26.05.06
Posted in
Poland
at
7:50 pm
by
Andy
Welcomed by blue skies, warm sunshine and full terraces I’m delighted to once again be in Krakow.
The beginning of the week was not so great as I was a little ill, but come Wednesday I was back to normal and ready for one of the infamous Cap Krakow nights out. A good meal in Metropolitan followed by far too many beers in a nice courtyard terrace bar and subterranean club. A few more than too many beers for a couple of the managers. One was completely incoherent by the end of the night and another managed to fall up the stairs.
Yesterday was all a bit random. One of the Cap engineers told me that one of his customers had asked to speak to me by name. I picked up the phone a little confused as I couldn’t understand how this chap knew I was here, and it turned out to be my old flat mate from Madrid, Steve Wooding. Not someone I’d spoken to for a while but I was aware he’d left Spain and gone back to the UK. Good to have a bit of a chat and find out what he’s up to.
Later that day when walking home from work someone approached me in the street asking for directions. Thankfully as these were asked in English I was able to help out. Given that this lass wanted to go to the same place that I was going to, I said I’d show her the route. As it turns out she was Spanish and from Valencia.
She was travelling with her work and finishing her trip off in Krakow. Realising that we were both destined for a lonely dinner we decided to go to the excellent Italian restaurant on the main square together. Carolina and I had an excellent chat about pretty much everything. An interesting girl with some very well formed opinions. Attributes that I seem to see in every well travelled person I meet.
As of 6pm today, prohibition was introduced in Krakow. This will only be in place for the whole weekend as the Pope is visiting. All the trams sport Vatican flags in his honour, there is a huge portrait draped down the cathedral and various extra flood lighting has been placed on the nicest buildings. None of the engineers I work with seemed particularly enthused by the visit but say that many people take this very seriously and go a little too crazy for the Pope. I must say I got quite excited when 8 police cars and the Popemobile speed by (albeit Pope less) as we walked back from lunch.
I’ll take a wander around tomorrow to see whats happening but once Espe arrives we’ll head out of the city to escape the madness.
As ever, a good week over here, and we’ve been frequenting a new eating establishment at lunchtimes. They guys have discovered the nearby university canteen: Cheap, tasty and plentiful food with a balcony terrace giving wonderful views over the campus.
Quote of the day has to go to Marcin who when quizzed if he was going home after putting on his jacket and bag responded, “no, I’m going to buy vodka. There’s only 15 minutes left”.
Posted in
Friday Fun
at
1:59 pm
by
Andy
A few goodies for you here:
First off, the World Press Photo winners 2006. I saw the 2005 exhibition in Krakow last year. A truly moving experience. Those in London, if your quick, you can see the exhibition in the Royal Albert Hall. For those who are not take a look at www.worldpressphoto.nl and for full effect try to read the background to each photo.
I’ve been assisting some of the lads who are doing the Mongol Rally this year in a team of three Minis. 6 of them are going after Pete (Espe’s old flatmate in Madrid) watched Jon and I with interest last year and decided that he had to follow the madness. They are currently having fun with there visa efforts. Read about there forthcoming trip at www.mongolminis.com.
And finally, a bit of motoring madness. Niki sent me this describing it as my perfect car:
“Is this the perfect combination for Senor Haddock? Right shape motor complete with Group B soundtrack and just a dash of torque steer”
videos.streetfire.net
22.05.06
Posted in
General
at
7:35 pm
by
Andy
Another flying trip to the UK on the way to Poland. Nice as the flights are paid for by the company, but so short I don’t really get to see anybody.
On Saturday I went up to Tottenham Court Road to look at expensive electricle goods and then went round to see Marc’s latest toy. A 1970 Landrover. In need of some restoration work and I helped out by supervising Marc and his uncle change a wheel cylinder in the rain and wind. It was quite a shock going from the humid 30+ temperatures in Madrid to the misery that was mid May England (and apparently I’d missed the worst of it).
In the evening I went out in Windsor with Marc, Claire, Natasha and Stacy. An entertaining evening in a different area, which included being filled in on the latest loves lives of a couple of the girls. Best quote of the evening had to be: ‘I pulled im daan in Kingston. E was a lauff then, but things changed when we didn’t speak for a week… E’s turned into a right phsyco, sending me texts like this “I don’t want no ******* *** bucket ***** *****. I’ll ******* kill you”‘ True class.
As I said, a good night but I obviously drank too much. My flight over to Krakow was possibly my worst flight ever. Unable to read as my head hurt too much and unable to sleep as my head started spinning as soon as I closed my eyes, I was left to sweat it out and endure the flight.
Three lessons I should have learned a while back. Stella Artois is dangerous, Vodka Redbull is dangerous, drinking at the same pace as Marc is dangerous. Put all three together and you have a recipe for disaster.
19.05.06
Posted in
General, Motoring
at
6:46 pm
by
Andy
I finally went round to Philippes last night to have a bit of a play with his Honda ZFR 800. Something we’ve been meaning to do since I convinced him to invest in a Haynes manual a few months back.
We set about adjusting the chain which had far too much slack. Reasonably simple to do, but it still resulted in a skinned knucle for Philippe. First rule of car/bike maintanence learnt: You will hurt yourself.
Having adjusted the chain we decided to take the fairings off the bike and have a good look at all the fun stuff below. Something Philippe has never tried before, but for some reason he was very comfortable doing it with me around to help out. We also moved the fuel tank away on it’s hinges and stiffend the rear suspension that is adjustable as standard.
Really good fun. The first bit of playing I’ve done since fixing the Mini’s brakes in Mongolia and something that taught me a lot more about the finer details of motorbikes. Cool. And it seems like Philippe’s been bitten by the bug as well, as we’re gonna service it ourselves in about 3000km.
We treated ourselves to a few beers and a nice steak on the local terrace afterwards and were joined by Jon & Nico.
And now for something completely different: Simpsons Philosophy
15.05.06
Posted in
Motoring
at
1:03 pm
by
Andy
Congratulations to Jen, one of my work colleagues, who just won her first bike racing trophy. She got 2nd place on one of the races this weekend at Brands Hatch as part of the Bemsee Clubman 400 series.
A phenominal feat for someone who only got her bike license 5 years ago, and is in her first race season. She also won Rookie of the day. Read her blog at blogs.sun.com/racerjen
Jen mentions another racer, Conrad, in her blog. As it turns out this Conrad chap also works for Sun and he has a rather intersting pic on the internal directory:
12.05.06
Posted in
Friday Fun
at
1:02 pm
by
Andy
For those that know of Boris Johnson, especially from Have I Got News for You, will appreciate the comedy value he adds to this world. For those that do not, take a look over the WikiPedia entry for him.
Boris was recently invited to join a charity Germany v England football match. Unfortunately I don’t think they played much football at Eton…
Boris Video
“there was no malice in my actions. I was going for the ball with my head, which I understand is a legitimate move”
Posted in
General
at
12:02 pm
by
Andy
Not the best sequence of events… Yesterday morning I found the car broken into. I forgot to take my tennis kit to work so had to return home for it in my lunch break. Heavy traffic meant I only had time for a quick sandwich. On my way back to work this arrogant suited 50 year old Spaniard in his poncey 4×4 drove into the side of my car while trying to queue jump. He then threatened to punch me while calling me a “Son of a Beach” (whatever that is). All of this palava caused me to miss the first 30 minutes of my Spanish class.
After work I headed up to meet Bertrand to play tennis. 10 minutes before we were due to start, I got a call from work requesting I take a case that no one else was capable of dealing with. Most annoying as I was not due to be on shift for a further hour. I then had to drive back from Alcobendas to Madrid through rush hour traffic to working the case until 11pm.
But by far the most bizarre event was being attacked by the territorial Sparrow that has nested by the external stair case at work. It flew at my head twice… actually quite amusing. I’ll bring my camera in next week and try and get some photos.
11.05.06
Posted in
General
at
10:28 am
by
Andy
It’s been a pretty crappy 7 days. We had some bad news last week from Espe’s family, followed by Espe’s tooth operation. A pain and inconvenience that is set to be with her for quite some time.
This week has been busiest at work for quite some time (not all bad as I’ve learned a lot in the last couple of days). It is something made all the more frustrating due to colleagues around me who have absolutely bugger all to do so spend the day surfing the web, talking about Atari games consoles and annoying people through boredom.
Best of all though, I came down to the car this morning to find it had been broken into for the second time in 6 weeks. Last time they got away with some coins and my sun glasses. This time they didn’t damage the car getting in, but took my new sun glasses and my phone charger. Thankfully they left the stereo (not much use without the face panel) and the rather expensive steering lock that thankfully was securely attached to the car.
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