Martin McDowell's Blog

This post is just an extension of the comment I gave on on the blog of Michele Neubert, an NBC news producer who has just completed a visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia on the occasion of George W. Bush’s visit to the EU-US summit. I am also from Ljubljana, but living in Wales, UK at the [...]

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Google Maps has recently updated the satellite photos covering Wales, Pembrokeshire in particular. I am not sure how other areas were covered before but there is a definite resolution increase in the photos in south west Wales. The enhanced photos were first available on Google Earth and soon after that on the web edition – [...]

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Sicer nisem kakšen veliki navijač nogometa, niti ne navijam kaj hudo za nogometni klub rodnega Portsmoutha, vem pa, da so v mojem rodnem kraju verjetno zdajle kar ekstatični ob zmagi 1:0 nad Cardiffom. Portsmouth je tako uspel osvojiti svoj sicer že drugi naslov pokala FA. Čestitke

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Včeraj sem po kakem mesecu spet tankal avto. Vmes se je odvil štrajk delavcev na naftni predelovalnici Ineos v Grangemouth-u in očitno nisem bil ravno psihično pripravljen na ceno, ki jo bom moral plačati. Dragi moji, tank bencina me je stal 70 funtov!! To je okoli 88 evrov. To pa kar že malo boli. Še [...]

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A very well known bilingual road signSomebody seems to have turned off the cooler in Wales, we went from temperatures in the lower teens to 20 and 22 in just a week. Its hot enough to only go about in short sleeves and I guess shorter trousers are just round the corner. I was even [...]

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Sprva niti nisem imel kake posebne želje sodelovati pri volitvah, me je pa kar malo matral firbec in tudi malo sem hotel sodelovati pri odločanju, ker se mi zdi, da tukaj ljudi politika veliko manj zanima, kot v Sloveniji. Ja, ne morem drugega rečt, kot Ich bin ein Waliser! Malo se mi zdi čudno, da [...]

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V aprilski izdaji revije Skydive – The Mag, ki jo izdaja British Parachute Association, je tudi reklamna stran namenjena DZ Netheravon in tam med 20-22 junija vabijo na Solsticijev boogie, kjer bo letel Antonov-2. No glede na to, da je Velika Britanija že itak en velik „nanny state“ me preseneča, da so na naši (beri [...]

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Ne vem niti kje je to podjetje dobilo moje podatke za pošto, ki so jo poslali prejšnji teden. Na vsak način me je spravila v dobro voljo, deloma pa tudi zaskrbela, da ima to podjetje dejansko stranke in se sicer ne bi šlo tovrstne promocije svojih storitev. V pismu mi na veliko obljubljajo posojilo, četudi [...]

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Pa je le zapadel, čeprav so ga napovedovali nekajkrat čez zimo in je prišel šele zdaj, Aprila. Zjutraj se mi je le nekaj čudno zdelo na poti na telovadbo, da so hribi proti severu nekam čudno svetli. Sem se odpravil tja in nisem našel nobenega snega, so pa vsake toliko časa mimo mene zapeljali avtomobili [...]

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It has been nearly a year since I moved to Wales and I took the opportunity of the local bank holidays to get back home and refresh my palatability for potica, ham, horseradish and boiled eggs in coloured egg shells. In the end it also appeared to be an opportunity to refresh my snow-clearing abilities [...]

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After getting a chance to see the Florida wildlife from a motorised boat there was a great chance to see it from a little bit more down-to-earth – or should I say down-to-water perspective. The Hillsborough River State Park offers canoe rentals on the Hillsborough river and other activities, such as camping, walking, swimming in [...]

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Sorry to write this today as I have returned yesterday at 5pm and the trip whent nearly without complications – there was a slight 20 min delay in Orlando. The plance was not full as on the way there so I had the chance to lay down. Once arriving at Gatwick and when the excitement [...]

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Pred kakimi dvema urama sem imel čast prisostvovati rojstvu žrebeta pasme konja imenovanega Palomino. Kobila je last Dennisa, ki nam daje tudi v najem hišo v DeLeon Springsu, v kateri trenutno smo. Porod je šel mimo brez kakih posebnosti in žrebička je že ne nogah in sesa. Pasma ni tako pogosta in konji te pasme [...]

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Although the waether did not look promising for today we were able to book the first and only flight from the Twin Otter today. We made two formations, the first one being an 8-way and the second a 9-way. I was a diver in the latter. I did manage to join the formation even though [...]

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The morning was a bit foggy but that soon cleared and the weather hold on the jumps was lifted by about 11am. Then we went full throttle as we knwe we might have another weather related bad jump day tomorrow. I managed to make a record 8 jumps, the last one being the sunset jump. [...]

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Še nekaj kitic v slovenskem jeziku, da ne bom samo te forenščine natepaval. S sabo sem privlekel zastavo, ki sem jo kupil že pred mojo selitvijo v Wales. Zdaj ponosno plapola na dropzonu v DeLandu. Vreme, kot ste verjetno razbrali, ni ravno veselo in skakanju primerno, že včeraj sem opravil le dva skoka, za danes [...]

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The weather, again, was a bit of a disappointment. In the morning we were not sure if we should bother even going to the DZ. Our landlord Dennis said that the clouds should break up. When we came there the DZ was closed for jumps and it looked like nobody was going to jump today.However [...]

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As the weather wasn’t very promising most of us managed to do only two jumps, the last one in many cases being in the rain and believe me, it is not nice or romantic to free fly through rain. It feels like you are being pricked with pins all over your face. I did a [...]

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Not only was it my first jump at Deland or in the U.S. in general, but it also ended up being the jump that I had to deploy my reserve. The jump started well as a 5-way group with the local instructor Carl. We broke off the formation at 1.500 m and opened at approx. [...]

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Feeling better after the midnights tunnel session, still having problems with some of the techniques but my instructor Aljaž says there are visible improvements. I hope so as I sometimes feel like a sack of potatoes in a tornado when I’m in the tunnel.Today marks the end of the tunnel sessions for most of us [...]

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