Been a long time since

Well well here we are with a post, not a comment, not a message, not a text!

Have not been here for a long time, was it the inability to get a attribution to stick on a photo, was it getting sick of trying to not lose a link or was it just that real life had begun?

Dunno….anyway the new thing in my life is Bebo. I wanted to catch up with on ex  student in LAX who has a Bebo account, well before you could say “jack robinson” a number of current and ex students had made me their friends. Very flattering I am sure. But it is a real way apart from texting of getting at the students. I have told them that I feel like “perving” but the concept of privacy just does not appear to be part of their lives.

Again, I fail to understand the full range, again no photo but one has appeared courtesy of an ex student.

Hillary thought that I should “post”this as you might be interested.

Lets see if I can do the next step.  Cheers to all.

Kevin

Link Practise

This is a practise effort

A Link Lesson

Here is a link to my bloglines

DUBAI-random impressions

The main purpose of this blog is to follow implicitly, instructions from Leigh on how to attribute photos. He, Leigh, acknowledges that it does sound complicated but that is like changing gears on a car and it will become second nature!     Well we shall see. Firstly a little story then the real work. 

Dubai, powerhouse of the Middle East, also I feel, the blowhole.

Impressions:

Budget hotels do not really train staff very well, still a little hit and miss in the Reception and restaurant areas.  Funny feeling to order a quick meal of hamburgers so that you can eat fast, get out and get to bed.  Two hours later, you stagger out after having a heated discussion with the staff and management! Everyone who had been in that restaurant when you entered long gone, others who came in after you had also gone. As a sop, all sorts of things promised for an early breakfast the next morning. Upshot of that was, 2 breakfasts, one room service, the other being asked to come to the dining room where all was prepared.

Shopping was done under the aegis of a friend, no malls for her. She went to back room boys. Locked doors, label rip offs all the way, you wanna a brand, we gotta what you want. You buy what you want, we discuss overall price at the end!!  Our friend is used to this, we just sat open mouthed. Then there was the big barn of a warehouse,dark narrow alleyways with father, son, brother, cousins, neighbours all following, all offering, all smiles.

Again, we will discuss price when you have finished selecting. We have a drawer at home full of stuff which do not look as good back in Dunedin.

Weather. It is wrong to assume because a country is situated in the Middle East that it is warm all the time. Those poor kids round the pool at the resort Hotel. Wrapped in towels to try to keep warm. The night we went for dinner on a hotel terrace overlooking the Arabian Sea, well it was a nice idea.

The Russian tarts, not the jam variety, the two legged ones. The acohol being consumed. As I said, Dubai serves as a blow hole for the area. Some of the hotels are spectacular. Not our hotel though.

The architecture amazing as are their 24 hour building shifts. Not much in the way of Health and Safety here.

Well, time to do the real deed now, but in closing I will say how nice the Airport check  in staff were about our rather excess excess baggage. The final image has to be the Air NZ cabin crew member who thought that she might take on an ATR full of tired, dirty international passengers about the state of their carry on baggage. Started to throw her weight around, saying what she was going to do, felt the agro coming her way from 50 odd people who all wanted  out of CHC to get home to Dunedin and showers and bed.

Out of the blue

New Years Eves over the years have changed. Some we remember, some are lost in the mists of time.

I remember early ones, my mother, with a little of the ancestral “fire water”in her ,rushing out as the ships in the Harbour blew their sirens to announce the start of a New Year.  Important to carry a lump of coal and the kiss to greet people, the singing and dancing to Auld Lang Syne. ”First Footing” the Scots call it, a wonderful tradition.

After that, teens and early 20’s, parties, drinking and twisting the New Year in, Auld Lang Syne included. New Years Day spent wondering, what happened last night.

New Years lost, New Years spent with children in Queenstown, isn’t it exciting Dad & Mum!!! Yea, great you mutter, as you try to keep the drunks out of your families way.

New Years Eve in Rome waiting for the world to end, it didn’t.  New Years Eve in London trying to sleep because of that really early Luton Airport check in.

Then the grand daddy of them all, war fare in Florence.  Young Italians, firecrackers,  rockets,cheap alcohol do not mix well. Lucky to make it back the Pensione alive. It was a little like the opening 15 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan”

Dunedin 2007, nice show in the Octagon, great band, great fireworks, lots of kisses etc and even a group singing and dancing “Auld Land Syne”

All going well and time to go home when out of the blue a fist flies and connects.

Well, lets see if I can get this posted correctly. So far so good I hope.

2008 is on us, best wishes.

Vienna

City of Dreams, Mozart, Strauss, Johann and Richard, Mahler,Sisi, Marie Theresa  and not forgetting the croissant!

This is my last blog for the year. Just to prove to myself that I can do it solo. Our friend moved out of his apartment which considering the bathroom arrangements, probably not a bad idea. Although, we were concerned that we had driven him into the arms of his girlfriend. Ah well, travel.

It was great to see the sights through the eyes of a local this time. We had both visited during our OE’s.

One near miss, Oliver kept on about having a “cheeseburger”, well that is what I thought he said……Mary bought some fruit off a stall, cannot remember what I had but Oliver disappeared into a shop and eventually came out eating what looked like  a burger. Walking along I thougth, “what is that smell?”  Well…….gues what it was.  Horse meat!!!!

I had often thanked  the good Lord that I was not in the seige of Paris 1870/1, now i was sure why.

Last night in Vienna produced a dilemma. I wanted to go to the Vienna Opera. Oliver wanted to drive us up to the hill tops to show us the lights of Vienna, we also wanted to re visit the Christmas Market by the Town Hall. Two were pos not three. Curia was singing that night at the Opera, Manon Lescaut, prob only chance in my life time to hear him sing and to hear that opera.  Solution, all seats sold but we could get standing room, cheap.

Night market, queue for standing room, rush through the corridors for a space. Mark it out, explore the interior. Listen to the first act…hear Curia sing his first act aria, see all the supernumerarys on stage. The difference between a State subsidized house and a non!

Grab our coats to the astonishment of the coat room attendants and head for the hills through the festive Vienna Woods.

Back to apartment to pack for the train the next morning to Prague and our weekend with Tim.

Who said life stops at 60!! Lies lies lies.

Now Susan, I will try what you had in your message to me re photos. We must get out of flickr too next year.

www.flickr.com

Paris

The last couple of days have been very pleasant weather wise, not today though. Must admit though that my thoughts have wandered to the Christmas Markets of Northern Europe. These are now being pushed as a reason for off peak travel to Europe.

Paris is worth a visit and it has been interesting seeing some changes in the city over the years. I have been fortuneate in being able to visit the City 4 times. One memory of my first visit in my twenties, was walking down by the Seine on my first afternoon. I saw this beautiful, well dressed middle aged lady walking along with her white poodle. Ah, I thought with memories of “The Graduate” but ah, what did she do?  By a plane tree, she squats and does her business. The french did that then!

It was quite dangerous walking the pavements of Paris because of the doggie droppings.  Specially in the dark!  During the last visit, I notice that this has largely stopped. Somethings do change in life.

Have stayed in a variety of accommodations from Youth Hostel to 4 star 19th Cent. Railway Hotel.  The last hotel was one/two star in an area full of North Africans at the foot of Montmatre. The owner spoke minimal english but the old man in chrage of the breakfast room spoke french and if you wanted your breakfast, you had to speak in french to him! My daughter found this very difficult especially when it was obvious that he was being rude to us.  We might just have meet one of the Rainbow Warrior bombers. A nice couple with children spoke to us one morning. They had visited New Zealand whilst stationed in Tahiti!  Well!!!!

Anyway, time to finish and to put in a photo. So far so good. Just trying to prove that I can do this blog by myself.

If you have made it this far, thanks and Joyeux Noel, which is french for Happy  Christmas, or Nollaig Shona Dhuit.  If you can tell me what that language is, then there is a prize for you. The first one in. 

flickr.com

All on my own-solo

Well, I have heard people slagging off Dunedin, the weather etc. Melbourne is a city that revels in it’s four seasons in one day tag. We should learn to enjoy the beauties of nature.

I am going to repeat what I learnt with Susan this morning. I am going to post a picture of Berlin again from Flickr. Repeat, re iteration type of thing. Why Berlin, you may ask. It is weather related. My wife and I were there mid December. My wife fell while we were looking at the Brandenburg Gate. I was on my knees doing the First Aid stuff, as taught, when a german lady rushed up telling us in a extremely bossy manner, “get her off the ground or she will freeze”, meaning that the cold coming up through the pavement was a killer!  Now that is cold!

Now on with the hard bit, but as Napoleon said “…..   ……”

Panic, thought I had lost this but Susan I played around with the icon buttons and found it. Just about to ring you.

now for www.flickr.com

Tuesday’s Workshop

Susan and Leigh have walked me through the previous New York blog entry. This is just to see what I can remember and repeat. I will use Flickr again and we will visit another of my favourite european cities. I have been to this city three times. First time by myself whilst hitching round europe. Stayed in the Youth Hostel, eastern style toiletsm flooding lagoon. Imagine.  Second time with my wife, Grand Canal Hotel this time. The third time my wife and I had our children with us. Hotel this time in a very narrow calle just off the Grand Canal. Getting there from Gatwick was a chapter out of the TV “Airport” programme.

Well that is the story, now for the photo.  Off to Flickr

Friday

Well, I wrote a nice big blog yesterday with all sorts of exciting titbits, but it seems to have got lost in the ether. I am going to sent a message to NASA and ask them to get the Space Shuttle, when it takes off, to look for it in outer space.

No photos because they got lost too.

Off to Grad. Ceremonies now.