The May 11 meeting will meet at the library at 3 p.m., if you were not able to make the April picnic. The picnic went swimmingly – great weather, great company, good food – thanks to Christina for organising it!

Meetings are held at 3pm at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. The meeting ends at 5 p.m. If you would like to continue travel talk on a more informal basis, we plan to adjourn to the Hoity-Toit, a local New Braunfels establishment.

If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

6th April Kevin Morgan kicked off with a wonderful slide show of dolphins, whales and other marine and bird life ranging from Antarctica to the Bahamas! We all left feeling wiser and almost confident of being able to distinguish bottle nosed dolphins from spinners! His slides finished with an evocative tape of the sounds made by whales.

After the break, Cass Gilbert showed us some fabulous pictures of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan (and other places ending in “stan” that the beetle cannot spell!) Amazingly, he completed this incredible journey by tandem, through parts of the old Silk Route, past ancient cities, churches, mosques, and markets, occasionally, with his female tandem partner cycling in veil and long trousers, much to the bemusement of many locals.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, except that due to public holidays, May’s meeting will be on Saturday 11th May at 2.30pm. June’s meeting will be held at 2.30pm on June 8th.

For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: http://www.globetrotters.co.uk

On Mardi Gras in good old Carnival style some 800 identically dressed men go to the streets of Binche in south Belgium to fight for their freedom from feudalism like they used to some 400 years ago. In colourful uniforms with padded bellies and hunchbacks individual Gilles walk chaotically up and down the town stamping their clogs rhythmically to the sound of their personal drummers to pick up some fellow Gilles from their homes. After a while small groups of them form and along with their personal drummers trot their clogs on the cobblestones from one drinking establishment to another.

There doesn’t seem to be any age restrictions so they start from the clog wearing age to wheelchair ones capable to stamp their feet. Although there seems to be some distinctions in the ranks. Novice Gilles get up early in the morning and wearing identical masks march straight on the Town Hall. “Approved” ones are allowed to trot through all the bars and tavernas till the early afternoon when the real battle starts.

Clans of Gilles turn to the streets with long baskets full of blood oranges to start defending themselves. Crowds of friends and relatives follow them with massive sacks of ammunition. It is not clear why oranges have been originally used as offensive weapon or how XVI century paysans managed to import some 6 tonnes of them from Sicily. Nevertheless they start marching through the centre of the town throwing them more or less violently into the crowd. Oranges get squashed, splatted, caught, eaten or collected for later. Interim result is that most people look like Sissy Spacek in Carrie horror movie. Ambulances get busy and the battle goes on for a coupe of hours till even the senior Gilles wearing some 2 meter hats of ostrich feathers get to conquer the Town Hall.

Slight drawback is that the locals keep spraying some sticky foam all over people and with complete lack of public conveniences there is little one can do to clean it off. Also serving good old Belgian beer traditionally in relevant glasses and in large quantities leaves the cobblestones scattered with broken glass and mainly blood from oranges running down the streets.

My score was: caught two oranges, got badly hit by one on the forehead, was handed one while licking off my face after the first hit and apart from two badly dislocated fingers I really enjoyed the event.

Take a look at Krys’ web site: www.krystyna.com/Gilles.html

In the 15th Century, Dick Whittington, who was the Lord Mayor of London at the time, designated this site as an official food market and it has been serving the people of London ever since. Archaeologists say that the site is on what was once a Roman Forum.

It even gets a mention in Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby, as a place to buy new laid eggs.

The market's name was taken from a fourteenth century mansion with a lead roof. Traders from outside London were first allowed to sell their poultry here, then in 1377 cheese and butter. The City Corporation bought the house and estate in 1411, and in 1445 the newly built granary became a general market for poultry, victuals, grain, eggs, butter, cheese etc. The market and the mansion were both burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666 and the market was rebuilt round three large courtyards. The first yard was mainly a beef market, but it also sold leather, wool and raw hides on certain days. The second yard sold veal, mutton and lamb; but fishmongers, poulterers and cheesemongers had stalls here too. The third yard was a herb market selling fruit and vegetables.

Today, with its iron and glass architecture, an excellent example of Victoriana, Leadenhall has been the location for many a film, much to the bemusement of many a city slicker as this market is in Gracechurch St, close to Lloyds of London, in the heart of the City, London’s financial district. Today's market has high quality butchers and fishmongers, greengrocers, chocolate shops and bars, with high prices perhaps to reflect its location.

The market is open Monday-Friday daytime, some shops and bars remain open into the evening. The nearest tube is probably Bank, but others close by include Liverpool St, Aldgate and Tower Hill.

Next month: Petticoat Lane

Founded in 1982, Conservation Volunteers Australia is a national, non-profit and non-political organisation. CVA completes essential conservation projects, which could not be tackled without active community participation. The projects are as distant, diverse and unique as the Australian continent itself – for example, radio-tracking echidnas on Kangaroo Island; malleefowl surveys in Victoria’s Little Desert; construction of the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory; landcare projects in Tasmania and koala surveys in Queensland.

Conservation Volunteers Australia welcomes everybody with a love of the outdoors and interest in the environment to take part as a volunteer. Our volunteers come from all over the world, including Korea, Denmark, Japan, Britain, Canada, USA and Germany. If you are looking for an opportunity to:

· visit some amazing locations,

· meet a broad range of people,

· learn about the Australian environment, and

· volunteer overseas

then volunteering with Conservation Volunteers Australia and having a Conservation Experience is for you. The Conservation Experience is a six-week program especially designed for overseas visitors to Australia. It is the perfect way to visit some of Australia’s special places. The cost of AUD $966.00 (just AUD $23 per day – around £8.20) includes all meals, accommodation and project-related transport. You can join the Conservation Experience on any Friday (subject to vacancies), from any of CVA’s office around Australia. For further details, visit our website at www.conservationvolunteers.com.au or email info@conservationvolunteers.com.au or write to Conservation Volunteers Australia, Box 423, Ballarat Vic 3353