I'm in the middle of another mini-adventure. My Friday evening and Sunday morning students had both cancelled (perhaps I'm losing my touch!) so I decided, on the spur of the moment, to visit Wrocław in Silesia in South West Poland. Here are a few of the photos I took to commemorate the visit, together with some words plagiarized from the "Wrocław in your pocket" guide to the city.
I set off bright and early from my flat in Młociny so that I could be sure of catching the 8.15 Pendolino (Inter-City Premium) from Warsaw Centralnaya. The journey took 3 hours and 43 minutes and it was pleasant to watch the countryside whizzing by - or perhaps the train was whizzing by and the countryside not moving at all. The train pulled in exactly on schedule at 11.56 and, joy of joys, there was a McDonalds in the station for a spot of lunch.
The hotel I had picked was the 5* Platinum Palace, all very different from my hotel in Antalya a month or so ago. I arrived a little bit early so was forced to drink a quick beer while they prepared the room for me. Then it was off into town for some exploring. I had a quick wander around the old town and stopped to sit and listen to an outdoor concert by some kind of "oompah" band. All very pleasant. If they hadn't been singing in Polish I might have thought I was somewhere in Bavaria.
Part II tomorrow - I can hear dinner calling.......
For my students learning English, let me explain the title. To have your head in the clouds means to be out of touch with reality, or daydreaming. I feel like that sometimes. I'm sure we all do. (Don't we?)
This morning I want to briefly extol the virtues of cloud computing, show you two pictures of clouds that took my fancy and attach a video clip of the Rolling Stones singing "Get off of my cloud". It is from 1967 and the pedants among you will realize it should be "get off my cloud" rather than "get off of". Artistic licence.
Cloud computing - a "fairly" recent technology that allows your work and files to be located "somewhere out there". Dropbox is a fine example, as is Microsoft's OneDrive. The great advantage of storing your files "in the cloud" is that you can access them wherever you are and on whichever device you have with you - laptop, tablet or mobile. The memory stick has almost gone the way of floppy discs, VHS or Beta-Max video. Not always easy keeping up with the latest technology but worth doing. Sometimes I wonder how I ever managed before "the cloud".
Here are two pictures of clouds. The first one was taken from the balcony of my flat this morning just as dawn was breaking. I know the old adage goes "....., red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning" but it was beautiful anyway. The second was through the window of my Ryanair flight back to Warsaw last Saturday. Like flying over cotton wool.
There seems to be a dearth of students at the moment. If anybody knows anybody who wants to learn English - either face-to-face or over Skype - then please point them my way. TIA (SMS/text speak for thanks in advance)
Having taken part, as a runner, in two runs this year - one in Warsaw and one in Ramsey - I felt it was time for me to put something back into the community so I volunteered to help out (despite the warnings of my old troop sergeant a million years ago never to volunteer for anything).
I was given a bit of a tricky job. It was a relay race with teams of five people each running 3.84 km. I was at the handover point funnelling people who had finished their leg of the race towards the finish area. In theory an easy job and at the beginning so it proved: everybody that had been round once had a /1 on the end of their race number. They handed over their baton to the next person in their team (who wasn't always where they were expected to be so there was a bit of milling around). My job was to keep a path clear for the fresh runners as they went whizzing by. It was OK in the beginning: /1 to the right (they looked knackered and had no baton) and /2 to the left (looking fresh and baton in hand) and don't get caught in their slipstream. After a couple of laps with some faster teams overtaking the slower ones it was no longer possible just to tell by the number on the shirt. For instance /3 and /4 runners were coming in to finish as /2 and /3 runners were just starting out. And on the last lap it was no longer possible to filter to the left those who had a baton in their hand as /5 people could be either finishing and keeping their baton until the end or perhaps just starting. Still, I think I made a reasonable fist of it. I was standing, as a mobile funneller, for just over 2 hours so was ready to hand in my badge at the end and go for a sit down and make a start on my free rat pack.
There were thousands of people taking part, and hundreds of volunteers - as you will see from one of the photos. In conclusion, the event went well and the organisers are to be commended. I turned up at 7 a.m. as requested and, after registering, was dismissed until 9 so sloped off for a second breakfast at the first McD I found open that early on a Sunday morning. Walking around central Warsaw so early in the morning I was quite surprised by the number of people on the street. Here are a couple of photos. From the number of people wearing "media" badges and "getting in the way" I would guess the race will be on Polish TV and in all the local and national papers.
This building is the subject of much debate in Warsaw. It was a gift from the people of Russia back in Communist days.
Many people want to demolish it. Many want to leave it standing as a poignant reminder. Much like the monument to the first Duke of Sutherland on the top of the hill behind Golspie.
A tented city. For a moment I thought I was back in Umm Qasr - but that's another story for another time.
Sorry there's been no blog for a while. I've had my webmaster hat on. It comes down over my eyes so that I can't see anything else that is going on....
What everybody thinks I do....
....sit around eating ice cream
all day and living the life of Reilly.
What I actually do....
.. help young ladies (and men)
improve their English skills
And sometimes this...
I'm in the process of re-skilling.
...Meet WebmasterDes (watch this space)
And sometimes translations....
.. can't
admit to all those languages of course but in many instances “I
know a man (or woman) who can"
I'm in Berlin Tegel airport waiting for my connecting flight to Warsaw. The holiday is at an end and it's back to work tomorrow. In the meantime I've drunk all the gin* in the lounge here and have had to switch to beer. (If I switched to another spirit there's every danger I might miss my flight). I enjoyed my time in Turkey despite the shortcomings of the hotel. I sometimes wonder how much our upbringing and experience of life in general shapes our expectations when we visit new places. I think we come to expect a certain standard but, naturally enough, different countries have different standards. Because I've been lucky enough to spend some time in 4 and 5 star hotels have I now come to expect a similar standard of service wherever I go? Or am I just being a Grumpy Old Man? When the time comes to write a review of the Kristal Beach hotel in Arapsuyu, near Antalya I shall enjoy helping to drag their average score down. A few petty grievances while I'm waiting for my flight. By all means comment and tell me I'm expecting too much. No coat hangers in the wardrobe and the safe in the room wasn't working - probably because it needed a new battery. When I went down to report these issues the man behind the reception desk just said no to both requests, suggesting I wasn't paying enough for that kind of service! I would accept that argument if I had played some part in negotiating a reduced rate but actually I just accepted the best rate offered on Trivago. The room was on the 7th floor and the single lift was for guests and staff. It wasn't enough. Many "long" waits ensued. As a money-saving measure lighting in the corridors and toilets had been specially adapted to turn itself off after 3 microseconds. Picture two scenarios if you will: 1) standing in the corridor waiting "interminably" for a lift and waving your arms like a madman every few seconds. 2) standing in the toilet "doing the business" and having to wave every few seconds, thereby losing control of the operation in hand. What fun. Below is a picture of one of the cracks in the room. Normal "settling" or Jerry building? On day two there was a large hole in a corridor wall exposing some taps and pipework. It was repaired after a day of having to step around the mess. Internet on floor 7 came and went, seemingly at random. Much like the hot water really. Anyway, enough moaning. A word or two about Turkish people. I think all those I met were kind and helpful although occasionally I must confess I'm not sure if they were trying to start a friendship in order to a) sell me a carpet or b) introduce me to their sister. Particular praise to Omar the waiter who had obviously learnt the lesson that the friendlier you are with the guests the better a tip you are likely to get at the end of the week. His efforts were duly rewarded. (I suggested to him that the 2.30 at Ascot would romp home!). Would I go back? Yes to Turkey, yes to Antalya, no to the Kristal Beach hotel. I think next time I will try to find somewhere where there isn't Turkish music being played. Not my favourite I must confess.
A low-hanging pomegranate tree
Before you ask, no I didn't avail myself.
*there was only enough gin left in the bottle for one drink!
I'm in Antalya in Southern Turkey. The temperature is 3 times what it was in Scotland last week. Here is the view of the Mediterranean from the hotel balcony. Marvellous. Not that I plan to be in it very often as I'm not a great fan of swimming but it's nice to look at and run along the beach.
I award the hotel -3 stars for a variety of reasons. Perhaps I'll expand on that in another blog but this morning I must get out and soak up the sun. First though a few photos from Istanbul where I spent Tuesday (flying in on Monday and out on Wednesday). I did the usual touristy stuff by visiting the Blue Mosque, taking a boat trip on the Bosphorus and having fish for lunch in one of the myriad restaurants situated under the Galata bridge (which spans the Golden Horn).
"Galata Bridge From Tower" by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen"
the spice of life (in big piles)
the open-deck tourist bus seems to be in every big city in the world.
I'm in Golspie on the North East coast of Scotland, in the county of Sutherland. It is 12 degrees Celsius, despite being the middle of Summer. What can I say, apart from Brrrr! On the way here I stopped off in Yorkshire for a mini-holiday entitled "Yorkshire by Steam". I first visited Yorkshire in 1967 and stayed there for two years at the Army Apprentices College at Penny Pot Lane, just outside Harrogate. In my formative years! Yorkshire is one of the larger English counties and is, or at least was, divided into three administrative regions called Ridings (West, North and East). I stayed in the Old Swan hotel in Harrogate. Its claim to fame, apart from now having hosted Des Buckley, was that Agatha Christie stayed (hid) there for 10 days in 1926. The holiday included visits to York, to Whitby, and to the Bronte sisters' family home in Haworth. Here are a few photographs taken to mark the occasion.
Flowers at Harrogate railway station. A well-kept station.
Our tour guide holding forth on the history of York. He also introduced us to the word "snickelway"
York minster. A minster is not the same thing as a cathedral, although York Minster is a cathedral as well as a minster. A minster is a church that was established during Anglo-Saxon times as a missionary teaching church, or a church attached to a monastery. A cathedral is the seat of a bishop (his seat, or throne, is called a cathedra). Maintenance and restoration of the minster is a never-ending task. It is built from a magnesian limestone and this type of stone only lasts a few hundred years before it has to be replaced. There was a static display with stone masons working on replacements. They are all hand-crafted.
A form of medieval punishment. The guilty person had their hands and head locked in position through the holes and the public was invited to throw rotting fruit and veg at them. This apparatus is called a pillory. Stocks are similar but are used for fastening the feet.
Whitby and its abbey
fishing nets or creels
I'm reminded of the pier at Sopot 2 weeks ago, although admission to this one is free!
The "raging" sea, off Whitby on Saturday
Halfway through the last century steam trains began to die out as faster, and cheaper, diesel trains came on-line (pun intended). Now however steam trains are enjoying a revival and there are many small branch lines in UK where enthusiastic volunteers have repaired/rebuilt/re-engineered steam locomotives and rolling stock. These non-British Rail lines are known as heritage railways and are hugely popular with holidaymakers - including me. Two video clips to finish. One, a reading of the night mail train, a poem by W H Auden, and the other a song called "Young Girl" from Gary Pucket and the Union Gap. It was playing in night clubs in Harrogate in the late 60s and I remember it fondly.
