Holiday 2013 Day 14 Monday 29 July, a set on Flickr.
Showing posts with label florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label florida. Show all posts
Monday, 29 July 2013
Holiday 2013 Day 14 Monday 29 July
Busch Gardens Tampa (formerly known as Busch Gardens Africa and Busch Gardens: The Dark Continent) is a 335-acre (135.6 ha) 19th century African-themedanimal theme park located in the city of Tampa, Florida. It opened on March 31, 1959 as an admission-free hospitality facility for Tampa Anheuser-Busch; in addition to various beer tastings they had, a bird garden and the Stairway to the Stars which was an escalator that took guests to the roof of the brewery.[1]
Busch Gardens continued to grow, and in 1965, opened the 29-acre Serengeti Plains, which allowed the African wildlife to roam freely.[1] It continued to focus on its tropical landscape, exotic animals, and amusements to draw visitors. Busch Gardens began charging admission as the entertainment became more complex, with extra fees for the thrill rides, such as the roller coasters for which Busch Gardens is now known. Currently Busch Gardens competes with other such parks in Florida and charges comparable fees. The park is operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, majority owned by the private equity firm Blackstone Group. Busch Gardens is currently accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).[2] In 2011, the park hosted 4.3 million people, placing in the Top 20 of the most-visited theme parks in the US and in the Top 25 worldwide.
Busch Gardens
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Home, Florida Nightmare, Hurricane Katrina, UK/US Society Compared, Nudie Cycling…Not! E.A. and Manuals
I’m at a loss for anything to write about today. Deb picked me up this AM and shortly after we got home she left again to do a little shopping. I decided to catch up on some recorded TV but didn’t really fancy much of what there was to watch. In the end I settled on, the documentary about Brits in Florida followed by another documentary this time looking back at Hurricane Katrina on the fifth anniversary of it devastating the city of New Orleans.
The Florida documentary was somewhat misleading because the title implied it concerned those Brits who’s American Dream had become a nightmare whereas, in fact, it was much more 50/50 focusing on as many successes as failures. It did bring home the fact that while the US and the UK “almost” share a common language they are very different societies, very different indeed! Until they hit on bad times I don’t think that the majority of the Brits realised quite what it means to live in a society that espouses, and practices, private health care and self reliance. If you get ill and can’t afford the treatment then TOUGH TITTY matey you’re on your own. Similarly, if you don’t earn your own money you don’t get to spend mine instead. In fact, even if you do earn your own money, but you’re not a US citizen, you can still get your Visa revoked if the US government decide that you don’t earn enough of it! In the US you can soar to incredible (indeed to what some would consider obscene) heights, of wealth and success but the corollary is that you can plunge to depths of hardship that are “supposedly” unknown and unthinkable in the UK. Even if the current coalition government, in the UK, manages to rein in the welfare state to the degree that it would like to the remaining provisions will still offer a far greater safety net to the disadvantaged than the existing system in the US does.
The Katrina documentary (which Nat and I watched together) also brought home these differences in particular how much underlying racism continues to exist in modern America. You couldn’t help but know that if the population of New Orleans, that was most affected by Katrina, had been white then much more and much more rapid help would have come their way. Indeed it was difficult not to get the impression that many white folks, especially rich white property developers, saw this as a heaven sent opportunity to gentrify the Big Easy by losing much of it’s” more ethnic” population. The actual flood footage provided a timely reminder, in view of what’s currently happening in Pakistan, of how incredibly powerful Katrina was; houses with only the very tops of their roofs above the water brought home the sheer extent of the devastation.
Afterward, I went to bed and slept until 6:00 when I woke, washed, ate and cycled to work. Halfway there I turned back for home having realised that while I’d washed and eaten I had in fact forgotten to get dressed. Despite the fact that it appeared that I had grown a perky set of bossoms (see below) and now possessed an anatomically correct lady's front bottom I decided it would probably be best if I returned home and got dressed!
Once I was properly clothed, and my body had returned to normal, I resumed my journey to work. For the first time since I returned I covered EA and manuals. It wasn’t all that hard; apart from learning the new patch codes.
The Florida documentary was somewhat misleading because the title implied it concerned those Brits who’s American Dream had become a nightmare whereas, in fact, it was much more 50/50 focusing on as many successes as failures. It did bring home the fact that while the US and the UK “almost” share a common language they are very different societies, very different indeed! Until they hit on bad times I don’t think that the majority of the Brits realised quite what it means to live in a society that espouses, and practices, private health care and self reliance. If you get ill and can’t afford the treatment then TOUGH TITTY matey you’re on your own. Similarly, if you don’t earn your own money you don’t get to spend mine instead. In fact, even if you do earn your own money, but you’re not a US citizen, you can still get your Visa revoked if the US government decide that you don’t earn enough of it! In the US you can soar to incredible (indeed to what some would consider obscene) heights, of wealth and success but the corollary is that you can plunge to depths of hardship that are “supposedly” unknown and unthinkable in the UK. Even if the current coalition government, in the UK, manages to rein in the welfare state to the degree that it would like to the remaining provisions will still offer a far greater safety net to the disadvantaged than the existing system in the US does.
The Katrina documentary (which Nat and I watched together) also brought home these differences in particular how much underlying racism continues to exist in modern America. You couldn’t help but know that if the population of New Orleans, that was most affected by Katrina, had been white then much more and much more rapid help would have come their way. Indeed it was difficult not to get the impression that many white folks, especially rich white property developers, saw this as a heaven sent opportunity to gentrify the Big Easy by losing much of it’s” more ethnic” population. The actual flood footage provided a timely reminder, in view of what’s currently happening in Pakistan, of how incredibly powerful Katrina was; houses with only the very tops of their roofs above the water brought home the sheer extent of the devastation.
Afterward, I went to bed and slept until 6:00 when I woke, washed, ate and cycled to work. Halfway there I turned back for home having realised that while I’d washed and eaten I had in fact forgotten to get dressed. Despite the fact that it appeared that I had grown a perky set of bossoms (see below) and now possessed an anatomically correct lady's front bottom I decided it would probably be best if I returned home and got dressed!
Saturday, 7 October 2006
Saturday 7 October - It's All Going Swimmingly
Here's a couple of photos I took of Han this morning when she had her swimming lesson at Winstanley College. She used to be very hesitant of the water; when Nat had a birthday party at Saffron Lane Baths a few years ago she adamantly refused to enter the water. Through out the whole time there she clung to granddad who was obliged to sit with her for the whole time at the edge of, but not in, the pool. Everything has changed since we went to Florida. when we stayed in Naples you couldn't keep her out of the pool whenever we were at the hotel. She was jumping in, swimming under water and in alls ways acting part dolphin.
 |
| From 2006-10-07-1634-40 |
 |
| From 2006-10-07-1634-40 |
Saturday 7 October - It's All Going Swimmingly
Here's a couple of photos I took of Han this morning when she had her swimming lesson at Winstanley College. She used to be very hesitant of the water; when Nat had a birthday party at Saffron Lane Baths a few years ago she adamantly refused to enter the water. Through out the whole time there she clung to granddad who was obliged to sit with her for the whole time at the edge of, but not in, the pool. Everything has changed since we went to Florida. when we stayed in Naples you couldn't keep her out of the pool whenever we were at the hotel. She was jumping in, swimming under water and in alls ways acting part dolphin.
|
| From 2006-10-07-1634-40 |
|
| From 2006-10-07-1634-40 |
Monday, 31 July 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)