Ahhhh... I'm back in Stirling again, this time with nine colleagues. We arrived last evening, and I promptly headed up to the Settle Inn, where there's a folk music jam session every Wednesday. When we got there, we found out the place was "under new management", and what a cunt he must be, cuz the folk music nights had been abandoned. Fortunately, they'd simply moved next door, to the pub Whistlebinkies. It has more space, nicer staff and the music was every bit as foot-stomping as when I was here last October.
I recognized quite a few people from last time, and eventually some recognized me too (after I'd joined in the singing...). There was a new guy there with a contrabass he was pluckin' and not only did he ask if I sang professionally, as an added bonus he thought ah wuz 'merican. Wooo hooo!
Towards the end I got in a couple of songs of my own, and we rounded it off with me singing lead on Fields of Athenry (just like last time), to the point where even the waitress put down her work and just sat down to listen. It was effin awesome, people. I didn't bring my camera, but I know several of my colleagues did, so I hope to post some shots here eventually.
Today we're going up to Stirling Castle, and then maybe to the Wallace monument (not sure if I can be bothered, as it's pouring down outside). Later tonight I hope we can hunt down another pub with live folk music...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Gran Torino
Just got back from seeing Gran Torino, and I think I saw a fairly accurate portrait of myself 35-40 years from now. Also, I'm thinking about legally changing my name to Walt Kowalski. This is the best movie I've seen in years.
(PS: I saw "Knowing" Monday and what a load of rubbish that was. I don't know how many trucks you could drive through the holes in the plot, but buying them would be enough to save General Motors.)
(PS: I saw "Knowing" Monday and what a load of rubbish that was. I don't know how many trucks you could drive through the holes in the plot, but buying them would be enough to save General Motors.)
Monday, April 27, 2009
Numbers
120,3 - essentially the same as last week... I'm in Scotland with colleagues Wednesday-Sunday. A miracle if I don't put on anything... Scottish beef... mmmmm....
Monday, April 20, 2009
Prague roundup
Tuesday I visited a Czech friend of mine who's really into Australian Shepherd dogs. Her dog had five puppies in February and they were running all over the apartment, sniffing, nibling and chewing on everything, including my feet and fingers. Very, very adorable.
In a rare quiet moment...
Of all the lovely things to see in Prague, I think maybe my favorite area is Mala Strana - The Little Quarter. Cozy streets and buildings abound, museums, cafes, squares etc, etc. Just GO there, mmmkay?
You can find all my Prague pics here, but I'll leave you with a small selection of Mala Strana purdiness:
I was especially happy with this pic, from the John Lennon memorial wall (I have no idea who the kid is, it just seemed like a good image)
I love it when a hostel goes the extra mile for its customers - even so far as to humiliate their employees by forcing them to wear bunny ears all through Easter. Bwahahaha!
Finally, my Chinese crew, who I hung out with the two last nights I was there. They study in Sweden and Germany, very nice kids. They thought I looked like Buddha; I chose to regard this as a good thing.
In a rare quiet moment...
Of all the lovely things to see in Prague, I think maybe my favorite area is Mala Strana - The Little Quarter. Cozy streets and buildings abound, museums, cafes, squares etc, etc. Just GO there, mmmkay?
You can find all my Prague pics here, but I'll leave you with a small selection of Mala Strana purdiness:
I was especially happy with this pic, from the John Lennon memorial wall (I have no idea who the kid is, it just seemed like a good image)
I love it when a hostel goes the extra mile for its customers - even so far as to humiliate their employees by forcing them to wear bunny ears all through Easter. Bwahahaha!
Finally, my Chinese crew, who I hung out with the two last nights I was there. They study in Sweden and Germany, very nice kids. They thought I looked like Buddha; I chose to regard this as a good thing.
Post-Prague numbers
As feared, I gained some weight in Prague - more than I should have, since I was sick for most of the time and didn't feel like walking around much. Eating and sleeping is a bad combination...
Anyways, last Tuesday, the day after I came back, I weighed in at a hefty 124,5 kg. Amazingly I've lost over 4 kg in less than a week (I still haven't started exercising again!), and weighed in at 120,2 kg this morning.
From this I draw two conclusions; one good and one bad:
1) It's difficult to eat right while on holiday
2) It seems relatively easy to lose recently gained weight
Today I'll start on the daily biking again, next week's numbers will be interesting.
Anyways, last Tuesday, the day after I came back, I weighed in at a hefty 124,5 kg. Amazingly I've lost over 4 kg in less than a week (I still haven't started exercising again!), and weighed in at 120,2 kg this morning.
From this I draw two conclusions; one good and one bad:
1) It's difficult to eat right while on holiday
2) It seems relatively easy to lose recently gained weight
Today I'll start on the daily biking again, next week's numbers will be interesting.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Me and Maddy
There's a new woman in my life.
Her name is Madeleine and she's white. Madeleine is high maintenance; she craves constant attention and can get quite loud and bitchy when she doesn't get it. She likes nuts and fruits and baths. She also likes to nibble my fingers.
Madeleine is an Umbrella Cockatoo (no, that's not Cajun for slut) and she is to be found in a cage at the cafe just down the street from my hostel here in Prague. I read up a bit about these birds on Wiki and she seems to fit the description just fine. Very sociable, intelligent and curious but also demanding and noisy if she doesn't get her way. I know the staff often has to pull a tablecloth over the cage to shut her up.
I'm not a good imitator of bird sounds per se, but I have this one sound I can make pretty well - sort of like a cross between a sparrow and a dolphin... anyway, when I started making it, the bird stopped cold and raised the feather crest on top of her head. According to Wiki this is something they do when they're surprised. Can't say I blame her.
Madeleine giving me her wtf-look
Another thing I read about these birds is that they can apparently sense rythm. I don't know if it was just her way of trying to get attention, but I did observe Madeleine swaying to the beat several times when there was some kind of dance music on. She had more groove than me anyway...
Her name is Madeleine and she's white. Madeleine is high maintenance; she craves constant attention and can get quite loud and bitchy when she doesn't get it. She likes nuts and fruits and baths. She also likes to nibble my fingers.
Madeleine is an Umbrella Cockatoo (no, that's not Cajun for slut) and she is to be found in a cage at the cafe just down the street from my hostel here in Prague. I read up a bit about these birds on Wiki and she seems to fit the description just fine. Very sociable, intelligent and curious but also demanding and noisy if she doesn't get her way. I know the staff often has to pull a tablecloth over the cage to shut her up.
I'm not a good imitator of bird sounds per se, but I have this one sound I can make pretty well - sort of like a cross between a sparrow and a dolphin... anyway, when I started making it, the bird stopped cold and raised the feather crest on top of her head. According to Wiki this is something they do when they're surprised. Can't say I blame her.
Madeleine giving me her wtf-look
Another thing I read about these birds is that they can apparently sense rythm. I don't know if it was just her way of trying to get attention, but I did observe Madeleine swaying to the beat several times when there was some kind of dance music on. She had more groove than me anyway...
Sunday, April 12, 2009
A modest proposal
Now that several civilized nations already have troops both in Iraq and outside Somalia, would it be too much to ask for a quick, surgical black-op against this judge?
A less modest, though by no means less desirable proposal in the eyes of yours truly, would of course be to go in full force, guns blazing and execute the whole Saudi royal family and every single member of the Saudi clergy, religious police, religious school system, etc, etc... you get my drift.
I've always found it apalling that there is not more outrage in the civilized world against the oppression and inhumanity prevalent in most Arab countries, Saudi Arabia foremost among them. This is 2009. If a western citizen treated his dog the way the Saudis treat their women, he'd be in jail. We shouldn't sit idly by and watch this anymore, not when we have the military means to wipe out these fuckers in short time.
A less modest, though by no means less desirable proposal in the eyes of yours truly, would of course be to go in full force, guns blazing and execute the whole Saudi royal family and every single member of the Saudi clergy, religious police, religious school system, etc, etc... you get my drift.
I've always found it apalling that there is not more outrage in the civilized world against the oppression and inhumanity prevalent in most Arab countries, Saudi Arabia foremost among them. This is 2009. If a western citizen treated his dog the way the Saudis treat their women, he'd be in jail. We shouldn't sit idly by and watch this anymore, not when we have the military means to wipe out these fuckers in short time.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Some more pics
From the industrial expo/amusement park site at Holesovice, very close to my hotel. I really went in there to see a museum with statues, but typical of my luck, it was closed "due to technical reasons". No word on when it would open again.
This huge fucker goes around and around with downright frightening speed, and the passenger capsules turn around in the air. Argh.
Sweet Jebus, that carousel thingy in the back was high above the ground.
The Old Town and Josefov seen from Letna Park.
View towards Mala Strana and Petrin hill (with the tower). There's a monorail going up the hill, with a restaurant about 2/3 of the way up. Great views from up there.
This huge fucker goes around and around with downright frightening speed, and the passenger capsules turn around in the air. Argh.
Sweet Jebus, that carousel thingy in the back was high above the ground.
The Old Town and Josefov seen from Letna Park.
View towards Mala Strana and Petrin hill (with the tower). There's a monorail going up the hill, with a restaurant about 2/3 of the way up. Great views from up there.
Bless Google
I bought a cough remedy at a Czech pharmacy a couple of days ago, but the instructions were all in Czech and I'd forgotten it completely until I almost coughed up my lungs last night. It took me a couple of days, but I finally came up with the bright idea of googling the medication and then use the translation service to get instructions. It worked like a dream, so now I'm coughing slightly less... I may even make it home alive (sorry folks).
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Quick update
Had precious little sleep last night, coughing, sneezing and generally feeling very sorry for myself. Managed to get in a little walking yesterday, in Mala Strana. Spent the evening at the bar again, most of it in conversation with a strange, but funny Korean girl who had a thing for British swearwords. The bartender was called a twat, a cunt and a wanker every other minute, while I mostly escaped the abuse, largely because I'd given her a spare breakfast voucher. We actually had a good time, it was just one of those nights where everyone's tired and everything, no matter how inane, gives you the giggles.
A few pics from beautiful Prague...
Josefov, the old Jewish quarter has tons of pretty streets and buildings.
From Old Town Square, where they had an Easter market
Yes, we all know why we celebrate Easter: To commemorate the poor, fluffy, yellow toy chicken that was cruelly hung from an iron bar by a steel wire for the sake of our sins. I swear, sometimes I don't understand the Czechs at all...
A few pics from beautiful Prague...
Josefov, the old Jewish quarter has tons of pretty streets and buildings.
From Old Town Square, where they had an Easter market
Yes, we all know why we celebrate Easter: To commemorate the poor, fluffy, yellow toy chicken that was cruelly hung from an iron bar by a steel wire for the sake of our sins. I swear, sometimes I don't understand the Czechs at all...
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I'm cursed
Come down with a slight cold... sore throat and a little fever. Fuck fuckety fuck.
Had very lazy days Sunday and Monday (the Kraut group finally left Monday morning, and an unusual calm descended upon the hotel). Finally got a full night's sleep and didn't feel too shabby this morning, so I went to the National Technological Museum, which of course was closed until 20fuckin10. So instead I embarked on the 45 minute walk through Letna park to Prague Castle.
It's been real nice and sunny today, and I was sweating like a pig the whole way. Lots of people outside, strollers, dogs, the whole bourgeois fantasy out in full force. I was lucky enough to find the last available table at the terrace cafe by the eastern entrance to the castle and anticipated a nice (if pricey) lunch, with great views over the Mala Strana district. My luck lasted less than 30 seconds.
I don't know what it is with me and Germans, really I don't. I don't know why these sauerkraut-gobbling, tuba-molesting beerguzzlers feel the need to fuck up my world every chance they get, but fuck it up they do. I'd perused the menu for maybe all of ten seconds when my table -and mine alone - was surrounded by a dozen Krauts and their guide, the latter pointing and explaining out over the city, the former cackling and pushing and shoving, all of them utterly oblivious to the fact that someone was actually sitting at the table they were crowding.
After a couple of noisy, unpleasant minutes they left, only to be replaced by a middleaged German couple who were seated next to me (I couldn't in good conscience try to grab four seats for myself, not even with my belly). By faking deafness, muteness and utter incomprehension of any and all Indoeuropean languages I managed to keep the conversation to a minimum. I don't really speak any German, but I was able to make out that they had a disagreement towards the end over how much to tip. The bitch was clearly being niggardly (no, that's not Cajun for African-American) while hubby seemed to have figured out how little money they were actually looking at in Euros. As a final adding of insult to injury, I was afterwards presented with a bill that contained two items of theirs. GAWD!
Suggestion to the world's tourist industries: Now that pretty much every place in the civilized world is smoke free, why not partition your premises into Kraut and non-Kraut? I know I would pay extra for the privilege.
Had very lazy days Sunday and Monday (the Kraut group finally left Monday morning, and an unusual calm descended upon the hotel). Finally got a full night's sleep and didn't feel too shabby this morning, so I went to the National Technological Museum, which of course was closed until 20fuckin10. So instead I embarked on the 45 minute walk through Letna park to Prague Castle.
It's been real nice and sunny today, and I was sweating like a pig the whole way. Lots of people outside, strollers, dogs, the whole bourgeois fantasy out in full force. I was lucky enough to find the last available table at the terrace cafe by the eastern entrance to the castle and anticipated a nice (if pricey) lunch, with great views over the Mala Strana district. My luck lasted less than 30 seconds.
I don't know what it is with me and Germans, really I don't. I don't know why these sauerkraut-gobbling, tuba-molesting beerguzzlers feel the need to fuck up my world every chance they get, but fuck it up they do. I'd perused the menu for maybe all of ten seconds when my table -and mine alone - was surrounded by a dozen Krauts and their guide, the latter pointing and explaining out over the city, the former cackling and pushing and shoving, all of them utterly oblivious to the fact that someone was actually sitting at the table they were crowding.
After a couple of noisy, unpleasant minutes they left, only to be replaced by a middleaged German couple who were seated next to me (I couldn't in good conscience try to grab four seats for myself, not even with my belly). By faking deafness, muteness and utter incomprehension of any and all Indoeuropean languages I managed to keep the conversation to a minimum. I don't really speak any German, but I was able to make out that they had a disagreement towards the end over how much to tip. The bitch was clearly being niggardly (no, that's not Cajun for African-American) while hubby seemed to have figured out how little money they were actually looking at in Euros. As a final adding of insult to injury, I was afterwards presented with a bill that contained two items of theirs. GAWD!
Suggestion to the world's tourist industries: Now that pretty much every place in the civilized world is smoke free, why not partition your premises into Kraut and non-Kraut? I know I would pay extra for the privilege.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sweet Jebus
... how I hate Germans... loud, inconsiderate, boorish fuckers. There are dozens of them here, probably teens on spring break. Truman nuked the wrong nation.
Update: I was just talking to the Swedish receptionist. I asked her if it was allowed to shoot Germans, and she was positive to the idea. She thought they were leaving Monday. Sweet Jebus, let it be so!
Update II: I was a nanometer from braining one of the females when I opened the door to the hallway just now. At least the little twit got a real fright... hatehatehate...
Update: I was just talking to the Swedish receptionist. I asked her if it was allowed to shoot Germans, and she was positive to the idea. She thought they were leaving Monday. Sweet Jebus, let it be so!
Update II: I was a nanometer from braining one of the females when I opened the door to the hallway just now. At least the little twit got a real fright... hatehatehate...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Quick update from Prague
Had a good time thus far. Weather's been great and I walked for nearly four hours Friday and a couple of hours today. Bought some souvenirs and ate some pancakes, took a few pics, did the tourist thingy
I brought a ton of chocolate, and have been handing it out left and right to the delight of the bar staff. My Israeli friend who owns the bar made some noises normally associated with ahem, more physical activities than eating when he tasted the Trokia. I swear, I should probably set up shop and start selling this stuff down here.
I've hung out in the bar at nights, talking to old friends and making some new ones, and tonight there's going to be a huge birthday party for an English ex-bartender who's also a friend of mine. I foresee most of the remaining chocolate disappearing soon... Fun, fun, fun!
I brought a ton of chocolate, and have been handing it out left and right to the delight of the bar staff. My Israeli friend who owns the bar made some noises normally associated with ahem, more physical activities than eating when he tasted the Trokia. I swear, I should probably set up shop and start selling this stuff down here.
I've hung out in the bar at nights, talking to old friends and making some new ones, and tonight there's going to be a huge birthday party for an English ex-bartender who's also a friend of mine. I foresee most of the remaining chocolate disappearing soon... Fun, fun, fun!
Pics from London
Just to get it out of the way, here are the disappointingly few pics I managed to take while in London in February:
The Wellington Arch - not very interesting, but it looks nice.
I believe this was a WWI memorial
Views from the top of the Arch - the building on the left is Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington.
This is a memorial to NZ troops that have participated in British wars.
Another WW1 memorial.
The tiny print at the bottom - I like the sentiment.
Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
The sinful dessert I had at the small Italian place just behind the National Portrait Gallery.
The Wellington Arch - not very interesting, but it looks nice.
I believe this was a WWI memorial
Views from the top of the Arch - the building on the left is Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington.
This is a memorial to NZ troops that have participated in British wars.
Another WW1 memorial.
The tiny print at the bottom - I like the sentiment.
Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.
The sinful dessert I had at the small Italian place just behind the National Portrait Gallery.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Candyman Cometh
I'm off to Prague in the afternoon. Weighed in at 119,3 kg today, but even though I'm hoping to walk a lot while I'm down there it'll be a miracle if I don't put on a little something. Good, cheap, plentiful food and late, late nights in the hotel bar... a dangerous combination even if one doesn't drink!
Last time I was in Prague (Dec/Jan) I'd brought a little Norwegian chocolate I'd bought on the plane. I spread the wealth among guests and staff, and the chocs literally went down well; people loved it and I acquired (nay cultivated) the nickname "candyman". So, being the great guy that I am I went and purchased 2.7 kg of Norwegian goodies yesterday that I'm bringing with me (I also figure it's a cheap way to buy friends!).
Last time I was in Prague (Dec/Jan) I'd brought a little Norwegian chocolate I'd bought on the plane. I spread the wealth among guests and staff, and the chocs literally went down well; people loved it and I acquired (nay cultivated) the nickname "candyman". So, being the great guy that I am I went and purchased 2.7 kg of Norwegian goodies yesterday that I'm bringing with me (I also figure it's a cheap way to buy friends!).
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