Posted in January 2010

As Easy As Falling Off A Bike

Source: hazel eyes
Thursday 28th January 2010, 3:45pm

My other half got his knee down at the weekend. Unfortunately it was followed by his elbow and shoulder.

The other half accompanied a friend to Ocean BMW in Plymouth at the weekend whilst he got his bike serviced. They rode back to Exeter over Dartmoor to make their rideout a bit more interesting.

The BMW was going well under the speed limit, so my hubby decided to overtake and subsequently waited for him in a layby. After a chat and saying bye bye, he went to get back on the GSX, overbalanced it and had a lie down. Luckily the engine bars did their job and only the brake lever was broken. Slightly red faced they both managed to pick it up and went on their way.

Ooops.

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Flights To Australia

Source: hazel eyes
Monday 25th January 2010, 2:41pm

Australia is far bigger than I had imagined. It is the sixth largest country on the world - 50% bigger than Europe.

Many Brits fly to Australia, either as a long haul holiday or to emigrate and its not hard to see why.

Australia has the lowest population density in the world - two people per square km and more than 85% of Australians live within 50km of the 50,000 kilometres of coastline. Its mainland is the largest island and the world's smallest, flattest continent.

If a flight to Brisbane is your preferred option, Brisbane airport is 13km from the city centre. There is also regular transport to the Gold Coast throughout the day and night. Brisbane's climate is suitable for outdoor activities, but there are also plenty of other places to go to soak up Brisbane's culture such as the museum, gallery and a number of historic buildings.

A flight to Melbourne brings you to a city which boasts some of Australia's finest cuisine, fashionable shopping, cafes, sports stadiums and much more. For a day out with the family, there are a number of interactive museums and galleries, outdoor activities or get to know the animals at Melbourne zoo.

When travelling to Australia, taking a flight to Sydney is perhaps the most popular option. It is surrounded by beautiful beaches, World Heritage areas and nearby to the excellent wine regions of New South Wales. Sydney also offers a world class education system which welcomes overseas students.

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Valentines Day - Flowers Or A Poem?

Source: hazel eyes
Thursday 21st January 2010, 4:09pm

Valentines Day has lots of traditions. Sending flowers is one, but for the more creative of thought, writing a poem is sure to impress.

Origins of Valentines Day

Valentines Day has its origins back in the days of the Roman Empire when Emperor Claudius II was having problems recruiting for the Roman army, so decided to ban engagements and marriages. Valentine and others continued to marry people in secret, but he was jailed and died on February 14th. It is thought that the tradition of sending gifts or flowers on Valentines Day may have started when he himself left a farewell note to the jailers daughter on the day of his death, signed "your Valentine".

Later, Pope Gelasius decreed that February 14th would be called St Valentines Day in his honour. It gradually became a tradition to send flowers, a gift or a poem on Valentines Day. The following is a verse of an old traditional children's song:-

Good morning to you, valentine;
Curl your locks as I do mine ---
Two before and three behind.
Good morning to you, valentine.

Valentines Day Flowers

These days it is traditional to send a partner, parents, grandparents or even friends flowers or chocolates. If the giver is a bit of a genius with words, a poem might be composed (or use the internet). Twelve red roses are the epitamy of romantic flowers to send, but there are cheaper alternatives for those a bit strapped for cash.

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Southern Spain Illegal Property

Source: hazel eyes
Tuesday 19th January 2010, 4:39pm

British expats living in Andalucia have been told their homes are illegally built and have 3 months to demolish them before the bulldozers are called in.

After picking up your hire car from Malaga airport, off to the right at the San Miguel factory is the Costa del Sol - traditional destination for the British tourist. If you turn left, up into the mountains, it is a more traditional and rural way of life. An ideal place to build your dream home, that is until the Junta de Andalucia declare that any new property built on rural land and not designed for agricultural use had to come down.

But is this the true picture of Southern Spain? An expat says not:

Believe it or not, there are normal, real human beings that live to the right of the airport. Some of them even speak fluent Spanish...(fluent meaning almost as well as English, rather than just about being able to order a beer in Spanish and thinking that's all you need (this was the norm rather than the exception that I witnessed around the Axarquía)).

The Axarquía as authentic Spain? Slightly behind-the-times, rural and absolutely beautiful it most certainly is, but according to recent figures, your typical Axarquian town e.g RioGordo comprises c.15-20% foreigners. Most of whom can't speak more than a handful of Spanish and some of whom - as per the coast - are not to be trusted. That's "authentic Spain" for you, like it or not.

There are areas inland of the terrible coast that offer almost as much natural beauty as the Axarquía, greater flexibility and options for those of us unfortunate enough to have to work for a living; whilst I know of considerable planning abuse in these areas (largely by expats, as per the Axarquía), I know of nobody yet who is having their house pulled down.

These terrible instances that are being reported on a now daily occurrance by the press do exist, yes, but for each bad news story guaranteed to sell papers there are dozens where there is no abuse, no wrong to report.

So perhaps when we climb into our hire car in Spain, we wont judge the people by what turning they take.

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Haiti Earthquake disaster

Source: hazel eyes
Thursday 14th January 2010, 3:09pm

The rescue operation in Haiti is desperate, around the world, help is on its way, but until then there is not much people can do to help themselves.

Someone asks "where are the rescue crews?". There were no rescue crews before, there are none now to help rescue survivors from the Haiti earthquake. Until they arrive from other countries there is no help. In some of these Haiti pictures you can see family members and neighbors digging the rubble looking for survivors. That is the only help available, and with no heavy equipment it is a daunting task. A 7.2 quake in Haiti is like a 10.0 in the US. It is hard to imagine how they will rebuild, but they will. Most of the help will not arrive where is needed. It hasn't before and why should we think this time it will be different.

There are some Ham radio operators in Haiti. Today the Salvation Army emergency network started up on 14.265 Mhz SSB. Messages regarding health and welfare of the citizens can be transmitted to the US, and forwarded by phone and internet by US Hams as needed. The big question is how many Hams are in Haiti, and how many of those can get power.

Donations for the Haiti earthquake are desperately needed.

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Cold Snap Does Not Mean Global Cooling

Source: hazel eyes
Monday 11th January 2010, 12:49pm

We've had a week or so of cold weather in the UK. Does this mean that the world isn't getting warmer? No!

All across the UK we've been experiencing snow, ice and colder temperatures than we've seen for a while. Apparently some people are taking this week of cold weather and citing it as proof that the world isn't warming after all.

To start with, the UK does not constitute the entire world and a week isn't enough time on which to base long term predictions. Whilst its been a bit colder than usual here, places such as the Med and Canada are warmer than average. The past decade is officially the hottest on record and this summer is predicted to be one of the hottest ever due to El Nino.

There are some clever tools about for looking at environmental changes, for instance Google Earth technology has been put to use to tracking rainforest deforestation for example. I read with interest Pasty Muncher's post on the role of the pasty in climate change. Perhaps a change from the traditional beef pasty might be less harmful to blood pressure and indeed climate change, but I understand some pasty traditionalists may find it hard to make the transition to a chicken tikka or vegetable variety.

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