Destroy All Onions!

After all the walking on my first day on holiday, I was a bit tired, so I had a bit of a lie in to prepare for another day of walking about.

As predicted by the weather forecasters, it was raining when I got up. The good news is that I was expecting it, so I put on my new waterproof walking trousers, my waterproof coat, my big thick socks and my waterproof walking boots, and off I went, as waterproof as I could be.

However, I have to admit that I was a really bad tourist. The plan was to head for La Rambla, and have breakfast/lunch there. I fancied nice local tapas, but the rain got so hard that I ended up taking shelter in a sandwich shop until it eased a bit. And the highlight of the menu was the “British bacon” sandwich. With chips. Very authentically Spanish 🙁 Oh well. By the time I came out again, it was a bit drier, so it was worth it.

Off to one side of La Rambla (the most famous street in Spain apparently), I found Barcelona Cathedral. The actual Barcelona Cathedral – possibly not tjhe one you’re thinking of.

I love visting cathedrals – I think they are brilliant places. I love the space, the peace, the architecture, the craftsmanship – all the things that makes cathedrals and temples kind of unique. And yet cathedrals are odd places. Yes, it is a Christian place of worship, but it is so different to my own experience of what a church is that I find them hard to relate to. I suspect that the only golden objects in my church are the jewellery of the members! My church is also only 39 years old. Take it from me, it’s not much like Barcelona Cathedral! In contrast to that, I also visited the Estrella del Mar church later in the day. It’s much less ornate, with a lot less gold and furniture. But it turns out that’s because it was all destroyed as punishment by the victors when Barcelona was on the losing side in a battle. But ironically, I thought it gave it a really nice spacious feel that it probably wouldn’t have if it had all of those original fixtures and fittings!

I also visited the beach, where they have free WiFi! Imagine! Free WiFi at the beach! This must be the 21st century after all!

And then pasta for tea, in a very nice fresh pasta restaurant near La Rambla, and ice cream from an ice cream shop there too. Got the metro back to the hotel, with tired legs. A wet, but very enjoyable day.

Okay, now that I have gone back to add the pictures, I have to add what was the photographic highlight of the day. Very cute!

The first major surprise of my trip day was on the plane – I bought something to eat on an Easyjet flight, and found it to be both enjoyable and good value! What happened there! Am I in some kind of weird alternate universe? Anyway, I can definitely recommend the “Feel Good scrumptious and yummy box”, which for 4 quid kept me going for a few hours, and was even pretty healthy!

Once again I was reminded just how good The Walking Dead is, my own personal in-flight movie on my android tablet. Yes, it is gory and unpleasant in places, but it’s great TV.

Arrived to find the Barcelona weather much better than expected, which was a nice surprise. So jumper off and short-sleeved shirt on. A straightforward and cheap (3.60€) journey on the train took me to Sants station, and if I had taken the right exit, the hotel would have been right in front of me. Of course I used the wrong exit, but the hotel was still very easy to get to. My room is on the 15th floor, and has a splendid view over the city.

But it was only when I left the hotel when I realised how good it is – just a short walk and I was at some splendid buildings, towers and fountains which turned out to be the Montjuic area of the city. Really beautiful architecture, much of which dates to 1929 and a grand exhibition (I will resist slagging comparisons with the millennium dome, as I am secretly quite fond of it).

Behind that, the Olympic Park, from 1992. Behind that, the cemetery, which I thought might be a castle. It wasn’t, but it was still very interesting – cemeteries are multi-story here, and consist of stretches of wall with a niche per person, above 5 stories high. Which is why I thought they were castle walls. Then to the actual castle, where it started to get a bit cooler, and I started to worry about rain. But was quite pleased to find that I could see my hotel from there, as it
is a 23 story tower with a neon sign on the top!

Then a dander back towards the hotel, with a few stops to select a restaurant for dinner. And it was really excellent! I ate in the Filigrana restaurant, where they kindly gave me the lunchtime set menu, even though it was nearly 9:00, as I hadn’t realised it was a lunch menu. Yes, what originally attracted me was the delightfully poor translation of the “candied bacon with outbreaks of spring”, but it really was a lovely meal – 3 1/2 courses and sparkling water with very attentive service (in perfect English) for €30 including tip. A great spot that deserves to be busier. And accompanied by a fresh new book on my kindle.

A great start to my trip!

Hello internet! Only me. My Christmas and New Year break is nearing its end, and I could have blogged about a number of things, but never really got round to it. Anyway, here’s the short summary of the last couple of weeks.

• I’ve never watched less of the Christmas TV! Spent quite a bit of time with my wee nephew Mason, who was more entertaining than most things on tv, despite the fact that he’s only a few months old. Or perhaps because. Many photographs taken (some will make it to facebook).
• And much of the tv I did catch was on iplayer on my android tablet (Which worked very nicely).
• Was able to go out walking in the Mournes with the church walking group at the end of the year. About 8 miles, ending at Maud’s on the sea-front, which was an excellent ending. It was a wet day, but never miserable.
• Got out cycling on New Years Day and again the day after. Only 10 miles each, but better than not getting out at all. On the Sunday I got wet, on the Monday I got cold, but at least not both together.
• Went to a spin class for the first time, with my sister to her gym. Think of it as a cross between line dancing and cycling, with the same struggle to stay in rhythm with the music, to hear the instructions, and the hope that the music will somehow improve, but on a half-bike instead of dancing. It wasn’t actually that bad, and I went back again, so I did that twice!
• Bought and installed Skyrim for my PC. At level 6 right now, with my first dragon killed. Looking like a pretty good game so far.
• I unexpectedly ordered my next car today, for July when the lease runs out on my current one. That’s a very long way away, so I’m surprised to have got it all sorted out so quickly!
• Read an excellent book (on my kindle) – The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds. A bit of a prequel to the Revelation Space series, but a good standalone story in its own right.
• Since there was no snow, I did manage to catch up with a few folks, which is always good. Though as usual, not quite all of the people I had hoped to see. But some is better than none!

And those are roughly the highlights of the past couple of weeks.

Today, Indians celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights. I remember this day a couple of years ago when I was working in the US. We were out driving, and it had got dark. We were on a big American road, with long columns of tail-lights in front of us, a stream of headlights beside us, and forests of neon on either side of the road. It wasn’t a celebration, but there were a lot of lights, and when you thought of it in that way, it was beautiful.

This year I enjoyed Diwali again, as we had a very quiet day in work. When India is off, there’s a lot fewer people working in the world 😉

Happy Diwali!

The last time I was in Tenerife, I had a bit  of a disagreement with a local montain. The mountain was called Guaza, and it lived at the edge of Los Christianos. It’s still there, and when we saw each other this time around, I felt it was time for a rematch.

Last time, I had quite innocently tried to climb it, and it hid the path and got me lost on its rocky sides. It then filled my arm with cactus jags, and I had to go to the first aid hut on the beach to try and get them extracted by a professional with tweezers. I had a sore arm for a few days (fortunately they didn’t contain anything poisonous), but needless to say my pride was also badly wounded.

So it was kind of inevitable that I would have another go this time. And today I had a very nice walk over the hill and round the coast to Las Galletas. I googled it up and found that there is a route, and that it is about 9 miles long and should take 4 hours. I also discovered that people who organise walks don’t do it in the summer when it is too hot. But summoning up the courage of my church’s kamikaze walking group, who never turn down any challenge, I bought a couple of litres of lemon tea, put on my emergency hat (as my face is a little sunburned already from yesterday) and headed off. And I had a lovely walk. I listened to a month’s worth of Friday night comedy from Radio 4, saw the lighthouse, and got the bus back from Las Galletas. According to my ever faithful Runkeeper, I walked 8.6 miles in 3:40 or thereabouts
I am all pleased 🙂

Hello again internet. I’m on holiday again. The last time I was on holiday this blog turned into a kind of weird survival story, but not this time. Well, not so far anyway. Though I did have a bit of a turn in the local church on Sunday when a siren kept going  and I wondered if it might be a tsunami warning. Fortunately it was just a police car, but I am sometimes surprised by unexpected thoughts of natural disasters. Perhaps I shouldn’t be. Perhaps it’s perfectly normal.

Anyway, I’m here in Tenerife on holiday, and all is well. The hotel is clean, comfortable and well-equipped. The food is good, the wi-fi is very slow, but it is there. I’ve used the gym a few times, and it’s been grand.

My kindle has been splendid, and I read my first Agatha Christie book the other day, which was very good. I plan on a PG Wodehouse soon. My iPhone has done the job too, tracking my cycling, and providing music in the bathroom. I found an excellent use for the bidet, which acts as an excellent resonator for listening to Pink Floyd in the shower. And I’ve enjoyed watching ripped DVDs on my android on the balcony. Yes, I have too many toys.

So, one week down, and another week to go. I’m having fun. Hope you’re having fun wherever you are too.

Went cycling again today, my third day with my hired mountain bike. There are 2 problems with cycling in Tenerife; well the south of the island anyway. The first is that the island is just one big volcano, with a peak in the middle (and crater) which slopes down to the sea. And no, it hasn’t erupted in a long time. It’s safe, thanks for asking. The second problem is that the one big volcano is surrounded by lots of smaller cones. So it’s just mountains and hills everywhere. If you start at a beach resort, i.e. at sea level, then pretty much every direction except along the coast involves going up.
Today I cycled to Arona, which is only something like 7 miles away, but it was literally 7 miles uphill all the way there, and then 7 miles downhill all the way back. The freewheeling down was fantastic, but the uphill was a slow hot grind. But I didn’t melt, and neither did the bike, but I’ll not be doing it again tomorrow.
Oh and by the way, the bike is a Specialised. It’s got great big balloon tyres like a moon buggy, and quite dodgy gears, but it’s not bad.

As it was such a nice day, I went out cycling today. Decided to go through the park I found before, with the great bridges. And here they are:

That’s my bike there on the right for scale. It looks quite small. Obviously enough, you can easily walk under the crossbar.

To get there, I made a left turn on the way into Jordanstown, and it took me into what google maps says is Glen Park. It’s a nice little park, quite forested, with a river running through it (not unlike Cregagh Glen). But suddenly you come on these bridges – the old stone one with that cool ironwork, then the 2 newer ones in white concrete immediately behind with their pleasing modern arches. It’s very striking, and my phone hasn’t captured it terribly well, but it’s a nice spot.

From there, I carried on through the park, and then out of Monkstown. On the spur of the moment, decided to visit Knockagh Monument, a big stone obelisk that looks down from the hills over Jordanstown comemmorating the men of Antrim that died in the wars. There’s a lot of uphill to get there, which ended up a bit of a struggle, but the view is spectacular, and the monument worth a look.

And that’s where I went today!

Today is the 12th of July, the day in which the people of Northern Ireland celebrate and perpetuate religious conflict. Because it was a ncie sunny day, I went out on my bike. And as I cycled, I continued to mull over what to do about a tablet computer.

I really fancy a tablet computer. I think they are very cool. But I am having a really hard time making my mind up on what to buy. Because it’s not just a technical decision. I decided it could be framed as a religious conflict, and that seemed very fitting for today.

Umberto Eco famously wrote that fountain pens were protestant, and ballpoints were catholic, because of the universality of ballpoints versus the maintenance and finickiness of fountain pens. That got extended to PCs versus Macs. And now I guess it applies as well to IOS vs Android.

The Apple Ipad could be thought of as Catholic. Catholicism brought us the beauty of cathedrals, and I suppose thereby invented aethetic design. The ipad is the triumph of design, with its minimalist approach. However, it also has a pope, who rules over his flock. Steve decides what you can and can’t do with your ipad, and what he says goes. His triumph is that in his role as priest, he has mediated between the complexity of the technology and ordinary people, and has created a universal device – everyone is welcome, and it works for all without a lot of tedious theology. And that of course is what attracts me to it – it just works, and it works beautifully.

But then the reformation comes, and the people stand up and say no to what they see as an authoritarian regime that has gone astray. At first, they’re not sure what to believe, what to take from the old church, and what to reinvent. But they do know that they believe in making their own decisions, and that they don’t need Steve to tell them what they can and can’t do. Of course, being essentially Protestant, it is a completely fragmented approach. There are lots and lots of different ways to do everything. So there’s no standard way of doing it – to get the best from it, you go and find your favourite email client, video player, keyboard. And so it’s hard work, an uphill struggle to get it the way you want it.

My head says that I should get an ipad. It’s very clever, and it just works. Every reviewer says that despite it’s faults, it is the best machine. But it does have faults. The lack of flash is irritating, right from not being able to go straight to the BBC News Page, and having to use an app instead. It is also not expandable. My 16Gb iphone is almost full, so I would need to move up to a 32Gb ipad, which increases the price. I have at least determined that by grabbing some other video players, it should be able to handle some of the other video formats though, which is good.

But my heart says that I should get an android machine. I don’t like Apple, and I don’t like Steve Jobs. I want the android machines to be better than the ipad, but they’re not. But they are not far off. And crucially, they have a much better chance to improve, because of the flexibility of that ecosystem. They are expandable with cheap mini-sd cards. They play flash, avi, and anything else that can be thrown at them. They are a little cheaper. But it is an act of faith. If people don’t buy into android tabs, the marketplace will not grow, and it won’t happen. But if people do buy them, I think it’s better for everyone, as Apple need the competition to keep them honest. And of course there are disadvantages – you’re on your own for content for an android pad, since there’s no itunes store, so you have to get your own content from CD, DVD or out there on the net.

So there we are. A battle between head and heart. In years to come, wars shall be fought over it I’m sure. But for now, the fight goes on inside my head.

And just to be clear, I’m not an expert on the differences between protestantism and catholicism; this isn’t meant to be a comment on religion, and the framework is largely based on the half-remembered Umberto Eco essay, which I couldn’t find on google.

PS: But Alan did find the original, and it’s here.

Hello internet! How’ve you been?

I was off work today, so I decided to go for a nice walk. I managed to be outside for an hour and a half without getting rained on!

I walked to my local forest, Cregagh Glen, which I discovered today is run by the National Trust.

As usual, it’s pretty rough – trees have fallen, and fences have broken; some of the bridges still don’t have guardrails, and there’s quite a bit of litter from the local drinkers. Well, a little less now, since once of the items I saw was a plastic bag, so I lifted it up, and filled it with bits of rubbish that I found on the way down).

But despite the bad parts, it’s nature, and it’s lovely.

Walked right to the top, and enjoyed the view over Belfast from the top of the hill, but had to use some of my football special to put out a fire that some moron had lit in the bushes. But I hadn’t walked there in ages, and I enjoyed being out and about.

According to runkeeper, around 4 and a half miles in and hour and a half. But who cares – today, it was just about a nice walk.