Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote (it was the middle of February!). Let me assure my loyal reader that I'm still alive and kicking. Actually, I'm alive and sweating at the moment - just back from a run/walk along the promenade. Possibly a mistake to do it in the hottest part of the day but when did I ever listen to sound advice?
Two years ago today (30th June 2017) I landed in Barcelona to turn the page on this latest chapter of my life. You can't believe how much nicer to have my own little flat than to be paying rent every month to landlords/landladies as I was doing in Moscow & Warsaw. There the pressure was on to make enough money to pay the rent. Now I don't need to work as hard as there is no rent to pay. There is, of course, a management charge to the property administrators and a yearly tax to the Spanish government but they're not to the same scale as the rent was. I still like to teach though as I enjoy the buzz you get at the end of a successful lesson.
So how do I spend my days when I'm not teaching? I always try to take bite-sized chunks every day from three of my 'elephant tasks' (tasks, not tusks) and a then a couple of easy-win 'taskettes'. What are my elephant tasks? Learning Spanish, keeping fit, and some kind of I.T. - all with the aim of keeping body and mind active.
Learning Spanish. Not easy, at my time of life, to be learning a new foreign language. It seems to me that the reason we have two ears is that whenever a new Spanish word goes in one ear a Russian one drops out of the other. I recently paid for a self-study course and having paid good money for it I am now motivated to keep going.
Keeping fit.In the Summer I like to run/walk along the promenade or go to the local municipal gym. I try for, and usually achieve, a minimum of 6,000 steps on my super-duper Samsung smart watch but I also try not to be paranoid about it.
I.T. Just started to design and populate a new Microsoft Access database to help with the Spanish; a container, if you like, for vocabulary and grammar rules and exceptions. From time to time I also undertake webmaster-type maintenance on my website www.inter-bridge.biz
It's been my experience that once you start talking programming 'stuff' to non-programming people they quickly lose all interest. So it's probably best to stop before you're bored rigid.
Can't finish though without including, for posterity, the picture of me and Mo at a Fathers and Daughters dinner at the RAF Club in Picadilly the Monday before last.
Apropos of nothing, except that I like the music, here are 2 video clips of Peter Sarstedt singing. 'Frozen Orange Juice' and 'Where do you go to my lovely', both, I think from the 60s - the Golden age of music?
Two years ago today (30th June 2017) I landed in Barcelona to turn the page on this latest chapter of my life. You can't believe how much nicer to have my own little flat than to be paying rent every month to landlords/landladies as I was doing in Moscow & Warsaw. There the pressure was on to make enough money to pay the rent. Now I don't need to work as hard as there is no rent to pay. There is, of course, a management charge to the property administrators and a yearly tax to the Spanish government but they're not to the same scale as the rent was. I still like to teach though as I enjoy the buzz you get at the end of a successful lesson.
So how do I spend my days when I'm not teaching? I always try to take bite-sized chunks every day from three of my 'elephant tasks' (tasks, not tusks) and a then a couple of easy-win 'taskettes'. What are my elephant tasks? Learning Spanish, keeping fit, and some kind of I.T. - all with the aim of keeping body and mind active.
Learning Spanish. Not easy, at my time of life, to be learning a new foreign language. It seems to me that the reason we have two ears is that whenever a new Spanish word goes in one ear a Russian one drops out of the other. I recently paid for a self-study course and having paid good money for it I am now motivated to keep going.
Keeping fit.In the Summer I like to run/walk along the promenade or go to the local municipal gym. I try for, and usually achieve, a minimum of 6,000 steps on my super-duper Samsung smart watch but I also try not to be paranoid about it.
I.T. Just started to design and populate a new Microsoft Access database to help with the Spanish; a container, if you like, for vocabulary and grammar rules and exceptions. From time to time I also undertake webmaster-type maintenance on my website www.inter-bridge.biz
It's been my experience that once you start talking programming 'stuff' to non-programming people they quickly lose all interest. So it's probably best to stop before you're bored rigid.
Can't finish though without including, for posterity, the picture of me and Mo at a Fathers and Daughters dinner at the RAF Club in Picadilly the Monday before last.
Apropos of nothing, except that I like the music, here are 2 video clips of Peter Sarstedt singing. 'Frozen Orange Juice' and 'Where do you go to my lovely', both, I think from the 60s - the Golden age of music?
