When the beach gets cold find an excuse to go to Paris. In June of '96 we spent a small amount of time on a house boat (peniche). It turned out to be very silly indeed, but most enjoyable. We had some technology on hand, including my new Kodak DCS-40 digital still camera and Roland PMA-5 (personal musical assistant), and two different models of Magellan GPS, neither of which worked very well (ask Boyd). Also on hand was our supposed link with the outside world, an Ericsson GH388, but in the words of Boyd "the SFR network is sh*thouse up around there. So much for their computer model maps. Anyone for real measurements?" It works fine in and around Paris and in York, England, as I discovered last time I tried to get Boyd on the blower from OZ.
Shand has archived the photos so have a peek. They are untouched (except for rotations) simply because there are so many of them and Fête de la Musique got in the way. We were powered by 12 volts and a little device that Didier designed and implemented in 15 minutes. Skea claims that we should request sponsorship from Kronenbourg. He also cooks a fine breakfast and looks nearly as silly as me in the cherry picking hat. We got to go over and under all sorts of things. Graham made the mistake of not swimming in the filthy canal, and fell ill on our return to Paris.
Karine was unanimously awarded temporary scientist status, cooked a fine lunch, and acted as a fine Diazepam substitute to Boyd every time the GPS did something really stupid. I for one don't believe that our elevation was ever -51m or +1042m, and it sure is hard to believe the GPS when it says that the approximate travel time to the next bridge (which is in sight) is 18 minutes.
I have a few confusing shots, from the rest of the trip which may help provide context, and also some the dirt on the Housebot Theme.
I played the PMA in a band or two for Fête de la Musique which I claim is a first. I'll publish some information on the second band, who were simply tremendous.
Addendum: Rue St Martin time lapse.
© 1997, Bruce Ellis: brucee@chunder.com, Home.
