Category: Personal

Habit, Routine or Ritual ?
I am thinking about the difference if there is any between the Habits we have and the routines we develop and if they in the end turn into rituals.

Take getting up in the morning now I have a routine, get up when the “beep” tells me to (I would rather have the radio but given I don’t have control of the alarm then a beep it is). Put on a pair of sports shorts and a football shirt and wander off to make coffee and a cup of tea for Judi which I take back to her as she never gets up until the 3rd beep. I give the cat a very small amount of milk in fact only enough to say you have had some, more a couple of drops but she does get excited about it.

I turn the radio on as I don’t like silence and sit sipping coffee. The radio is set to a local station which if course I don’t really understand but the music is mostly in English although they do have some interesting stuff “Like a hobo from a broken home I’ll come running back to you” is one of the current favorites. I am collecting silly lyrics for a later blog. On the 3rd buzzer I will check the kettle to make sure there is enough water in the kettle for more coffee. Judi appears as if my magic with tea and shoes in hand, tops up her tea and puts her shoes on. We talk briefly about things which need doing that day then she is gone. 

My routine continues make the bed which is really just straightening the duvet then onto the Yoga. I am continuing with the Yoga even though I don’t like it. I just want it over with but know you cannot really rush it. It is not circuit training and you are supposed to relax into it. I am sure it is doing me good and it was one of the time slots I made for myself in the early days. That done get dressed and start the day.

It’s a very repetitive process broken only by slight changes on the weekend so is it a routine or a ritual, well I think routines can be broken but rituals are fixed like religious ceremonies they are written in lore and cannot be changed. There is something unnerving about a change of routine, as humans we are creatures of habit so changes upset the balance and cause anxiety and confusion which is the reason for this particular blog.

The Australian open tennis is on and the matches are starting early so as we get up there are results to check and live tennis on the TV. This interrupts the normal routine and the calm and tranquility. TV’s and Pc’s need to be up and running and sports web sites scoured for comments. All of this before 8 am in the morning now that is a little cruel for a man who likes peace and quiet as a start to the day.

Not only do I have all of this but I am designated watcher which means I have to continue checking progress so I can give a running commentary later in the day. No don’t get me wrong I like tennis and am developing a cool backhand slice on the Wii game but it is difficult to watch and retain all that is happening. There was a match lasting five and a half hours the other day so all of my routine was shot to pieces. I am actually writing this whilst Federer struggles in the early stages of a match with Davydenko. It fine but only 10 o’clock in the morning. I was never a daytime TV watcher so I still feel guilty about having it on before tea time.

So my daily routine has changed. I know it will be over next week and we will return to normal so I can live with it and try and remember it is just a routine not a ritual.

So what’s your ritual ? getting ready to leave the house, setting the table, the route you take shopping, when you do you laundry, how you clean the house, there are many habits we develop which become routines which in turn become rituals.  What if done differently will send you into a tail spin and completely throw off your day. It is worth remembering “if things don’t change they stay the same” a very silly saying but would you want to be dictated to by a routine you developed or are you a free spirit who can adapt to the situation at hand.

I need to stop now as Federer seems to have got the measure of Davydenko and may be closing in for the kill we shall see and I shall comment later tonight.

Now that is extremely annoying not to say embarrassing
It would seem I am spamming people maybe even sending out phishing emails and all this is very annoying. There is that sinking feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you start to get responses to emails you never sent and some of the ex IT people I worked with start to suggest you might be infected. Damn, damn, damn. You wonder if the filtering on other peoples email will protect them or that they will have the good sense to not try the innocuous links in the emails but if people trust you then there is a chance that some innocents will and could start the chain again.

Not that I paint myself whiter than white only that I am naturally careful about these things. I have the strongest antivirus stuff and religiously keep it up to date. I avoid dodgy sites and even have Norton check sites and let me know if they are suspect. I don’t save my passwords I always key them in each and every time. I don’t use my email id for every site I log onto I have various different ones for different places. My virus scanning is on constantly and I run a full scan every week Not sure what more I could really do maybe it is a case of “S**t happens” but more likely that it is my fault an accidental click is all that is needed and there that little piece of code which silently attached itself springs into action and soon everyone in your mailing list is getting a little message saying “hi” from you.
Damn, damn, damn it’s too late now and you just have to live with it. Rescan the Pc (680,812 files) delete all of you cookies, history and anything else you can think of. Respond to anyone who lets you know and apologize and hope you have not started off a global chain which will soon sweep the world and bring it to a standstill. 

You get somewhat blasé after a while and it was normal for me to leave my email open all day whilst I am online which may be a key. Not sure about that but think I will only use email on its own and be even more selective about the sites I use. I actually think it was the local Russian Expat site as the email went out early in the morning and it’s either that or the BBC Sports page (which I very much doubt) as these were the only places I had visited. So probably drop the Expat site which I have never been too fond of as there are many people on these moaning about stuff which is irritating so no real loss. Not sure I could survive for long without the BBC as it is my link to the rest of the world.

Damn, damn, damn. You want to trust you Pc and not have to spend your time worrying about this sort of stuff I have lots to do and much of it on the machine so it will be a rough couple of days checking and rechecking that everything is back to normal. In reality it may not be that big a deal but it is never the less embarrassing and that hurts (a great deal). You don’t want people worrying when they get an email from you, you want them to trust you and believe you would not put them in harm’s way. 

This sort of thing is not new and in my time I have had exposure to lots of people with this issue just it was never me. Whilst I was running help desks you could get 10 -20 a day in the late ninety’s as that was the age of spam and it was there every day and you spent a great deal of time dealing with it and pacifying people and repairing bits of kit. Some even required changing a person’s name. With the advent of some laws this calmed down and phishing took over as the threat. Now we also have to contend with service threats which try and swamp sites with requests to bring them to a standstill.

Maybe this is the most worrying threat, we live by the Pc these days and not having it whilst it won’t stop the world it could severely impact every day actions. Just think of what you do online besides email and Facebook, shopping, banking, organizing holidays, etc, etc and how you would cope if these were not available just when you needed them.

Damn, damn, damn.

Can you hear something “Beeping”

It seems I am somewhat sensitive to things beeping and was wondering if it was just me of if it was something everyone suffered from. The electric clock behind me has just “beeped” o’clock not sure which o’clock but it has just turned something.
My Pc beeps at me all the time either letting me know I have new mail or that it has blocked a popup or I have done some illegal activity. My phone beeps to let me know it has a message or a text it also vibrates but that only creates a sound if it is on a hard surface. The cooker bleeped at me the other day when I took the lid off the pan cooking rice and put it down on the surface, “I don’t think you want to do that Steve” my brain heard it say in that wierd HAL like voice. In reality it was just saying “ouch that was hot”.

Over Christmas whilst on our recent epic voyage around the UK there was beeping abound. From smoke detectors through microwaves, dish washers, cookers reaching temperature or ending set times, washing machines, household timers, reversing cars and even the car we were driving would bleep when the temperature reached 4 degrees (no idea why 4 degrees but it did). There are also the video games which bleep constantly telling us to stop doing that or sometimes (rarely) saying well done.

There seems to be a semi Pavlovian (Google Pavlov) response to these sounds from joy that something is done, concern if it is not finished at an appropriate time or even fear if it is unexpected. We jump to respond to these stimuli with a level of involuntary activity which I think we have little control over. Are we training ourselves to respond and are our lives now driven by the beeps or are we ultimately still in control. We jump to respond without thinking is my view. My Pc has just beeped to tell me I have new mail which I am going to resist reading until I finish this (well maybe).

Each beep is vying for our attention “pick me, pick me, me first, no me please” they are telling us all trying to outdo each other to be dealt with. I think of them like the seagulls in Finding Nemo all calling “mine, mine, mine, mine, mine” which I found amusing. Do you think they feel smug if you pick them first or sulk if you don’t? Do you think they secretly get together when we are asleep and organize the rota ?

I am not sure if we could retrain ourselves to not respond to these interruptions. How long could you ignore the dish washer telling you its finished (in my case I can set it to take up to 4 hours but that’s a different problem). Now of course the reality is that the dishes are safe and clean and not going anywhere so unless you have limited crockery and are waiting to dish out dinner there is actually no need to rush to decant the items so what’s the big deal. The same goes for the microwave, you are unlikely to be eating what every was in there unless you have an asbestos lined mouth as it is still actually cooking for a while after it stops. This is why they say leave it for a few minutes so why not just reset the bleep to activate 3 minutes later or is that to simple.
(Still not read that email)

I think in the old day’s church bells and clocks were the only things making noises and these were time related so it told us it was time to start or stop things. These days they are activity based beeps telling us something has happened so they cross over into a different area. They are telling us we need to do something and irrespective of when the bleep goes off we respond even to the point if interrupting what ever important thing we are actualy doing. Hands up those who actually set one of these appliances off so it finishes at a particular time or are you like me sat with my coat on waiting 20 minutes for the washer to tell me it is time to go out. you see the beeping is actually an irritation to the routine nobody sets their appliances to complete something when it is convenient for them you allow the Beeps to dictate when things happen.

 Now some of these things are essential like the smoke alarm and probably the cooker unless you like your roast well done but perhaps some of them have delusions of grandeur where they “think” they are important but in reality they are just bit players in the grand scheme of things. Maybe if we read the manuals we could turn off the sound (need to find the booklet for that clock) or maybe just maybe we could learn to ignore them. What do you think do you have the will power ?

going to wait another 30 minutes to read that email, maybe go and have a cup of coffee the kettle has just clicked to let me know it is boiled. (are clicks the new beep?)

A toast “to the health of the Russian people”

Now toasts are a big deal in Russia that is the ones you raise a glass to not the ones you put Marmalade (Jelly) on. At any gathering of above 2 people you are likely to encounter someone standing up and providing a toast. They can be at the start middle or end of your meal and there is not specific protocol it’s a bit like karaoke where anyone and everyone can participate.  Of course there needs to be an obligatory drink involved and nobody seems to shy away even when the 7th person is on their feet lifting up yet another glass. Not only are there no formal rules there does not seem to be any planning it is more like random people getting up and pretty much repeating what the last person said, with a few amendments though.

This does tend to prolong meals as does the number of courses they have. Not that there are mountains of food more that there are lots of things offered and you choose to dip in or not as the fancy takes you. Looking at the local cook books there seems to be an awful lot of things either pickled or in aspic (Google it) which is “interiesna”. I am sure they would feel the same if they were offered jellied eels (En) or chittlin (Us) or snails (Fr) but each to his own.

The drink was what I wanted to comment on as President Medvedev (you know the one who swapped jobs with Putin) has just passed a law stating that a bottle of Vodka can now no longer be sold for less than $3 which is slightly worrying as it “doubles” the price of the cheapest brands. Anyway they have a goal to half the amount of alcohol consumed by Russians by 2020 with a 15% reduction by the end of 2010. The average Russian drinks 15 litres (26 pints) of pure alcohol per year, or half a pint a week, compared with 5.4 litres in 1990. To put it in some perspective it is twice as much as the US and 50% more than the UK. Of course this is an average so if you take away the babies and kids we might get an even more frightening scenario. One thing I can commend the Russians on is that their drink drive law says 0% alcohol is allowed so nice and straight forward then. 
They quote that at least 2.3 million people in Russia are alcoholics, and it is blamed for rising mortality rates, particularly among men. Male life expectancy has fallen to less than 59 years, compared with 72 for women. Maybe why I don’t see that many old men around (I will be in the minority in a year or so).

It’s not the first time they have tried to deal with the problem. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, declared a war on alcohol abuse in 1985, ordering dramatic cuts in the production of wines and spirits and introducing strict controls on public consumption. It led to a surge in illegal production of low-quality, home-brewed drink (‘samogon’). So maybe it is in the genes they just like a drink or two.

Anyway Mr Putin (you know the one who swapped jobs with Medvedev and may well swap back) is supporting the initiative to improve the general health of the population by supporting this alcohol reduction although they don’t seem to have come up with a solid plan yet other than increasing the duty on it. Not sure that is a long term deterrent and they may want to consider other options. Possibly education as children start drinking between 13 and 15 so they could add something to the curriculum if they want.

Now does this mean that the place is overwhelmed with drunks no not in the least whilst there might be the odd party at the entrance to the Metro in general they are well behaved and you do not see hoards of people staggering around making a nuisance of themselves later at night neither do you see a lot of confrontation or fights. Maybe they are all too “tired and emotional” to care
 

Clingfilm (Stretch wrap) is it stretching things too far
As usual Clingfilm or cling wrap or stretch wrap to our American readers was invented in 1953 by a scientist who was trying to make a hard plastic cover for his car; his experiment was completely unsuccessful but he then found the usefulness of plastic wrap which he happened to create instead. So the wrap’s history is built on a lab error and serendipity as usual in these cases.
Anyway it has many uses but is normally to be seen wrapped around food items of various sorts although it has been seen, covering pallets, windows, etc. Being inventive we can find lots of reasons to cover things in this thin film some less effective and as an emergency condom is not recommended (or so it says on Google something about chafing)
The food area is probably the most popular use and taking leftovers and wrapping them tightly in little bundles to carefully place in the fridge or freezer for later consumption is the norm. Now I could ask how many times they are actually brought back out and eaten verses how many times you would open the door and wonder what the smell is before hunting around to find that item you just could not face throwing away. Likewise you may well find that small section of frozen lasagna only resurfaces when you either defrost the freezer (come on when was the last time you did that honestly ? (Michelle excluded)) or when you have run out of room and are trying to find a place for that bit of lasagna you make six months later.
If you are not at the stage of storing cooked food don’t despair you can individually wrap fresh items as well which involves taking the cling film off the item you have just purchased and dividing it into small portions to wrap again and for future forgetting,, sorry future use at you convenience. That is if you can get the flaming stuff off once it is frozen as the defrosting seems to make the thing so slippery you may get frustrated and sling it once again into the depths of the freezer.
No sure what the knack of using this wonderful item is as my efforts seem to consist of not being able to unwrap it whilst is it inside of the packaging and also not being able to snap it off cleanly even when using that thin strip of metal on the edge of the box, you know the one you catch your finger on then why the film has to immediately want to wrap itself together into a tangled mess. I understand it’s probably static electricity but it is difficult to ground myself being in a sixth floor flat and taking it all outside would be unhygienic I think.  So the act of wrapping these items is a challenge in itself.  Whilst I think about it why am I trying to individually wrap half a dozen chicken breasts into individual portions? It’s not like there is a shortage or they are even difficult to get hold of. The supermarket is 400 meters away so not difficult to get to and they are not heavy either. So the only logical reason for trying to perform this rather difficult task is because I saved 15 rubles by purchasing 6 at once (51 cents, 31 pence) and possibly the amount of film I waste trying to complete this Mensa test will probably negate my savings so maybe not so smart. I could of course tell the assistant I want a single chicken breast six times but given they are not the friendliest of people I am not prepared for the inevitable fallout as word of my request filters around the store and people begin to point at me and mutter under their breath.
Maybe it need one of those dispensers they use in the shops they don’t appear to have the same issues I encounter although they are doing it continuously every day so maybe it is in the wrist action. Not sure where we would put it or if it should be constantly on the worktop but I think we have better use of the limited space we have so a none starter really even if I could find one.
So the usefulness of clingfilm is beginning to escape (and annoy) me although covering things to cook in the microwave is I have to say is not only useful but in the main essential although not actually having a microwave makes this less attractive. So I will have to find user uses for the remaining three quarters of a roll we have that is if I can find the end of it or avoid cutting my finger on the serrated edge of the box. I am not intending to throw it away as I am sure in the not too distant future I will have a burning need for it. Life can be very complex at times.
Now of course I may have a jaundice view of all of this as I am a Tupperware man myself ever since we got our carrousel which eliminated a whole cupboard full of lids and containers which did not fit each other. You probably have a similar collection in one of your cupboards. Maybe there should be a Tupperware swap club where people gather together and try and fit lids to containers. I of course am above all of this as I have 3 different container sizes but only one lid size which fits all of them.  This of course does mean that I have a fridge half full of translucent boxes of various sizes with items I have forgotten or am ignoring until they start to smell or start moving around on their own.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

They are stealing the snow !!!

Hello I’m back sorry about that, I will fill in the gaps as we go along but first I thought I would tell you about the snow stealers.

They come in the dead of night with diggers and big trucks and shovel it all away. During the day time the road sweepers shovel it all into nice piles then overnight it gets taken away and then they start again. Now you might think why move it at all just let it melt well let me tell you it’s -10 and likely to stay that way until late March so this snow is not going anywhere soon. Not sure where it ends up but I imaging a real ski slope somewhere around the city which will probably operate until April.
We were in England over Christmas and whilst they are experiencing the worst winter for 20 or 30 years it’s not the same. For the most part it is pretty and lasts a few days bringing catastrophic predictions of shortages of Gas and grit, food, travel disruptions and worst of all cancellation of football (soccer) matches (even in the US snow is not allowed to stop sports matches). People scramble to get sledges or something else to slide down the local hill on.  Here the snow is not pretty at all it absorbs all of the smoke and fumes and is a light brown color.
They don’t grit here you just take smaller steps if you know what’s good for you. Every few minutes you see someone sliding around and you remember short steps. In a few places they add some specks of something but it is not salt as it does not melt anything it just makes some patterns until it get covered by the next dump.

You would have thought with all of those salt mines in Siberia they would have some spare but no.

Here of course they are used to this type of weather and just get on with things. The roads seem ok as everyone has winter tires on and driving is not really an issue in fact it is slightly better now as they don’t drive at such reckless speeds. The pavements are a different matter. All the buildings have downspouts I say downspouts rather than drain pipes because they just splash out onto the pavement as they don’t have drains. So when the sun does shine and some of the snow on the roofs melt they fall onto the pavement and create mini ice rinks. There are also huge icicles hanging from the roofs as the downspouts freeze up and overflow. This has people putting out barriers to stop you walking underneath them. Fine except you then have to walk into the road or over the mounds of snow waiting to be stolen. So you need your wits about you looking up down to see where the next hazard is. Our road which normally has people parking on both sides (and the pavement) and still had room for two lanes of traffic is now a single lane track as it gets narrower due to the mounds of snow being piled up by the sweepers that is when they are not hiding in the bus shelters drinking that is (the drinking has reduced but not stopped).

Right now I can see a man walking across the roof opposite pushing the snow of the edge and banging the guttering to remove the ice. No safety harness or protective roping off for these people they just climb up and bang away. I think I need to stop watching him as I am getting a bit queasy.

Almost everyone has a big hat and coat but not many have scarfs not sure why maybe they think it is sissy. Well I don’t and mine gets double wrapped around my neck just to be sure. Judi says there is now 20 minutes “Faffing around” before we go out as we prepare. (Remember always go to the toilet BEFORE you start) and the same when we get back and of course now we understand why all good Russians take their shoes off outside. There are lots of fur coats on display and one has to believe they are effective and there is no stigma attached to them around here.

They do know how to heat the shops and houses and I am typing this in my t-shirt, well the office but wearing a t-shirt. Our radiators came on 1st of October and there is no thermostat just on or off so heat regulation is simple. No 57 page document to quiz to set up the heating just on or off which even I can manage.

Familiarity breeds something you are already used to

Ok a crap title but it was the only thing I could dream up so early in the morning. Second day of my trip to Johannesburg and woke up at 5:20 and not leaving the hotel until 8:00 so got to do something and this is it.

I was in the taxi going to the airport Sunday which was a late booking. Luckily Judi asked which airport I was using as I would have been on the train to the wrong one Doh and the taxi driver was only slightly strange. A Vauxhall car not too big just an ordinary saloon car but he had driving gloves on which seemed a little unnecessary and seemed to have made an office out of the front two seats. There were clips and folders and holders of various sized all laid out neatly. Phones and pens and his Bluetooth were all laid out to hand. Not one but two air fresheners and given they were different scents the fragrance in the car was slightly nauseating. Car air fresheners are a little intense at the best of times so you can imagine two different ones can fast become overpowering.  Curiously there was also quite a large pair of scissors not sure what they were for but no matter.
Anyway he cut down a street I had not been on before but I though I know where this comes out and sure enough a couple of moments later we were next to the English pub. When I say pub it is a real English one, sticky tables and smoke stained walls. Not like you get back home. Up across the bridge and around by the White house (where Yeltsin stood on the tanks and saved Russia from reverting back to communism. A sharp left onto Tervertskia past the gourmet food shop which can only be likened to Harrods. Onward past the high price clothes shops up and across the Garden ring and out of the centre. All of this is familiar to me now and a thought crosses my mind that it is almost a year since we first “nipped” across to take a look at the place and see if we could life here.

A year wow, somehow it just flies by.
Now of course it is all second nature once you get a handle on where you are and where to get Cigarettes, milk and vodka things get easier. The Metro which is my friend has taken me too many places, not quite sure where they all are but the train knows and that’s all that matters.

Once you get the hang of a place it all becomes familiar I know which short cuts to take and when places open and close. The assistants recognize the weird Englishman who points at things and never pays with any coins always notes. (It is difficult to add up the very small coins they have so I save them up and use coins to purchase Metro tickets which only delays the queue slightly.
 
Life is still ever so slightly routine that is we have regular places to eat and shop but we do push out on a little and adventure off the beaten path occasionally. There must be something of a wandering bug in us but you knew that anyway.

The Russians know how to keep warm and the heating came on 1st of October and 2 days later I was opening windows as the place got warmer and warmer. We even have two rooms with under floor heating. The car goes in the underground garage and the winter coats hats, gloves and scarf’s are all out of their storage and in use. Judi and I both purchased fur lined boots as we prepare for a cold but more importantly a dark winter. So far it has by local standards been mild which means the temperature hovers around freezing all the time with only a couple of short snowfalls which disappear in the city quickly.  

I have seen the future and its called……………….

Its called the Internet, but you all ready knew that so what’s so special now ?.

Well nothing really other that the realization that it is taking over more and more of our lives. When I lived in Brussels we never bothered much with the internet at home in fact we did not actually have a home Pc. Other than the Sinclair ZX80 and the commodore 64 (Google them) I had probably 20 odd years ago I never had a box at home. The 64 I used to play adventure games in text and once programmed it to flash in 256 colors, my first ever program (you see there is a value in Boolean Algebra). It wasn’t until we had been in the US for a couple of years that I caved in and bought one. Really because I began to feel guilty about all the home banking the pictures and the music I was keeping on my work machine and keeping it on a spare hard drive was becoming a pain.

 

So the internet whilst useful was not the be all and end all of our lives. Slowly things like Google Talk (and video if you have combed your hair and got dressed) and Facebook started to become the norm. Google Talk allows me to keep in touch with family without additional cost and the quality most of the time is better than the phone. Facebook keeps me up to date with friends I would otherwise have lost contact with although it is a little erratic at staying up to date. I remember the hype of “Friends Reunited” which reconnected you with people from school. Well to be honest I was happy to forget most of them so it never really pulled me in (the jibes about the red hair still aren’t forgotten).

It does allow me to watch the progress of people I care for and people who I have shared experiences something I did not do a for the many people I had the pleasure of working with over the last couple of dacades which is a shame.

There is instant messenger which is just another thing to interrupt people with although I was as guilty as any in pinging people at inappropriate times. Funny how we stopped using the phone and just jabber with people instead. Emoticons to the ready as you want people to understand when you are being funny and when you are being sarcastic. (well sometimes).

Recently I added Skype which has been around for a while but I never felt the need. Given where I am now and the erratic nature of telecommunications here. The lines are still analogue (would you believe you can hear the click, click, click as you dial) and rather expensive Skype is ideal to make those international calls and it is so easy and extremely cheap I can see the demise of home phone lines. You have a mobile (everyone has a mobile don’t they?) so why would you need a home phone. Many Pc‘s now come with built in gizmos to wirelessly connect to the internet and I found the wonders of wireless (with the help of someone from comp USA) a while back and now it is the norm and allows me to wander the house at will without interruption. I mean who amongst us would not want to be able to receive the same message on 2 Pc’s on a local wireless networked blackberry and have it printed off at the same time. Cool eh, pointless but cool but it also means the computer is on all the time and we now have 2 home pc’s although one was bought so Judi and I could stay connected when she first moved to Russia. So what’s new then you may be wondering ?.

So my new find ? well it is Internet TV. There was a new sound bite not so long ago saying Internet advertising had overtake TV advertising which is hardly a surprise but not that bad for something only in existence for around 20 years. I used to use internet Radio to get my English comedy shows and maybe listen to football (soccer) matches and finding out you could listen in to the pit crew radios on NASCAR race day was fun. Now of course what ever you want can be found on “t’internet” (its an English joke and some of you are laughing). Films were first but slowly TV shows if you searched hard enough then places like HULU and P2P4U and lots of others sprang up. Hooking the HD Tv up to my computer is within my technical capability so there you are all you favorites whenever you want them. Now it does take something away from the anticipation of the next episode when you can actually get them any time you want but that’s just how it is.

Network address maskers make it possible to see anything you want where ever you are so have we now entered an age where recorded items are so available we will get bored with them (well not until Judi has seen the last season of House, Grays anatomy and big Band Theory anyway).

Question for you all have you ever been asked a question and replied “I don’t know but I will Google it when I get home”. Its funny not so long ago there was so much we did not know about and now of course we can find anything we want when ever we want I wonder if that is making us smarter or dumber as we no longer have to learn, why would you when someone will give you the answer in an instant.

Did I every tell you about the day when…………….

Not much happening right now so though I would tell you about a trip we took one time whilst on holiday. We were on a tiny (and I mean tiny) Caribbean island called Bequia which is reached via a very small plane from Barbados. Now not sure if you have ever been in a 10 seater plane which actually had 10 people on it but there is not much room especially after you put your own luggage on. I wonder if this is what sardines are thinking as the lid closes

Think I have said before I prefer airplanes to be big, actually the bigger the better. Anyway this was not big and you could feel every dip and climb. It got slightly better when most of the passengers got off at Richard Branson’s luxury island but not us. We are going to meet up with Judi’s parents who have already been there for a week or so. Landing on grass airstrips is also not something I look forward to however as they say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Customs control was interesting it consisted of someone passing our case through a hole in the wall of the terminal building, I say terminal building I mean hut. The taxi was actually a pickup truck and we sit in the open back whilst the driver casually ambles to our final destination.

Bequia is one of those quiet islands not yet spoilt by the mass tourist trade. The main reason being that it is not easy to get to. 10 seater planes do not bring the volume of people needed to support a McDonalds or all inclusive resorts so it still retains that relaxed “we will get around to it sometime” atmosphere.

We hook up with Mike and Lan and find the little house we will be staying in. Mike is on a mission to make the perfect Rum punch (well some form or rum drink) and seems to be doing a fine job of the testing process.

When you live in a fast paced world it is difficult to just shrug it off and it takes a few days to settle in. I read a couple of books (I only really read on vacation) however the first book I read is about all the details of the World War II Normandy invasion was possibly not conducive to relaxing but the rum helped.

The island is so small that when I decide I want splash out one night and have Lobster for dinner Mike has to ring around all the local restaurants to see who has one. (now that’s a small island). Interestingly it is one of the few places where whaling is allowed the locals are ok to catch up to 4 humpback whales per year using traditional methods. I have no idea if they actually do as the culture seems to be more of a “maybe tomorrow” type of place.

This blog is actually about a trip we took from Bequia to St Vincent the closest island. There is a ship which shuttles back and forth between the two islands. Quite a nice looking ship actually an ex Norwegian fiord boat. Good and sturdy and not too small so by the Tuesday we have developed a taste for an adventure and hatch a plan that on Wednesday we want to take the aforementioned ship on the 1-1.5 hour journey to St Vincent a much bigger island (everything is relative). Not many people join us possibly only 3 maybe 4 (which should have been a clue). We sail off only 20 minutes after the schedule says which causes Judi to make some comments. (You know being late is never acceptable with Judi) so out of the bay and into the Atlantic. This is the point you suddenly start to fully appreciate the difference between a quiet calm Norwegian fiord and the Atlantic Ocean. This thing is rolling around like a barrel up and down and side to side and the sea is not even rough, it is just the shape of the boat is not designed for open water. Also of course true to local custom it is going very slowly. So slow in fact a small sail boat passes us which gives me some good photos whilst also being somewhat of an embarrassment.

We arrive and disembark only staggering around for a few minutes whilst we regain our balance. The place is a lot quieter than we had expected. In fact almost all of the shops are shut. Ok its Wednesday so possibly the traditional half day closing, its 2:30 pm so if they have closed for lunch it’s a long one. Anyway armed with a small map (and you thought Judi would not have one ? Shame on you) we make our way through what could be called the “town center” Mmmmm still no shops open and not many people on the streets although the ones we see are very well dressed. Smart black suits and clean white shirts for the men and the women are dressed as if it is a Sunday and they are on their way to church.

Of course they actually are. It would seem that a local Journalist / Politian had been shot dead a few days earlier in mysterious circumstances and was being buried this afternoon. The circumstances were that he was naked in in the back seat of his car at 1:30 in the morning and had been shot dead. Now that seems to be the plot line of a good thriller but that thought escapes me as we round a corner and find 90% of the population huddled around the local church. Now how conspicuous do you think two Caucasians dressed in shorts and bright shirts would look in the middle of several hundred people dressed for a funeral. Its one of those times when you have to just go with the flow. As quietly as possible we slip through the crowd. I desperately want to take some photographs but think this might inappropriate right now. There were some wonderful outfits and lots of somber faces, this contrasted to our straw hats and flip flops. You can not help but feel out of place and whilst none commented you got the sense we should maybe get the hell out of there. You need to know he seemed like a very popular guy and they were giving him a good send off. Everyone seemed to have turned out and the local Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that in his relatively short life-span, and an even shorter working life, Glen Jackson excelled in diverse roles and touched, for the better, the lives of thousands of persons; and he did so joyously and selflessly.

I read later that Scotland yard were sending forensic experts to assist in the investigation and the whole thing got very messy.

All a little too much excitement for us so we head back to the ship to wait for our roller coaster ride back to Bequia. Another interesting day and another experience to remember.