/storms. So I need to wait for the right place/time so that I don't become shark or shrimp food.
Here's some random shots from the flight line. First, one of our Cessna 208B Grand Caravans taking off from our home airstrip in Kajjansi, Uganda. This aircraft is now serving in Liberia. I've always loved watching the sky and the weather. Last week I was out of the city and had a chance to see the milky way in all it's glory. Maybe sometime I'll share some of those pics too. But in the meantime, here are a few shots related to the sky/weather, from the flight line, as I was pre-flighting airplanes in Kajjansi. These first two are photos of the rising son, through fog. I obviously took (and am sharing) two versions of this, b/c as you can see, in the first one I focused on the sun and intentionally threw the MAF logo out of focus, whereas in the second one I made the focus the MAF logo itself. And here's one taken only a few weeks apart, and it is also in the morning, but this time it's obviously the moon. Haze and smoke are quite common here in our part of Uganda, but fog in our area is not so common. Here's another shot of the flight line in some very thick morning fog. And here's what it looks like on a more typical morning, with nice skies, and a dissipating thunderstorm out over Lake Victoria in the distance. Here's a shot of the Karamojang landscape in Northeastern Uganda. And here's a shot of the steep, lush slopes of the eastern edge of East DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the western edge of Lake Albert which separates EDRC from Uganda. And here's a young chap who was eager to have his photo taken in front of the plane... just like I'm sure I would have done if I had the chance at his age. :-)
A few weeks ago we (fellow MAF pilot Andrew and I) landed at Amudat airstrip for the first time in a very long time (below). Over the past year and a half quite a few of the upcountry airstrips in Uganda (especially in Karamoja) deteriorated so badly that we had to stop using them. There were several contributing factors, mostly related to the Covid lockdown and lack of flying for so long, but also due to various organizations and users being short of staff and funding. The next two photos show the Amudat runway from the air (from both directions) during the time that it was closed. It actually got quite a bit worse than this later on, as these were taken soon after it was closed. Our sending church in Oregon gave a very generous gift to help facilitate the reopening of several of the closed airstrips. MAF sent a work team to oversee the project in Amudat. Here is a photo of the cleaned/repaired/improved airstrip, just before we landed there a few weeks ago. Here's a shot of Andrew and I with the MAF guys that oversaw the project. They also hired many locals to help with the work (which was also a great way to help the people during these very difficult times when it is SO hard for them to find a source of income), and purchased some tools that will be used for continued upkeep of the strip. Anytime a plane lands, especially after it's been a long time, people will seemingly suddenly appear out of nowhere to watch. This time was no exception. Here's some random shots from the air that I've taken in the past month or so. This first one captures sort of the classic northern Karamoja. This is the very point where the Nile leaves Uganda and enters South Sudan. In this photo the water is flowing from the lower left corner to the bend on the right, and then continuing up towards the upper left corner, on its way South to North. The brown (left) side of the river is South Sudan, and the green (right) side of the photo is Uganda. Just behind/beyond the bend is the town of Nimule, South Sudan. It might strike you as odd that the brown and green are so distinct. It is not always like that. And it's certainly not normally that abrupt of a change between the two countries. It's true that parts of South Sudan can be much dryer than Uganda, but in this region it is generally a much more gradual transition. The reason it's like this here, in this photo, is because the Uganda side is very flat and swampy, hence the greenery, whereas the South Sudan side is the higher ground, and thus dryer, when this photo was taken. But for much of the year both sides are equally green. Speaking of green, this was a very odd (algae?) green floating mass of something that was on top of the Lake Victoria water for several weeks, not far from the shore. I have no idea exactly what it was, or what caused it, but it was almost an iridescent green. It's gone now.
More in travel
Picture perfect.
Pictograms 30 July - 9 November Japan House High Street Kensington admission free 2018 as a venue to share and celebrate Japanese culture and design. And what could be more Japanese than the pictogram - a suite of graphic symbols that convey meaning through symbolic representation? The latest exhibition celebrates their use but also aims to educate and foster a deeper understanding of graphic design, and is described as a masterclass in the simplicity of communicating without words. It's been set up in the basement so be aware the lift's currently not working, and it's a shame they wrote the 'Lift not in use' sign in words rather than displaying the message as a pictogram. giant black pictograms. It manages to be both the perfect selfie-backdrop and also fulsomely educational throughout, and I hope you won't mind if I focus on the latter. minimalist silhouette designs conjured up by Katsumi Masaru and Yoshiro Yamashita to guide visiting spectators to the correct sporting venue certainly made a lasting impact. Also it's a shame they went to all the effort of redesigning them again for the 2020 Games and thanks to the pandemic hardly any foreigners turned up. 176 emoji, each restricted to 12×12 pixels, and included twelve zodiac signs, five red hearts, two feline faces, a cutlery set and a rocking horse. What precisely would best depict an apple, for example, to ensure understanding across all boundaries and cultures? Should icons be depicted from the front, the side or looking down from on top, and all because the essence of a 3D object has to be condensed into a recognisable 2D representation? And if it's movement you're depicting, which part should be the snapshot you use? Looking at a silhouette walking, for example, it soon becomes clear that only one properly captures the intended motion. The exhibition ends with a do-it-yourself section. A bunch of London schoolchildren were asked to design their own pictograms on a square grid, and the professionally-tweaked results clearly resemble Tower Bridge, a wrap of fish and chips, a cargo bike and the intimate emotion 'I love my dog'. There's also a lightbox where you can shuffle shapes to make your own pictogram designs. I quickly knocked up the silhouette below to represent 'diamond geezer', although I confess to relying heavily on a shape the gallery assistants had laid out in advance and I am by no means that rotund in real life. exhibition's on until November, but ➨ 🇯🇵🏠︎ 🕙︎-🕗︎ 🔍︎ 👍︎☺
From plays and musicals to entertainment.
Gadabout: CHESTERFIELD Chesterfield is the largest town in Derbyshire, but only because Derby is a city. It lies 10 miles south of Sheffield, sandwiched between the Peak District and the M1 on the edge of an abandoned coalfield. But it's best known for the twisted spire of its parish church, a truly jarring sight on the local skyline, which I inevitably ended up taking far too many photos of. There are alas rather fewer other reasons to visit, at least at present while many attractions are being upgraded, but join me to discover a lot of half-timbered shops, a narrow canal, some street art, a tailoring pioneer and the Rocket man's last resting place. [Visit Chesterfield] [20 photos] The church with the wonky spire is St Mary and All Saints, not just the most famous church in all of Derbyshire but also the largest. It sits on slightly higher ground in an otherwise lowrise town, placing the pinnacle of engineering catastrophe on full public view. Not only does the spire have a 45 degree twist but the tip additionally leans 2.9 metres off centre which is how it manages to look impossibly awry from all angles. There are many stories to explain how the disfigurement occurred, many of them involving virgins and/or the Devil, but the most convincing reason is that when 14th century craftsmen installed insufficient cross-bracing they weren't anticipating the 17th century addition of 32 tons of lead sheeting. up by the shops. Get too close, say within the churchyard itself, and the optical illusion fades somewhat as the lines of perspective converge. The worst place to see it is of course inside the church itself, although you're welcome within and they run tours up the tower on Fridays and Saturdays for a tenner. It is indeed a fine old church, fundamentally medieval but extensively restored by Gilbert Scott in the 1840s, and fortuitously not destroyed in 1961 when a nasty fire came within 3 minutes of engulfing the spire. Do try to ignore the knitted blue sprite tied to the top of the font, an aberration that turns out to be part of a brazenly evangelical treasure hunt for kids. The spire gives its name to all sorts of local organisations and establishments. There's an office block called Spire Walk, a housing estate called The Spires, a new children's home called Spire House and a Spire Cycling Club founded in 1889. The local council features the spire prominently in its logo, more stylistically today than was once the case, and the nickname of League 2 stalwarts Chesterfield FC is 'The Spireites'. The most twisted incarnation I saw was an inking parlour on Sheffield Road called Crooked Spines Tattoo, which is perhaps pushing things too far as if Chesterfield were a one-idea creative town. » At this point I would have gone to the Tourist Information Centre outside but the council closed it last year, preferring to go digital-first to save money. The octagonal rotunda is now only used by roosting pigeons and is currently fenced off while workmen attack the paving outside. There were plans to bring the building back to life as a 'Crooked Spire Experience' but that never made it into the most recent regeneration plans so I assume the idea's dead. » At this point I would have gone to Chesterfield Museum but alas it's long-term closed. It's undergoing an 'ambitious' £17m transformation along with the Pomegranate Theatre nextdoor, and has been since 2022 when the planned reopening date was 2024. It's now 2026, and although I expect the end result will be impressive the temporary absence does substantially reduce the town's visitor draw. » At this point I would have gone to the Market Place, one of England's largest, but it was substantially sealed off. I watched workmen adding canopies for permanent stalls and making gaps in the paving for more trees, this part of the council's consolidation of the remaining traders into a smaller area. Admittedly the market doesn't normally operate on a Tuesday anyway, also the Market Hall is always open with its imposing Italianate tower and contemporary interior, but for the full Chesterfield experience it's basically come back later. The shops are pretty decent though, sprawled across a large pedestrianised area between the church and the Town Hall. Many are in attractive half-timbered premises, this because progressives chose to demolish several streets in the 1920s and the town architect at the time had a penchant for rebuilding in Tudor Revival style. Some of the finest black and white examples are along the delightfully-named Knifesmithgate, indeed stand on the corner with Packers Row and you could almost be in Chester, except the boutiques are less fancy and the most impressive turrety facade now conceals a Premier Inn. [Town Trail] [Black & White Trail] [54 page walk] The Yorkshire Building Society really does trade in a 16th century building, also the Peacock Inn just down the street which may once have been a Tudor Guildhall. The Royal Oak at the heart of The Shambles is even older, although the Victorians eradicated most of the surrounding enclave and all that remains is the twisty medieval street pattern. The most consequential shop must be Britain's first Burtons, opened in 1904 when a Lithuanian immigrant set up as a gentleman's outfitter on Holywell Street. He became Sir Montague Burton and tailored the nation from often-ornate premises, although the Chesterfield store on Burlington Street alas closed in 2016 and is now a particularly large branch of Greggs. The council have been installing public artwork around the town since 1994, including a purple resin puppy in Theatre Yard and a huge steel flower in the middle of the Horns Bridge roundabout. The two most significant works may be those tucked away behind the Future Walk building on West Bars, which is home to the Post Office's Finance Service Centre. One is a Barbara Hepworth called Curved Reclining Form - a tad smaller than I was expecting and with two limestone voids. Opposite is Poise by Angela Conner, seemingly a static stone disc but when it's windy the six strips flap independently and appealingly. Sorry, I should have taken a video rather than a photo. Across the main road is Queen's Park - part cricket ground, part lake, part kickabout and part sports centre. Here an unusual diamond sculpture celebrates the Queen's penultimate jubilee, each of 60 facets engraved with questionably significant events, including the opening of a nearby hospice, heavy local flooding and the founding of Twitter. Chesterfield's chief river is the Rother, the watercourse that ultimately gives Rotherham its name. It's rather slimmer up this end, almost peaceful, although the beginnings of a linear development zone are beginning to intrude with jaggedy houses and a very lonely-looking office block. This is also where the Chesterfield Canal begins, diverging at an insignificant bend in the woods before wiggling off to join the Trent near Gainsborough. I only walked as far as the first lock at Tatton Mill Bridge, a one-gate affair through an unnervingly narrow arch (as is the way on this very early canal). Technically the first five miles are navigable but after that a disused tunnel breaks the connection to the rest of the canal network so no, you can't bring a boat. The town's most famous resident may surprise you, that is unless you've spotted the statue outside the station of a man holding a prototype locomotive. It's George Stephenson, railway builder extraordinaire, who chose to spend the last ten years of his life living in Chesterfield. What drew him here initially was the North Midland Railway, then that while digging a tunnel near Clay Cross he discovered coal and iron deposits and made a pretty penny by establishing a company to exploit them. He lived at Tapton House, a grand brick mansion on Castle Hill overlooking the railway, before dying of pleurisy in 1848 and being buried in a vault at Holy Trinity across the valley. In 1925 a later resident gifted the house to the town along with its surrounding parkland. It's still free to wander round, apart from the golf course, although probably best not approached via the ridiculously steep footpath I clambered up. Tapton House spent many years as a boarding school and most recently council offices, although it's been empty since 2018 awaiting a new purpose. It was uncanny to walk through the great man's gates, past a horse-mounting block the great man likely used, to a carriage-turning loop in front of the great man's front door. What I also discovered was a planning application pinned to a post, its deadline recently passed, proposing turning the empty house and its immediate surroundings into 20 residential units. They'll be high-spec because living up here is not for paupers, and are described within the spiel as "A Harmonious Blend of Heritage and Modernity". But there'll also be security gates and private gardens so I doubt anyone'll be able to access George's back lawn quite as freely as I managed, before yomping back down the hill and catching his railway home.
Rat on clock was discovered in 2019.
