The Wedding at the Big House on the Hill

Rebecca and Bert's weddinging was held at ‘The House on The Hill’ just outside Austin. The house itself, a lodge with a big old porch that looked out into the valley below. There are guest houses, a swimming pool and a dance floor with a slanted roof. We arrive to see tables laid out on a gentle slope: leading to a jagged limestone waterfall where the ceremony is to take place. There is time for me to meet some of the family and friends before we take our seats, ready for the bride and groom to come out. Its about 6:30pm, weddings in Texas often take place later in the day to avoid the heat.

The pale yellow sun could only peek through the trees that surround us, it stayed in the sky long enough for their vows to be made then falls away behind the hills. The trees themselves are covered in lights and lanterns, with candles laid where the bride thinks best. The breeze plays in the branches overhead and although it is so quiet, it feels like there is something wild here.

The married couple run up the slope and the bridesmaids and best men compete in the traditional ‘who can do the silliest dance up the aisle’ dance. We eat our meal and listen to their friends tell stories of how they met and wishing them well. The lanterns above the dance floor are curious iron stars and planets, you could loose yourself for a moment just looking at them. In the music that follows, while we sit, I hear Snow Patrols’ ‘Chocolate’. It reminds me of driving round visiting people and I think of home for the first time this week.

After the bride and groom’s first dance everyone wants to get on the floor and even the young-uns are getting involved in a strange and sexy, booty grindy kind of Line dancing. A couple of girls try to teach me, but the Englishman shames his country big time. I give up pretty quickly trying to learn the steps, conscious that I look as clumsy and dangerous as Arnold Schwazenegger trying to stop a 20 dollar note blow away. (and Yes I just Googled the spelling of that man's name). Lucky for me any attention I may have had is quickly diverted to the groom. Bert has grabbed a microphone and is rapping to ‘Ice Ice Baby’ reliving the glory day of a 5th Grade Talent competition I am reliably informed. 

We go inside for the traditional cutting of the cake and I am pleased to see that there are two. One is a geometrically warped, two tiered work of art. The other an equally ‘art like’ Oil Rig with chocolate oil. As the perfect guest I feel obliged to eat both as surely doing this will afford the happy couple more luck for the future! The groom is no where to be seen, so Rebecca decides to do a little dance and looking so lovely in her dress it is enough to keep her ravenous cake-thirsty guests at bay. When they come together to cut the wedding cake I am surprised how silent the room is, nowadays everyone can take pictures of these special occasions on their mobile phones. 

I am made to feel so welcome by family and especially the young guys and girls. I’m guessing it’s not just that I’m the ‘stranger in town’ but my accent which is a novelty. There’s a group of about 12 of us who stay up late drinking and joking around, We enjoy talking about travelling and culture and the exchanging of new Cool words and Bad Swears. I make some great new pals, I do a lot of shots but I don’t do a Keg stand. I’m happy guzzling a few beers but not with a couple of guys holding me upside down – no way! The bridesmaids go get changed into their jim-jams and their husbands go to pass out somewhere in the dark. There’s a few of us that stay up till morning, I maybe grab a half hour snooze on the porch, listening to the birds and the water feature.... and the gurgling of the swimming pool filter as it chews up the candles that were lovingly laid there the night before. 

Rebecca and Bert wanted a very simple but very special ceremony. They wanted everyone to party and have a good time. I’m on my way home feeling jaded – imagine if I had met a funny girl and when everyone had gone to sleep or were playing Beer Ping Pong, we snuck off to chat. With the dance floor to ourselves she could have tried to teach me the two-step and I would have shown her some Swing moves. Kissing someone special and opening my eyes to discover the sun had come up. If that was real, it would have been a good memory to take home with me. 

 

Austin Texas

The drive from Houston to Austin only takes about 3 hours, even if you take the back roads through the Ranch lands. People say it’s been a dry winter, but then Texas is notoriously dry. The grass has burnt away in places and many of the trees are bare. They are withered, grey, skeletal with white branches. Its probably a 60:40 split with some trees already covered in greenery. Bluebells are starting to spring up on the roadside and every so often I see a small tree with striking purple follage. An expert will tell you soon there will be Texan wildflower of all colours. I feel a silent promise that this place will grow lush soon, despite being scarred by the  constant sun.

Cara and Richie say we need to stop off at Joel’s BBQ for some amazing steak and pickle sandwiches. Cara tells me this is a family tradition. Just before we get to Austin we drive through an area of woodland completely ravaged by a fire not long ago. Several firefighters died trying to bring it under control, I’m told the smoke and ash that drifted into the city was so intense that the public were advised to stay in their homes. Everything is still, peaceful in the absence of any breeze. Even the Colorado River looks surprisingly calm to this tourist.

Austin is considered to be the most diverse or ‘weird’ city in Texas attracting people of all kinds. Some of the skyscrapers are innovative, the most impressive is the Frost Building whose roof was designed to look like an owl. There are some cool things to do here, I get some great shots of the Capital building and a friend takes me to Austin Comic Books to appease my inner Geek. We look round the Bullock Museum where I learn about the history of Texas; known as the Lone Star state as it was once a Republic, seperate to the United states. We walk past the Alamo Draft House, an old picture theatre where you can watch a film and have a sit down meal at the same time.

It’s Spring Break and Austin is playing host to the annual South by Southwest Music festival (SXSW). Bands flock in from everywhere, globally, just to get involved. There are people singing and playing in what seems to be every bar, like a thousand heartbeats resonating through the city. The first event we visit is a stage set up in a T shaped alley behind some stores and a restaurant. We can buy cheap beer and listen to a couple of bands, this is ‘typically American’ the crowd say.

There are huge events going on with big artists playing. Friday night brings Green Day and Justin Timberlake to town. The atmosphere is great, SXSW has got so big over the past couple of years. ‘Dirty’ 6^th Street is packed full of people and we see some good up and coming bands in one of the bars. For those who are inquisitive and step out the back there is a smaller stage with more of a soul feel. We accidentally find Eric Burdon from The Animals, a big name from the 60s. To me House of the Rising Sun never sounded better then through his matured and slightly gravelly voice.

To end the night we go to the bar at The Four Seasons Hotel, to try and spot famous people. No such luck I’m afraid, but it would have topped the night. I’ve been told by new friends how they have gone out in Austin and find, after paying just $10, Chris Martin from Coldplay has come to do a secret set or maybe Linken Park. My story hasn’t got that enigmatic punch line, but good music is ‘good music’ and I have a really great time!       

NASA - Houston TX

Monday 9:30am, I’m standing in line at Heathrow and I’m looking nervous. I mean I don't look 'Terrorist nervous' surely… I should have shaved this weekend. Its just the case I have never been to Heathrow before and this is my first visit to the USA. Confused about where to go, have I done my Visa right? Have I forgotten something? I’m clenching onto my passport and travel documents like a helium balloon, I’m smiling at everyone but I think its just making everyone feel uncomfortable.

Don’t get me wrong, I love flying! As a teenager I was a cadet and lucky enough to fly in several RAF aircraft. A few years back I clocked up about 12 hours in a Cessna and I still remember the feel of the controls, learning to take off and land. I was also lucky enough to fly at night over my home town. Going through the cloud level the sky and the Earth looks completely different and I’m excited, tomorrow I will be visiting the Johnston Space Centre where NASA develops new technologies and trains its astronauts. I know many of its early test pilots were flyers in the Navy. Once you know the principles of flight and the basics to propulsion you may find that flying feels completely safe and natural. As we hit a pocket of turbulence the plane dips, I do my sexy voice and nervously giggle but luckily no one hears.

NASA in Houston is huge, it employees over 1400 staff. The look of it is just a host of commercial buildings, the streets have real names, from the outside nothing of interest. Except for the huge cylinders (about 25m by 10m) with warnings that they contain nitrogen and helium. The visiting centre has a range of exhibits and lots of games for the kids, but I’m looking after my friend's niece and nephew so its ok for me to play.

The main Astronaut Training Suite is as long as a football field. From the walkway above it is again filled with huge cylinders. But these are mock ups of the space station, where the crew can learn the feel of the controls and run simulations before their mission starts. There are space buggies laid out and a strange climbing frame structure that is used to simulate zero gravity. The lady conducting the tour also points out the Robonauts, robots that are being developed to take the pressure away from humans, by fulfilling dangerous or repetitive tasks. Their gold heads look like something from 70s SciFi and as someone points out to me some look a little like Boba Fett.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a joint scientific venture, combining resources and tech from the worlds leading space authorities. Its goals are far broader then I realised. A big factor in exploration being possible for humans is understanding how our bodies will be effected by long journeys in space. We learn about what life is like, how they exercise. The research into why people's vision deteriorates quicker when they are in Space for long periods of time. There are experiments being conducted into diseases, in conditions that could not be replicated on earth. The station itself acts as a viewing platform, not just to help us understand our planet as I assumed, but also to see the effects of natural disasters in real time and relay this information to those managing ground responses.

We see some rockets from the early days of NASA and the tour concludes with a look at the Saturn V rocket, all three sections laid out horizontally. It is spectacularly large and I have to take pictures of it in stages as we walk around it. Everything looks so Retro and I like reading about Gemini7 pilots Borman and Lovell who were the first to rendezvous with another craft in space. As interesting as the tales of the moon landings are, more so the engineering that went into developing a module that could operate in the moon's 1/6th gravity or no gravity at all. In getting those people safely home. Things have not always gone right, the staff of NASA wore black arm bands for a whole year after the fire that killed the crew of Apollo1 on the lunch pad. There have been a number of deaths that I have read about. Hundreds of people have been involved in finding out what went wrong and its sad to think of those who died having getting so close to fulfilling their dreams.

The day before, on the plane I remembered something very special. Those moments when you are a kid and you are sitting in the park or the beach and you look at the sun. Grown ups tell you its dangerous but if you just look for a few seconds you can see the curves of this tiny ball of flame. You learn as you get older it is actually a hundred times bigger then Earth and about a hundred million miles away. Scientific discoveries, pictures, data: we now have a better understanding of how beautiful and fierce our universe really is. We all come from the same place but there are men and women who have the passion, drive, knowledge and skill to be chosen as astronauts. They probably stared at the sun too. I admire the bravery of those who reach out into the sky as far as they can and grab whatever experiences they can find.