tuesday 1 – another day testing at home, difficult with second PC doing some remote testing, so have been over a week homebound

prayer for today or was it yesterday’s had an interesting quote have heard before about:
“doing the necessary, then attempting the possible, then you might just find you can achieve the impossible.”
st francis of assissi?

Finally got round to finishing off 3 months of expenses and catching up on pavelka house having done the channel challenge to log minutes running, cycling or swimming and convert to strokes to cover 58k strokes, about the number needed to get across the channel

Jill gives a recommendation about the coach tony robbins and he has some interesting quotes:

“I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.”
— Tony Robbins

also, “All successful people share one powerful characteristic: hunger.” Now where have I heard that before.

like this article on letting go of the past:
https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mind-meaning/let-go-past/

wednesday 2 – heard from jonathan and here’s a good link to send him:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/01/first-past-the-post-taking-back-control-brexit

saturday 5 – went to vietnamise restaurant in glockenbach, wasn’t that good quality but reasonable price and you could take the sweetness of the rice in the saigon beer

sunday 6 – christine and rainer taking service, katie not playing for a change

Seeing My Child’s Heart-Led Confidence Changed My Decision-Making Process for Life

monday 7 – jetted out to drop of expense forms and have lunch with dan, seeing also valerio and joerg, was an interesting whistlestop, since i was there only from 11:45 to 13:00 and some of that was lunch

watched film with katie in the evening, “verborgene Schönheit / Collateral Beauty with Will Smith:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_Beauty

Eve goes to Worthsee to stay with her friends until Wednesday, actually an expanded gang of 6, she said that they mostly ate (lots), watched TV and swam in the lake.

wednesday 9 – rained heavily in the night, neither of us slept so well, 4 lines came to me in the night, but trying to remember it is no good now.

thursday 10 – good journey to bristol and taxi from airport to hotel, driver had worked at rolls royce filton and we talked about the lost-wax process for casting turbine blades, how the manufacturing had all been out-sourced due to the high capital cost and need to specialise/optimise the running; most parts are designed and not as much machining is done in-house any more.

we go out for pub lunch ending up at the slug and lettuce

friday 11 – excellent, hearty breakfast at the marriot hotel
we look around the centre a little (race track), katie goes back to pub to pick up her forgotten purse – lucky it was still there!
we go onto college green and pop into the cathedral, was most impressed with the seating arrangements in the choir stalls with rural districts on the right-hand side: bath, wells, weston etc and city areas on the other: bedminster, clifton, stoke bishop etc, then an interesting chapel, the oldest part of the cathdedral at the back

find inspiration in the organ music being played and a former organist’s epitaph on the door leading up to the organist’s “perch” and nearly get hit as he opens it and nearly hits me:
“pray as if everything depends upon God, and work as if everything depends upon you” Clifford Harker M.Mus, Organist and Master of the Choristers.

saturday 12 – got the guardian to read on the bus out to thornbury and an interesting article:
put in review section and reference:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/why-we-fell-for-clean-eating
some interesting quotes about clean eating ..
‘is perhaps best seen as a dysfunctional response to a still more dysfunctional food supply: a dream of purity in a toxic world. To walk into a modern western supermarket is to be assailed by aisle upon aisle of salty, oily snacks and sugary cereals, of “bread” that has been neither proved nor fermented, of cheap, sweetened drinks and meat from animals kept in inhumane conditions.

In the postwar decades, most countries in the world underwent what the professor of nutrition Barry Popkin calls a “nutrition transition” to a westernised diet high in sugar, meat, fat, salt, refined oils and ultra-processed concoctions, and low in vegetables. Affluence and multi-national food companies replaced the hunger of earlier generations with an unwholesome banquet of sweet drinks and convenience foods that teach us from a young age to crave more of the same. Wherever this pattern of eating travelled, it brought with it dramatic rises in ill health, from allergies to cancer.’
..
‘Our collective anxiety around diet was exacerbated by a general impression that mainstream scientific advice on diet – inflated by newspaper headlines – could not be trusted. First these so-called experts tell us to avoid fat, then sugar, and all the while people get less and less healthy. What will these “experts” say next, and why should we believe them?’
..
‘mainstream healthcare in the west has been inexplicably blind to the role that diet plays in preventing and alleviating ill health.’
..
‘In the days before Google, Dolamore – who has long believed that “food is medicine” – felt that books on special diets by authors with “proper credentials” could serve a useful purpose.’
..
‘the kind of well-researched books Dolamore and others once published no longer tended to sell so well, because health publishing was now dominated by social media celebrities. ‘
..
’can’t found a new faith system with the words “I am publishing a very good vegetarian cookbook”.’
..
‘clean eating – or whatever name it now goes under – had elements of a post-truth cult. As with any cult, it could be something dark and divisive if you got on the wrong side of it. After Giles Yeo’s BBC programme was aired, he told me he was startled to find himself subjected to relentless online trolling. “They said I was funded by big pharma, and therefore obviously wouldn’t see the benefits of a healthy diet over medicine. These were outright lies.” (Yeo is employed by the University of Cambridge, and funded by the Medical Research Council.)’
..
‘Our food system is in desperate need of reform. There’s a danger that, in fighting the nonsense of clean eating, we end up looking like apologists for a commercial food supply that is failing in its basic task of nourishing us. Former orthorexia sufferer Edward L Yuen has argued – in his 2014 book, Beating Orthorexia – that the old advice of “everything in moderation” no longer works in a food environment where eating in the “middle ground” may still leave you with chronic diseases. When portions are super-sized and Snickers bars are sold by the metre (something I saw in my local Tesco recently), eating “normally” is not necessarily a balanced option. The answer isn’t yet another perfect diet, but a shift in our idea of what constitutes normal food.’
..
‘small changes in diet can have a large beneficial impact. If you think you can’t be healthy unless you eat nothing but vegetables, you might miss the fact that (as a recent overview of the evidence by epidemiologists showed) there are substantial benefits from raising your fruit-and-veg intake from zero portions a day to just two.’

got there a bit early after catching the bus and having a coffee in the costa in thornbury

meet up with nick and gill to watch the performances, sabs was in musical theatre and the group performed “do you hear the people sing?” from les miserables, with sabs starting off, then later “america” from west-side story

get back bus back and then up to meet up with nick and gill in clifton for a meal outside, expensive and nick forget to claim his 10% resident’s discount

sunday 13 – go for swim in the hotel pool, get a few 12,5m lengths done
meet up with others for breakfast then we take bus back to meet up with nick and gill, go to observatory to look over the avon gorge

girls want to rest when we get back

look around old place i lived at in raleigh road, took some finding

wander round docks after eating at the llandoger trow on king street – poor quality, part of brewers fayre now

when we were wandereing back stopped off at the duke, where eddie martin and the 58s were playing, later noticed eddie martin is a lynchpin of the monthly schedule – played mainly blues up and down the fret, extremely good

monday 14 – walked to station and caught train to london bakerloo then underground to get to our hotel at waterloo
some good advice:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/aug/14/uk-debt-household-borrowing
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jan/07/steps-to-reduce-debt

wandered along south back and then across the river to the strand, looked around trafalgar square where there was a great spanish guitarist playing

met up with john at the coal hole for meal, very full even on the upstairs balcony, had macaroni cheese, same as eve

john came back to waterloo with us and we both went for a beer at the white hart on cornwall road, near some very picturesque london street, eg. roupell street

tuesday 15 – took bus to hyde park corner then along the serpentine past the albert hall and going into the v&a museum

there was a pink floyd exhibition on, their mortal remains, but as with the beatles exhibition, massive queues so just read the collection book in the museum shop which was likely as informative, some interesting follow-ups
blind boy fuller, country blues 1935-40
arnold layne from piper at the gates of dawn, inspired bowie to find his own “voice”

went onto visit the rileys at matt and tilda’s, we got the take away and took along some booze to recompense as both sets had supported sabs when she was there

wednesday 16 – walked along to the tate gallery, plenty of quotes:
an exhibition on soul of a nation, art in the age of black power, with an interesting depiction of some of the characters:
martin luther king jr, advocating peaceful protest in the civil rights movement
james baldwin, gay writer, also involved in this movement
malcolm x, the x from his unknown slave name, focused more on any means necessary and black pride
stokely carmichael, even more active role in black power movement
angela davis, lived in dynamite hill in birmingham alabama, opposed black oppression had links to communist party and member of black panther movement, which actually was more about protection of neighborhoods from supremacists

fernand leger, “i work less by reflection, than by instinct”, likes to balance “the dynamic and the static”, eg. the picture the acrobat and his partner from 1948

looked around southwark cathedral and then via union street and the cut, with eve navigating so her and katie went shopping, sabs went back to rest and i went to a play at the old vic just up the road from us. “girl from the north country” written and directed by connor mcpherson, set in duluth, minnesota in 1934 and with plenty of blues-influence, with some stand-out songs for me:
where’s my love
slow train
medley: i want you / feel my love
rolling stone
medley: rolling stone and i want you (reprise)
easy chair/bride
freedoms’s just around the corner/just enough to
what’s a sweetheart like you, doing in a dump like this
love tends to forget
hurricane
idiotville
signor
is your love in vain?
wouldn’t you
forever young

wanted to have a meal at the white hart nearby, but it was chocka block and the nearby kings arms also overspilling onto the road, back was full too with a few reserved tables, later realised i should have asked, but didn’t, so politely left and we trundled on to the rose and crown, a shepherd and neame pub, with purportedly good food, which turned out a little disappointing on the veg burger eve and i had

thursday 17 – took sabs to st pancras on the early bus, then i went on to harrow to see john, quick tidy up and we both go back for breakfast at the hotel

we walk along lower marsh over westminster bridge to buckingham palace, wrong day for changing the guard, no wonder it’s quieter than last time

we go through green park and into shepherd market, my fav coffee shop is closed, we find an italian non-chain one, which suited us well

we sit on benches in berkeley square enjoying the occasional quiet between drilling work going on and traffic noise

we carry on along to picadilly, via the burlington arcade which takes katie and eve’s fancy and the excellent waterstones

get back to trafalgar square and have coffee at the crypt of st martin in the fields, plus pick up tickets for the concert later that evening:
vivaldi and bach by candlelight performed by the locrian ensemble of london
program was
vivali – concerto grusso Op.3/11 (arr. Bach)
pachelbel – canon
bach – concerto for 2 violins
interval
vivali – concerto for 2 cellos
bach – air on the g string
bach – brandenburg concerto no 3

took bus up to trafalgar square, couple of stops but worth it for the removal of hassle

had meal at pizza express opposite charing cross, not fantastic, but quick and near where we wanted to be, john and i had enough time to get an apple crumble at the crypt to fill us up

http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/music/concerts/

friday 18 – take bus to trafalgar square and go to portrait gallery which was a wonderful collection of inspiring, educational images:
80 year old father (ochoa) depicted to show the experience of his years – near photographic depiction of eyes
grayson perry had an interesting self-portrait as a map with rivers of inspiration and imagination, roads of self-doubt and criticism, an island of truth
then separate portraits juxtaposed:
robert stephenson (son of george) stephenson and brunel
gladstone and disraeli, end of 19th century with earl balfour and lord salisbury also taking some interest for losing parts of the empire and the conflict over free trade and protectionism
victoria and albert

there were some fascinating photos by the decca in-house photographer david wedgbury i think of john mayall and the bluesbreakers, david bowie, mick jagger, eric clapton, the who and the rolling stones

john had also met up with us again and it was nice to chat with him in the restaurant

we walked back to the hotel via st james park then across westminster bridge and along lower marsh, just getting back a little soaked, not drenched, as it had thundered and the rains eventually came

katie explores how near blackfriars station is from the hotel, is walking an option or does it have to be a taxi?

we go to the kings arms to eat and hit lucky, the waiter letting us take a reserved table, where i now realise the reserved signs are tfor diners and o make sure the drinkers don’t use them

saturday 19 – up at the unearthly hour of 2.30am in order to walk to blackfriars (15 minutes when there is no traffic and when you know the trick of getting onto the platform at the southbank side

thameslink train is wonderfully equipped, clean and punctual, also much more cost-effective than southern rail’s from victoria

gatiwck is heaving with folk flying, even at 5am!

get back home for 11.30am and sabs is still in bed

we are all cream-crackered so not a lot apart from moving the washing along gets done

do a bit of shopping for katie, then we have evening meal and early night

sunday 20 – all age service was good and challenging

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/20/the-only-4-spaghetti-recipes-you-will-ever-need-giorgio-locatelli

packing and odd jobs before another early night ready for another early start for all of us, including sabs who has to get up at 5.30am

monday 21 – train journey starts with s-bahn at 7:37 – have what i will now call a “rischart” moment where i get cross that we are taking the slowest way to hauptbahnhof and also i was not keen on anything from there

we get on the train in good time (see one unlucky punter seemingly on time but being left on the platform, since the doors were all closed and the train was pulling out, he looked most disgusted!)
train is an austrian railjet to villach winding through the lush austrian valleys and mountain backdrops
on the train down and getting interested in the guardian’s long read more and more:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/aug/18/neoliberalism-the-idea-that-changed-the-world

long journey down but it seems to go quickly, talking to some americans on the train to villach and german/austrian ladies from lubljana to rijeka

get some water at lubljana, one naturally very fizzy one, like drinking alka seltzer with large amounts of sodium anions in, later find that large sodium content is typical in fizzy waters

we make the bus at rijeka with seconds to spare, having to sprint the 500m and more, since the train had been delayed

get to the apartment and eve wants us to have supper at home to avoid the hassle of choosing

tuesday 22 – we take out chances at the first beach up and out further along the coast from jezevac camping spot, getting a place on a very hot platform (the grill station / grillplate as we later called it), but near the wonderful sounds of brunos bar nearby, with the first songs we heard providing the perfect beach mix with:
Tina Turner – what’s love got to do with it
REM – losing my religion and another REM song sounding v. similar
Black – wonderful life
Pink Floyd – Wish you were here
Eagles – Hotel California
Sweet – Tom Tom Turnaround

led zeppelin – stairway to heaven

and a wonderful song with the lyrics:
out of reach
out of touch,
why do you hate so much?
still searching at:
https://www.lifewire.com/five-sites-to-help-find-lyrics-3482602

after that it is mainly Bon Jovi stuff, also at the other cafe, so this is the Bon Jovi beach

it’s good swimming, 3 cafes and free table tennis, which katie settles on playing, provides a bit of variety to just sitting in the sun

the fare for a day out seems to consist of:
packet of corn snack (grickalice), made in sunny zadar
pack of paprika crisps
packet of TUC
2 apples, which tend to get left

and I am delivering 6l of water to the appartment every second day and topping up bottles to take the beach, like gungadin

in the evening we eat at the veja restaurant at the end of our street in the evening, friendly waiter who taught us a bit of croatian, katie remarked on his bad teeth

wednesday 23 – again back at the same beach, but a more shaded spot with overhanging trees for shade

we strolled along the front in front of the jezevac camping site and it does seem as if they have cordoned off the whole of the front in a private beach, we go on a while then turn back

went for picnic overlooking the old city in the evening, actually at the city-side of the jezevac camping site, saw couple of cormorants

thursday 24 – up and off to do an olive trail, through the old town, up out of town and into the hills, going over and dropping onto the shore opposite punat at dunat, get a lovely spot on the “galapagos” beach and further back there is a decent restaurant where we have evening meal, having tried a pizza from there for lunch

we decide to walk back since there isn’t a convenient bus and in any case, it takes less than an hour and we’re back quicker than waiting around, we get eve back to the appartment, then come back for coffee/beer

friday 25 – go for run past camping bor and pick up on an olive trail so follow it and get back then we take breakfast outside and then as early as we comfortably can, go off to the usual beach, commmandeering a good spot on the flat sun-bathing surface and a retreat place in the shade of the pine trees

manage to do a lot of snorkelling up and down the coast, then later complete 4 “lengths” along the rope, which i reckon is about 500m, feeling quite good and fit

katie and i wander into town and get some stuff to take back for evening meal

saturday 26 – breakfast on the terrace and treated to a fine spectacle of birds on show feeding off the freshly watered lawn, blackbirds, 2 wood pigeons, a pied wagtail and some sparrows

we leave early to hunt out a private beach and find a robinson crusoe style hideaway with tree bowers held upright by wooden staves, provides a lot of shade from the sun
go for the obligatory first swim, it’s easier to get in where we are and glad i brought along the rubber shoes, there are plenty of fish hiding in the narrow and shallow channels which one has to cross to get into the water, then swimming around with eve, notice a patch of vegetation as we were swimming back to a beach to get out and this patch had 2 groups of big fish, the greeny ones and the silvery ones, and we’ve seen quite a few up to that point, with eve diving down after them, the inquisitive type and the small 3 finned variety

highlight was eve cuddling up to me whilst looking up at the tree shade we had, there are too few of these moments of parenting bliss to cherish these days

have another swim and then a final swim, seeing the largest fish of the holiday swimming alone in a deep trench

we pack up and go back at about 3.30pm, get a few things looking round town and then have evening meal on the terrace once again, it is so pleasant, see swifts circling around and later a few bats coming out and battily flying about

then katie and i go into town for one last drink and look around the old city and there’s a concert going on down on the waterfront
we end up at the pub, the far long side of the old city, down from the other trendy restaurants, pub plays a clapton live album, not bad atmosphere watching people coming and going
we walk down the side, past the cute model horses for children to go on and ride, 4 large and 4 small

then past the cathedral entrance where matt shaft the violinist and the guitarist are playing again to a reasonable crowd – some sitting on the steps with wine, as katie mentions he is very good at playing by ear

walk past the stage and a band is getting going lead/singer with a lit up ball of a mask on for first long prog rock intro and then they go into some blues and singing, were quite good, as were another group we saw warming up earlier, a guitar band heavy on effect pedals but some cool playing

the music keeps katie and eve awake but i sleep through it when we get back, eve reports some snoring the next day, so must have been me, after all that beer!

sunday 27 – get up at 7am for the long journey back, passport checks on the croatian and slovenian sides of the border, locomotive change for amusement at the border

ticket check then passport check in croatia, passport check then ticket check in slovenia (this time with a reader), finally ticket check before austria

bus to rijeka, slow croatian single-track railway to border typically at 20-40 km/h, engine change, then faster change and dual track in slovenia, but both railways really need some investment

alpine scenery starts in slovenia, interesting because a programme on the tv we’d watched showed a lot of oompah music from a slovenia band

second train from lubljana to villach is also one without air-conditioning, although i like the fact that you can hang out of the windows, that’s not possible on all trains these days, certainly not at the low-speeds we were going at!

the long karawankel tunnel then we’re in austria – well half way through the tunnel

super railjet train from villach to munich

we each summarise our highlights from the holiday:
katie – cleanliness of the flat,
phil – bakeries and friendliness of the people (actually also the lack as yet of a complete takeover by multinationals on water and ice cream – you could see langnese around but it was mostly ledo ice which is a local firm, and the big water companies were absent at least on the packaging of bottles)
eve – swimming/beach and diving underwater to see the fish

monday 28 – getting some disconcerting marketing email at work from:
http://www.euromoneyplc.com
which is a bit disconcerting, since i have no idea how i got on this, campaign is run by this company which is useful to get some ideas on how email marketing firms work and what your rights are:
http://www.adestra.com/blog/

wednesday 30 – out at gbr with marko, good day discussing couple of topics, then lunch with guan and reiner

enjoying the bio wine which katie has got:
haus-wein.net

very fruity and clean