JESUS HUNT '09:

Ire-/Eng-/Fin-/Deutsch-land

(Plus assorted eastern rebel States: New Jersey and York, Rhode I., Conn., Mass., and Penn.)

START: VANCOUVER / BURNABY

Taking a practice shot of my flat, as if I had a premonition that part of it would soon be partially demolished.

Then spent a few days with Mina O'Brien-Garfinkel the Collie in the foothills of Burnaby Mountain. We experimented with scent-photos, where she would locate an interesting scent, and I would photograph it, which yielded less than compelling images. Here's our shadows, and our walking route, and Mina looking out on the Production Way skytrain station, and some “artistic” shots of Mina taking a close look at the camera.

But we didn't find any Jesuses there, so I flew to...

PART ONE: LONDON, UK

...where I wandered a bit and spent the night in the Pavilion Rock and Roll Elvis Fashion Glamour Hotel, which is as fabulous as its name suggests, except the room they put me in, the bathroom of which is actually the hallway between the kitchen and the garden courtyard. Odd dreams that night. Early wakeup to take the train to...

PART TWO: CAMBRIDGE, UK

Mr Marriott met me at the station, and then Prof Craig drove us to his estate on the edge of town, perfectly located close enough to the country to see foxes and rabbits (allegedly) but close enough to town to be walkable.

Prof. Craig insulted my camera so all pictures of him turned out blurry, at best.

Prof. Craig and Mr. Marriott at the Craig Estate.

Prof. Craig in front of his old office in the Cambridge Library, which isn't lit very well but has many books. Note the writing flipped left to right, typical of Cambridgeshire, probably related to the tradition of driving on the wrong side of the road.

Back in Vancouver, the apartment-sitting Mr Farrelly emailed about a kitchen flood, which actually was less alarming than some of his other emails, like “the King sent for his wife, and stripped off her clothes and abused her, changed into a mysterious lizard,” which mostly turned out to be Chinese translations he was working on.

Jesus-related stained glass from Jesus college, which turned out very well indeed, despite Prof. Craig's doubts

PART THREE: OXFORD

Bus with Mr Marriott to his new home university of Oxford, which is older than SFU. He gives me a tour and gifts me with a tie so I can attend the formal dinner.

Saw the fabulous Cnslr. Bayes but didn't have my camera with me, so can't prove it.

Below right, bustling Oxford, where I was (left) attacked by a demonic goat.

[Correction: The goat is now believed to be a statue of a bull in front of the Said School of Business]

PART FOUR: WARWICK

Saw Mr Geraghty, who kindly drove me to the B'ham airport! Again, no picture, so can't prove this.

PART FIVE: BELFAST

The cabdriver made me repeat the name of the street I wanted to go to. My host, Dr. Redden, later explained that it was not mis-hearing but dis-belief that a nice foreign tourist would go to the worst neighbourhood in Belfast. Here's the view of Dr. Redden's backyard. Note the barbed wire.

Briefly got to meet Dr. R's v. cool next door neighbour, before he did his cool/scary protest:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8114340.stm

http://www.halogenlife.com/articles/2651-miss-trials-criminal-law-in-northern-ireland-up-close-and-personal

PART SIX: DONEGAL!

Here's our cottage and its front yard.

Here's a picture of Dr Redden taking a picture of rugged landscape, with the picture he took below. Note how his choice of camera forces him to sacrifice “artistry” for something called “quality.”

and some more from Dr. Redden, including...

a possible site for my Boxer Farm and Poetry Rodeo

and Mt Errigal, which is a cousin of Mt Garibaldi in British Columbia.

And the weather turning against us, and the night coming, made for fun driving

Luckily our cottage had no heating, which gave Dr Redden a chance to go pyro. I had never seen a historian who so enjoys playing with fire, but this was still early in the trip.

PART SIX: BELFAST

Lest anyone think I did no work in Ireland, here's a picture of an exact outline (i.e. the correct size) of the foot of Jesus's mother. There were a lot of Marys in Ireland, which did not make the Jesuit missionaries or Protestant reformers very happy. One accused the locals of believing that Jesus's giant foreskin turned invisible and then bounced around Europe at night.

PART SEVEN: OTHER PLACES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

PART EIGHT: BELFAST YET AGAIN

PART NINE: BAVARIA, to hang out with Fraulein Meyer!

How much is that handgun in the window? The US Free-Time shop.

The least vegetarian-looking vegetarian restaurant in the world

PART TEN: LONDON!

PART ELEVEN: FINLAND: HELSINKI AND TURKU

Pictures of Padre Nino taking pictures of photoworthy sites.

The factory in the background has numbers on the smokestack. Why?

PART TWELVE: LAKE DISTRICT!

Outside of our cottage YATTUS

Dr Guyatt wins a shortlived victory in the war over who gets to operate the bellows.

Prof. Craig's rendition of John Stump's "Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz.”

In the Lake District were some hiking experiences, which some lines from Hopkins (swapping “tennis shoes” for “boots”) serves to describe:

Forward falling, forehead frowning, lips crisp

Over fingerteasing task, his twiny tennis shoes

Fast he opens, last he off wrings

Till walk the world he can with bare his feet...

And with heavenfallen freshness down from moorland still brims,

Dark or daylight, on and on. Here he will then, here he will the fleet

Flinty kindcold element let break across his limbs

Long.

But by that time I could use some less idyllic civilization, so I fled...

PART THIRTEEN: BACK TO LONDON

Met up with Mr Jackson (left) at the School for Oriental and African Studies (right). I wish the partial fake moustache was made out of a misplaced hair, but it turned out to be just a scratch on the film.

and went to see the Oxford/Cambridge boat-thing race, one of which appeared to have won...

PART FOURTEEN: BACK TO VANCOUVER, plus more trips to San Diego and Ann Arbor and Chicago, where I saw lots and lots of fabulous people but forgot my camera entirely...

PART FIFTEEN: NEW YORK / BOSTON / SALEM / LANCASTER COUNTY (pics courtesy Dr Redden)

Nice to get back into the countryside....