where art collides philosoperontap

spider & garden rain shots

Good kip, although I was awake when a certain offspring came in at 03.40 hrs. Those were the days. It is raining out which may not bode well for John’s top of the table cricket match v Brigg this pm. The weather is forecast to improve – let’s hope it does so in time for a game of cricket.

Olympian Georgie Twigg is visiting Lincoln Hockey Club at the Lindum Sports Ground this morning. It’s just down the road from us and her folks also live nearby.

Thinking I might stroll into town this morning. Looking at buying a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Having been travelling quite a bit over the summer and noticed how loud trains and planes are. I think these headphones will make a bit difference to comfort levels.

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It’s been chucking it down all day (see vid below) and the news is that the cricket is rained off and the season is officially over for another year. It was a good cricket season although interrupted by the GCSEs.

Phil came around to look at the leaking flat roof. Needs renewing and the gutters need sorting out too. It was quite handy that he came when the sky was emptying itself on the house because he could easily see everything that needed doing.

Spent much of the morning looking for my birth certificate. I need it as part of the process of establishing my Irish citizenship. Ended up having to chuck half the filing cabinet, a job that was years overdue. Still didn’t find it though so have ordered a replacement online together with mam and dad’s marriage cert and mam’s Irish birth cert. Feel quite good about this.

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Downtown and bought the Bose QC35 noise canceling headphones. Expensive but brilliant sound and noise cancelling performance. Perfect for train and plane. I don’t think the in ear headphones are good for you. I wanted the black ones  and will have to wait until Tuesday to pick them up.

Back via Tesco to pick up a joint of pork for tomorrow’s slow spit roast BBQ lunch and a bottle of sherry for gravy use.

Out to Helen and Stef’s tonight for a fundraiser for Rosie to go on a school trip somewhere.

impressive city

Good UKNOF35 session yesterday. These are great networking events and from a LONAP perspective very useful ways to engage with members. Few pints and a curry afterwards then relatively early to bed.

Heading back sarf today.

After the initial “no cars available” at the airport Uber has proved to be very handy in Glasgow. I took one last night after the meeting to just drop my bag off at the hotel before going back to the social. The driver had a very broad and totally incomprehensible mix of Indian and Glaswegian accent. I recognised one word in ten so ended up just nodding knowingly when he said something:)

The pink jacket proved to be a hit. Either that or people were indulging me. I only wore it at the welcome social. Didn’t seem to make sense to wear it to the meeting itself as it would probably have got crumpled.

I’m now at the airport waiting for my flight. It’s  busy airport and seems to have good facilities. No lounge access for me though. Not with a £75 Flybe ticket. It’s not worth me paying to sit in a lounge for the short while I’ll be here.

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Home now. Always nice to get home. The news is Anne’s car is in for its MOT and needs quite a bit doing. Debating whether to get rid of both it and the micra and invest in something newer that will serve her for years to come.

The weather has been great here in Lincoln and promises to improve next week which is good as I will be at home until Thursday.

whisky, curry and Glasgow rain

Arrived in Glasgow mid afternoon yesterday for UKNOF 35 and made my way to the very comfortable Hilton on Williams Street. Cold was in full flow so had a little kip before heading out to the welcome reception hosted by the Lord Provost at Glasgow City Chambers.

Turns out it wasn’t the Lord Provost but a deputy, the excellent Josephine Docherty. Apaz the Lord Provost has so many drinks receptions she has to host that she has around 12 sidekicks that fill in for her, stunt doubles etc. I think my jacket caught her eye as I was the first person she spoke to:)

Afterwards we queued for what must have been an hour to get into Mother India Cafe. Food was good but probably not worth an hour’s queuing when there were other perfectly good joints available. Mark Fordyce turned up late and avoided having to queue!

After the curry we ended up at a pub called Ben Nevis where we drank extremely good and amazingly cheap malt whisky and listened to a very entertaining set of musicians banging out some folk tunes.

This morning the weather has changed and it is chucking it down. Of course muggins ere didn’t bring a coat. I’ll ask the concierge if I can borrow an umbrella. I was looking forward to walking to the UKNOF venue. It’s just over a mile away.

Pics and vids for your delight and delectation:

Me ‘n Josephine Docherty

This lot joined the queue behind us and got in earlier as they were a smaller party!

we all fall down

Full of coughs and sneezes spreading diseases this morning. Urgh. Toasted bacon sandwich with brown sauce. Starve a fever feed a cold. My glass of milk didn’t taste like milk. I didn’t complain. Who would I complain to?

Off to Glasgie today. Flybe BE554 at 12.55 from East Midlands Airport. Hour and a half or so to get there so let’s say I need to leave here at 10ish to be on the safe side. I’ve booked valet parking. Somehow it was the same price as the long term car park, or within a nadges whisker.

I wouldn’t say East Midlands was the nicest airport to use. We were last there two summers ago and it was a building site. Hopefully the work will have finished. Also you have to pay to just drop someone off or pick them up. Never heard of that before.

Tonight we have a reception at Glasgow Civic Centre with the Lord Provost. Debating whether to wear my new pink linen jacket. Will have to decide before I set off. Probably won’t as it will get creased and grubby. Not even sure what to take to wear seeing as I’ve spent the last ten days in hot climes wearing shorts and Hawaiian shirts. Problems problems.

Taking jacket…

pics later

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Now sharing my lurgy with the unfortunate passengers on BE554. I’m in seat 17B. Fortunately there aren’t many on board so not only are fewer others going to be infected than might otherwise be the case but I have an aisle seat with no-one next to me.

Bloke has just walked past me to get his bag from the overhead locker. He dumped his bag well before where he is seated. This annoys me. Had it been a full flight he might have taken someone else’s space.

Listening to my fave sounds but I’ve heard them so much over the last week or three due to much travelling I may have to come up with a new playlist.

The arrival at the East Midlands Airport meet and greet parking was non optimal. First of all you were kept waiting for a few minutes at the barrier. When someone eventually answered the communicator (or whatever it’s called) I went to the specified parking spot and on into the office. They had my return time completely wrong – a week on Friday in fact. Bit odd I thought as their system definitely had me down for this coming friday as evidenced by the confirmation email. Turns out it was a Mrs S Davies booked to come back next week. Ah well.

Anyway I’m now on the plane, as you know, and waiting for the trolley dollies to come and deliver me a San Pelegrino Limonata and a Twix. Feeding the cold again.

Booked to go home for a funeral next Friday. One of mam and dad’s oldest friends on the isle of Man, John Chester, died quite suddenly last Saturday. We are all saddened. He was a lovely guy. Fortunately I am already in London for my monthly 121 with Rich on the Thursday so it is a relatively easy hop. Having to fly EasyJet from Gatwick as BA from LCY was going to be £270 at this short notice. Ah well. Ann and Sue also coming over. Coming back on the Saturday.

Got quite a few trips coming up. Glasgow, London, IoM, London, London, Hampton Court, London, Antwerp, Madrid, Krakow.

I do declare we are flying over the Lake District. Ah yes I remember it well. Not with massive fondness mind you:) Not long until Glasgow Town now. Not sure I’ve ever been.

Been to Durham Town. No plans to go back. Not because I didn’t like Durham. I liked Durham a lot. It’s just that Hannah ain’t there no more. It will be trips to London now not Durham. There’s always Newcastle to see Joe of course and in a couple of years time to see John wherever he ends up.

Flying up the West Coast you do get to recognise features on the map. Must be nearly in Scotland by now. It’s certainly getting cloudier. I’ve only brought shorts for this trip. She’ll be right:)

The nose is pointing gently down. We are clearly beginning a gradual descent to ensure the comfort and safety of the passengers which is the airline’s priority at all times. Getting a bit bumpy as we approach the white fluffy stuff though.

Has any good writing ever been done through the haze of a head cold?

I quite like the idea of being able to fly a plane.

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Arrived 10 mins early. Good. No Ubers available so jumped in a taxi. Bad. Taxi card machine not working. Badder. Now in my room popping flu pills. Pink linen jacket hanging in the wardrobe…

good to be home

Pretty good flight back to London. 12 hours and must have slept for 7 of them. Watched the new version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which used up a couple of hours at the front end. Now back in London and the BA Lounge at T5 waiting for our next connection.

Nice to have my SIM plugged in and normal connectivity regained. It was a very good visit to China.

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Tuesday morning 06.00. Not bad kip though did wake up a couple of times in the night. Will try and get some exercise today. Also looking forward to taking Anne a cup of tea at around 6.30. Not had a cup of tea in bed now for 11 days:).

Need to spend this morning taking stock as I’ve effectively been away for 3 weeks and am off to Glasgow tomorrow. Also need to unpack properly.

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I must say it’s nice to be home. Sat back at my desk in the conservatory, doors wide open into the garden. Need to tidy the office u a bit as it’s been taken over by the kids whilst I’ve been away!

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Walked into the Bail with Joe to go to the bank then an ice cream in the castle. It’s Lincoln University graduation week so lots going on. They were all in the cathedral when we were in the castle. Refreshing lager shandy on the way home then Joe and I went back to the Morning Star for early doors to meet trumpeter Jeff Brown.

Bit of a restless sleep as the cold caught on the Hong Kong – London flight is now taking full effect.

all in a day’s work

Pretty good flight back to London. 12 hours and must have slept for 7 of them. Watched the new version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which used up a couple of hours at the front end. Now back in London and the BA Lounge at T5 waiting for our next connection.

Nice to have my SIM plugged in and normal connectivity regained. It was a very worthwhile visit to China.

08.15 plane delayed to 9.06. Not too bad. Dean is still in Hong Kong as his plane developed engine trouble and they are now delayed by a day whilst they send a spare part from Singapore. Ah the glamour of international travel.

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Now sat on the delayed 08.15 ready to rock and roll. Seats are a bit cramped compared with what I’m used to but hey…

It’s wet here in the Unitehead Kingdurm. Only an hour and five minutes flight time to Frankfurt. Dunno what weather lies ahead but there again it matters not as we will not be leaving the cocoon of the airport lounge.

I am happy that summer is over and that Autumn can now begin the process of elbowing its way in. The China trip feels like the pinnacle of the season. A hot and humid crescendo now about to crash to the more cooling feel of September in Lincoln.

Looking down at the clouds. Could be anywhere. The flight map tells me that we are somewhere a little more specific than just anywhere. We are roughly due North of Accra. Quite a long way North but that’s beside the point. The resolution on the small screen doesn’t allow me to be particularly accurate about the position but there again all I’m doing is filling time. Just crossing the coast by the looks of it, on the screen.

American Pie in my ears. Good old boys drinking whisky and rye. Not actual pie. That would be messy.

Verbleibende Flugzeit 0:41. There you go. Got it off my chest. Think I got the spelling. Didn’t stay long enough on the screen for me to check and this one was the screen with the shorter Geman phrase. Just flew past Brussels.

a
bb
ccc
dddd
eeeee
ffffff
ggggggg
hhhhhhhh
iiiiiiiii
jjjjjjjjjj
kkkkkkkkkkk
llllllllllll
mmmmmmmmmmmmm

and so on and so forth. I think you get my drift. Interesting that despite each line having progressively more letters it doesn’t always make the line longer than its predecessor

1
22
333
4444
55555
666666
7777777
88888888
999999999
10101010101010101010

nearly the same is not true when alphabetical characters are replaced by numbers. Does this make numbers more regular? If language was all regular then it would be a lot blander. I expect people would still make spelling mistakes. Note the jump when the order of magnitude is reached.

I am reliably told that the weather in Frankfurt is 17 degrees celsius with no clouds and therefore by default no rain. We have begun our descent. On the plane I had my third breakfast this morning, the first being at around 3.30 am on the plane from Hong Kong. Then we were delayed in the lounge so it seemed to make sense  to have a couple of bacon rolls there. They were only small. Now I’ve just had a light continental brekkie. That will do me until lunchtime which because of the time difference between London and Frankfurt is in around an hour! I may skip lunch.

I’m told it’s University Challenge on telly tonight. I should be back just in time for it:) Nice cuddle  with Anne on the settee in front of the TV.

Now back online in the airport lounge, waiting…

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Home at exactly 7pm and beans on toast with bacon, milk and tea waiting for me – perfect and thanks Joe 🙂

fantastic spot

Great day trip out yesterday. Good tour guide called Pandora. Bus ride to Hong Kong island and the Man Mo Temple in Hollywood. Was a bit strange to have a bus load of tourists wandering around a temple pointing their cameras all over the place where people were praying.

Then moseyed around to Upper Lascar Row to take a skeet at the “antique shops”. Lots of interesting photos. Faces.

Sampan ride around Aberdeen Harbour. Sea eagle or simlar, storks, Jumbo floating restaurant 10 course meal.

Victoria Peak for the terrific views and back to hotel for swim. Private boat to Lamman Island for a wonderful fish dinner. I even liked the squid which is rare for me and had razor clams for the first time.

Instead of going back to the hotel hit a trendy bar area and smoked a (strawberry flavoured) hookah for the first time. Don’t worry only had a small go – I’m not that stupid. Back to the hotel at some stupidly late hour and was woken up by the maid at 9am because I’d accidentally switched the “clean my room” sign on when going to bed.

Just made breakfast and then went for a stroll to the market area with Dean and Richard Petrie. Bought some Jasmine green tea. Had my photo taken in the lobby of the Hong Kong Scout Association Totally soaked as it is 30 degrees out there with what must be near to 100% humidity.

Looking forward to going home now. I don’t think my body can take much more food and drink.

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Headed to M&C Duck in the mall by the harbour for crispy duck before gong to the airport. Very disappointed to find that they only served it until 2.30pm and were now offering afternoon teas. Ah well. However every cloud has a silver lining. We decided to find a bar where we could look out at the harbour and hit the jackpot. The Aqua bar on the top (30th) floor of the building opposite the Langham. It was a serious result. We had a couple of beers looking out at the wonderful moving panorama of Kowloon and Aberdeen. Not cheap mind at around 14 quid for a bottle of American IPA but worth it for the view.

couple of pics and vids:

colourful coats

Tiring day on our feet at the Huawei Connect show. V pleasant lunch in a private room looking out onto the river. See vid for the audervs (spelin intenshunal). 32 degrees out so air con was essential. Sat through some of the keynote but the seating was hugely cramped and the translation headphones only worked intermittently making them unusable. Cut our losses and went for a cold drink before hailing a cab for the hotel. Taxi driver charged us 250RNB which was a rip off but we needed the cab.

Soak in my mahoosive bath before heading down to the club lounge for drinks. Looking out of my window I see a huge crane in front of me. The driver is in his cab. Not a job I’d like to do especially as it will get boiling hot out there. There are two new tower blocks under construction. The one on the left has a gang of blokes erecting the next bit of scaffolding and the one on the right has a swarm of men doing stuff, presumably raising the height.

You could spend allday watching the building work. Always something going on. Could have a camera pointing at the site and transmit the pictures to a website. Fascinating stuff. Better than the old test card.

Now have 90 mins or so before we check out of the Intercontinental and head for the airport. Next port of call is Shenzhen and the Huawei corporate HQ. Have more clothes to pack tahn I came with. When I got back to the room last night my final two jackets had appeared in the room together with the three shirts. They are spendid:)

Anne and Hannah are spending the night in the Waldorf Hotel in London. I got a call over whatsapp from Anne saying the receptionist wouldn’t let her check in without me being there as the room was booked in my name. She put the receptionist on the phone and I have permission. Stupid really as I could have been anyone! Anne’s name is on the guest list for the room. I wanted to keep me as the main booker as I will then get the Hilton points. All’s well that ends well.

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Now hanging around in the club lounge with some of the boys waiting to check out. Have asked the concierge to take my bags down to reception.

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MU5347 15.20 plane delayed. Air traffic congestion around Shanghai. “We will let you know when we have a new time”. Doesn’t bode well. I’m ok. Sat in the departure lounge. Don’t want a beer. No idea how long this is going to take plus we have to get to the hotel at the other end so better to play safe. You would think they would know ahead of time how many planes they had in the air at any given point.

My earphones are in, Roxanne currently playing.

This is a pretty modern airport. Shanghai in general is a blend of modern and old. Sgood. I’m in seat 48K for the flight. I suspect it isn’t an aisle. Ah well. My post showing me modelling my new linen jackets is getting some traction on the book of Face.

Shenzhen, whilst worth ticking off, is not the main attraction hereon. Hong Kong is where it’s at. We have two nights plus a guided tour and then a day to ourselves before flying home. Our flight is at 23.05 so in theory we could do dinner again in Hong Kong before heading to the airport but I suspect we will try and get there in plenty of time just in case and seek refreshment in the BA lounge.

Estimated boarding now 4pm. Lets say the plane is 90 mins late. I reckon it will be 8pm at least before we get to the hotel.

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Paid 800RNB cash on the plan to upgrade to business class. 2 hour flight so figured it was worth doing. Made for a more comfortable flight.

Huge airport in Shenzhen – long walk from plane to bags and very arm and humid once we got out of the ac. Arr hotel just after 9pm. Buffet dinner, few drinks and late to bed.

illuminated Bund

Ended up coming back to the hotel last night instead of the Long Bar. The Korean BBQ finished us off. We still have two other opportunities to get there so no matter. This morning I am packed and ready to move hotel.

Today I’ve noticed I’m getting a lot of ads for VPN services. Also spoke to a local last night who said they used a VPN to access their gmail account. It must be pretty prevalent. Just goes to show what a waste of time the UK government is expending wanting to watch our every online move. I may well continue using the VPN I’m using in China when I get home – see if I notice any difference in performance. Internet access from this hotel is just 2Mbps symmetrical but there again I am using the free Hilton Honors version rather than the paid premium job. I don’t normally bother with the premium service unless the free one is grinding to a halt.

It’s an odd feeling being awake and up in the hotel room but without anyone to talk to. Everyone in the UK is asleep. I seem to recall we said we would head out to buy some tea at 10am. Checkout is noon. We are heading over the river to the Shangri La after we have checked out.

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STOP PRESS. Have just read my emails. We are now staying at the Intercontinental Puxi. Whilst I am disappointed not to be staying at the Shangri La (never having stayed at one) the Intercontinental is perfectly acceptable. Anne and I are staying at one in Madrid in October and it at least brings with it IHG points. Good job I looked innit. Rich has also seen the email so would have gone to the right hotel anyway.

Now that I have a little more time to reflect on yesterday there are a few things that stood out in my mind:

The woman sat in the shop front trimming hair into shape on a wig
The trikes with huge loads
The bloke selling stuff from a scooter who was stopped in the middle of the road by another guy on a scooter who wanted to buy an umbrella off him
The beggars in the food court
The girl stood in the middle of the road with a selfie stick
The bamboo scaffold poles
My credit cards not working in the restaurant
The bar on the 39th floor of the hotel
24million population of shanghai
Hundreds of really tall apartment blocks –  buildings are either v tall or just 2 storey
Taxi driver hooting horn every other minute
Taxi driver in tourist areas not wanting to use meter

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Made it to the Intercontinental Puxi. V nice. We have incredible rooms in the “Club Building”. The main body of the party arrived between 11am and noon. No time for lunch as the tour was starting. This turned out to be going to the same place we were yesterday. We went along anyway and I had KFC for lunch (sorry).

The others then shot off to go up Shanghai’s tallest building whilst Rich and I went to pick up our clothes. Boy are they impressive. Jackets were around £86 each and shirts £32. Not bad for made to measure stuff. Was chatting to a Huawei guy who suggested it was a good price. Ordered two more (linen) jackets and three shirts which will be delivered to the hotel Wednesday night. I had to be strong and not order any more than that otherwise I’d end up needing a second suitcase.

Out in the evening for drinks in the terrace of “Bund Panorama” where we got truly amazing views of a very colourful Shanghai night scene. Food turn out to be an all you can eat buffet. Won a Huawei watch in a quickfire quiz. Unfortunately it has Chinese language firmware but still looks cool even though it’s a woman’s watch. Afterwards we went to the Waldorf and drank cocktails and Remy Martin XO until we were sufficiently well oiled that we slid off back to the hotel.

and tailors

Good first day out in Shanghai today. We came a day earlier than the rest of the party to get over the jet lag and have used that day to first go and get some tailored shirts and jackets and then do some touristy bits.

Our first port of call was stall 133 in the Shanghai soft furnishings market. Recommended on TripAdvisor. We met with JoJo and Sophie, the two ladies often referred to in TripAdvisor comments and they were indeed very charming.

I chose a couple of copies of the Tommy Bahama shirt I was wearing, one in a purple silk and the other in flowery blue cotton. They recognised it was a Tommy Bahama shirt – cool stuff. Then I have a patterned blue blazer and a tweedy looking sports jacket. All made to measure and ready by 4pm tomorrow. Cost was 2015 RNB. I’ve no idea if this is a good price. It is 20% lower than their starting point but I guess my reference point was the several hundred pounds per jacket it would have cost back in the UK. Quality looked great but I will find out for sure tomorrow.

Rich got 5 shirts, a jacket and a waistcoat.

We then walked towards the river but found ourselves in an area that seemed to be a combination of residential and industrial with no access to the waterfront. Walked on a bit and came across the start of the main touristy bits called the Cool Docks. Paid a fortune for a bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water.

Thereafter it was a stroll through shopping areas and to the Town Temple which was no longer a temple but loads of shops. We stopped for lunch in some sort of food court. We had to regularly fend off hawkers (if that’s the word) trying to sell us fake Rolexes and handbags. I don’t wear a watch but I did buy a manbag in a proper shop. I need one:)

Decided by three o’clockish to head back to the hotel to chill a bit. Taxi was 29RNB though I did have to get the hotel bellboy across to check because the meter said 2900 which seemed a huge ripoff. Couldn’t see the decimal point! 🙂

Sat in reception lounge for a while sipping green tea. The waitress would occasionally bring more hot water to refill our cups. Then to recharge phone and left it in the room whilst I went for a haircut. 300RNB including tip. More than I’ve ever paid for a haircut before but we have to remember its a 5 star hotel and it did include a wash, blow dry and head massage which I hadn’t been expecting. Looking lovely with 20 years knocked off me I am now back in my room writing this post before getting ready to head out for the evening.

Plan is possibly a Teppanyaki followed by the jazz at the Long Bar at the Waldorf Astoria which is apparently hugely famous and is (also apparently) the longest bar in the world. Bring on the night.

Lots of interesting pics and vids. I’ll have to think how I share them all with you.

Tomorrow we are moving to the main conference hotel, the Shangri La.

it’s been a while

Had a fairly good night’s kip on the plane, fair play. Did wake up somewhat dehydrated but water and tea sorted it out and I was fine by the time we landed ahead of schedule at 4pm. Took over 2 hours to get out of the airport though despite the sign saying their target through passport control was 20 minutes.

Bought a ChinaUnicom sim with 3GB of data for 250RNB and took 1000RNB cash out from the cashpoint at roughly 8.5 to the pound. There was a bit of an incident at the cashpoint machine. I followed the on screen instructions and out came 1000RNB but I hadn’t had to put my card in – wow. Turns out the previous user, someone called Matthew Bates if I recall correctly, had left his card in and it was still active. Turns out you have to manually eject the card.

We found a policeman and handed him both the card and the cash. Should really have taken the cop’s details but we had just got off a long flight. I guess the  owner won’t find out about it until he is away from the airport and will just have to cancel the card and probably lose the cash.

Took over an hour to get to the Hilton and in the meantime used the sim. Sites like Facebook and Google are blocked here but I have just installed a vpn client. Unfortunately couldn’t get it to work on the phone although it seems to work fine on the laptop. Rich has his working ok on his phone but not on the chromebook. Will work on it.

Skype worked fine over 4G and called home. Anne was out at church but Hansk and John were in. John had taken 2 wickets in cricket yesterday but rain eventually stopped play and the match was abandoned. WhatsApp also works.

Good internet access at the hotel including Facebook and Google!

Great meal at the Szechuan Court restaurant on 39th floor and then had a few drinks at the bar on the same floor. Fantastic views and some great light show on the tower blocks that slowly all shut down as we approached midnight.

Found out in the bar that the Hilton is the only hotel in China where you can access Facebook and Google. The guy didn’t know why.

Smoking is allowed in bars here which we found strange.

Popped a melatonin before bed which seems to have worked.

Just had a video hangout with Joe who had worked a 9 ½ hour shift at the Taphouse and Kitchen, hit the jam night at the Magna Carta and then headed down with the lads to the Straight and Narrow before grabbing a pizza on the way home. He was in the takeaway when I spoke to him.

Decided that today’s main objective is to find a tailor and get some jackets made. Stay tuned.

London to Shanghai

Urgh. Alarm at 4.20am. Woke (for the second time) just before it. Quick shower and shave and off out into the early morning. Speedy checkout was v useful. Plenty of Ubers around. 3 minute wait then 30 minutes to Heathrow T5. Easy peasy really.

It was a bit odd driving through London past lots of houses where there would have been people sleeping. Was almost a sci fi experience. You felt as if they were all in their pods waiting for the time to be reactivated. Life without sleep makes sense if we were able to do it. Cram far more into your time on this planet.

Last night had a couple of beers with Baskers and Tim. Always good to see them. Then a quick bite at Garfunkels. Not particularly good service and only ok food. They took the order quickly enough but it took ages to come. Bed.

…

Now in the galleries lounge. Bacon roll, croissant, milk and OJ. This is going to be a long day.

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On the plane headed East to Frankfurt. Bit of day trip. Brain is somewhat frazzled with the earl start. Should really try and get a bit more kip but experience suggests it won’t happen. A frazzled brain doesn’t lead to creative thinking either. Perhaps a cup of tea or coffee will do the trick. I won’t be partaking of the cardboard croissant I’ve seen on the trolley as it passed by to the front of the cabin. Had a bacon roll and a croissant in the lounge before the flight.

Life in the fast lane is in my ears. Very appropriate.

My attire on this flight is my new Fat Face shorts, a burgundy and white Hawaiian shirt and sandals. Oh and my Tommy Bahama straw hat. I also have a pair of long trousers and long sleeved shirt and a pair of socks in the carry on bag just in case I need them for the overnighter to Shanghai.

We have been looking forward with a degree of excitement for the Shanghai trip. This is coming from someone who doesn’t get excited about such things. I did some research about places to go and see during some of the downtime we will have but decided it wasn’t worth planning anything ahead.

Did note that sites such as Google and Facebook are blocked. This is a stark reminder that we are headed to Communist China. Will have kindly provided me with access to his VPN server and both laptop and phone now have the clients set up. Will be interesting to see it in action. I quite like the idea of posting to Facebook from China. Not sure what bandwidth we will be getting but hey…

I have coffee. Don’t normally drink the stuff, especially the muck they serve on planes, but the brain is telling me it needs it. Ah the glamour of international travel. The captain has just been on telling us we are about 30 minutes away. A lady captain. See more of them these days. Hear more of them is a more accurate description. Didn’t catch the name as my sounds are still in my ear.

American Indian (i.e. Asian not indigenous) family at dinner last night. The parents were constantly on their phones whilst the kids had colouring books.

As we were coming up the escalator from the transit area to the gates (we were boarding at C62 T5) I noted as I was singing to myself that a woman a head of me and Rich turned and smiled to herself. Nice to be able to bring a bit of sunshine into someone’s life. Wonder where she was going?

It’s an interesting concept. The chance meeting with someone who you see once for maybe ten seconds and then never see again. It happens a lot of course. It fits in my philosophy of “chinks” on philosopherontap. This year all these diary entries are down as chinks. Long chinks maybe but these things need to evolve. Nothing stands still. Stand still and catch atrophy.  Move it on baby.

I’ve been calling people baby for years. Part of it has been to see how they react. Part of it is because I don’t really care what people think anymore. That isn’t totally true. I’m not in the game of offending. Live and let live eh? I’m wondering if there is something else I should move on to in this respect. Something beyond baby. I dunno.

This whole not offending people concept is something I’ve been thinking about. I don’t think it is possible to reach the state of perfection in creative writing without truly telling people what you think. Pouring out your innermost feelings. Maybe it’s part of the British reserve thing. I’m not sure I like that concept because really it’s English Reserve. And I’m not English. The emotional stuff is something I’ll probably have to build up to. Maybe it isn’t even there. Who knows?

I’ve certainly throttled back from writing trefor.net stuff this year. This is  subconscious move away from the constraints of writing for business.

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I like a bit of Offenbach. I say that because we are on a train  whose final destination is Offenbach Est. We are in Frankfurt. Already had a bit of drama. Picked up our bags and having inserted a credit card to pay 1 Euro for a luggage cart found our way to check in for the next flight which is in 10 hours time. In front of us at the BA checkin were two guys, the younger of whom was distraught and swearing (scheisse – whatever that means!!). They had arrived earlier on but one of them didn’t have his passport with him so they then had to go home and get it only to find that upon their return the check-in had closed. Oops

Took a while to find money, the station and to buy a ticket to town. The machine didn’t like our credit cards nor, initially , our cash. Now we are on a warm train with 30 minutes until we get to OffenbachOEst which presumably is where we want go.

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Eventually found the main station after going too far past it. Hopped on an open top tour bus (E17) which was very hot in the sun so sat at the back in the shade. Wasn’t really worth the money as there is sod all left of Frankfurt to see tbh. At least it served the purpose of killing an hour. I don’t want to start drinking at lunchtime and in such heat.

Lunch at a posh burger joint sat outside on the pavement. Bull burger or similar. I had a chicken Caesar salad (smug face icon).

Now wandered in a sweat down to the river where there is some fete action. Saw a boat race and am now sitting in the shade of the Lions Club International stall drinking mineralwasser.

Featured image is of a woman looking down at a homeless person asleep in the lunchtime heat.

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It’s been a very hot 34 degrees centigrade today in the city of the Frankfurters. Now we are back in the BA lounge in T2, airconditioning blaring away and pics and vids backing up over the wifi. Shower time.

dancing in the garden

Great end of GCSEs party last night fair play. John’s pals said it was the best house party they had been to. Plenty of dancing. The garden needs a bit of clearing up this morning but John had 4 lads staying over so there is help to hand.

A sluggish start to the day today but I am now more or less packed and just chillin listening to some music on the Sonos. Leaving the house at 11.50. The weather is picking up again after yesterday’s rain.

We were very lucky with the party. The occasional spot apart, the rain kept off for the whole evening and only started to deluge once everyone had gone. Was a good excuse for us to leave the tidying until the morning and go to bed.

Today I’m off to London to stay the night before making a very early start to Frankfurt in the morning – 7.05am flight. Ultimate destination is Shanghai for a Huaweii funded trip to their conference. Quite excited really although it is a long journey. We are going a couple of days early to give the body a chance to get over the jet lag of which I am an extreme sufferer.

The dress code of the actual conference is business suit. I don’t own one so nipped out to buy a couple of pairs of tidyish trousers yesterday. Will have to do:) Also I am taking three long sleeved shirts, two notably flowery and one that could be construed as “business”. Hey…

The issue is what to wear for the flight. Frankfurt is going to be 32 degrees, Shanghai is going be 32 degrees. Shorts weather. However I’m not sure shorts will do it for a 13 hour overnight flight. Will let you know what I decide.

party time

A good night’s kip and this morning it’s GCSE results day. Good luck to the lad. Tonight he is having a party with 50 people invited. We will be able to shift some of the burgers left over from Joefest yay.

The forecast was for it to be a wet day so we have three gazebos up. It is still drizzling at the mo (7am) but the metoffice has just told me in person that the all day rain isn’t likely to happen so good eh?

Hannah and Sarah also arrive home today yay. I also have to get my packing done – I’m off on the 12.23 tomorrow. Still not totes sure what to take in the way of work attire. I haven’t worn any for years. My work wear is either shorts and hawaiian shirt or jeans and t shirt. Will have to dig something out.

The noise of the traffic on Wragby Road is much louder when it is wet, as is the case this morning. The good commuters of Lincoln on their way.

Yesterday Joe started work at the Lincoln Taphouse and Kitchen. He had an afternoon shift to learn the ropes and was on last night until closing time which could be as late as 1am. We were in the land of nod when he got back so will have to wait for the report. It was boiling hot yesterday afternoon so not fantastic working conditions but the evening will have cooled.

Reminder to self – must buy some toothpaste for the China trip.

Time to make Anne a cup of tea.

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Back from the GCSE results pickup. Did very well. I’ll leave it to John to let you know how well if he wants to tell you. That’s all 4 kids with GCSEs out of the way. Just a set of A Levels and two degrees to go, presumably.

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Now back in work mode. wossthatallabout?

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Featured image is of flowers after the rain in our back garden last night, as is the vid 🙂