Shake the Bottle, Wake the Malvino.

http://riotclitshave.livejournal.com/1650054.html

I had the last two days off, it's my weekend (seeing as I have to work Saturday and Sunday). Most of it was spent chilling out and exploring, but a significant portion was finding out about the wonders of "air conditioning illness".

Now I have a splitting headache and a nasty cough. Hurrah.

edit: aww, I went to a pharmacy and explained things, and because I look like an idiot commmunicating a head ache with sign language they gave me effervescent orange flavoured children's asprin :)

I'm still not entirely sure how I ended up here, I just went with the general flow of going abroad for another year and somehow ended up in a rather nice job in a rather nice city in a country that will look pretty good on my CV but that speaks a language I cannot understand at all.

The first week was a bit strange, walking far too much in the heat and humidity to the metro stop, everywhere I went seemed to take 10 minute walk at either end, which combined with fresher flu didn't make me feel like exploring much so I survived on MacDonalds and KFC as they're both within spitting distance of the hotel and seem far safer than the street vendors and far less daunting than the crowded canteens the locals seem to use.

I've since come to appreciate the small triumphs, such as recognising the characters of the subway stations, dry shirts, and passing solids again. I've been experimenting with the street vendors, who'll cook you noodles in a burning hot wok for about 30p. Noodles seem safe, and are tasty. The local delicacy is spicy red crayfish (which I'm not brave enough to try from the street guys yet), and everywhere has strage things on skewers which I'm not even contemplating (even Pizza Hut has pizza with tentacles according to their adverts, but I've not seen one of those).

Fortunately there are several places that'll deliver a good meal to work for about a pound, and the various support staff are only too happy to order for me, meaning that I don't have to leave the air conditioning or test out my international sign language - I'm also not in danger of starving, which is nice. There are also 6 or 7 restaurants in my mall my school's in, ranging from traditional, to pizza, to a mongolian hot pot place - the main advantage being that from the moment I arrive at work I don't have to leave air conditioning again until it's time to go home.

It's two weeks now and I'm settled into a flat, small but I don't have to share it with anyone, and it's handy for the metro, no more 10 minute walks in the blistering humidity. I'll probably get around to cooking when I can be bothered to buy pans and things, or maybe I'll just eat out every day, seems lazy, but there's no real difference in price and shopping is annoying. Work is good, everyone is friendly, the school is relaxed, lots of pretty young things to flirt with, and as that seems to be a fairly central part of my job everyone's happy.

Other than that, life goes on much as before. The lack of rugby and motorcycles doesn't seem too bad, the great firewall of china is annoying, no youtube or facebook, but I'm working on getting round that.

How you all doing?

Well, that was fun. Things that I have learnt include:

The Dutchies are better drivers than the Belgians, who are better drivers than the Frenchies - and while the Germans are better drivers than all of them they choose to use their powers for evil.

We are blessed in the UK that we can get decent coffee pretty much everywhere now, even if it's £3 a pop on the M25 near Dover.

Bits of Germany spell really funny, especially around the plastics manufacturing heartland.

The white cliffs of Dover are actually quite impressive - reminding me of the Langoliers' work from land, and British WWII films from sea. They still don't make me think of England especially.

Heidelberg Castle is worth a visit, or maybe many visits, but the hill above it needs clear weather to be really worthwhile.

Europe has more bikers than the states, but still not as many as the UK.

The Brussels ring road is to be avoided during rush hour.

It'd be fun to ride down next summer.

No more of this for a year:

Apparently motorcycles are banned in Shenzhen.

I wonder how hard it is to get a boat.

Summer job's over. Easy week this one, 5 days, 69 3/4 hours.

Next week, China!

(For a given value of next week. The papers are through, just need a trip to the embassy for the visa and I can book a flight.)

Alfred Tennyson, Lord Tennyson

Crossing the Bar

SUNSET and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness or farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

So apparently the Black Crowes have been suing Gretchen Wilson for stealing their song, Jealous again, or just commenting that she's copied them, or maybe just pointing out their influence, who knows?

Here's her song.



Yeah, they have a strong case if they are actually involved and it's not just lawyers doing what lawyers do, but it's still a good song.

How's your weekend going?

Stolen from kelemvor

"If you saw ME in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for? Post this in your own journal after replying and see what crimes are you accused of."

Hazel Blears may not be the blogger's favorite just now, but she does have a very valid point about career politicians.

It's entirely possible that over the next couple of decades we could have ordinary people sidelined completely from politics (even the unions and grassroots members seem to have little say these days), setting up the kind of ruling elite that's damaged the US so very much.

It's a Tuesday, it's also the day Bush leaves the Whitehouse (barring war and the imposition of martial law).

Anyone got a plan to meet up and do something stupid around Parliament?

Hurrah!

On the way to work I thought of all kinds of things to write about, from Obama's assassination to the change having taken place over the last 8 years, not over the last 8 hours (why is history always taught around the people and events and not the processes?)

Anyhow, now I can't be bothered. Time will tell, and Bush still has his legacy to create, so we can expect something monumental before January (invasion of Venzuela?). I think Obama will have a huge test early on too, like Bush faced with the downed spyplane in China, that'll be interesting, my money's on Venezuela again to push him a little and see how he responds.

(bet it's less than a week before someone, [possibly McCain himself] says the election was thrown deliberately for progress, for the USA, for history, and for the chance of becoming a post-modern country).

Want ISO 9001:2000 (soon to be 2004)? Book me as a consultant for only £500 a day!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/7695225.stm

"A Dorset family were not allowed on a Ryanair flight because one of them had a "well thumbed" passport which check-in staff claimed was a security risk."

So, I won't be visiting Norn Ireland with them then, mine is probably worse than his. What kind of security risk is a middle class father travelling with his wife and kids to Barcelona anyhow?

but not enough money to get to Norn Ireland.

What can I do with my time?

Tuesday started at 40,000 feet somewhere over Africa, I think I was asleep at the time. Virgin’s food is noticeably better than American Airlines’ and they serve Johnny Walker Red. Bonus.
( This is where it starts to get wordy, and after this it's friends only too )

For Helen and anyone else bored, I'll serialise this in several parts. I started by keeping a brief diary, then got more verbose as time went on. It was written mostly for two of my colleagues who will do similar trips and havn't travelled a great deal, but I hope you like it!

( Monday )

I'm back from Malawi, with 7,000 or so words of diary (and 3000 more of meeting writeups) that I won't post here, if you really want to read about the trip ask me on MSN and I'll forward it over. It's not terribly exciting stuff, I spent more of the week in meetings, preparing for them, waiting for them, travelling to them, or flying (with sleep and food inbetween). I did get a day off to lounge by the pool, but didn't take any pictures to speak of.

Some of you know I smashed my bike up on Friday night, before going out on Saturday and hammering our rivals once more to get the season off to a flying "played 2 - won two". I'm fine, car was fine, bike is almost certainly written off completely.

The weekend failed dramatically at getting a replacement bike, or getting the old one looked at, so I've just been out and bought a new one, completely different but also pretty (and brand new, three years warranty etc. which should make it worth the money). A Derbi Cross City 125, in red, because red ones go faster.

Tomorrow I should have had all the paperwork sorted out and will pick it up on the way to work and post pictures, hurrah!

(shame to lose the Intruder, but then, she wasn't that practical and if the insurance pay out, as they should, it's for the best. I'll be able to get a more useful bike for longer distances and keep the new Derbi for hassle-free commuting and standby).

Also, I should be moving into a flat closer to work and rugby this week, hurrah again!

It's excellent, don't get me wrong. But is anyone else ever annoyed that there's an interesting-sounding article that you can only watch online? Wouldn't it be better if this was backed up with a text article saying the same thing for those who can't view video for whatever reason?

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/5072.htm

I deal with these people, they're disorganised as all hell but get the job done somehow.