where art collides philosoperontap

errands and more errands

Woke up twice in the night and checked the US Presidential Election results. It’s the nightmare scenario. We live in very turbulent times. Some of the biggest US news media have also weighed in with similar comments.

Did a few errands today. Took a cheque to the bank that had been returned because it was incorrectly addressed. Ie had the wrong name. The bank has me down as HT Davies. The cheque was payable to T Davies. Must have taken me half an hour in the bank to sort out.

Picked up a “sign for” item from the Firth Road depot. Hannah’s Spanish Business Diploma or some similar cert. Fair play.

Dropped in to Wright Vigar to sign off trefor.net accounts. Picked up some supplies from Morrissons. Packed away the campervan awning. We had a new enquiry for a tomorrow start. They have opted to rent one in Derbyshire. I think they must be bonkers. It’s snowing in Derbyshire.

Am making some bread. Done the kneading and now leaving the dough to rise.

Now deleting some emails from dad’s inbox. He has reached his storage limit. Unsubscribing to some of the more persistent senders so hopefully it will not fill up so quickly in future.

Cricket going well in India. Won’t say any more than that in case I jinx them:)

It’s grown dark a I sit here. Trees now silhouetted. A little bit of movement at the top branches. I feel a relaxing quiet evening coming on. I didn’t have lunch until 2.30 so won’t want to eat with the others who are off out anyway. Anne is going to her dance classes and John to Jazz Vehicle. I’m taking him and will have my curry when I get back.

Once the dough had risen I knocked the air out. There was a very satisfying sound of escaping air. Suggests I was doing it right innit. Will be interesting to compare this with my last one. Different flour mix. This one is straight strong white flour.

Still full of cold btw.

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Bread turned out great. I’ll be experimenting with different flours and techniques over the next few weeks.

2016 – a mark on a historical timeline

Today is election day for the US Presidential Elections. A worrying time for us all. If Donald Trump gets in it would probably be regarded as a milestone in history. We, the world, could be facing instability and disaster. Even more than is already going on.

For readers in the future 2016 has been a turbulent year. A (small) majority of people who voted in the EU Remain/Leave referendum voted to leave. The leave campaign was driven by lies about the financial benefits of leaving (eg NHS £350m a month better off) and played to people’s prejudices about immigration. The remain campaign was run by an ineffective Prime Minister called David cameron who history will record as one of the worst leaders we have ever had.

The Middle East is full of instability and war, a situation that has created millions of refugees who have in turn fuelled the anti-immigration fire. Russia is once more becoming expansionist escalating East West tensions and creating concerns that we might be facing another cold war situation.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

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Trump was elected…

checked in on BA873

Still full of cold this morning. It’s our last day in Krakow. Actually I’m at in the Euro-IX conference all day. Anne has gone off walking again with kay. They are talking about doing a Jewish Quarter tour today.

Great dinner at the salt mines last night. Amazing place. You must go and visit. Good to chat with lots of industry friends from around Europe. Featured image is the main church in one of the salt mine chambers. amazing. Hand carved by three people over decades.

Made it home for around midnight ish I think. Don’t fully recall. Fitful night’s sleep because of coughing all the time. Feel sorry for Anne who is a light sleeper at the best of times.

Now sat in the conference listening to Nick Hillyard talking about exporting SFlow telemetry. Trying to check in online but unfortunately we are not seated together. Did try last night from my phone but the app wouldn’t play ball which is a shame – we might have been sat together.

Currently down to get a taxi at 4pm although I’m not sure my lightning talk starts until then. Will have to see how we get on.

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Here we are again. Another flight. this one is BA873 non stop from Krakow to LHR. Anne and I are in seats 1A and 1C. I think it’s worth treating ourselves when we go away on trips together. No lounge at Krakow airport though. At least not one we could get into with a BA Club Europe ticket. We spent the time near to gate 15. I sat in the cafe/bar having a beer with Ignas from Equinix and three linx boys whilst Anne read her book. The time went quickly enough.

This flight takes me to within 10 tier points of a BA silver card. My year runs out on 8th may so I’ll definitely do it. The benefit of silver is automatic lounge access (assuming there is one, fast track through security and the ability to check in and therefore reserve a seat 7 days before take off. I don’t always book a club ticket and even then I can’t reserve a seat without paying. Anne and I were in different rows on this flight home. It’s only because the guy sat next to her was ok with moving that we are sitting together. Not that there is much communication between us. I have my Bose phones on and she is nodding off. We have both finished out books. At least I’ve read as much of mine as I want to. History of Wales by John Davies. I’m not interested much beyond 1830. The early 18th century is very poorly documented. I am interested in 1700 – 1800. At the moment. Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire.

Also interested in Irish history but one step at a time. My Foreign Birth Registration docs have been sent off as you know. The Irish side is I think going to be a lot harder to trace. We were farm hands and illiterate nobbut 3 generations ago. My great grandmother was the daughter of a farmer and signed her name with an X. My research there may have to be more general historic stuff. The church records may save us. I suspect they may be more complete than in Wales. There is nothing wrong with the illiteracy. Go back far enough and we were all illiterate. Just makes the ancestors harder to trace I suspect. One of my Welsh ancestors was a poet. Not been able to trace anything of his stuff yet but I may still get here once I have put the effort in.

Have finished the meal on the plane. couple of gin and tonics first. Then a chicken skewer with caesar salad. Ok. Nothing special but in a scenario where expectations were low it was fine. Two small bottles of red and some stilton. Mellow. Taxi picking us up from LHR. Laptop now out and typing.

Now playing Mood Indigo. Satchmo and Duke Ellington. What a combination.

This flight is 2 hours 40 minutes. It is long enough for them to offer a properly boozy service. The outbound flight seemed a little more constrained in terms of the service. Half and hour or twenty minutes shorter. Maybe it was just the staff. This steward has been quicker off the mark.

splutter dead pig

Monday and it’s the first day of the Euro-IX meeting proper. A nice gathering of folks. Been coming to these meetings for 4 years or so now and know a lot of the people here so it is nice to catch up.

Nice social last night although I only stayed for an hour – needed an early night to try and shake off the lurgy. Did consume a few of the fruit and vodka cocktails, for medicinal purposes. Also had a small bowl of tomato soup with bread and butter and a couple of small ham rolls. Anne stuck around and she came up just before the end of the do at 9.45pm.

Now sat in the meeting room listening to a talk on the proliferation of 100GigE connections.

Tonight is a big one. Dinner in the salt mines. The food has been very good in Krakow and tonight promises to be no different. If you have never been you must come here. Poland is impressive and the people are very friendly.

where it rains

Somewhat groggy start to the day occasioned by the copious amount of wodka dished out in between courses at dinner last night. Was a very good night out. Many thanks to Elisa Jasinska for organising. Pleased to discover this morning at breakfast that everyone else was also feeling the effects.

Today it is wet and miserable in Krakow. The building site we look out upon from the bedroom window is deserted, it being Sunday, and very wet. I doubt there would be much building going on even had it been a working day. Wonder what they do on wet Sundays hereabouts.

On the advice of the receptionist, Richard has gone to the shopping mall next to the hotel to buy a hat. Assuming it is open. Maybe that’s what people do on wet Sundays. Bet it’ll be packed. Lots of bored looking yooves hanging around.

At 12.30 we are going on a guided tour of the city in large golf buggy type vehicles. Everywhere we went yesterday probably except being sat down and with someone actually telling us what we are looking at. “The building on the right is the church of St Stanislau the pious” etc

The hotel appears to be a lot quieter this morning. It’s been full of very noisy Jewish boys who have been in the habit of knocking loudly on each others’ doors shouting at those inside. They may have moved on. Now the hotel is filling with not quite so noisy Euro-IXers. It will get noisier as the day goes on.

The St Stanislau bit was a pure guess btw. He may have existed but it just sounded right for the purpose of this post. St Stan for short.

Still got a bad cough btw. Makes my voice sound all gravelly. At least it sounds like that to me. I was born under a wandering star.

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Back from the Sunday afternoon social. A golf cart ride around Krakow. Although it was somewhat of a whistle stop tour viewed through the heavy plastic sides of the cart (not nice weather) you did get a very good feel for the city. It also explained the existence of the Jewish Quarter. When the Jews were expelled from Krakow in the middle ages all they did was go to the next town of Kazimierz which was only a few hundred feet away. Odd that they would establish another town so close. I guess in those days towns were very self contained.

We moseyed along to the Ghetto which was very thought provoking. During WW2 the Jews were moved out of Kazimierz and over the Vistula to the Ghetto where thousands of them were eventually murdered by Nazi firing squads and others carted off to concentration camps.

Also saw Schindler’s factory. Hadn’t seen the film so didn’t know the story of how Schindler saved Jews by “employing” them. Being on his list of employees was a life saver.

Lunch was at 14.30 in a very atmospheric old Polish restaurant called Ogniem i Mieczem. No booze fortunately. I think we had all had too much vodka the night before. Walked back to the hotel in the rain and we are now relaxing in the room.

this lift is winding me up!

Sore froat this morning. Ah well. It’s a beautiful sunny day in Krakow. 5 of us arrived last night on the BA872 from LHR. Had a few drinks in the lounge and on the plane en route. Dropped Will off at the Sheraton and Rich, Anne Kay and I continued to the conference hotel, the Galaxy. Check in, 30 mins to get sorted and then downstairs to meet in the bar.

We had pondered whether to stop in the hotel to eat but the beer in the bar wasn’t up to much so we taxied to the main square (12Polish) and hit a German restaurant called Sukiennice, or simlar. Twas v good although we ordered far too much nosh. I had a chicken schnitzel. The killer was the meats and cheese we had ordered as a starter. We had to leave half of it or risk not having room for the main. Rich ordered a meatball that turned out the size of a tennis ball. Straight to bed when we got back to the hotel and a relatively early night.

Now relaxing in the lobby having had a pleasant enough continental breakfast. No sign of the Irvings.

The polish word for lift is winda. Sounds appropriate.

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Lurvley walk around Krakow. Very nice city. Lots of old stuff to look at. We walked to the Royal Palace and did the tour of the Cathedral. Magnifico. Lots of kings buried there. The composer Fred Chopin also. Significant I thought that most of the people there harked back to the middle ages. Not much royal action after the mid 16th century.

I lit a candle (2 zlotys) and stood there looking at it. Anne asked me who i had done it in memory of but I hadn’t realised that’s what you did. I thought it was just quite soulful. The bell tower was definitely worth a visit and the only place I took pics and vids. They didn’t let you in the church itself and there were no uniformed guards up the top to stop you.

We strolled on and found Cafe Zakatek hidden down an alley. Gem of a place. I had a banana milk shake, Anne had a coffee and apple pie, Kay had an Irish coffee wand apple pie and Rich had a beer.

Then bumped into Andrew Owens from Teraco in the main square. Called Joe to ask him about the story of the trumpeter. Apparently during a war a few hundred years ago a trumpeter played from one of the windows of the cathedral in the corner of the square. He was killed before finishing the tune. Now every hour a trumpeter appears at one of the windows and plays half a tune. We didn’t hang around to see and walked back to the hotel.

Now relaxing in the room before going for a bit of a dip.

twirly for foto

There’s a song that starts “It’s four in the morning…” That applies to me right now. Had 6 hours kip and am awake so came downstairs. I did have to think about it. That bed is toasty. Really nice. I knew that this would not be the case outside the duvet. However I figured I wouldn’t get much sleep now because the alarm is set for 6.15 in order to be ready for Handsom Cabs to pick us up at 7. Better to do something productive.

I put my glasses on in the dark. It’s amazing how they gave focus to darkness. The room was not totally dark because there was the LED from the clock and a faint glow around the top of the curtains from the street light outside. Still the blackness seemed to gain clarity when I put my specs on.

I am now downstairs in the TV room, blanket over my legs, tapping away. I didn’t leave the bedroom as quietly as I might have liked. The door made a noise opening and closing. Anne is a light sleeper. Hopefully she will now have a good hour and a half more kip without me there shifting around.

The clock under the TV is ticking. You don’t normally notice this during the day. It’s ticking my life away. Each tick represents an irretrievable part of my time spent on this planet. Normally I don’t think about it but with nothing but this room for company it is different. I almost resent the clock. I want to make it disappear. Disintegrate. Vanish into a different dimension. Irrational I know and not really like me. It doesn’t match my philosophy of life. I’ll move on.

Today we are off to Krakow. We are on the 07.30 direct train from Lincoln to London Kings Cross. We arrive in Kings Cross at 09.26 but our flight from LHR is at 14.30 so we have a bit of spare time. Let’s say we want to be at the airport by 12.30 and the Uber will take an hour to get there. Means we need to leave Kings Cross by 11.30 so we have two hours to kill.

We can either spend an additional 2 hours in the lounge or do something around Kings Cross. Not decided yet. We will have check in bags with us so need to take that into consideration when deciding. One option is to leave the bags in the Left Luggage place at the station (£12 for 2 hours for 2 bags) and stroll along to the British Library. They have an interesting “treasures” room displaying lots of famous books, first editions, Shakespeare etc. Also have a caff. We will have to discuss it on the train.

On the train we will partake of a full English breakfast. It’s not a bad breakfast fair play to them and the benefit of getting on at Lincoln is that it is right at the start of the journey and the food is fresh. I’ve normally finished it by the time we get to Newark. The tea is also fresh at that time. It can taste a little stewed later in the journey. Echoes of British Rail…

We are on our way to Krakow for an Euro-IX Forum. These are really nice events. They are the biannual get togethers of the IXP industry. We talk about IXP stuff. Internetty things. They move to different places in Europe every six months. Last one was Berlin. Not it wasn’t it was Luxembourg. Berlin was before that. We got stuck in a lift! The next one is Barcelona and the one after that Tampere in Finland which should be interesting. In 2018 they are talking about Svalbard. Population 3,000 with 5,000 polar bears! Its within the Arctic Circle. I think the 5,000 polar bears bit is only a joke but it gives you an idea of the location.

There are not many flight options to Krakow. We already had our Wednesday return cancelled. BA decided not to run a service on Wednesday so now we are coming back after the conference on Tuesday. It’s a 18.50 take off which means getting home really late that evening. We are booked on the 22.00 from Kings Cross. Urgh.

This is the last bit of international travel in 2016 afaik. Nothing else booked anyway. Just three trips to London, including the Christmas bash and my birthday which officially mark the beginning of the holiday season as far as I am concerned.

Bought a Peugeot 107 yesterday. Phoebe Wishart’s old car. It’s perfect for Anne and for John to learn to drive with. Tax is zero. Same as my VW T2 campervan but for different reasons. What’s more it does 60mpg (campervan does 23 ish) and insurance with John as a learner is only £330 a year. Result. Already sold the C4 to Coops and Anne needs to get rid of the Micra. It won’t fetch much but we might get a couple of hundred for it. We didn’t need three cars and now will have more room on the drive. Was always a little awkward having the three cars there.

It’s now 5.34. Came down at around quarter to. Time doth fly. The clock still ticketh. We get to Krakow at around 6pm. Collect the bags and taxi to the hotel. Should be there for 7 in time for a freshen up, a drink at the bar and then out to dinner somewhere. Maybe even dinner at the hotel. See when we get there.

When we got to Madrid we opted for a bite in the bar. It’s a long day’s travelling from Lincoln. Because of the distance I also add a couple of hours contingency to the timings. Hence the time to kill this morning. Who knows. The train could break down and use up all that contingency.

Not yet decided how to get out to LHR I’ve recently been catching an Uber. it’s more expensive if you are on your own but cheaper for two and not underground. Takes a little longer but you don’t have to cart your luggage around. The Heathrow Express leaves from Paddington which whilst it isn’t that far on the Tube does involve a bit of hoofing bags around. No brainer really.

In half an hour I will make the tea. I’m all packed so won’t really take that long to be ready. Just stick a last few things in the Osprey day bag, brush my teeth etc. The Bose headphones are charged, the Anker is charged. I’d only used 20% of the Bose battery but there is no harm in having it at 100% for the trip. They are fantastic for travelling. Really cut out the noise of an aircraft and also useful for blocking out inane discussions from the next table on the train.

Been looking at the return journey. We land at 20.30. Train is at 22.00. We have hold bags. Sgonna be touch and go. The only other train is at 23.30. Gets to Newark at 1am. 1.30 home. We don’t want to spend an extra night in a hotel in London. I think I’ll change the tickets when we get to Kings Cross. If we change the tickets in advance it will be cheaper than missing the train and copping for totally new single fares. Then if miraculously we do manage to get there for the 22.00 I’m sure we can blag our way on it. Will have to see.

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The train attendants are very cheerful serving breakfast this morning. Very good considering they start work at some unearthly hour to get from Leeds to lincoln for a 7.30 am service. The full English was as usual very good fair play. Taken with two slices of white toast, orange juice and a cup of tea.

Anne is now in a zone. Earphones in. Listening to the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4. I may join her. In a zone that is. Not the same one. Maybe some funky tunes. Polish folk tunes? Why not? Don’t know any off the top of my head.

It’s fairly dull out there. Dull sheep in dull green fields. Some fields have already been ploughed and replanted and one or two are already showing a green sheen of new growth. Winter wheat or something. I’m not particularly up with agriculture. Should be. Should try to stay in touch with my ancestral roots. Everybody’s roots really. We were all farmers at one time. Hunter gatherers even. Not suggesting we need to stay in tune with hunter gathering. Perhaps we should 🙂 Waitrose is easier.

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very unusual conversation going on a couple of seat pods away. Geezer with large belly and suit got on with younger suit, mid 30s say. Younger suit had a lapel badge. No idea what it was. Guard comes along and the belly tells him he must have picked up the wrong tickets and would need to pay an excess. He pays something like £140 (not sure I quite heard) for the two of them, including the return. When the guard had moved on the younger guy started talking about accommodation for some standards meeting they were going to in Paris. Ibis Hotel £40. Was a little bit of a whinge (understandably imho). This seemed slightly at odds with the fact that the belly had just forked out a load of dosh for making a mistake with the train tickets.

I’ve stuck my phones on to avoid having to listen to their totally uninteresting corporate chatter.

An executive decision has been made in respect of the two hour downtime we have in London. We are going to go straight to the airport. Expect copious amounts of (more) drivel from me on this blog. I have also decided to reuse the return tickets for another trip and grab a cab home. It’s not going to be any more expensive than changing the train tickets funnily enough and we will get home at the time we would have been catching the last train.

and more brrrr

A cold start to the morning. Went downstairs at 6.15 ostensibly to make the tea and to use the laptop to reply to some Facebook comments. Foolishly “accepted” and Apple upgrade which wrote off the use of the laptop for 20 minutes or so and ended up replying using the phone which I could have done in bed. The kitchen was too cold to sit in bare feet and everywhere too dark to rummage around for my deck shoes. Could have put the light on I suppose:)

Now just killing 5 mins before taking the plunge. ie heading to the pool. Sgonna be a busy day. Packing, posting my Irish citizenship stuff, inviting people to the LONAP Christmas Party, making cups of tea etc etc. Also need to nip down to pick up the campervan awning from Coops’ to make sure it is dry.

The central heating has now kicked in.

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Felt good driving to the pool. Life is great. You have to take advantage of it while you can. Not many in the water and ended up having a lane to myself for most of the session. It’s impossible to forecast the traffic in the pool. What makes people decide whether to go or not. I suppose the colder morning might have put people off.

Now back having a toasted bacon sandwich (on white with HP Sauce obvs) accompanied by half a pint of milk drunk straight from the bottle. I’m eating the bacon sandwich with a knife and fork to avoid getting my fingers greasy and thus allowing me to type at the same time. The milk could be a little colder. It was left out whilst I was at the pool. Anne is not a milk drinker. Sgone now. I’ve washed it all down with a glass of 100% pure squeezed orange juice – vitafit – smooth no bits.

Quite a weak sun out there. Not a dull February day sun but certainly one struggling to make its impact felt through grey skies.

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Sent off my Irish Foreign Birth Registration application form from the Post Office in the Bail and then went for a haircut at Tom Viscone’s a couple of doors down. Going back to the car I noted the butcher in the Bail had closed its doors. V sad. Also unusual for him to just shut up shop like that. I’d have imagined there was scope to see the business. Maybe not, not knowing the details.

Quite cold sat here in the conservatory. I have the Dyson fan blowing hot air. Got a couple of jobs to do this pm. Nip round with Coops to look at a car, pack, stuff like that. I also have to retrieve the awning from the garage to make sure the renters had dried it out.

Featured image is of a near naked tree side by side with one about to get nearly naked.

Hampton by Hilton

Very productive LONAP board meeting yesterday. Preceded by a light Mexican lunch at the Street Food Chef – a top class burrito cantina in Sheffield. After the board meeting we had a couple of beers and a curry at the Agrah which was also very agreeable. A good day all round.

I’m now up and sat at the window of my hotel – The Hampton by Hilton. There’s a great view from the room. If I was pointing in the other direction it would be the concrete jungle that is Sheffield city centre but looking the other way it is surprisingly nice.

Now just waiting a few minutes before heading down for breakfast with rich at 8.30. After that it’s a saunter back to Lincoln in the jalopy.

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Breakfast was fine. This hotel is very well laid out. Everything in the room and bathroom was convenient. Plenty of power points. Easy controls for the shower. The breakfast buffet is compact but has everything you need. The toast came out perfect first time. The bacon and sausage etc was replenished from behind so no need for anyone to carry hot trays through the dining room. The waitresses are delightful. All good.

Just relaxing and typing this diary now. Rich has come down and we are chillin a bit over a cuppa. pic is view from my room.

my route home

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Now sat in the Tesco caff. Popped in to get some passport photos done for my Irish Citizenship Foreign Birth Registration. Going to pop around to the Smiths to get Nick to Witness the docs. This is the pack I’ve had to put together:

My birth cert ✔
My (our) marriage cert ✔
Mam’s birth cert ✔
Mam & dad’s marriage cert ✔
Mam’s death cert ✔
Grandfather’s birth cert ✔
Grandparent’s marriage cert ✔
Grandfather’s death cert ✔
Online application form submitted ✔
Two passport photos – tonight
Certified copy of passport – tonight
Witnessed application form hard copy – tonight

Nearly there now. Feels good.

Did do a post Agrah video but it was after a few beers and I’m somewhat slurry 🙂

at Coops’

Sat in the corner of Coops’ garage waiting for the campervan to be returned. Nobody else around. Keith has gone to the dentist. Coops is on the way to South Wales to Paul Floe’s funeral. Floey was a very popular guy at Lincoln Rugby club and a huge part of the community. He was an Unitarian minister and eventually moved on at a Parish in Porthcawl in South Wales. A minibus load has gone to the funeral from Lincoln.

Quite interesting being sat here in the reception area. Radio 2 blaring away. Lots of tools, tyres and other garage features scattered around. Could probably be tidier but it is a working space.

Bloke just been in asking if we had any work going. It’s tough out there. Miserable day to be traipsing around as well. He needed to tidy up a bit too really. Unfortunately I am not the right guy to ask.

Featured image is “engines”